God is Good

I debated whether or not to bring this up in my blog, but I must say something about it. I am at the same time embarrassed, humbled and very, very thankful. But I am now the proud (not to mention embarrassed, humbled and very thankful) owner of a iPhone! Yep, me the very uncoolest of the unhip now carry around the coolest little gadget. OK, some reviewers point out some limitation of Mr. Job’s little telecommunication device, but that is rampant iEnvy. This is one cool phone. And with the supposed near release of the SDK to third-party developers any day now (you listening, Steve), this is only going to get cooler.

So why would I have an iPhone? Grace. It was a free, Will gift. For reasons that I cannot explain, Will and Michele King (and Andrew too) like me. Go figure. But Will was upgrading his phone and in the process upgraded mine as well. Just "Here, take this an no questions." This is not the first time I have been rendered speechless, but speechless I was rendered. But I wanted to take this opportunity on my public cyberforum to say “Thank you” to Will and Michele. The gift of your friendship is priceless… and I really, really like the phone!

Oh, and for all of you who have been worried after my Delta-Farce blog, I did secure plane tickets to LAX for the Pepperdine next month. We are flying AirTran for about $250 (including tax and fees) round trip, so all Delta’s customer non-service did was save me some money. OK, so I’m kinda leery flying AirTran coast to coast, but saving money is saving money. And AirTran actually booked the flight, so that’s a bonus!

Of course, the really big news this week is family news. Angelynn is coming home for spring break Saturday and Mom and Dad are coming in for a visit (their first one in awhile) on Monday.

Pepperdine trip booked. Family coming in. And an iPhone. God is good! (Amen, Clifford?)

God's Covenant People

Our reading of the book of Leviticus today ends with a flourish. What we expected when we started the book was listing of sacrifices and rituals in almost excruciating detail, and Moses did not disappoint us. But in this book of pomp and ceremony, there is an also startling reminder of how seriously we need to take the holiness of God and His call for us to be a holy people. The story of Nabab and Abihu is included following the catalog of sacrifices for a reason— we must treat what is holy as holy. And that story provides the backdrop for the Day of Atonement ritual (Lev 16:1).

The book ends with God making some promises. He first promises peace and prosperity for those who follow his laws and keep his covenant (26:3-12). Rains will come, enemies will be defeated and wild beasts will be chased away. God will bless his faithful people. But in even more graphic language, God promises gloom, despair and agony on them if they fail to keep the covenant. Look at Leviticus 26:18-20--

If after all this you will not listen to me, I will punish you for your sins seven times over. I will break down your stubborn pride and make the sky above you like iron and the ground beneath you like bronze. Your strength will be spent in vain, because your soil will not yield its crops, nor will the trees of the land yield their fruit.

Things get worse if Israel continues to disobey God. The phrase “If after all this…” (v. 18) is repeated in verses 21, 23, 27 with the threats getting worse and worse. Just as God promises great blessings if Israel is faithful to the covenant, He is very clear what awaits them if they are not faithful.

Remember, this is Exodus language. God is preparing Israel to possess and live in the Promised Land. The promises of gentle rains and prosperity as a reward for faithfulness are not meant to be universal and timeless. Neither is the threat of national disaster a guarantee for all godless and disobedient nations. What nation in history has failed to be godless and disobedient? Israel was the people of the covenant, and they had a special responsibility to follow the commands of God.

Will God destroy faithless and godless nations? Eventually. If He wants to. And will God destroy the United States if we insist on being godless and rebellious? Maybe. Probably. Nations are but political constructs that God raises up and casts down at His pleasure. America is not and has never His covenant people any more than any other nation has been, although He has certainly blessed her “from the mountains, to the prairies, to the oceans, white with foam.” And He has used her for His purposes. But the covenant people that God holds accountable for keeping His laws and living His holiness is not America or any other nation. It is the church—you and me. Leviticus calls us to holiness and obedience. And we had better take it seriously.

The Scapegoat

In 1855, Holman Hunt made a trip to the Holy Land which would inspire many of his greatest paintings. His first major work while there was “The Scapegoat.” The painting was inspired when Hunt saw the extraordinary sight of the Dead Sea for the first time. Hunt spent about two weeks painting in the landscape and making sketches and notes. He took a white goat with him but he left that part of the picture blank; he did not paint the goat until he returned to his Jerusalem studio. Due to the threat from hostile tribesmen, Hunt had to leave the Dead Sea earlier than he wished. He took back samples of mud and salt to help him finish the foreground.

This Old Testament image of the scapegoat (Leviticus 16:23-28, Saturday's Old Testament reading) provides a powerful shadow of the Christ whose death would once and for all take away the sins of those who put their faith in Him. The high priest ceremonially laid his hands on the scapegoat, transferring the sin of Israel to the animal, who then was released to take the sin away into the desert. A sacrifice was then offered to make atonement for the sin. Jesus is our high priest, our sacrifice and our scapegoat who carries away our sin. And so the Hebrew writer says this of Christ in Hebrews 9:12-14-

12 He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. 13 The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. 14 How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!

“Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!” (2 Corinthians 9:15)

Rules Are Rules

I was recently added to the board of directors of Idlewild Christian Camp. I haven’t gotten fully into the swing of being a “director” yet, but I should know a little something about what is coming. I spent 30 straight years there as a camper (see picture of me and my camp homeys... or maybe homelies) and then staff, and spent ten years on the board of directors before my 10-year hiatus. So I had a little experience with camp… and I let them put me back on the board anyway.

One of the things that we used to spend a lot of time talking about were rules—“Special Rules for Camping Sessions.” Everyone agreed on the necessity; we often disagreed often over exactly what specific the rules should be. Usually, the rules were reactive; they were enacted due to some specific situation that arose during camp. Something screwy would happen, and then the board would meet to issue some official edict—

• In early years, the water pump cabin fire extinguishers were often used, not to fight fires, but to hose down campers. We made a rule that prohibited the use of fire extinguishers for any purpose other than to fight fires. That rule remained on the books long after the extinguishers were removed from the cabins.


• A visiting group from a Christian college went swimming late one evening, and the rattling of the diving board the cooks awake. Sure enough, the next year we issued a rule that said that no night swims by guests or staff would take place after l0:00 PM.

The longer the camp operated, the more situations were encountered, and the list of rules grew longer and longer. When I left the Board, the rule sheet listed separate 28 rules printed in 10 point Times Roman font just to squeeze them all on one page.

For some reason, I flashed on that rule sheet as I was doing my reading today in Leviticus. Saturday’s reading (Lev 18) listed 20 different types of sexual liaisons that were forbidden the Jews, from having sex with parents to having sex with animals. Sunday’s reading (Lev 20) listed the punishment for those sexual sins. Both the sins and the punishments are listed in excruciating detail. Everything there could have been covered with a simple “There will be no sex outside of marriage or else.” But the rules were very specific and the punishment was exact. Not only did the Jews know the rules, they knew why the rules were important, “Consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am the Lord your God. Keep my decrees and follow them. I am the Lord, who makes you holy.” (Leviticus 20:7-8).

There are times when I wish there was a list of rules to cover every situation that could possible come up. Like when people ask, “What does the Bible say about invitofertilization?” It would be nice to be able to get down the concordance and look it up. Of course, if every ethical, moral question were covered, we would need a forklift to get down the concordance! What we learn from Israel’s experience of the law is that having rules to cover every imaginable situation does not mean one will seen to follow the rules. Some of Jesus’ interaction with the Pharisees indicate that the law became for some a way to justify their own behavior while keeping other people in line (see Matt 23:4, Mark 7:11-13).

Let’s face it, our biggest moral/ethical problem is not knowing what is and is not right. It is rather that so often, what is right is not what we want. For the person who recognizes that God desires for us to be holy as He is holy, the list of rules probably won’t matter that much. They may be too busy pleasing God with their lives to haggle over the details of what is and is not in the rules. Maybe we’re way too much like the Pharisees than we would ever want to admit?

The Friendly Skies

I have a countdown gadget on my Google start page that marks off the days left before we leave on our annual trip to the Pepperdine lectures—65 days and counting.  Well, I spent 3 hours last night trying to book a flight to LAX... 3 hours of my like I will never get back!  Test runs on Expedia and Orbitz (looking for the best ticket) showed that the flights I wanted were available.  In fact, most of the panes had 3/4's of their seats available.  But I wanted to book straight from Delta because we still have part of a voucher credit (after they screwed up last year's trip so badly).  After 3 hours and 2 excruciating calls to Delta, I still don’t have a plane ticket.

The problem, it would seem, is Delta’s computer system. In order to get the cheapest price, you must use the web.  Everything went flawless on Expedia and Orbitz, but it kept crashing on the Delta site.  I would type in all the information only to be rewarded at the end with a “system not available” error message or a blank screen or getting kicked back to opening screen.  Twice the thing timed out and dumped me back to the beginning.  I tried the process in both Internet Explorer and Safari (the Apple browser) both with the same non-luck.  Once Safari just gave up and shut down; I think it knew something I didn't!

When I called Delta, I got a nice young lady in India who was learning English, but hadn’t learned it yet.  She really did want to help, but she was working with a script amd just walked me through the stpes again.   With my admitted problems hearing clearly, every sentence was repeated 2-3 times.  And with here talking in my ear the whole time as I typed, an already frustrating experience was made even moreso, “Type in your last and first name, taking care to spell everything correctly…”  That is helpful!  When the reservation failed again, she suggested that I try it again using a new voucher number which she gave me.  She invited me to hang up, go through the process again and call back.  I did, and it didn’t work, of course.  So after nearly 3 hours, I gave up. 

What is the moral of this story?  I don't know, but what is the use of having a blog if you can rant every once in awhile!  United used to use the slogan, “Fly the friendly skies.”  Do you remember what the Delta slogan was at the same time?  “Delta, we get you there.”  

Strange Fire

A preacher friend of mine had a visitor stop by his office years ago and ask, “I just want to know one thing; is this a faithful church?” How do you answer that?  “No, not really, but we're friendly?”  My friend replied that it was indeed a faithful church”  The visitor looked around a moment and pointed and said, “Then why do you have a kitchen?  Faithful churches don’t have kitchens!”  The visitor then left in a huff and my friend said, “But it’s a very small kitchen.”

The late Cecil Hook, in his book Free in Christ, gives a list of 100 issues have divided our churches.  He then gives a list of 11 different fellowships within the Church of Christ created by differences over some of these issues.  Later in the book he says, “We have been warned many times by sincere teachers against additions to the five items of worship by use of the example of Nadab and Abihu, who were zapped for offering strange fire which the Lord had not commanded” (Lev 10:1-2).  At some point or the other, most of his 100 issues have beenroundedly condemned as being “strange fire” which adds to the word of God.

Last night in class we looked at the Nadab and Abihu story.  We suggested that the message of this story isn’t complete until you finish the chapter. Fire destroyed Aarons oldest two sons because they used “unauthorized” (NIV) or “wrong kind of fire” (NLT) in offering the sacrifice (see Lev 16:12).  On the same day that happened, Aarons remaining two remaining  Eleazar and Ithamar also failed to offer the sin offering as required (Lev 10:16-18).  They (and/or Aaron) failed to eat their portion of the sacrifice within the sanctuary area as required.  Instead, they burned the whole sacrifice contrary to the Law.  What were they thinking?  Did they see what happens when you add to or take away from God’s Law?  Aaron tells Moses why they had failed (Leviticus 10:19, NCV)—

“Today they brought their sin offering and burnt offering before the Lord, but these terrible things have still happened to me! Do you think the Lord would be any happier if I ate the sin offering today?”

Basically, Aaron (and sons) just couldn’t eat.  With the smell of the burning flesh still in their nostrils, they just couldn’t eat a burnt offering.  That was not rebellion.  That was not a cavalier attitude toward Law.  That wasn’t being drunk, perhaps the reason for Nadab and Abihu’s gaffe (See Lev 10:8-11).  The failure here was the weakness of flesh.  They just couldn’t go on and function given everything that had taken place.  Moses was satisfied with that.  So was God.

God demands that we seriously seek to follow Him.  What He said after the fall of Nadab and Abihu still applies, “Among those who approach me I will show myself holy; in the sight of all the people I will be honored” (10:3).  I suspect that is the real point of this story.  The person today who does their very best to honor God and His law but falls short because of the weakness of their flesh— they misunderstand a doctrine or misapply a text—are not Nadab and Abihu.  They are Eleazar and Ithamar!  To be flippant and cavalier in our approach to God is one thing.  To give God your best effort to honor and obey only to be rejected and lost because you reasoned incorrectly and came down on the wrong side of those 100 issues-- that is not even close to the message in the Nadab and Abihu story!  Having a kitchen in the church building, supporting orphans homes, clapping during a song, having deaconesses, and using instrumental music in worship are NOT the strange fire in this story.   A prideful and arrogant rejection of God and His Law is.  And maybe a prideful and arrogant rejection of His imperfect people?

WinterJam

Most of our Sunday night small group was gone to Winterfest this past week, so Lynn and I had the night off. She had heard that Mercy Me and NewSong were going to be at ODU that night in concert, so we decided to go. What she didn’t realize was that this was the 2008 WinterJam youth festival, and many of the groups had a little more of an "edge" than much of the music we listen to. Groups like Skillet and Barlow Girl were really, really loud. We were sitting in the cheap seats, and it was still really, really loud. We liked the music, and the energy in both the performers and the crowd was absolutely frenetic. While most of the crowd was teens, but there were a lot of older people there head-banging as well. And did I mention that it was really loud?


Three comments (besides that it was loud). First, we really enjoyed Mercy Me. They mainly did stuff from their new album, but they threw in a couple of oldies. I Can Only Imagine and Word of God Speak can still bring chills. I liked the new album too. (New Law: All Christian groups must project their lyrics when doing their new stuff… their old stuff too for that matter.)

Second, hey I don’t do a cover solo of one of the bands hits in the middle of my sermon… so the singer shouldn’t preach. Actually, I like it when the artist witnesses or tells his or her story (one of the Barlowgirls was flatout preaching), and that is especially important to a youth audience. But not every group. And not after every song. And not when they go on and on and on. And not when they had two youth ministers on the tour specifically to speak each night. Come on guys and gals, sing!

Third, the best part of the evening was watching all of those young people so enthusiastic about the music and the Lord. To see that many teens and young adults in one place focused on God-centered things and responding to God-centered messages and singing God-centered lyrics—that warmed my heart. I really wish my girls could have been there. But then, they probably wouldn’t have appreciated the music that much. They think rock is for old people!

Moses and Matthew

For those who are keeping up with our Denbigh daily Bible reading plan, we are seeing a rather interesting nexus of Old and New Testaments. Most of our the daily reading plans of years past have included Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs, but this year’s plan has one reading from the Old Testament and another from the New Testament. And this provides the interesting weaving together of the two stories.

Friday, we began the book of Leviticus. I made several off-the-cuff comments about how often people get lost in Leviticus in their daily Bible reading plan—“Leviticus is where daily reading plans go to die.” Lynn finally told said the other day, “Hey, lay off Leviticus; I like Leviticus.” OK, so no more offhand comments about Leviticus. The last thing I want is for anyone to feel justified in stopping their reading in Leviticus.

In the beginning of this book, we are given all the details about how and when the various sacrifices are to be offered—burnt offering, grain offering, fellowship (peace) offerings, and sin offering (Lev. 1-7). Such details as which part of the animal is burned, how much is kept by the priest and how much (if any) is eaten by the worshipper is explained for each of the different sacrifices. Leviticus also gives us information on the ordination of priests (Lev 8) and how they began their ministry (Lev 9).

At the same time, our New Testament readings have seen Matthew hurtling along toward the story of the cross. As we began Leviticus on Friday, Matthew told of Jesus being anointed (an event he saw as preparation for his burial), the Lord’s Supper, Gethsemane, and Jesus arrested and tried and denied by Peter. Tomorrow’s reading is the crucifixion.

So while Moses is telling us (in excruciating detail) of the sacrifices and priesthood of the Old Testament, Matthew is telling is of the excruciating experience of Jesus in fulfilling all those Old Testament shadows and symbols. (By the way, the word “excruciating” is from the Latin, “out of the cross.” It was like no word existed to explain the full agony of crucifixion, so the made one up!). The elaborate and (to us Gentiles) confusing system of animal sacrifices that begun in Leviticus found its fulfillment and meaning in the story of the cross. Hebrews 9:13-14 makes the connection between Moses and Matthew like this—

The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a burnt calf are sprinkled on the people who are ritually unclean, and this purifies them by taking away their ritual impurity. Since this is true, how much more is accomplished by the blood of Christ! Through the eternal Spirit he offered himself as a perfect sacrifice to God. His blood will purify our consciences from useless rituals, so that we may serve the living God. (NLT)

Leviticus may be a little tedious at times-- at least the detail of all the different sacrificial procedures can become a little repetitive. But Leviticus tells the story of redemption, a story that finds its finale at the cross and our acceptance of it.

The Leviticus Effect

Leviticus is where many daily Bible reading New Year’s resolutions go to die! Not only does Leviticus come at a bad time (a month and a half into the New Year when we start getting sloppy), but it can be some pretty tough sledding. And today we begin Leviticus in our church daily Bible reading program. And I’ve already learned something new!

In Leviticus 1:16, the priest prepares birds as a sacrifice by removing its head, draining its blood, and tearing it half partially at the wings. And he is also removed the “crop.” Not only had I never noticed that before, I wasn’t sure what that a "crop" was. (I knew you planted them and that is what I do with pictures before I put them in the bulletin). The “crop” is a pouch in a bird’s digestive track that holds food before it goes into the stomach. The Message uses the word “gizzard,” but that is a different structure altogether (it comes after the stomach). The lexicon suggests “crop” as the primary meaning of the Hebrew word (“murah”) used here, but it also suggests that another possible meaning was “the alimentary canal, i.e. the entire tubular digestive canal from the mouth to the anus.”

What these opening chapters are going to stress is that the OT sacrificial system is very detailed and precise. All of the purposes, procedures and process of these various offering are laid out in great detail. When one went to the Tabernacle to offer a sacrifice, one did not have to wonder about how that sacrifice was to be offered.

Is there a point here for us? What is striking about New Testament worship is how much detail is missing. We have no real descriptions or examples of how New Testament worship services were conducted. Were they liturgical, spontaneous, high church, low church, etc? The few hints that we have, we don’t really try to emulate exactly—we may see a pattern in Acts 20:7 in breaking bread (which we assume is communion), but we generally don’t see a pattern in midnight sermons! We know the early Christians sang and prayed and ate communion, but we have nothing like the detail that is given in Leviticus. So we too often SUPPLY the details and bind them on others.

The fact that God was so detailed and specific in Old Testament worship and so not in the New Testament is likely a much more dramatic point than we have previously admitted.

Soothsayers Saying Sooth

Our New Testament yesterday (Matthew 24) has often been used to support different theories and understandings of the end time. In reality, the question that Jesus is asked and the answer that He gives have to do with the destruction of the Jewish Temple and the end of the Jewish age. There is a warning about the end of the world and it is pretty simple-- "Keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come." That becomes the theme of the parables that follow in today’s reading in Matthew 25 (see Matt 25:13). We can't know when Jesus will return so we must be ready all the time.

And yet, there have always been would be prophets that the title of one book calls "Soothsayers of the Second Advent," I have always liked that title. These soothsayers claim to have have found some key or the other that allows them to unlock hidden truths in scripture that allows them to predict the day of the end of time. (There always seems to be enough time left from the publish and sell a book!). Here are some examples--

• In the mid-second century, Montanus set the date for the return of Christ and the end of the world in the late second century. His followers gave their goods away and waited for the return. When it didn't happen, the Montanists were reduced to beggars and the movement ended.
  
• In 1524, a German theologian named Stoufler predicted the coming end of the world in a cataclysmic flood. He attracted a wide following, and his disciples built boats and rafts and waited for the great world-ending flood. When it didn't happen, they were so annoyed that they threw Stoufler into a lake!
  
• William Miller predicted that the world would end in 1843, a date he later had to revise to be October 22, 1844. The Millerites were so shocked when it didn't happen that they referred to October 23, 1844 as “The Great Dissappointment.” While Miller faded from the scene, some of his followers led by Ellen G. White founded the Seventh Day Adventists.
  
• Some of the other ex-disciples of Miller led by Charles Taze Russell formed the "Millennial Dawn" movement. They set many dates for the end time, beginning in 1874 and then reset to be 1914, 1925, 1929, 1941, 1975, and their most recent prediction was for 1991. This movement is now called the Jehovah's Witnesses; they no longer set dates.
  
• In 1970, Hal Lindsey published The Late Great Planet Earth in which he predicted the second coming sometime in the mid-seventies based on the Egypt-Israeli war. The book as been revised many times because the world has changed a little since he wrote.
  
• And of course, Y2K sparked renewed interest of end time predictions as the third millennium began. Not only did the world not end, but most of the lesser catastrophes that was supposed to come with the changing of the calendar did not take place.

One can only suppose that events like 9-11, tsunami of several years ago, and the Giants upset of the Patriots in the Super Bowl will encourage other soothsayers of the end time to continue making predictions. If the Cubs ever win the World Series, then look out!

Jesus' words ring as true today as they did when he spoke them. Our job is not to unlock hidden keys that allow us to use our newspapers as decoder rings that reveal the exact time of the second coming. Everyone who does that ALWAYS comes up with something different. That is just not our job… it wasn’t even Jesus’ job while He was here on earth (Matt 24:36). No, our job is to live our lives so that we are ready for Jesus coming whenever it happens—today, tomorrow or a hundred million years from now.

My 15 Minutes?

Are you familiar with the “Reddit” website? I wasn’t until this morning. Reddit is a social news website where users post links pages from the web and then discuss them, voting the posted links up or down. The more “up” votes, the more prominently the posted site is displayed on the Reddit homepage. Users can discuss the posted links and vote for or against other people’s comments. I guess it’s the web version of “Survivor” where you are always voting someone off.

The reason that I bring it up is that a blog I wrote two years ago is now #17 on Reddit! Someone evidently posted one of my entries, and its getting quite a lot of discussion. Well, the blog (“Parties for Prostitutes”) was mine but the content was a story from the introduction of Tony Compolo’s book The Kingdom of God is a Party. The book is from 1992, and I wrote the blog almost two years ago, but for some reason it is getting discussion now. Maybe people on the internet are finally running out of things to discuss?

Well, I’d better enjoy my web fame while I have it… I slipped to #18 while I was writing this. Ah, uneasy is the head that wears the crown.

Lessons from a Hummingbird

I'm planning on getting together with my old college roomate who will be in the area on vacation. next week. (The fact that my old roomate is 6 months younger than me has its implications, but I choose not to dwell on them.). Actually, not only is Alan Smith my old roomate, but Sueanne Smith is Lynn's old roomate as well. So the Smiths and the Tuckers go way back, and we are looking forward to spending time with them.

Alan was on the leading edge of the internet wave. No, he didn't help Al Gore invent the internet, but he was one of the first preacher I know to start sending an email devotional called "Thought for the Day" or TFTD. Google "Alan Smith" and his TFTD website comes up on the first search page (right after some English soccer star who broke his leg). I thought that in honor of Alan and Sueanne's visit, I would use one of his TFTD articles in my blog today.

Lesson from a Hummingbird

I want to share with you something that happened to me a couple of years ago. I was doing some yardwork around the house. After I finished, I went through the garage to get back into the house.

But, as I was climbing the stairs, I heard a loud fluttering of wings above me. My first thought was that a large moth or small bat had gotten itself trapped, but then I realized it was a tiny bird - a hummingbird! Its wings were flapping with great intensity as the bird slammed itself repeatedly into the ceiling. It was clearly intent on flying upward, but there was no way out in that direction No doubt the poor bird had to be exhausted, and it was evident that it wasn't going to find its way out by itself.

Using my hand, I carefully guided the hummingbird out into the middle of the garage, thinking it would have no trouble finding an exit with the garage door wide open. The bird quickly found a resting spot, but when it tried to
leave, it once again headed upward, banging itself into the ceiling over and over. Could it not see the wide open door with freedom just a few feet away? Why was it intent on searching for an escape route straight up? Finally, with a little assistance from my son, the bird made its way outside.

I couldn't help but think how much like that hummingbird we all are. The difference is that our search is for happiness and the "meaning of life." We search in all the wrong places over and over again, looking to material goods or immorality or addictive substances, all without success. And instead of seeing the wide open door that God has provided, we continue to painfully beat our heads in frustration.

We try again and again without finding the happiness we crave, so we try even harder. We work longer hours to collect more "stuff", we sample something a little bit stronger. Why are we so blind that we cannot see what God has made available? He
wants us to find the freedom of living for Him. Time and again, He gently nudges
us in the right direction. But we're so blind (or stubborn?).

"In the Lord I take refuge...Flee like a bird to your mountain." (Psalm 11:1).

Moral of the Story?

Our daily Bible reading far has been historical narrative. Both the readings from Genesis and Exodus (up until yesterday at least) and from Matthew have basically been stories. We’ve read some incredible stories and some rather obscure stories, but they have basically been stories. And neither Moses nor Matthew have gone Aesop on us and told us, “And the moral of this story is…” These historical narratives are preserved for us to teach us something about God, but sometimes that something is not clearly spelled out.

But sometimes the moral isn't all that hard to see, is it? Anyone with one eye and half-sense can figure out the “moral of the story” of Israel;s trip from Egypt to Sinai. Notice these texts taken from Sunday and Monday’s readings from Exodus—

• Exodus 15:24- "So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, 'What are we to drink?'"
• Exodus 16:2- "In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron."
• Exodus 17:3- "But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses."

See a trend developing here? Well, the trend continues in Numbers after the Israelites leave Sinai and head for Canaan. The grumbling over the lack of creature comforts in the desert comes up again in Numbers 14:2, “All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron…” This was after the report of the spies convinced the people they could not conquer the Promised Land. They had complained and grumbled so much that they were unwilling to see the blessings of God before them. And God finally had enough of their ungrateful complaining—

“How long will this wicked community grumble against me? I have heard the complaints of these grumbling Israelites. So tell them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord, I will do to you the very things I heard you say: In this desert your bodies will fall—every one of you twenty years old or more who was counted in the census and who has grumbled against me.” (Numbers 14:27-29)

The negative spirit that led them to grumble and complain about the hardships of their journey also caused them to miss the great blessing that God was seeking to work in them and through them. The moral of the story? Surely this one is obvious! When we give in to the pessimistic, negative and bitter side of our nature, we fail to see the ways that God is working to blessing us. Grumbling and complaining cannot exist at the same time as gratitude and praise. We must decide which we are going to foster in our heart.

Super Day!

Yesterday really was a super day. Church was really good. The song service was especially uplifting, we were $2000 over budget in our contribution and I got through the sermon without stumbling and bumbling around too much. The praise team did a wonderful job leading us in the Hallal arrangement of “My Savior, My God” after hearing for the first time last Wednesday night. When I said in the blog that we were going to have to do that song in a week or two, Keri took the challenge seriously! What a powerful song. What an awesome God.

What else went on yesterday? Let’s see-- well, my Bible class went pretty well. And the weather was just about as good as February is going to get around here— very warm and bright and clear. Lynn and I took a long walk around the neighborhood. It was a super day, but there seems that there was something else going on.

Oh yeah… the Giants win! The Giants win! The Giants win! Eli Manning led the New York Giants on an improbable last minute drive that broke hearts in Boston and gave New York the Super Bowl XLII title. That was without a doubt the best football game I have ever seen! I was sure the game was over when the Patriots scored their final touchdown, but then came Manning’s Houdini act, Tyree’s one hand circus catch and Burress’ final TD grab.

It was absolute bedlam here at the church building. Actually, the picture here was staged right before our half-time devo. (Or maybe that is us singing during the devo? Probably not.). It was bedlam here when Burress caught that final pass. I can’t imagine what it was like in the stadium. Tressa did call me after the game from down on the field. Maybe she will do a guest blog later in the week to describe her experience. Tank, if you read this—I just want to try the Super Bowl ring on at some point, OK?

But none of that was the most monumental thing of the day yesterday. That honor has to go to the fact that Lynn watched every play the entire game—the first time she has done that in her life. She even got to the Family Room early to get a seat on one of the couches. Life is full of surprises, isn’t it?