Musical Monday - Got to Have My Java

I heart Bryan White

Remember the Sabbath - Part 2

When the women in my family each got married, my grandmother would hand embroider tea towels for them - one for each day of the week. It was always the gift most anticipated and most appreciated at the bridal shower because it was more than something from a catalog. Those tea towels were gifts from my grandma's heart. She had worked to provide them. She had chosen everything carefully. And she knew that in the hands of a new bride, daily tea towels would be treasured and used in keeping a beautiful home - something Grandma found very important. One by one cousins would marry and receive these precious heirlooms for their new life as a mrs..


I have never been married, and I have to tell you when my Grandma passed away a few years ago, I was more disappointed that I would never own a set of her hand-crafted tea towels than I was about never marrying. Who would part with something so personal and priceless now? No one was going to give me their tea towels and Grandma wouldn't be around to embroider any for me if the day ever came that I would marry.

But not long after she passed, I received a box in the mail from my sister. In it were things she thought I would like to have to remember Grandma - her Bible, an angel with a garnet stone in it for our shared birth month, and there in the bottom... you guessed it... were tea towels. Not just a set for me to have, not just a set she had sewn - these were the towels from her very own kitchen. These were the towels she had used. To this day they are sacred to me - incredibly personal to me. They are unusable to me because I don't want anything to potentially mar something so beautiful as my Grandma's daily kitchen tea towels.

Maybe you are not sentimental like I am, but I'm finding a very important truth in those little squares of linen with brightly colored prairie girls and flowers sewn in the corners. To me they are a picture of the Sabbath. They are set apart from every other towel I own. They are reserved for remembering and preserved from desecrated.

The fourth commandment in Exodus 20 is "Remember the Sabbath, and keep it holy." Holy means to be set apart and also means perfect, transcendent, or spiritually pure, evoking adoration and reverence. Such is the Sabbath. It is a day set apart. Not like the common, not like the daily - it is reserved, set apart as spiritually pure as unto the Lord.

I confess there have been days that I called the Sabbath and rested, but at the end of the day I found that I had made the day wholly unto myself instead of holy unto the Lord. It felt selfish and lazy because within it I remembered just what I needed rather than remembering that all I need is found in Him. It was a day wasted on self instead of invested in Him, in fellowshipping with Him, in delighting in Him. The Sabbath was meant to be set apart to remember that He is all I need in the midst of a day stripped of all I want. It was meant to be set apart and spiritually pure.

And here's the release of anxiety in honoring the Sabbath. You can't make it holy. It already IS holy. You can't add to its perfection. You can't work toward getting it holier. It simply is holy. Our task, as commanded in Exodus, is just keep it that way. Don't mess it up. Don't desecrate it with self or hurry or sin or worry. Be in the moment, this sacred moment, with the God Who Himself worked six days and set apart for His own pleasure the seventh.
I have seven daily tea towels in my linen closet. They are set apart from all the others. I never use them. I will never stain them. I simply take them out once in a while and take pleasure in remembering a woman who made them, whose hands held them, whose fingers designed them and then I fold them up and put them away and try to live in such a way that she would be proud.

And every week I have one day set apart from all the others. I do not use it for work or chores. I try not to stain it with sin or self. I simply rest and take pleasure in remembering a God Who made every day, Whose hands hold me, and Whose fingers designed the entire world around me and then I fold it up and work six days in response to all He has given me... remembering the Sabbath and keeping it holy.

The New Improved Captain Awesome

So I never used to use the word AWESOME unless it was referring to God based on Job 25:2 - "Dominion and awe belong to God..."  However, I also allow AWESOME if it's a result of God's intervention or participation.  New shoes, not awesome.  Beautiful sunrise, awesome.  Well, God has been so AWESOME lately I have started to say AWESOME  a lot.  I'm turning into a new kinda Captain Awesome... which you will only appreciate if you watch Chuck or watch this clip.  GOD IS AWESOME!

Remember the Sabbath - Part 1

In reading the Bible in 90 days, I have been continually amazed at the priority God puts on the Sabbath.  What I never noticed about this discipline is how often God mentions observing the Sabbath before He ever commanded it with "The Big Ten".  Each time it's mentioned is within a new context, new situation, new reasoning, but each time God is very clear about working for 6 and resting on the 7th. 

In this life after the Second Testament, believers in Jesus often forego some of the truths of the First Testament because we no longer live under the law but rather under grace, and at times I wonder why.  My wondering has intensified in learning the Principle of the Sabbath.  Why do we treat this tenth of the Commandments with a disregard with which we would never approach the other nine?  Would we kill because we are no longer under the law but grace?  Do we steal with that same flippancy?  Still believers in Christ continue to violate this discipline and to great detriment to our body, soul and spirit.

We've not only found the notion of Sabbath antiquated, we've somehow regarded it as a luxury rather than a necessity.  People who take a Sabbath rest are viewed as fortunate or somehow elite as if their lives are just easier than the lives of those who don't rest on the seventh.  After observing the a day of rest every week for several weeks now, I can assure you nothing could be farther from the truth.  The Sabbath is a discipline more than a luxury.  It takes work and organization and self-control to do everything in six days that used to be done in 7.  It's not easy! 

But don't feel bad.  People in Jesus' day didn't do so well with the Sabbath either.  The attitude of the Jews of that day was the antithesis of our apathy in regard to the Sabbath.  Sabbath had become a burden with unrealistic expectations.  It was a principle with which religious leaders lorded over people, an easy point of condemnation and therefore contention. 

But in the face of yet another situation where the religious right was riding over the backs of others with the sabbath, Jesus replied with a very clarifying statement - "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath" (Mark2:27).  What was He saying?  Which was the servant of the other?  Clearly, He didn't want us to feel oppressed by the requirement of a day of  rest.  He wanted to give us rest.  He said that often didn't He?  "Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you REST." (Mt11:28)   The Sabbath isn't another task on the to-do list.  The Sabbath is a gift from a gracious God Who came to earth, wore humanity over His divinity and knew that our souls, our bodies and our very spirit would need rest. 

The Sabbath is a gift.  You don't have to take it, but I assure you He wants you to have it.  He knows better than anyone how much we need it.  Enter into a day of rest.  Remember the Sabbath...

10 Steps to Being Healthy

I saw this article on today's Kansas.com news, and I thought I would post it not only because it's good information, but to remind myself of the simple things it takes to be in health. My comments are in RED.

Taking control: Follow these 10 steps to regain control over your own health
By Julie Deardorff
Chicago Tribune

If you're ready to take control of your health, start by washing your hands for 15 to 20 seconds, about as long as it takes to sing "Happy Birthday" twice.

Doing this simple act, while avoiding certain behaviors — smoking, excessive drinking and eating too much — can dramatically improve your health, said internist William Meller, who specializes in evolutionary medicine in Santa Barbara, Calif.

Prevention goes well beyond the mammograms, prostate screenings or blood tests that we can get at the doctor's office. It's the little steps you take that can keep you healthy.

"Ideally, prevention should also emphasize healthy lifestyles, a practice that isn't only health-conscious, but (is) inexpensive," said James Pivarnik, president of the American College of Sports Medicine.

Here are 10 easy ways to get started:

1. Take a walk - RIGHT BETWEEN THE EYES right off.  :P
Humans are designed to be on the move, Meller said. "Walking triggers all of our bodily systems: digestion, stress relief, thinking and preparation for sleep." It's easy, simple, free and confers the benefits of exercise without the risk of damage from more energetic pursuits, Muller said. Walk every day — barefoot is fine — and get a pedometer to track your steps, shooting for a minimum of 10,000. Stay committed by setting walking dates with a friend.

2. Keep a food journal - I prefer to save a tree, cause Lawd knows I would cut one down every other day for the paper to journal all my intake.  Ok... an exaggeration and no doubt the REASON why I ought to do it.
Writing down everything you eat can double your weight loss, according to a study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. "The more food records people kept, the more weight they lost," said lead author Jack Hollis, a researcher at Kaiser Permanente's Center for Health Research. Scribble down your dietary transgressions on a note pad, use an online food journal or send yourself text messages. "It's the process of reflecting on what you eat that helps us become aware of our habits, and hopefully change our behavior," said Keith Bachman, a member of The Kaiser Permanente Care Management Institute's Weight Management Initiative.

3. Stop drinking soda - DONE!  5 months!
Soda and other caloric, sugar-sweetened beverages have contributed to skyrocketing rates of obesity and Type 2 diabetes. But there's also evidence that drinking diet soda leads to weight gain. Researchers suspect that tricking the brain — getting sweetness without the calories — makes you crave more sugar than ever.

Your best bet is to stop drinking calories altogether, said obesity specialist Yoni Freedhoff. His most confused patients seem to be doing everything right but may have two glasses of milk, one glass of juice and one glass of wine a day. "That's roughly 40 pounds of liquid calories per year," he wrote on his blog, Weighty Matters. He is founder of Ottawa's Bariatric Medical Institute, a multidisciplinary weight-management center.

Freedhoff's advice: Don't rely on beverages for nourishment.

"A well-balanced diet replete with fruits, vegetables and proteins should satisfy all of one's nutritional needs," he said. "Liquid calories are not satiating and in studies tend only to add calories to a meal."


4. Strengthen your muscles - fail.
If you want to keep your muscles from weakening as you age, start strength training. It's "the only style of exercise that maintains and increases lean muscle tissue," said personal trainer Jim Karas. He suggests starting with push-ups for the upper body and lunges and squats for the lower body. "Move slowly, and think about the muscles you are engaging. One slow set of 10 is all you need, but make sure to fail," which means you can't perform another repetition.

5. Chill out - SABBATH!  I don't have this down perfectly, but I'm honoring it more often than ever and can tell a real difference in the other 6 days of the week. 
Stressed-out people are more vulnerable to colds and other viruses, they take longer to recover from illness and they gain more weight than their relaxed counterparts, research has shown. We also know that "the inability to feel in control of stress, rather than the stressful event itself, is the most damaging to immunity," wrote Joan Borysenko in "Mending the Body, Mending the Mind."

Another stress expert, Debbie Mandel, likes to lift weights when her stress levels creep up. "Then I'm ready to reframe negatives into positives to turn stress into strength," said Mandel, the author of "Addicted to Stress." In addition to exercise, deep-breathing techniques, meditation, tai chi and yoga are proven stress relievers.

6. Eat out less - CAN I GIVE A SHOUTOUT TO THE RECESSION.  Done!
We often use restaurants in the same way our parents used supermarkets, one of the main reasons for the dramatic global rise in chronic diseases such as obesity, Type 2 diabetes and heart disease, said Freedhoff. "Nutrition and calories aren't intuitive," he said. "When restaurant salads can have more calories and fat than a Big Mac, you know you're putting your health at risk. You'll save more than your money by eating meals in. You might even save your life."


7. Be a social butterfly - two groups a week besides church and I think I can call this one DONE!
Research has shown that joining a club or sports team, belonging to a church group or keeping in contact with friends creates a sense of social identity that can help significantly reduce your risk of having a stroke, dementia and even the common cold. "We do not outgrow our need for others," according to the MacArthur Foundation Study of Aging in America. "Loneliness breeds both illness and early death."


8. Get your zzzzzzzz - shoogah, please!  DONE!
Sleeping well is the single most overlooked factor critical to good health, especially during the flu season, said sleep specialist Rubin Naiman, an assistant professor at the University of Arizona's Center for Integrative Medicine. But because focusing on doing all the right things before bed can make it harder to sleep, Naiman suggests lightening things up, perhaps by watching comedy on television before bed. "Too often sleep is approached with an anxious mind and heavy heart," he said. "Laughter is good medicine — and good sleep medicine. I recommend it over sleeping pills."

9. Eat whole foods - Ahhh... and I had such a streak going.  I'm not awful about this, but there is SSOOO much room for improvement here. 
Whole foods — fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds, eggs and whole grains — are unprocessed and unrefined and typically don't have added sugar, salt or fat. They often have a low glycemic index, which means they don't raise blood sugar and insulin levels as quickly as processed foods. Choose a baked potato instead of French fries, eat whole wheat bread instead of white bread, or start the day with oatmeal, rather than a sugary breakfast cereal.

"I eat as many fresh veggies and fruits as possible and stay away from anything in a bag, a box or a can," said Yvonne Conte of Syracuse, N.Y., the author of a guidebook to living a happier and healthier life. "When I started this, I lost 22 pounds. And it has stayed off. Best thing I ever did."

10. Find your passion - Hmmm... can I get back to you on that one?
Do things that bring meaning to your days, said Patricia Boyle, a neuropsychologist in the Alzheimer's Disease Center at the Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, whose research has shown that having a higher purpose can reduce the risk of death among older adults. "Purpose is cognitively stimulating, and this is very much along the lines of the adage 'Use it or lose it,' which certainly has merit," said Thomas Perls, director of the New England Centenarian study.

Looks like I have some work to do.  :)  Not insurmountable when I look at it this way. 

Read more: http://www.kansas.com/entertainment/all/story/1038414.html#ixzz0Vouwr7Nw

Out on DVD - Ally McBeal

A series about a woman who works a lot, dances with her biological clock in the bathroom and regrets every relationship she ever let go - yeah, me and Ally McBeal.  It's coming out on DVD and I need it... NEED IT!

Musical Monday - Temporary Home

Carrie Underwood is coming up with her best album soon to be released.  You can buy a single every week until the release date.  TOTALLY worth it.  This is one of them.

Resurrection of Tipitee

ONE WHOLE MONTH!  That's just sad.  When is the last time I went a whole month without blogging!?!  Well, I can only say it's isn't for want of having something to say, so I'll try to give you a quick run down on what's been going on in my life. 

I've been leading a group which is reading the Bible through in 90 Days.  It has been the delight of my soul and spirit.  I honestly didn't think anything could have been more nurturing to my faith than the trip to Israel a few years ago, but reading the Bible from cover to cover in such a short amount of time is proving to be a spiritual watermark for me. 

I typically explain that a trip to Israel will make the Bible become like a pop-up book.  Images and colors and graphics will leap off the page after visiting the Land of the Bible.  But reading the Bible in 90 Days has made the Scripture into a cavernous gorge.  There is so much going on just out of sight.  However deep or near the surface you choose to go, there is treasure to be extracted.  I am learning to love the Bible like never before and my conversations with God have taken on a new tone.  I'm so humbled and blessed to call Him mine and to hear from Him every time I go to Him through the pages of His Word.  He is mind-blowing.  His plan is beautiful.  And He chose me to be His disciple.  Unexplainable.

I've also been observing communion along with my time in the Word.  Now, there are many who would not condone such a thing for interpretations I won't address here.  I'll simply say, remembering the Body & Blood of Jesus almost daily reduces me to love every time.  I receive it and am humbled by it.  There's something about looking at that wafer of matza - pierce, striped, and without yeast (sin) - and then breaking it that reminds me that my own sin broke His body.  I did it.  I admit my guilt every time.  And I receive the perfect body of Christ as my healing of body, soul, and spirit.  He makes me whole.  The cup adds another dimension of grace - praising God for the remission of sin, the utter removal of all that is unholy in me and filling me with the Spirit.

All I can say is
God is AWESOME.   God OWNS awesome. 

The Thank Offering - 8/90 - Levitcus 1-14:32

I had a few "hmmm... that's interesting" moments in this portion of reading the Bible in 90 Days, but I'll focus on one in particular because I believe it has weight.

Leviticus 7:12-13 - Offerings that are an expression of thankfulness were interesting. Instantly it piqued my attention since one of my favorite verses is Psalm 50:23:

"He who sacrifices thank offerings honors me, and he prepares the way so that I may show him the salvation of God."

Simply stated, by offering to God our thankfulness we are creating an avenue for Him to show up, for His deliverance to arrive. It's been said (and I wish I knew by whom) that when we thank God for our blessings, He usually prolongs them; and when we thank God for our trials, He usually ends them. Such a truth is not only evident from the verse in Psalm 50, but also in the very content of a thank offering described in Leviticus 7:12-13:

" 'If he offers it as an expression of thankfulness, then along with this thank offering he is to offer cakes of bread made without yeast and mixed with oil, wafers made without yeast and spread with oil, and cakes of fine flour well-kneaded and mixed with oil. Along with his fellowship offering of thanksgiving he is to present an offering with cakes of bread made with yeast."

It is important to first know the typology of the Scripture. Oil is a type of the Holy Spirit. Yeast is a type of sin. In this offering of gratitude, we see variations of those two things. Here's what I believe the Lord is requiring of us when He bids us to be thankful.

1. Bread without yeast mixed with oil - I believe this typifies our life as a child of God. These are the things we do and we encounter in which the Spirit of God is living and actively a part of. As followers of God, indwelled by the Spirit of our God, this is our current reality. Be thankful for today. Be thankful that the Spirit is alive and well and living within you to will and act according to God's pleasure. You are HIS! Thank you, Jesus!
2. Wafers without yeast with oil spread over them - I believe this typifies our life before Christ. These are the things done before knowing and being known by God the Father, before allowing the Spirit of God to permeate our being. God was not in them, not a part of those days, but in an amazing act of grace He covers them, He can use them. And YES, we can be thankful for those days. Thank you, Father, for redeeming the past.
3. Dough (basically) - I believe this is representative of our future. It's still undone, still waiting to be finalized. God is in it and we've not yet seen what it will be, but we offer it to God in faith that He will make it useful in the Kingdom of God. We can be grateful that He Who began a good work in us will carry it on to its completion. Thank you, Father, for this promise.
4. And finally, cakes of bread made with yeast - This is the part that really threw me at first. This sacrifice is the ONLY sacrifice in which yeast is allowed - more than allowed, it must be part of the offering. But in Scripture, yeast represents sin, so what is this text saying? I believe there are days in the life of every child of God that are tainted with sin. It doesn't have to be. It ought not to be the norm, but those days happen. We are filled with pride and self-sufficiency. We fall short of loving one another as we love ourselves. We entertain the lesser angels of our nature. We also have days when we are living high on the Mountain of God when the sin of someone else pummels us back to ground zero. We are sinned against. We are betrayed. We are maligned, used. Left in a well and sold into Egypt by someone else's insecurities and lies. There is yeast in the bread - ours or anothers - and still God says, bring it to me with thankfulness. Offer me the days tainted with sin with a spirit of gratitude. Joseph knew how to do that as he assuaged his brothers guilt with the words "what you meant for evil, God meant for good".

The bottom line of the thank offering is this - "In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." In the good days when God is moving in your life, be thankful. When you're reminded of a godless past, offer it to Him in gratitude covering it with His Spirit. When you're uncertain of the future, bring Him the unfinished works of your life and let Him complete them according to His will and for His glory. And on the days when you are lambasted by the presence of evil in this world, confronted with sin in your own heart or bearing the wounds of someone else's sin, bring it to the Father with thankfulness. He still gives beauty for ashes.
Don't leave one part of your offering out. He wants all of it - the past, the present, the future, the tainted. Thank Him for them all and see Him open up a highway on which His deliverance will come to you. This is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

Lament

Weep, weep for those
Who do the work of the Lord
With a high look
And a proud heart.
Their voice is lifted up
In the streets, and their cry is heard.
The bruised reed they break
By their great strength, and the smoking flax
They trample.

Weep not for the quenched
(For their God will hear their cry
And the Lord will come to save them)
But weep, weep for the quenchers.

For when the Day of the Lord
Is come, and the vales sing
And the hills clap their hands
And the light shines
Then their eyes shall be opened
On a waste place,
Smouldering,
The smoke of the flax bitter
In their nostrils,
Their feet pierced
By broken reed-stems...
Wood, hay and stubble,
And no grass springing,
And all the birds flown.

Weep, weep for those
Who have made a desert
In the name of the Lord.
~ Evangeline Peterson

Ah yes... it's a very nice...

Christian Audio is my new favorite website. They give away a free audio book every month. :) I just got a free version of the NT for my iPod and a free book by Francis Schaeffer called the Mark of a Christian.

Musical Monday - Why Me, Lord

Bow to the master - Guy Penrod.

7/90 - Exodus 29-40

• 29:7 - The Scripture that says unity is like the anointing of Aaron flowing down his head - I always read that as something unique or extraordinary. NO - unity is a necessary element - not a bonus. And it's part of consecrating the priest. We bless and consecrate our leaders to the work of ministry by our unity.
• 31:3 - Bezalel - "filled with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability & knowledge..." I'd like that to be said of me someday.
• 31:13 - SABBATH Again! And the Sabbath is A SIGN between us and God that He is the Lord, "Who makes you holy".
• 32:4 - Israel gave their Egyptian gods the glory for their exodus. :(
• 32:10 - God wanted to destroy Israel and make Moses into a great nation. Don't remember reading that before.
• 33:11 - Church Leadership 102 - Take someone on the journey with you - rejoice when it becomes their own trip.
• 34:14 - The Lord - whose name is JEALOUS. We don't talk about that enough.
• 35:1-3 - SABBATH AGAIN! Come on!

6/90 - Exodus 15 - 28

• 16:21-30 - I'm amazed that the Sabbath is repeatedly commanded by God well before the 10 commandments were ever given. A practice that is meant for us, really a gift to us, as a testimony to people outside of a faith in Christ, the Sabbath is not only hardly practiced it is hardly mentioned in New Testaments circles.
• 17:5 - Leadership 101 - Get a team of people on the same frequency with you and the Lord.
• 18:19 - Church Leadership 101 - "You must be the people's representative before God..."
• 20:18-21 - I think this is sad. God went to great lengths to bring Israel out of bondage to enjoy fellowship with Him in freedom. Their response was to ask Moses to do their fellowship-ing for them. No personal responsibility for their own faith! Kinda seems like that sometimes still today. BTW - I believe this is why the golden calf really happened. The people had placed their entire connection with God on one leader and when he wasn't around, they gave up.
• 20:24 - I love that verse.... "Wherever I cause My Name to be honored, I will come to you and bless you." Blessed be the Name of the Lord.
• 23:25-26 - A full life-span (among other things) is the reward of worshipping God.
• 28:36-38 - Ok... this might be the first time I fully believed that Jesus bore my GUILT at the cross. PRAISE THE LORD!

5/90 - Exodus 2:11-15:21

• 4:3 - LOL - He made the rod turn into a snake and ran from the snake. Why is that so funny to me?
• 6:9 - Discouragement and bondage make it hard to hear the voice of the Lord or to receive His word through another person. :(
• 8:10 - Pharaoh chose the next day for God to relieve them of the plague. It was his choice! but every plague hereafter is resolved "tomorrow". No choice.
• 9:19 - God's mercy is extended to the Egyptians for the first time. <3
• I believe a great truth of the plagues is this: We do not negotiate when God has commanded. And try as Pharaoh might, he never could impose his will on the God of the Israelites. It was simply God's way or no way.
• 13:17 - The shorter way to the destination has enemies we are unprepared to meet. If God takes you the long way, there's a reason.

4/90 - Genesis 41 - Exodus 2:10

• 41:32 - In the mouth of two or three witnesses every word is established. mt 18:16. The testimony of God Himself is verified by more than one source.
• 50:15-21 - The whole story of Joseph's reconciliation to his brothers is just heart-wrenching. They really never did love him as a brother. You can see that in their accusatory tone, and in Joseph's response. His tears were filled with the realization that he could not make his brother love him and as much as restoration was in his heart to offer, it was not in their hearts to receive. Still he did honored his word and loved them from the end of their stiffly, extended arm. Now that's a true test of character. We tend to take back our conciliatory offerings when they are met with rejection. Joseph still provided for his brothers even though they didn't get it. They never saw that his affection for them was genuine and they never received it at face value. The manipulaters thought they were being manipulated instead of loved. Hmmm... been there? I hate rejection. It hurts loving the ones rejecting you. What do you do with that?

Day 3/90 - Genesis 29 - 40

• 29:31 - What a gracious God to even notice Leah was unloved, but even greater was his response to open her womb and let her bear children because of it! He knew it would lead her heart to Himself. Her children's names map her journey to the Father - 1)He has seen my misery; 2) One who hears; 3) Attached; 4) PRAISE!
• 35:11 - Again, God identifies Himself as El Shaddai when making a covenant with man. I'm beginning to love Him for that.
• 38 - I want to come back to this, because I believe there is more to this story.
• 39:5 - Isn't that the way it ought to be? Shouldn't the places we live and work have an outpouring of favor because God has to bless them to get it to us? YES!

Day 2/90 - Genesis 17:1-28:22

Today's passage speaks a lot about integrity and about prayer.

• 17:1 - Well, I typically lean toward the NIV as my translation of choice, but it really blew it on this verse, IMHO. The Lord appears to Abram and calls Himself El Shaddai which has such a more significant meaning that just "God Almighty". Literally means "all-breasted one" referring to a mother's milk supply to a child. God is telling this man, "I am everything you need, I am nurturing you into a great nation, I am your Source. Now live in a way that reflects Me. You don't have to be crooked or manipulative - I've got your back so be blameless. I've already guaranteed the outcome, so do this on the up and up. Live your life in a way that says, 'my God is paying attention to what I do'." We find in 24:40 that living in such a way, gave Abram great confidence!
• 19:30 - Lot is a curious man. The angel of the Lord told him to flee to the mountains, and Lot bargained with him to let him go to Zoar. The angel let him go to Zoar and spared that city (verse 21-22), so why in the world would Lot leave Zoar to mountains, the FIRST place the angel told him to go. I don't get it.
• 20:11 - Did Abraham think he had cornered the market on fearing God... even as he LIED to Abimelech? Seems like Abimelech was more God-fearing than Abraham in this instance.
• 20:1 - 21:7 - When Abraham prayed for Abimelech and his wives' fertility issues, his own wife's womb was opened as well. Reminds me of Job "the Lord turned the captivity of Job when he prayed for his friends." Is this a theme - God rewards the person who will ask Him to give other people what they themselves are seeking? hmmm...
• 22:5 - I still love that Abraham knew "we" will come back... amazing faith.
• 22:14 - "On the mountain of the Lord, it will be provided." There's a LOT to that little sentence.
• 28:8-9 - I think it's sad that Esau was clueless about how his parents really felt about his two wives until they insisted Jacob NOT do what Esau had done - marry Canaanites. Did this family communicate, but AT ALL!?! So now he's married a woman to impress his parents - did he ever love her? Did that factor in to First Testament marriages? I want to study this further, because I think there's more to her story than meets the eye.
• 28:15 - yeah - never saw that verse before, but is this why Jacob wrestled with the Angel... because the Lord had fulfilled His promises to him, was bringing him back to the land and thus would be leaving him? We'll revisit this tomorrow as we finish the story.

Robin Hood

Is it just me, or does the phony king of england sound a lot like the current president?

Day 1/90 - A Familiar Theme

Today was the first day of reading the Bible cover to cover in 90 days. Tonight our small group starts and we have 12 plus me engaging in this journey. I'm excited about it! Because I'm reading so much every day, I won't have the opportunity to really dive in deeply to portions that intrigue me. I'll simply jot down some notes with the anticipation of coming back to them and studying further.

Day 1/90 - Genesis 1:1-16:16

1. 3:16 - Part of the curse of sin is for a woman to desire her husband and for him to rule over her. I hate that more than any other part of the curse. Just sayin...
2. 5:22 - Enoch is the first person of whom it is said that he "walked with God" since the citizens of the Garden. He was the 6th generation from Adam. It makes me sad that it took so long to restore fellowship with God.
3. 6:6 - There's something very comforting about a God Whose actions filled His own heart with pain. We tend to think we're the only ones who can feel regret, feel like we must bear the pain of our actions. Consequences are painful... even if you're God.
4. 8:22 - I think this is a great verse to help believers put "Global Warming" into perspective. (I'm not sure I believe it anyway, although I KNOW we have a responsiblity to be stewards of the earth.)
5. 9:5 - hmmm... maybe we are our brother's keeper. Maybe this was the downfall of Cain who answered "am I my brother's keeper" when God asked where his brother Abel was. Cain had killed him because he despised his brother's sacrifice. I've always heard it was because he presented a wrong sacrifice... maybe he was simply jealous of what his brother had to offer. (Kinda brings worship wars into a new focus.)
6. 9:22 - Clothe the Naked - don't exploit them.
7. 14:22 - 15:1 - Abraham didn't give up the spoils of war, his riches. He chose to make sure God got the glory for his abundance. In exchange, God gave Himself as his reward. I'm going to have to chew on that one.

Musical Monday - I Then Shall Live

I'm starting the book "How Should we Then Live" by Francis Schaffer today. It inspired Gloria Gaither to write this song - one of my favorites. Intensely rich lyrics to which I aspire.

Naked Ministry

A few years ago there was a trend in marketing where, in order to make mundane activities seem sexy, they would call it “naked”: Naked Bowling, Naked Chef, Naked Dominoes. Of course, none of these things were actually done without clothes, but the title itself was enough to spark people’s interest. Some people thought it was funny. A few chaste people thought it was appalling. Good or bad, it grabbed attention. Nakedness always does.

Baring one’s body wasn’t always scandalous or titillating. There was a moment in the Garden at the beginning of recorded time when its inhabitants were always without covering, and the Scripture tells us they were unashamed. (I’m sure I have NO idea what that’s like.) No blushing, no rushing to cover. Maybe this is where women began to announce “I don’t have a THING to wear!” :) They were not even so much defrocked since that would intimate they were at one time “frocked”. No, they were au natural and they were clueless until in one moment, all that changed.

One curious conversation with a creature, for whom speaking was not unusual (WHAT!?!), led to a history-altering fall. The perfect became flawed and embarrassed. They’d been duped, tricked by such a seemingly harmless foe who caused them to believe the lie that what he had could be compared to a fraction of what their Creator offered, and suddenly they were… aware! They were ashamed, and they hid.

Lacking any precedence for such a situation, they came up with a plan – COVER UP! I have to say, that would be MY immediate course of action, hands down! (Actually, to be specific, “hands down AND covering strategic places!”) In this most unholy situation when the glorious became broken, they sensed that their greatest need was to be covered to ease the shame and squelch the pain of such a ridiculous end to what seemed so harmless.

Things are not all so different today. Granted, shame over nakedness has become prudish and archaic in a world of free love and promiscuity, but we all have moments when we stand before our accuser, flawed and embarrassed that he’s duped us and caused us to believe the lie that anything he had could be compared to a fraction of what our Creator offered. We are suddenly… aware, ashamed, and want nothing more than to hide. Vices abound for easing shame and squelching pain all in an effort to cover our own nakedness, the evidence of our gullible spirit and fallen state.

“And that’s what some of [us] were” (1cor6:11)

People found in their sin, duped by an enemy, struggle with the fallout. They’re caught. They’re in a bad situation of their own making and they are above all vulnerable. Like their gardening ancestors, they are naked and all they know to do is cover up – be strong, ease the shame, squelch the pain - all the while feeling exposed and embarrassed.

I think these were the kind of people Jesus had in mind when He spoke of separating true believers from the posers in Matthew 25:31-39. Sheep, those who truly knew God, were those whom He said had fed Him when He was hungry, gave Him water when He was thirsty, visited Him in prison, and yes, clothed Him when He was naked; for “inasmuch as you’ve done it unto the least of these, you’ve done it unto Me”. When we encounter people who are caught in their sin, trapped in the web of their own making and standing before "God and everybody" without a stitch of covering, we can minister to Christ Himself by graciously covering them, giving them their dignity, removing their shame so that God can deal with the root of the issue.

Honestly, Christians don’t have a great track record here. We have at our most sanctimonious moments felt called to expose people and wag a finger from atop our perch with a “tsk tsk”. We’ve spoken the truth, but without love – love which covers a multitude of sin AND skin. Love covers a soul laid bare. Love clothes the naked and when we’ve done that to the least of these, we’ve clothed the precious body of Jesus Himself. People are vulnerable. Clothe them with grace so God can do a greater work in their heart.

Musical Monday - New Day

Take any good musical group, add Charlotte Ritchie and it becomes a great group with a great sound. Charlotte is severely underrated.

LIVE and LIVE WELL

This is one of those pieces you wish you had written, but didn't. This was the last message of Kyle Lake a pastor in Texas the Sunday he died. It says what I feel and speaks of the kind of person I want to be.


Live. And live well.

BREATHE. Breathe in and Breathe deeply. Be PRESENT. Do not be past. Do not be future. Be now. On a crystal clear, breezy 70 degree day, roll down the windowns and FEEL the wind against your skin. Feel the warmth of the sun.

If you run, then allow those first few breaths on a cool Autumn day to FREEZE your lungs and do not just be alarmed, be ALIVE.

Get knee-deep in a novel and LOSE track of time.

If you bike, pedal HARD... and if you crash then crash well.

Feel the SATISFACTION of a job well done - a paper well-written, a project thoroughly completed, a play well-performed.

If you must wipe the snot from your 3-year old's nose, don't be disgusted if the Kleenex didn't catch it all... because soon he'll be wiping his own.

If you've recently experienced loss, then GRIEVE. And Grieve well.

At the table with friends and family, LAUGH. If you're eating and laughing at the same time, then mighty as well laugh until you puke. And if you eat, then SMELL. The aromas are not impediments to your day. Steak on the grill, coffee beans freshly ground, cookies in the oven. And TASTE. Taste every ounce of flavor. Taste every ounce of friendship. Taste every ounce of LIFE. Because it is most definitely a GIFT.

LOVE GOD
embrace beauty
Live Life to the Fullest

Musical Monday - Someday

Day dreamin' today...

One More Cutie Patooty Story

Last week when I was keeping K & M while E was born they had to ride in my car. When they got in, K said, "Why is your car so messy?" and made some comment about how clean Daddy's car was. I explained that at her house, she had Mommy and Daddy and Nana to do all the work. In my house, I only have me so I don't always get everything done. She replied, "You should ask a neighbor if they would help you!"

Stinkin' cute.

A Highway or a Maze - Part 1/7

Has anyone ever told you they have a problem with "organized religion"? (I always wonder if they prefer a disorganized religion? haha!) I know what they're saying - they prefer less rules/more feeling, less structure/more experience, less prescribed steps/more individualized learning. The Emergent Church movement seems to capitalize on these anti-establishment seekers well, and slowly the modern Church is embracing the wide-open journey of belief and leaving the demanding in-or-out, for-us-or-against-us religious box in the yardsale of antiquities. Some people still find value it, but most are looking for something new and something now.

Sometimes I bristle at the demands of relevancy until I realize the shoppers at the yard sale have already bought into faith and those without faith or a genuine relationship with Jesus Christ aren't stopping at the yardsale - they're at the mall. They're looking for something they can't quite put their finger on, but they'll know it when they see it. Making sure they see it means packaging it well (aka packaging it in relevance).

What they're really looking for is something I believe we all are looking for - a meaningful connection to a loving God that's unobstructed by a sometimes-less-than-loving humanity. I think this is the same religious conflict John the Baptist was addressing in Luke 3:

'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth. And all mankind will see God's salvation.'

I don't think anyone sets out trying to make it hard to see God's salvation. I think spiritual people drift toward the comfort of rules and structure and often don't realize they've complicated the pathway between man and his Creator. John had lived in a religious household. He was the cousin of the Messiah. And no doubt he could look at each and wonder how they could ever intersect. The harshness of life in general and "organized religion" had made access to God too hard. Mankind needed a highway for the arriving of the Promised One and instead He was coming to a maze, hidden from view by the selfish nature of humanity that screams for rights and comfort.

John gives the world a view of what organized religion ought to be, of what believers in the Messiah ought to be about - creating a highway out of maze so that the Eternal can enter the mundane, the Inapproachable One can be drawn close to. Make a highway for our God to enter the lives of people. Make a straight path between the two. Keep your faith uncomplicated so someone may join you in the journey. He's shown us what is good and what He requires - to do justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with God. Doing so creates a highway where there used to be a maze.

I Spent the Day With K&M

Here are a few little cutie-pie things that happened when I spent the day with K&M.

• I got to be the one to read them their bedtime story Tuesday night. They picked Cinderella just for me. Pretty sweet of them to even remember. ;)
• When I woke up Wednesday morning I couldn't find my phone that I had left right next to me for an alarm. I heard M up and about and asked him if he'd seen it. He said, "maybe somebody neaked in the funt door and tole it". Really? "Maybe..." he replied. When I asked if he'd help me find it, he went straight to his room and came straight back with my phone. Little stinker. :)
• When I told the kids they could pick one toy to take to the hospital with them, K brought back a stuffed giraffe. M came back wearing Barbie sunglasses. (The Daddy Chronicles calls this his Elton John phase... now that's funny!)
• We also played "Hide the Thimble". K caught on with no problem. M usually gave the "hotter" or "colder" clues when he himself was walking directly toward the hiding place.

A Lot of What I Love in One Video

Martina, Kansas, small town living, 4th of July...

Musical Monday - Strong Enough

Thursday Three Part 31 - Giants

Based on the post "My New Approach to Life", here are

The 3 Giants I Want to Conquer Before the End of the Year

1. Structure my off-time to be more productive. That means more/better quiet time. Regular writing time. LESS "sitting around time".
2. Stop eating fast food - This one may be the biggest one ever. It will require a total life/time makeover. However, if I were to ever go virtual, this would not be an issue. I don't struggle with schedule or the need to eat out when I work from home.
3. Exercise routine - Just fit it in... just do SOMETHING, even something small, every day.

Not sure which one to start with, but these are the big 3.

Everything You Need to Know About The Situation in Honduras

Pictured (left to right) - Raul Castro of Cuba, Manuel Zelaya the ousted former president of Honduras, & Hugo Chavez the president of Venezuela with ties to the little man in Iran, Achmadinejad.

Good riddance Zelaya. This is a positive move for Hondurans and for the Western Hemisphere. Chavez, with his ties to Iran and support from Putin in Russia, has vowed to annihilate the "Imperialistic America". Supporting any allie of his so close to American borders and American interests is suicide.

My New Approach to... Life in General

I've always been an all-or-nothing kind of person. If I'm going to make a change, I'm going to go drastic or forget about it. Then a few weeks ago I read this passage in Exodus 23:27-30.

"I will send my terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation you encounter. I will make all your enemies turn their backs and run. I will send the hornet ahead of you to drive the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out of your way. But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for you. Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land."

Apparently, God is not an all-or-nothing kind of God. He's seen the folly in trying to take on too many enemies at once and knows the key to lasting victory is one battle at a time. How many times have I dove in to a life-change only to wash-up a few weeks later worse than when I started? Too many times to count.

So here's the deal - conquer a one thing at a time, gain strength and inner riches from each victory in order to claim a bigger enemy the next time. Over the last few weeks I've conquered a little giant and now I'm ready to take on the next one. After that I'll take on another one. I won't have my life totally in order right away, but I think God will honor the series of hand-to-hand combats rather than the MOAB's I've tried to use in radically revamping my life. I'll let you know how it goes.

Media Blitzed & Bleary-Eyed

The world has gone crazy or at least the media has. In the past 2 weeks, we've managed to over-dramatize and over-report just about every story we can get our hands on to the exclusion of real historical events or social ills. Are you reporting the news or getting the ratings? (and we ALL know there's a huge difference.)


OVER-REPORTED -

• Jon - Kate + (8/2) = REALLY? - Whoever said there's no such thing as bad publicity, never covered Jon & Kate + 8. When you take your family to church on tv, you subject yourself to a higher level of scrutiny. Unfair? yes. No judgment here - I think it's sad and tragic and I wish it would go away.
  
• Michael Jackson died - He's immortalized. All his shadowy activities are long forgotten and he's exalted far above every entertainer who's ever lived. It's on every channel, in every news report - it's EVERYWHERE. I opened a picture on Facebook yesterday of a friend in Mongolia. She snapped a cute little shot of her son in a coffee house. Check out the chalkboard in the back... It's talking about Michael Jackson's death! MONGOLIA, people!
  

UNDER-REPORTED

• Iran "Elections" - You may disagree with me, but the Iran election has been under-reported SINCE MJ died. We now have a dictator who refused to recount and is killing people who opposed him. Do you know why we quit hearing about this? Because our president is unwilling to backup what his teleprompter told him to say.
• Honduras Elections - I guarantee you no one you stop on the street knows what's going on there or why we should care. But's it's important because it's in our hemisphere and it's unsettled.
• Death of Dr. Jerri Nielson - A TRUE hero... the kind who OUGHT to be celebrated and immortalized. Not even an honorable mention in the news last week.
• Airbus Accidents - The final ping of the black boxes sounded and no one could hear it over "Smooth Criminal". WHAT HAPPENED!?! Now another Airbus went down in bad weather... think anyone will get to the bottom of it?

Musical Monday - Living Life Upside Down

My take on news coverage over the past several days. Blog on that coming later.