DT Boy's Ramblings

From slavery/death to service

So I have been participating in a sort of Bible reading challenge. The leader of our group is a friend of mine from college and so far it has been good for me in that it has helped to keep me in my Bible. One of the great things that has been happening as I move through the Old Testament passages is that I feel like I am reading many of them for the first time even though I know in my head that I am not. This just goes to show you the living nature of the Word of God.

One of the times that this became most clear to me recently was when I was reading about the 10 plagues to strike Egypt. I have heard most of my Christian life that when Moses went before Pharaoh that he said something like "God has said for you to 'Let my people go.'" I guess I never really thought much about what Moses actually did say because it never seemed to matter, in the grand scheme of the situation, to me. However, I have new perspective on this and here is why.

Exodus 9:1-NASB with Emphasis Added
Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh and speak to him, 'Thus says the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, "Let My people go, that they may serve Me"

Think about what is going on in this passage. Moses is telling a man who is thought to be a god that he needs to let his servants go so that they can go and serve another god. So not only is Pharoah losing an incredible source of free labor he is losing them to a rival god. This would have required Pharoh to humble himself on two fronts. First, the letting the people go would mean that he is not all powerful. Second, it would mean that he had an equal when it comes to gods.To think that any man in his position would have humbled himself this way is unrealistic. We tend to look back at this event and wonder why Pharoh was so stubborn but ouir vision is skewed by time, culture and knowing what would eventually happen. Pharoh is not really doing anything all that surprising and in fact I believe God knew that it would take a tremendous amount of humility for Pharoah to let His people go. I believe that God wanted Pharoh to be like the servants of Pharoah in Exodus 9:20 who feared the word of the Lord. Sadly it did not happen and Pharoah and Egypt paid a terrible price.

The other part of this passage that struck me is that God states the purpose for the Israelites to be released. Simply stated they needed to be released from Egypt so that they could serve the one true God. This was their purpose, the reason for their existence as a nation and people. This is not unlike the purpose we find for believers today. We see in 2 Timothy 1:9 that when God saved us He did it so that we could participate in His holy calling and do His will. In essence, we were saved to serve Him just as the Israelites we rescued from slavery so that they could serve the Lord.

As I have been thinking about this over the last few days I have started looking at why God has saved me and what holy calling He has for me now. Part of me feels as though I am constantly doing that and not in a good way. I feel like I am like a ship that is just bouncing around in the sea without a heading. There have been plenty of days in which I had Captain Jack Sparrow's compass so I could find the path to that which I desire most. I hope to be in that place someday soon where I truly feel like I am on the right course and that I am at peace with that course. It is my hope and prayer that you are either on that path or will be soon.

Oh the places we will go

A little more than 5 years ago I wrote my first blog post. Little did I know at that time how true my words would become in my life. The twists life has taken over these past years has been nothing short of crazy. My family has walked thru the great depths of despair and pain and yet we have also experienced joy that is beyond description. Tonight as I write this my mind is flooded with so many memories both good and bad. I would love to be able to say that through it all my faith has never waivered and that I have also sought comfort and peace from my God. The truth is that I have not. I wish I could say that I always looked at that light at the end of the tunnel and believed it to be Jesus and not a train. The truth is that that is not who I have been or who I am. It is however who I want to become.

I want to become a man who always seeks comfort and peace from my God. I want to be that many who consistently lives out those things that he believes. The question for me is how do I get there. How do I move from this place of inconsistency and doubt? How do block out all of the noise that surrounds me? Where do I go from here?

A Glimpse of God's Love

Today I caught a glimpse how God loves on us. My wonderful son was acting in such a way in church that simply broke my heart yet I couldn't let go of him. Part of me what to simply sit him down and separate myself from the hurt. There was another part of me just couldn't let go him. I couldn't explain it and I had to just go with it but then it dawn it me....

This is how God loves on us. We break his heart yet He can't let go of us. He loves us so far beyond reason that He can't let go of us no matter how much it hurts. No matter what we do or how much we disappoint Him, His love remains the same and His arms stay wrapped around us. He loves us with a hope of what we can become. He holds us as tight as He can with the hope that we will chose to do the right thing and follow after Him.

May I always love my son this way. May I love all of my children this way.

One of those days

Today was just one of those roller coaster days. First, I woke today with my little girl in a hospital bed. Abby has been battling pneumonia and other breathing issues this week and we finally had to take her in Friday. It was a tough call because we did not want her to have to go through all of the poking and prodding but in the end it was the right move. She is so much better because of the extra treatments and meds they were able to give her. Once we left there with her it was time for Aiden's soccer game. He seems to enjoy it so much but it can be stressful because he lives in his own bright and colorful world. If you have never been near his world then you may not realize that it does not always intersect with the one most of us live in most of the time. I absolutely love this part of him and I pray that at some level he never loses that world. This being said not everyone understands this and I fear he will be made fun of or looked down upon because of it. This fear has been some what realized on his soccer team and so games can be a little stressful for me.

From there it was some lunch and then off to work. Lately work has been relatively low on the stress range. The position I am in is low stress relative to other positions I have been in. Today though was not that way. I had to deal with some very upset customers one of whom ended up calling corporate about her issue and stated that I was unprofessional with her. Along with that I am training a new person, who is doing pretty good but he still has a lot to learn, and I had to finish a project that should have already been done. All in all it just was not a very good day and I left there frustrated, annoyed and mad.

I know we all have these kinds of days. The ones which are full of all kinds of emotions. Those days were we feel like so much is out of our control and we just want to take a quick time out to catch our breath. It is these days that I think truly define our character or at least show our true character. As I look back again over this day I can see the mistakes I made that made this day more difficult than it needed to be. I can also look back over the things that I did accomplish. I can see where I did make the right call and was able to do what I needed to do. I can look and see how God orchestrated moments for me to be able to interject Him and His word in to someone's life. It took me two episodes of 24 (time of relaxing) and some writing to help me begin to put my day in perspective.

May God always allow me the time and things I need to put these kinds of days in there proper place and their perspective.

True Vacation

God has always intended for man to rest. We were always designed to set aside at least one full day out of the week to do nothing. This day was meant to be a time to meditate on God and His teachings but it was meant to be so much more. I believe it was meant to be a reminder that life goes on even when we do nothing. The world keeps spinning even when we stop doing.

I think this is one of the great lessons of a true vacation. I know that my wal-mart will still open up tomorrow at 6 am even though I'm not there tonight. God will still be working in the lives, hearts and minds of people in Sugar Grove despite the fact my family is in Florida.

God is so much bigger than us and He is doing so much more than we can even begin to comprehend. We can easily lose sight of this when we are living our daily lives. We get so focused on our life that we begin to think of ourselves as more important than what we really are. We lose sight of the fact that in the grand scheme of things we are but one small pieces to the puzzle.

This does not mean though that what we do lacks value or importance. It is rather a reminder to keep things in perspective. It is a reminder that at the end of the day it is still just (insert your place of work here) and that all of the worry and stress will still be there no matter how much you worry about it and that some times you just gotta take a vacation! :)