Happy Easter

The other morning I was reading a blog post from the women's ministry at Solid Rock, He Speaks in the Silence (My friend Amie follows it and sends me links to ones she really likes).  Here is a link to the post.  I highly recommend reading it.  It is about the giant obstacles in our lives that we try and move but cannot.  We must give up and let Jesus move them for us.  It is illustrated through the empty grave when Jesus rose.

As I was sitting and thinking about what obstacles I have in my life a sentence nearby reared its head at me:

An angel sitting on the stone, that...gargantuan...immovable...uncontrollable mountain impossibilities.

Then a few sentences later she writes:

In the ashes of your grief, in the failure of your fantasies of how life ought to be, sits Jesus.  In dazzling white He sits atop that stone...immune to impossibilities...with a different idea of the ideal.

What struck me was not what has been done (which is of ultimate importance and should never be overlooked) but where the angel is sitting; where Jesus is sitting.  He is not standing next to the stone, He is not leaning against it, He is not sitting in front of it, He is not even standing on it.

The angel is sitting on the stone.  He has moved it, overcome it, conquered it.  I picture the angel sitting with legs dangling over the edge swinging slightly, relaxed, cool, calm, and collected.  Jesus is also sitting on a stone.  I think He sits on the obstacles in our lives the same way the angel sat on the stone.

So today remember what Jesus has done.  Remember that His grave is empty.  And remember that Jesus has moved and sits on the immovable obstacles in your life.

Happy Easter!

Tuesday Morning Lessons Part 2

This morning I was up before the sun (and yes the sun was out today in Portland) to go to worship and bible study.  (And had to scrape the windows on my car again.)  Anyway, here are a couple takeaways I had from this morning.

2 Peter 1:3 says, "seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence."

The speaker this morning went into quite a lengthy description of what Peter is saying here.  However, the thing that struck me was when the speaker said that we have been given everything we need to live a Godly Christian life.  By His power, God has given us all we need to live a life for Him.  Here is an analogy: generally speaking a baby is born with everything it needs to live (brain, heart, lungs, mouth, etc.).  In the same way, when we were saved and received the Holy Spirit, we gained everything we need to live our new life in Christ (the Holy Spirit, a new self, and a new nature [if we choose it]).

2 Peter 1:4 says, "For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust."

We become partakers of the divine nature.  This divine nature is our new nature in Christ.  The problem is, our old sinful nature is still with us and is at odds with our new divine nature.  Living by our new nature is not a given.  We must choose to participate in it.  We must choose to live according to our new nature and not our old nature.  Do you truly participate in your new divine nature?  Or is your life just a string of isolated, shallow emotional experiences?

Go-to Verses

I don't really like the idea of a favorite verse or life verse.  There is just so many amazing, wonderful verses in the Bible that I don't see the point in saying, "this one is my favorite."  Instead, I like to have lots of different verses I can turn to in certain situations.  Here are a few of my go-to verses:

When I need a reminder of the importance of God's Word I turn to 2 Timothy 3:16-17 "All scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."

I have found great comfort in almost any situation in life in Psalm 19:12-14 "Who can discern His errors? Forgive my hidden faults.  Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me.  Then will I be blameless, innocent of great transgression.  May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer."

One verse that often I use to remind me to turn to God is Matthew 5:13 "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men."


I really love the promises God makes to us.  When can't understand why something is happening or times are tough I often turn to Romans 8:28 "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose."


I don't have a favorite verse.  I have go-to verses (and much more than just these four).

No one else posted a blog today.

Well, almost no one.  So I thought I should fill that void in my life with my own post.

This week I started a book called The Prayer Dare.  It is 40 days of deepening your prayer life using dares the author makes.  So far I have really enjoyed it.  The other morning he was talking about how God is strong and loving at the same time and that we should remember that in our prayers.  This reminded me of something John Mark said in his sermon Sunday when he was talking about balancing fear of God and awe of God.  That is, living in the tension between the incredible power and caring tenderness of God.  Then, as I was reading in Psalms later (that same morning as the dare) God brought this up again through David.  Psalm 59:16-17 says,

But as for me, I shall sing of Your strength; 

Yes, I shall joyfully sing of Your lovingkindness in the morning, 

For You have been my stronghold 

And a refuge in the day of my distress.  

O my strength, I will sing praises to You; 

For God is my stronghold, the God who shows me lovingkindness.

David understands this tension and what it means to live in the middle of it.  For me this was a wake-up call from God.  I don't often live in this tension of strength and love.  But I should be.  So that has become one of the many cries of my heart right now: to live in the tension between God's strength and God's love.

This morning I was impacted by...

two things from 2 Peter 1:1-2.  First off, Peter calls himself a bond-servant or bond-slave (these are the same thing).  Back in the day Jewish law stated that, every six years, one must release all their slaves.  However, if a slave wished he could go to his master and request to become a bond-slave (that is, a slave for life).  At this point they would pierce their ear and put a ring in it symbolizing their choice.  This I already knew but the new part for me was the meaning behind identifying ones-self as a bond-slave.  In Western culture we think of this as being about the slave.  But it is really all about the master.  It's about giving glory to the master.  I mean, how awesome and caring and loving would someone have to be for his slave to wish to stay on for life?  Peter says this is how we are supposed to be with Jesus.  If we can become a bond-slave of an earthly master, how much more should we be bond-slaves of Jesus?

Secondly, in verse 2, Peter says '...in the knowledge of God...'  This is not just knowing about someone.  It is a personal, intimate knowledge of.  We are not just supposed to know about God but to really KNOW Him.  This is an even deeper know than the way we know a parent, sibling, spouse, close friend, child.  When you truly know someone you don't just know what they are thinking or what they will do.  You what causes their actions.  You understand their thought processes; their reason behind actions.  Peter says we should know God in this way but even more so.  We should be close enough to God that we begin to understand more than just the result of Him working.

Anyway, thats what stuck with me from this morning.

Siren confusion

Yesterday one of my coworkers left a little before I did because she was not feeling too well.

When I was leaving the parking lot I heard a fire engine siren in the distance.  As I was waiting at the light to turn left I heard it getting closer but couldnt see it.  The first thing I did see was a police car coming up the road behind me with its lights flashing.  (To which my first thought was "police cars dont make that sound" since all I could hear was the fire engine's siren)  Then, as I glanced left I saw the fire truck flying south on Barbur.  By this time the police car had reached the intersection as well and turned right to speed off after the fire engine.  The next thoughts flew through my head in less than a second:

I hope everyone is okay.

Lord, please help everyone to be okay.

I hope my coworker is not involved (That is the way she goes to get home).  

Later I texted her and found out she made it home and was even feeling a little better.

Rivers Clap their Hands...

The other day I got to spend the entire day with Jesus.  For a large chuck of that I went on a hike along the Wildwood Trail in Forest Park, Portland, OR.  Earlier that morning I had read in Psalms 98:8 "Let the rivers clap their hands, Let the mountains sing together for joy."  Normally when I read that I think, "That's a great personification of water and hills and calling out to God, but what does that really mean?"  I never really had an answer till I was on that hike.  

I was standing next to a stream when it hit me.  This actually really does sound a little like clapping.  But can you make the jump and say rivers are the same?  Yes you can.  I was on another hike the next day with an actual river and it didn't just sound like clapping.  It sounded like a huge standing ovation.

Next time you see a stream or river, stop, listen in silence for a couple minutes, imagine yourself in a concert hall, and see what you think.

This got me thinking about the mountains part of the verse.  Do they really, actually sing?  While I was eating lunch I realized that in a way they do.  The birds singing, the wind in the trees, even the noise of traffic in the distance.  It all comes together to create a song.  Yes, those aren't technically mountains themselves, but they can't really be separated from each other either can they?  I say it counts.  

Next time you are up in the hills or mountains stop and listen for a little while and see what you hear.  The writer of Psalm 98 is not just giving a creative metaphor or anything.  He is describing something real.

A "SQUIRREL" Moment in Starbucks

The other morning I was in Starbucks having a quiet time.  Sitting at a table outside the window (I was on the inside of the window) was an elderly gentleman reading.  At one point an older couple walks in to get coffee.  As they walked in the woman looks in my direction and said something to the effect of, "he doesn't look very open to being approached."  I am not sure if she was talking about me or the man outside.  But after receiving their beverages, they headed back outside to talk to the gentleman.  Let me be clear, I was inside and have no idea what they were talking about or if they even knew each other.  

The following is what went through my mind in the span of few minutes.

I wonder what they are talking about.

Do they know each other?

Are they having a spiritual conversation?

"Lord, I pray for their conversation.  If it is about you then I pray it would be effective and that your truth would be spoken and understood."

Well, that was random.  I don't usually assume that is what people are talking about. 

Now I'm distracted from my quiet time.  Focus James.

Later I was reflecting on this and realized I had just had a John Acuff moment similar to his Michael W. Smith post the other week.

I will never know what that conversation was about.  But God used it to show me a little of how much I have grown this year.