Friday night ( the day after thanksgiving) : I decided to go for a walk in our neighborhood so I could pray and walk off the food I just ate. I walked for about a mile and noticed a white car with 2 men sitting in it ... they were listening to music so loud the windows had to have been vibrating. I didn't think much of it and kept walking. I had to walk past the car again and felt like God was telling me to approach the care and talk to the people inside. I noticed earlier that they were drinking and they were not listening to Sandy Patti. My first instinct was to dismiss this idea ( of talking to them) and keep walking. I walked past the car and kind of said to God: "surely You don't want me to talk to them... I only do relational evangelism." You know, I have to build relationships first. I walked about 30 yards past the car and the urge was overwhelming to go back and talk to them. I decided to go back and I approached the car. The sounds coming out of the car were really offensive... some of the hardest music I had ever heard. I sort of waved at the driver and he opened the door.
More on this later... I have to go to bed.
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Thursday, November 15, 2007
clobbered
The word clobbered comes to mind when I think about the last 6 weeks. We closed on a home, moved out of our apartment and remodeled a home. If you want a 90 minute visual of what I just went through watch : " The Money Pit" with Tom Hanks ( circa 1986) ... watch an edited version...
I have been thinking about grace this week and how much I need it. I came across this and thought I would put it in print again:
" At the center of Jesus' parables of grace stands a God who takes initiative towards us: a lovesick father who runs to meet the prodigal, a landlord who cancels a large debt... God shattered the inexorable law of sin and retribution by invading earth, absorbing the worst we had to offer, crucifixion, and then fashioning from that cruel deed the remedy for the human condition. Calvary broke up the logjam between justice and forgiveness. By accepting onto His innocent self all the severe demands of justice, Jesus broke forever the chain of ungrace."
( Phillip Yancey)
I like that idea that Jesus broke forever the chain of ungrace. We are so ready to accept grace for ourselves and yet find ourselves resenting people when they hurt us or don't take notice of us. There are things that are too painful and embarrassing to write about in a blog but just know that there is tremendous pain involved in living a life of "works " righteousness. It 's too difficult and the guilt is too much to bear. I say that I believe in grace but often I live like I really believe in "works." It's hard to escape in our world where everything has to be paid for and there are receipts for everything.
I can remember being in Canada while I was in high school on a key club trip. My friend Stuart and I were in the hotel room and I was trying to convince him that salvation was free. Stuart said: " someone paid for it." I will never forget that because it hit me hard for the first time that Christ had paid for it and that payment really cost him something. That thought is staggering to me right now. Why would I despise that gift by acting immoral or lying or being insensitive to my family ?
I'm ready to be done with the flesh... it's a cruel master. You are saying: "well just read Romans 6... we have a new master." We are slaves of righteousness, not of sin. I know that's true... I'm just tired of being tired.
How does the fact of our justification by faith ( by grace ) relate to our daily experience ?
I have been thinking about grace this week and how much I need it. I came across this and thought I would put it in print again:
" At the center of Jesus' parables of grace stands a God who takes initiative towards us: a lovesick father who runs to meet the prodigal, a landlord who cancels a large debt... God shattered the inexorable law of sin and retribution by invading earth, absorbing the worst we had to offer, crucifixion, and then fashioning from that cruel deed the remedy for the human condition. Calvary broke up the logjam between justice and forgiveness. By accepting onto His innocent self all the severe demands of justice, Jesus broke forever the chain of ungrace."
( Phillip Yancey)
I like that idea that Jesus broke forever the chain of ungrace. We are so ready to accept grace for ourselves and yet find ourselves resenting people when they hurt us or don't take notice of us. There are things that are too painful and embarrassing to write about in a blog but just know that there is tremendous pain involved in living a life of "works " righteousness. It 's too difficult and the guilt is too much to bear. I say that I believe in grace but often I live like I really believe in "works." It's hard to escape in our world where everything has to be paid for and there are receipts for everything.
I can remember being in Canada while I was in high school on a key club trip. My friend Stuart and I were in the hotel room and I was trying to convince him that salvation was free. Stuart said: " someone paid for it." I will never forget that because it hit me hard for the first time that Christ had paid for it and that payment really cost him something. That thought is staggering to me right now. Why would I despise that gift by acting immoral or lying or being insensitive to my family ?
I'm ready to be done with the flesh... it's a cruel master. You are saying: "well just read Romans 6... we have a new master." We are slaves of righteousness, not of sin. I know that's true... I'm just tired of being tired.
How does the fact of our justification by faith ( by grace ) relate to our daily experience ?
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