DayBreaks for the Week of 12/24/23: Grapling With Mysteries

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Christmas has been called a season of wonder, and for good reason. Angels appearing bringing messages from the Creator of all things. Virgin births, visitors from far distant places bearing gifts fit for a king to give to a tiny baby asleep in a humble manger. Predictions of coming heartbreak and of a king who would save his people. And our minds struggle to grasp what these thing mean and how they could even be. We try to take experiences we have had and apply them to new happenings as a way to make sense of it all

One possible way to understand these happenings was proffered by Hans Urs von Balthasar in his book, Light of the World: “Christmas is not an event within history but is rather the invasion of time by eternity.” Can it be any wonder than we struggle understand this cosmic wonder? None of have ever seen or experienced eternity, let alone grasp how Eternity invading time and space makes sense.

The wonder didn’t stop with his birth, though. It continued in his life and teachings and what he taught us about how the Eternal Word sees and understands humanity. As Mark Shea points out, long before Jesus taught his disciples the mysteries of the Eucharist, he taught them the He was present to them in the Least of These. St. John Chrysostom put it this way: “If you don’t see Jesus present in the beggar at the church door, you shall not find him in the chalice.”

This season, as you ponder the mystery of eternity invading space and time, let us not fail to see the greater mystery of how Jesus sees us and how he is present in the faces of all those we will see and encounter during our life.

PRAYER: Father, let us ponder the wonder of Eternity coming to earth and of the great mystery of how you are present in not just the great and mighty, but the poor and beggar. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright 2023 by Galen C. Dalrymple. All right reserved.

DayBreaks for 12/09/21 – One Day

Today I am flying to the west coast where I’ve been invited to officiate at the funeral of one of my very best friends. This post from the DayBreaks archive seemed especially appropriate:

“And on that day when my strength is failing
The end draws near and my time has come
Still my soul will sing your praise unending
10,000 years and then forever more!
Bless the lord oh my soul
Oh my soul
Worship his holy name
Sing like never before
Oh my soul
I worship your holy name.” 10,000 Reasons – Matt Redman

These are the words to the last verse and chorus of Matt Redman’s song, 10,000 Reasons. I don’t know if there has been a song in my entire lifetime that has touched me as deeply and as often as this song has over the past two years.

We’ve all been through tough times the past two years. It hasn’t been easy. There were plenty of times when the darkness seemed to be settled in forever and it seemed that things were not going to work out. But, as always seems to be the case, they did and have.

But as I listened to this song again twice today, I was moved by the image of the moment of death and of waking up singing an unending song of praise for “…ten thousand years and then forever more.”

Perhaps you already start each of your days with praise (I have this song on my cell phone as my wake-up alarm, by the way!) Praise is a great way to start the day, isn’t it? But you know, you just know before your first foot hits the floor that it won’t be long until the first issue of the day arises. Until the first complaint leaves your mouth. Until the first bad attitude creeps in. Before the first unkind word is spoken. Before the cares, worries and problems of your day start to take control and the praise fades into a muffled, barely audible background at best.

Now, for even just a few moments, I want you to think about something else. I want you to picture what it will be like some day to wake up and not have a single issue with which to contend. To not have a single complaint leave your lips – or even any reason to complain. To spend an unending day and never have or experience from others a bad attitude. To never hear an unkind word. To never have a relationship problem. To never fail, to never again have a self-image issue.

We think of the great promises of The Revelation: that death and dying will be no more, nor will there be any more tears. But how often do we think about all the myriad hundreds and thousands of little things that niggle and nag at us as we pass from our unconscious sleep until we fall into unconscious sleep again? Not only no death, but not a single ache. Not only no death, but no fear of death or cancer or heart disease or Alzheimer’s. Never to have a problem….period. Never to have a want that is unsatisfied. Never to long for something newer or better – for there will be no such thing as “better” than what we’ll have on that eternal day. We will live in an eternal “best”. One day.

It’s coming.

PRAYER:  How I long for that “one day”, Lord! For that day of unending songs of praise, for that day that will last 10,000 years and then…forevermore! Thank you for the hope, the assurance, of that one day! Maranatha, Lord Jesus! In Your name, Amen.

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

DayBreaks for 10/22/22 – It Will Never Fail

Your kindness and love will always be with me each day of my life, and I will live forever in your house, LORD. – Psalms 23:6 CEV

I’m rather melancholy today. Late last week, we learned that a co-worker of mine (I didn’t know him, but I do know his close friend and boss very well) has gone to be with the Lord. But the circumstances may not be what you think. It wasn’t COVID.

Last week, Boko Haram came into the village where this brother, Solomon, lived. They entered his home and wanted to kidnap his daughter. Solomon, a pastor, refused to let her go and tried to protect her. Boko Haram shot and killed him. Thanks be to God, in the chaos of the moment, his daughter was able to hide herself and Boko Haram didn’t get her. Both the daughter and her mother have now been taken to a safe and secure location. Solomon’s heroic actions undoubtedly saved his daughter from unspeakably evil things. But Solomon is gone.

How do we square such things with passages like Psalm 23:6? It’s hard…very hard. Sometimes we can only attempt to see things such as this through the eyes of faith.

When we fall in love with someone, we all hope and want it to last forever. No one falls in love thinking and hoping that someday they will become bitter toward one another and filled with hate. They don’t get married planning to divorce. But they do know that at some point, they will be separated by death if nothing else.

That thought terrifies those of us who deeply love our families and friends. We don’t want to deal with the pain of that loss, or to be the cause of that kind of pain to our loved ones. But we know that at some point it will happen.

We look at this verse and it says that God’s kindness and love is different. It will be with us each and every day of our lives. God’s love and kindness for us won’t grow old, he won’t grow bitter toward us, and not even death itself will separate us from him. It is hard to understand and believe that – we can only imagine such a love through hopeful eyes of faith – and we long for it to be really, really true.

Solomon is dwelling now in the house of the Lord, where he will know nothing but love and kindness throughout endless ages. In the meantime, we who are left behind are the unfortunate ones as separation from those we love still looms ahead of us somewhere down the line, but we need not fear that of God – and that’s no small consolation. In times like this, when it is most hard to believe in the unending kindness and love of God, it is most vitally important that we do just that.

Please join me in praying for pastor Solomon’s (his first name – last name omitted for safety reasons) family and other who are in harms way.

PRAYER: Lord, we lift up Solomon’s family to you for your comfort. Hold them all close, let them hear your heartbeat and see your tears as your heart breaks for them, but give them assurance that Solomon is safe in your home. Keep us always in your love and kindness as we await the time, we, too, shall be home with you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

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

DayBreaks for 9/08/21 – Finished Products in Eternity

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

Romans 9:19-21 – One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?” But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?'”  Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?

Most of us have heard of or read the various scriptures that use the illustration of God being the Potter and we being the clay.  The points usually made have to do with God, who is our Creator and Maker, having the absolute right to “mold us and make us” according to his wishes.  The point is also usually made that we, as the created ones, have no right to challenge how he chooses to do this molding.

There are many possible applications to the “potter and clay” illustration but a couple I hadn’t thought of before were touched on recently in a talk I heard.

The fact that God as the creator of everything is the original artist.   He created beauty in the world around us and that is what he intends for us.  As a priceless violin that would deteriorate without being played, we would deteriorate without our Master’s hand on us.  A Stradivarius that is played by an expert forcefully and skillfully actually improves the violin’s quality and ability to make beautiful music.  We know that God uses us and shapes us quite forcefully at times for our own good and for the beauty of his purposes.  But did you ever think that God is making us more beautiful?  Anything created out of clay by an artist is more beautiful than the lump he started with, but can you imagine the beauty of all the people you see around you looking so ordinary and mundane on the outside when they are revealed as finished products in eternity?

PRAYER:  Lord, I often feel anything BUT beautiful.  I know and hate my sin!  Yet, hoping against hope, believing against my feelings, I believe You are making me beautiful, someone who can abide Your Presence and glory, and that someday, I shall be at home with You, a finished lump of clay made beautiful by Your work in me.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

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

DayBreaks for 1/29/21 – The Power to Change Eternity

My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins. – James 5:19-20

In life we are often frustrated by the lack of control and power over the endless stream of circumstances and events that surround us.  Our plans are swept away so often by the changing tide of time, the actions of others, and our own inability to foresee and adequately plan for the future.  When we have great expectations and hopes and those dreams are snatched away seemingly by some whim of fate, it hurts.  We don’t understand. 

When we look at the great tragedies that rock the world – man-made, natural, or the so-called, “acts of God” we also feel inadequate to rise to those challenges and make a difference.  And it’s frustrating.

Sometimes we forget what great power God has placed at our disposal.  I’m not talking especially about the power of the Spirit, though that is an incredible, unlimited power that is at work both on us and in us. The passage from James seems to me to hint that we have (by the Spirit, of course) the power to change eternity itself.  If we can turn one brother or sister, one wayward sailor on life’s seas, from the blindness to the things of God, we can change eternity.

Is that awesome, or what?

PRAYER: Thank you for the power and trust you have put in us to affect not just the future, but eternity!  Help us to not despair at our helplessness in things that don’t really matter, and to celebrate the ability to affect eternity!  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

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

DayBreaks for 10/14/20 – Hanging in the Balance

From the DayBreaks archive, October 2010:

The island of Kauai is the oldest of the Hawaiian islands.  As such, it has a long history.  Some of the history is beautiful and amazing, but it also has its dark moments. 

Before Kauai became part of King Kamehameha’s unified Hawaiian island kingdom, Kauai had its own kings who lived high up in the mountains in the center of the island.  The kingship would be passed from father to son as was typical in most monarchies.  When it came time for the wife of the king to give birth, she would come down from the mountain to a heiau (a holy place of worship) where she would give birth.  If the child that was born was a daughter, the baby would be automatically welcomed into the royal family.  If, however, the baby was a boy, a test was required to determine if the child was worthy to be a successor to the king.  After the child was born, the umbilical cord of the baby boy was wrapped in ti leaves and placed outside of the enclosure where the mother and baby boy would spend the night.  If the rats came during the night and ate the umbilical cord, it was believed that the boy was not worthy to be an heir to the kingdom and he would be put to death.  The boy would survive only if the umbilical cord was still intact and hadn’t been eaten by rats during the night.

As I heard about this practice of the ancient residents of Kauai, I couldn’t help but draw a contrast between this chance-laden, horrendous practice and how God deals with us.  The writer of the letter to the Romans describes our relationship with the King: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. – Romans 8:17

Are any of us worthy to be joint heirs with Jesus?  Absolutely not!  Does God leave us outside the door to see what chance may play into our future?  No.  Does He accept us only if we pass some test?  Yes, and no.  The test is a simple one: will you put your faith in My Son?  That’s it.  It’s not left to some rat to determine our fate, nor is it even up to Satan to determine our fate.  God leaves it to us, in a way, to make the choice that will allow us to be accepted as His sons and daughters. 

Have you chosen yet?  Eternity is hanging in the balance.

PRAYER: How thankful we are that You have a heart that is willing and eager to adopt us as Your children, to give us, along with Jesus, all things!  In Jesus’ name, Amen.Copyright 2020 by Galen C. Dalrymple. ><}}}”>

DayBreaks for 5/26/20 – The Final Resting Place

DayBreaks for 5/25/20: The Final Resting Place

From the DayBreaks archive, May 2010:

I’ve done too many funerals lately, plus two graveside services (why is it that every graveside service I’ve done in the past few years has always been on a rainy day when the skies themselves are weeping?)  What a wonderful day it will be when there are no more funerals – ever!  But until then, they are an important part of coming to terms with our loss and sadness, and for that reason they are necessary. 

As I was preparing for a recent graveside service I was looking at the common reading often heard at such ceremonies, and I thought about how many times I’ve heard someone say that So-and-So has now been carried to their final resting place.  We often say nice sounding things in an attempt to comfort the bereaved, but we should be careful about what we say.  As I contemplated it, I thought about how untrue it is to say such a thing.  For one thing, when the casket is lowered into the ground, the person being mourned is not there – they have gone on to the next life, the next world – for better or worse.

For believers it is for the better: the final resting place is not in an urn or in a burial vault in the ground.  It is in the arms of Jesus in heaven above!  THAT is the final resting place of those who have put their trust in him!  For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. – Hebrews 4:3

For unbelievers, I wish the story were different than Scripture reveals it to be.  There is no resting place for those who are strangers to Jesus:  And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name. – Revelation 14:11

If we are to “enter into rest”, it is to be found only in Jesus.  Where are you headed?

PRAYER: We long to enter rest, Lord!  We are so weary and grateful that there is a rest that awaits us in glory!  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright by 2020 by Galen C. Dalrymple.  ><}}}”>

DayBreaks for 11/12/19 – On a River that Winds on Forever

This past weekend I buried my mother’s ashes next to my father in a rural cemetery in Iowa near where they both were born. As we drove to Iowa and as I lowered the container of her ashes into the dark, cold ground, I couldn’t help but think about life.

My first thought was how 90 years of life were, at least in some fashion, reduced to a box of ashes. I realize that’s not the entire picture – not by a long shot – but the mortal remains of my mother were reduced to a box 9”x10”x5”. When I die my ashes will occupy a similar space. But life is much more than the dust from which we were formed.

One of my favorite songs at the moment is Ends of the Earth, by Lord Huron. It contains a line near the end that struck me as I drove across Illinois into the state of my birth that goes like this: “I’m on a river than winds on forever.”

The day will come when my mortal life reaches its conclusion. But just as with my mother and father, that will not be the end of ME. We think of death as being the cessation of life. If we limit our thinking to the life as we have experienced it since our birth we are not seeing life clearly. From the moment of my conception I have been on a river that winds on forever. The river won’t stop flowing when my body dies. I will not be dead. I will be truly alive for the first time. From the time I was conceived my cells started to die as well as replicate and multiply. But when this river that now carries me toward eternity flows onward and actually deposits me on that eternal shore, for the first time in my existence there will no longer be cells that mutate or die. There will be life..and only life that will wind on for the numberless eons of eternity.

Jesus claimed to be the Living Water. He is that River that carries me onward, nudging me day by day to that eternal shore.

PRAYER: For the gift of an unending life I am grateful, Lord. Let me learn to live well here so that I can live well forever. Thank You for this amazing journey! In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright by 2019 by Galen C. Dalrymple.  ><}}}”>

DayBreaks for 9/23/19 – Alaska Lessons #5 – The End of the Road

On our last full day in Denali National Park, we were driven to Kantishna, Alaska which is only 2.5 miles up the road from where we had been staying. It’s the end of the road…literally…92.5 miles into Denali National Park. It was strange to stand at the signpost that marked the end of the road and it made me think.

During our time in Denali we’d seen grizzlies, moose, caribou, ruffled grouse, golden eagles, ptarmigan, otters, seal lions, beluga whales, magnificent foliage, spectacular lakes and ponds left by glacial melt, looming mountains, massive glaciers, glorious sunrises and sunsets. If you have never been to Alaska you cannot possibly understand what I’m trying to describe. It is breathtaking.

And it’s easy to get caught up in the wonderment of it all, to be swept off you feet and to forget things that should not be forgotten. The end of the road sign reminded me of that.

At the end of my road, what will my story be? In the end it isn’t about grizzlies or moose, mountains or lakes. It’s all about people – creatures far more magnificent than the mightiest grizzly or the hugest moose. They are more magnificent because they are made in God’s image, and though we hope the animals we have loved will be part of the afterlife, we don’t know for sure. But the people we have loved – and hated – do have an eternal destiny. At the end of the road, God won’t ask what I thought of the wonder of Alaska. He’ll ask if I put my faith in Jesus. He’ll ask if I fulfilled the two greatest commandments: 1) loving him with all I have within me, and 2) loving my neighbor as myself. Part of that last command is to tell them about Jesus. When I’m at the end of the road, how many will I have brought to the cross to find the love and forgiveness to be found there? That’s what will matter.

Ecclesiastes 12:13 (CSBBible) – When all has been heard, the conclusion of the matter is this: fear God and keep his commands, because this is for all humanity.

PRAYER: I am prone, Lord, to get too caught up in the things that surround me in life rather than the people who surround me. Give me greater boldness to introduce friends and loved ones to you so that at the end of the road I shall not be ashamed and found before you empty-handed. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright by 2019 by Galen C. Dalrymple.  ><}}}”>

DayBreaks for 9/24/18 – The Mayor of Waterford

From the DayBreaks archive, September 2008:

In his book, Rumors of Another World, Philip Yancey tells of a visit he made in the town of Waterford, Ireland.  He went there to see the famous tomb craving on the stone marking the final resting place of Mayor Rice.  “Considered one of the finest monuments in Ireland, the stone carving portrays the devout Mayor Rice’s decomposing body being gnawed and devoured by toads, vermin, and insects.  The mayor died at a time when the shadow of the Black Death shrouded all of Europe.  ‘Whoever you are that pass by, stand, read, weep,’ says the mayor’s inscription.  ‘I am what you will be and I was what you are.’ 

“The physical world, no matter how attractive, has its limits.” 

It isn’t often that you visit a gravesite to see a picture of the person resting therein being consumed by vermin.  We would rather not think of such things – we’d rather think of the deceased as they looked when they were happy and full of life.  We would rather believe that all is well – even below the surface of the ground where our eyes cannot penetrate the murky darkness.  

But, such is not reality.  “From dust thou art, and to dust thou shalt return,” the Lord has decreed.  But that’s not us – it’s just the shroud we wore in life.  Still, the sentiments on the Mayor’s gravestone and the pictures carved there are a good reminder to us: we are mortal.  We are finite.  We are not destined to live in this world forever and ever, hallelujah and amen.  It will, certainly, come to an end, and we shall be like Mayor Rice.

Let us remember that, and remember that the allure of this world is a deadly siren song to divert us from the pathway to eternal life.

PRAYER: Give us perspective, Lord, that we may live wisely, redeeming the time.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

COPYRIGHT 2018 by Galen C. Dalrymple. All rights reserved.