"You can tell the character of a person by how they treat animals and children." (Donald C. Weeks) Vacation Bible School has been a riot this year...exhausting, yes...but still a riot. We have great energetic leaders to go with a host of fun-loving energetic kids. Over the years our church has used VBS as an opportune time to reach out to the community and introduce neighborhood children to Jesus. But every year, after I reluctantly agree to be involved: I realize the adults of our church, with myself included, need VBS too. Young children and kids have a way of expressing & relishing the wonder of life that adults have learned to "tune-out" over the years. Just watching them dance, sing and eat pudding makes you forget about bills for a couple of hours, and smile at simple things! Jesus makes sense to kids; whereas Jesus has become mostly a nuisance to adults. We are too busy, too important, too serious to let him interrupt our day. Why are we so serious? Because we think we need to impress those we work with, or keep up with the neighbors we live next to so they won't look down on us. I think many, many adults secretly believe that, "God will get mad at me if I smile or enjoy the day...he wants me to get busy being busy!" (Have you ever studied the topic of Sabbath Rest?) Kids don't care if they impress you - - just watching them flip around at VBS, doing cartwheels in the grass and wearing their parents size XL T-shirts as a toga proves my point. They somehow know that God likes it when they enjoy the world he made. It really is O.k. to smile and laugh - - most adults seem to have forgotten that. Here are three things I personally have been reminded of from teaching the kids this year: (1) The Christian Story is better than a Fairy Tale: we have been promised, by God himself, that we will be reigning on the world's throne with Jesus in heaven. One kid asked me, "You mean, I get to wear a crown too?" Yes! Yes! A thousands times, YES! I am not sure if most adults in the church believe this, but it's true! (2) Jesus can do anything, even overcome my problems: Kids get this. They really know that life is too big for them to handle on their own. But mature and capable adults don't think they need God to handle their problems: "I can take care of things myself!" I don't know about you, but I can't. (3) Singing loud and laughing pleases God: Why did God make the world? To enjoy or grump around in? If you ask a kid that, they will say enjoy every time. Adults however, grump! Have you ever really watched most adults? They grump: Grump while driving the car, grump while getting ready for work, grump while watching the news, and they even grump walking out of "Logan's Steakhouse" if their steak was not cooked right! Grumpy, grumpy, grumpy. My bones are tired from jumping this week, in fact every year my body hurts more; but I never regret what I was able to learn from the kids. That makes it all worth it!
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30 years ago...I can hardly believe it!
The Bay High School 30th Year Reunion was this past weekend. Many of the classmates that graduated with me in 1984, (No association with George Orwell's Big Brother Conspiracy to take over the world), met in Cleveland, Ohio to remember and reminisce. Sadly, I was not able to attend - - pastoral weekend duties never cease. But with the wonder of Facebook, you still can sneak-a-peek at the "people of yesteryear" who attended the events. Some of the faces were easy to identify, many were not. The strange thing is that every name I went to school with has been somehow burned into the back of my memory. I remember them all. It really is odd how those obscure & awkward four years of High School life are cemented on your mind - - it is where you first find your identity. For me, as I look back on the people, listen again to the popular songs of the day ("Karma Chameleon by Boy George," yuck!), and remember my playing days on the football and baseball field -- hundreds of strange emotions and memories come flooding in. Oh, I remember how I wanted to date some of those girls but I was too shy and tongue-tied to talk to them. I remember walking hallways alone, feeling left out. And then later as a Senior, being surprised that people actually wanted me to be the captain of the team or campaigning to run for homecoming king. Throughout those four years, I daily wondered, "Who am I?" I must still admit, looking at the people I once knew, brings back the same haunting questions: "Who am I, where do I fit in, and am I liked?" Strange how our culture has decided that those four quick years of your life are supposed to define who you are and will always be. And if we were honest, those four years of High School are the absolute worst years of a person's life to figure those questions out: Peer pressure, hormones and zits have a way of making a person always feel "insignificant and isolated." I know I felt that way... Even now, sitting at my kitchen table as a 47 year old man looking at the Facebook photos; I revert quickly back to those same old feelings: What will people think of me for not attending ("Slacker, Snob, Loner?") If I went would they judge my 30 years of wrinkles and belly fat as a failure on my part? Would they still accept me? Would I be liked? Wow, what a frail person I am, so easily persuaded to let other people, especially the popular group, determine who I am. I still seem to think my identity is formed from four years...four years when I wasn't really me. Over the last 30 years I have come to realize that if I let other people determine "who I am" I will never find satisfaction or security. People are born competitors, whether it is with looks, ability, humor or money & status, we all want to win. And in order to win, we have to push others down. High School is notorious for that. As a simple Christian guy, I have learned something amazing: Jesus loves me! I am made in his image, and he is satisfied with the way he made me. If I could just let that sink in, I wouldn't need to compete. If I would just let that sink in, I wouldn't need to win. If I could just let sink in, I would be proud of my wrinkles and belly fat! Go Rockets! Grand Haven Pier, Grand Haven, Michigan:
2:17 p.m: "Hey Nathan, look, a guy sitting alone. I think I will go over and talk to him." So we proceed over his way...I shake the man's hand...he smiles. "Hello, my name is Chris and we are with a church group asking people questions. I was wondering, would you mind if I asked you a couple?" The man's smile disappears, he sits up, and briskly walks away from us no longer to be seen. "Nathan, why do you think the man left in such a hurry?" Nathan paused, and replied without hesitation, "It's because he is scared of you." "Scared of me? You have got to be kidding? I am a nice guy?" But then I thought about it: I do have a dark goatee, my biceps are like two loaded guns, and I talk like Don Corleone. Who wouldn't be scared? But come to think of it, I'm not sure that is what scared him - - The man knew what I was going to ask him about....God! No, not that. And I must say, I wasn't too smooth. In fact, accosting someone on vacation with direct questions about God is a sure fire way to get people to never talk to you again. 2:46 p.m: As Nathan and I continued to walk down the pier looking for our next victim we came across a man fishing. He just caught a 16 pound steel-head fish, and it was still flopping around on the pier. I asked him if the fishing was good? He said, "This summer was especially good for steel-head but not so much for King Salmon." He also told me how he got there early and he only caught a few fish, but each of them were big one's...13 and 16 pounds. I was trying to catch fish too? But I was impatient, and I think I was using the wrong lure. 3:00 p.m: Some of the people in our group needed to stop at the public bathrooms. And while I was waiting for them, someone yelled at me, "Chris Weeks, what in the world are you doing here?" Two of my very good friends who I helped grow in Christ when they were younger were walking the pier with their kids; I haven't seen them in years. They sat down and talked with me for a good 20 minutes about life, and then they said, "Can we ask you a question about a very serious issue? We need advice and your prayers?" So I listened, and offered godly council. Starting awkward conversations with strangers out of the blue is like pulling teeth; but talking to people who God has placed in your life about serious issues is a tremendously powerful and important part of Christian living. And when you really love people; helping them through the difficulties in life is easy like Sunday morning. I was thinking about that man who caught the steel-head: It was exciting how he caught his 16 pounder, but he still had to take the fish home and clean it. Somehow in Christian circles, we have only focused on catching fish: It only counts if you can convince a stranger to accept Jesus. It only counts if you can get someone to walk forward at a revival. It only counts if you can out argue an atheist. But we rarely talk about how important it is to clean fish! Jesus wants us to be available to friends to help them grow in Christ, to pray for them through adversity, to offer godly council when the world is falling apart. Maybe real fishing isn't always about meeting some "strange new fish"; but we should try reeling in those people who you already know: Friends, family, and neighbors. 8:15 pm: One of the students on the trip was sharing around the bonfire back in Kent City, and said, "I did get into a good conversation this week. I asked a lady if she prayed? She said she did, she prayed about everything, and every time she prayed she felt close to God." Wow, this was shocking. Now that was a great conversation this student had...but then he admitted that this lady was his grandma, and we were at her house sitting around the bonfire. In response, someone said, "That's not fair - - you already know her! She wasn't a person you have never met before. Your cheating, this trip was about sharing the gospel with total strangers!" But then I asked, "How many of us in normal everyday life have ever asked our Grandma if she prayed? And if we did, don't you think she would love it?" After I asked that question, I realized that most of us have never asked those kind of questions to the people we love. Why not? Is it too hard? Nah, try talking to a guy at the Grand Haven pier who thinks you look like Don Corleone! Maybe it is because we simply don't care about talking about spiritual things and Jesus in normal everyday life....thinking and talking about Jesus is only meant for mission trips, right? Not for Grandma. Why do we wait to be so old to learn to clean fish? Today it is official: The "Mall Draft Teams" are decided...my team is ready to roll. We are "Team Frape'." Our objective: get into the minds of people of West Michigan, see how they think, understand the worldview of this society's weird post-modern amalgamation. To accomplish our goal, we have designed the perfect tool: The "Mall Questionnaire"-- take a look: Which questions do you think will generate the most interesting results?
Results coming soon... See the above picture: I am a Senior Pastor, I am important, I wear a tie. It took me a lot of sweat equity to get where I am: 8 years of working with Junior and Senior High School students, countless all-nighters, long missions trips away from my wife, and dirty smelly camp outs. And now since I have climbed the ladder of church success, and have been installed as the Senior Pastor, I am completely above all that teenage nonsense. At least I should be, right? Shouldn't the goal of every great achiever to be someone who moves higher up the ladder in his or her job; keep climbing never looking back? For me, that means I do not have to work any more with all those snot-nosed, teenage bundles of boundless energy. My new and improved assignment is to train and teach the sophisticated, mature adults. When it comes to a ministry career, I have arrived! That is until Derek, our youth pastor, asked me to help out with the Junior High Mission Trip. He wanted me to work with him to help 7th and 8th graders learn how to share their faith. Since I am such an expert, (Did I mention I am a Senior Pastor?), he probably thought I could be of some help. So...reluctanly...I agreed to be a part of the trip. Just think of how hard it must be for an accomplished man like me to lower myself and go back to helping teens? Can you imagine the humiliation for someone in my position to go back down the ladder to help kids again? But since I am such a servant, I swallowed my pride, and decided to agree to help. What a guy, right? Well it just so happens my two sons are in the 7th and 8th grade, and I figured this might be a good opportunity to show my boys how it is done. I should be able to impress them with so many years of experience under my belt. It time to show the young bucks how the old dog does it. So all three of us started the mission trip today: My boys were excited; me...well...not so much.
As all the students arrived, I sat down as the experienced professional in the room, crossed my arms and watched. And then I began to listen to Derek teach: and as I looked around the room I noticed that the students where learning things that would forever change their lives. He instructed the kids on "How to Share the Gospel, and How to Love People." And as the students interacted with him, I began to realize something: THERE IS NOTHING BETTER THAN THIS. I was overjoyed to realize that I was allowed in on tremendous moment in the lives of my boys - - they were learning how to be light in a dark, dark, world ...and I was the privileged one to be invited to be there to watch. This was not a downgrade or humiliation for me; this was a once in a lifetime opportunity - - to be a part of directly helping my children learn how to share with others about their true Father! Not many dads get to do that. Most dads only talk about guns, arrows, engines and footballs with their boys. I get to talk about Heaven, Hell, the Holy Spirit, and the wonder of Our Lord Jesus Christ. And what really topped it off, today my boys actually talked with people on the streets of Grand Rapids...broken people, hurting people, real people. They were outside in the open world communicating one-on-one, face-to-face with real breathing people. I saw them smiling without having an ipod or game controller in their hand. Hard to believe, isn't it? Y'know, it seems like only yesterday my boys were in high chairs. It seems like yesterday that I picked them up from the nursery. Now they are becoming adults who can more than adequately share the light with a lost world. Boy, time sure flies by. I wonder, for those of you reading this, how many opportunities do you have left to help your kids learn how to reach this lost world? Or are you too busy to talk about it because another Tiger's game is on? Or is it below your pay-grade to help teens share about Jesus? Just asking? I love the word "epistemology"; don't you? It's the study of learning to know how we know that we know; and it helps us to discover that what we know we are sure we know. Sounds cool, doesn't it? My wife doesn't think so, she calls this a waste of time philosophizing over philosophy. But tell me, how do we know that we know? Plato said human knowledge is like being bound in a cave staring at shadows on the wall. Behind the bound men is a fire that is shining on objects which reflect an image against the wall. The bound men can not look behind them but only guess at what the shadows on the wall represent. Plato says this is the present state of mankind: ignorant and clueless, only able to guess at passing shadows and totally lacking in knowledge about the real world outside the cave. The book of John in 3:19 says that men actually have chosen to live in this ignorance of unknowing because the darkness veils their sinful behavior. The only way for a person to truly know is if one man was able to break his bonds and run out of the cave. Not only would he be able to see the fire and the objects directly; but as he left the cave he would now be able to see the sun, moon and stars as well. Plato considers these people as the 'enlightened ones' who really know. And as a result, they have an obligation to return to the cave and share their knowledge with the prisoners who are still bound in darkness. It would be cruel to leave them in ignorance. Knowledge for Plato comes from light outside the darkness of the cave. He gets it. Recently, my sons and I have been watching reruns of "Man vs. Wild" with Bear Grylls. We love watching it because he is absolutely nuts -- but boy does he know how to survive. He can stay alive anywhere: He once ate a camel in the Sahara, he choked down grubs in the Amazon rain forest, and he even tried to catch sharks off the Pacific isles. He says one of the most important lessons to survival is the ability to make a fire wherever you are. Fire not only provides you with light, but it gives your body the necessary warmth to stay alive. He was once dropped high into the French Alps, and his ability to make a fire allowed him to withstand the frigid below zero temperatures all night long. Fire indeed gives life. Bear Grylls gets it. Sadly, the man who is heralded by much of mankind as "the enlightened one" doesn't get it. He is still lost in his own dark cave...poor ole' Dalai Lama. Listen to what he says: "Do you want to create heaven, or paradise, here and now? It is simple, it is within you." When he was asked if he was god, he laughed and grabbed the hands of the two people on each side of him, lifted them in the air, and said emphatically, "God exists or god does not exist? Leave it for us to decide, what matters is to embrace all and exclude none, love all and hate none. Then you will understand." Understand what? Sounds like guessing at shadows on the wall to me. Try applying that wisdom to when you are thirsty: "Drink all liquid, exclude none." Try applying that wisdom to when you are hungry: "Eat everything, exclude none." So the next starving man I see I will say, "Hey buddy, here is some battery acid and poison mushroom, have at it!" I am not sure he gets it! But there was one man, who entered history and boldly proclaimed, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." Jesus declares that he comes to us from the outside who makes sense of the shadows. He is the answer to Plato's dark cave. And he is the one who offers warmth and life to all of mankind. He is the true source of fire for all mankind to survive. So if you want to "really know that you know", skip the class on "epistemology" and go straight down the hall to "Christology." It is here, gazing upon the person of Jesus Christ, where everything will make sense. I'm curious, who really gets to shape reality? Is it those who have the power, or those who want the power? You want my personal opinion? I think it is the later. To be even more specific: I no longer think truth and control of acceptable values is as much an issue of power as it is "a need to justify before the world strange personal desires and aberrant wants." We live in a culture where most people believe we should be allowed to do what we want to do without (1) anyone telling me no, and (2) anyone pointing out that what I may be doing is dangerous and harmful. I think we even have reached the cultural tipping point that Isaiah 5:20 warns us all about. Actually, this verse is the easiest way to tell if your society is sick: "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter." I think we have arrived at this point - - and let me show you why. In the past two days, I read two different articles that I believe bring to light how "those who want to justify bitter actions" are trying to convince the world to accept them as sweet. Article One: Oliver Springs vs. Tennessee Dept. of Environment & Conservation The city of Oliver Springs is pumping polluted water into Poplar Creek, a fresh water supply used by both the local community and livestock. One official says he found, "used hygiene products, solid excrement and unused pills flowing out of the sewer drains." Local residents near the creek claim that the sewage is in plain sight and the smell is unmistakable. After testing the water, officials claim that "they found E. Coli, ammonia and solid waste in the water. Even some livestock have birthed stillborn calves and cows have died after drinking the water." The city has spent over $250,000 trying to solve the problem and have not yet adequately fixed it. Their delay has prompted the state to fine them $175,000. The Department of Environment & Conservation declares, "this has been going on long enough." Do you think the Tennessee Dept. of Environment & Conservation is right to fine them? Is sewage being poured into drinking water a bad enough problem that it needs to be "targeted" and "punished if not fixed?" Or would it be better for the state to simply stop criminalizing the leaders of Oliver Springs; and stigmatizing "the act of pumping sewage into fresh water" as a bad thing? Here is a possible solution to avoid such harsh judgment: Let the city keep dumping solid excrement and pills into the river, while at the same time trying to find a medicine that will cure E. Coli and make the ammonia taste sweet? What they need is more research dollars to find a cure so the city can keep polluting. Right? Wrong...because dumping sewage into a perfectly fine river is sick! I think most sane people would agree that the city of Tennessee is right to criminalize it. It is obvious logic. But this logic is lost when it comes to personal morals and sexual practices. Let me show you... Article Two: World Health Organization Warns of HIV/AIDS Pandemic A new finding by the World Health Organization last Friday warns that "we must stay vigilant in fighting the HIV/AIDS epidemic because the progress gained over the past few decades can easily be lost." The article states that incidence among certain groups is putting the overall battle against the deadly disease at risk. They go on to describe the certain groups who are in the especially high risk category: - "men who have sex with men, transgender people, prisoners, people who inject drugs and sex workers together account for about half of all new HIV infections worldwide. This group is 19 times more likely than the general population to be infected by HIV." - "transgender women and injecting drug users are around 50 times more likely than the general population to contract HIV." - "Sex workers have a 14-fold higher chance of getting infected." This report is from an unbiased source, the UN. This is not the findings of some whacked out Christian fundamentalist group...it's the UN! And what did they find? Homosexual men, transgenders, drug users and prostitutes are the main carriers and spreaders of the disease. Again, this is the UN. So how do we process this? What if we were to use the same logic to stop HIV/AIDS as the Dept. of Environment & Conservation to stop the dumping of sewage into fresh water? What did they do? They got mad at the behaviors and actions that produced the problem. So wouldn't you think the World Health Organization should do the same thing: warn people to STOP the behaviors and actions that produce the epidemic? Well.. no, of course not! They can't do that...so instead, here is what "enlightened" WHO advises the rest of us to do: "Decriminalizing and destigmatizing these groups would greatly help bring down HIV infections among them," WHO said. "Promoting condom use, wide-spread voluntary HIV testing, treating at-risk individuals with antiretrovirals, voluntary male circumcision and needle exchange programmes figure among the other WHO recommendations for battling the disease." In other words, keep dumping sewage in the water while we look for treatment against the E. Coli. Why aren't we allowed to say that these "listed" behaviors are dangerous and deadly to humanity? It's simple: People want the right to do these things, they are enjoyable, they are private matters and "You have no right telling me who I can and cannot sleep with or do drugs with."
Yeah, but the state can tell a whole community to stop dumping sewage into creek water. Some of you reading this will get mad at me for using logic. Accusing me of being "homophobic and judgmental." All I am trying to point out is that "God has great reasons for telling us the moral way to live is the best way to live, the righteous way to live. Jewish Rabbis (it's cool to listen to Rabbis these days) call living under God's commands as 'Shalom.' And when we ignore him, and try to determine the right way to live by our libidos, we will reap what we sow!" Here is my suggestion: Let's stop celebrating sewage, and we need to quit calling it sweet water. Because IF we don't, we will all get sick! Watchin' all my days like birds, taking off in flight Wondering if they will ever stay, where everything's alright? But for now I'm staring at a dark cold cup of Jo' Longing for the next time, when I'm able to go, able to go I've got the blues, the post-vacation blues (sung to the Memphis Blues) Have you ever went to the dollar store on a lazy Tuesday afternoon to buy some paper towel; and while you are waiting in the check-out line, you notice that candy bar is staring you in the face saying, "Eat Me?" As you contemplate the tasty chocolate and creamy caramel cascading down your gullet; you know that the enjoyment of the taste, while it's going to be yummy, won't last long.
You know that after a few minutes, you will regret eating it because you will have to pay for it. Don't you hate that feeling? Sometimes I feel that way about vacation: You need to take the time off, it's healthy to set aside life for awhile; but somewhere in the back of your mind, you know you will have to pay for it! Life is so fleeting - - it goes by so fast; and somehow vacation seems to be on warp drive. You blink, and it's over. And then when you get back to the normal routine, it feels like everything has fallen apart while you were gone. You have to work three times harder just to catch up. Vacation always seems to tire you out more than normal life; it really is hard to get back into the groove. You see, "I've got the Post-Vacation Blues." So how is a person supposed to get over it? I have two suggestions: (1) Go Back on Vacation: Sounds great doesn't it? So does eating another chocolate bar, right? That is until it lands in your stomach and it causes you to feel like a bloated whale where you don't want to get off the couch. As Confucius say, "Too much vacation turn man into slug." So what is the other option? (2) Thank God for the Gift he gave you: Vacation is a gift from him, not a way of life. When you expect things, "I NEED more time off...I NEED to be left alone....I NEED" - - you start demanding from him, and expectation grows into bitterness of soul. Vacation is an undeserved gift and we need to really say, "Thanks God!" It sounds so simple, but let me tell you, that small perspective change makes all the difference in the world. When I expect things, I get mad when they are gone. But when I see my week off with my family as a gift, and time to unwind as a Sabbath break, all I can do is appreciate the love God has for me. He really is good. He really is kind. But never, and I mean never, act like you deserve that kindness. One of the scariest chapters in the whole Bible is Deuteronomy 8:1-18. It warns us, "Be careful that you do not forget the Lord you God...otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied...your heart may become proud and you will forget the Lord your God." Vacation should never be a time to demand, but to remember how kind God is to give you sooo much. Tragically, in Deuteronomy 32:15 it says that Israel did forget and they "waxed fat and kicked." That means they forgot all that God did and demanded more. People who eat too many chocolate bars sooner or later will 'wax fat and kick." People who demand more and more vacation, more and more time off, more and more leisure, better be careful - - because they too may start 'waxing fat.' I changed my tune: no longer do I sing the blues, but I have gone back to the simple and sweet song of "Coom-By-Ya!" "The Lord will rise up, he will rouse himself, to do his work, his strange work, and perform his task, his alien task" (Isaiah 28:21) What do you think God's "strange work" and "alien task" is? And do you think he has done this strange work in your life specifically? I have a couple ideas of what some people might consider strange: (1) Maybe it is making the earth in six days? Now that sounds strange, doesn't it? It seems much more logical for complex human beings and a perfectly ordered ecosystem to be the product of random chances and lucky circumstantial happenings. For God to say "he made the world all by himself" sounds a little far fetched, doesn't it - - it is wacky to think an all-knowing and all-powerful God can make a perfect world in six days...isn't it? Wouldn't you rather bet your life and eternity on the almost certain truth that after a couple million years, one day a monkey woke up and felt like shaving? (2) Maybe God's strange work is choosing before creation whom he wants to become his children? The idea of predestination seems nutty, doesn't it? The teaching of election makes it seem like God can do anything he wants? Who does he think he is....God? Oh no, he needs us to choose him first so he knows who to choose. He should only be able to pick the people who deserve him and wanted him first, right? (3) Maybe his strange work is the creation of Eve? I better not go down that path.... According to scripture, his actual "strange work" is very strange indeed; listen to how Romans 11:32 explains it: "For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all." Stop on this a second, it really is a strange thing to think about. This means that God has set up situations and circumstances in our life to cause us to rebel, fail and fall. He wants to expose our inability to attain his required perfection and standard of unblemished righteousness, so we will realize our need for him. The reason you feel like a failure most of the time, is because you are a failure - - it was designed that way so we would fully trust in him. Don't you get it? The hardest people to save are the ones who do not think they need saving! So in order for people to receive Jesus as their Savior, they must see & feel their brokenness. Now do you understand why this is so strange? Most brands of Christianity teach just the opposite: "God will only help those who help themselves"- - he wants winners and heroes doesn't he, not failures and flunkies? No, he loves failures because he loves you and me! In John 8:1-11 a woman is found committing adultery. Imagine her humiliation? She was paraded in front of a large crowd with hundreds of fingers pointing at her: "You whore!" According to Jewish law she deserved to be stoned. But what is ironic, at that moment, when her sin was fully exposed and she was utterly humiliated; Christ's compassion was completely aroused. She was closer to the grace of God in her complete brokenness than the Pharisees and bystanders were in their judgmental contempt. We are not saved by our righteousness, but by his mercy! Look it up, it is all over the bible. Where did we ever get this idea God will only have me if I am perfect? One of the most vivid verses in the bible that reveal God's strangeness is found in Hosea 2:10. The NIV captures is beautifully: "So now I will expose her lewdness before the eyes of her lovers, no one will take her out of my hands." God loves his people so much that he will utterly humiliate them. Why would he do this? So they have no where else to go but back to him. Our sin doesn't push God away, it is meant to awaken us up to how badly we need to run to him. Strange, isn't it? Vacation: (definition)
(1) VACATE: * leave, hide, run away, jump in the car and drive, shut off brain for awhile. * exit the premises. * act like you have never been born. (2) TION: * suffix meaning "a state of being". * to purposely not talking to people (often spelled 'shun'). * a Japanese janitor. This is where I am...good luck finding me! |
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