Like Father, Like Son (or Daughter)

Understand, O dullest of the people! Fools, when will you be wise? 

He who planted the ear, does he not hear? He who formed the eye, does he not see? 

He who disciplines the nations, does he not rebuke? 

He who teaches man knowledge—

the LORD—knows the thoughts of man, that they are but a breath.

(Psalm 94:8-11 ESV)

God speaks baby-talk to us. He uses word pictures that compute in our ant-like brians [sic]. For example, I have asked the question, "Does God have actual eyes, or should I understand phrases like 'the eyes of the Lord' as merely His way of connecting with our understanding of existence?"

I think Psalm 94 answers the question: we are fools if we do not believe that God's creation is a direct reflection of who He is and what He experiences.

Because this conclusion is inductive rather than deductive, I want to be careful to not claim things about Him that He does not claim about Himself; but as stated in verse 8, I don't want to be a fool and miss what He has done plainly and clearly. 

The argumentation utilized in this passage in fantastic: 1) God creates; 2) That which He has created is a reflection of His character; 3) We can look at creation and conclude things about Him by our faculties of observation. 

(verse 9) God did not randomly give humanity ears; He gave ears because He wanted us to know that He is a God who hears when we cry out to Him.

(verse 9) God did not randomly give humanity eyes; He gave eyes because He wanted us to know that He is a God who observes the thoughts and acts of mankind.

(verse 10) God did not randomly give humanity the ability to comprehend facts and internalize truth; He made us thought-filled beings because He is thought-filled. He is knowledge's author; He therefore has thoughts, and knows that ours in comparison to His are infinitely less stable.

I paused for a second, and tried to apply this logic to other characteristics of our post-first coming experience here on earth. Here's what I came up with:

• God created smiles; therefore He is a God who knows how to be happy.
• God created the heart; therefore He is a God who is well-acquainted with a full range of emotions, from rapturous enjoyment to core-wounding sadness.
• God created the voice; therefore He is a God who is well-acquainted with the joy of music.
• God created the taste buds; therefore He is a God who is well-acquainted with the delight of sweet things and the distaste of bitter things.
• God created sex; therefore He is a God who is well-acquainted with relational intimacy and pleasure.
• God created tears; therefore He is a God who knows how to cry.
• God created arms; therefore He is a God who knows how to hug.

I am thankful for Psalm 94. I hope that my mind will continue to be trained in the skill of seeing the depth of the character and person of God in all of the things into which He has imbued Himself. 

To answer the question I posed at the top of the post, it seems like He created the functions of humanity to show us what He is like, just more colorfully than black (or red, depending on your Bible) words on a white page.

How I want to see this marvelously created universe a little more true to the colors with which the Master Painter has been pleased to use!

.DSN.

Ruts as Footholds

As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. (Genesis 50:20 ESV)

Last winter in Minnesota spoiled me. If I remember correctly, we didn't get a snowstorm of more than, like, four inches. This past weekend was the first of likely many snowstorms that will descend upon this Minnesotan metropolis.

Snow is pretty. There's no way that I can deny the beauty of this frozen, sparkling white garment when it covers everything exposed to the elements. There is a supernatural stunning-ness that overwhelms a helpless man, woman, or child when eyes are opened to absorb a scene that is literally impossible for any human or technological device to accomplish (insert condescending comment about fake snow here). These storms are powerful witnesses of the God who can cover the universe in ice by thinking a thought.

I lay the last two paragraphs as foundation; snow and ice storms are displays of majesty. They are not the death knells which we car-driving humanity are so often tempted to see them as. But, as with anything majestic, there is a righteous fear of that which has the ability to annihilate. Tsunamis, volcanoes, and earthquakes are examples of such magnificent displays of the power of God. Though it is beautiful to watch them do their thing, we know that if something went wrong, we'd be dead.

Though wonderful, driving through this colorless magnificence can prove to be an exercise in self-inflicted anxiety and heart-wrenching terror--especially in the middle of the road at night.

During one of these last few snowy evenings, I was walking (slipping) home and saw an SUV that had gotten itself stuck. I wasn't able to see how it happened, but I assume that it was stopped at the stop sign and accelerated too fast to gain any traction on the road which was covered in a few inches of wet, compacted snow. The faster he gunned the engine, the faster his rear-left tire spun; and consequently, the more friction he applied to the ground directly underneath his tire. The heat from the friction was melting away a tire-sized spot on the ground which made the SUV's small movements even smaller and less effective.

By the time I reached the driver-side window, he had stopped trying to move the car and his friend was getting out on the other side to try to push. I got behind the car and attempted to help with the driver's friend. One of the problems was that I had my dress shoes on. I had less than no traction. I was more of a liability than an asset. Thankfully, the SUV was able to rock enough to partially slide out of the rut that it had created. Because the rut was a solid two to three inches deep, I took used it to my advantage. I dug my heel into the rut, and applied that leverage to drive the force of my push into the small foothold that I had found. For about four seconds, I was able to push with most of my energy as the SUV struggled and skidded before the tire finally caught something onto which it could grab, and was then freed from its limbo-bound state of going-nowhereness.

I walked away from the situation thinking one thing: "If that guy hadn't spent a few minutes spinning out, thereby creating a deeper hole for himself, I wouldn't have had the foothold to anchor my push to get him out."

It clicked. The Lord creates calamities (Is. 45:7). The Lord wills that His children suffer (1 Peter 4:19). The Spirit leads us into the desert to be tempted (Luke 4:1). Our God digs ruts for us to fall into, and furthermore, He uses those same ruts to bring us to places and see things that we could have never seen otherwise. He uses the ruts that endlessly frustrate us in order to show us how much greater He is. He shows us how much more there is to know of true reality. If that SUV hadn't created that rut for itself, I wouldn't have been able to push it off the ice. If the Lord didn't lead us through the ditches and gutters of life, we would be tempted to think and act on thoughts that do not represent the way that the world actually is.

No rut is the same. They all look different, and each teaches us different things about His mountain-crushing power and his life-redeeming mercy. I'm thankful that He grows in each of His children appreciation for and patience through the ruts. 

As with all things, some ruts run deeper than others--and nobody ever knows when our car will fall into (or create) one of them. However, what I can posit for certain is the truth stated in Genesis 50:20. It's not the case that the Lord takes a derailed train and rights its course before it totally flies off the tracks. In actuality, He sends the train into a skid to save it from destruction. He doesn't take a rut that happened accidentally and then miraculously make it useful. He wanted the rut to happen because the rut was the means of His plan to make everything turn out for good. For better. For best. 

I know that these are scary words. But it's been proven true in my life. I know things will get worse and life will continue with increasingly deep ditches, but I know that He's been faithful to manifest the surest footholds in my life in the form of the most jarring ruts.

I really don't get this God of mine. I don't understand why He does the things He does. I wouldn't have chosen my experience on earth to work like this. Then again, if I were God, I wouldn't be able to cause my children to bawl tears of thankfulness like He has done with me. 

Those tears have flowed most freely and thankfully in the lowest points of those ruts.

I get scared sometimes thinking about His literally un-understandable overwhelmingness. He's kinda like a snowstorm. 

Huh.

.DSN.

Thanksgiving (2012)

I wrote a post like this last year, and wanted to do it again this year. This that post, I presented a defense for recognizing such people who the Lord has used to refresh my spirit. If you would like to see that defense, click here.

I will probably forget very important people to me, but these are the people that God has put on my heart to thank personally for serving me in the last year, so if I didn’t include you, I’m sorry!

---

Thank you Dan Bunker for all the 3AM texts message conversations. Thank you for all the opportunities you've given me to play around in your garage. Thank you for all the 10PM steak dinners. Thank you for just listening to me tell you how much I have no idea what's going on. I remember that one night, sitting in your rocking chair, when you suggested that I sign up for the full credit load this semester. The Lord used your speaking into my situation that night to really set my life on the trajectory that it is right now. I was so glad to know I could just hang out with you guys and wind down, get a new perspective on things, and tell stories about our "15" year old friend Shawn. I am not kidding you--I literally remember that night talking about those kids and I still will start laughing out loud. As I sit at McDonald's and write this, I am right now laughing at all the hysterical things that happened that day.

Me: Gabe, could you come help me throw this wood away?

Shawn: Gabe was actually going to play with me just now... buuttt...

Me: What was that?

Shawn: Gabe was actually going to play with me just now... buuttt...

#priceless

Thank you Meredith Bunker for all the lunch breaks sitting at your counter, sharing my emotional struggles and your gracious ear and thoughtful responses. I was really glad to have access to your perspective through which I was able to better understand all the stuff that felt like a tornado swirling around me. The Lord was incredibly gracious to give me a second home at the 247. I know things aren't perfect. But the Lord really used you guys to protect me from many a dangerous thought. I am blessed in a way that I don't see many other twenty-year-olds by my relationship with y'all. I'm very thankful.

Thank you Dan Castine for your tender heart towards me this summer. The Lord has taught me much from watching your life and example. I am reminded of your kindness to me every day I turn on the ignition to transport myself to work. You have been faithful in praying for me and letting me know in very visible ways that you care about me. I am blessed to have men in my life like you. 

Thank you Eliot Delorme for being my ex-roommate. I want you to hear the emphasis on the "roommate" part and not so much on the "ex" part. I hope u is see it, if u no wut I be sayin, döh. The Lord has been so good to give me a brother like you who I can be a legitimate idiot with. Seriously. Our car rides are some of the most dumb and the most enjoyable times I've had since I've been here this semester. It is incredibly rare to find someone who I can have such great, deep conversations with and be so uplifted in my faith in the Lord and at the same time, have more fun with you than with almost anyone. The Lord is really good to me to give me you as a friend, especially one who takes up his crib back in tha 781 about 1.25 hours from my crib. Trust me. I do see were u is at döh.

Thank you Joey Ertsos for being my go to guy, especially this time last year. Man, we've come quite a long way. One of the reasons I loved the summer of 2012 in all the difficulty that it presented was our McDonald's hangout times. I've been really encouraged by your growth in humility and your devotion to the things of the Lord. It's been like basically fifteen weeks since our last McDonald's hangout and I still really miss it, bro. I can't wait to continue to see all that He does in your life as we continue to progress as friends and kindred spirits who long for His work in and through our lives. The Lord was really gracious and kind to give us that weekend in Maine back in 2010. I hope there are still many more years to come. 

Thank you Ryan Griffith for the professor, counselor, friend, and in many ways, big brother that you have been to me these almost three years. I can't explain to you the gratefulness I have for the Lord's providing hand and to you for your heart of grace towards me. I am blessed like few other men to have the unique friendship that we share. To be honest with you, I often feel like I get the good part of this friendship. I guess that's grace. For which I'm thankful.

Thank you Dale Gruber for being the buddy that every boy needs. You've seen the brokenness. You've seen the joy. You've been there for me when I've needed to skip Hebrew. You've shared the glory of Krezface Live at the Glastonbury with me. You've seen the bottom fall out. You've seen the Lord lift me up. You've seen the Lord sustain me. Even if we weren't such close friends, I would be thankful for you based on the sheer amount of time that we have walked together through the thick and thin. Call it selfish, but I'm glad I get a friend like you.

Thank you Matt Johnson for being the in-the-trenches brother I've so needed this semester. I love the parallel lessons that we are learning together. It's a unique thing to have hit it off so quickly and get as deep as we have in the really short time that we've had together. The Lord has been very gracious to me in giving me you as a housemate. I can't wait to look back at this season with you and marvel in His goodness to us in all the ways that we will be able to see so clearly at that time (I hope). I'm looking forward to the fight with you, brother.

Thank you Brad Kresge for all the couchside conversations as we tried to fool ourselves into thinking we were getting something done. I am incredibly glad that the Lord restored our friendship when He did, to the level that He did. I'll never forget our conversation somewhere in February (I think) when you preached the sovereignty of God to me like nobody had before. I regularly look back at that time and see how true your exhortation was. I am so grateful for the massive part that you have played in opening doors for the Lord to go to work in my life. Because of your friendship, I am not the man I used to be. 

Thank you Gabe Leake for being an example to me with your servant's heart. You joyfully see and meet needs. You take the opportunities to help your brothers and sisters without looking to be thanked. You get stuff done that couldn't be done without you and nobody knows. I love that about you. I look up to you in many ways. I am really thankful for that conversation when you pursued me and asked me how I was doing in some pretty specific ways because you care about my soul. The Lord is good to me to put brothers in my life like you. I pray for you and really want to see Him continue to make you a man who is continually known by selfless, others-loving service.

I thank the Lord for you Kevin McClure and the intensity with which He has used you to grow in the nurture and admonition of Him. Through you, the Lord has taught me a plethora of lessons. I find myself starting to act like you in many of the ways that you comport yourself around this basement. As you have said and I agree, I learn just as much if not more from your method than your message. I can count on one hand the men who the Lord has used in my life to grow me in my pursuit of Him and my love of the brethren in the way that He has used you to that end. I am so grateful to Him for that, and I am so thankful to you for not quenching the work and the conviction of the Spirit in your heart that would limit the grace flowing through you. We could get off on a discussion concerning the theology of the way that the Spirit uses willing and unwilling vessels, but we'll save that for some midnight conversation before you move out. 

Thank you Mark O'Neill for using the heart of encouragement with which the Lord has gifted you. I count myself very blessed to have a friend like you who both encourages and rebukes me like you do. You have been there since the days of our rides down Park Avenue on the way to class last semester as I would bemoan my one, two, and even sometimes three "problems" at a time (I'm sure you know what I mean), and you have listened so graciously, encouraging me and giving me the slap in the face that I needed then and still need so often nowadays. Thank you.

Thank you Kyle Schmitz for the countless hours at Maria's and all of the car rides and all of the free coffees that we have shared together. When I consider our friendship, I am surprised at the parallel nature of our lives. We have experienced many similar things at very similar times, and you have verbalized so many of my thoughts about these experiences in ways that I could not. I know we have shared mountained joys and valleyed sorrows, but the clarity that the Lord has given you in these times have served me in ways that I don't think you will ever know. I am so blessed to have a big brother like you care enough about my soul to keep up with me even when I don't call or text you for weeks at a time. I am very thankful.

Thank you Pastor Chris Smith for spending much of your summer thinking with and about me, pouring into me and giving me the myriad of opportunities to lead, which were really a lot of opportunities to fail. I've been telling people for months that, in a small but immensely important way, the Lord used my internship this summer to give me a real-life understanding of what life in ministry will be like. I know that I only dipped my toe in the water, but through your gracious servant's heart, I think that if the Lord wills, I will be only this much less surprised when I am faced with real life in ministry. I recognize the blessing that the Lord has bestowed on me in giving me the relationship with my pastor that I have. He is so good to me, and I hope that He continues to use you in the way that He has--as one of the primary grace ministers in my life. 

Thank you Dan Soukup for so many things; a blog post on this day will not suffice. But. Here's what I got. As far as I can see, you know me pretty much better than anyone here in MN by virtue of simply the amounts of time that we've been able to grow together. We have talked about everything and nothing time after time after time. We've shared boisterous laughter and we've shared deep sadness. The Lord was inordinately gracious to me in granting me a friend like you. I love having a guy who is as close to me as you are, and at the same time, having that guy be a man who I respect as much as I respect your direction in life and your heart for pursuing the Lord and serving your brothers and sisters. I don't say this tritely--I feel truly honored to be able to watch your life as closely as the Lord has granted me the ability to do so. 

Thank you Barb Waldemar for all the text messages asking to come talk to you in the middle of busy mornings. I know how much you have to do, and I know how "J" you are. Keeping those things that I know about you in mind, I am super grateful that you took as much time out of your days to talk with me and hear me out and give me open and honest feedback all those times when I felt so clouded--especially because I know that those were some of your busiest times. The Spirit poured care into my life, especially during that week when my eyes looked like zombie eyes. Thank you.

Thank you Jim Waldemar for being an amazing example of what a man should be like. Though the season of our interaction was short, I have a bragged on you to many a man about how blessed I was to learn from you. I will never forget the grace that you showed me that Sunday morning in the front room. I know I said it then, but I will again say that I have rarely been so amazed by the tact and care that the Lord displayed through you that day. I have often prayed that He would give me the ability to see as clearly as you did through that stretch of a couple weeks. I can say with a heart full of honesty that I would be honored to become a portion of the man that the Lord has made you to be. Thank you.

Thank you Whitney Waldemar for showing me who you are. Thank you for being my friend. Thank you for loving Jesus more than anything. Thank you for not being afraid to say the hard words. Thank you for being a nearly unbelievable example of faithfulness to me over the last seven months. Thank you for letting me appropriate both some of your poetic and some of your prosaic words. Thank you for giving me the honor of having dated you.

--- Now the family ---

Thank you Matthew for being a fun little brother! It seems like it started last winter that we started to really start getting along, and I’m really thankful for that! It seems like it took forever, but we finally realized that we actually both like music. What a weird thought, huh? I really enjoyed sharing a room with you this summer, and am looking forward to it again in less than a month! As I look at other people my age, it’s not often that two siblings are really pretty close when they are six years apart, but I think that you and I are close, and I’m thankful for that. Even though we don’t talk very much at all, I look forward to screaming out Switchfoot songs on the top bunk in your room and just being dumb. But, I also love that we can have real conversations too—that seems rare to me, and I’m really thankful for it!

Thank you Philip for hanging out with me this summer! You probably know better than anyone how difficult it is for the three of us to, like, get along at like the same time. But this summer seems like it was the closest to that that we have ever had! I am really thankful that you and I were able to play on the same summer league team this year—I had such a blast! I remember when I was playing at Fellowship, planning for the day that you and I would be able to play on the same team, and it finally happened! …Except it’s only four years after we thought it would. I am also really thankful for the work that the Lord is doing in your life. As I get updates from mom and dad, I see that you are really doing your best at working through situations and wanting to be an honorable man through the process. I a thankful that the Lord has given me a brother like you.

Thank you Mom for the hours upon hours of praying for me. If there is one habit that I would like to steal from you, it’s your faithfulness in prayer. I like to hear stories of people who are what some have called “prayer warriors,” but I get to have an example like that in my mom. I am really blessed to be able to see your example from so close up. I am also really grateful in all the work that the Lord has done in our relationship. He has given so much grace from where things were when I was fifteen that I have absolutely no way of understanding it except by a divine intervention… oh wait. I am so grateful to have you as my mom, not some other person’s mom, who in all reality, would probably have appealed to the Old Covenant law to have me stoned like ten years ago for my rebellion. But He gives more grace, and I’m thankful for the place that He has us right now. He is very good, and I am very thankful.

Thank you Dad. Wow. It’s been quite a year. I’ve gained some close friends and I’ve lost some close friends, but you have neither come nor gone. You’ve simply stayed. You’ve listened to me babble on and on in excitement, you’ve heard me babble on and on in stress, and you’ve seen and heard me cry in some of the hardest of those times. I’m so thankful. I know some really godly men who love the Lord and want to be conformed to His image, but many of them don’t really have fathers who do what you do, serve like you serve, or love like you love. I’m so thankful that I get a father who loves the Lord and loves others like you do. I see two different kinds of fathers out there: 1) dad-father or 2) friend-father. I am so grateful that the Lord has somehow engineered our relationship to be a, what I would say is supernatural, mix of dad-father and friend-father, and you know when to wear each hat. I don’t know how you do it, but when I’m in need a friend, you’re a friend. And when I need a dad, you’re a dad.

I am so insanely blessed to have the ability to still be able to say, as a nigh-twenty-one-year-old in complete honesty, “My dad is cooler than yours.” Thank you.

Maturing Into Manhood 4.0 - "Six More Times"

And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
(Hebrews 11:6 ESV)

Some of the most valuable lessons that the Lord taught me concerning a faithful Christian life were taught to me during my senior year of public high school. One such lesson I affectionately remember as the discipline that I call "Six More Times."

This story begins before I officially began the school year at Alvirne High School. The assistant coach brought in a college friend who, back in the day, was an All-American Division III guard/forward. After the clinic, the head coach of my team approached him with an issue concerning our center, who was in need of some "conditioning" tips. I don't even remember this clinic instructor's name, but I'll always remember what he said:

"You know how you run wind sprints until you throw up? When I was training, I would do that. Then, I would do it six more times. When you're able to train your body to ignore signs of fatigue, you will be able to run at full speed all game and still be able to perform at a high level during the fourth quarter."

I didn't think much about that word of advice until about two months ago. When this life demands me to take seriously my role as a man created and commissioned by God, my response must be a joyful "yes!" in whatever position He has placed me.

I have been talking to my dad lately about the daily progression away from the clutches of boyhood and towards the glad acceptance of self-sacrifical responsibility, one of the primary marks of mature manhood. In these discussions, one thing to which he has often been returning is that he sees one major distinctive of boyhood as the desire for enjoyment in the easy (often, cheap) thrills of life. On the other hand, a maturing man is one who is characterized by a desire for enjoyment in the mundane things. My dad has been painting the picture of a man who seeks to be faithful in everyday tasks, works his heart out, and has a blast during the restful times. This man does not seek for enjoyment outside of his station of life; but rather, this man seeks for enjoyment inside his station of life.

I'm beginning to see the man-making process as a "Six More Times" kind of process. As men-in-training, we should be glad to see progress in our lives; but my dad advocates that a man is someone who sees his God-given task as a task that is regularly repeated, day after day after day. True acceptance of responsibility is not a one hit wonder.

What does this mean for daily life? It looks tedious and thankless. We do what we do because we are who we are. The purpose of kicking off the goads of boyhood is not to gain any particular reward. If nothing else, we do it knowing that we are becoming who the Lord made us to be.

If the standard or benchmark for enjoyment is as simple as showing up to work on time and washing the dishes faithfully, how much more will the really fun things be when the time is right for them to take place! I have also found a freedom in not always being in the middle of the whirlwind of excitement... because when I leave college and have to do normal person stuff for the next (if the Lord wills) sixty-ish years of life, there really won't be so many opportunities for that whirlwind anymore. Life gets dull. And that's ok.

Here's where Hebrews 11:6 comes in; doing the thanklessly right thing six more times will get exhausting. Sure, it's fun to think that steps in the right direction are happening, but when those steps continue to plod on mile after mile, day after day, faith will wane. That's why we (both men and women) must have faith, remembering that the Lord does reward those who seek Him!

Faith is not something we can manufacture. My Father is the only foreman of the faith factories. That's why we should be the most prayerful people on the earth--right theology demands a very low view of our effect on anything and a very high view of His effect on everything.

I think being a "Six More Times" kind of man is an intrinsically good thing; but, if I pursue it outside of devotion to my Creator, my desire will transmogrify into either arrogance in victory or depression in defeat--neither of which evidence the Spirit's work in our lives.

For all of us men-wannabes out there, we really, really need Him.

.DSN.

What If You Knew?

What if you knew that everything was going to be ok?
What if you knew that your Father would always protect you?
What if you knew that no matter how painful and dark, there would always be light on the other side?

What if you knew that the plan of God could never be improved?

What if you knew that His Hand would never let you fall beyond repair when you take the next step on this invisible bridge?
What if you knew that you would maximally enjoy His future designs for your life?
What if you knew that each step taken in faith would only lead closer to the Giver of all good gifts?

What if you knew that the true pursuit of God cannot ever end in disappointment?

What if you knew that in Christ, you are ultimately invincible?
What if you knew that He has arranged your circumstances in love so that you might see and savor the most of Him?
What if you knew that conformance to the image of His Son is more valuable than any kind of prestige, acclaim, or happiness that can be accomplished by any man or woman?

What if you knew that the Sovereign God makes no mistakes?

Would your life look any different?

.DSN.

271012

I see God's hand
Wresting control from me
Sifting through grains of sand
To find the perfect one
Setting it perfectly in place
He creates a castle from the
Overlapping homogeny of the gold encrusted beaches
He kneels down, occassionally empyting
His sandles of the small specks stuck
Where He doesn't want them.
Then He take me, a static, useless
Particle. He, arranging all things,
Architects a scene of flawless beauty
To which my only response is, "Why?"
Why would God give such good gifts to such poor people?
I am helpless, in this oceanic scene of vast
Majesty, able to only to look with my eyes
And marvel a the mind-blowing, pure
Art; incapably accomplished by anyone
But He who paints with
The Master's Hand

Riding the Rumble Strips

Have you ever been driving in your car, physically exhausted and/or mentally disoriented, and found yourself riding the rumble strips on either the middle or the side of the road, not being able to get off of them? I remember I was driving one night a couple summers ago at two in the morning, and was having this exact experience. I actually got pulled over; and the policeman, bless his heart, didn't believe me when I said I wasn't intoxicated.

But that is of no consequence.

As I have been going about my day today, I've been thinking about how my life might look to someone on the outside--someone who regularly asks how my day has been and rarely receives a sparkling response. Some days I'll have a great conversation or hear a perspective-giving insight, and consequently be a bundle of joy.  Other days will feel like I'm drinking from the bottom of the three-day-old coffee carafe in hopes of finishing the sequence of daily events without melting into a puddle of semi-existence. 

I know I'm extreme. Will I excuse my extremities because of my personality type? Yes. However. If I thought that this general up-and-down pattern of life was unique to me, I probably wouldn't share it with this blog's readership. But. I can proceed with fair confidence that we are all in the same boat together. Some might be hanging out on the prow of this boat, some might be on the stern of this boat, but nobody is (yet) standing on solid ground. At one time, we all stand on the deck, bathe in a gorgeous sunrise and sing until our voices refuse to cooperate during a mind-shattering sunset. There are also the times when we will get rocked. We will get tossed. We even might get thrown overboard, but not without a life-preserver. 

I remember when I was seven or eight, watching my parents talk with their friends about theology, and God, and what they were learning, and that they always seemed to have it together. I used to think that I wished I loved God all the time. I explicitly remember thinking to myself that I couldn't wait until I was a dad and was married and had kids so that I would finally have some stability. I actually thought that. 

HAHAHAHAHA.

We are a crumbling people, whether or not you have decided to believe in the Gospel. It doesn't matter how tough you are. It doesn't matter how good of a driver you are. There will come points when you, though you can't help it, are unable to stop driving on the rumble strips. There will always be days when that three-day-old coffee carafe is your only friend in your attempt to merely stay awake.

And that's ok. You know how I know? 

I once watched a movie in which the religious leader is in conversation with a college-aged guy who is right there with me, riding the rumble strips. The religious leader advises:

Son, in all my eyars of theology studies, I have come to the harsh conclusion that there are only two truths I know for sure. There is a God. And I'm not Him.

I can run on fumes; I can be dangling from the starboard bow; I can be riding on the rumble strips; I can be ok. 

Because He's God, and I'm not.

It's a nice reminder to remember that my constant head-butting with life is (among many other things) due to the fact that I am not deity. I am finite. I am helpless. I am weak. I am poor. I am a beggar. 

And He loves me the same, not letting me fall, crying with I hurt, rejoicing when I'm happy.

As usual, there are many more things to say about this. For words' sake, I will stop here. I just want to affirm that there indeed are times when we hit rock bottom... and then we stay there... and then we can't seem to get out. The rumble strips seem much wider than we might have previously thought.

I'll finish with this quote from an ex-roommate of mine after a dynamite time of pray with him today:

That's worship: pouring out your heart before the Lord like a little helpless kid.

He's got me. He's holding me. If you're His child, He's holding you too.

Join me in the journey of recognizing our not-god-ness. It's going to be a journey that lasts until eternity ends.

.DSN.

Scary Prayers

I hear Christians (aka, me) talk and sing about how more of Jesus will satisfy the thirsty soul. But what does that mean? We sing things like, "Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee (Take My Life)", and "Father use my ransomed life in any way you choose (All I Have is Christ)", and "God, I want to let you know, I want everything You are (Sun & Moon)", and "Lord, help me gain victory against pride/lust/judgmental attitudes. (Typical Christian Prayer)"

Do I fully know God? No.

Do I have any idea how infinitely overwhelming He is? No.

Do I sometimes complain when He answers my prayer of "God, I want everything You are"? Yes.

Why? 

Because I haven't realized that knowing God means knowing the part that you didn't know before. 

If I can't fully know Him, how am I supposed to think that He will answer my prayer to know Him more fully in a way that won't rip my heart out of my chest, shred it to pieces, and then put it back together, but with more of Himself in the glue? He might not do that. But how do I know?

He does that. In the most loving and gracious way there is to do it.

I try to avoid superlatives, but with this God, I do Him an injustice by not speaking as exaltedly of Him as I can.

I've heard some people warn me when I pray a "scary" prayer. I think I agree. There are prayer requests that are scary, because there are prayer requests that can only be answered after having experienced high levels of pain and suffering. But to me, requests like "make me more like you" are scariest because I don't even know what I'm asking. I don't know the depths of the riches of the wisdom of God. I don't know what parts of Him He wants to entrust to me. If I don't know what He wants me to learn, I will have no idea how He's going to do it.

I want to get better and more faithful at praying scary prayers, and I want to love my God enough to actually want all of Him. Not that I'll ever have all of Him. But I want enough faith to stand on the water when He's lovingly beckoning to stand with Him through the waves that shoot the shards of salt water up my nose.

With a God like that, my prayers don't get any less scary; the pain doesn't get any less painful. But I want to trust Him enough to venture through the slimy, rodent-infested cave, because the light on the other side is so worth it.

.DSN.

The Month

Some months go fast. Some months go slow. Some months are of the type of months that are comprised of individual days that seem to never end, but collectively, the month as a completed entity, flies by. 

This past month was like that.

Like most things in life: hard, but so good.

There are things I'd like to relive every moment of forever. I can't say that of many of the situations in the last thirty days.

However, as I mentioned in a recent post, I've never been so uplifted by the hand of my God who carries me through the wilderness, in the same kind of way that a father carries his son up to bed after a late-night car ride. The moments when I realize that are the ones I would like to relive forever.

Here are a few lyrics from a song that has proven true time after time in this man's (my) experience.

---

Defender of this heart
You loved me from the start, You never change
Through the highs and lows
As seasons come and go, You never fail
Day after day, Your love will remain
Faithful and true, You are good

When troubles come my way
You guide and You sustain, lead me I pray
Forever You will be the Great Eternal King
Now and always

You are God with us
You're victorious
You are strong and mighty to save
For Your word stands true
There is none like You
And when all else fades You remain

---

He is my hope.

I love Him.

.DSN.

Cries of the Lovesick

In this life, we can be sure of three things: death, taxes, and suffering. Everyone suffers. And what we need most is the love of God that secures our hope. We are lovesick sufferers.

The Lord has used passages of Psalms 32-42 to drive belief in His unmerited favor deep into my soul, reviving it just enough to sustain the breaths I breathe and the steps I take.

I wanted to share some of the morsels that have been most savory to the life of my spirit.

I hope your faith is bolstered as well.

---

Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the LORD.

(Psalm 32:10)

Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love.

(Psalm 33:18)

Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed.

(Psalm 34:5)

Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!

(Psalm 34:8)

The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.

(Psalm 34:18)

Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all.

(Psalm 34:19)

Let those who delight in my righteousness shout for joy and be glad and say evermore, “Great is the LORD, who delights in the welfare of his servant!”

(Psalm 35:27)           

Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

(Psalm 37:4)

For the arms of the wicked shall be broken, but the LORD upholds the righteous.

(Psalm 37:17)

The steps of a man are established by the LORD, when he delights in his way;

(Psalm 37:23)

The LORD will not abandon him to his power or let him be condemned when he is brought to trial.

(Psalm 37:33)

But for you, O LORD, do I wait; it is you, O Lord my God, who will answer.

(Psalm 38:15)

“And now, O Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in you."

(Psalm 39:7)

I waited patiently for the LORD; he inclined to me and heard my cry.

(Psalm 40:1)           

As for you, O LORD, you will not restrain your mercy from me; your steadfast love and your faithfulness will ever preserve me!

(Psalm 40:11)

As for me, I am poor and needy, but the Lord takes thought for me. You are my help and my deliverer; do not delay, O my God!

(Psalm 40:17)

Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation.

(Psalm 42:5)

---

The LORD is good. He will never leave nor forsake me.

He is my only hope.

.DSN.

Beautifully Helpless

I am beautifully helpless.

I'll recap one of my days in the last week for you: 

I spent the morning psyching myself up, taking my medicine to be able to functionally work an eight-hour shift running cars for the valet company. Needless to say, the prospect of working this in a mid-forties temperature was not the most pleasurable prospect I have ever prospected.

However, the work day was good. The Lord made Himself sensibly near to me. He sustained the faint of heart. My God is good like that.

But there was a problem: I haven't taken the wide open opportunity (multiple times) to share the gospel with a friend of mine who I interact with on a daily basis. My God is good, and He also wants others to taste His goodness. Because He is good and wants others to taste His goodness, I spent most of the day in the conviction of my lack of boldness, thinking about what I should say to this person.

I drew many, many blanks that day.

But the Lord is good.

Finally, my time had come.

I bumbled my way through the entire thing. I tried to talk about how sin separates us from God and how without trusting our helplessness to His sacrifice on our behalf, we won't have any lasting hope to get out of bed in the morning.

Now, just add about ten minutes of jumbled, muddled, and confused words, and you will have construed most of my gospel presentation.

As the friend left to head home, I sat in my car thinking about where I was: I'm in the Midwest, a familiar stranger to this Minneapolis town, still very much attempting to find my own way having been separated from most of what I know and am comfortable with at home. I thought about how I wanted to testify to the hope that is in me, but probably couldn't have presented anything much more unclearly.

Also, it was pitch black outside, and bun-numbingly cold.

Oh yeah. And my gas light had just turned on.

And I probably just garbled the most important message in the world.

This sad, sad picture belonged in some movie.

Then the song "Who Am I" came on the radio.

The Lord is good, and very near to me:

I am a flower quickly fading, here today and gone tomorrow, a wave tossed in the ocean, a vapor in the wind. Still, You hear me when I'm calling. Lord, You catch me when I'm falling, and You've told me who I am. I am Yours.

I started laughing out loud, and I know I looked like an idiot. A fool for Christ, I hope they say. But I was overcome with the beautiful helplessness of my situation. I have nothing. I attempted to share what hope I have been given, and I don't think I did a great job. But yet, He tells me who I am.

I am His.

He never lets go, through the calm, and through the storm! I drove home that night feeling pretty OK about my helplessness.

Sure, I've got a lot of decisions to make in the next few weeks. Sure, life isn't easy. Sure, obedience isn't always the most enjoyable of the options, but I can tell you this in dead-certainty:

I've never felt so upheld by the hand of God in my life, and there is nothing like it.

I believe that beauty is found in anything that points to a greater reality than our own limited one. I see my daily helplessness as doing just that. I have no feet of my own to stand on. But The Architect of the universe is daily laying the next panel of metal on this suspension bridge of my life. I can only pray for the strength to take the very next step, and no more than that which He has laid before me, else I fall to my peril on the jagged rocks of pompous anxiety and foundationless self-confidence.

He truly does provide only today's grace, today. Tomorrow's grace will come tomorrow.

In my opinion, that is some of the most beautiful helplessness I could think to have.

The Lord is good.

The Lord near to the brokenhearted (Psalm 34:18).

He is my hope.

.DSN.

Which is Worse: A Bad Covenant, or a Broken Covenant?

If the Old Testament is a freezer at McDonalds, the stories hidden inside are stacks upon stacks of McGriddle Pancakes.

Let that wonderful image melt into your brain for a minute.

I found one such savory morsel in Joshua 9:1-21. To summarize, this is the story of the Gibeonite deception, where Israel was blazing through the Promised Land, slicing and dicing every person and thing, in obedience, devoting all to destruction. As any reasonable group of people would do, the Gibeonites heard about this God, Yahweh, and how His people were valiant in war and commanded to destroy everyone. In trying to save their own skins, they concocted a cleverly devised plan to manipulate Israelite sensitivities sensitivities. Though the account doesn't say, I wonder if the Gibeonite solution was based on some knowledge of Yahweh's law as presented in Deuteronomy, and the Lord's emphasis on the treatment of strangers and sojourners in a foreign land. Yahweh is a God who is kind to the helpless, and He commands His people to do so also (Read: Deuteronomy 10:17-19). Their solution was to pretend to be a poor and tired people who have traveled from afar and desired to make a covenant with the Israelites for their protection. In reality, their town was like the next town over, so they took old clothes, and "crumbly" bread as a disguise.

Not seeing the problem with this, the leaders of Israel took their own provisions and gave them to the Gibeonites, offering them shelter and protection, and they made the covenant with them. The Bible says, "...but did not ask counsel from the Lord."

Hm. When I read this, I saw an ominous darkness surrounding what was about to happen. Though the Israelites responded in kindness, they made a covenant with a foreign people and they did not ask counsel from the Lord.

Hm. Interesting.

The McGriddle continues.

After the covenant-making process was finalized three days after the initial point of contact, the leaders of Israel found out that the Gibeonites were actually neighbors, not a raggedy nation eating pizza crusts. As I probably would have done, the people of Israel "murmured against the leaders." No kidding. I would be at least mildly upset if my nation's leaders gave money that we didn't have to a cause or program that didn't need money... Oh wait...

That's another post for another time.

But here's the kicker; the leaders said, "We have sworn to them by the Lord, the God of Israel, and now we may not touch them. This we will do to them: let them live, lest wrath be upon us, because of the oath that we swore to them."

I read this and am convinced that these leaders are honorable men for a few reasons:
1) They are men that the Psalmist describes as those who dwell on Yahweh's holy hill: "[He] who swears to his own hurt and does not go back (Psalm 15:4)." The leaders see the power of the covenant and the implication that they cannot so easily extricate themselves from it.
2) They saw that Yahweh hates broken covenants far more than He hates bad covenants.

This is how I see it: in covenanting themselves with the Gibeonites, the Israelites, by necessity, disobeyed the edict of the Lord to devote all things to destruction. In not asking counsel from the Lord, they proved themselves foolish. However, though foolish, the leaders of Israel thought it safest for the nation to swear to their own hurt and not change, rather than attack the Gibeonites (in obedience and righteous indignation), which would incur the immediate wrath of God upon them.

I was taken aback at this reasoning. If the leaders were right, which they seem to be, it implies that God would be less wrathful towards them if they remained in covenant with an evil people, than if they broke the covenant with the evil people to then act in obedience to God's original decree.

Woah.

Application: This is a formative principle for me in my thinking about covenants and, God's view of them. God is a covenant God. He loves them. He loves keeping them. There have been many a book and seminary course devoted to covenants, but simply, my conclusion is that God likes them. He hates when covenants are broken. That's why He hates divorce. The most prominent covenant that we still have in America is treated like we treat trash. I can understand why God probably isn't thrilled with America right now.

However, positively, He loves covenants. And He's in a covenant with us. As children of God, we are now His covenant people! He will never leave us! He will never forsake us! If He broke His covenant sealed with the blood of His Son, well... it's just not possible. He is a good God, and He loves being in covenant with us, though it is hard to see sometimes when He doesn't feel very near.

Though this discussion deserves many more words than I am able to give right now, I want to say one more thing: have you ever heard a covenant described in the same way as a contract?

No.

This is a life or death issue: if a contract is nullified by one party's lack of fulfillment, then I am in trouble. If God held on to me with such a weak bind, I'd have been disposed of long ago. But He doesn't. As the Israelites saw in a small sense, God is a covenant God. Covenants aren't so easily broken.

I literally am and will be eternally grateful for that.

.DSN.

Marriage: Displaying the Infinite Wisdom of God Through the Intricacy of the Human Mind

DISCLAIMER: THIS POST IS BASICALLY PURE SPECULATION. I HOPE YOU AREN'T TOO SHOCKED.

As a 20-year-old guy, I do a fair share of thinking about marriage. I wonder what being married is like. I wonder how my life will change. I wonder what pieces of advice that I've heard concerning marriage have actually been blown way out of proportion. I wonder what things I will thank my parents for teaching me. That last category will probably be the largest.

In one of these marriage-philosophizing sessions with a few housemates, we began to think and talk about the depth of the human personality. Have you ever heard men and women who have been married for 25+ years say that their partner is still an enigma to them?

Think on that for a second.

If two people have been married longer than 25 years and see each other mostly every day--excepting occasional trips away from home--chances are that they have seen or interacted with each other for over 9,000 days. For two people who have been married longer than 40 years, that number is upwards of 14,000. 

That's incredible.

If you are married, you know what that means. As an unmarried person, I haven't the slightest clue. That idea of being with someone for every day that passes is mildly unfathomable to me. Not that I couldn't or won't be able to do it, but I don't have the categories in my head to try to have an understanding of what 9,000+ days entails. All I do know is that I'd probably get to know my wife really, really well. I can't imagine being surprised by anything. But there's the rub.

From what they say, I still will be surprised.

Probably not like a, "Babe! I can't believe you did/said/thought/felt that! I didn't bargain for this!" (though there might be an element of that) but instead, probably more of a, "Babe, I still don't understand you. I don't know how your mind fully works. I guess I don't know you as well as I thought I did."

It's hard to see how that response could actually happen after 9,000 days of marriage, but these married people are saying it, and they've been married for way more days than I have, so I'll take them at their word. 

Thinking on this subject led me to broaden my perspective and take into consideration my interactions with everybody. If someone has the ability to be with and observe just one other person for over 9,000 days and still not have a definitive corner on him or her, how do I think that I can rightly understand someone who I see a few times a week for a couple semesters? 

I am a fool to assume that I have someone completely figured out, when I have no idea what is going on on the inside. Not only do I not know what's going on on the inside, I wouldn't ever be able to, no matter how honest, open, or truthful they are with me. The human mind is so deep, so murky, so full of thoughts, feelings, emotions, and years of experience, that I need every second of every interaction to get a better handle on how to understand how any given person interacts with the world around them. They could tell me everything that they could possibly think to tell me, even their deepest darkest secrets. But even as a 20-year-old interacting with other young adults, I will never be able to unpack 20 years of life. Ever. And as they grow older, it only gets harder. The more life that gets lived, the more there is to that person to unearth. 

I don't mean to say that I can't know anybody really well. That's obviously possible. In living with someone for 9,000 days, I hope that I will get to the point that I will know what my wife is thinking most of the time. I hope that we will deeply be able to sense and feel each other's seasons of sorrow; I hope that we will also be able to heartily rejoice with each other in times of truly contented happiness. I  hope those things, but I am confident that they will happen, as marriage is a process of becoming one in body, mind, and soul. But, we will never attain full oneness.

But that's another blog post. 

Where's God in all this? Here He is:

As my eyes are opened to see that my God is great enough to create a person so complex and so intricate that even a lifetime of study will never plumb the depths of his or her mind, I realize how much wiser and deeper His thoughts are than mine. I can't comprehend creating something as mind-blowing as a human being.

For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.
(Psalm 103:14)

Humans are so remarkably unique, yet we are dust to Him. I can't completely figure out a person even if I spent the rest of my life studying, but we are not a challenge to Him. He looks at us and smiles. We're simple creation to Him. I see other people as intriguing, mysterious, and often intimidating, and He sees us as lost sheep without a shepherd. I see Goliath, and He sees a helpless little zygote who He decided to let live one day.

God is one to whom my future is worth entrusting.

These people who He decided to create are worth the time. They are worth the trouble. They are worth the pain. They are worth the hurt. They are worth the love.

They are worth it because He is worth it, and whatever He decides to fashion is worth it. In learning about His creation, my understanding of His great faithfulness and sovereign hand is only expanded; my ability to see and savor my God is enhanced, the more that I see and savor the things and people that He has made.

Through knowing His peoples, I get to see Him just a little more clearly.

.DSN.

Old Testament Remix: Jericho

Lately, God has been asking me to do things that haven't made a ton of sense. I've prayed; I've even fasted a few times. The answer to my problem was clear. But it really didn't make much sense. I looked at the situation, knew what needed to happen, but I couldn't understand why. I'm still really fuzzy on the details. Why does He lead His children through green light after green light only to abruptly change the traffic signal to a blinking red? I don't know. Though I'm sure that He's cooking up something beautiful, all I can see are a couple of the ingredients, and let's just say that individually, they aren't the most delectable.

But I'm not the only one.

I was reminded that God regularly does this kind of thing. It's all over the Bible. I was in Joshua 6 this morning, and saw one of the best examples. 

Time for Make Believe.

Do you best to picture this scene: 

You've been walking for 40 years in a desert. You've rarely slept in the same place for more than a week, so you're exhausted. You come to the place where you and your entire nation have been promised--a paradise with luxurious food and mostly all things that an Ancient Near East nomad could ever dream to have.

Pause. Reality.

You live in America, and you feel like everyone around you is enjoying the life that you want. Then at some point, your path leads you to a place where you feel like you are about to taste this dream life (fill in whatever sounds most satisfying) for yourself.

Play. Make Believe.

You come to a raging rive that looks impossible to cross. God says to you, "No problem." He stops its flow miles upstream, so you have dry ground to walk on, and your exhausted, dusty, parched nation crosses without incident.

Pause. Reality.

You're getting close. The Lord is opening doors. He overcomes obstacles that you thought were going to ruin everything. But since He made everything, everything is not a problem for Him. You keep walking in faith, and He keeps providing for and protecting you.

Play. Make Believe.

You've crossed this raging river that has a reputation for its muck and turbulence, but Yahweh has handled that problem. It's nothing to Him. You're now on the other side, and you see a city. You thought the river was hard? Here's one of the most prominent cities in the Ancient Near East with literally insurmountable defenses. Between the stacked layers of walls, one estimation puts the cumulative height of the walls at approximately 60 feet. You have no siege engines. You have no way to attack without losing most, if not all, of your soldiers. You thought you had finally arrived. But alas, you were wrong. 10/12 of your wisest spies said that crossing the Jordan and attempting to take Jericho was foolish. And now you're seeing that they were probably right.

Pause. Reality.

You've been walking in faith. You've seen your Father take care of problems that you thought were going to be deadly, but in His faithfulness, He saw you through. But you finally hit a wall that you know you can't overcome. You see your utter helplessness in the situation. In fact, you might even say that you'd wished that God hadn't teased you with the thought of being so close to something so good, only to let you down in such a devastating fashion.

Play. Make Believe. Enter, insanity.

Your fearless leader, Joshua, commands the priests and the soldiers to walk together around this wonder of structural impregnability. Do that same thing again, and again, for six days in a row. Then, on the seventh day, everyone (not just soldiers) must walk around the city not once, not twice, but seven times. Oh, and by the way, the priests that will carry the ark of the covenant are going to need to play their trumpets, loudly, without stopping. The entire time. One more thing, nobody can make any shout, or even make their voices heard until the day that Joshua gives the command (6:10). So basically, the only noise you will hear for six days is that of the trumpets when the priests are marching, then nothing the rest of the time. Don't overspiritualize it. As an Israelite, I doubt that you are thrilled to not make a sound for six days, while a bunch of soldiers and priests walk in circles and blare their horns for six days. Then on the seventh day, you still couldn't make any noises, and you would have to walk around the city a full seven times.

Pause. Reality.

This is kinda how I've felt, but I think the Israelites had it just slightly more difficult than I have it. I'm in the place where I don't understand where God is taking me. There are even specifics in my day-to-day interactions that I don't even know what to say or how to say it; not really one of the most comfortable places I have ever been. So, so far, I'm tracking with Joshua 6. In a very strange way, I can sympathize.

Play. Make Believe.

It's the seventh day. It's been a long week. No talking for anyone (6:10). It's not like you are only having six "no-talking days" with one or two people, but you have six "no-talking days" with every single person there is. Like I said. Long week. The march in circles around this massive city is really quite draining, but it's the final lap. Now you've just finished. Joshua gets up and screams at the top of his lungs:

Shout! God has given you the city! The city and everything in it is under a holy curse and offered up to God.

It was finally time. The trumpets were blown, and as soon as the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they captured the city.

Stop. Story's over.

What a joyful day that must have been.

The joyous victory in this way hasn't yet been realized in my life. The Lord hasn't yet led to the place past the walking in circles, from what I've seen (though I could be wrong). I think I'm just starting the first lap. But picture it. The children of Israel are an INCREDIBLE example of faith. I never saw that before I read this morning. Basically, God told His people His plan, and they needed to have faith that He knows what He's commanding; they need to do what He says with the security that He would reward their faithful obedience. And He did. Amazingly so. What continued to stun me was how in Joshua 6:16-19, Joshua is commanding the people to shout and yell and scream on their trumpets as heartily as the Lord gave them strength. The conjunction astonished me:

[Command in blue] “Shout, for the LORD has given you the city. And the city and all that is within it shall be devoted to the LORD for destruction. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall live, because she hid the messengers whom we sent. But you, keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction, lest when you have devoted them you take any of the devoted things and make the camp of Israel a thing for destruction and bring trouble upon it. But all silver and gold, and every vessel of bronze and iron, are holy to the LORD; they shall go into the treasury of the LORD.” So the people shouted, and the trumpets were blown. As soon as the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they captured the city.

How glorious! The people of Israel, who I ragged on in only my second blog post, are an example of faith par excellence. They heard a command that outside the power of God would make no sense, and to them, it was a simple matter of obedience. They had full confidence that their God would be faithful, and He was.

I was immensely encouraged to read Joshua say, "Yell your brains out, and blare your trumpets." The next word, "so", shows me that these people, in a much more difficult place than I am, saw the command as a matter of fact. It was logical:

1) God told me to do something that I would never do in my right mind.
2) God is faithful, and He loves me more than I will ever be able to comprehend.
3) Obedience is an easy decision because I see that He is good, and will fulfill all that He promises.

Wow.

I never thought I would hear/see myself say/write this, but I wish I had the faith of the Israelites.

.DSN.