Tuesday, January 31, 2017

day no. 13,980: a prayer from Proverbs for parents

Proverbs 20:30
Blows that wound cleanse away evil;
strokes make clean the innermost parts.
 
I read Proverbs 20 this morning and was struck by this verse (pun intended)
 
It would be easier in some respects to let you do what you desire. It would require less discipline from me. I could learn to deal with the chaos as long as I gained the comfort of not having to get off of the couch. But I love you too much and I love Jesus too much to allow that to happen. It is hard work. I don't enjoy having to spank you. And yet, I can feel the purpose in it when I do it well. I feel hopeful and faith-filled as I talk you through the clear instruction, the clear offense and the clear penalty for your willful violation. As I hold your little bodies after the spanks, kissing you and cuddling you, restoring your hearts and reconciling the brokenness your sin caused in disobeying me and God, I feel encouraged. I believe the promise or the general truism of these proverbial statements. Spanks don't just tan your hide, they minister to your soul and shepherd your heart. That is my desire and that is my goal. I want to lead you well and teach you to follow me as I follow Christ so that we can follow Him together forever.
 
Spanks aren't meant merely to bruise bottoms, but to soften and tenderize stiffened hearts. I am grateful for the discipline of the Lord in my life. It never feels good at the moment, but it feels good overall to know that I haven't been abandoned to my own devices. I feel safe knowing God is guiding and correcting my steps.
 
I love you children. I am praying for you this morning and this verse gave me hope and faith as I imagine all God will do for and through you by placing you in my home. I love being your shepherd, your father, your counselor and ultimately you brother in Christ.
 
Hebrews 12:11
For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Monday, January 30, 2017

day no. 13,979: a crass course in commitments

Proverbs 20:25
It is a snare to say rashly, “It is holy,”
and to reflect only after making vows.

It is important to make vows and to commit to people, but it is important to consider wisely to whom you commit yourself.
 
This applies to marriage as much as it does to ministry.
 
1 Timothy 5:22
Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, nor take part in the sins of others; keep yourself pure.
 
It is crucial that you consider the content of your covenants and the people to whom you promise them.
 
Ecclesiastes 5:4-5
4 When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow. 5 It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay.

 

 
 

Sunday, January 29, 2017

day no. 13,978: two crucial parenting proverbs

Proverbs 20:5
The purpose in a man's heart is like deep water,
but a man of understanding will draw it out.

Our children are deep wells. Don't skim the surface, but do the work of lowering the bucket in order to draw out the deepest thoughts and hopes and fears of your child's heart. Don't abandon their heart as brackish. Draw it out as you would cold, clear water on a dry, dusty day.

Proverbs 20:11
Even a child makes himself known by his acts,
by whether his conduct is pure and upright.

If you are tempted to worry that you won't be competent to get the bucket deep enough to draw out their heart, simply pay attention. Some things can't stay down. Like a beach ball being held under water, they desire to come up no matter how hard anyone tries to hold them down. Simply be around and pay attention. Their little hearts will faithfully erupt and their regular actions will leak the deeper parts of their hearts.

Work hard to draw them out and be around to witness the clockwork eruptions of their geysers. Their hearts want to be pursued which is why they hide -- and why they explode. Their desire is to be known.

Saturday, January 28, 2017

day no. 13,977: Exodus 11 & 12 cursory walk-through including closing comments

CHAPTER 11
VS 4-5 No distinction between the rich who dwelt in Pharaoh's home and the poor who lived and worked down at the handmill performing manual labor. Any and all who belong to Egypt will suffer devastation.
VS 6 This will be the worst thing that will ever happen to Egypt. Ever. And take it from God, He knows. He knows all that has yet to happen to Egypt. This will be utter devastation nationwide with each and every home affected.
VS 7 God Himself will come down from His heavenly dwelling to pursue the Egyptians. Heaven will growl and snarl and hunt and catch its prey while mean, snarly, stray dogs will calmly watch Israel walk right on by. This is a time and place where dogs where more feral than friendly. Think even now how most dogs react to a stranger approaching the house. Their instinct is to growl and bark. Back then every person was a stranger because no one owned or kept dogs. And not a single one of them would so much as show their teeth to an Israelite as they walked right out of Egypt. See the contrast. Heaven itself will bite Egypt and the earth will not so much as bark at Israel.
VS 8 Moses stormed out of Pharaoh's presence with HOT NOSTRILS, FIERCE ANGER, breathing out of his nose, fuming mad, furious, in a rage at Pharaoh's hardness of heart. Pharaoh's arrogant ignorance exasperated Moses. Pharaoh was going to suffer unspeakable agony and the worst part of it was he was going to bring it upon himself. Pharaoh is willfully ignorant as the TOG class would label it. He knows better and He is choosing to resist. He has seen God's power, He has trembled under its heaviness and yet he has only calloused his heart in the process. His heart has been made raw and rubbed off so many times that it is now impenetrable.
CHAPTER 12
VS 1-2 This event will reorient all time and history for Israel. Everything will be referenced back to this event. Whatever month it is, this marks the beginning of your calendar. This is the first, most important month for you from now on. All time and history from this day forward will be a reference back to this event, much like our history is divided into BC and AD. I'm old enough to remember when history was divided by Before Christ and Anno Domini (in the year of our Lord). Nowadays it has been "updated" to BCE and CE, before common era and common era, but the one thing the history snobs have failed to realize is that you can call that separation whatever you want, BCE and CE or Old School and New School or what have you, but what is the thing that divides those two chunks of time? What single-handedly redefined all time and history? The life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ smack dab in between two worlds, the world before He descended to earth and the world after He ascended back to Heaven.
VS 3-4 Every household was to have a lamb. And if your household was too small for a lamb, you were to join the household next to you until you had enough people to have a lamb. God makes a clear order: every household must have a lamb and He makes a way to ensure anyone who desires to participate will not be restricted by their family's size or socio-economic status. God makes a way for all who desired to participate and leaves no excuse for all who desire to abstain.
VS 5-6 the lamb must be spotless, a male, 1 yr old. This is not just whatever lamb you might find laying around your flock, this is not the worst lamb you have, this is not the lamb you were going to get rid of anyway, this is a very specific, very special lamb: pristine in every way. This will be performed at twilight when the light of day is expiring the darkness of night is threatening to take over. These are the last minutes of light in the day anyone will see and for those who are in faith filled homes, the last color they will see is RED. Their doorways will be muddy, dark, unoxygenated blood, rich dark, thick red hastily, quickly painted on the entire doorway. This is the last color you see before the light runs out. Dark, Deep, Red.
VS 7 the sacrificial blood of the spotless lamb must be applied to the entire entrance of the home. The two doorposts and the lintel over the doorway. The entire entrance to the home would be marked and painted by the blood of the lamb. There would be no way to enter the home without being surrounded by blood.
VS 12-13 This is personal. God is going to personally come down and do this. He doesn't want anyone mistaking it as a coincidence or as a natural disaster or an epidemic. This is God saying He wants the credit and the blame for everything that is going to happen. He is going to do this and He will visit the His Egypt and destroy the firstborn in every household… UNLESS…. He sees blood. If He sees the blood on the doorposts, on the lintel, covering, protecting the entrance of your home, He will Passover that home and that house will not see destruction on this night. If the last thing a household saw was the RED of blood on their doorway, the first thing God sees when He visits a house is RED. God notices. He knows. He sees it. He doesn't send someone to see it for Him. He personally checks. And when He sees RED, He passes by without fail. Every house where He sees red is safe. Every house where He doesn't see red on the doorway will see red by morning. Every house will see blood on this night. For those cowering in the corner with blood splattered clothes from painting their doorways to those whose firstborn are slaughtered for their faithless, stubborn failure to heed the warning. Blood will be everywhere in Egypt on this night. Everyone's lives will be defined by the blood of this night. Remember God came at midnight. That is the middle of the night. I usually go to bed around midnight, which is the beginning of the night in some ways in our head, but this is a culture where you go to bed once there is no natural light left, so 12pm is about halfway through the typical day's darkness.
VS 14-20 you shall remember this. You will put into place mechanisms to remind you specifically of what I did here and how those of you who believed were spared, how the blood saves, how God Passover those He visited who by faith hid themselves behind the blood.
VS 26-27 your children will inevitably ask why you observe such a peculiar discipline? You are not like everyone else. You are in this world, but you are different than the world. Why is that? What's the significance? We MUST be prepared to answer that question. We must ACT in a faithful way which will PROMPT the question and then be prepared in that moment to respond to the inquiry. The first generation believes, the next assumes, the last abandons because there is no rhyme or reason left behind the ceremonies.
29-32 God does exactly what He said He would do. He kills the firstborn of every household where He does not see the blood and He spares every household whose entryway is guarded by the blood of the spotless lamb.
VS 33 Pharaoh, as God predicted, now wants nothing to do with Israel and wants to send them out. But God grants favor to the Israelites. He also grants some Egyptians in lieu of this tragedy to be moved to a place of belief. They were the citizens of Egypt when it experienced the most difficult thing their county would ever endure and it moved their hardened, calloused hearts to belief. They gave Israel everything AND
VS 38 many of them joined the exodus out of Egypt. They choose the God who rained down destruction and repented. A MIXED MULTITUDE left Egypt that early morning. God had made Himself known and He had softened the hearts of some even amongst those most powerfully wounded by His coming.
"The same sun that softens the wax, hardens the clay."
VS 40-42 this night after 430 years of being homeless, God delivered Israel out of Egypt. This night is to be commemorated and remembered by all forever and ever.
Why is it so important to remember the significance of Jesus’ sacrifice?
Revelation 6:15-17
15 Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, 16 calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, 17 for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”
Revelation 14:9-10
9 And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, 10 he also will drink the wine of God's wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.

Satan doesn’t rule over Hell as a booby prize after failing to conquer Heaven. He is there against his will. He is being tormented there. The Lamb rules over Hell. He presides over it. Hell is not the absence of God, it is the presence of His vengeance. God tells us not to take revenge because vengeance is Mine sayeth the Lord. Hell is where the slow wick of His grace and patience has burned completely out and all that is left is the terrifying presence of the everlasting explosion of fury. Our God is a consuming fire.

But Jesus died so that you could avoid that fate. The Lamb of God laid down His life so that those who believe in Him may experience an eternity of grace and hope and glory. It cost Him everything. He emptied Himself. He was abused, mocked, beaten, spit upon, tortured, and murdered by those who hated Him and abandoned by those who loved Him. So when people forget what He did or treat it like something insignificant, His fury burns.

STORY

John Griffith was in his early twenties—newly married and full of optimism. He and his lovely wife had been blessed with a beautiful, blue-eyed baby, that they named Gregory.  The stock market crashed in 1929 and they made their way to Missouri, to the edge of the Mississippi River, and there he found a job tending one of the great railroad bridges that spanned the massive river.  Every day John sat in a control room and directed the enormous gears of the immense bridge.
By 1937 his son Greg was 8 years old, and on April 5, 1937, for the first time, John brought Greg to work with him. Excitedly they packed their lunches and headed off toward the immense bridge.
Greg looked on in wide-eyed amazement as his dad pressed down the huge lever that raised and lowered the vast bridge.  Soon, noon arrived. After John elevated the bridge and allowed some scheduled ships to pass through, he took his son by the hand, and they headed off for lunch. They inched their way down the narrow catwalk and out onto the observation deck that projected some 50 feet out over the majestic Mississippi. There they sat and watched spellbound as the ships passed by below.
Suddenly, they were startled by the shrieking whistle of a distant train. He quickly looked at his watch and saw that it was time for the 1:07, the Memphis Express, with 400 passengers, which would be rushing across that bridge in just a couple of minutes. He had just enough time.
He instructed his son to stay put. Quickly leaping to his feet, he jumped onto the catwalk and climbed the steel ladder leading into the control house.
Once in, he searched the river to make sure no ships were in sight. And then as he had been trained to do, he looked straight down beneath the bridge to make certain nothing was below. It was then he spied something so horrifying that his heart froze in his chest. For there, below him in the massive gear box that moved the bridge was his son.
Apparently Greg had tried to follow his dad but had fallen off the catwalk. Even now he was wedged between the teeth of two main cogs in the gear box. Although he appeared to be conscious, John could see that his son’s leg was bleeding. Then an even more horrifying thought flashed through his mind. For in that instant he knew that lowering the bridge meant killing his son.
His eyes filled with tears of panic. His mind whirled. What could he do? In his frantic search he spied a rope in the control room. He would rush down the ladder and out the catwalk, tie off the rope, lower himself down, extricate his son, climb back up the rope, run back into the control room, and lower the bridge. But even as he thought this he knew the horrible truth: there was just not enough time. He’d never make it.
Suddenly he heard the whistle again, this time much closer. The clicking of the locomotive wheels on the track beat out their cadence of doom. He heard the puff puff puff of the train with its 400 passengers. How could he sacrifice his son? His mother—he could see her tear stained face now. This was their only child, their beloved son. How could he. . . .
But he had no choice. He knew what he had to do, so with terror on his face he buried his head under his left arm and pushed the gear forward.  The cries of his son were quickly drowned out by the relentless sound of the bridge as it ground slowly into position. With only seconds to spare, the Memphis Express roared out of the trees and over the mighty bridge.
John Griffith lifted his tear stained face and looked into the windows of the passing train. A businessman was reading the newspaper. A uniformed conductor was glancing nonchalantly at his large vest pocket watch. Ladies were sipping their afternoon tea in the dining cars. A small boy, looking strangely like his own son, Greg, pushed a long thin spoon into a large dish of ice cream. Many of the passengers seemed to be in either idle conversation or careless laughter.  But no one looked his way. No one even cast a glance at the giant gear box that housed the mangled remains of his blue eyed boy.
In anguish he pounded the glass in the control room and cried out, “What’s the matter with you people? Don’t you care? Don’t you know what I’ve sacrificed for you? Doesn’t anyone care?”  No one heard. And soon the disappearing train had vanished over the horizon.

Many of you are like those on that train. A great sacrifice has been made in order to save your lives and you remain caught up in the ordinary business of business as usual. You either pay no attention to what has been done for you or you often forget about it and find yourself distracted by things like facebook.

See God in that control booth, His Son beaten so badly that His lifeless body hangs unrecognizable on a bloody cross. Hear God pounding on the glass control room window and as He looks down on you this morning screaming, “What’s the matter with you people? Don’t you care? Don’t you know what I’ve sacrificed for you?! Doesn’t anyone care?!?!?!?”

1 Corinthians 11:23-25
23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

Friday, January 27, 2017

day no. 13,976: when the tea leaves have words on them

Exodus 4:10-13
10 But Moses said to the Lord, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.” 11 Then the Lord said to him, “Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? 12 Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.” 13 But he said, “Oh, my Lord, please send someone else.”

God equips those that He calls by calling them to things that are impossible without Him. They cannot do what God says without His help.

People often say when feeling conflicted or confused that they wish they could hear God's voice tell them what to do. I don't think people actually want that. Let me explain. As long as you have no clear voice from God, you are more or less free to do whatever you think is best; but if God shows up and audibly orders in precise detail what He wants you do and how He wants you to do it, now you have to either do it or disobey a direct command from God. And He often calls us to things we wouldn't choose for ourselves -- that's why He has to show up if He wants you to do something else. You weren't going to naturally do what He wanted, so He has to intervene. He interrupts your regularly scheduled programming and tells you exactly what He wants you to do and how He wants you to do it.

Thursday, January 26, 2017

day no. 13,975: teamwork makes the dream work

Proverbs 20:29
The glory of young men is their strength,
but the splendor of old men is their gray hair.
 
Young men have the might to accomplish many things,
But older men know which things really matter.
 
Younger men are employed for godly purposes when they enlist the counsel of older men.
Older men are invigorated when younger men lean in and listen attentively.

Wednesday, January 25, 2017

day no. 13,974: satisfaction on snooze

Proverbs 13:12
Hope deferred makes the heart sick,
but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.

It is really hard to really want something and to not really have it.

Tuesday, January 24, 2017

day no. 13,973: expressing my thoughts on again becoming an Elder

I think the biggest question for me going forward with respect to being an Elder at Anthem Church is: Will I have enough time to faithfully occupy and execute the various responsibilities of the office of Elder? My answer to this question is: maybe. The answer depends upon how flexible and how complementary you believe the role a plurality of Elders plays in leading a church.

Flexible in that seasonally things may vary. If you believe one can rightly occupy the office of Elder while also having seasons during said tenure where they may be more or less available due to outside demands (i.e. newborn, newly married, new job, recently lost a job, ministering to a particular difficult child, a family illness, etc…) then I am fully prepared to march with you men. That assumes, of course, that in some seasons you may still be an Elder in the army, but riding in the tank rather than on it.

Complementary in that we are gifted and wired differently. If you believe one can rightly occupy the office of Elder by meeting the minimum qualifications of each prerequisite in general (one wife, well behaved children, a well behaved wife, hosting people, knowing sound doctrine, putting down false doctrine, a leader of leaders, exemplary character, good reputation with outsiders, a pastor/shepherd of people, not combative, not unrepentant, not a drunk, etc…) while displaying particular giftedness in some areas which the individual carries for the group disproportionately then I am ready to lift burdens with you. What I mean by that is this: I like lifting the weight, doing the reps, and carrying the burden of protecting the doctrinal purity of our church by studying what is true and taking captive to Christ that which is false. That comes easily to me. I like it and I'm particularly gifted at it. As such, I carry the weight of that disproportionately for our group. That isn't to say that neither of you carry any of that weight, but it is to say that I delight in it and readily take on more than my "share" of it by studying books, making teaching schedules, helping on the teaching team, thinking through the best way to audit our sermons, to prepare our sermons, etc… I do it by my new nature because it is a spiritual gift that God has placed in me. I also encourage and entreat you both to think more and exert more effort into this particular area. Why? Because I'm passionate about it. That said, you both have different areas of expertise, spiritual giftings for which you similarly take on more than your respective "shares" and you do so gladly. You, likewise, try to pull me further and farther into expressing and pursuing that particular aspect of what makes a good Elder. I hope you see that as a whole we express the office of Elder better than any of us do in isolation. So I may, as a lay person, do less hands on ministry in a calendar week than you gentlemen do, but in fairness, you both do less ministry with respect to reading, thinking, meditating, studying, etc… than I do in a given week. We do differently things to differing degrees, and all of us benefit as a result.

If all of this makes sense and seems reasonable, my disposition is to lean in and to shoulder the weight of being an Elder at Anthem Church along your sides. My only hesitations are with respect to the flexibility and complementarian aspects I have expressed above. To say it more clearly: I would be hesitant to join the Elder team if there was no component of seasonal awareness and the capacity/expectations of said individuals in those seasons. I would also be hesitant to join the Elder team if a healthy acknowledgement of our complementary natures and subsequent capacities/enthusiasms could not be agreed to. I recognize that you both read less than I do. I will continue to push both of you to read, study, meditate more than you do because I believe it's important, but I will do so under the acknowledgement that it is a gift from God that I desire so zealously to do so and it is my joy to employ that desire for the betterment and health of Anthem Church. In keeping, you should continue to push me to push aside my introvertedness sometimes for the sake of meeting and ministering to people, but you should do so under the acknowledgement that it is a gift of God that you so zealously desire to be in people's lives and that it is your joy to employ those desires for the betterment and health of Anthem Church. In summation, we recognize our strengths and weaknesses without insisting that one must be strong as we are to be equal to the task while encouraging and exhorting each other in our weaknesses to grow and be conformed to the image of Christ.

Monday, January 23, 2017

day no. 13,972: Who does what and in what order?

Philippians 1:6
And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Romans 8:28-30
28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose. 29 For those whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, in order that He might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom He predestined He also called, and those whom He called He also justified, and those whom He justified He also glorified.

1 Thessalonians 5:23-24
23 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 He who calls you is faithful; He will surely do it.

Hebrews 10:23
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.

2 Thessalonians 1:11-12
11 To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of His calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by His power, 12 so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Sunday, January 22, 2017

day no. 13,971: Exodus 11-12 cursory outline

CONTEXT OF CHAPTERS 11-12

TWO JUDGMENTS/RESCUES
1 - Saved by God from God (ch 11-12)
2 - Saved by God from Pharaoh (ch 13-14)

BASIC OUTLINE OF CHAPTERS 11-12

THE FINAL PLAGUE (11:1-12:32)
CLEAR DISTINCTION (difference between repentant and unrepentant)
1- Prophesied (11:1-10)
2- Propitiated (12:1-28)
3- Performed (12:29-32)

PLUNDER AND PROSELYTES (12:33-39)
CLEAR INCLUSION (acceptance of all God moves to repent and believe)
1- Peaceful Plunder (12:33-36)
2- Mixed multitude (12:37-39)

THE PASSOVER PRINCIPLE (12:40-51)
CLEAR IMPLICATION (a final distinction awaits everyone)

GOSPEL
Only the blood of the Lamb can save us from the wrath of the Lamb.
Only God can save us from God.

Saturday, January 21, 2017

day no. 13,970: the still small voice

"I have often said that the sole cause of man's unhappiness is that he does not know how to stay quietly in his room." - Blaise Pascal

Our unwillingness to be alone is evidence of our will to drown the still small voice of God in a choir of distractions.

Friday, January 20, 2017

day no. 13,969: mouth guards

Proverbs 19:27-28
27 Whoever restrains his words has knowledge,
and he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding.
28 Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise;
when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent.
 
It is better to be quiet and considered a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.

Proverbs 10:19
When words are many,
transgression is not lacking,
but whoever restrains his lips is prudent.

Thursday, January 19, 2017

day no. 13,968: mirth as medicine

Proverbs 17:22
A joyful heart is good medicine,
but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.

A cheerful spirit is like salve and a downcast demeanor dries up a person's health.

3 John 2
Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul.

Wednesday, January 18, 2017

day no. 13,967: eating at another's table

 
Which led me to think about this:

If the church is Jesus' bride, then a parachurch, when at her best, is a bridesmaid. If she helps the bride, she is a blessing. If she insists on going on the honeymoon, she's a problem.

A parachurch is no more a church than a paramour is a helpmate.

A midwife does well if she helps deliver a child to his mother, but she does wickedness if she naps the child for her very own.

If you think a severed hand is the best way to touch people's lives, you are bad at thinking (and high fives).

Tuesday, January 17, 2017

day no. 13,966: there is no other

Isaiah 45:21b-22
21 And there is no other god besides me,
a righteous God and a Savior;
there is none besides Me. 
22 Turn to Me and be saved,
all the ends of the earth!
For I am God, and there is no other.
...

“Are you not thirsty?" said the Lion.
"I am dying of thirst," said Jill.
"Then drink," said the Lion.
"May I — could I — would you mind going away while I do?" said Jill.

The Lion answered this only by a look and a very low growl. And as Jill gazed at its motionless bulk, she realized that she might as well have asked the whole mountain to move aside for her convenience.

The delicious rippling noise of the stream was driving her nearly frantic.

"Will you promise not to — do anything to me, if I do come?" said Jill.
"I make no promise," said the Lion.

Jill was so thirsty now that, without noticing it, she had come a step nearer.

"Do you eat girls?" she said.

"I have swallowed up girls and boys, women and men, kings and emperors, cities and realms," said the Lion. It didn't say this as if it were boasting, nor as if it were sorry, nor as if it were angry. It just said it.

"I daren't come and drink," said Jill.
"Then you will die of thirst," said the Lion.

"Oh dear!" said Jill, coming another step nearer. "I suppose I must go and look for another stream then."

"There is no other stream," said the Lion.

- C.S. Lewis, The Silver Chair

Monday, January 16, 2017

day no. 13,965: axes swim

2 Kings 6:6
Then the man of God said, “Where did it fall?” When he showed him the place, he cut off a stick and threw it in there and made the iron float.

By grace through faith God stays the weight of our heavy burdens. 

He suspends "what is" in order to create "what should be" and iron swims.

Sunday, January 15, 2017

day no. 13,964: rocks sink

Matthew 14:30
But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.”

My dear friend, C.H. Spurgeon, showed me this today:

When all seems lost, "Lord, save me!" is sufficient to succor.

It is NOT the length of a prayer that saves, but the strength of the One being implored.

Saturday, January 14, 2017

day no. 13,963: quiet cakes

Proverbs 17:1
Better is a dry morsel with quiet
than a house full of feasting with strife.

Said the crumb-covered homemaker hiding in the closet holding a half-eaten box of saltines.