Spring is here and life has exploded.
It's official.
With quarter ending and track season starting, its tough to catch a breath. Literally. Some track workouts this week have required ALL of my oxygen! Full days. Nights that stretch longer than they should. Friends breaking up, thinking the world is ending.But, its for the mission. It's worth it in eternity, right?
Trying to figure out everything I've learned, experienced, processed this month. It feels like a whirlwind. Like that scene in the middle of Where the Heart Is where the tornado tears apart the town and almost sucks Natalie Portman and her daughter out of the storm cellar.
Proverbs 1:27 talks about calamity coming like a whirlwind. Destroying the wicked. Robbing all hope from people who can't trust Jesus. It's like the terrible, morbid picture of judgement in Joel chapter 2. The urgent reminder that Christ is returning.
Then, there's also the idea of God coming to speak through the whirlwind. It's how He called Elijah back to Himself in 2 Kings 11. It's how He spoke to Job in chapter 38. It's how Isaiah proclaims that God will return in chapter 66.
Yesterday there was a beautiful storm. Hail. Lightning. Powerful, gorgeous dark clouds that billowed in front of the Sun and hugged the mountain peaks. I stopped at the Comfort Inn to pick up a car for a friend and got to see the vivid end of a rainbow reaching down into Oyster Bay.
When the Sun broke through the dangerous clouds, it looked like they were on fire.
The LORD is slow to anger and great in power, And the LORD will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. In whirlwind and storm is His way, And clouds are the dust beneath His feet. --Nahum 1:3 NAS
And so, waiting during the whirlwind, I will cling to the joy of loving our God. He is great in power. Nothing catches Him by surprise. On days like today, His way is in the whirlwind. And clouds are the dust beneath His feet.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
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Ephesians 5
Therefore, be imitators of God as dearly loved children and live in love, just as Christ also loved us and gave himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God. But among you there must not be either sexual immorality, impurity of any kind, or greed, as these are not fitting for the saints. Neither should there be vulgar speech, foolish talk, or coarse jesting – all of which are out of character – but rather thanksgiving. For you can be confident of this one thing: that no person who is immoral, impure, or greedy (such a person is an idolater) has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.
Let nobody deceive you with empty words, for because of these things God’s wrath comes on the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them, for you were at one time darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of the light – for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth – and find out what pleases the Lord. Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. For the things they do in secret are shameful even to mention. But all things being exposed by the light are made evident. For everything made evident is light, and for this reason it says:
“Awake, O sleeper!
Rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you!”
Therefore be very careful how you live – not as unwise but as wise, taking advantage of every opportunity, because the days are evil. For this reason do not be foolish, but be wise by understanding what the Lord’s will is. And do not get drunk with wine, which is debauchery, but be filled by the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music in your hearts to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for each other in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord, because the husband is the head of the wife as also Christ is the head of the church – he himself being the savior of the body. But as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her to sanctify her by cleansing her with the washing of the water by the word, so that he may present the church to himself as glorious – not having a stain or wrinkle, or any such blemish, but holy and blameless. In the same way husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one has ever hated his own body but he feeds it and takes care of it, just as Christ also does the church, for we are members of his body. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and will be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This mystery is great – but I am actually speaking with reference to Christ and the church. Nevertheless, each one of you must also love his own wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
Here's hoping that things calm down just a bit. You need time to "be" and you need physical rest.
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