Krystal and I are excited to share our lives with you. As you probably know, there is a lot going on currently in our lives. While life brings both tough and wonderful times, we are excited about what God is doing and look forward to sharing this great journey of life with you.
I hope that you will enjoy visiting here. Posts will vary from sermons, studies, and devotionals to pictures of family and my own brand of quirky humor. You never know what you’ll find, so check in often and see what’s going on!
|
5 weeks down! You’re 1/10th of the way there! Keep it up!
This week also marks a special event in our reading – the finishing of our first book! The book of Joshua closes with a great story of the entire nation gathering and hearing the story of God saving them from slavery in Egypt and His instruction, or law, on how to live in righteousness. Everyone is fired up and excited and filled with a passionate love for God. And Joshua asks them if they can commit to serving God. “YES!” they shout. “No, you will turn away – prove it by destroying your idols.” “WE’LL DO IT! WE’RE COMMITTED TO GOD!” It was an exciting moment of faith. They were committed to giving their all to God. They were on a spiritual mountain top.
Too bad you can’t live on mountaintops.
As we continue to read, we will see the nation wax and wane from living closely to God to turning away from God. In a lot of ways it follows our same pattern of faith – we have times of deep devotion to God and then times when we deny even knowing Him! Yet, as we will read, God does not give up on them. He continues to seek to turn them to faith and to a relationship with Him. In the same way God doesn’t give up on us. Though we are hot and cold in faith, God remains faithful to us and constantly desires for us to be in relationship with Him.
Are you on the mountaintop of faith or are you in a dark spiritual valley? Wherever you are, know that God is with you and seeks you to live with Him.
P.S. – Don’t know if you caught this line in Job 9:33 “If only there were a mediator between us, someone who could bring us together.” Good news! There is – Jesus Christ!
In honor of my favorite useless holiday, I present these – my favorite 12 quotes from the Bill Murray 1993 classic – Groundhog Day.
- You wanna throw up here, or you wanna throw up in the car? I think… both.
- Do you ever have déjà vu, Mrs. Lancaster? I don’t think so, but I could check with the kitchen.
- It’s the same thing your whole life: “Clean up your room. Stand up straight. Pick up your feet. Take it like a man. Be nice to your sister. Don’t mix beer and wine, ever.” Oh yeah: “Don’t drive on the railroad track.” Well, Phil, that’s one I happen to agree with.
- Come on, *all* the long distance lines are down? What about the satellite? Is it snowing in space? Don’t you have some kind of a line that you keep open for emergencies or for celebrities? I’m both. I’m a celebrity in an emergency.
- This is one time where television really fails to capture the true excitement of a large squirrel predicting the weather.
- This is pitiful. A thousand people freezing their butts off waiting to worship a rat. What a hype. Groundhog Day used to mean something in this town. They used to pull the hog out, and they used to eat it. You’re hypocrites, all of you!
- He… might be okay. [the truck explodes in a fireball] Well, no. Probably not now.
- If you gotta shoot, aim high. I don’t wanna hit the groundhog.
- You want a prediction about the weather, you’re asking the wrong Phil. I’ll give you a winter prediction: It’s gonna be cold, it’s gonna be grey, and it’s gonna last you for the rest of your life.
- What would you do if you were stuck in one place and every day was exactly the same, and nothing that you did mattered?
Ralph: That about sums it up for me.
- Not bad… Mr. Connors, you say this is your first lesson? Phil: Yes, but my father was a piano *mover*, so…
- Well maybe the *real* God uses tricks, you know? Maybe he’s not omnipotent. He’s just been around so long he knows everything.
4 weeks! Hope you’ve been able to keep up! Let’s stay together and we’ll finish the race!
I want to clear up one thing quickly – these readings are not meant to “fit together”. There will be times that, coincidentally, they do relate, but this will be a rarity. This plan is designed with the long range in mind and therefore it divides out some of the harder to read passages over the course of weeks instead of having to read them consecutively. Reading a couple of chapters each week from Isaiah, for example, is a lot easier to do than to sit down and read those same chapters over consecutive days. The general design is set up so you won’t get bogged down in one book. When it’s the middle of May and you’ve finished Job, you’ll appreciate having not read that over the course of 3 weeks of daily readings, trust me.
One thing that is important for us to remember and realize as we are reading is the context. Though God’s word is for all people at all times, these scriptures were not written directly to us today. We must read these passages with an understanding that the culture of the time was much different than ours. They had much lower views of children and women, for example, which makes Jesus teachings about women and children very important. It’s also important to point out that life at the time of Joshua is more akin to a tribal life that one would watch on National Geographic today than it is to our suburban, genteel Southern society. Life was harsh and the stress was on survival and existence rather than wealth building and education. The fragility of human life made death a much more regular part of their lives. It is hard for us to read of all the destruction, and even more difficult to understand God’s role. Yet when we couple these passages with the words of the prophets who were calling nations to repentance and also read of people being spared because they turned to God, we see the grace that was available.
Today, we may not see the same destruction and battle in a physical way, but there is a very strong spiritual battle being fought in our lives and in society. Those that do not honor God and do not fear the consequences of their sins are seeking to drive our society to debauchery and turn us away from God. And while our response should not be to take up physical arms, there is a clear mandate in scripture for us to stand up for faith. We must realize that we are in the middle of a great battle for our souls and for those we love. Either we fight back or we will eventually succumb to attack. Stay strong and keep alert, for the world doesn’t want you to love Christ.
Keep up the reading! I hope you are sensing the reward of discovering God in scripture!
A member who is on medical leave asked me recently to suggest some books to read to pass the daytime hours (when TV consists of news, talk shows, soap operas, or bad re-runs). I thought I would answer his question and share 12 books that I have found that have helped me grow in faith and how to live that faith out in a positive way.
- The Call by Os Guinness – A great book for understanding that we are all called and how to fulfill our calling to serve Christ.
- Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster – The best and most approachable book on spiritual disciplines.
- Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis – A classic that still speaks to the essentials of faith.
- Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell – Cutting edge and gets you thinking. Will get you mad and make you think.
- The Jesus I Never Knew by Phillip Yancey – A great book about recapturing the biblical Jesus.
- Why I’m Not a Calvinist by Walls and Dongell – Written by two of my seminary professors. A great philosophical answer to the prevailing Calvinist theology of the day.
- The Universe Next Door by Sire – Perfect for understanding the root differences between Christianity and other religions/philosophies.
- Jim and Casper go to Church by Henderson & Casper – A telling book of a journalist and and atheist who visit various churches. Challenges us to ask if we are really reaching those we are called to reach.
- Lessons from a Sheepdog by Keller – Another classic that gives a shepherd’s insight into the Psalms.
- Wild at Heart by John Eldridge – Perfect for reviving the heart of a man for Christ.
- Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts by Parrott & Parrott – A great pre-marital resource, but also a good tune-up resource to see how you are living in relationship with your spouse.
- Hearing God by Dallas Willard – A great book on understanding God’s will. Will transform your understanding of what God’s will is and how to seek it.
|
|
Recent Comments