Need-v-Greed

Today's verse o' the day:

Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. Matthew 6:33 NLT

Why couldn't that say want?

Worship Wrangeling

Yesterday was the first day of our search for a new Church in Alaska. I took the family to a church that I had gone to a couple times before they got up here, Riverside Community Church. I had enjoyed worship there (both the music and the message) and felt it was worth checking out together as a family. This time however, things were different, not in a bad way, just unexpected. The pastor was out on leave, so the assistant pastor filled in, which meant someone else had to fill in as praise leader, and so on down the line. This was not the difference to which the blog title alludes however, that change was the introduction of two very squirmy little boys into the mix.

At Riverside, the children stay for the beginning part of the service. I like this approach but it is a bit hard when your kids are little. If you have ever been around my kids (or any kids really) you know the only way to get them to sit still is to strap them down. The only way to get them to sit still AND be quite is to strap them down and pump snacks into them.* Unfortunately church pews don't come with seat belts and most snackable items either make a mess, are wrapped in the loudest packaging imaginable, or both.

We sat in the back of the church, and with the help of my Mother-in-Law, (always keep the kids outnumbered if possible) and a well positioned window for the kids to stare out of, managed to keep the ruckus down until it was time to exile the kids to the Sunday School wing. All in all it was a good time and we may wind up returning to Riverside. Next Sunday we will check out a different church, I'll let you know how it goes.

* Please be careful in your snack selection. Cheetos, fresh celery, or anything from the chip family will amplify apprimatley 1000 times in a church sanctuary when chewed, making that guitarist/drummer duo from the youth group, which just happen to be leading worship, sound soft in comparisson.

Did that just happen?

Judges is my favorite book in the Old Testament. I guess being in the Army the book speaks to me through its leadership lessons, the action of small unit combat, and the intimate detail in which God plans out his repeated rescues of his people. In another aspect of the book, I can identify on a personal level with the repeating cycle of falling away from God's will, needing rescue from God, worshiping him for a time, and then slowly falling back again until the next rescue is needed. I see the cycle repeated on the macro level as well in countries and churches across the globe.


Last night I watched the Veggie Tales rendition of the story of Gideon with my kids. This is a particular favorite story of mine, both for the sheer audacity of it (God has Gideon raise a huge army, whittles it down to 300 men, arms them with nothing more than lighters and kazoos, and then proceeds to destroy the invading horde and rescue his people), and the bizarreness of a particular part of the story where Gideon overhears a dream and its interpretation by his his enemies.


"And Gideon arrived and see! A man was telling his friend a dream, and he said, "See! I dreamed a dream! And see! A round loaf of barley [bread] tumbled into the camp of Midian, and it came to the tent and struck it so that it fell and overturned and the tent collapsed." And his friend replied, and he said, "This is nothing other than the sword of Gideon, son of Joash, a man of Israel. God has given Midian and the whole of the camp into his hands." And when Gideon heard the account of the dream and its interpretation, then he worshipped [Yahweh] and he returned to the camp of Israel, and he called out, "Arise! For Yahweh has given the camp of Midian into your hands!" Judges 7:13-15


While this is a relatively small part of the overall story, it does play an important part in reassuring Gideon that God knew exactly what he was doing (remember Gideon is the guy that needed multiple signs from God before he would even get started on raising an army Gideon 6:17-23) What amuses me (that may not be the right word, but it will serve for now) is why anybody would dream about a loaf of bread knocking over a tent, and furthermore; how the subsequent interpretation of the dream by a friend would be "Obviously Gideon and the Hebrews are going to wipe us all out!" Amazing.


Anyways, it is a great story that illustrates God's power and attention to detail (something I think we can all appreciate). The Veggies crew, I think, did a good job with it, and figured I would throw it up here for comments. Ever dreamed about bread? Tired of my overuse of parenthetical statements? Leave a comment and let me know.

A new twist

This blog, we can all agree, has been severely under-utilized since its inception almost a year ago. This is partly due to laziness on my half, but also because of the framework in which I set up the posts as a crossover between military life and spiritual parallels. I started strong, but have suffered writer's block down the stretch. In that light, I am going to strike out in a new direction. My idea is take an expository look at the "verse 'o the day" as posted on the Air 1 (my favorite radio station) web site. This will not be an everyday occurrence, and I certainly will not limit my postings to just that, but rather it will (hopefully) give me an avenue for more frequent postings and serve to place me more firmly in the Word more often than I have been to date.

Today's Verse:
"Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us." Hebrews 6:18-19 NLT

As Rev. Ralph Walter says, "First we have to look at what the Therefore is there for." The therefore refers to the infallibility and unchanging nature of God's promises; specifically our salvation through Christ. Earlier in the chapter (v.13-17) Paul speaks of God's promise to Abraham, that because there was nothing higher God swore on his own name to bless Abraham and multiply him beyond count (Gen 22:16-18). This is where the great confidence comes from that we as heirs of Christ can lay claim to.

Finally, what is "the Hope that lies before us"? Paul speaks often of hope, and in this case that hope is the hope spelled out more fully in Titus 2:13, "[we are] looking for that blessed hope, the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ."
As such, I can read Hebrews 6:18 as: Because God promised the truthfulness of this on himself, I can go to him for shelter and be sure that Christ will return one day as my personal savior.