Dahhh…

We went to go watch Dave/Danny’s band “Wise Fools” perform today at the Ark Covenant church in Sac.  I’m copy/pasting a email that I wrote thanking them since I’m too lazy to rewrite a blog entry write now.

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It’s funny how God works.

At DCCC we were planning to hear you guys worship then skip out of the sermon cuz it was gonna be in all Korean.  Even when we were listening to you guys perform I was checking the exits looking for our escape route.  When the speaker/worship leader asked us to move to the center, I was thinking, “Doh… there goes our escape……”

But then amazingly, the speaker changed his message from solely speaking in Korean to speaking mostly in English.  When I spoke to the speaker afterward at dinner he said he enjoyed it, he felt he was being led by the spirit.  Not only did the language change, but the message changed somewhat from seeing all the new ‘young’ people.  It’s almost as if the message was geared directly toward us.

The part that seemed especially geared toward us was the part about leaders.  Just a few hours earlier we discussed the qualities of small group leaders.  He also discussed leadership.  “To be an effective leader is to serve,” he said.  As we kick off our small groups let us remember that.  To lead is to serve.  And I feel like in Acacia, in the small group environment especially, we are all leaders and we are all able to serve.  Each may lead in a different way with the different gifts and abilities that God has given us, but ultimately we lead to serve one another and to expand His kingdom by showing His love through service.

Thanks Dave, and Wise Fools for leading that time of worship and for giving us the opportunity to listen to the message.  I really enjoyed the worship, especially the Wise Fools songs, but also singing “Hallelujah He Reigns” in Korean.

P.S.
If you guys are interested, here’s a link to a short news article about the woman who survived the euthanasia that the speaker had mentioned.   Apparently they removed her respiratory tube, but she started breathing normally afterwards.
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2009/06/117_47583.html

This passage is Jesus’s temptation in the desert.  The first temptation is food, which after 40 days of fasting in the desert, would be a natural desire.  For me it would be more like 40 hours, or even 40 minutes =p.  The third temptation is wealth and power, which is a strong temptation for anyone.  The second one to me makes the least sense.  I guess it would be to test our limits.  Now that I think of it, it makes sense though.  I like to test my limits from time to time, usually physically, biking as hard as I can.  I can see how it could be bad testing our limits in dangerous ways though, for example in drinking.

Jesus’ response to all of these temptations is to quote scripture. I guess this passage shows my need to remember scripture to fight temptation.

A couple of days ago I noticed that someone had Psalm 19 as their google chat away message.  It’s one of my favorite passages because it talks about the beauty of God’s creation.  Next week I’m taking the whole week off to go backpacking in Tahoe.  I can’t wait to just be out there underneath the glory of God.  Like the passage says, there’s really no amount of words that can describe the beauty of God’s creation, it just needs to be experienced first hand.

Psalm 19:1-6

¹ The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

² Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they display knowledge.

³ There is no speech or language
where their voice is not heard. ^[a]

⁴ Their voice ^[b] goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.
In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun,

⁵ which is like a bridegroom coming forth from his pavilion,
like a champion rejoicing to run his course.

⁶ It rises at one end of the heavens
and makes its circuit to the other;
nothing is hidden from its heat.

Inspiration sometimes comes from the most unexpected places and at the most unexpected times.  This morning while taking my normal morning dump I noticed two things.  First, that we were out of toilet paper.  That’s bad.  The second thing I noticed is a new book in the bathroom.  Someone had bought Jim Elliot’s journals, so I started to flip through it.

One thing I noticed is that a lot of the entries are really short.  Some were just a couple of lines long.  I think we get the idea that these super missionaries lead super spiritual lives and spent hours and hours each day meditating on the word and writing incredibly long and detailed journals about God’s relevations to them.  What I learned is that sometimes God reveals Himself in small little glimpses.  Yes, he does reveal himself in the word.  But he also reveals himself in our daily interactions with people, and in the course of our ‘normal’ life.

So how does that apply to this blog?  I guess that I will try to be more consistent in chronicaling the little glimpses.  Instead of forcing myself to try to write about a bible passage every day, (which I’ll still do from time to time), I’ll just try to write down what I’ve been learning through daily experiences most of the time.

observations

v4 – john lived a very simple life

v8 – john warns the pharisees and sadducees that they need to produce fruit in keeping with repentance

v9,10 – they are not saved by birthright, those who do not produce fruit will be cut off

thoughts

What does it mean to produce fruit in keeping with repentance?  I guess first it it helps to know what it means to repent.  I like the third definition from the free dictionary online:  To make a change for the better as a result of remorse or contrition for one’s sins. So by definition our life is supposed to be changed for the better as a result of remorse for our sins.