1) Thankful for mud and a waterbutt – hours of entertainment for two young boys.
2) Thankful for the sunshine.
3) Thankful for a lovely family friday fun night with homemade gourmet pizza and Lost and Found DVD.
4) Thankful for peaceful co-ordinated quiet time/nap from the boys today.
Acts 10 Peter visiting Cornelius
The circumcised beleivers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on Gentiles.
Let us be thankful that the Holy Spirit was poured out on Gentiles so that we too could be included. And let us not forget that God was not bound by limits and borders then and now. Let us celebrate when we encounter the work of the Holy Spirit in lives we may not have expected. Our job as with Peter is to speak the good news and let the Holy Spirit come and go where He goes and do His work of redemption.
1) Thankful for a wonderful time at Croome National Trust Park today.
2) Thankful that youngest has gone to sleep tonight at the first time of asking – we waited till 9:30pm!
3) Thankful for online shopping that came promptly with a very cheery driver despite the rain.
4) Thankful that Mark got to go to his evening lecture this evening.
I know God asks us to follow Him and be like Him but did that really mean we have to not slumber or sleep too?
1) Thankful for eldest’s ENT apt that went really well – waiting for surgery.
2) Thankful for freezer meals.
3) Thankful for train tracks and hours of entertainment on a wet day.
4) Thankful for the comfort of toasted sandwiches.
Acts 10:9-16
Peter’s vision of meat from heaven
The voice spoke to him a second time.’Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.’
Yes the Jews were given laws to keep themselves pure and distinct from others but the law itself could not save them. Let us not be so caught up in laws that we miss God’s redeeming work of making all things pure. Once those of us from Gentile backgrounds would have been regarded by God’s people as impure and unclean. Christ has redeemed us and made us clean. Let us not restrict God’s work of redemption and restoration today with a list of rules into which grace cannot be extended.
1) Thankful that two boys were asleep in their beds by 8pm.
2) Thankful for dear friends who have reached the 12 week milestone.
3) Thankful for being able to order a monthly online shop to come Thursday.
4) Thankful for the chance to catch up with Elaine on skype this evening. Been way way to long.
Acts 9:1-6
Saul blinded on the road to Damscaus.
Who are you Lord? I am Jesus whom you are persecuting…he replied.
How often do I look for people like me, avoiding others. I make assumptions as to who might be open to the good news or not? I do not look at people as made in the image of God but rather as potential people I might get along with easily. Saul’s actions did not cause him to be cast aside by God. God saw Saul and saw His image behind the zealous shield of laws and rules and murder. Jesus disarmed Saul in his tracks and spoke with him. Saul laid aside his laws, not his character and became passionate for the good news that he had once tried to stamp out. It didn’t mean people were not initally afraid or unsure of him, they had good grounds to have once feared him but he now preached Jesus to all.
There may be some unlikely person in your life that you avoid sharing the gospel with because it seems so improbable that they may respond, but let God be the decider of that.
1) Thankful for some time to get some housework done.
2) Thankful for Mark being willing to take both boys individually to a park to let them have fun.
3) Thankful for eldest dancing around the house singing praise songs and quoting bible verses.
4) Thankful for the 3 day weekend with sunshine.
Psalm 93
The Lord reigns; he is robed in majesty;
the Lord is robed;
he has put on strength as his belt.
Yes, the world is established;
it shall never be moved.
Your throne is established from of old;
you are from everlasting.
The floods have lifted up, O Lord,
the floods have lifted up their voice;
the floods lift up their roaring.
Mightier than the thunders of many waters,
mightier than the waves of the sea,
the Lord on high is mighty!
Your decrees are very trustworthy;
holiness befits your house, O Lord, forevermore.
We were reading this Psalm in our Hebrew reading group last week. The dynamic of the Psalm struck me forcibly as I was reading. Notice the repetition of “floods”. The watery imagery would have been imagery of chaos for the ancient Hebrew. The sea was not a nice place to go for a sunny afternoon’s fun, it was the place of danger, a place of chaos reminiscient of the primeval formlessness and void of Genesis 1. The floods of the sea are dangerous. And as the waves break on the shore one after the other, so the repetition of “floods” and “lifted up” emphasises the sense of danger and chaos.
As we look at the news headlines we can feel the same. Tornadoes, stabbing, economic stagnation. The floods lift up their voice.
As we look at our own lives we can feel the same. Sleepless night rolls on after sleepless night, waves of illness flood over our families, bad news comes. The floods lift up their voice.
We feel a sense of terror. Of being out of control. There is a roaring, and we feel that we could go under at any moment.
And so the next line is vital. A more wooden translation keeps suspense longer:
“more than the noise of many waters, the breakers of the sea, the LORD on high is mighty!”
The LORD is more mighty, more powerful than the roaring of chaos around us.
Does the last line seem an anticlimax? It shouldn’t. His words, his laws are utterly trustworthy – and so in the midst of chaos a life of holiness is worth it, a life of obedience to the LORD who is more mighty than the chaos.
Chaos will not have the last word. The last word always belongs to the LORD. So it is always worth seeking him whatever the chaos this life may bring – he is more powerful than whatever chaos threatenes to engulf you right now, and he has his ways of keeping you in the midst of the chaos. Chaos is still chaos, it is still scary – and we may well wish we had never faced such chaos, and long to escape – but the LORD is more mighty than the chaos. As the Psalmist says “the LORD reigns” – in the midst of the chaos the LORD is still ruling, and he will ensure that his will is done – chaos will not have the last word.
I haven’t posted a hymn for a while but this one seems appropriate for this – read and listen’s to God’s words to you (a lot of the hymn is directly quoting scripture).
How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word!
What more can He say than to you He hath said,
You, who unto Jesus for refuge have fled?
In every condition, in sickness, in health;
In poverty’s vale, or abounding in wealth;
At home and abroad, on the land, on the sea,
As thy days may demand, shall thy strength ever be.
Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed,
For I am thy God and will still give thee aid;
I’ll strengthen and help thee, and cause thee to stand
Upheld by My righteous, omnipotent hand.
When through the deep waters I call thee to go,
The rivers of woe shall not thee overflow;
For I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless,
And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.
When through fiery trials thy pathways shall lie,
My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply;
The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.
The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose,
I will not, I will not desert to its foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I’ll never, no never, no never forsake.
Joshua's Tree 