Archives For November 30, 1999

Last Sunday – which was Palm Sunday of course – Pastor John shared a bit about what Jesus did during the first part of the week leading up to His crucifixion, burial, and resurrection.

Sometime, I think we disconnect the events of Jesus’ final week on earth because we don’t always see or have a complete narrative in one place (one must read and associate the recorded stories in the four Gospels.)  Jesus and His disciples weren’t just sitting around waiting for Thursday, Friday…or Sunday(!).

I was looking around at lunch and found several Passion Week timelines online, but this one from BibleGateway.com was pretty cool.

I like how it shows the different events, participants, times, places, etc.

(image link @biblegateway.com)

This is an amazing week – why not prayerfully consider and reflect upon all that Christ did, endured, and accomplished each day rather then just one or two!

It’s Tuesday…but Sunday’s comin’!

ps: having written this post and now reflecting on Christ’s week, my post from yesterday seems wimpy and whiny…

Pre-Construction

April 14, 2011 — Leave a comment

Last night, a new friend shared some great insights on Jesus’ “houses built on the rock and sand” parable.

He initially shared from Matthew 7, but then directed us to Luke 6 and the language used in that recording of the parable.

I’ve often read this parable with the thought that the lesson here is simply about building on the rock versus the sand – choosing the solid foundation of God’s Word.  Good enough counsel; but, as we read in Luke, it’s more than the pre-construction task of finding the right location/foundation:
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Be Still

April 7, 2011 — Leave a comment

This hymn was on repeat yesterday on my drive home…

I really like the PAGE CXVI version.

Be Still My Soul

Be still, my soul: the Lord is on your side.
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain;
Leave to your God to order and provide;
In every change, He will remain.

Be still, my soul: your God will undertake
To guide the future, as in ages past.
Your hope, your mind, your will let nothing shake;
All now mysterious shall be bright

Be still, my soul: the hour is hastening on
When we shall be forever with the Lord,
When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,
Sorrow forgot, love’s joys restored.

Be still my soul, and praise Him.

Great post and reminder by Nathan Sutliff over at Contemplative Creativity.

click image to read

That tweet is a gut check on motive and mission, not only in relation to the drastic situation in Japan, but also in our everyday lives as followers of Christ.

It’s often only after we are seen as someone who genuinely loves and is concerned with a person’s basic needs that we will be afforded the privilege of presenting the Gospel.

What’s your reaction to the tweet and Nathan’s post?

Pray for Japan

March 11, 2011 — Leave a comment

Stop what your doing periodically today…this weekend and pray for the people of Japan.

Images from USGS.gov

I originally posted this back in 2009 and shared it during our Communion meditation time yesterday at church…

We all worship something (sports, music, the list goes on…) – but GOD commands, desires, deserves our genuine worship!  Our worship of GOD is so much more than Sunday mornings! It must be our entire life – a 24/7-kinda thing.

Our worship of GOD must become a HABIT. We’re all basically selfish (worshiping the things that please us or are interesting to us) and it’s probably not our default to worship GOD.

Keying off the word HABIT, the old English (and French, thanks to my friend Christian) definition of HABIT is “clothing, a condition, or character of something.”

nuns...Keeping in mind the definition above, a nuns outfit is called a HABIT.  Their HABIT is a reminder to them and a sign to others of the cloistered life they have chosen.

As followers of Christ, we have a HABITJESUS CHRIST
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The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.  Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.  They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them.  Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.

– Psalm 19:1-4

Since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made…

– Romans 1:20

I see You in every scene, I bet You are thinking about me,
I have such a short memory so You keep reminding me of You

– Scenes, Charlie Hall

This song came up on shuffle play today [iTunes].

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Barbs

March 1, 2011 — Leave a comment

I wear contact lenses.

If you wear them, you know what it’s like to get a speck in your eye.  Annoying.

It bugs to no end: eyes water, nose runs, constant eye rubbing, continual blinking, mumbling to yourself, people asking “are you OK?”, life is miserable for a bit, …the list goes on.

In fact, a while back I had something in my eye and tried to simply deal with it – to get by without addressing it.  Needless to say, it was a long day.  Everyone noticed I was “bugged” and yet I pretended like everything was OK.

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Here is a great post from Michael Hyatt’s blog (CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers) that is worth reading and chewing on …

(Click on image to read article…)

The quote at the end is encouraging:

“It all works out in the end. If it hasn’t worked out yet, then it’s not the end.”

– Max Lucado

Is This My Response?

February 18, 2011 — 2 Comments

As I’ve written before, thought-provoking lyrics are my thing…

Every time I hear the two lines below from John Mark McMillan’s Dress Us Up, I am encouraged and convicted.

In a comparative reference between the account of Mary and Jesus’ interaction and our responsive worship, McMillan wrote:

When You walk into the room You know we can’t resist
Every bottle of perfume always ends up on the floor in a mess

x

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