Prayer for Wednesday (from Psalm 148)

God,
All of Creation shouts Hallelujah,
Hailstones, lightening,
Sun, moon and stars,
Clouds and rain,
Bellow their praises to you.
All of Creation shows gratitude,
Sharks and cows,
boys, girls, moms and dads,
angels and wild beasts,
Call out their thanks to you.
I cannot help but join in,
with my heart,
with my mouth,
with my mind,
with my hands and feet.
Thank you, God. Amen

The God of the Long Haul

I took two classes in modules these past two weeks at NTS.  The morning module was Genesis and the evening module was Congregational Discipleship.

One of the assignments for Genesis was to read through it in one sitting.  That took a LONG time and it was well worth it.  Then we got to do it three times, each time we took more notes on the stories and characters.  Through this process I was reminded time and time again of the beauty, power, awesomeness and gracefulness of our God who created the universe with care and precision, gave humanity free will and when the first humans sinned in the Garden he did not leave them alone but graciously provided covering.  I was also struck by the brokenness of humanity, even those who had been chosen by God to be his people set apart.  I had forgotten that Abraham lied twice about who his wife was!  But even in the brokenness God pursued his people wherever they were.  One of the commentators called God the "mobile God" because there was no place that He could not be found (recalling the Psalmist's words "where can I go to flee from Your Spirit?" from Psalm 139).  God showed up time and time again on behalf of his people, giving direction, correction, safety, promises, interpretations and provisions.

It's always interesting to see how the content of my various classes interact with each other.  My other class was Congregational Discipleship, which focuses on how the church sees and structures itself so that it will effectively disciple all members of the congregation in the way of Jesus.  There was much in this class on spiritual development, teaching techniques and educational theory, and all of these combined pointed to one thing: EVERYTHING we do as the community of God plays a part in the formation of the people.  Everything says something about and reinforces what we believe.  Yet, because the structure of church is made up of people and relationships, there will always be an incompleteness and room for growth in God's grace.  


This is where Genesis swoops in.  God is the God of the Long-Haul.  As God bore with the people in Genesis and gave direction, correction, safety, promises, interpretations and provisions, so God bears with the church today.  Like Abraham we are called to be his people and sometimes failure happens.  Broken relationships, missed opportunities, gross misunderstandings, overlooked needs, etc...But God remains faithful.  Time and time again He proves himself and takes over where we mess up.


A friend just shared with me a story about her dad accepting Christ into his life just six weeks before he passed forward.  He had thumbed his nose at God throughout his life.  And it was largely in part because of hurt received from the church.  But in the end, God worked his way in, softening his heart so that he did open his heart to Jesus.  The God of the Long Haul.  Awesome!

www wanderings 02.25.2010

Well, I haven't gotten to post quite like I'd like, but life has been a bit busy. We're moving this week to a place on the east side of York, and we're quite excited to move from our Geico House (see youtube vid for why we call our house this). Yet, we're sad too, because we'll be leaving behind some awesome neighbors...

But I wanted to continue my posting of random links that I have come across that I think are worth sharing.

Global Tacos

I wish I could go to this presentation where a group of students traced all the ingredients from a local taco truck in California all around the world.

Creation and Evolution and Christianity

I have been following Ken Ham's blog on Creationism for the past six months but have wanted to read a blog that is more from the other side of the spectrum as well. So I was glad when he posted his response to the Biologos response to his State of the Nation address. I have to admit I did not fully read his response or listen to the State of the Nation address, but I was glad to find a blog with an alternative Christian approach to Creation and Evolution to subscribe to that I may read (when I have time). And Biologos has two Nazarene professors! The reason I care about hearing both sides of this is because this is a hot issue for many of the teens that I work with. It is helpful to be aware of various Christian approaches to these issues.

Slant33

So, I am excited about some of the things I hear that are happening at Barefoot, the youth ministry wing of Nazarene Publishing House, especially the stuff that I am seeing from Chris Folmsbee. He wrote A New Kind of Youth Ministry, which I have yet to read, but also helped with Shaped By the Story by Michael Novelli, which I have perused and used! (Buy these books from Hearts and Minds! They're independent and great!). But I really like Slant33, which offers "three voices, three views" on various topics relevant to youth ministry. It's quick, easy to read and insightful. Go check it out!

Missionary Remodeling

At first I didn't know where Andrew Jones was going with this post, but then I saw the pictures. Check out the remodeling that he has done with his crew that is traveling through Africa. And we thought we were living in cramped quarters! 13 people sleep in and on this! It's cool to see what people give up and go through in order to bring goodness to the world.

Crazy Climbing Catfish!

Discovery Channel finding crazy animals.

These are the kind of animals you want to tell your middle school friends about.

(image from here)

And probably a great animal to include in a wacky list of created animals (which should also include Llamas, platypus, poison dart frogs, sloths, electric eels, and hammerhead sharks).

Master of Molecules

He’s the…
Master of Molecules
Igniter of Fireflies
Designer of Romance
Scooper of Valleys
Stacker of Mountains
Scatterer of Stars
Inventor of Inventors
Flattener of the Plains
Spinner of planets
Former of hearts

He’s the…
Painter of the skies
Planter of Redwoods
Source of beauty
Stretcher of giraffe necks
Sharpener of Shark Teeth

He’s the…
Instigator of Love
Imaginator of Imaginations
Architect of Snowflakes
Hanger of Holly Berries
Thrower of Lightening Bolts
Conductor of Electricity

He’s the…
Originator of airwaves
Organizer of color spectrum
Orderer of the seasons
Shaper of human desires
Constructor of butterfly wings
Infuser of Laughter
Weaver of fields
Author of reality

He's the...
Writer of the song of life
Creator of all things
Composer of roses
Blacksmith of volcanoes

He's the...
Engineer of waterfalls
Poet of the heavens
Playwright of the earth
Maker of protons
Initiator of electrons
Director of ocean currents
Producer of gravity
Manufacturer of coffee beans
Multiplier of cells
Cultivator of scientific laws
Supply of solar energy
Cause of Cheesemaking

from critical to creative

a friend of mine in our youth ministry recently brought a series of articles to my attention in a past issue of Relevant Magazine.

One of the articles was by Ed Young and centered on the Plank parable, where Jesus directs his followers to avoid having a spirit of criticism and judgementalism. Ed pointed out that the spirit of criticism often keeps a person from realizing the mercy that God has for herself let alone the mercy God wants to extend to others through her.

Another article contained thoughts from Mark Driscoll, the famous cussing pastor in Seattle. In his interview he pointed out that unless the 20's generation moves from being critical to creative, nothing will change.

i wonder what these thoughts have to say to the journey towards justice.

Creation Rushed or Unrushed?

I wondered this morning as I was rushing around trying to get stuff ready for the week.

I wondered if God was rushed when he created the universe. Like, did he wake up one morning, look at his schedule and say, "Oh my me! I have to make light and darkness today. And tomorrow I need to separate the waters. And the day after that I gotta make dry land and from that land I have to make sure that stuff grows from it. And that's not it. The day after that I'll be required to make stars and the sun and moon. Whew, that's going to be a lot of work. But I won't be done then either. The next day I have to make flying things and swimming things. I'm not quite sure what those will look like yet, even. Oh my. And when I want to be done, I have to get up the next day and make animals that walk on the earth. And I'll probably need to make one of the animals rule over all the others, just so that there can be some semblance of order. And after that day, I'll get some rest. Man, I can't wait for Saturday."

Or was there peace in all that he made?