Another boring day at home

How many of you woke up today with a sense of sadness? Our losses are so small compared to what those around the world (and, indeed, the ill in my own city) are experiencing. But to wake and think, “Oooh Saturday!” and then realize my little family can’t go to a nature center, garden or museum, to visit friends, or on a family cake and coffee date to Starbucks. Depending on the weather, we may not even be able to go for a long walk. So we’re facing yet another stir-crazy day in the apartment. And yet, maybe God wants us to meet him in the apartment. He wants us to meet him in the deprivation of normal activities, the ways we feed our thirst for adventure, for connection, for fun. Maybe, just maybe, he’s rooting something solid and sweet down in the dark soil of our altered lives right now. And as his work takes root, we’ll begin to see him more clearly than ever before.

From the devotional (it also has art and music, click on the link to see it):
“Perhaps we find ascetic practices so hard because we only notice what we lose and fail to comprehend all that we gain. You see, in casting other things aside through ascetic practices, we are brought to a place of simplicity, a place where we can finally focus on the one thing that is all that really matters – God Himself.

The presence of God is, like Judith Harris’ beetle, hidden in plain sight. We find Him not by diligent struggle but through the clarity of vision that simplicity gives. He is seen through a glass dimly, but the light can indeed be seen, especially when all other lights – those things that compete for our attention – are extinguished.

Simplicity also helps us to number our days and forces us to confront the illusions of self-importance that we are so prone to erect. When we, like the Queens of Soweto, cease trying to be someone of note, we are then positioned to live a meaningful life. We discover that choosing to live quietly and to work faithfully is what leads to contentment and pleases God. And this is what makes life truly meaningful.

In the process, we discover in this upside-down Kingdom of God that the ones God sees as great are those whom the world so readily dismisses as unimportant. Again, like the beetle, greatness in God’s kingdom is hidden in plain sight. It is found in simplicity, godly contentment, and a heart that treasures Him above all else.

Ascetic practices do not earn us favor with God. They transform us so that we may see the God who is always with us with greater clarity than ever before.”

http://ccca.biola.edu/lent/2020/#day-mar-28

Evening Meditation - Psalm 46

Imaginative Prayer - The Lord's Prayer

Today I lead a written meditation on The Lord's Prayer from one of our favorite books in Limitless, Imaginative Prayer for Youth Ministry by Jeannie Oestreicher & Larry Warner.

So sit back, relax, listen and connect with God during this time!

An Outside Adventure

The challenge - Look for something beautiful outside today.

The questions - What does this tell you about God? What is God saying to you through the thing you saw outside?

The feedback - Leave a comment here about what you saw and what God said! Or about what you learned. Or just to say hi.

Video Devo - Redefining Lent

Hey everyone!

How are you all doing? I posted a Facebook Live video this morning on our church's Facebook page - I don't know if this link will work if you don't have a Facebook account, maybe you can check it from one of your parents' pages? It is a 14-minute video that has some thoughts from me about celebrating Lent while under quarantine, and includes a meditation on Philippians 2:1-11. I hope you can get to the video and that God uses it to speak to you. Click on the link below.


Redefining Lent in times of pandemic

Welcome from Stephanie

Here's a little intro to what I hope to do on this blog (Web + log + blog, circa early 2000s) to keep us all growing in our relationship with God and even one another through these uncertain times.

Bible study: The Messiah - Jesus crushes the snake

1. Watch the video
2. Do the Bible study, either on your own or with someone in your family. This uses the Discovery Bible Study method. (True story - this is what we were going to do at church last Sunday before the world as we knew it suddenly changed!)

Bible passages to read:
Isaiah 9:1-7 & Isaiah 11:1-10
These passages might seem a little strange, or harder to follow than we normally use. We often study Bible writings that are history or other narrative, but these verses are actually prophecy. The prophet Isaiah was writing sometime around 700 BC. God called him to speak to the people of Israel and Judah (by this time, the great land of Israel that King David established had split into two nations, due to civil war started by David's grandsons). God called Isaiah to warn the people that if they didn't worship him as the one true God of Israel, their nation would fall apart and they would be taken into exile by foreign kings. That's exactly what did happen. However, Isaiah's prophecy was not only about events that were going to occur relatively soon (like capture and exile) but also foretold the coming kingdom of God. It's in Isaiah that we find possibly the most powerful descriptions of Jesus and the kingdom he will bring one day when he returns. Remember, we live in this funny time between the ages that we often call the Now and the Not Yet. Jesus came to earth, he showed us how to live, and he defeated death - for himself. He broke the power of the curse of death that Satan put on all people when we rebelled against God. It's because of what Jesus did that we can come close to a holy God, and have our sins forgiven. It's because of what Jesus did that we sometimes see miracles, as God's power breaks through Satan's hold on this world and triumphs here now. But Satan still has power in this world, for now, causing all kinds of death and famine and war and corruption - and coronavirus! So we have hope as we look ahead to the time when Jesus returns, when he ushers in the new kingdom for all that Isaiah talks about here. As you go through the Bible study, ask God what hope he wants to put in your heart during this time.

READ
Read the Scripture aloud. I've provided two selections from the book of Isaiah.

RETELL
If you're doing this study with someone else, quickly tell them in a couple of sentences what the reading is about.

DISCOVER
What does this passage say about God?
What does this passage say about humans in general?
What does this passage say to us sitting here today?

LIVE IT OUT
Since this is the Word of God, God uses it to change our lives. As you read this passage, what is Jesus saying to you through the Holy Spirit? What action will you take this week to obey Him?

How in the next week can you be obedient or responsive to what you received? Be specific.

PRAY