Obedience

Thoughts from the sermon this morning at church:

John 10:17-18

“The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father."

God commanded Jesus to die on the cross. I have never quite connected those dots. I have heard Philippians 2:8 before—“Christ became obedient to death—even death on a cross!”—but it was today that I recognized that Christ was obedient to death because God had given him a command to die.

Questions for reflection:

What has God command me to do?

Do I obey these commands or do I take them lightly?

Another thing I have been pondering is this phrase: “The reason my Father loves me is that [I obey him]. A brother once shared with me, “obedience is God’s love language.” 1 John 5:3 says this: “This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome.”

Not only was Christ’s love for God evident through his obedience, God’s love for Christ was made possible through his obedience.

Again, these questions arise:

What has God command me to do?

Do I obey these commands or do I take them lightly?

More often than not I do not take obedience serious enough.

From My Calloused Heart To Love

Since reading Ben's blog about our hearts becoming calloused, I began to see how my own heart had become wounded and walls I put up to prevent future pain. I see two main results of my heart becoming calloused. One: I sort of stopped inviting people to the Rock. Two: I stopped letting my heart get super-attached to brothers and sisters at the Rock.

More on One: In previous years, I was constantly inviting people to the Rock. I wanted to see changed lives and was convinced that coming to the Rock was a good first step. Looking back, I can see a couple reasons that I stopped doing this. A. I was kind of burnt out from inviting and organizing and keeping track of the people I brought at the Rock, and basically needed to be refreshed at the Rock. B. I had shared the gospel with two of my best friends from high school, they came to the Rock a few times, and they still don' t know the Lord. So then I started thinking well what do unbelievers really get out of coming to the Rock? And had decided in my heart that the Rock was to spur on the saints.

I heard at a Josh McDowell conference once that our beliefs shape our actions. And boy is it true. I subconsciously believed that the Rock is for the saints and I need to be refreshed, so I did not go out of my way to invite/bring people. Besides, if I didn't bring anyone, my hopes of them coming to know the Lord would not lead to disappointment.

I have since shared this with a couple of my life group girls and we talked about inviting unbelievers to the Rock being good because they get to meet your friends, see the love of the saints (for one another and for them), they get to hear truth, you can talk about what they thought of the message and figure out more where they're at.

And we don't have power over people being saved. We are called to love and part of loving people is telling them what is true and praying our socks off. It is the Spirit that has to come upon them. It is between them and God. So I will keep loving my friends from high school, keep hoping and praying that they would believe and be saved, pick the callous on my heart that it may bleed again.

More on Two: So I was first introduced to the Great Commission (GC) Churches through the Des Moines church. Most people there are committed to their local church and because of their commitment, as a church they have been able to make great strides for the kingdom in the Des Moines area. When I came to college, almost three years ago, I thought this commitment to the local church and this church being what people do with their lives was a characteristic of all GC Churches. So I plugged in to the Rock here in Ames with the mindset that we're all going to do this together forever or until some are sent on a church plant. As I began to realize that very few dear brothers and sisters were not of this mindset, my hopes were again disappointed. And as a result, my subconscious mindset became 'well, I don't want to cry when they graduate and leave so I'll just hold back and not get too close to them.' Now, as I am aware of this, I realize that I would much rather love the saints and the lost with all of Christ's love, allowing my heart and mind to be connected to people by praying for them and pouring into them and letting them pour into me, and I would much rather have lots of tears at their departure than "protecting" my heart for years.

Despite these things, God still used me this past year. Yea, for the gospel. God's ability to use us is not dependent us. He is in the process of purifying us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). He is building His kingdom through the righteous acts of rebels. God is able to use us even in, maybe even especially in, our broken, screwed up state. Glory to the Lord on high.

Here are some things I read yesterday about love: (these first bits are12, from the Faithwalkers Journal October 12, 13, 14, 15 2009 By John Meyer)

"The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love." Galatians 5:6b Here's an important truth: what you bring into the world as a Christian is only what you know of the love of Jesus Christ.

"When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed..." 1 Cor. 15:37

You are one who is designed by God. You are one is loved by God. Everything God makes, he loves, except what sin mars, and in a believer's life, God says, "I'm getting it back." And that is what redemption is all about: God seeing exactly who you are, exactly who He wanted you to be, exactly as He made you the perfect seed.

If you look at yourself and say, "Well, you know, God could have had better taste," remember, you're only a seed. Seeds are sort of ugly and wrinkly. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15 that when a seed is planted, what comes up is not what went down. You're going to be glorious and what you are right now was created to become wonderful and beautiful in the eyes of God. That is who we are. If that's not true-if you and I are not a wonder and a glory-nothing else is true.

Yet, if you didn't wake up this morning just totally over-joyed like Steele Croswhite is all the time-if you didn't wake up like that, all over-joyed in the love of God, you weren't believing it this morning. No way. You can't believe that an infinite, holy, absolutely perfect God passionately loves you and not be excited about it. It's not possible. I mean, I'm excited when a guy I don't know across the hall likes me, you know?

That excitement is what moved the early believers.

Jesus said to his disciples, "As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Now remain in my love." John 15:9 The early Christians were driven by the same thing: "For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this: that one died for all..." 2 Cor. 5:12 That was their mindset. So we must understand this reality -the love of Christ lays a claim on our lives.

"As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you." The Father just loves Jesus, and Jesus just loves you. "Now remain in His love"-and you're saying, "Oh man, tell me where to stand! I want to remain in His love! Tell me, I want to know where it's coming down. I just want to stand there, like a shower -Lord, just let it roll over me! I need to be washed in it!"

Jesus says, "It's not too complicated." John 15:10, 12 "If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in His love...My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.

There's a dimension of love that is no matter what you do: you can blow up my house and I can love you. But when that happens, we don't have any relationship. Jesus didn't say that he would withdraw His love; He just says, "You stepped out of it. It's over here."

I've also read some in a book called, "A Love Worth Giving" By Max Lucado. He references Luke 7 with Jesus eating at Simon's house and the woman washing His feet with her tears.

He says, "You'd think Simon of all people would show such love. Is he not the reverend of the church, the student of Scripture? But he is harsh, distant. You'd think the woman would avoid Jesus. Is she not the woman of the night, the town hussy? But she can't resist him. Simon's "love" is calibrated and stingy. Her love, is extravagant and risky." The love from my calloused heart, had become calibrated and stingy. Lord, may our love be extravagant and risky!

Lucado continues that the difference between Simon and the woman was that she came thirsty, gulping down the goblet of grace, drinking until "mercy flowed down her chin and onto her neck and chest." Whereas Simon didn't know he was thirsty. He didn't need grace, he analyzed. He doesn't request mercy, he debates it. It's not that he couldn't be forgiven just that he never asks. While she drinks up, he puffs up. She has ample love to give. He has none to offer.

We can't give what we haven't received. Yet we try to love others without Christ's love. "As if we could conjure up love by the sheer force of will...What's our typical strategy for treating a troubled relationship? Try harder." I'm suppose to forgive and love. "So we try. Teeth clenched. Jaw firm. We're going to love if it kills us!"

"Could it be we are missing a step? Could it be that the first step of love is not toward them but toward him? Could it be the secret of loving is receiving? You give love by first receiving it." John 4:19 We love because he first loved us.

Long to be more loving? Accept that you are a dearly loved child. "Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us." Eph. 5:1-2

Want to forgive? "A person who is forgiven little shows only little love." Luke 7:47 We're wretches, sinners, and rebels toward God, consider how you've been forgiven. "Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as Christ forgave you." Eph. 4:32

Finding it hard to put others first? Think of how Christ put you first. "Though he was God, he did not demand and cling to his rights as God." Phil.2:6.

Patience? "The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance." 2 Peter 3:9

Generosity? Putting up with people? God put up with you. Luke 6:35 "But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful."

"Can't we love like this? Not without God's help we can't. Oh, we may succeed for a time. But if we haven't received these things ourselves, how can we give them to others? Apart from God,'the heart is deceitful above all things' Jer. 17:9.

A marriage-saving love is not within us. A friendship-saving devotion cannot be found in our hearts. Spouses need foot-washings. Friends need a flood of tears. Children need to be covered in the oil of our love. Start by receiving God's love."

And I'm only on page 7. : /

In other news, scientists did not disprove God

I don't really expect this to rock anybody's world, but in case you missed it, a geneticist named Venter and a molecular biologist named Gibson collaborated to synthesize a living cell. I'm not sure how or if history will remember the feat (it is possible to spin this as creating life), but I fell it should be put in context. Per a Wall Street Journal editorial by Venter and Gibson themselves:

Kornberg did not create life in a test tube, nor did we create life from scratch. We transformed existing life into new life. We also did not design and build a new chromosome from nothing. Rather, using only digitized information, we synthesized a modified version of the naturally occurring Mycoplasma mycoides genome. The result is not an "artificial" life form. It is a very real, self-replicating cell that most microbiologists would be unable to readily distinguish from the naturally occurring counterpart without the aid of DNA sequencing.

So, basically they took DNA from a cell, replicated it, and put it in another cell. Really freaking cool, but not creation of life ex nihilo, nor even from non-living cells, and most certainly nothing compared to the power of our Creator. God is still far bigger than people with lab coats and Bunsen burners, and He did not need 15 years and $40 million to do the stuff they only dream of.

Psalm 138:8

The past few days the same verse has been echoing in my head. The Psalmist writes:

"He will fulfill his purposes for us;
your steadfast love, O LORD, endures forever.
Do not forsake the work of your hands."
- Psalm 138:8 (ESV)

This is such great news ! The Lord, filled with forever-enduring steadfast love will not forsake us, but will fulfill his purposes for us.

This verse seems very similar to Romans 8:28 where Paul tell us that God "works for the good of those who love him." Unfortunately, we have an imperfect definition of good and we often view this good in terms of our own worldly interests. Does God working things out for our good mean that we're going to get everything we desire? The job? The grade? The spouse? That extra hour of sleep? Sometimes, yes. But often his will and purpose are good for us in a deeper sense than we can initially understand.

We must take comfort, then, that His purposes are for our good. And he will fulfill his purposes. He will not merely try and give up as we so often do, but his purposes will be fulfilled.

We serve a great and awesome God, don't we?

The Covenants of God

God is jealous for us, both individually and as a people. Throughout Scripture God speaks of this desire and establishes what he calls covenants between himself and man. Sometimes these covenants are spoken of as "The Covenant of Works" beginning with Adam and Eve in the garden, and then "The Covenant of Grace" that is centered around the grace we find in the redemptive blood of Jesus Christ. Now, we could spend time defining each of these, but one thing that's struck me recently is the underlying theme of all of God's relational desires for us. He defines it quite succinctly a few times throughout Jeremiah when he says

"I will be their God, and they will be my people" (Jeremiah 31:33).

Isn't this incredible? We can look at this from both our perspective and His. From His perspective, he wants to be our God (Exodus 20:2) by shepherding us (Psalm 23:1), keeping us safe in the day of trouble (Psalm 27:5), leading us from temptation (Matthew 6:12), disciplining us (Deuteronomy 8:5), loving us (1 John 4:19), working things out for our good (Romans 8:28), and ultimately giving us eternal life (Romans 6:23). From our perspective, we are to be his people by worshiping him alone as God (Exodus 20:3-6), ascribing Him glory (Psalm 29:1), seeking Him (Psalm 63:1), meeting together (Hebrews 10:25), singing together (Colossians 3:16), suffering and rejoicing together (1 Corinthians 12:26) and loving one another (Romans 12:10). [Note: neither of these lists is exhaustive in any context.]
We must now note what the verse does not say. It does not say "I will be your God, and you will be my person." God frequently expresses his promises to groups of people, called the church, of which Christ is the head (Colossians 1:18).
Taken together, we have great insight into the heart of God, which should be our hearts as well. Along with the great commission (Matthew 28:18-20), we can easily see where our priorities are to lie:

1. Love God
2. Love the Saints
3. Love the Lost

Praise God for his unchanging and everlasting covenants with us!

Breath of God

Good lyrics from church that have been on my mind recently. Particularly the bolded part.

A life you cannot define
A purpose that's benign
They need to see and believe
Be lead to the rugged tree

The one on which He cried
not for His pain but for our debt
The very same tree that He conquered death
It was an unfair deal on the part of Christ
He got my sin I got eternal life

Make me the breath of God
And I'll show them the One
that means the most to me
They'll see the face of love
Be touched by the very One
that died upon the tree
Oh, Make me the breath of God
And I'll show them the One
that means the most to me
They'll see the face of love
Be touched by the very One
that died upon the tree

Small talk is a better choice..
A way to avoid Your voice
I need to feel the dust on my knees
And lead them to the tree

The one on which He cried
not for His pain but for our debt
The very same tree that He conquered death
It was an unfair deal on the part of Christ
He got my sin I got eternal life

Make me the breath of God
And I'll show them the One
that means the most to me
They'll see the face of love
Be touched by the very One
that died upon the tree
Oh, Make me the breath of God
And I'll show them the One
that means the most to me
They'll see the face of love
Be touched by the very One
that died upon the tree

Will you follow me?
Lead them to the tree?
Can't you just believe?
Will you take a knee?
For eternity?
For eternity?

Make me the breath of God
And I'll show them the One
that means the most to me
They'll see the face of love
Be touched by the very One
that died upon the tree
Oh, Make me the breath of God
And I'll show them the One
that means the most to me
They'll see the face of love
Be touched by the very One
that died upon the tree

Oh, I'll be the breath of God

Have a great week everyone.

Company Time

The past couple days I was actually on a trip to the Waterloo area, as my boss/manager had to reschedule a meeting overseas to the first week of my work as a result of that volcano fun. I ended up doing a bunch of tours and training sessions to learn about the things that I will be working with over the summer, and one of those was heading up to the Cedar Falls & Waterloo area for two days to tour facilities there and meet with some of the people there, learning about their capabilities and such.

Throughout the course of the trip, it occurred to me how interesting it was – I was driving up there myself, to be reimbursed, staying at a hotel, paid for by Deere, eating dinner, apparently also paid for by Deere, and working with people from Deere there. Everything was taken care of either logistically or financially by John Deere.

Thinking about that gave me a large parallel to how God works in our lives. During the course of my trip, I had no choice but to ‘depend’ on Deere, not only am I new to the company but I had never been to that area before. Deere took care of everything I did for those days, making me feel incredibly welcomed and in a good place. It is so easy to see that when there is a physical entity doing so – for example, I could see how everything I needed was taken care of by the company because it physically was so.

But God does the same thing. He takes care of us in every way. We just do not necessarily see it in the same “obviousness” that happens on a company trip or similar, more physically manifested way. Throughout the course of the trip I pondered this and it really made me feel loved by God. Because He does take care of our every need, and He does provide all manner of things for us. The hard part of course is that what we need, and what we want, are not always the same.

Anyways, I just found that really encouraging and a great parallel for how God takes care of us.

Matt 6:26 - Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?

I don't know what to do with free time anymore...

It is so bizarre to have an entire evening free, with nothing I need to do. Granted, I have accomplished much in the past 16 waking hours, so perhaps it is to be expected, regardless, the feeling of having a few hours to choose amongst a variety of non-essential options is an unexpected luxury.

After much deliberation (otherwise known as deciding that sleep at 8:00pm on a Saturday night is rather lame, and a CD drive that does not want to function) I decided that it has been a while since I have written much. So as a result, this entry will likely be somewhat lengthy – a scattering of my thoughts in the past week or so. As a result it might be rather hard to read and understand how my thoughts flow. Amazing how much I miss the ability to decompress what is on my mind with all of you on a consistent basis. I may end up posting a lengthy blog after sermons just to do this the “hard” way over the summer. It is also hard to believe that just over seven days ago I was still on the Iowa State University campus and in just over a day I start work.

There have been two events of note for me in the past week.

Thing 1

As a favor to both myself and my mother, I elected to go completely through my room back at my parent’s house. This involved unpacking everything I brought back from Ames, going through everything in my room that it has accumulated over the past years, and then deciding what to keep, what to bring to the Quad Cities, what to bring to Ames next fall, and what to toss. The details of the several day process are not as important as the slew of memories brought back.

Time and time again I was bombarded with memories – a memento there, a letter from a friend, a card from parents, a toy long forgotten, a worn out deck of cards. It simply amazed me as to the sheer volume of memories I found merely sorting through my things. Many joyful, many sorrowful, I got the full variety pack of emotion. Even now, I do not know what to do with a variety of the things I found – will I ever open the “letter to self” I wrote in 10^th grade? What about those papers from high school or college? Or the letter from a friend, or the picture or gift?

It would seem so simple to merely toss them all, ignoring any sentimental value (and on the whole, most of those things have been in my room untouched for years so that sentimental value is not really being utilized...) they might have. In fact I have been at a loss as to what to do with these sorts of things. On one hand, it is more or less a collection of random things representing things I have done and people I’ve known. That is all there really is – it is just stuff. But what makes it so hard to get rid of is the fact that that motley collection of items contains a large percentage of the things which have influenced me to be the person I am today. Good or bad, I am a product of the consequences of what has happened in my life (and the more “bad” a memory is, it likely has far more lasting impact on the person I am today than those that are “good”) and how God has used them to forge me into the person I am today.

This process has led me to a lot of self reflection. I have memories I would not wish to happen again and being reminded of those things is not necessarily something I enjoy. But, and this is the key part, everything that has happened in my life has shaped me and made me the person I am today. I cannot just ignore things, but I can also not dwell on choices I have made.

Something I have really come to appreciate this semester is taking how easily I tend to see how naive I am in the past tense, but not only past tense but also present tense. It makes sense: it is so easy to look back upon our past actions and say “yeah, that was silly” but what that means is that at every instance we are doing the same thing. For whatever reason I have come to appreciate and understand the necessary conclusion from that, being that currently we are also being the same naivety – we just do not see it. So while it is easy to see my past naivety from things that remind me of my past, it is just as true (albeit much harder to see) that I am doing things now I will later view in the same light. The trick is to more quickly realize and change those things... which is why prayer and friends willing to point those things out can be invaluable.

Thing 2

The second thing of note is the message from this evening’s service. I had essentially decided I would not spend a lot of time “shopping” for churches in the area, because with a summer of only 13 weeks, it becomes difficult to realistically shop for a church and plug into the same church if several weeks are in the shopping phase. Fortunately, this afternoon while running some errands I noticed a church that was clearly in a commercial building before, drove by and saw that they had a 5:00 service on Saturday, and decided I’d check it out. Essentially your standard evangelical church, I believe it is called Harvest Bible College – worship music followed by a lengthy Bible based message. Seems to be a relatively solid church. I am not sure if I am crazy but I could just feel the presence of God in the church and during the worship. Pretty neat. Reminded me a lot of the Hillsong concert.

The message was quite inspiring. They must be going through a series on Acts, as the message was based on Acts 17:15-31, which happens to be the section talking about the “unknown God” the Greeks made an idol for. The theme was “Your Life’s Pursuit.”

The bulk of the pastor’s message was around three key points. The first being that, “we must avoid idols.” For some reason though, while I have understood how easy it is to fall into idolatry of all manner of things (money, enjoyment, etc) the message just clicked tonight. I feel much more compelled to look into my own life and root out the variety of things I idolize (see above and the ‘naivety’ part -_-) without even realizing it. Funny how a sermon essentially the same as quite a few I have heard in my life can have such a different impact.

Naturally, when we idolize what we try to do is find satisfaction from something outside God. It also turns out that this doesn’t work, ever, yet for some odd reason it’s really “fun” to continue trying? Rather depressing to think about how clearly and definitely idolizing things fails to hold up. Well, it’s only depressing because of how often I try to do it anyways in spite of that knowledge. The pastor, Dan, showed two different NFL quarterbacks – Tom Brady and Kurt Warner – and talked about their perspectives; both quite successful quarterbacks and successful by the world’s standards.

From a 60 minutes interview with Tom Brady

But with all Brady's fame and career accomplishments, Kroft was surprised to hear this from him: “Why do I have three Super Bowl rings and still think there's something greater out there for me? I mean, maybe a lot of people would say, ‘Hey man, this is what is.’ I reached my goal, my dream, my life. Me, I think, ‘God, it's got to be more than this.’ I mean this isn't, this can't be what it's all cracked up to be.”

What's the answer?

“I wish I knew. I wish I knew,” says Brady. "I love playing football and I love being quarterback for this team. But at the same time, I think there are a lot of other parts about me that I’m trying to find."

Conversely,

"If you ever really want to do a story about who I am, God's got to be at the center of it. Every time I hear a piece or read a story that doesn't have that, they're missing the whole lesson of who I am." - Kurt Warner

It just blows my mind how you could say the things that Brady said without having someone tell you “no, you’re right, there is more” but... briefly stated the pastor phrased it as “must find it’s end in God” (referring to the Life’s Pursuit, complete with incorrect ‘its’).

Regardless, the combination of those two points and stuff I had listened to on the radio (I had found a station playing an interview with random sports players on the six hour drive this morning as I was trying to not fall asleep) really hit home. Definitely good.

His last statement was regarding the “well, now what?” question. It does not do a lot of good to say “yep, I idolize that, what’s up!” and not actually change at all. Again, the idea of repentance is one that often gets discussed but I had never really heard it phrased as a u-turn before. Perhaps the fact that I made several of them this morning and afternoon contributed somehow to a deeper understanding... but when you are driving and need to make a u-turn, in general it is because of one of two reasons:

1) you made a mistake and were going the wrong direction

2) for whatever reason the entrance to wherever you are going is blocked on one side of the road

Most of the times I make u-turns are for (1) and not (2) and I think that is exactly the idea that repentance embodies – we are going north instead of south, and what we need to do is turn around on the road, instead of trying to take a back road or the next turn and find our own way. Acknowledging that you are going backwards on the road is by far the best way to get to the right destination while driving, but as before, what is so clear in driving becomes so blurred in life. It’s so easy to make up excuses for why we should not just turn around but when it comes down to it we are better off just turning around the car when we first realize that we are going backwards instead of finding alternatives, because by the time you get turned around, you wasted a lot of time and energy.

Anyways, this has become rather lengthy and I have been up for some 19 hours today already. Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Lessons from Samson

Judges 13:1-16:31
I read the story of Samson last week and was confused by it. Samson was a hot-headed, lusty, impetuous, violent man who didn't seem to live up to the goodness God had planned for him. I wondered to myself how God could have used such a mess-up like Samson. I mean, it seems like he was consistently driven by his lust. Look at Delilah. This woman asked him the secret to his strength three times and three times tried to subdue him in that manner. You think that he would have gotten the message that this woman was no good. Instead of fleeing, he eventually gave up because she nagged him "until he was tired to death". Samson suffered because he did not flee temptation. Yet God still used him to work his vengeance on the Philistines. I don't get it.

I was talking about this with my mom last night and God turned the lightbulb on in my head: Samson's story is one of God's grace and mercy. God used Samson despite his shortcomings. Samson's fallings didn't get in the way of God's sovereign plan. God's will was done irregardless of Samson.

It's all about grace. The point of the gospel is that we are worthless wretches who can do no good. The point of the gospel is that we have fallen short. The point of the gospel is that we are utterly worthless...if it weren't for the grace of God. Apart from Christ we have nothing and are nothing. But if we have transferred our trust to Christ, we have a new identity. We have access to holiness, wisdom, love, peace, purity, and strength through Christ.

Samson is just another story that shows God grace and his great plan to use us for His glory.
Praise God!

What are you doing this Summer?

2 Peter 1:3-9 3 His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.

10 Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, 11 and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

No really, what exactly are you doing this Summer?

Physical laws regarding entropy have social, and dare I say spiritual applications. If we are not actively growing, there is a very good chance we are diminishing, and any system left to itself for enough time will diminish. Summer is a great time to recharge, to develop skills that will serve in the trenches, build fellowship and love that is different than the World's when tested during rough times, to get past the routine and into the hows and whys of the routine, past ministry to God Himself ..... or it's a great time for entropy to take hold and for foundations of faith and love to wear, to forget that we were cleansed of our former sins. Summer is a weird time to sow, but in our context, it is a great time because we (as a team committed to the dorms and the ISU campus) want to be reaping during the school year.

What can we sow? We can connect closer to God with the disciplines of reading of the Word and prayer, and train ourselves in routines that allow us to continue doing so into the Fall. We can practice reaching out to people, try finding and infiltrating groups of people with God's Truth, and developing that into techniques in the dorms. We can even train ourselves in practical skills that will enable us to either meet and build into people during the school year, or even allow us to serve the church more. And possibly most importantly, we can take a deeper Sabbath rest from our engagement in the world and seriously revel in the fact that we are saved from all of this, in but not of it.

Some of you are going to be in exotic locales actively engaged in ministry (Decorah, West Lafayette, exotic enough for me). Some of this is going to be easy enough, and I would just say to make sure you are looking for ways to take the things you are learning and doing and tools for your Dorm Ministry Toolbox.

Personally, some of my goals are a little worldly, but apply to being able to get into groups of people. I want to jump into the Chinese language (using CDs so I can do it during my commute), and I want to improve my jump shot in basketball. Both of those eventually involve interacting with people, and can open up opportunities. Admittedly, both may be a touch selfish. I also would like to spend some extra time on some work projects to give me slack on my workload during the Fall.

I would also like to improve my routine of getting into the Bible after getting home from work. I used to do it during lunch, but my new job kind of made that difficult, so the routine kind of slipped some, and this is a good time to recharge. Finally, I do want to interact with those still in Ames on a deeper level this Summer and bank that time in fellowship for the Fall.

Admittedly, I'm probably not going to get to all of it. That's the fun thing about goals: they're a target, and sometimes you hit and sometimes you miss. But I'm ready for God to bless the next 3 months.

How about you? What are you going to work towards this Summer?

'Live Like You Were Dying'

Rather inspirational lyrics. We take things, such as life, all too much for granted until they are taken away, and only then do we appreciate their value.

He said I was in my early forties, with a lot of life before me
And one moment came that stopped me on a dime
I spent most of the next days, looking at the x-rays
Talking bout' the options and talking bout' sweet times.
I asked him when it sank in, that this might really be the real end
How's it hit 'cha when you get that kind of news?
Man what did ya do?