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Archives For November 30, 1999

The Unqualified, Qualified

December 23, 2011 — Leave a comment

I read this the other day and it hit me that we often see it incorrectly…

We read:

“…giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.”

Colossians 1:12 NIV

We often think:

“…giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has seen all the good things we do, understands the shortfalls we have, and recognizes that we are entitled and deserve to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.”

…forgive us me, oh God.

Training Journal – 12/23/11:

  • Current plan: 10K Training
  • Today’s session: Easy 5 mile run
  • Comments: Good run!  A brisk 34 degrees out, which gave me a chance to try my new beanie.  I was toasty: cold, shmold!
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He Putteth Up

December 16, 2011 — Leave a comment

I read this the other day:

He put up with them through forty years of wandering in the wilderness.

– Acts 13:18 NLT

So glad He puts up with me too.  [thank You God!]

x

…Oh, and here’s a little hymn I wrote:

He putteth up with me
He putteth up with me
Just as He didst with Israel…and every other person He created
He putteth up with me

[cha, cha, cha!]

Training Journal – 12/16/11:

  • Current plan: 10K Training
  • Today’s session: Easy 4 mi run
  • Comments: Good run on another brisk morning.  After starting out a little fast, I remembered the “easy” part of the training day plan and slowed down…
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MASSIVE

December 1, 2011 — Leave a comment

Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.“

Jesus…was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.

Jesus wept.

– John 11:4, 33, 35 NIV

Chewing on the MASSIVENESS of those verses…

  • God can be glorified in and through all things – am i living with that default setting?
  • My God isn’t some unfeeling, distant, stoic who won’t or doesn’t understand or identify with me.
  • He did. I can.

MASSIVE!

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Red Cups, Twinkling Lights, and Earth-Friendly Trees

November 17, 2011 — Leave a comment

As those three items – and a load of others – bombard us over the next six-plus weeks, I resolve (and challenge you) to remember:

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us … And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.”

John 1:14, 16 ESV

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Responsive Trust

November 14, 2011 — 1 Comment

Pastor John spoke a bit from Lamentations 3 yesterday in church…

19 I remember my affliction and my wandering,
   the bitterness and the gall.
20 I well remember them,
   and my soul is downcast within me.
21 Yet this I call to mind
   and therefore I have hope:

 22 Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed,
   for his compassions never fail.
23 They are new every morning;
   great is your faithfulness.
24 I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion;
   therefore I will wait for him.”

The handwritten note in the margin near verses 22-24 reads: “Respnsv Trust”

I wrote that back in 2009 while reading the Bible in 90 Days at church…I recall blogging about it as well:

August 5, 2009 · 17:53

Responsive Trust. 3:22-24. How can the writer say “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for Him.”?  The statement about His great love, compassion, and faithfulness are from a heart that has experienced them and heard about them in the lives of ancestors of old.  How can we say this?  The same way – we’ve probably experienced them and heard about them in the lives of those we know.  It is easy to forget these testimonies in the midst of trials, but we must cling to the TRUTH of God’s unchanging character! THANK YOU GOD!!

Good stuff…

…true Stuff…

…Faithful God!

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O Love That Will Not Let Me Go

October 29, 2011 — Leave a comment

Good words…

O Love that will not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
That in thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.

O light that followest all my way,
I yield my flickering torch to thee;
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in thy sunshine’s blaze its day
May brighter, fairer be.

O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain,
That morn shall tearless be.

O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee;
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.

– George Matheson

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October 5, 2011 Thoughts

October 5, 2011 — Leave a comment

Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

– Genesis 3:8 (NIV)

I’ve read that verse many times – maybe you have, as well.

Maybe its familiarity has resulted in my under appreciating the gravity of the verse* – the depth of regret that Adam and Eve must have felt when confronted about their sin and understanding the consequences.

This week, I’ve been listening to a new album called, Music Inspired By The Story [iTunes, web]. Its a collection of songs “written in the first person perspective, that depict timeless biblical stories and provide a completely new context into how God’s story of love and redemption intersects with our story of brokenness and failures resulting in a new story of hope and rescue.” [source]

While all the tracks are great, one has stuck in my mind: Good (ADAM & EVE). In light of the gravity of Genesis 3:8, to imagine Adam and Eve thinking:

If I could / I’d rewrite history / I’d choose differently
If I could, I would
I’d leave out the part / Where I broke Your heart
In the garden’s shade / Fix the mess I made
If I could, I would

If I could / Close my eyes and then / Dance around again
If I could, I would
Be who You adored / Why did I need more?
When beauty was not trained / To hide behind my shame
If I could, I would

If I could / Hold one memory / It would surely be
How You walked with us
I’d go back in time / Untell my first lie / And let Love’s injury
Heal in spite of me

wow

I sin so many times each day and sadly give the singular or collective gravity little thought.

Many of us even categorize and rank sin and then relate “appropriate” regret.

We forget that ALL sin disappoints God just as much as the Adam and Eve’s did and that it should result in a regret and brokenness just as profound as theirs…and too often doesn’t.

Forgive me, God.

I’m so grateful that God so Loved…

…for Greater Love…

…for No Condemnation…

…for Forgiveness…

…and for a promised return to how He intended things to be.

x

*I could probably say that about many passages…

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Just Like Me

September 29, 2011 — Leave a comment

I find these quotes comforting.  Not solely for their content, but the identity of the person who thought/penned them:

“The burden is too heavy for me.”

— Moses, Numbers 11:14

“Life’s been nothing but trouble and tears”

— Jeremiah, Jeremiah 20:18

“How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and
day after day have sorrow in my heart?”

— David, Psalm 13:2

“When anxiety was great within me,
your consolation brought me joy.”

— Psalmist, Psalm 94:19

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Meant To Be

September 6, 2011 — Leave a comment

Several weeks ago, I shared Matt Redman’s song “Endless Hallelujah” during the offering time at church.  The song has quickly become one of my favorites from his new 10,000 Reasons album [iTunes].

One thing that gets me each time I listen to the song is the phrase:

“Ev’rything as it was meant to be“

In the context of the song, it’s:

When I stand before Your throne
Dressed in glory not my own
What a joy I’ll sing of on that day
No more tears of broken dreams
Forgotten in the minor key
Ev’rything as it was meant to be

The thing that challenges me in regard to that phrase is the frequent difference between how I feel or expect “things to be” and how God would have them – in His position as Sovereign Lord in my life.

Quite often, miles and miles separate the two…

…and my version of my “story” is without adversity or challenge.

With certainty, God has promised a life with, as the song’s chorus declares,

No more tears, No more shame
No more sin and sorrow Ever known again
No more fears, No more pain

We may enjoy a foretaste of that on earth, but the reality of a life like that – life “as it was meant to be” – will only come in heaven.

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

— Revelation 21:3-4 (NIV)

Maranatha!

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Clarity, Delayed

September 4, 2011 — Leave a comment

A year ago, my dad and his wife died in a car accident. Then and now: it hurts.

A person I’d loved my entire lifetime and another I’d only known less than a year were tragically gone…

I’ve been and still am: angry, confused, bitter, regretful, sorrowful, apathetic, depressed, broken, … many things.

I’ve grappled with the knowledge that others have lost loved ones as well, often thinking to myself, “who am I to think that I am any different.”

I’ve asked “why?” too many times to count, knowing that I’ll never know the answer to that question this side of heaven – for we read:

“Now we see things imperfectly as in a cloudy mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.”

I Corinthians 13:12 (NLT)

I believe clarity will come…

…and yet, at the very moment it does, it probably won’t matter.

For, as the song Soon expresses:

I will be with One I love.
With unveiled face I’ll see Him.
There my soul will be satisfied.
Soon and very soon

Maranatha!

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