DayBreaks for 3/29/24 – More Beautiful Than I Ever Imagined

From Things Unseen, by Mark Buchanan: “William M. Dyke became blind when he was ten.  When he was in his early twenties and attending graduate school in England, he met the daughter of a British admiral, and they fell in love and decided to marry.  But before he agreed to give his daughter’s hand in marriage, the admiral insisted that William submit to what was at that time a risky surgery to restore his sight.  William agreed, but he also had a condition: he did not want the gauze removed from his eyes until the moment he met his bride at the altar.  He wanted her face to be the first that he beheld on their wedding day.”   “The surgery took place.  The wedding day was set.  William’s father led his son to the front of the church, and the bride’s father led her down the aisle.  As she came, William’s father stood behind his son and unwound the gauze from his eyes.  No one knew if the surgery had been successful.  When William’s bride stood before him, the last strand of gauze was pulled away, and he was face-to-face with his bride.  He stood there speechless, and everyone waited, breathless.  And then he spoke: ‘You are more beautiful than I ever imagined.”   “One day that will happen to us, only the roles will be reversed.  ‘Now we see but a poor reflection in a mirror,’ Paul says, ‘then we shall see face to face.  Now I know (Him) in part, then I shall know (Him) fully, even as I am fully known’ (1 Cor. 13:12).  One day, the Bride of Christ, near blind now, will stand before her Risen Bridegroom at the Wedding Feast, and the veil will be removed, the scales will fall away, and we will see Him face-to-face and know Him even as we are fully known.”   “And he will be more beautiful than we ever imagined.”   There is a song that takes my heart and puts it in my throat every time I sing it, called “I Can Only Imagine”, by Bart Millard.  It goes like this: “I can only imagine What it will be like When I walk By Your side.   I can only imagine What my eyes will see When Your face Is before me, I can only imagine.   Chorus: “Surrounded by Your glory, what will my heart feel Will I dance for you, Jesus, or in awe of You be still? Will I stand in Your presence, or to my knees will I fall, Will I sing hallelujah, will I be able to speak at all? I can only imagine.   “I can only imagine When that day comes And I find myself Standing in the Son   “I can only imagine When all I will do Is forever, Forever worship You… I can only imagine.”   Have a blessed Resurrection Sunday!   PRAYER: Lord, how we long to see you face-to-face in our heavenly home! I long to see You in Your glory and for faith to become sight! In Jesus’ name, Amen.   Copyright 2024 by Galen C. Dalrymple.

DayBreaks for 3/27/24 – An Unexpected Gift

Is there anyone who doesn’t love an unexpected gift? It doesn’t matter much whether you’re already feeling on top of the world or in the deepest, darkest night of the soul, an unexpected gift lifts our spirits and cheers our hearts!

There is an event recorded in Mark 14 where Jesus received an unexpected gift. Those around him criticized the woman for her extravagant act of anointing him with costly perfume, but put yourself in Jesus’ place for a moment. He knew what was coming – an onrushing freight train of anguish, weariness, torture and death. Don’t forget – he was God, but he was also human, and his spirit was heavy, I’m sure.

Then, out of the blue, this woman anoints him. Listen to what Jesus says: She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. Truly I tell you, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her. — Mark 14:8-9

We don’t have an exact chronology of how long before his arrest and trial this took place, but perhaps the fragrance of the perfume lingered on him in the garden, in custody, before Caiaphas and Herod. Perhaps as he walked the pathway to the cross the crowd could detect it. For Jesus, it was an unexpected gift of love and kindness, and I am confident it meant a lot to him or he would not have praised her so highly.

So, here we are, face to face (almost) with Good Friday. I am struck with two thoughts:

ONE: on Good Friday we all received the most amazing unexpected gift of all time: redemption from sin. It was not only an unexpected gift, but a totally undeserved one. How long has it been since you really, deeply received the reality of this gift of the Son of God who bore your sins so you could stand sinless before the Creator of the universe? How are you celebrating it?

TWO: the woman gave an unexpected gift to Jesus, and it moved his spirit. What gift are you preparing to give to Jesus today or this week? It will pale in comparison to the gift he has given to us, but just as the gift of the perfume moved Jesus to memorialize this woman’s act forever, your unexpected gift can also touch his heart.

What will you give him? Think about it. Pray over it. Then give it!

PRAYER: Jesus, there is no way we can ever thank you enough for your most unexpected gift and kindness toward us, but we pray that you will accept our heartfelt gifts to you this week. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright 2024 by Galen C. Dalrymple.

DayBreaks for the Week of 4/09/23: The Procession

Scene from The Passion of the Christ.

So then, because of them, he handed Him over to be crucified. Therefore, they took Jesus away. Carrying His own cross, He went out to what is called Skull Place, which in Hebrew is called Golgotha. – John 19:16-17

The procession started in Jerusalem and according to tradition, wound its way through the heart of the ancient city. I suspect that what is called the Via Dolorosa may not be exactly the precise route, but what is sure is that Jesus was made to carry his own instrument of death to Calvary.

It must have been quite a site to observe: here is the rabbi from Nazareth, who just days before was being acclaimed as the Messiah by an enthusiastic crowd that clogged the streets and cried out in praise of this man.

The march to Golgotha was undoubtedly agonizing for Jesus’ mother, friends and followers. Jesus was proceeding, step by step, closer to what was to be his inevitable death. It was not quite a funeral procession because Jesus wasn’t dead yet, but it must have seemed like one. That’s what everyone in the procession thought, except for one person: Jesus.

Yes, Jesus knew he was facing a gruesome, agonizing death in the very, very near future. But he knew it wasn’t really a funeral procession. You see, I think Jesus knew that this procession wasn’t a funeral march, but a march to his enthronement. It was because of his death that God gave him a name above every name – a name before which one day every knee will bow and every tongue confess (Philippians 2:7-11).

Yes, there was truly a historical march through the city of Jerusalem, but it was the march of a king to his glory.

PRAYER: Father, at times like this words fail us. Spirit, intercede for us with shouts of praise and glory that it is unlawful for human tongues to utter for King Jesus! In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright 2023 by Galen C. Dalrymple, all rights reserved.

DayBreaks for the Week of 7/31/22 – A Broken Hallelujah

“I’ve seen your flag on the marble arch, but love is not a victory march, It’s a cold and it’s a broken Hallelujah…I did my best it wasn’t much.  I couldn’t feel so I learned to touch.  I’ve told the truth, I didn’t come to fool you.  And even though it all went wrong, I’ll stand before the Lord of Song with nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah.  Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah.”  – Leonard Cohen, Hallelujah

Perhaps you’ve seen the animated movie Shrek that was so popular a number of years back. It’s the story of an “ugly green ogre” who lives in a swamp who, under the direction of an egotistical prince who wants the princess for his bride, sets out to rescue the princess from a tower in order to fulfill a selfish desire to have his own part of the swamp so he can enjoy peace and quiet.  When Shrek (that’s the name of the ogre) finds the princess and brings her back, he eventually falls in love with her, unaware that she’s been under a spell and is in reality, an ogre, too. 

In the movie is a song by Leonard Cohen, and some of the words are printed above.  It’s a song about love, faith, God, and the discovery of our own brokenness.  I had heard the portion of the song that is played in the movie, but I’d not seen nor caught all the words until I looked it up on the internet.  I was even more touched by the emotion that the song expresses when I’d seen all the words.

You see, I think the song might be about our understanding and expression of love – whether to one another or to God.  Love has a way of humbling us, and at its very best, “…it’s a cold and it’s a broken Hallelujah” – meaning that our love and the way we express and receive it, are at best broken and imperfect.  I think of the many, many times I’ve failed my wife, my children, and my friends.  Do I love them?  Absolutely!  But my love was imperfect.  And I’ve acted coldly towards them at times. 

And what about God and my expression of love for him?  My failures are even more pronounced on that score.  I didn’t mean for my love to be so broken and flawed – but it has been.  I remember the ambition of my youth and the fire I felt in my soul…and I wonder sometimes where it went.  “It’s a cold and it’s a broken Hallelujah…”, isn’t it?  And although the plans I may have had for my own life to serve Him may have not been all I’d anticipated in my youth, I know that “…even though it all went wrong, I’ll stand before the Lord of Song with nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah.  Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah.” 

But here’s the point: I don’t fear standing before the Lord of Song with my failures and all, with nothing but a praise on my lips, because He loves me beyond all reason, beyond all my wildest dreams, and beyond all time.  And He loves you just the same way, in spite of your own broken Hallelujahs of service and intent.

Rev. 19:6-8 – Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting:  “Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory!  For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.”

PRAYER: Jesus, thank You for accepting my broken Hallelujah and loving me with a perfect love! In your name, Amen.

Copyright 2022 by Galen C. Dalrymple.

DayBreaks for the Week of 5/8/22 – Walking in Death

“My “thou shalt nots” need to be broken if I am ever going to live. My idols need to be destroyed.

“If you could see my idols in physical form, there would be a statue of each one of my children, Sam, and my perfect life with lots of people plopped right onto a shelf like trophies. A statue representing each of my relationships, from parents to sisters to lifelong friends. Statues of my house, the books I’ve written, and my master’s degree. I’d have a statue of my accomplishments, what people think of me, my skin color, my wedding day, motherhood, and my need to manage everyone’s emotions. But the biggest statue, my gold one, would be me.

“But the truth is the lower I bow and the more I worship these idols and statues, the more I am walking in death. It’s my own hell. If you have walls lined with self-made statues, you know the death I speak of.

“When we go through life quietly chanting, “Please like me, love me, be okay with me, don’t blame me, don’t expose me, don’t leave me, protect them, protect me, give me prosperity, give me power, give me safety, give me worth, tell me I’m good, tell me I’m perfect, give me pardon,” it is like walking in death.

“The chanting can be subtle or screaming, but our idols will never be satisfied. We will only live in slavery.” – Anjuli Paschall, Awake

Are you walking in life, or death? List your idols – then shatter them into smithereens.

PRAYER: Jesus, we want to walk in life, not death. Give us the discernment of your Spirit to identify our idols and the power of the Spirit to destroy them. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright 2022 by Galen C. Dalrymple.

DayBreaks for 2/24/22 – Builders (and Worshippers) of Golden Calves

NOTE TO READERS OF DayBreaks: I have written DayBreaks since 1997…a period of 25 years during which I missed very few weekdays. I have loved every minute of it. I have gotten to know some of the readers of DayBreaks personally and it has been delightful. That being said, a recent increase in my work/ministry responsibilities necessitates that I stop producing DayBreaks with this coming Friday’s issue (2/25). Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your encouragement, correction, words of wisdom and friendship that I shall cherish throughout eternity! I look forward to meeting you all in the new heavens and new earth. Thank you for reading my humble writings and thoughts. You blessed me far more than I blessed you, I’m sure! God bless and keep you always and forever more!

Exodus 32:1-4 – When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.”  Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.” So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”

This passage is one of the saddest passages in Scripture.  It hadn’t been all that long since God delivered His people from the clutches of pharaoh through a series of miraculous interventions.  You’d think that for a while, they would have been faithful.  But therein is the lesson for us: as humans, we are fickle creatures, prone to wander into sin as fast as our feet and hearts can take us.  We are not really all that different from the Israelites after all. 

But what is interesting to me is that it was Aaron, the man who was to be first high priest, that made the golden calf.  The people wondered about the fate of Moses.  He’d been gone longer than anyone had anticipated.  I’m sure he hadn’t taken much food or extra luggage when he went up the side of the mountain, and the Israelites knew it, too.  Perhaps he’d frozen.  Perhaps he’d starved.  Perhaps he’d died of thirst, or been torn to pieces by a wild animal.  If any of those things had happened, the people would probably have concluded that the “God” they’d been following wasn’t all that powerful after all (in spite of all they’d witnessed in Egypt and on their journey).  Or, perhaps, just perhaps, Moses had been guilty of sin and God had decided to strike him dead.  So, it was time for a new god.  This one would be golden – from a human perspective, a vast improvement on one that couldn’t even be seen.

In his book, Into the Depths of God, Calvin Miller had this to say about those who build golden calves: “Golden calves are the glitzy work of those Aarons who have not traversed the upper slopes of Sinai.  Those who have, meet that God who is the only food that can appease their hunger.”

Moses would never have built the calf after he’d encountered God in the burning bush, nor after he’d come down from Sinai.  He’d “seen” the real thing – who would need a cheap, golden imitation?  Miller also noted about the gods in our own lives: “Making Christ in our image avoids the painful work of being conformed to his.” 

Once we have encountered God in the truest and purest way, we will have no hunger for cheap imitations, and nothing else will even come close to the experience of the real thing. 

PRAYER: Father, keep us from building golden calves and following false gods to avoid the pain of being conformed to the image of our Lord Jesus!  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

NOTE: If you are looking for blog recommendations, you should try out Ann Voskamp’s blog: https://annvoskamp.com/blog

Copyright 2022 by Galen C. Dalrymple. ><}}}”>

DayBreaks for 12/17/21 – The Shipwrecked at the Stable

“Do you think you could contain Niagara Falls in a teacup?”

“Is there anyone in our midst who pretends to understand the awesome love in the heart of the Abba of Jesus that inspired, motivated, and brought about Christmas? The shipwrecked at the stable kneel in the presence of mystery.”

“God entered into our world not with the crushing impact of unbearable glory, but in the way of weakness, vulnerability, and need. On a wintry night in an obscure cave, the infant Jesus was a humble, naked, helpless God who allowed us to get close to him.”

“We all know how difficult it is to receive anything from someone who has all the answers, who is completely cool, utterly unafraid, needing nothing, and in control of every situation. We feel unnecessary, unrelated to this paragon. So, God comes as a newborn baby, giving us a chance to love him, making us feel that we have something to give him.” – (Author uncertain, though I think it may be Max Lucado.)

It is hard to grasp the magnitude of what happened in Bethlehem. We like to think that we, like the wise men of old, would come to give him something. After all, isn’t that appropriate for a king (let alone the God of the universe)?

But in the final analysis, little did the wise men know that it was they who were receiving a much greater gift. What could they give the King of kings, the creator of all that exists or ever will exist? What could such a God want or desire from mere humans?  So, while I’m sure that the gifts were stupendous and that Mary and Joseph had probably never seen such richness, it was the baby that was receiving the most precious gift: the worship of his creatures. And that was the greatest gift the wise men gave Jesus that night.

What does God want from you this holiday season? He doesn’t really care for a big financial gift on Christmas Sunday (although if you want to give it, He’ll put it to use to feed the hungry or reach the lost). He wants your adoration – your worship – and your love. 

We need to come to the stable realizing that we are shipwrecked by life and in need of rescue. Even at the moment of his birth, he needed nothing from us, for he had come to rescue us and give us life. 

PRAYER: Here we are, Lord, shattered by life, scarred, disfigured, barely limping along! We have no gold, frankincense or myrrh to give you. All we have to give you is our brokenness and worship, which is precisely the gift you long to receive so you can make us whole once again!  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright 2021 by Galen C. Dalrymple. ><}}}”>

DayBreaks for 9/06/21 – Emotional Idolatry

Galen is out of the office until 9/13. DayBreaks from the archive will be featured until he returns.

At a recent conference of evangelical Chinese churches I served as a small-group leader for 17 year-old youths.  Although they came from various geographical and socio-economic backgrounds and attended churches that differed from each other in many respects, and possessed vibrantly different characters and personalities, they were all united by one thing.  Each of these youths confessed that, after many years of attending this annual gathering, they were no longer “getting anything out of” the worship services.  Each of them was frightened by this fact and suspected that he was in the process of losing his faith.

When I questioned what they expected to “get out of” the worship services, it became clear that what they had once experienced, and what they were now seeking to re-experience, was a powerful emotional response to the service.  In years past, they had raised their arms in unison with hundreds of their peers, they had sung, danced and wept in a collective ecstatic experience of joy, passion and love.  Now, even though they were surrounded by the same peers, singing the same songs, and going through the same motions, they did not experience the emotional response they once had.  It struck me that I had heard this concern before, from people in all walks of life: I don’t worship with the same passion I once did.  Such Christians strive in vain to reproduce the experience they once had, to recapture the euphoria of love they had found in the worship of their youth.

Certainly, emotions form an exceedingly important dimension of human experience.  God created us as emotional creatures, and He uses those emotions in sacred ways.  As emotions change, however, so will the emotional dimension of our faiths.  Just like all good things, emotions become idols when they are elevated to a place of importance they were never meant to occupy.  They become obstacles to our growth when we are unwilling to be carried into new and deeper ways of relating to God. 

We should not fall prey to an emotion-idolatry that presents these powerful emotional experiences as the point and purpose of the Christian life.  These youth I spoke with, and many others like them, had come to believe that their emotional experiences ARE faith–that they are what a relationship with God is all about.  When they lost those experiences, they came to the logical conclusion that they had lost their faith.  This is all too common.  As a result of the over-emotionalization of worship in some circles, the inside of the church is full of individuals trying to manufacture emotional worship experiences in order to assure themselves they still have faith.  At the same time, outside the church, we find individuals who ceased attending church because they ceased having their emotional experience in worship, and thus concluded their earlier “faith” had been a sham. 

When first one falls in love, s/he is swept up in feelings of intense joy and passion.  Later in the relationship, however, the love undergoes a transformation from something that is exciting and dynamic to something that is deep and consistent.  We lose the excitement and thrill of newfound love (and may well mourn its absence), but we gain so much in its place: an intimate knowledge of each other, a commitment to faithfulness in every moment, a strong love that abides through all the years and changes.

God is not satisfied with our infatuation.  He does not want us to love Him for the feelings He gives us.  Jesus says in John 17:3 that This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God.  Our faith cannot be fashioned atop the shifting sands of emotional experience; instead, it must rest upon that which is eternal: the character and love of God itself.  I challenge you to refuse to remain stuck in a state of infatuation with God; press on, press deeper, into a relationship of intimacy and trust with the One who created you.

PRAYER:  Lord, we love the excitement and joy we sometimes feel in worship!  Thank you for those moments that lift us and encourage us to run after you!  But help us to remember that eternal life is not feeling excited about you, but is found in knowing you.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright 2021 by Galen C. Dalrymple. ><}}}”>

DayBreaks for 8/9/21 – Kingdom Perspective

Some number of years ago, J. B. Phillips wrote a book titled, Your God is too Small.  It says things that we need to be reminded of often.  But there’s a perhaps subtle extension of this which creeps into our Christian minds.  We feel outnumbered, outgunned and intimidated by our “small time” occupation as Christians.  We may even feel apologetic about it from time to time.  We may feel inclined, when in decidedly non-Christian circles, we are asked about what we do, why we do it and what we believe.  After all, it takes some gumption to stand in front of non-believers and boast in the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus.

Perhaps that’s why I liked what Russ Blowers, a minister in Indianapolis, had to say when he was asked to introduce himself and describe his profession at a Rotary Club meeting.  He could have just said, “I’m a preacher”, but he was led by the Spirit to have a kingdom perspective that we all would do well to share. 

“Hi, I’m Russ Blowers.  I’m with a global enterprise.  We have branches in every country in the world.  We have representatives in nearly every parliament and boardroom on earth.  We’re into motivation and behavior alteration.  We run hospitals, feeding stations, crisis-pregnancy centers, universities, publishing houses, and nursing homes.  We care for your clients from birth to death.  We are into life insurance and fire insurance.  We perform spiritual heart transplants.  Our original Organizer owns all the real estate on earth plus an assortment of galaxies and constellations.  He knows everything and lives everywhere.  Our product is free for the asking.  (There’s not enough money to buy it.)  Our CEO was born in a hick town, worked as a carpenter, didn’t own a home, was misunderstood by his family and hated by his enemies, walked on water, was condemned to death without a trial, and arose from the dead.  I talk with him every day.”

Wow.   Is that good, or what?  A decidedly different perspective than I would have probably shared.  But is there a word in his description that isn’t true?  And aren’t we all a part of this incredible global enterprise?  We all know that there is nothing in the world more important than saving the lost from an eternity without God, without hope, without relief.  Yet when we are asked about our faith, when Christianity is attacked and slandered by the enemy, we meekly lower our voice and whisper, “Yes, I’m a believer” and then say something to derail the conversation into something about the weather or current events and hope the “religious’ conversation dies off. 

Isaiah 24:15-16 – Therefore in the east give glory to the LORD; exalt the name of the LORD, the God of Israel, in the islands of the sea. From the ends of the earth we hear singing: “Glory to the Righteous One.”

No matter what you do, if you are a Christian, you can share Russ’ attitude.  You can talk with the CEO of the Universe every moment of every day.  You aren’t a nuisance to Him – His door is always open to you and He’s eager to have you drop by.  This Christianity thing isn’t something that is done behind closed church doors – it is meant to be exploded on the global stage and made visible for all the world to see – just like the crucifixion was visible. 

What are you doing with your part of this global enterprise?

PRAYER: Take our perspective away from this world and its attractions and teach us to have Kingdom perspective!  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright 2021, Galen C. Dalrymple. ><}}}”>

DayBreaks for 5/7/21 – Musings from 41,000 Feet

From the DayBreaks archive, May 2012:

On Saturday night, 5/05/12, I was flying back southbound to Atlanta at 41,000 feet as the sun was setting on the western horizon.  At the same time, the full moon was rising on the eastern horizon, almost exactly 180 degrees in the opposite direction.  Sun off the right wingtip, moon off the left. 

To the west, between us and the sun, was a band of clouds at the horizon level and the sun lit them on fire.  The band was colored with reds, maroons, orange, yellows…and as I looked out the window on that side of the plane, I could imagine myself standing on the surface of Saturn and could believe that this had to be what it was like to look at the bands of Saturn from the surface of that planet.  It was unbelievably beautiful. 

The moon to the left was huge.  I’d never seen it this large or this clearly.  It was the night of the Super Moon – when the moon was at its closest approach in its orbit to the earth.  Its disk was just above the edge of the horizon and there was a fluffy blanket of clouds obscuring the ground below.  The huge moon lit up the top surface of the cloud layer in a gossamer layer of white as the clouds raced past, under the wing, thousands of feet below us.  It was unbelievably beautiful.

As I looked back and forth from the Saturn-like bands of color to the west and the glorious moonrise to the east, I was transported into worship by the magnificent beauty of the creation, this spectacular universe in which clouds catch the colors of the rainbow and moons, planets and stars hang upon nothing in the cold emptiness of space. 

I marveled that God should have created such beauty and chosen to share it with us and let us enjoy it.  Of course, He created it for His own enjoyment, but I also believe He did it for ours.  And my mind wandered off to this passage: 1 Corinthians 2:9 (ESV) – But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him…”

As I sat by my window and gazed out at the rising moon as the sky grew darker, I contemplated the wonders that await us in the “new heavens and earth.”  As spectacular as what I was looking at, I know that it is a very poor preview of what is to come, and I was again transported into worship.

I wish you all could have been there with me to see the beauty of the sunset and of the Super Moon as they cast their spell of wonder.  It was unbelievably beautiful…and His gift to us.

What beautiful thing has he shown you lately?

PRAYER: Lord, how I long to see what wonders you have in store for us!  Sometimes when I think I can begin to imagine it because of what I can see now, I’m reminded that you tell us we cannot even imagine it, and I am overwhelmed that you have lavished such love on us that you invite us not only into the wonders of your creation, but the wonders of your love and grace as well. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright 2021, Galen C. Dalrymple. ><}}}”>