A quick word on ridiculous kindness and reckless love.

Why do we run from our enemies when God wants to prepare a table in their presence?

People sometimes ask me “What’s your life verse?” And the truth is I do not have one. Maybe it’s a personality thing, maybe it is because I change translations so much that I have a hard time memorizing verses but I just don’t have one. I do love and have a few principles and frameworks. 

This week we address Church Hurt in what might be a different way.

There is a lot that can be said about the 10 Commandments. Today I want to look at them a little differently.

1 I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt 

2 You shall have no other Gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven images. 

3 Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.

4 Remember the Sabbath day and keep it Holy.

5 Honor your father and mother.

6 Thou shalt not murder

7 Thou shalt not commit adultery.

8 Thou shalt not steal (or kidnap?)

9 Thou shall not bear false witness

10 You shall not covet

What is the call? I think the call is reconciliation. 2 Corinthians 5:19 says, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. That means there is more to the call than first thought.

Facts are facts but facts are not always aligned with faith. In Numbers 13 Moses sends spies to check out the promised land by God's command. This is the land the people had been waiting 400 years to enter. This was finally the fulfillment of the promise of God. All they had to do was go in. But when the spies returned, they returned with such a negative report that the congregation cried loudly, and the people wept that night. They should have listened to Caleb and had faith that they could and would be victorious but instead, they stayed in fear.

Peter in the Book of Acts chapter 1 and Peter in the Book of Acts chapter 2 are different people with different focuses and desires.

I have been reading and thinking about Romans 8 and specifically 8:28 a fair amount lately and I cannot help but think that God and I have different definitions of the word Good.

We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.

Yes the title is from one of my favorite Doctor Who episodes but more importantly it is a reminder that Jesus hears the Song of our Sadness and can understand our pain.