Last evening a friend and I were standing around the fire pit drinking tea as the evening mist covered the backyard around us. The topic turned to the most important things in life. Three things rose to the surface. We decided that clarity, trust and obedience were of the highest importance.
In the beginning of 1 Samuel, a woman named Hannah gave birth to a baby she named Samuel. Hannah had been barren, so she cried out the Lord for a child. The name Samuel means “asked of God.” Hannah realized that this child was a gift from God and so when he was a boy she gave him to the priests in the Tabernacle (the central place of worship in the land prior to the more permanent Temple). So Samuel grew up in the house of the Lord and became a prophet.
I don’t attend many movies, but I wasn’t going to miss Paul, the Apostle of Christ in some theaters now. Given that we are teaching through the book of Acts and the emphasis is about to shift from Peter (as the central person in the first half of the book), to Paul (who is the central figure in the second half) – the timing could not be any more perfect.
Years ago I lived in an orchard on River Road here in Chico.
We were renting a house there and really enjoyed seeing how agriculture works up close and personal. When you live in an orchard you learn to close your windows when the shakers come during harvest, not to stand or walk downwind from the sprayers, and to be leery of the dreaded “walnut rustlers” (people who would come in the middle of the night to steal nuts off the ground).
Peter faces Paul and wrestles with how to forgive this new Christian who was killing his friends just weeks prior. (Picture taken from A.D. Kingdom and Empire series)
“Saul was breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples…” (Acts 9:1).
That’s a pretty scary verse to me. If you were a follower of Jesus in those early days of the church, Saul was a real life horror film playing out in front of you.
The older I get, the more I weep. I figure it’s because I’m becoming more like Jesus.
Isaiah prophesied that the Messiah who was to come would be a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief (Is. 53:3). We see Jesus weeping at the tomb of Lazarus before he is raised from the dead (John 11:35). When Jesus looks at suffering and lost people (Mark 6:34) and the city of Jerusalem as a whole (Luke 13:34), He is moved to a place of overwhelming emotion.
Is Lent a burdensome cross to bear or a blessing of refocus?
For the last few weeks we have been emphasizing the observance of the Lenten season (the 40 days prior to Easter). Lent begins with Ash Wednesday (now just six days away, Feb. 14th) and continues until Easter (April 1st).
This will be a season of reflection and preparation for the celebration of Easter. It is a time that is marked by fasting both from food and certain activities for the purpose of tuning your ear to hear the Holy Spirit more readily and spending more time communing with God.
13 days until Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent.
The Lenten season is the 40 days that precedes Easter every year. Historically it has been a time of denying yourself some of the luxuries or pleasures of this life so that you can seek the Lord and get closer to Him. It is often marked by spending extra time with the Lord and ceasing activities that can take you off your “spiritual game.”
William Marshal is my 26th great grandfather and he built this castle at Pembroke, Wales.
William chose this place on the Pembroke river, which rises and falls with the tides of the Celtic Sea. The river surrounds the castle on three sides and creates a natural moat. The 75 foot vertical cliffs made it virtually impossible to assail, and a 20 foot thick wall with a deep mud pit trench on the gate side meant that in 900 years the castle has never been taken by siege.
I encountered a woman who was having some real challenges this afternoon. She may have been under the influence of some substance, or some other emotional or mental challenge. She was making a fuss about something she felt entitled to, and no answer seemed good enough. Honestly, she reminded me of a wild horse that was bucking to and fro and daring everyone to stay out of her way. It seemed like an invitation to engage and have a moment with her.