November 14th, 2011
Prayer Picture for today: Spinning tops and Kevin Costner. Good morning friends and family. If that combination doesn’t arouse some curiosity, nothing will:) As I knelt to pray this morning, God brought this picture to mind: a simple wooden top, with painted stripes – spinning against the backdrop of the universe, filled with sparkling stars. The picture took me back to childhood days where an inexpensive top from the “dime-store” (the term for today’s K-mart) gave you hours of pleasure. To delight yourself, you grabbed the “peg” that protruded from the top with your thumb and index finger and gave it a spin on the kitchen table. Then you sat back and smiled as you watched the stripes make different designs – anticipating how long the top would stay upright before you had to spin it again.
On November 9th, the “God Calling” devotional entry (that speaks in the first person of Jesus) said this: “Your service becomes so different when you feel I count on your great friendship to do this or that for Me…Dwell more, dwell much, on this thought of you as My friends, and of the sweetness of My knowing where I can turn for Love, for understanding, for help.”
My awareness of my frail humanness makes it hard for me to believe the great God of Heaven needs me for anything. But in fact – in addition to His desire that I “take the gospel to every creature” – He waits longingly – for me and you to satisfy the emotional desires of His great heart. May I ask? How much of your time is devoted to bringing pleasure to the heart of God? We can only be devoted to His pleasure – above our own – when we love Him with all our heart.
Back to the picture, as I prayed, God simultaneously brought to mind a picture from the movie – Dances With Wolves. Again, as most of you know, this Civil War movie begins with, Kevin Costner’s character – Lt. John Dunbar wanting to die. To that end, impulsively, he jumps on the back of his horse and takes off across an open field, strategically in front of a “firing-squad” of enemy soldiers. Anticipating he will certainly be killed, he stretches his arms out from his side (forming a cross), stands up in his stirrups and leans back to gaze at Heaven as he takes his last breath. To everyone’s surprise, after repeated attempts, every shot misses; he miraculously survives his own destructive plan for relief from his pain. How vividly that scene paints a picture of complete human surrender.
Just like a “wooden top” today, you and I have the opportunity to spread our arms wide and surrender to the loving fingers of God’s control. Yesterday may be full of faults and failures but this is a new day. “His mercies are brand new for the broken and contrite heart.” In other words – God is anxious to “spin us” again. His power alone, can keep us upright. It is the degree of our surrender, in the decisions of each day that will determine the velocity of our effectiveness for His Kingdom. And importantly, it is the degree of our surrender that will determine how many 
colorful bursts of pleasure we give His heart.