Tuesday, June 30, 2009

The Great King

I was listening to Sons of Korah yet again this afternoon while doing office work, specifically their version of Psalm 95. I love this Psalm.

Verse 3 says, "For the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods." Verses 4 and 5 describe the absolute magnitude of creation, that by his hand they were created and are sustained. Sometimes we forget the sheer magnitude of God. We can't fathom it. This declaration was as gutsy in that day as it is today--there are plenty of religions out there, plenty of other gods out there, plenty of other kings in the world. Here, we are declaring that we are coming to worship Yahweh, the great God, the great King. Do we have a posture in our lives, our worship, our prayer, of kneeling before our great King?

Verse 7 then makes another significant statement: we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. We do not belong to some witless idol. Neither do we belong to ourselves. We are HIS people, we are the privileged people who belong to the great God, the King, the Mighty One. He is our Shepherd.

As verse 2 says, "Let us come before Him with thanksgiving, and extol Him with music and song."

Saturday, June 20, 2009

The Earth is Filled...

I've been to the Canadian Rockies, the Colorado Rockies, many beautiful spots in Michigan, Mammoth Cave, and many other amazing places in the US. I've yet to see many more things (for example, I've never been to the Grand Canyon). I love those days when you get to visit amazing places that happened by chance over billions of years because of a big bang... J/K.

We're staying in Greenville, SC, and heading to Atlanta tomorrow. Yesterday, we decided to take a day trip up to Asheville just because we heard it's a cool town nestled in the mountains, and we had no idea where to go or what to do, but we went anyway. After lunch, we visited a botanical garden which was helpful for Aidan, and then thought we'd try to find the Blue Ridge Parkway. I think it was a God-ordained thing because we found it within 5 minutes, not only the highway, but it's headquarters and a visitor center. We set off to the North on the Parkway, winding up and up, stopping now and then at awesome overlooks.

Eventually, we made our way to Mount Mitchell, parking at the summit. I was a little surprised at myself for how amazed I was. It was one of those moments that come few and far between for me, but often in the mountains, where I found myself in tears over the beauty, majesty, and wonder that I saw. I literally could not help but audibly praise God. I was reminded of the familiar song found in several places in the Bible, and often sung today in songs, "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty, the earth is filled with Your glory."

The beauty of God is unsurpassed. Whatever we have created that we think is beautiful, (and it IS, because God's made us in his image to reflect his beauty), God is far more beautiful, and his creation so much more amazing. Standing there I felt COMPELED. It is a compelling beauty. It propels you toward God, toward worship. I could not have asked for a better adventure for yesterday. May we seek out these kinds of moments in our daily lives, on top of mountain summits or not.

BTW, I think it's awesome that at 10 months, Aidan's already been at the highest elevation east of the Mississippi! What awesome adventures are yet to come!

Thursday, June 11, 2009

The Generous Life - Prov. 11:25

This morning I was reading Proverbs 11:25:

"The liberal soul shall be made fat; he who waters will also be watered himself."

The above is basically a literal translation, while the NIV reading really obscures some of the richness of the text: "A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed."

I encourage you to study the literal words more here. In this text, generosity is not just a few dollars here and there, it is giving liberally, abundantly. We're not restricting this to just money either, but including time, talents, resources, and your heart, your love.

Such a person shall be "made fat." Huh? The expression is figurative, pointing to being rich, being satisfied, having more than your fill. But again, not necessarily rich in lots of money--you could have more than your fill of joy, contentment, blessing, favor in the eyes of God and others.

Watering and being watered--the idea behind this is LOTS of water, to be saturated, drenched.

The person who gives freely, liberally, and abundantly of their resources will himself experience so much blessing from God they they will be completely satisfied in Him. But remember, we don't give in order to receive; we give, period. God gives to us, so we give back to Him and to others. Abundantly, sacrifically, wholeheartedly. Are you holding on to things too tightly, or wanting anything more than God right now? Let it go, and trust your heavenly Father. Let Him bless you, instead of trying to bless yourself, and ultimately being dissatisfied.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

5 things that get me up at 4:30am on Sundays


5. Knowing Chad has probably been up for an hour already preparing for worship.

4. Knowing 10 other volunteers will be at church by 6am to help setup. And by 7:30am, about 30 people will be working to prepare for the morning.

3. The knowledge that there will be coke, coffee, donuts, and other food to keep me going. I can crash in the afternoon.

2. Knowing that God has put me in a place and position where my gifts and skill set makes things happen on Sundays. (and the same goes for every other person serving)

1. I thoroughly enjoy Sunday mornings because it's the best day of my week, it's an honor to serve every person who comes through the door, whether Christians for 40 years or people who have yet to follow Jesus.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

"I don't want to be Like You."

I'm reading John Burke's No Perfect People Allowed, and I'm only in chapter two but HAD to share this paragraph with you:

"It was not so much that Chris didn't like me; after all, he didn't really know me. What he didn't like was what I represented. He didn't like Christians, or should I say, the stereotype of what Christians are like. I'm afraid Chris' sentiments extend more broadly than most Christians care to realize. I've since discovered that the average person has a strong perception of what Christians are against, but little of what Christians are for. I was simply confirming his negative stereotype of a narrow, intolerant, arrogant perseon who just wanted everyone "to be like me." In our postmodern world, you can't separate the message from the messenger.
"I think Chris was really saying, 'Arguments don't convince me. Show me a faith that's attractive, and I'll consider it. Otherwise, I'm not interested, no matter how 'true' you say it is.' .Truth had gone relational" (p. 30, emphasis mine).

Just this week I've seen/read a lot of negativity about the decisions of our government. That's a whole 'nother blog entry or more, but it reinforces this idea of being known as "against abortion, against Muslims, against liberals, against rock music"...on and on I could go.

We are FOR Christ, for his kingdom, for his glory, for the world, for salvation, for loving the unloved, for the orphan and the widow, for becoming all things to all men so that by all possible means we might save some (1 Cor. 9:19-23). This verse demands further study and clarification, but it means that we must bring a gospel that is attractive by our lives, by our hearts, by our attitudes, by our love.