Posted on August 30, 2008 at 6:07am.
Every now and then my blog is just my thoughts about the things in life I enjoy. Today is one of those days. Today is a great day - the college football season begins! I know there were a few teams who played on Thursday night (sorry Pack fans) but today is the real beginning. Over the next few weeks passions will run high for many of you as you cheer for the school you attended. You will dress with your team’s colors, cancel any engagement on the day they play and go in morning if they loose. One of the advantages of going to a Bible College is we didn’t have a football team so I can adopt anyone. For years, with a story that is too long to try and explain here, our family has adopted Florida football. So today I will be cheering for the Gators. Truthfully I just love the excitement of college football - it is a great time of the year.
Posted on August 29, 2008 at 5:54am.
Here is a phrase I read recently that has caused my mind to be stirred - “Christ himself is the dynamic of his own demands.” What a great truth! It is the Holy Spirit working in and through my often fragile obedience enabling me to live the Christian life. The Apostle Paul put it this way in Colossians 1:29, “To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.” My struggling with Christ’s energy - both together. The Christian life is by definition a supernatural life but it still means I participate in the process. It is not all my effort with God sitting back in heaven watching nor is it all God with me sitting in an easy chair. It is the combination of both that allows us to live the life of a Christ follower to the glory of God.
Posted on August 27, 2008 at 6:28am.
I woke up this morning to a beautiful sunrise (which means I wasn’t in Charlotte). A new day, a fresh start to whatever God has in store for me. I was reminded that what also greeted me today was the newness of God’s mercy, his grace, his forgiveness and his love. What a marvelous promise - new for today. I don’t have to rely on what he gave me yesterday. I don’t have to worry that my supply is all used up. New every morning - what a beautiful thought.
Posted on August 26, 2008 at 5:52am.
Peter, James and John were all experienced fishermen. They had gone out on the Sea of Galilee many times. I wonder what it was like the day that Jesus told the wind and they waves to be still? Who would have believed that anyone could do that? I watched my grandson yesterday stand in the ocean, put his hand up and tell the waves to stop. I smiled as time and time again he repeated his command and the waves kept on coming. It really was a picture of how weak our human effort is.
“Father, how grateful I am that you the all powerful God hold not only all of nature in your control but also my life.”
Posted on August 25, 2008 at 12:03pm.
I found myself today thinking about two very different ideas - disappointment and the Gospel. The more I thought about it they actually fit together. Everyone of us knows what it feels like to be disappointed. We bring expectations into a situation or relationship only to have reality fall below our hopes and the result is disappointment. String enough disappointments together and you end up with the loss of hope, the sense of - what’s the use. It is at that moment I believe the Gospel provides hope. The message of the Gospel is all about redemption and restoration. God reached down to us in our absolute hopelessness and provided redemption. As our lives embody the truth of the Gospel it means that we can overcome disappointment, particularly with others, with the hope of redemption. If the Gospel is true it should make a difference in our everyday lives.
