Blessed...

I haven't been using this blog for much personal rambling, but here's one for ya...

Most people reading this know already, but last Friday we found out that Ashley is pregnant with twins! Wow! As you can imagine, we were excited....and scared! But overall we feel so blessed. God has already blessed us with two of the most beautiful and sweet children we've ever seen, and now He is blessing us with two more - and another boy and another girl at that!

Seeing as how we'll have four children, ages three and under, we are somewhat nervous - and that's what I want to talk about. Not the nervousness, but rather the multitude of blessings that come to mind when I think of all the help we'll need (and get). First of all, we are so blessed to only live 45 minutes away from my Mom and Dad, who are always a huge help. I've been so happy since day one of our marriage how well Ashley has gotten along with my parents. They love her, and she loves them - it's awesome. My parents have been so giving and helpful, yet mindful of giving us space. I don't know what we'd do without them. Ashley's family is always helpful too. They've always sent us gifts for the kids and money when times were tough. We are so blessed to have loving parents, which has helped us to be loving to our kids.

We also are blessed with some great friends. Only a few years back we yearned for friends our age and in similar life circumstances as us, and God has been so good to answer that prayer. We have several Christian couples who live locally that we spend time with. We enjoy laughing and playing with all of our kids, and studying God's word together. We also have many friends from college and "back home" who we love and enjoy.

But a huge blessing we have that I just can't imagine doing without is our church family. My home church (where I grew up) blessed us tremendously when we were first married and now the church where I work has carried on God's love for us. We are often blessed with greeting cards, restaurant gift certificates, hugs, gifts for our children, and many prayers. I honestly don't know how people survive without such a support system.

As we look forward to an even busier life with the new babies, we look forward with confidence because of the awesome people God has placed in our lives. If you are one of those people (and you probably are if you're reading this!) THANK YOU! Know that you are used by God in our lives and we love you.

American Idols - Ex. 29-33 & Matt. 21b & 22

It always amazes me to think of how powerfully and miraculously God answered the prayers of the Israelite slaves and rescued them from slavery in Egypt - only to have them constantly complaining and lacking in faith throughout their departure! In chapter 32 of Exodus Moses has been up on the mountain talking with God for 40 days (which is a long time when you're anxiously awaiting something) and the Israelites get impatient. So they tell Aaron to do something. So he tells them to give him all of their gold (necklaces, nose rings, etc) so he can....make a golden calf for them to worship!!! What?! What was he thinking?! But sure enough he goes through with it and the people worship a golden cow. People are so stupid sometimes aren't they? As you can imagine, Moses (who has just been face to face with God for forty days) comes down and goes ballistic smashing the newly carved Ten Commandment slabs against the mountain.

Likewise, in the NT stories for today we see the religious leaders challenging Jesus' authority and Jesus telling a couple of parable to help them understand just who He was and just how pathetic (and in trouble) they were. Again I ask, why are people so stupid sometimes?!

I understand that it's been two thousand long years since Jesus walked the earth, but we still confess to believing it. Yet we have golden cows and challenges for Jesus in our lives too don't we? It's not hard to spot our stupidity, just watch TV for a few hours. We celebrated people who have lots of money, regardless of their intelligence or morals. We worship people who play sports regardless of their actions of lifestyle. And we want to be like people on TV, no matter how stupid they are. What is our deal? On top of that, we worship ourselves and money (or stuff) most of all. Our society is so wrapped up with "me." We talk on cell phones while standing right beside another living, breathing human being. We buy things with plastic and pay double or triple for them over many years so we can have more stuff. We worship ipods, and video game systems, and plasma TV's and PDA's rather than time "on the mountain" with the Creator of our world. Then when things don't go perfectly for us we challenge God's goodness or love...

May we grow sick of ourselves as we read about the always complaining and never satisfied Israelites and decide for ourselves to worship and serve with joy our Savior and Redeemer.

Faith & Identity - Ex. 25-28 & Matt. 20 - 21:22

Well it appears that I won't be blogging on most Sundays or Wednesdays. That seems to be my normal pattern so far this year. Those days are just too busy! But I suppose 5 out of 7 days of blogging isn't bad?

Well, the OT readings for today discuss the exact specifications of the Ark of the Covenant, the Tabernacle, the Table of Showbread, the curtains for the tabernacle, the Altar of Burnt Offering, the Courtyard, and the clothing for the priests. This is the beginning of what can be some BORING READING. But don't give up, keep reading! Because a) there is a point to it and b) it gets better as you get past the book of Leviticus (which you'll complete in a few weeks). If you're hitting the wall of boredom, let me give you a brief answer to the grand old question, "Why is God telling us about this stuff and who cares?!"

Check this out;

1. The high quality and precious materials that all of things things were constructed of represent God's greatness.
2. The curtain surrounding the most holy place represents God's perfection and need to be separated from uncleaness and impurity.
3. The fact that the Tabernacle is portable represents the fact that God desired to be with His people as they traveled.
4. The Tabernacle and all of the things that went on there represent sacrifice, atonement, and forgiveness - all things that foreshadow Jesus.

Getting on into the NT readings, we see Jesus predicting what was gong to happen to Him which helps us to realize that He was fully aware of what was going on and why He had to do what He did. It's amazing that He was willing to die for us! We also see Jesus ride into town on a donkey. This was His way of proclaiming His kingdom. In that day kings would ride into town on a great stallion, proclaiming their greatness and all of the followers would bow before them. But Jesus, mocking the earthly model, chooses a donkey to ride in on, showing His humility. Another instance of His identity was shown when He cleared the Templ and even the children were saying, "Praise God for the Son of David." This made the religious leaders mad, because even the kids were saying that Jesus was the Messiah. So the religious leaders ask Jesus, "Don't you see what you've led these children to believe?!" And Jesus basically says, "Yes! They're smarter than you!" Jesus was very aware of His identity...

Which brings us to the teaching He gives in these chapters, because He wants us to be aware of our identity as followers of Him. He teaches His disciples that if we are to be leaders in His kingdom, we must be humble, not seeking first place. And He proves His point with His own lifestyle saying in chapter 20:28, "...even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve others and give His life as a ransom for many."

May we throw off the messed up values of fame and fortune in this world and recognzie our new identity in Christ as servants, giving our lives daily so others can come to know Him.

God's Terms - Ex 23-24 & Matt 20:1-16

One thing that I think is hard for our country and our generation of people to understand about faith in the God of the Bible is that God is in control. We don't get to barter and trade with god in order to work out a deal with Him. He sets the terms. Don't get me wrong, the terms He sets are more than fair, but He makes the terms, not us.

In Exodus 23-24 God calls Moses and the leaders up to the mountain so God can speak to them. He gives them rules, He even writes them on stone tablets, and He confirms His covenant with the people. And they accept His terms (for the time being anyway).

In Matthew 20, Jesus tells a parable about a landowner who hires people throughout the day, so that they all work for differing amounts of time, yet at the end of the day, the landowner pays them all the same. Those who had worked all day were aggravated that they didn't get paid more. But the landowner (who portrays God in the parable) tells them that He owns the field and He hired the people (who all agreed to work for what they were paid) and He will pay His servants as He pleases. Once again, it is God's terms, not ours.

We have a weird culture at hand in America. In some ways it's good, but when it comes to faith it's usually not. We're taught and shown (on TV/movies) that we just need to grab life by the horns and anything we can get our hands on we deserve. We're taught a sense of entitlement - we think we deserve life on a golden platter. We begin to doubt God when we have financial problems or health problems or relationship woes. But when God blesses us with food, shelter, freedom, love, grace, etc. we never question why we deserve those things do we?

Many Americans find it hard to swallow the fact that God sets out one way to have a relationship with Him (John 14:6). They don't like the fact that God gives us moral guidelines to live by. They don't like the fact that they're supposed to be active in a local church or that they should even give 10 percent of their money to the church as an offering of worship to God.

But we have to realize who we are and what we are in relation to God. He is the Creator, we are the created. He is perfect and holy, we are sinful. He is all-knowing, we are not. He is yesterday, today, and forever our lives are just dust in the wind. The fact that He even recognizes us, much less wants to have a relationship with us is amazing. The thought that He gives us everything we have and only demands 1/10th of it in return, allowing us to keep 9/10ths is awesome.

May we wise up and begin to be more thankful and submissive to our gracious and loving God.

Rules - Ex. 21-22 & Matt. 19

Today's readings focus on rules...yeah!!! Don't you love rules? Don't they just excite you? hahaha Why is it that we dislike rules so much? Isn't it kind of funny how we're wired like that? As a parent and as a youth minister I am always teaching that rules are good, they are given out of love, they are there to protect you. But when I'm at a stop light with a "No turn on red" sign with no one in sight or on a road with a 25 MPH sign my opinion on rules changes!

The thing about rules is that they don't make us better people. They do keep us safe and out of trouble, but they are not life-transforming. God knows that, yet what did He do throughout the Old Testament? He gave rules. Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. Rules about sorcerers, rules about farm animals and slaves. Rules about fights and thieves and kidnappers. But the people just couldn't obey. And neither can we. As I mentioned yesterday, it's enlightening how we read through the simple list of just Ten Commandments and find ourselves thinking, "guilty, guilty, guilty, um I might be ok on that one, guilty, guilty...." haha it's pathetic isn't it?

God gives us the privilege now of looking back on the rules listed in the Old Testament and comparing them to the life-giving ideas of Jesus. Notice that Jesus didn't let go of the rules of the OT, but He got to the heart of the matter. "If you look at a woman lustfully you have committed adultery." Whoa! Yikes!

In Matt. 19 a the Pharisees ask Jesus about the rules of divorce and Jesus says "let no man split apart what God has joined together." The Pharisees remind Jesus that Moses gave permission to divorce and Jesus says, "Yes, I know this, but it was because of your hardness of heart - that wasn't God's original intention - whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery."

Another man in Matt. 19 asks Jesus how to inherit eternal life. Jesus tells him to follow the rules, to which the man says "I have, what else do I have to do?" (Interesting that the man somehow knew there was more to it) And Jesus tells him to go and sell all of his stuff and give it to the poor. At this the man walked away sad, because he was a rich man.

Jesus says at the end of this story that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of Heaven. An interesting pastor in Michigan named Rob Bell ( http://nooma.com/Info/Speaker.aspx ) reminds us as Americans that in our world today, WE ARE THE RICH. Even if you're considered low-income in America, you are rich compared to the rest of our world. The reason it's hard for the rich to enter heaven is because we are more focused on ourselves and our stuff than God. We don't recognize our dependence on Him.

Obeying the Ten Commandments or all of the other rules in the OT or in our current world is not what makes you a good person or a Christian. God cares about how clean the inside of the cup is as well as the outside. If we want our lives to change and if we want to help others change their lives, the place to start is on the inside, not the external actions.

Obeying rules is not equal to living for Jesus.

Lord, help me to learn this.