The Best Bundle of All!

Bundle.  It's not what it used to be. We can remember when  "bundle of joy" referred to a newborn baby, and during the winter months, we used to "bundle up." In reference to money,  we could "make a bundle," "lose a bundle," or "save a bundle!"
But move over old bundle - you have been confiscated by our business world - coerced into a new-bundle definition, which is enough to make us a "bundle of nerves."

Now, "bundle" refers to a combination of products that promise to save us money and make our lives more efficient. For example, customers can buy double pack, triple pack, or personalized technology bundles, which include HD, DVR, unlimited calling, wireless, entertainment packages, or TV+ phone + Internet that operates at breakneck speed.  Buyers can get more for less or less for less. They can buy a subscription or sign a contract.
But, it's not just technology that offers bundles.  Hospitals are implementing bundles, which are a series of health practices especially designed for the need of a patient that, when followed, greatly improve the wellness of the individual.

There is more. Creative writers can create their own blogs and add a bundle of products to make the blog more competent.  The blogger can bundle Stats, Traffic Sources, Followers, Slideshow, Share it, and umpteen other gadgets to create one extraordinary blog.
Not into bundling your blog? Then bundle your insurance. Insurance companies offer policyholders home, business, and auto bundles. Bundling this package promises to reward consumers with a bundle of savings.

   So, we see that just by bundling, we can add and add and add.  A consumer can possess, experience, sustain, and own, not just one bundle, but a flock, a gang, a bunch, and a cluster of bundles.  We can personalize our own bundles or subscribe to a fixed one. Actually, bundles can make life easier and simpler because they are a network of services that reflect lifestyles.

You might think, 'I don't have any bundles.' or  'My family doesn't have a single bundle to its name.' We propose, if the world has bundles, why can't we, who pray for each other, claim that we pray bundles of prayers for those whom we know as well as for those whom we have never met?  Someone is praying for you, so you are included in someone's bundle of prayers.  If you are praying for someone, then you have included someone in your bundle of prayers.  When Christians bundle prayer, we don't look for the best deals around or pray a package that promises to reward.  We don't have to buy a subscription or sign a contract. We aren't looking to save money or make our lives more efficient. We are praying sincerely on behalf of someone and our  prayers reach a powerful God with the speed of a thought.
We are praying because Jesus gave us the example, and we are obedient. Think of it this way, when many people add us to their prayers, we are in a caboodle of prayer bundles and God is listening. We have a wireless, personalized, and an unlimited-calling prayer line.
After all, prayer is a habit that reflects our lifestyle.

Who's in your prayer bundle?  And, in whose prayer bundle are you?

If we don't pray for each other and the needs around us, we will never experience a bundle of answers to our prayers, which is the best bundle of all! 
  "The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective." (James 5:16b)

Keep Looking Up!
    Jim and Linda
 

In A Dry Spot?

This photo captures a very dry, arid landscape and a lot of hot, shifting sand. It was taken in Northern Arizona in Monument Valley, elevation 5,564 feet, where the precipitation averages only 81/2 inches a year. That little dot you see on the side of the sandy hill is Jim slowly making his way up the side of the mountain. During his uphill climb, he said that he never got a good gripping foothold as his boots kept sinking into the shifting sand dune.   His intentions were to go forward, but the sand stole his stride and moved him back a few inches every time he took a step. Since there was little traction, he needed more time and energy to reach the top. Factor in the sun and heat, magnified by the sand and the rocks, and he had easily underestimated the amount of time it would take to reach his goal: that hole that the wind, down through history, had blown into the side of the mountain. This 25,000 square-mile territory is a preserved Navajo Tribal Park, and it is a wonder to behold.  In fact, you may have seen it even though you might never have made a literal footprint here.  It's famous for the series of Westerns that have been made here and are still being made here.  The landscape is a kaleidoscope of colors cascading downward from the blue hues of heaven to the rich brown colors of the earth.  It is comprised of multicolored cliffs, buttes and plenty of shifting sand. In other words, this is the definition of a "dry spot."  

If we live long enough, and if we have a destination, we will experience a few dry spots, literally.   Maybe we "bought the ticket" to our dry spot or maybe circumstances put us there.  We all know this "dry spot," the one where we can't get a gripping foothold, the one where we slip back a few inches with every stride forward, the one that takes more energy and effort than we had anticipated, the one that turns up the heat, the one paved with shifting sand.  And, when we finally reach our destination, we may discover that something had blown a hole in it!  

More often than not, when we pause to catch our breath, and to clearly observe the landscape or the bigger picture, we notice that all may not be lost.  The wind that had blown a hole in the side of the cliff, had also created a masterpiece.  The results were unexpected and unimaginable.  That day, we had seen red rocks rising right smack dab out of the earth to salute heaven. We saw entire ridges and mesas that were visually stunning, but we had not imagined how the design of those cliffs and free-standing formations would look with a hole blown in them.  Then we saw a mesa of red rocks, and we saw one portion of its ridge, only one part, which had a hole in it - a wind-chiseled hole that streamed the evening sun and framed a cerulean sky.  And it was breathtakingly beautiful.  The artwork, created by the breath of the wind, was actually more beautiful than the free-standing formations or the expanded mesas!   Some One had already been there.  There was a surprise.  Nothing had been completely destroyed - only re-designed.  And, it worked. 

It appears as if Jim is all alone, but, of course, he isn't.  In the opposite direction is our Navajo guide, two friends who made the trip with us, and me with the camera.  We, too, were making our way up our own giant, wavy sand dune, slipping and sliding in an parallel effort.

Some One is there to keep us company, to keep us sure-footed, and to see that we reach our destination: the destination we created or the best one, the one He created.  We like to hike through life with the One who is full of surprises!
 
Keep Looking Up...your dry spot is never really that dry!
             Jim and Linda