Friday, April 29, 2011

Stars

I love night time in the country - especially after a storm system has passed and cleared the haze from the sky.

Staring up at the crisp points of light twinkling brightly, I thought about how we know the stars are bright balls of gases burning trillions of miles away. How some of them are red giants, large enough to encompass the earth if it were our sun, and of the white dwarfs, so small, yet with unimaginable heat and gravitational pull. I know that the closest start is only a few light years away (that's around 16 trillion miles away) but that most are so distant the light we see today started well before I - or even my parents - we born. That's really far. We've also named an immense number of the stars, though most have a name like what you can find on your calculator, and we've only skimmed the surface of the vast number of them out there.

We know so much about stars, yet really, comprehend so very little


That's how it is with God.
We know much about Him through the Bible: His name, His character, how close His is, and at times how far. But we, in our finite minds, can not truly comprehend Him. His majesty, holiness, worth, love, passion. We have only begun to skim the surface of who He is.

But one day.... One day we will know.

Like flying to the stars- understanding in the depths of your soul the vastness of space, the immensity of the star, the composition from the tiniest molecule to the full diameter:
We will see Him face to face and behold every aspect of who He is.


Amen. Come soon Lord, Jesus. Amen.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

A Toothbrush For Your Soul

I clicked on a video today that I didn't much care for. It was suggest by a friend and I thought to give it a chance so as not to miss out on something great. Trust me- I wasn't. It wasn't a bad video, but it certainly wasn't moral either. Basically, my life will continue on just fine without seeing anything of the like.

Afterward though I felt....."gross". You know that contaminated, fuzzy feeling your mouth gets after you eat something you don't care for? It was kinda like that. My brain felt like it needed to brush it's teeth. That's when I realized Scripture was like a toothbrush for the soul.

I brush my teeth everyday - who wouldn't want to? Sometimes I'll brush even more often when after eating something that needs to be quickly cleaned away! Why is it then that I struggle so with reading my Bible everyday? It helps to get rid of the left over particles of life that want to cling on and decay the witness Christ desires for me to be. And here again- there are days when even one "brushing" won't do.

Now, most of what we eat it good for us. (Well.... or so we believe till we start reading ingredient lists.) But there are things in life, that if we indulge in too often will stain our soul no matter how often we brush. Like coffee and tea does to our teeth, daily practicing sin will stain our witness and soul.
For I fear that perhaps when I come I will not find you to be what I want, and I may not be found by you to be what you want; there may be quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, slander, gossip, arrogance, and disorder. I fear that when I come my God will again humiliate me in your presence, and I will grieve for many who sinned before and have not repented of the uncleanness, sexual immorality, and promiscuity they practiced.
2 Corinthians 12: 20-21 (Emphasis mine)


Take some time today and ask the Lord to reveal what is staining your soul and witness. Psalm 139: 23-24
Then go BRUSH.