I thought I'd let everyone know that I'm not the only CRCCer blogging. So if you want to check them out, here are a few others:

1. Phil Pearson is blogging about the challenge of Philippians as he leads his small group through that letter (here)
2. RJ and Kristy Ray are blogging about their newest family member (and other family members, too - here)
3. Michael Thelander is blogging about life, theology, and our partnership with the people of Mhlosheni, Swaziland (here)
4. Teri Wood is blogging about the 52 new things she's doing this year (here)

Enjoy!

I ran across this quote in my background research for my message two weeks ago and am just now getting it posted. Simply, yet profound thinking on how God worked in the world through his word.

“Pretty much all the nations and tribes from Bible times that were of Israel’s size are gone. So why did Israel survive? Not just survive; in the words of Thomas Cahill, ‘how did a tribe of desert nomads change the way the world thought and felt? What distinguished Israel from everyone else?’ It wasn’t power. Most of its history Israel was a vassal nation. It wasn’t wealth. Israel was never a consistent economic player. It wasn’t size. Israel was dwarfed by Greece, Egypt, Babylon, and Rome. What did Israel have? A book.” - John Ortberg, People of the Book, Leadership Journal, 29(1), p37

It was Israel's dogged commitment to hearing God speak through his word that influenced the intellectual (and spiritual) history of the world. By the way, if you're interested in  joining the bible study methods class that will be starting up in a few weeks, email me. To comment or ask a question, follow this link.

This hit me this morning (and by the way, I won't always post such thoughts daily)... Proverbs 4:18-19 - In these verses I am reminded of the Dimmer Switch principle (Larry Osborne in "Contrarian's Guide to Knowing God"). His point is this: the path (as guided by the heart) of those who ignore God's promptings in their life gets darker and darker over time...so much so that over time it becomes hard to move forward because the path seems so dim and unclear. On the other hand, the path of the righteous becomes brighter and brighter because they become more attuned to God's light in their life and heart. And so...each time a right choice is made, making right choices in the future becomes easier! After quoting these verses, he writes:

...the longer we walk in obedience, the clearer the spiritual picture becomes. Subtle distinctions that were once indiscernible become obvious; things we would ahve never noticed at first suddenly can't be missed. I find this to be incredibly encouraging. It means I don't have to worry about all the things I don't know. I just ahve to respond to the light I have, and the rest will come in God's time. It means that God-pleasing spirituality can happen instantly - the moment I start the journey! Maturity and spiritual depth take time. But I can please god right away because it's not a matter of how much I know or how long I've been at it. It's a matter of what I do with what I already have that matters most.

For me, here's how I will personalize it: My path gets a little darker (that is, less clear) every time I turn from God's lead but my path gets a little brighter (that is, more clear) every time I follow God's lead. Lord, I invite you to guide me through this day. As you do, please help me to follow in the direction you lead me. I trust that day by day you'll bring me closer to you and make my path brighter and brighter so that I can walk for you! Amen

This particular passage, found on pages 99 and 100 of The Gospel in a Pluralist Society (by Leslie Newbigin) struck such a strong cord in me.

I am suggesting that to live in this ways means to inhabit an alternative plausibility structure to the one in which our society lives. A plausibility structure is not just a body of ideas but is necessarily embodied in an actual community. It cannot exist otherwise. In this case the community is that company of people who have been chosen and called by God in continuity with those who have gone before from the very beginning of the story… As we face new opportunities and new dangers, we are the people who know what it is to cross the Red Sea on dry land, to be fed with manna in the wilderness, to return with singing from Babylon, to stand before the cross, and to meet the risen Lord in the breaking of bread. This is our story, and it defines who we are. Just as character can only be truly rendered in narrative form, so the answer to the question “Who am I?” can only be given if we ask “What is my story?” and that can only be answered if there is an answer to the further question, “What is the whole story of which my story is a part?” To indwell the Bible is to live with an answer to those questions, to know who I am and who is the One to whom I am finally accountable.

So often in our lives we lose sight of who we are, both as individuals and as the people called to be the Church. Even beyond this we lose sight of the fact that we are all, together, caught up in the grand story of the Creator. We are invited into it and yet, through our own lack of understanding (or even more probably, our own proneness to distraction) we so often leave this call unanswered.

What would change in our lives if we were to really know that we are the people of the Bible? How would we see life differently if we stopped making the distinction between biblical times and present day life?

There is a continuity within the people of God, and we are remiss if we fail to live out such a gift. Truly, we are presently surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses (Hebrews 11) and they are bidding us on, to continue as they did in the great story of all creation.