Wednesday Week 12

This brings us to the crucial question for every professing or potential follower of Christ: Do we really believe he is worth abandoning everything for? Do you and I really believe that Jesus is so good, so satisfying, so rewarding that we will leave all we have and all we own and all we are in order to find our fullness in him? Do you and I believe him enough to obey him and to follow him wherever he leads, even when the crowds in our culture - and maybe in our churches - turn the other way?

David Platt - Radical

Tuesday Week 12

George Muller is best known for the orphan ministry he began. During his life he cared for more than ten thousand orphans. Remarkable, and intentionally, he never asked for money or other resources to provide for those orphans. Instead, he simply prayed and trusted God to provide.

This is an excerpt from his journal:

If I, a poor man, simply by prayer and faith, obtained without asking any individual, the means for establishing and carrying on an Orphan-House, there would be something which, with the Lord's blessing, might be instrumental in strengthening the faith of the children of God, besides being a testimony to the consciences of the unconverted, of the realities of the things of God. This, then, was the primary reason for establishing the Orphan-House.... The first and primary reason object of the work was (and still is:) that God might be magnified by the fact, that the orphans under my care are provided with all they need, only by prayer and faith without anyone being asked by me or my fellow-laborers whereby it may be seen, that God is faithful still, and hears prayer still.

George Muller, quoted by David Platt in his book Radical

Monday Week 12

One more from the one chapter in Mark Buchanon's book.

Hume Cronyn on Alfred Hitchcock:

We were working on a problem with a scene. There were a lot of things to consider - lighting, staging, pacing, and the like. We were up very late struggling to find the right way to do it. Finally, when we seemed close to the solution, Hitchcock...started telling jokes, silly, junior high-type stuff, and got us all lost again. Later, I asked him why, when we were so close to solving the problem, did he choose that moment to get us off track by joking around? He paused, and then said something I'll never forget. He said, "You were pushing. It never comes from pushing."

It never comes from pushing...

God made a man. He put him to work in the garden, to plow, to prune, to harvest, to name. All was good. Very good. Except one thing: the man was alone. It was not good for him to be alone. It was, in fact, the first deepest problem in the universe, a personal crisis that marred the whole of creation.

How do you solve a problem like that? "The Lord caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with flesh. then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man."

The answer to the man's deepest need and longing came from with the man, but it was not available to the man through his own efforts. God had to draw it out of him while he slept. he had to cease. he had to rest.

It never comes from pushing.

Friday Week 11

Take a day off! is the message of Sabbath. relax. Sleep in. Take a midday nap. Play. Party. Eat. Dance. Be like children.

How dare you, God! I can't believe You would do such a thing. Harrumph!

That's what we are saying when we disregard the Sabbath.

Instead, here is how we ought to enter the Sabbath: Wow! Look at this day! I can play, sing, sleep, dance a jig, kiss my wife, tussle with my kids, eat a feast. And it's all mine.

It's a gift, just for you.

taken from Mark Buchanon's The Holy Wild

Thursday Week 11

Wayne Muller writes:

There is astounding wisdom in the traditional Jewish Sabbath. Sabbath is not dependant upon our readiness to stop. We do not stop [because] we are finished. We do not stop [because] we [have] complete[d] our phone calls, finishe[d] our project, [gotten] through this stack of messages, or [sent] out this report that is due tomorrow. We stop because it is time to stop...Sabbath liberates us from the need to be finished. The old wise Sabbath says: Stop now.

It is the gift of a restful God to his restless people.

Mark Buchanon - The Holy Wild

Wednesday Week 11

There is one story in all scripture that gives any clear indication of the kind of activity God forbids on the Sabbath. That may surprise you since the Pharisees seemed to have a lot of problems with what Jesus did on the Sabbath. But there is this one story:

'While the Israelites were in the desert, a man was found gathering wood on the Sabbath day. Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and the whole assembly, and they kept him in custody, because it was not clear what should be done to him. then the Lord said to Moses, The man must die. The whole assembly must stone him outside the camp. So the assembly took him outside the camp and stoned him to death, as the Lord commanded Moses.' Numbers 15:32-36

The punishment seems grossly out of proportion to the crime. Gather wood and die. And yet, the man won't stop. He won't, for one day, lay down his load and refuse to pick it up again. He won't, for one day, trust God to meet his needs.

Such living always carries with it a death penalty.

Mark Buchanon - The Holy Wild

Tuesday Week 11

Castaway is a modern day Robinson Crusoe story. Tom Hanks plays Chuck Noland, a paunchy, snippy Fed Ex executive. His job is to make sure overnight packages funnel through the courier service with the fewest possible hitches and glitches, the highest degree of seamless efficiency. It must be on time!

...He never gets to his destination...He washes up on a tiny desert island. Thus begins the longest, deepest, interruption of Chuck's life. For four years, he's a castaway, forgotten, unsought. He lives in utter aloneness, except for a volleyball - Wilson - that becomes his mute confidant and soul mate. Chuck dwells in perfect silence, in a world reduced to day and night, sea and sky, sun and moon. He skewers fish...snares crabs...kindles fire...grows bronze-skinned and shaggy, sinewy and nimble. He lives in timelessness.

Watching the film, I was surprised that my dominant emotion was not pity. It was envy. Envy of the stillness, the solitude, the world without clocks, deadlines, appointments, schedules, obligations. The rest.

...It transforms him. He sees everything in a new way, holds it with hands held open. The movie ends with Chuck standing at a crossroads, each road stretching as far as the eye can see. he is relaxed, smiling...He can become anything he chooses.

And I envied him.

Then I talked with a hard-driven and hard-driving financial kingpin. He had no time for friends, family, worship, play. Then he had a heart attack.

...The heart attack was the best the ing ever happened to him. That's what he told me. He began to spend time with his wife, his children, his neighbors. He learned to eat bread with grains and seeds kneaded in, fruits with its skin still on, juice with a thickness of pulp still in it. He started walking, noticing things...He learned the names of plants. He took up woodcarving.

And I envied him.

You know you're in serious trouble when the people you start to envy are castaways and cardiac patients.

- Mark Buchanon The Holy Wild

Monday Week 11

Congratulations Wells! MLS Champion.

Friday Week 10

This morning, I am thankful for these fingers, this computer, the gift of words. I am thankful for this coffee. And I'm grateful for this place. I am thankful for the turn in the weather, for the run I am about to go on, for the afternoon I get to spend with my girls. Yes, I am thankful for my family - both immediate and extended - I am thankful that you are my mother, my father, my sister, my brother. I am thankful for you. And I am thankful for my Lord. I am thankful to Jesus for all of this - for by him all things are made. He is the sweet source. And if I am only this one thing - his - it is enough. For it all springs out from this one reality. I am my beloved's; he is mine. And he can be yours... So come, I invite you...come into the beauty - the marvel of my Master, the ecstacy of nature and love, the wonder of all of this... Come.

What are you thankful for this morning?

Thursday Week 10

We had several friends over for dinner tonight for a pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving...It made we want to look up some quotes that I had looked up a few years ago.

“If ‘thank you’ is the only prayer you say, that will be enough.”--Meister Eckhart

“Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has plenty; not on your past misfortunes of which all men have some.”--Charles Dickens

“Of all the "attitudes" we can acquire, surely the attitude of gratitude is the most important and by far the most life-changing.”--Zig Ziglar

"One of life's gifts is that each of us, no matter how tired and downtrodden, finds reasons for thankfulness.”--J. Robert Maskin

“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.”—Cicero

There is no better habit than the habit of thankfulness. It is the surest, quickest way to fill ones heart and lift ones spirits.

Wednesday Week 10

On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

"What is written in the Law?" Jesus replied. "How do you read it?"

He answered, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself."

"You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live."

But wanting to justify himself, he asked, "And who is my neighbor?"

Jesus told his this story: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.'

"Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?"

The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him."

"Go and do likewise," Jesus said.

What strikes me about this story is how Jesus defines neighbor. I think for years I have thought that being a neighbor meant, at least at some level, proximity. Even here, we see the Samaritan. He is walking down the road where there is a man in a ditch. He comes near. Proximity...

But lately, ok, tonight, it just dawned on me...Jesus makes neighbor a verb. Neighbor is an action. It is a lifestyle. You can be in proximation with all sorts of people and never be a neighbor. At the same time, by the way you live, you can be a neighbor to a limitless number of people.

Neighbor someone today. Let me know what happens...

Tuesday Week10

"For instance, here is foul, impure mud in a pond. On the bosom of the pond is a lotus flower: one in the mineral kingdom, the other in the plant kingdom - a higher kingdom. How can the lower kingdom get in to the higher? By trying? By lifting itself by the bootstraps? By education about the higher life? By joining a group to study the higher life? No, none of these, except they lead to one thing - surrender! The roots of the lotus flower come down and say to the impure mud: "Do two things: be willing to cease to be mud and surrender your life to my life. Let me have you." And the mud does just that. It surrenders itself to the life of the plant, and it is lifted and transformed into the beauty of the lotus flower. It is born from above...That is its destiny." E Stanley Jones The Word Became Flesh

Monday Week 10

"All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because 'God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.' [Proverbs 3:34]. Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." (1 Peter 5:5-7)

Lia and I watched a DVD of Andy Stanley talking about these verses. I really liked the way he defined 'grace'. He said, the definition of grace in these verses is the promise that God will give us what we need when we need it. It's ours when we humble ourselves and ask for it.

more tomorrow...

Friday Week 9

Jesus, lover of my soul, let me to Thy bosom fly,
While the nearer waters roll, while the tempest still is high.
Hide me, O my Savior, hide, till the storm of life is past;
Safe into the haven guide; O receive my soul at last.

Other refuge have I none, hangs my helpless soul on Thee;
Leave, ah! leave me not alone, still support and comfort me.
All my trust on Thee is stayed, all my help from Thee I bring;
Cover my defenseless head with the shadow of Thy wing.

Thou, O Christ, art all I want, more than all in Thee I find;
Raise the fallen, cheer the faint, heal the sick, and lead the blind.
Just and holy is Thy Name, I am all unrighteousness;
False and full of sin I am; Thou art full of truth and grace.

Plenteous grace with Thee is found, grace to cover all my sin;
Let the healing streams abound; make and keep me pure within.
Thou of life the fountain art, freely let me take of Thee;
Spring Thou up within my heart; rise to all eternity.

-- Charles Wesley 1740

Mrs. Mary Hoover, of Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, whose grand mother was the heroine of the story, has related to her pastor this family tradition: Charles Wesley was preaching in the fields of the parish of Killy leagh, County Down, Ireland, when he was at tacked by men who did not ap prove of his doc trines. He sought refuge in a house located on what was known as the Island Barn Farm. The far­mer’s wife, Jane Lowrie Moore, told him to hide in the milk house, down in the garden. Soon the mob came and demanded the fugitive. She tried to quiet them by offering them refreshments. Going down to the milk house, she directed Mr. Wesley to get through the rear window and hide under the hedge, by which ran a little brook. In that hiding-place, with the cries of his pursuers all about him, he wrote this immortal hymn. Descendants of Mrs. Moore still live in the house, which is much the same as it was in Wesley’s time.

Thursday Week 9

O Love that wilt not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
That in thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.

O light that followest all my way,
I yield my flickering torch to thee;
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in thy sunshine’s blaze its day
May brighter, fairer be.

O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain,
That morn shall tearless be.

O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee;
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.

--George Matheson 1884

My hymn was com posed in the manse of In ne lan [Ar gyle shire, Scot land] on the ev en ing of the 6th of June, 1882, when I was 40 years of age. I was alone in the manse at that time. It was the night of my sister’s mar ri age, and the rest of the fam i ly were stay ing over night in Glas gow. Some thing hap pened to me, which was known only to my self, and which caused me the most se vere men tal suf fer­ing. The hymn was the fruit of that suf fer ing. It was the quick est bit of work I ever did in my life. I had the im press ion of hav ing it dic tat ed to me by some in ward voice ra ther than of work ing it out my­self. I am quite sure that the whole work was com plet ed in five min utes, and equal ly sure that it ne ver re ceived at my hands any re touch ing or cor rect ion. I have no na tur al gift of rhy thm. All the other vers es I have ever writ ten are man u fact ured ar ti cles; this came like a day spring from on high.

Wednesday Week 9

When I survey the wondrous cross  

on which the Prince of Glory died;  

my richest gain I count but loss,  

and pour contempt on all my pride.   

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,  

save in the death of Christ, my God;  

all the vain things that charm me most,  

I sacrifice them to his blood.   

See, from his head, his hands, his feet,  

sorrow and love flow mingled down.  

Did e'er such love and sorrow meet,  

or thorns compose so rich a crown.   

Were the whole realm of nature mine,  

that were an offering far too small;  

love so amazing, so divine,  

demands my soul, my life, my all. 

-- Isaac Watts 1707

Tuesday Week 9

Before the throne of God above

I have a strong and perfect plea:

A great High Priest whose Name is Love

Who ever lives and pleads for me.

My name is graven on his hands

My name is written on his heart

I know that while in heav’n he stands

No tongue can bid me thence depart

No tongue can bid me thence depart.

When Satan tempts me to despair

And tells me of the guilt within

Upward I look and see Him there

Who made and end of all my sin.

Because the sinless Savior died

My sinful soul is counted free

For God the just is satisfied

To look on Him and pardon me

To look on Him and pardon me.

Behold Him there the risen Lamb

My perfect spotless righteousness

The great unchangeable I AM

The King of Glory and of grace

One with Himself I cannot die

My soul is purchased with His blood

My life is hid with Christ on high

With Christ my Savior and my God

With Christ my Savior and my God.

-- Charlie Bancroft 1863

Monday Week 9

Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,


Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;


Streams of mercy, never ceasing,


Call for songs of loudest praise.


Teach me some melodious sonnet,


Sung by flaming tongues above.


Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it,


Mount of Thy redeeming love.

Here I raise my Ebenezer;


Here by Thy great help I’ve come;


And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,


Safely to arrive at home.

Jesus sought me when a stranger,


Wandering from the fold of God;


He, to rescue me from danger,


Interposed His precious blood;


O to grace how great a debtor


Daily I’m constrained to be!


Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,


Bind my wandering heart to Thee.


Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,


Prone to leave the God I love;


Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,


Seal it for Thy courts above.

-- Robert Robinson 1758

Friday Week 8

The Catholic priest, Father Martin, tells Pi a story...

"I asked for another story - one that I might find more satisfying. Surely this religion had more than one story in its bag - religion abounds with stories. But Father Martin made me understand that...their religion had one Story, and to it they came back again and again, over and over. It was story enough for them." Yann Martel Life of Pi

When you signed up with Jesus you signed yourself up for a gospel life. If you are looking for the story of your life to play out differently, find another religion.

In the beginning, God gave you dreams, made you promises. Your life is a journey to the realization of them. Yet they are yours all along. You will lose your way. You will be found. You will struggle. You will be sustained. You will suffer. God will meet you in the pain. You will die. God will bring you back to life.

Think about what you are going through right now. How does it fit in the context of the gospel story that is your life?

Thursday Week 8

Jesus. The Gospels.

Notice how similar Jesus' story is to the three we have looked at this week. It begins with a dream and a promise. God was going to save the world through a person, his only begotten son. He uses angels and dreams to pave the way. Then there is danger. Then there is silence. Thirty years of waiting. Then there is a sign. There is hope. There is opposition, struggle, suffering. Then, suddenly it appears that all hope is lost. The evil side seems to win. But then, in the end, God's servant is victorious. The climax of The Story. He's alive. He is sitting on the throne. Promises are fulfilled. Dreams realized.

Consider this today, all stories are part of this one.

Joseph's story is a deliverance story for the nation of Israel. It also explains why the Israelites end up in Egypt, a land and a people that will enslave them. Joseph story is the back story to the first Great Deliverance - the Passover. It is also the foreshadowing of the Greatest Deliverance - Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God.

Abraham's story tells about an only begotten son sent to be sacrificed. God used this moment to test Abraham's faith - God rested the hope of the nations on it, on Abraham's obedience. But God ultimately rested the hope of the nations on a second Son's obedience. God's only begotten - sacrificed to save the world.

David tells us about a young man's journey to become king. But it is also the story of how God establishes a throne that will never end - one made for the King of kings.

The same is true for our story. Yours is a gospel story. But it is also part of The Gospel Story.

Wednesday Week 8

David 1 Samuel 16 - II Samuel 5

David is the youngest of Jesse's boys, so he has sheep duty most the time. He is an after thought when the prophet Samuel shows up to anoint one of Jesse's sons to be the next king. He is an after thought of his father and brothers. Not God. God, in fact, chooses him. Nothing happens. Israel goes off to war. Goliath of the Philistines is set to destroy the nation. David steps up, runs down, and kills the brute with a stone and a slingshot. He has stones to spare. David becomes harpist to the king until Saul gets so jealous he tries to kill him. There goes a long chase. Saul's son Jonathan risks his own life to save his soul brother David. Saul almost prevails in killing David a few times. But each time David escapes. David has the opportunity to kill Saul a few times but refuses. Who is he to kill a king he says? He waits for God's timing. God takes a long time. Finally, Saul dies in battle as does Jonathan. David mourns the loss of the king and his soul brother. He becomes king over Judah. He wars with Saul's other sons. In the words of II Samuel 3:1 "The ware between the house of Saul and David lasted a long time." Finally, the war ends. David acts harshly to the men who prevail against Saul sons. But David in the end becomes king of of Israel. Then, he fights the Philistines and claims Jerusalem as his capital.

A few things to point out in this story. Like in the previous stories. It takes a long time between the anointing (the promise) and the realization of that anointing. People refer to it as "God's timing." What people mean by that is that God takes longer than we often want him to take. Waiting is always part of a story. That is the story in fact. Your story, most of it, will require waiting. Ponder that. How will you meet God in your waiting time?

The second thing, and if you know the rest of the story you may want to disagree with me on this point, David has impeccable integrity. He has opportunities to take matters into his own hands. He has the ability a few times to fulfill his own destiny. And yet, he chooses to do things the right way. In his mind, killing a king is no way to become a king. So he doesn't. He does things right. It takes a long time. But because of his integrity, when he finally does become king, he is able sit on the throne with clear conscience and without the residue of wrongness. It legitimizes God's purpose to him and to others. God desires for us that we have integrity too. That we do things the right way. Whatever you are working toward, whatever you think is your right...don't grab at it. Trust God. Wait on him. Act with integrity. And let him work things out.

Tuesday Week 8

Abraham. Genesus 15-17 and 20-22

God comes to a guy named Abram and says he is going to be the father of a great nation. Abram asks how this is possible as he is old and has no children. God promises that it will come to pass. Abram decides to take matters into his own hands and he has a kid with his wife's maidservant Hagar. She gives birth to a boy named Ishmael. It causes marital strife and infighting. It gets rather ugly. In the end, God meets Abram again. He gives him another promise, seals it with circumcision, and gives Abram a new name, Abraham (who is 99 years old at this point). Abraham takes his wife down south into Gerar territory and ends up lying about his relationship with her because he is afraid that Abimelech, the king of those parts, will kill him in order to take his wife. Fortunately for Sarah, God steps in before she is taken into Abimelech's harem. God warns Abimelech in a dream not to touch her. Things work out. Then miracle of miracles, Abraham and Sarah have a child. They name him Isaac. They send away Hagar and Ishmael to keep the peace. Then, God instructs Abraham to take his son Isaac up to Mount Moriah to sacrifice him. As crazy as God sounds, Abraham decides to trust him. He builds an altar, binds his son, pulls out a knife, and is stopped at the last minute by an angel. Abraham discovers a ram caught in a thicket and sacrifices it instead. God reiterates the promise he made to Abraham at the beginning.

A couple things to point out in this story.

One, Abraham makes a ton of mistakes and yet God's plan for him still happens. Same is true for your story. Your mistakes are not bigger than God's plan for you. You can't get in is way. You can try. You can make it difficult. But you won't succeed.

Two, God makes a promise. It's going to happen. And yet, there still are tests along the way. We will also face tests in our life. It doesn't mean that our salvation is on the line. It doesn't mean that we'll get some special prize if we succeed. It does mean that God is going to do whatever he needs to do to shape us into the men and women he wants us to be. Pay attention to the tests in your life. How is God trying to shape you? These tests are a great way to discover God's deep desires for you.

Third, this story foreshadows another story. Another Father and another Son. Another hill. Another sacrifice. This time there was no provision. The Son dies. It's the gospel. All of God's stories reflect the One story. Your life story is a gospel story. Don't expect your life to play out differently. As you examine your life, search and reflect on the ways God is working out and working in the gospel in and through you.

Monday Week 8

This week we are going to look at stories. I'm going to do my best to summarize them. But I would encourage you, if you are able and have time to grab more than a morsel, to read through these stories for yourself. Skimming would even be beneficial I think.

Anyway, here you go.

Joseph. Genesis 37,39-47.

Joseph is loved by his father. He receives a coat. He has a strange dream, one where it appears as if he is being worshipped by folks who would otherwise have no reason to worship him. He tells his family about the dream. It throws his father. It enrages the brothers. They plot to kill him. In the end, they decided to throw him in a pit and let nature kill him. They tear off his coat and cover it in goat blood. Joseph survives because a caravan stops by. They take him. Sell him to Potiphar. Joseph thrives as a servant until he is accused of adultery. He goes to jail. He thrives in jail, as much as you can thrive in jail. He starts interpreting dreams again. Other peoples. He wonders if this might be his ticket out of here. It is. But it takes three years. The Pharaoh had a dream. Joseph is told it. He interprets it. And rises to become second of command in Egypt. Pharaoh puts the royal robe on Joseph. A famine comes. His brothers as well. They are searching for food. Joseph manages to teach them a lesson. He coaxes his father to come to Egypt and saves his family from starvation.

Great story. We could point many things out in it...Today, I want to point out these two things. Joseph's story is characterized by struggle and suffering...some of this suffering is justified...after all, he should have known that his brothers would not have reacted well to their younger brother who was already favored that they were going to bow before him...much of his suffering was unjustified. All of it was used by God to achieve a purpose.

He uses struggles and suffering in the same way in our lives. Pay attention to what you are struggling with or suffering under. God is there. He is weaving a story - a story for your good and his glory.

Second thing. There are two major themes in Joseph's story. Dreams and Coats. God uses themes in your life, too. What might they be?