Sorry for the sporadic posts as of late. My goal has always been to do at least five a week unless its a holiday. This past month has just been difficult though. I'd like to blame some of it on the weather- The kids have had 5 snow days and one holiday in the last two weeks of school. In the midst of that I've also began a new Thursday study, and am preparing for a new Tuesday evening/ Wednesday morning study, I've been in a lot of physical pain, and my mind has been heavily on other "future events" as well. All this to say....I've not been as inspired to make sense of what God has been teaching me enough to write it down.
As I was chiding myself for that this morning, I realized something. Even in the midst of these roadblocks - also called, LIFE- I've been able to keep up my daily reading through the Bible, my studying of His Word, and have had many great conversations with people about how God is working in their lives. Not that this blog isn't important to me, but I feel I've gotten my priorities straightened out a bit. I've even taken time to rest and relax some. I know it sounds odd, but I have a hard time doing that. It has always made me feel like I wasn't using my time wisely and I was being lazy, but it hasn't been so bad this time. I know that God wants us to rest. (Remember what God did the 7th day of creation and the Sabbath?) Perhaps I've just always felt I have too much time to make up for!
This morning, (Um, afternoon. God let me sleep in till almost 10!), God has comforted me in all this. That is part, He reminded me, of living everyday with Him too.
Friday, January 21, 2011
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
A Humbling Reminder
As soon as my son got in the van yesterday when picking him up from school, he exclaimed in a very loud voice, "Joshua* was being very rude in gym today!"
"What was he doing?" I asked.
"He said he was going to fart up to heaven!!" cried the distraught little voice.
"What?!?"
"I don't really know what he meant by it," my son fumed, "but that is very rude!"
"Did you say anything back to him?"
"No. But I couldn't wait to leave the gym. That is disrespectful to God."
This amazed me. Gym is my active little man's favorite thing at school. That he wanted to leave early said a lot about his frustration.
"Well........," I began "I guess he doesn't know any better. Now we know what to pray for him about."
"I know!" My daughter chimed in. "You can give him a Bible. Here." she said pulling a new Bible out of her backpack.
Oh, Lord. May we all have this passion and devotion to defending Your holy Name and the sharing of Your Word.
I am humbled by my children.
*The child's real name has been changed to a different Biblical name.
"What was he doing?" I asked.
"He said he was going to fart up to heaven!!" cried the distraught little voice.
"What?!?"
"I don't really know what he meant by it," my son fumed, "but that is very rude!"
"Did you say anything back to him?"
"No. But I couldn't wait to leave the gym. That is disrespectful to God."
This amazed me. Gym is my active little man's favorite thing at school. That he wanted to leave early said a lot about his frustration.
"Well........," I began "I guess he doesn't know any better. Now we know what to pray for him about."
"I know!" My daughter chimed in. "You can give him a Bible. Here." she said pulling a new Bible out of her backpack.
Oh, Lord. May we all have this passion and devotion to defending Your holy Name and the sharing of Your Word.
I am humbled by my children.
*The child's real name has been changed to a different Biblical name.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Is Your Ear Pierced?
There is an ordinance the Lord gave Moses when they first came out of the land of Egypt that intrigues me....
Slavery was not condemned in the Old Testament and was considered a natural part of life. One of the reasons this can be good, is that whether you want to admit it or not, we are to be slaves to Christ. Paul and the other apostles often refers to themselves as "a slave of Christ" (Click here for reference list). Slaves do not have control over the major aspects of their life - that is for the Master to decide. This is how we are to live for Christ Jesus.
This is what is intrigued me:
“But if the servant declares, ‘I love my master and my wife and children and do not want to go free,’ then his master must take him before the judges. He shall take him to the door or the doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he will be his servant for life.
Exodus 21:5-6
There was a conscious choice and physical mark for those who chose to serve their master for life. Judges were to witness it as well. Baptism reflects this in that it is an outward symbolism and declaration before others of the choice we have made to follow Christ. Yet the pierced ear - once visible for all the world to see - is now only declared by our actions and love for one another.
So here's the question I ask of myself, and you, today:
Is it obvious to the world your ear is pierced for Christ?
Slavery was not condemned in the Old Testament and was considered a natural part of life. One of the reasons this can be good, is that whether you want to admit it or not, we are to be slaves to Christ. Paul and the other apostles often refers to themselves as "a slave of Christ" (Click here for reference list). Slaves do not have control over the major aspects of their life - that is for the Master to decide. This is how we are to live for Christ Jesus.
This is what is intrigued me:
“But if the servant declares, ‘I love my master and my wife and children and do not want to go free,’ then his master must take him before the judges. He shall take him to the door or the doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he will be his servant for life.
Exodus 21:5-6
There was a conscious choice and physical mark for those who chose to serve their master for life. Judges were to witness it as well. Baptism reflects this in that it is an outward symbolism and declaration before others of the choice we have made to follow Christ. Yet the pierced ear - once visible for all the world to see - is now only declared by our actions and love for one another.
So here's the question I ask of myself, and you, today:
Is it obvious to the world your ear is pierced for Christ?
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