Month: June 2012

Caleb – reflective after the car accident

Kendra hit an elderly lady today in our Toyota Corolla. I sounds worse than reality. Thankfully she braked enough that there was minimal damage after impact and no one was hurt. The 80 something year old lady was clearly incompetent to drive and Kendra spent most of her energy trying to keep the lady calm. Police and store owners in the vicinity were very helpful, thankfully.

Tucking Caleb into bed tonight, he said,” boy it sure was a full day today…I’ve never been in an accident before in my whole life.” We talked about it a bit and agreed that it could have been a lot worse and we were grateful for God’s protection and help through it.

Can’t remember how but we ended up talking about heaven and spiritual things. I was talking about how people want freedom to do whatever they want but that really we aren’t free without God because without God we can’t do what is right and what is for our best. We can’t serve two masters. Caleb said,”I’m sure glad I have the God I have. I can’t imagine living without him…I mean, there wouldn’t be a reason or purpose for living without God. You would just be getting stuff, and….”. I told him that was wisdom straight from God and exactly true.

Later, talking about how rich the story of Jesus is and how much there is to discover and learn…enough to fill your lifetime with discovery and it just gets richer as you get older. Many people have spent their lives studying and discovering treasures in the story of Jesus that we can learn from. He said,”it’s kind of like people having different gardens and they all have different secrets in them to explore…and things keep growing and the soil gets richer and richer.”

Pretty clear observation for a 10 year old I would say. I told him that was a great analogy. Those little widgets in his mind are always going and show some special reflection if you take enough time to dialog and listen. He’s such a precious son to me and I feel so blessed to have a son in the mix of my children…especially one who is sensitive to God and the things of his kingdom. Tallie too, is so compassionate and tender, a delightful creature. keeping her head cool with Karina is her biggest challenge at this point and can provoke the worst. I remember the days with J-M all too well. May we help them navigate towards friendship better than I fared with my brother (until much later that is).

prayer of inclusion

Father, do not pass me by. Though I am weak, timid and a storehouse of fear, I do yet have love to give. Do not exclude me from your purposes. Include me in your Kingdom plans and write me into your story. Open my eyes to see your daily invitation and give me boldness and courage to step into your work of restoration.

Maturity

Paraphrased from a message by Rick McKinley at Imago Dei – a series about Jacob and “wrestling with God”

Maturity is moving from a place of wanting stuff or blessing FROM God to just wanting God. Jacob encountered God in the desert, saw heaven open, God speak…and still had the nerve to place conditions on his service to God…”if you…then you will be my God.” God accepts this anyway. There is faith there, but an immature faith. the rest of the story illustrates a progression in Jacobs faith.

Korach’s Rebellion, a caution for today

the weekly eDrash at ffoz seems to provide a timely counterbalance to a lot of speculation I’ve been listening to on the podcast “Beyond The Box” questioning whether God really commanded everything that the OT says he did. A conversation with my friend Jeremy retrieved a similar conversation he had with Peter Davids where Peter confided his own doubts that a lot of what the OT claims as being God’s will or instruction actually was God’s heart in the matter. The other side of the pendulum is this reminder that Jesus fully put his trust and confidence in the Torah and endorsed it in every detail. In fact, the messianic perspective is that Christ was himself the living embodiment of Torah, or Torah made into flesh. He walked in complete consistency with the Torah and clarified every point of contention over the heart of it by his words and his example.

About Korach’s rebellion (Link to article):

They challenged the authority of Moses. To oppose the authority of Moses is to oppose the Torah. In the words of the Jerusalem Talmud, Korach declared, “The Torah was not given by God, Moses is not a prophet, and Aaron is not the high priest.” (j.Sanhedrin 50a)

In one way or another, we believers in Yeshua have often come to the same theological conclusions. It would seem that Korach’s theology has had some influence on our thinking. Throughout our history, it has been common to assume that the Torah is not really God-given. Rather it is considered to be a burdensome maze of laws, rules of men and rules of condemnation, never intended for believers. It is often said, “The Torah is not given by God, at least not to believers in Yeshua.” This was the very counsel of Korach.
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But Messiah endorses the Torah of Moses saying, “For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Torah until all is accomplished. Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:18-19) On another occasion, He says that unless we believe Moses, we can not believe in Messiah. He says, “For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?” (John 5:46-47)

If we are to be believers in Messiah, we must first acknowledge the authority of the words of Moses. We must not join in Korach’s rebellion.

Makin waves

Caleb is at the kiddie pool bouncing up and down in a big inner tube. He looks up and says,”hey dad, look at all the waves, is this a wave pool?”

I tell him,”you’re the one makin the waves with the inner tube.”

“Really?”

He was completely oblivious to the effects of his own movements on his surroundings. How much are we like this around people and relationships. Every little attitude and emotion we express, whether good or ill, affects those around us. Kind of disconcerting to be honest.

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Canby pool