Sabbath Need

The last few weeks have been hectic to say the least. Personally and professionally I have been pushed to my limits physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. In my mind I know what I need is sabbath rest, forcing myself to observe that is quite a challenge. There are things still unfinished for work and as most know there is always something to do when you own a house. Endless laundry, dishes, yard and house projects. Yet I know that the Holy Spirit is calling me to pause and allow The Lord to replenish and refresh me. It's no coincidence that some of the scriptures I have been reading lately have spoken to this very need for us as believers to draw aside and spend time restoring my soul so I am better able to serve The Lord each day.

Drudgery or Delight

The cold, rainy day here in Statesboro makes you want to stay inside with a cup of coffee or hot tea and read a good book. Unfortunately, most of us don't have that luxury. We have school, work, meetings, and appointments. The challenge is to find joy in the midst of the gloominess of our life circumstances.
King David wrote, "Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you your heart's desires" (Psalm 37:4). I love to remind myself of this verse often, because my heart can easily be swayed to seek joy, delight, and pleasure in so many other things other than him. I also love this verse on days like today, because it is a reminder that despite my circumstances (in this case, the weather) God is calling me to something beyond myself and beyond my circumstances.

What are you delighting in?

Picking Up Lent

It has been a while...I hate when I read that on other blogs I follow, albeit somewhat sporadically. It Implies that anyone really is waiting for me to write something on here...that's a little prideful. I have wanted to com back to posting but I must admit what was once therapeutic and helped me connect to my dad who when I started this wasn't on any social media. Dad has been gone 2 years come May, is it easier, no not really, just different. After he passed it was difficult for me to write on here as I sorted through my own grief and sorrow. Now it feels weird.

I have prayed about what to observe for Lent this year. I thought about social media, coffee, meat, sweets but most of those seem to be about abstaining rather than learning a new discipline, at least as I approached them in my heart. So I am going to try something equally as challenging for me as abstaining from all those ther things, blogging each day for the journey through Lent to Easter. For me this will be challenging in different ways as far as time, emotions, and something worth commenting on. Not sure yet how it will flesh out, but I'm willing to give it a shot.

So if you are so inclined join with me and let's see how Christ is formed in us for the next 40 or so days.

Blessings along your journey!

September Stache in Honor of Dad

Monday would have been Dad's 66th birthday! It was a bittersweet day. Several different emotions went through my mind. One of the things that helped with my grieving process was to grow out my beard, then cut everything except a mustache in honor of Dad. When I was a kid Dad had a mustache. It was the 80s and let's face it we all made bad decisions in the 80s. I won't discuss my Michael Jackson phase. Here is an old birthday picture of Dad and a picture of my mustache in his honor. Don't worry, it came off later that night.

September 30 Stache

Karl Barth's Evangelical Theology

I love to stumble across good books in obscure places like yard sales, thrift stores, etc. Last January I picked up a copy of Karl Barth's Evangelical Theology at a thrift store while Cyd and I were on the church marriage retreat. I finally got around to reading it this month. Of course many consider Barth to have been the most influential theologian of the 20th century for his course correction of Liberal theology, though many conservatives and fundamentals would contend that he didn't go far enough his correctives. I have engaged some of his writing before, but it has been several years since I have read any of his works. This volume was the result of his visit to America and a series of lectures he did at the University of Chicago.

Reading Barth is challenging because his thought process is so thorough that he makes the reader rethink everything before affirming anything. Incidentally, Barth considers this to be one of the necessary components of any theologian. A man who is most remembered for his multi-volume, Church Dogmatics, in discussing the different disciplines of theological study says that systematic theology  is a contradiction in terms. "There is at any rate no justification for the construction and proclamation of a system of Christian truth developed out of some definite conceptualization of it. What should rule in the community is not a concept or a principle, but solely the Word of God attested to in the Scriptures and vivified by the Holy Spirit" (180).

What a challenge for those of us concerned with theology to make sure that our theological systems and structures are not erected as a wall to the movement of the Holy Spirit and the will of God but that they are there as supports to the ongoing work of the Word made flesh!

Dreams

Last night I had the strangest dream. I don't dream often, so the fact that I remembered the dream is amazing to me. It was among the most vivid dreams I have ever had. I awoke thinking that it had really just happened. What was it? I dreamed that I was talking on the phone with my dad, just like we had done many times before. We chatted about life. About what the kids are doing, about the undefeated Mercer football team, about what was going on at church. It was as if life was the way it was 2 years ago. It was as if nothing had changed, certainly not death. It was as if we hadn't missed a beat in our relationship. I guess that is true in many ways. Do I talk to you him now? No! Do often ask myself what he would say or do about different situations? What kind of counsel he would give me about any number of things? YES!

Yet, I can't help but sense his presence in my life through the laughter and smiles of my children. Through the reminder from scripture that I will see him again as we worship around at the feet of the Lamb (Revelation 21-22). Perhaps that made the dream a good thing for me.

Family Vocation

I recently finished Your Other Vocation by Elton Trueblood. The book though dated now in some ways (it was originally published in the 1950s) has some prophetic things to same about family life. Trueblood wrote about things that the church is now wrestling with in tremendous ways. Allow me to summarize some of his thoughts. He contends that a man may change jobs, business associates, and any number of occupational components but we cannot change our children. We can always get another job. We can always make adjustments to our career. In fact the new average is that Millenials will have 2-3 careers during their lifetime. "If we lose with our children our loss is terribly and frighteningly final" (82). We don't get second chances, usually to make it happen when it comes to parenting and nurturing our children. Yet how many parents work long hours and distance themselves from their children because of their career in an effort to "provide" for their children but the completely miss the opportunity to provide what they most want...and need.

Trueblood goes on to write about how our faith must impact our family life if it is real and genuine. "What occurs at the altar is insignificant unless what occurs there is supported by what occurs in the kitchen" (82).
A challenging chapter on family, that outshines the rest of the book.