Sep 18thBirds Like Television Too
It only took 2 years, but we finally found Spunkmeyer’s favorite TV program (I suppose it didn’t help that the TV was never on before we moved to the new place). Sunrise Earth on HD Theater really gets him looking around trying to find the other birds and watching the screen, and even vocalizing some himself. In the program we watched today, his favorite segmets were the Terns at the ocean and the hot air balloons in Vermont. Anyone who has spent any time where there are lots of birds knows that they are usually awake and singing loudly well before sunrise, and the birds on Sunrise Earth are no exception. So just for the fun of it, I threw together a little time lapse movie of Spunkmeyer watching his show. It’s recorded on the DVR so he can watch it again. 
Jul 20th30 What?
I thought that needing to do some maintenance around the house this summer was going to put me out of commission as far as this week’s VBS is concerned. But as it turns out, I may actually have a more important role than ever. Here’s how the conversation went:
B: I want you to know I’ll be praying for you while I’m painting my porch this week.
(A little explanation about why the porch hasn’t been attended to in the 5 years since we’ve lived here.)
K: This year I’m really feeling impressed to pray for 30.
B: (I know what he’s referring to but . . . ) 30 what?
K: (Suddenly thoughtful . . .) I hadn’t thought about 30 what . . . 30 decisions?
B: I tell you what I’ll be praying for this week – 30 followers.
K: 30 followers?
B: Yes, 30 kids who will follow Christ from this day forward.
K: 30 followers it is! Shake on it. (handshake)
B: “If two of you shall agree on earth about anything, it shall be done for them.”
K: Just between the two of us . . .
B: No, between the 3 of us. (pointing up)
B: Manual labor makes for some awfully good prayer time.
So the drive home was interesting. It’s not like this is something either one of us are likely to see visible results in right away, but I almost feel a sense of finality . . . like it’s already a done deal as far as heaven is concerned. Very interesting sensation. I can’t wait to get out and do some painting.
May 24thAre You Going To Waste Your Life?
Heard this on the way home from church tonight.
Listen to the radical way Paul puts it in 2 Corinthians 12 . . . You remember the situation. He’s got a thorn in the flesh. We don’t know what it is, but it is causing him pain. He says, “Christ, please take it away.” Three times. And Christ says, “No.” And then Paul says, verse 9 . . .And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. . . .
There’s more of Christ. Do you see that? Do you want more of Christ? Christ’s grace. Christ’s power. Christ’s fellowship. Do you want more and more and more because he is your treasure? Paul did, and therefore he said . . . Most gladly . . . Don’t miss that amazing counter-intuitive word . . . Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
For the sake of Christ, then, I’m content . . . . I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.
Magnifying Christ by being satisfied in him in pain, in calamity, in suffering, in insult, and weakness was the passion of Paul’s life. His passion was not the American Dream of escaping insult, calamity, pain, suffering. His passion was any life and any death that enables me to know you better, see you more, and magnify your greatness more. Bring it on, Jesus. All I want in my life and in my death is to make your worth more vivid for the world to see.
So, I ask you tonight. Are you going to throw away your life? Are you going to buy into the American Dream, minimize suffering, maximize comfort, maximize ease, maximize security, build bigger barns, work for the bread that perishes, lay up treasure on earth, covet the praise of man, and be happy for 80 years, and PERISH? Is that the way that you’re going to waste your life?
Or are you going to see Christ crucified and risen and reigning and bearing your sins as the infinite treasure in your life that he really is and then make life choices that display to the world his value?
May 8thDid I say dreams are weird?
It seems to be a pattern by now. Every time I’m about to take a really significant step in ministry, I have these really weird — disturbing — dreams. The last time was just before I was about to begin the ladies Sunday school class. I was taking a nap on a Sunday afternoon (something I no longer have the luxury of doing), and I woke up totally horrified because I had just found myself in a bar totally smashed and out of control. I was so creeped out by that dream that I momentarily thought about backing out of teaching the class. Well, those kinds of fears don’t stalk my dreams anymore, thank the Lord. But what’s this I woke up with today?
This morning I found myself driving around in a sea port town – kind of a city actually – with some reasonably tall buildings and closely packed streets. For some reason which remains a mystery, I parked the car in a lot and started pushing this lawnmower that was in the trunk around the streets. Why on earth I’m pushing a lawnmower around in the city when there’s no grass to be seen is another mystery.
As I came up to one street corner, there was a particularly bad pothole, and I hit it hard. This did a number on the rear wheels of the lawnmower. The left rear looked okay but wasn’t rolling smoothly anymore. The right rear had a big gash through the rubber and was crooked. I was starting to panic because of how badly I had ruined the lawnmower.
Then some old guy came along. He looked to me like an old homeless drunk, but he knew WAY too much about my lawnmower. He took off the one wheel that was broken, and then said, “You need to go to the Suzuki shop and get this fixed.” I looked down and, sure enough, it’s a Suzuki lawnmower. (Does Suzuki even make lawnmowers?) So through several twists and turns through this city, he led me to within sight of the Suzuki shop, and then he disappeared. At this point, I remember thinking that I had no idea where my car was anymore, but right now I just needed to get the lawnmower fixed.
So I entered the Suzuki shop, and it was full of really interesting stuff, but no lawnmowers. Strange. There’s a back room, and I can see someone wandering around back there. Maybe that’s where the lawnmowers are. So I wandered to the back with my broken lawnmower, and a man comes out of the back room and asks how he can help me. I said, “I’ve broken my lawnmower. Can you fix it?” He took the lawnmower from me and lifted it up to take a good look, and I woke up.
Strange.
Clues: Sunday morning one of the ladies asked a question about Luke 22:36-38. Why did Jesus tell the disciples to get swords if they weren’t supposed to use them? Good question. I had to come home and chew on this and get some pastoral insight, as well. In the process of trying to hash this out so I understand it myself before taking it up again next week, I wrote the following in an email to my pastor.
My first clue is that this seems to be yet another (of many-John’s Gospel is full of these) instance when the disciples and Jesus are thinking on two different levels. Jesus is speaking spiritually somehow and the disciples are taking him literally/materially and totally miss the point. So Jesus is talking about spiritual things again, and the disciples remain firmly anchored to the material and don’t get the intended meaning at all. The second clue that this is the case is that 2 literal swords aren’t enough to provide any real protection from the company of soldiers that is about to arrest Jesus, and they don’t actually have time to go out and sell their clothes and buy more before they would be needed, and Jesus then proceeds to heal the one man who was injured by one of these literal swords, so it appears that literal swords are not what Jesus is referring to.It then occurred to me that this could be an instance when Jesus wants to teach them something. The feeding of the multitude comes to mind as an example of what I’m talking about – where Jesus tells the disciples to feed the crowd and they totally approach it the wrong way because they can’t see past their own noses. It almost seems like he’s doing the same thing here – he tells them to make all these preparations, but they go about it entirely backwards because they’re not thinking on the spiritual level yet. I started wondering about this possibility when I read paragraph C on page 434 of the commentary you gave me tonight. There it is talking about knowing versus not knowing the weakness of human flesh and how Peter was so confident in his own natural strength. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if this whole discussion about scrips and swords was meant to drive home the point just made in verse 34 that Peter was about to fail because he was relying on his flesh.
Any relationship between these things? A lawnmower is certainly the wrong tool to have in a city with no grass, just as a literal sword was the wrong tool for Peter to have in Luke. Hmmmmmm……
Mar 18thWhatever I ask?
Verily, verily, I say unto you,
He that believeth on me,
the works that I do shall he do also;
and greater works than these shall he do;
because I go unto my Father.
And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name,
that will I do,
that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
If ye shall ask any thing in my name,
I will do it. (John 14:12-14)
This is a bold statement Jesus makes here. And who really ~~ I mean REALLY ~~ believes it? Me? Greater works than Jesus? Anything I ask? I’m often surprised at how much unbelief there still is in the corners of my heart. But once in a while . . .
. . . once in a while I get such a vision of God and his glory that I ask for things that only God can do. And surprise, surprise! He does! It’s very strange to think that he actually listens to someone like me. I don’t know why on earth he would, but that’s what the gospel is about. Right? Coming back into fellowship and, yes, even friendship with God so that my heart wants what he wants, and I can truly ask for anything.
Tonight one of the TEAM is lying in a hospital in Cape Verde pretty banged up. Tonight I asked for something only God can do because I think his glory is at stake if his word is hindered from going out. Could someone else be raised up? Sure. But I sure would like to see the devil snatch defeat from the jaws of victory again, just like he did at the cross.
Oct 1stQuote of the Day
The world will never be as dark as it was before Jesus came and walked this earth.
Larry Skrant, Changed Lives Ministries
Okay, call me sick or whatever else you want to, but I LIKE to listen to good preaching. I’ve been priviledged to sit under the sound of some of the best for the last nearly eight years. Tonight’s sermon was an excellent reminder, though, that Jesus has not left this world without His light. That light resides in each of us who love Him and obey His commands, and it’s meant to shine out into a dark world.
Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
Jesus