Bible 09 » Bible

Bums me out when life gets in the way

Matt — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 05:54:01 +0000

As my wife put it today, “You haven’t posted since January 11th, you slacker!” Of course she was kidding, but that is how I feel. I am bummed when I am not able to post or, as in the past few days, read. It’s not that I don’t want to, but life does get in the way.

Over the past couple of weeks, I have been sick, worked a special event, prepared a message for this weekend’s service and had some issues with work. But, the upside to all of this is when I go underground on the blogging scene, it means that God is growing me. I have been wrestling with things and it is pretty great. Now, I don’t want my hip popped out like Jacob (nor am I wrestling with God, just sayin’}, but there are those times and I know that it is going to be even better than before.

I guess my point is this: when you are into God’s Word, sometimes he is going to make you put it into action. And, it may make you busy. I believe it is alright if you are putting His Word into action you can catch up. I still don’t like not blogging about the Bible. It bums me out…

Fear not, you got a shield

Matt — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 07:31:08 +0000

In reading Genesis tonight, I found it ironic how we are built to learn by cause and effect, while we must learn to have faith. Let me explain: When we are children, we learn by our actions. Put your hand on the stove, it is going to burn and hurt tremendously. And as we go through life, we continue to learn that way. I failed at that, so I can’t do that anymore. I keep getting rejected, therefore I should give up and not try anymore. But the Bible teaches us that if we have faith in God, anything is possible. Even things that we believe and taught ourselves are not.

There are so many examples of this in the Bible, but none better than Abram. In Genesis 15, God speaks to Abram:

After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” Genesis 15:1 ESV

Abram had just turned down a great reward from the king of Sodom. How hard must it have been to turn that down? But here, God is telling him that there is even greater reward! Then God let’s him know that his offspring will outnumber the stars, as the guy is in his 90’s. If you have been trying to have children for that long, it’s pretty easy to see that you would think that it is not going to happen. Yet, with faith, anything is possible. We see here that we are rewarded for our faithfulness:

6 And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness. Genesis 15:6 ESV

How cool is that? Personally, from my reads, I know that God has something cooking for me. I don’t know what it is yet, but by faith I know that it is going to happen. It’s probably something that nobody, even myself, would think possible from me. But, I have faith that it will happen and I am fired up! How exciting is that? I’ll keep you posted…

Want to get away?

Matt — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 07:07:40 +0000

There are a series of Southwest Airlines commercials that are on quite a bit during this time of year when people do really dumb things and then the announcer comes on and says, “Want to get away?”. While I haven’t done something really stupid, this one verse jumped out to me today:

15 But now even more the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities. 16 But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray. Luke 5:15-16 ESV

None of us are healing people and having concert sized crowds looking for us, but don’t we all have things that are demanding our attention? For me, even though many times I am alone, there are things that are clamoring for my attention. My laptop is the biggest culprit. The mobile phone is a close second. Beyond that I have work, my kids, my wife, my house (which is cleaner than ever, by the way), church and the list goes on.

Tonight it was this blog. I was going through code and it was frustrating me. If you use a computer at work, feel for the IT guys. It is part of what I do. There are hundreds of lines of code and we need to find the problem. It consumed me and I got frustrated. I finally put it aside and read.

There is the solution. Get away. No computer, no kids, no mobile phone, no nothing. Just me and God. I need to get away. Not far, just away from the things that are calling for my attention. God, thanks for giving me this Book to let me know what is up. Amen.

The New Year Worship

Matt — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 09:32:25 +0000

Tonight, I had to work. When I got home, there was a house full of neighbors and friends that I was not quite ready for. I had this site on my mind and I was ready to settle in for the night. But that was not going to happen. God has a funny way of making that happen, doesn’t He?

Instead I settled in to games of music trivia and fellowship with friends and neighbors. That led us to a neighborhood restaurant that was celebrating the new year. This is where I see it most.

Everybody is looking for something to worship. New Year’s Eve is where many look for it. A new hope, another chance. It happens for many on this night. It is ironic that they go out to the places that are more than likely going to end up in disappointment, but I guess that is how it works.

So what is the point of this rant, you ask? My experience tonight brought about two things:

Like the Book of Acts, neighbors come together to enjoy each other’s fellowship and rejoice in the joy of the Lord.
If you haven’t found that fellowship, try a church instead of a watering hole.

This site may be about encouraging you to read the Bible this year, don’t discount the power of getting together with those that are doing the same. Give it a shot this year. It is pretty amazing. Good luck on finding the worship you are looking for this year. Happy New Year.

Happy New Year

Matt — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 20:24:35 +0000

So here we are with the first day of 2009 just over the horizon. I had a couple of days to relax and get ready to read again starting tomorrow and I couldn’t be more fired up. I have been laughing at myself, because I am excited to start reading a Bible that is the size of the phone book. Seriously, this bugger is huge. Normally, I probably would be pretty intimidated by this thing, but I am excited to learn more about all that I read this year.

And I do understand the overwhelming feeling of the Bible. Even at its smallest, it is still thousands of pages with teeny tiny lettering. But don’t be afraid. If you are thinking of reading this year, I am going to post several reading plans to choose from. Just pick one and go. Or check out the One Year Bible. It does all the daily separating for you. Don’t let it be an excuse for you to miss out on something very special. Happy New Year and I can’t wait to read along with you this year. Be safe and have a great one.