Ransomed and precious

A friend passed along this reminder the other day. I'm not sure what translation she used but it was such a timely reminder for me as we'd had several types of disconcerting news all in the same hour. I hope it will bless you too.

"Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you.
I have called you by name, you are mine.
When you go through deep waters and great trouble,
I will be with you.
When you go through rivers of difficulty,
you will not drown.
When you walk through the fire
you will not be burned, nor will the flames hurt you.
For I am the Lord, your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Saviour.
You are precious and honored in my sight,
and I love you." (Isaiah 43:1-4)

My schedule

I keep two calendars in my office - one is the "to-do" calendar with appointments, meetings and other events listed. The other is a "have-done" calendar. I use it to track in note form what I accomplished each day in my career. Having an office at home means sometimes those lines get blurred so this helps me stay clear about what happened each week.

Today as I started my day, this verse came up in two separate areas.

"For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do" (Ephesians 2:10).

Prepared in advance, huh? How interesting that God has a to-do calendar for us too. Planned ahead. Ready for us to show up and get the job done.

Let's make sure we leave space in the day for His appointments.

Grand stuff indeed

The Bible (of course) speaks marvelous truths to us about the character and nature of God. And I very much enjoy the variety of ways those truths are presented. There is story, history, parables, romance, mystery and more, including some very literary passages. Consider this:

"[God] spreads out the northern skies over empty space;
he suspends the earth over nothing.

He wraps up the waters in his clouds,
yet the clouds do not burst under their weight.

He covers the face of the full moon,
spreading his clouds over it.

He marks out the horizon on the face of the waters
for a boundary between light and darkness.

The pillars of the heavens quake,
aghast at his rebuke.

By his power he churned up the sea;
by his wisdom he cut Rahab to pieces.

By his breath the skies became fair;
his hand pierced the gliding serpent.

And these are but the outer fringe of his works;
how faint the whisper we hear of him!
Who then can understand the thunder of his power?"

Job 26:7-14 (emphasis mine)

Jeremiah's complaint

Sometimes the prophecy books of the Old Testament can be tough going. It can be hard to fully understand what (and who) the prophets were addressing as they wrote. And there is some pretty rough language there, too.

But what I always appreciate about the writer of the Psalms, the prophets or Job, is when they really speak their mind to God. Like this:

"You are always righteous, O LORD, when I bring a case before you.
Yet I would speak with you about your justice:
Why does the way of the wicked prosper?
Why do all the faithless live at ease?"(Jeremiah 12:1)

These men were honest. They were asking the questions that are still being asked today. "God, where's the justice? Why do you allow this?"

But along with that is the certainty that God can take their questions. He's open to our doubts and our questions. We can say whatever we need to say to Him. He's big enough for that too.

Poetry & faith

Found a very cool quote on a favorite blog. I think it has something to say on the matter of faith in God, too.

"Poetry is sane because it floats easily in an infinite sea; reason seeks to cross the infinite sea, and so make it finite.... The poet only asks to get his head into the heavens. It is the logician who seeks to get the heavens into his head. And it is his head that splits."

G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy

Therefore I have hope ...

Ever have one of those days (weeks, months, years) when everything just seems to be wrong? I think it happens to almost everybody at sometime. Life can be pretty overwhelming some days.

But then I was reminded of something very simple but very important when I read this:

"Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:

Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him."

The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him;
it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD."

Lamentations 3:21-26 NIV

Christianish (a book review)

I don't normally review two books this close together but I couldn't wait on this one.

I began reading Christianish: What If We're Not Really Following Jesus at All? and was amazed. Mark Steele tackles (like many others) a look at the forms of religion that we often pass off as "being Christian." There can be a lot of concessions we make - often with good intentions, but with the net result of portraying the Christian life as less than it should be. But what Steele manages, where many often fail, is to ask the hard questions without setting himself outside the problem. He admits that "... the chance that everything we each believe about Jesus is 100 percent accurate is not very likely" but still takes a frank look at some of the ways we handle the beliefs we hold. His examples are down-to-earth, accurate, surprising and sometimes hilarious. And they serve very well to illustrate the middle ground that we often try to hold even though we may be on the wrong road entirely. Rather than just a pointed finger, Steele offers the switch to create some of those "light bulb" moments that can be life changing. It's an invitation to "ditch the ish" and be part of an exciting Christ-centered adventure.

Christianish is destined to become a well-worn favorite on my bookshelf and I highly recommend it for yours.


Review copy provided by The B&B Media Group