Refresh

Seems like I'm continually tinkering with the site layout here. I've reverted to a simpler layout for the time being. It's refreshing to have a fresh start.

I didn't initially intend to say anything more that I just did-same blog, new look, thanks very much. However...as I thought about the idea of being refreshed, a song that I've listened to off and on recently came to mind. It's on the most recent Passion cd and it's called "Come to the Water."

The basic idea of the song? An invitation to come to the God (who offers the water of life) because "We believe You will satisfy / You bring our hearts to life."

I don't know about you, but I need that kind of refreshment every single day. Praise God that it's offered to us!

Goodness of God

We must never tolerate an instant's unbelief as to the goodness of the Lord; whatever else may be questioned, this is absolutely certain, that Jehovah is good; His dispensations may vary, but His nature is always the same. -C.H. Spurgeon 

God Provides, even...ESPECIALLY...the small things

For those who don't know, this is a capo: more than that, it is a broken capo. Capos are used by guitar players to change the key that they're playing in without changing the chords that they're playing. It makes everything MUCH easier. It also makes pianists and other 'real' musicians hate guitar players =P

My capo broke at our regional conference several weeks ago, and since then I've been either too busy or too lazy to replace it. While capos make things easier, they are by no means necessary: you can get by without them. Furthermore, I have another capo that kinda works the same way...it was made to do something different (cover some of the strings but not all of them) so you can kinda cheat and use it as a full capo. 

The other day I was strumming my guitar as I sat on the grass in Parkside waiting to practice with Rachel for some worship we'd be playing together when I saw one of the maintenance guys walking towards me. "Great" I thought to myself. "They're probably wanting to mow the grass or water or something and need me to move. The guy and I made that awkward early eye contact too where we both knew we saw each other but were still kinda too far away.

When he got close enough, he asked me a simple question: Is this yours? He was holding a (different but similarly functioning) capo in his hands! 

I told him that it wasn't mine, but he gave it to me anyways! Without having to do anything for myself, God totally provided a new capo for me! I sat there kinda stunned-i had NOT expected anything of the sort to happen and so it was a neat moment where all I could really do in response was shoot up a prayer of thanksgiving.

Sometimes I think we can fall into the trap of taking spiritual promises from the Bible to mean that there will be physical blessings, expecting things on this side of eternity that we shouldn't. BUT...sometimes we don't take them literally enough!

Thank You, God, that you care enough to orchestrate the provision of something as simple and small as a capo for my guitar. May I trust you in the bigger things (finances, family, health) also!

"And my God will supply every need of Yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus." -Philippians 4:19

Just as Lost, Just not as Obvious

Today I read "The Prodigal God" by Timothy Keller. I was walking through the local Borders the other day, mournfully lamenting the fact that it's going out of business while simultaneously and (non-hypocritically! haha) looking for some sweet deals. I saw "The Prodigal God" on a 20% off rack-the paperback was $14. I almost got it at that point but later found a copy of the hardcover in the bargain bin for $3! I HAD to get it at that point.

Keller is an author that I've heard nothing but good things about, but also one that I'd never really gotten around to reading. I went in with a bit of a critical (in a good way) view, wanting to see if he lived up to the reputation that he'd picked up in my subconscious as some sort of 21st Century C.S. Lewis.

In "The Prodigal God," Keller more than lived up to his reputation: his communication was clear, authoritative, Biblical, and-more than anything else-convicting. As he took Jesus' familiar parable about the Prodigal Son and explained it in a way that gave equal importance to EVERY character in the story (not just the wayward son), I found myself challenged and humbled.

One of his main points that contributed to this conviction was the assertion that, while the younger son was lost in his worldliness, the older son was just as lost in his own self-righteousness. I had never quite considered it this way, but, as Keller explains:

What must we do, then, to be saved? To find God we must repent of the things we have done wrong, but...to truly become Christians we must also repent of the reasons we ever did anything right. Pharisees only repent of their sins, but Christians repent for the very roots of their righteousness, too. We must learn how to repent of the sin UNDER all our other sins AND under all our righteousness--the sin of seeking to be our own Savior and Lord.

Our own attempts at righteousness, when they become a substitute for Christ's grace, can be just as much a sin as the vices that we can so easily and obviously identify as sins. They are not always as easy to identify as such, though. Thanks to Mr. Keller, I now am awakened a bit to the need to watch for them more closely. I would highly recommend this book to anyone, no matter (or maybe especially because of) how familiar they think they are with the parable Keller addresses.

Two Roads Diverged in a Wood and I, I didn't take the radii

C.S. Lewis never ceases to astound me. I'm rereading The Great Divorce and in the first paragraph he stopped me cold in my tracks with his...well I can't really describe it so I'll just share it with you!

In describing morality, Lewis shares a metaphor for what it isn't and also one for what it is. As per usual, he hits it out of the park:

We are not living in a world where all roads are radii of a circle and where all, if followed long enough, will therefore draw gradually nearer and finally meet at the centre: rather in a world where every road, after a few miles, forks into two, and each of those into two again, and at each fork you must make a decision. Even on the biological level life is not like a river but like a tree. It does not move toward unity but away from it and the creatures grow further apart as they increase in perfection. Good, as it ripens, becomes continually more different not only from evil but from other good.

Well spoken, Clive Staples...well spoken indeed.