Dangerous Information About Women

I got some chicken scratch on five pieces of paper that is burning a hole in my pocket.  It's dangerous, valuable information that came as a result of me getting in a fight with two women.  I had to ask really tough questions and be misunderstood and have misunderstanding.  I felt like Indiana Jones lifting off the golden monkey head only to see the temple start to shake. It was like going into a cavernous tunnel with snakes and spiders all around me, and almost getting stuck before God rescued me and delivered me back into the glorious sunlight. I asked the question with intensity, "what do women really want?"  You see, I've come to realize women struggle differently then men.  I would like someone to ask me what do men truly want without having to Jesus juke the answer.  So I gave them a chance to answer without Jesus juking.  Just straight up.  Here's what I found.

There are three big areas that I tried to split the information into, they are as follows:

1. Start Loving Me The Way I'm Wired Man
So before we can apply the top two answers I found, we need to be able to somewhat narrow down our lady's love language.  The following is an overview of the love languages taken from Gary Chapman and his book The 5 Love Languages.

• Words of Affirmation

  Actions don’t always speak louder than words. If this is your love language, unsolicited compliments mean the world to you. Hearing the words, “I love you,” are important—hearing the reasons behind that love sends your spirits skyward. Insults can leave you shattered and are not easily forgotten.

• Quality Time

  In the vernacular of Quality Time, nothing says, “I love you,” like full, undivided attention. Being there for this type of person is critical, but really being there—with the TV off, fork and knife down, and all chores and tasks on standby—makes your significant other feel truly special and loved. Distractions, postponed dates, or the failure to listen can be especially hurtful.

• Receiving Gifts

  Don’t mistake this love language for materialism; the receiver of gifts thrives on the love, thoughtfulness, and effort behind the gift. If you speak this language, the perfect gift or gesture shows that you are known, you are cared for, and you are prized above whatever was sacrificed to bring the gift to you. A missed birthday, anniversary, or a hasty, thoughtless gift would be disastrous—so would the absence of everyday gestures.

• Acts of Service

  Can vacuuming the floors really be an expression of love? Absolutely! Anything you do to ease the burden of responsibilities weighing on an “Acts of Service” person will speak volumes. The words he or she most want to hear: “Let me do that for you.” Laziness, broken commitments, and making more work for them tell speakers of this language their feelings don’t matter.

• Physical Touch

  This language isn’t all about the bedroom. A person whose primary language is Physical Touch is, not surprisingly, very touchy. Hugs, pats on the back, holding hands, and thoughtful touches on the arm, shoulder, or face—they can all be ways to show excitement, concern, care, and love. Physical presence and accessibility are crucial, while neglect or abuse can be unforgivable and destructive.
  
  Ok now that you might have discerned their love language, try applying it to these other two honest answers.

2. I Want Freedom To Be Creative And Pursue An Activity Without Kids And Not Feel Guilty.
Wifey gets a couple hours to herself, she comes home and husband sighs once and that's all it takes. Boom those two hours are meaningless to her, and you just scored negative points.  Husband's kill that sigh, it's going to rob you of everything you just worked so tremendously hard for.  Scripture declares "He who loves his wife loves himself" (Eph.5:28). I think God is really trying to give us a hint in that verse.  We leave a mess for them to clean up after watching the kids, and then expect special treatment for watching the kids.  They pray God would change our hearts in this area, and then they're bitter because of how long it took for us to figure this out and then on top of it all we want praise.  Apparently this is a big turn off they are afraid to talk about.  This is hard for the ladies to not feel resentment over this issue. 

3. Intentional Realistic Pursuit From Your Husband.
Turns out women want to be romanced.  They want to feel special no matter how ordinary they feel.  Thus the successful shiny vampire books that are like emotional porn for women.  God's answer to the problem of it "not good to be alone" was marriage.  Most marriages are either back to back, side to side, or face to face.  If your marriage is only held together by side to side (ministry, taking care of the kids, cleaning house etc) your marriage will really struggle and end up being back to back.  Healthy marriages require face to face time. Which means quantity time.  Your spouse should be your source of emotional enjoyment.  Many marriages get derailed because of emotional adultery. There is no such thing as jumping into quality time.  If you try and do a date night without first having a sync up time (go over calendars so you don't overbook, what are we doing for Thanksgiving type stuff etc)  your date nights will end up being sync up times.  Having face to face time takes some forethought.  Should we go on a date in the city or country, find a sitter ahead of time on facebook and not craigslist, help pick the house up, vocalize a willingness to help with the home and kids to make this happen.  It takes intentionality and premeditated thought to define and create a good date.

So that is what I discovered.  I know there will be far more to uncover as time goes on.  Treasure and guard your marriage because it has tremendous potential and reward.   Tend your own garden.

 I must carefully add here: I am just learning this and not very good at it either fellas, but I'm working towards this direction and I know it's a good path.  Hard work is rewarding in every area especially our marriages.

Also to the women: perhaps your man runs to bottomfeed on the things of the world because you don't understand his needs either.

Even so men: you are called to lead in rebuilding your marriage.

Ecclesiastes 9:9 states, "Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your short life that he has given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun." 

Life is a vapor and it's short, let's create a culture at West Valley where our marriages shine brightly the gospel of Jesus Christ and experience tremendous joy!  Let the men rise up and lead the way.

We Are Loved

Miranda and I are in Vail, CO at the Acts29 pastors and wives retreat. We are really thankful to A29 and West Valley for making it possible for us to go. It's really a pretty awesome vacation as we get to listen to guys like Ray Ortlund and Sam Storms remind us of God's love for us. We get plenty of free time as well. We were really blessed by what Ray and Sam shared last night. Ray shared out of Ephesians 3, and read Pauls prayer, "and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge" Vs 19. He reminded us that this is a prayer stamped with God's approval and that he doesn't pray that they will know God's love but that they will experience it. Sam storms shared 2 Thes. 3:5 which is another prayer of Paul's in which he says, "may the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and the steadfastness of Christ" The word "direct" means to overcome obstacles, the obstacles and war that rages within us causing us to doubt and not experience the love and steadfastness of God. We then got together with some of our friends here in Vail and simply prayed as Paul did and for the things that Paul prayed for. We are totally blessed to be here and thankful for this opportunity to rest and be refreshed and reminded we are loved.

Sunday's Message: Learning To Seek The Lord

Have you ever felt directionless as a dad? Have you ever found yourself in circumstances that only seem to get worse and more random?  Do you feel ashamed because your track record is not what you wish it would be and lose confidence in your calling and purpose?  So did king David. We have the benefit of looking at David’s life in retrospect and we see the scaffolding around his life while God is constructing and shaping David.  According to Ephesians 2 we are also under construction.  In this study we look at 1 Samuel 23 and the three psalms that David wrote during this gut-wrenching season of his life.  There are many jems to be had here if we will look.   Happy fathers day!  

Learning To Seek The Lord  Sunday June 19

My Resolve for Good--Miranda Johnston

I'm in the middle of a 30 day challenge with an accountability group. The challenge is to be up early each morning, before the rest of your family, so you have time for personal devotions and are ready to serve your family with a happy heart. Every day the ladies check in on facebook with an "up and in" if they did it or an honest confession if they didn't. The last few mornings my allergies glued my eyes shut, literally. So I have "in's" but hardly any "up's".  I feel like I'm trying really hard to be self disciplined, I desire to be closer to God and spend time in his Word, and I know that serving my family is something I am called to, and that fulfilling my calling is life giving. So I've been having a hard time understanding why these good things that I desire aren't playing out in my mornings. I'm looking for that thread that Russ is always talking about, the one that connects what your leaning in the Word with what Gods trying to teach you in your circumstances. And I think I found it.

2 Thess. 1:11&12 keeps popping up.

"To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of His calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by His power so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ."

This verse has been inspiring and comforting to me.

In His Power he will fulfill our resolve for good

• to spend time with Him
• to serve my family well
• to have victory over the things (sin) that keep me from Him
• to live a life that is to His glory

In His Power he will fulfill every work of faith

• to carry me every time I say "I can't, but You can"
• to give me boldness in obedience when every thing around me says its not right, not smart, or not worth it
• to be my courage and confidence when the road ahead looks dark and impossible to travel

By His Power He will make me worthy of His calling 

dictionary.com says the definition of worthy is:

• having adequate or great merit, character, or value

• of commendable excellence or merit; deserving

Deserving. By His power He will make me deserving of what He has called me to. Because I'm not deserving. On my own, in what I think is my own power but is really nothing more than my dressed up weakness, I am completely ineffective. Undeserving of the life he has called me to, unable to taste the fullness of life that He is offering me. A life of joy. A life worth living. A life that brings glory to Him. But by His power I can have all of those things, I can do all of those things! All I have to do is ask, and keep asking. Paul says in this verse that "to this end we always pray for you". What a comfort to know that I have a God who loves me and wants to give me this best life! But at the same time understands me, knowing that if I didn't have to keep asking I would forget Him. 

But there's more.

In His power He will fulfill our resolve for good. Ultimately, what I want is a life of obedience, a life that is satisfied by God. Piper says,

"God is most glorified by us when we are most satisfied by Him."

 But what I've been learning this week is that sometimes the obedience that he calls me to looks a lot different than I think it should. Sometimes my obedience is to resolve to do better, be more disciplined. And sometimes my obedience is to resolve to accept the circumstances He's allowed that are out of my control and not get hung up on what I think life's supposed to look like. Either way it only happens "by His Power". 

Its easy for me to look at my mornings and get discouraged and feel like a failure. A mood that would, no doubt, carry on through the day and make my whole family miserable. But sometimes that "best life" He has for me doesn't include my best intentions and good things. Sometimes the baby has been up all night. Sometimes I'm, or one, or all of my family is sick. Sometimes my plan, my schedule gets thrown off. Sometimes that's a good thing. Because sometimes God is teaching me a different kind of obedience. But even then the truth of all obedience remains the same, it can only be done in His Power.

  

And the best part is that it's all

"So that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ."

God Sings The Melody, We Sing The Harmony

God knows what he is doing, and he is making things.  He loves to create.  "For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them" (Eph.2:10).  This answers a lot of questions about life.  There are entire sections of Borders bookstores dedicated to trying to answer what the meaning of life is.  In fact the two largest sections in bookstores are "self-help" and "how to make money".  Apparently the books don't work because there is a never ending market for them.  I love the simplicity of the Bible; God made you, He sings the melody and we sing the harmony.  I all too often forget that I am His workmanship.  That word "workmanship" means "artwork".   I just started shaping a new surfboard.  It's going to be a 6"11 fish.  It's going to be thick because thick boards work best in Oregon waters.  This board is not being made for California, or Hawaii, it's being made for Oregon, and it's being made for me.   It will paddle like a longboard and move like a shortboard, move like a butterfly and sting like a bee. There are four main factors that come into play while you are planing a foam blank.  1. The angle of the planer in your hand.  2. The speed and which you move the planer.  3. The pressure you apply to the planer.  4. Your vision and intuition guiding these others.  I make mistakes while shaping.  I will apply too much pressure and speed and then catch an edge with the planer and leave a gouge in the foam.  Not so with God.  He is never-changing and perfect.  He knows exactly how to whip us into shape.  He applies perfect angle, speed, pressure, and vision.  Are things taking longer than you expected? His speed is perfect.  Do you feel heavy?  His pressure is perfect.  Do you feel things aren't going as you planned?  His angle is perfect.  Do you compare your artwork with others and wish you were them? His vision is perfect.  I am learning to go with the flow.  It's best to find His melody and sing along.

Here's Some Good News!

When I was five I got my first bee-sting. A honey bee was the culprit who landed on my ear. So I slapped him/her? It's stinger was left stuck in my chubby right hand and the bee died.  Honey bees usually sting only once because they have jagged barbs on the end of their stinger that get stuck in their victim, which happened to be a chubby five-year old.  In 1 Cor. 15: 54-57 Paul speaks of the victory we have in Jesus in similar language when he says,
"Death is swallowed up in victory, Oh death where is your victory, O death where is your sting?  The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."


The law points out that we have sin, and sin leads to death.  The law condemns each of us.  That's the bad news.  The good news is that Jesus was pierced by the stinger of the law, and the law only has one stinger. All of it's venom was injected to Jesus as he took the wrath upon himself, "my God, my God, why have you forsaken me."  Colossians 2:13-14 states, "having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with it's legal demands.  This he set aside nailing it to the cross." 
The law has been fulfilled by Jesus.  He took the sting. Those who believe they are walking a tightrope of performance to secure their salvation or usefulness in the kingdom do not have a correct understanding of the gospel (good news).  "There is now therefore no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus"(Rom. 8:1).  What does it mean to be in Christ Jesus? It means to trust and believe in Him.  When this happens we are given the Holy Spirit who will begin to make us more like Jesus day by day(sanctification), by convincing us, convicting us, encouraging us, comforting us, and leading us into the truth.  Because of this truth you can leave what's in the past in the past and press into the never stopping grace of God.  Preach the gospel to yourself today and to others!

How to play "Holy Spirit Fall"

 I'll be posting "how to play" videos of other songs in the near future as well.  If you have any requests you can send me an email at westvalleyfellowship@gmail.com

Metallica And Crying Babies

This last week Miranda and I zipped down in a rental car to Coos Bay for a concert.  We usually drive a dark grey 1999 GMC suburban.  We needed the rental car because our brakes were sounding like Metallica and crying babies making noise at the same time.  We only had the "littles"  which is what we refer to as our two youngest kids named Jack and Max.  When they are together they like to speak loud gibberish where every word sounds like it is being said backwards.  It's funny but can get really monotonous and grating.  Sometimes I hear this voice in the back of my head say, "who do you think you are trying to minister to others when you hardly can keep your sanity in this car?"  There are many times when our life with four boys get's crazy, and just getting them to church seems like an exhausting obstacle course and then I remember I am the pastor who is speaking that morning.  I didn't have much time to prepare for our concert let alone Sunday morning when we got back, yet I find that God graciously gives us what we need when we need it.  As long as we are singing harmony to God's melody we will find the strength we need when we need it.  Duet. 33:25 states, "as your days, so shall your strength be."  The times I get overwhelmed are when I am wondering how I'm going to make it the next day.  Jesus said, "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself.  Sufficient for the day is its own trouble" (Matt. 6:34).  Don't jump off the cliffs of your mind today precious people.  Cling to Jesus and stay the course with what is in front of you today.  Make a decision to take one step today of obedience and trust the God of all provision. 

Children Are A Gift From God

Psalm 127 tells us "Behold, children are  heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward..."

Children are a reward.  Everyone likes rewards and enjoying rewards.  How are you doing at enjoying your reward?  Sometimes we are so concerned about how we are doing, or not doing, as parents that we simply forget to enjoy them.  They become our clean up projects instead of our joy.  I love how my wife finds the funny in everything they do. She frequently posts their goofiness on her facebook page, and I believe in doing so she paints glimpses of the gospel.  Kids are messy and you gotta learn to have fun with the messiness.  Perfectionism is sin.  It's a misunderstanding of the present predicament that you and your kids are in.  We live in a messy world, and if you expect your kids to not be messy you are going to lead them away from the cross in a hurry.

  In fact they will get messier as time goes on, and instead of spilling their cheerios, I hope they will be able to spill their hearts out on our dinner tables because they know  Mom and Dad need Jesus  too. 

One afternoon, when we were just a year into our church plant I was at a church BBQ and my three-year old was acting up.  I was so afraid of what others would think that I took him into the bathroom and scared the Jesus out of him literally.  It was my fear of man and my unbelief in the gospel that led me to do so with that motivation.  I have learned over time that the fear of man is a snare to my motivation to discipline.  I want them to fear and love the Lord by fearing and loving me. Pastor's and their kids need Jesus period.  This has freed me up to enjoy them and embrace their messiness and discipline them well. In fact scripture declares we are to delight in our children before we go about disciplining them (Prov.3:12). I am learning new ways to have fun with them.  Here are a few ways I enjoy my children, that I have recently found rather refreshing.

1. Turn up the music in the living room and dance with them if they are still young.  They love it and you will love it too.  They will also grow in a freedom of expression that most kids don't ever learn, and you will get a big smile on.

2.  Plan a date with them. Call it a daddy date or mommy date or something special that they will look forward to the rest of their lives.

3.  If you have boys do some wrestling with them.  I get full on workouts, probably burning like 1000 calories from chasing them all over our yard.  

Those are my three favorites currently, and I am sure they will change every year that goes by.  I'd love to hear new ways you are enjoying your children.....please share how you are doing so!

 

Follow The Signs

This week I enjoyed a rare treat of blowing up explosives with an assault rifle.  The scope had an electronic laser inside of it that allowed me to successfully send an M4A1 bullet one hundred yards into a watermelon with a small bomb inside it.  I felt like I was playing Call of Duty again on the Xbox, which I gave up a long time ago after I realized I was gaining a dungeon tan and turning back into a ban (boy/man).  My dad refused to shoot the ninja gun with electronic scope and proceeded to sit on the ground with an old Winchester 270, that he refuses to put a scope on, because it is cheating.  He sat down a hundred yards out with his old gun in which I turned to my brother and said, "he'll never come close." Boom! He nails the target! I've come to realize my dad is a pretty cool guy not to mention smarter than me with most everything.  One of the things he said while we were out there shooting was that my great grandpa was very overwhelmed by how rapidly technology was introducing itself to the world.  Before he died he never quite figured out how to use a cell phone properly.  Wondering where my dad was going with the conversation he turned and said he currently feels overwhelmed in the same way by how frequent natural disasters are introducing themselves multiple times per year. "It's not normal", he said, "I don't care what those clowns are saying about it just being we are aware of all these things because of technology, it's not the little things I'm talking about, but the big stuff that is happening multiple times a year."  He said, "I might be old but we did have TV's and 60 minutes for crying out loud." My dad's right to notice this.  I was curious after the conversation and started looking up CNN columns written ten years ago, and news clips from ABC done ten just years ago http://archives.cnn.com/2000/NATURE/09/29/warming.disasters.reut/.  They were noticing this ten years ago and scientists were being overwhelmed by climate disruptions and natural disasters including earthquakes, extreme temperatures, famines, floods, slides, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, and wind storms.  Jesus of course in Matt. 24 said these things would increase rapidly before the time of his return.  He referred to them as "birth pangs" vs. 8.  He told the people to keep oil in their lamps and to continue living for him even when things get nasty (Matt.25).  In John 21 the apostle John tells us that Jesus did many signs in the presence of his disciples, and that these signs were recorded in the gospel "that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name."  The greatest sign we have ever been given is the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Signs are meant to point you in the right direction, or show you have arrived, or show you are going the wrong way.  I am excited to have an opportunity to respond to the sign of the King and live for Him.  I want to join with what he is doing to reconcile a broken world to Himself.  Jesus is not a limp wristed spritist.  He is the Son of God who died for the sins of the world offering the free gift of salvation to all who will receive Him. He has overcome sin, death, hell, and all those who worship the lie and will come again to establish justice and righteousness upon the earth.  Another sign we have been given is the reality of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us if we are truly a child of God.  "The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God" (Rom.8:16).  Turn to the Lord today, in a time of grace and be adopted into his kingdom and family as a son or daughter living for His glory.

The Importance Of Biblical Expression

One of the things we will be doing when the King returns is singing. Isaiah 12:5-6 states, "Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously; let this be made known in all the earth. Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel." The Hebrew word for "shout" means to cry out with great intensity.  In other words, when we see Him in our midst we will be expressing something physically and emotionally.

Depending on your background, which is probably filled with both good and bad examples of corporate worship, you are either way too reserved, or you are way too weird. There are a lot of words for "worship" in the Bible.  When you read your Bible in English, the English language does not have the means to express these differences and so I want to give you a list of some of these words to better help you worship with meaningful expression corporately and individually.  What follows is only a scratching of the surface.

Check out Psalm 34:1, "I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth."
This word "bless" in the Hebrew is "barak" which means to specifically "kneel down".  You can't get that by reading the English.  Here it is again in Psalm 95:6, "Oh come let us worship and bow down; let us kneel 'barak"  before the Lord, our Maker!"  This physical expression can be expressed by a bowing of the head as well. 1 Chronicles 29:20 says, "Then David said to all the assembly, "Bless "barak" the Lord your God." And all the assembly blessed the Lord, the God of their fathers, and bowed their heads and paid homage to the Lord and to the king." This is an expression that is done out of awe and reverence towards the Lord Jesus for his victory over our sin.  It should be a humble confidence to pay homage to the King, not a condemning hanging of the head.  In many congregations this expression is no where to be found.

Here's another example.  Psalm 21:13 we read, "Be exalted, O Lord, in your stregth! We will sing and praise your power."
This word for "praise" is "zamar" which specifically means to play a guitar or other stringed instrument with your fingers!  And some people have divided their churches over whether or not to allow instruments!  This word is also used in Psalm 57:8, and 1 Chronicles 16:9.  The music expressed in the Psalms are anything but boring, drab, or without instruments.  

Here's another. Psalm 22:3, "Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. This word "praises" is "tehilla" which means concretely  to sing a hymn.  God loves hymns!  It has been so exciting to see musicians singing hymns like "In Christ Alone" and "It Is Well" etc. Many well constructed hymns are jammed with the gospel truth.  The point of the word here is to have well constructed lyrics, rather than "it's all about me, Jesus."

Lifting of the hands is found multiple places in the scriptures.  There are different types of lifting the hands.  Here's one, Psalm 50:23 says, "The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me."  Many translators translate "thanksgiving" with "praise" but the word is "todaw" which means to extend your hands in adoration and acceptance, thanking God for things not yet received, and things already at hand. If someone is lifting their hands high it ought to be expressed because of great thankfulness welling up in the heart, not because raising your hands is what you are supposed to do.  I have witnessed congregations believe that a lifting of the hands is a more spiritual expression.  Some people who are lifting their hands ought to have bowed their heads first to the gospel truth.  If you are full of anxiety towards unknowns, then lift your hands in expression of your reliance to God.  Another example of lifting the hands is found in Psalm 107:15, "Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man!"  This word "thank" is "yawdaw" which means to hold out the hands with the expression of throwing something away or letting go of something.  This word is also used for making confession.  The Hebrews would extend their hand and place it on the head of the goat they would slaughter signifying their guilt and shame were being passed to the animal while with the other hand the throat of the animal would be slit.  In the same way we can extend out our hand recognizing Jesus made atonement for our sins by his blood.  I often do this while having communion as a powerful reminder of my dependency on Jesus. 

It's important to simply learn how to express what is going on within us.  This is pleasing to the Lord.  I am learning to communicate with my wife with much more intimacy, so that when she asks me, "how was your day", I can respond with more than..."fine".  May our worship be more than fine, but be vibrant and balanced to rightly reflect our relationship with him.  When the gathered church worships through the avenue of song, and the people are being open and honest with their God and each other, and the gospel is being grasped, the glory of God comes down. 

album almost ready for release!

I am excited to be wrapping up my new worship project come next month!  I've been amazed at how well it has been coming together.  The record will include 11 songs that are scripture driven and very acoustic mellow.  The songs have a mixture of cello, violin, piano, and some songs are simply me and a guitar.  I am experiencing a pressing desire to minister through the avenue of music and write more songs.  I am going to launch a personal website that will make my music available through itunes, amazon, and cd baby.  Bruce Milligan from Sound Ministries has been doing an excellent job with the recording and I am blessed to be getting to know him.  All that's left to record is the violin and vocals.  Jacob Balint has recorded piano, Olivia White on cello, Jacob again with the bass, and Michael Brown on banjo and harmonica on a song.  I am really thankful for their work on this project with me.  I'm looking forward to sharing it with you all.

blessings
Russell

One Anothers

It is really hard to do the following without being around others or without the Holy Spirit.

John 15:12 - Love one another
Romans 5:13 - Don't pass judgment on one another
Romans 12:5 - Be members of one another
Romans 12:10 - Honor one another
Romans 12:16 - Live in harmony with one another
Romans 14:19 - Build up one another
Romans 15:5 - Be like-minded toward one another
Romans 15:7 - Accept one another
1 Corinthians 12:25 - Care for one another
Galatians 5:13 - Serve one another in love
Galatians 5:26 - Don't provoke or envy one another
Galatians 6:2 - Bear one another's burdens
Ephesians 4:32 - Be kind to one another
Colossians 3:13 - Bear with each other and forgive one
another 1 Thessalonians 3:12 - Abound in love toward one another
1 Thessalonians 4:18 - Comfort one another
Titus 3:3 - Don't hate one another
Hebrews 3:13 - Encourage one another
Hebrews 10:24 - Stir up one another to love and good deeds
James 4:11 - Don't slander one another
James 5:9 - Don't bear grudges against one another
James 5:16 - Confess your sins to one another
1 Peter 4:9 - Offer hospitality to one another
1 Peter 5:14 - Greet one another
1 John 1:7 - Fellowship with one another
1 John 3:11 - Love one another
Ephesians 5:21- submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

My Precious

 

My Precious

I like to figure things out.  I am not sure I have ever successfully done so, but I am splendid at pretending.  In fact I don’t think I have ever fully understood my circumstances with a perfect clarity.  I find myself praying “Lord give me clarity” and “give me wisdom”.  Really, what I am saying is, “Lord, show me how to be arrogant and independent from you”.  There have been times when I thought I knew what was best, when in turn it wasn’t best at all.  The Lord turns it for best, but one of the ways he turns it for best is by teaching us not to trust ourselves anymore.  No wonder the proverbs are full of advice to seek the council of trusted others.  Every year that goes by I learn to trust myself less and less. 

Proverbs 3:5-8 declares, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.  Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.  It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.” 

Yesterday, as I was pondering this verse, I got up to get some coffee and came back to find my mechanical pencil was missing.  I immediately knew with all certainty that my son Chase who is three had stolen it.  I yelled, “Chase give me my pencil back” thinking to myself “of course Chase couldn’t resist a  red mechanical pencil.”  Then I felt the pencil poke me in my right pocket.  Just another reminder. 

I am also learning that the best journeys end up answering questions that in the beginning I never thought of asking.  It’s always been this way.  God wants our hearts not our clarity, and his heart is what we really want, but we think we want our precious clarity like Gollum in Lord of the Rings wanted his precious ring.  We don’t easily learn from the lessons of history and that is the most important lesson of history, especially our own.  I can trust the Lord in my circumstances though I don’t have any answers in the midst of them, and I can trust the Lord if he doesn’t ever show me why.  He proved his goodness on the cross at Golgatha.  If he would go to execution in my stead, then I can trust he loves me in health or sickness, wealth or poverty.  Praise God for this journey and adventure.