Tuesday, April 19, 2005

Blitzed but not tackled

Work has blitzed my time to blog for a few weeks now. It reminds me of being a quarterback in football and seeing that blitz coming. You had to make quick decisions and be a bit elusive to survive. Some blitzes ended in bruising tackles and others in big plays.

Even though I am getting the life blitz right now. God is working some good things within me . I have been meditating on Psalm 1 for weeks now. It is coming more and more alive to me. I was very familiar with Psalms 1 having committed most of it to memory years ago. I am learning that a dangerous thing happens when you have studied and know a portion of scripture. You begin to think you have the understanding of it. It is not a pompous kind of pride that lifts up it's ugly head, but more like a sneaky little pride that slips in the back door. The whisper of this little pride goes something like this "hey, why read that scripture, you know it well, and it's really kinda boring."

I have taken some wisdom from something Kirk Bennett out of IHOP said. He said approach all scripture with a "God, will you teach me about this passage?" I have been asking the Lord to teach me more about Psalms 1 and it is beginning to take. One of the first things the Lord directed me in was a picture of this man in Psalms one who is blessed. The picture He gave me was one of Jesus. Jesus is the embodiment of Psalms one. Jesus delight was in the law of the Lord and on it He meditated day and night. We know that Jesus had a pure continual fellowship with the Father. Here is a key insight into that fellowship. Jesus meditated on the word. I can picture Jesus working at the carpenter bench crafting a new table for someone with Psalm 1 on his lips. "Blessed is the man, Blessed is the man, Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, Blessed is the man who does not walk, who does not go in the direction of ungodly counsel, who does not listen to ungodly counsel . . .". I picture Jesus repeating this in thought and with voice, reading the word, speaking the word, thinking the word, even singing the word, and praying the word He is thinking on.

Psalms 1 is becoming a delight to think on. I am beginning to glean some fresh manna from it. I hope to continue meditating on Psalms 1 for weeks to come and continue feeding my soul.

Tuesday, April 05, 2005

House Churches have no sex appeal

Check out the article by Andrew Jones. It brings up important issues that all churches should wrestle with.

link

Saturday, April 02, 2005

Down from the mountain

Having a sabbatical week in Kansas City a couple of weeks ago was a mountain top experience for me. I came back refreshed and energized. This week has been the "your off the mountain week".
I have had some 15 and 17 hour days at work, our finances are on the edge this month, and emotionally I have been drained. I am aware that God is still working in weeks like this, just not in the ways I would rather Him work. Let's see Tuesday night I played basketball at a new place and offended someone I don't really know (I did apologize) . The same night someone landed on my foot and it broke the toenail at the base so my big toe is blue. I missed the bible study at my house because I could not finish work in time. I communicated poorly to my wife about the Bible study and it didn't go that well. Those are some samples of how this week has gone.

I write this not to complain, but to realize every week isn't storybook in the Christian life. I can read a biography of some Christian leader and it seems their lives are just filled with hearing God clearly each week and having supernatural events consistently happening. I have to remind myself that these are the highlights of this Christians life, not the everyday stuff. Christ is found in the mundane as well as the exciting.

I am also reminded of Paul saying: we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.