A few weeks ago, Steve mentioned this book in his sermon. He did mention also that he was keeping the book as “bathroom” reading. This is NOT where I read this book!
The Year of Living Biblically is the story of AJ Jacobs’ quest as he puts it “follow the Bible”. For his project Jacobs’ had an advisory panel made up of Jewish and Christian teachers, rabbis, and preachers. They helped him compile a list of all the rules and regulations he would need to follow. Jacobs worked diligently to follow all the rules. Things like not cutting the corners of his hair, or his beard. Eating kosher. Observing the Sabbath. Giving a tithe. Daily prayer. Etc. Etc.
In the end, he seems to have felt better about himself, found somethings he really embraced, some he totally rejected. He had a few moments where he felt that he almost touched the Divine, but never quite found God.
A few days ago, I was filling out a profile and it asked for my activites. My brain fired off…”my life revolves around church activities.” WAIT!!!! My first response should have been…”my life revolves around Jesus.” Immediately my thoughts turned to this book. I think that the problem Jacobs encountered was that his life revolved around the rules, not the relationship. Any of us can have a life that is according to MacBeth “full of sound and fury, but signifying nothing”. Or as Ezekiel 37 tells us the great noise of bones coming together, but “there was no life in them”. Without the breath of God in us, following rules is just following rules: it doesn’t matter if they came from the Bible or not.
God, grant us the intelligence to see when we are oriented around anything – even if it is very, very good – that takes our focus off of you.
Seems like I must spend all my time with a book in hand, and I’ll confess to a little reading gluttony of late. But here’s my rationalization.
1) The two month sinus infection really wiped me out. Holding very still was about the only way to cope with the constant headache. TV is just not that big a deal, so I read.
2) In Europe this summer, I had to ration myself on reading. I didn’t pack enough books with me to start with. Then of course there was the whole problem that book stores only carried books in German. Go figure! German books in Germany and Switzerland – kind of like the grocery stores with labels in German.
There was one point as we were driving from Berlin to Martin Luther’s hideaway at Wartburg, that we passed a massive warehouse out in the middle of the country side. It was an Amazon.de warehouse. But it only made me sad, since I figured that once again I would be frustrated by the fallout from the Tower of Bable. Surrounded by water without a drop to drink.
So to my frivolous reading… If you’re looking for just a fun fiction adventure mystery with no swearing and no explicit PG+ situations, you can’t beat Clive Cussler. You’ll have to read this one closely and a few others, but I’d probably bet on the fact that I think that the author is pretty conservative and pro-life.
I would have to say of all the books I’ve read in the past year this one may be the book that has made one of the deepest impact on my heart and mind.
Back in September, a wonderful lady at our church had been touched by Steve’s sermons on the cloud of witnesses and gave us a copy of Randy Alcorn’s book. What a gift!!!
Safely Home is a story of the persecuted church in China and the cloud of witnesses in heaven that cheer us on and pray for us.
We have no idea what life is like for those who live in constant danger imprisonment, torture, losing everything for the testimony of Jesus. I have been particularly moved by the lack of Bibles for believers. And super convicted over my lack of time in the word. The main character of the book makes the point that when a person goes into solitary confinement the only things they take with them are the things that they have studied and know.
The other aspect of this story is the cloud of witnesses. The church has lost the reality of heaven and that life may end here on earth, but there is MORE!!! We have a hope that we never spend anytime meditating on.
Page after page is filled with little gems of wisdom and I will quote a few here. Just one caution…have a box of kleenexes close by when you read this book. You’re going to need them.
- The longer the night lasts, the more men dream of the dawn.
- True gold fears no fire.
- No man can serve him perfectly, but they can serve him faithfully.
-”Tell them if they wish to help, send us Bibles. And pray for us. Pray thost those winessing our suffering will that Jesus must be real in order to sustain us. Pray that the rotten food will actually taste good to us. He has performed this miracle for me many times. Pray that the rags we prisoners wear will keep us warm. Pray that the beatings and torture will not weaken us, but strengthen us in our faith. And that the enemy will not overcome us and our families with despair and discouragement. Pray that prisons all across China will become centers of revival, and that Christians in registered churches will be bold, and house churches will be invisible to the police but visible to everyone else. Pray our sons and daughters will not be ashamed of their fathers and mothers in prison.”
-There will come a day when the King of All says, “NO MORE!”
Ephesians 6:18b – Be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints.
The need for this week of prayer became obvious to me last week. For a few days there had been a series of events where things just weren’t right. People who normally get along were irritated and misunderstanding one another. Situations came up with opportunities for offense. A few people had stopped by to talk about struggles in life intensifying and job or financial struggles were increasing. As I talked with an faithful CATG intercessor, we finally put the pieces together and we wondered what was up that the enemy would cause such an upswing in the normal day to day life of people in our church family. The final straw was Thursday morning when I came in to find 5 urgent prayer requests that needed to be sent to our prayer team immediately.
What’s different than usual? A new service starting for one. Possilbly coming into conjunction with a new wave of prayer for an open heaven over CATG. When God is about to do a new thing, the enemy can read the signs. We are praying that the new Last Call service would be an open door for many to come into the Kingdom, for many who need to hear the Word of the LORD to have the opportunity to do so on a Sunday evening. What better way to render us ineffective than to scatter the flock and like a roaring lion seek those who are vulnerable to being devoured. (John 10:12, 1 Peter 5:8)
Pray for health and protection, pray for jobs and finances and safety. Pray for each other’s children and against accidents and mishaps. Pray for last week’s urgent requests and for anyone else you may know is vulnerable now.
Pray for each other this week. If someone should suddenly come to mind, pray for them. The LORD frequently uses those thoughts, which may seem a passing whim, to call us to prayer for someone. You may be His line of defense for someone else. Keep short accounts with one another. If offense could pop up, go immediately to one another so that the enemy can’t divide us. Remember that whatever has come up may be a strategy from the accuser, so get mad at him not one another.
I love the way Paul exhorts us in the above Ephesians passage to be alert. Peter echoes that in 1 Peter 5:8-11: Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.”
This week we will have the privilege of praying in the new Sunday night service at Church at the Gate. You can read all about Last Call at Steve’s blog.
Our job this week will be to cover this new start in prayer. We will focus on a new and different area each day, but our primary focus will be that this new worship time will reach out and touch people who desperately need the love of Jesus. For so many people times of desperation include one “last call” out to a God who, to a hurting soul, may or may not exist. One of the jobs of an intercessor is to stand in the gap to cry out for mercy and to petition heaven for lost souls.
Over the past several months I have been slowly digesting an amazing book called The Gospel According to Job.
This book has short two page “devotional” type chapters as it walks slowly through the book of Job. Just like Lays potato chips, you can’t read just one. But you can’t digest a whole chapter at a time either. They are rich and thick with deep truth and wisdom.
Last night I ran across this thought that I would love to shout from roof tops in order to help every single person think differently about prayer and to become more and more successful at prayer.
Most people, of course, have questions for God. But hardly anyone is willing to hold out and wait (let alone to wheedle and pester the Lord) for an answer. Most people will not wait on God for one minute. Why not? Surely it is because we do not really expect any answer. But the message of Job, of Habakkuk and Jesus’ parables on prayer is all the same: the word of the Lord comes without fail to those whose faith takes a peculiar form – the form of despair, honestly and passionately expressed, combined with stubborn persistence in holding out for consolation.
Wow! Take just five minutes and re-read that and allow God to speak it to your heart. For me it was conviction and hope all rolled into one paragraph.
For our dog, “go” is a pretty important word. What we have discovered here in Europe is that all the dogs get to go – everywhere. Dogs go to restaurants; dogs go to museums; dogs go on buses and trains; dogs go on tours; dogs just go! I have seen some dogs in old churches, but not often so someone must draw a line somewhere. One dog got refused at the door of the 95 thesis church in Wittenberg, but he didn’t look offended.
Even the signs tell you that dogs are permitted. This sign was at the entry to the Berlin space-needley-thingy. As you can see…dogs are ok – soccer balls are not.
So here are just a few of the dogs of Europe that we have taken pictures of for you. The pictures are a little odd, because people look at you weird when you are taking pictures of their dogs.
This is the dog that just came out of Burger King. He must have had salty fries, because he needed at big drink of water at his car.
This is the dog that is going up to the Wartburg castle tour to learn about where Martin Luther hid out and did spiritual warfare.
This dog is going into the ice cream store.
This dog just got off the train and peed on the wall inside the station, which no one seemed to think was a big deal. We are not sitting on the floor anywhere ever again!
This is the dog that couldn’t go into the 95 Thesis church. He seems ok with that.
I know. I know. I know. The more prolific of the family have plopped out many blog posts in the past several days and my blog has been stuck on the chocolate post.
(What a great place to leave things…with chocolate. Be sure to see Thomas’ post on our trip to the Lindt chocolate factory. We truly wished for smell-a-vision to send a sample of the marvelous odors wafting around. But their lack of tours at Lindt has left the Frey chocolates on top. Actually I’m glad they don’t just let the masses walk through where the product is being made. Keeps the bird/swine/whatever kind of flu germs out of my chocolate.)
Anyway all that to say, I’m kind of in the place on this trip where I’ve got to allow God to work on the things he needs to work on in my life. There is no getting to the restoration I need without allowing him to reveal and work on the junk. I have a couple of frivolous posts in my head, but they aren’t in my heart. And what is in my heart is just a little close to home to put out into the vast cosmos of the internet.
So I humbly submit these two offerings on my blog.
1) This awesome article by Bob Kilpatrick on the Cloud of Witnesses.
2) This youtube video of the greatest song ever: Restoration. If you listen to the song and then find yourself humming it or singing it to yourself, would you offer it up as a prayer for us, for all the people that you know who may just need the restoration hand of the LORD on their lives. Don’t forget to get all the way to the end of the 10 minute song…we all need the the hallelujah part!
Well, here I am as everyone back home gets ready for my favorite holiday of the year, and there’s not an Oscar Meyer hot dog anywhere to be found.
The Fourth is my favorite holiday for quite a few reasons. Here are a few:
1) fireworks/explosives/fire
2) a holiday that is not focused on the meal (Thanksgiving – hours to prepare – consumed in 20 minutes – clean up another hour or so)
3) fireworks/explosives/fire
4) no gift pressure (Christmas – did I get them the “right” gift and how far out of my budget did I go?)
5) fireworks/explosives/fire
6) grilling – the very best way to cook and keep the kitchen clean, and most of my favorite foods
7) fireworks/explosives/fire
8 ) relaxing day of family with converation, fun and blowing stuff up, and mostly outdoors so that the house doesn’t have to be as tidy
9) fireworks/explosives/fire
10) childhood memories of fireworks, cookouts, and services at the little country church cemetary to honor vets.
11) fireworks/explosives/fire
12) a holiday that does not require an extra church service (makes sense if you are part of a church staff family)
So as you can see Fourth of July is the best holiday ever!
Here’s a little clip from my favorite comedian, Jim Gaffigan. Remember, he’s rated PG 13. He gets to the Fourth about 2 minutes into the clip.
A few weeks ago, Steve mentioned this book in his sermon. He did mention also that he was keeping the book as “bathroom” reading. This is NOT where I read this book!
If you’re looking for just a fun fiction adventure mystery with no swearing and no explicit PG+ situations, you can’t beat Clive Cussler. You’ll have to read this one closely and a few others, but I’d probably bet on the fact that I think that the author is pretty conservative and pro-life. 
As you can see…dogs are ok – soccer balls are not.
This is the dog that just came out of Burger King. He must have had salty fries, because he needed at big drink of water at his car.
This is the dog that is going up to the Wartburg castle tour to learn about where Martin Luther hid out and did spiritual warfare.
This dog is going into the ice cream store.
This dog just got off the train and peed on the wall inside the station, which no one seemed to think was a big deal. We are not sitting on the floor anywhere ever again!
This is the dog that couldn’t go into the 95 Thesis church. He seems ok with that.
This dog was at a wedding.
