eternal thoughts...

C.S. Lewis is quoted for having once said that the first thing a man will say when he gets to heaven and looks around will be the words "of course".

no more doubt.
no more fear.
no more pain, tears, or wasted years.
why? because it will all make sense.

and back by popular demand...

sapfest: part 1

(phone rings)
michelle: hello
steve: hey mish!
michelle: hi
steve: i love you
michelle: i love you too
steve: no, i love you more
michelle: no, i love you more
steve: ok. how has your day been?
michelle: good but i miss you
steve: i miss you too
michelle: i miss you more
steve: no, i miss you more
michelle: ok. so when am i going to see you.
steve: i'm leaving right now
michelle: get over here.
steve: i'm on my way. i love you. see you in a few
michelle: ok, i love you too.
steve: no, i love you
michelle: well, i love you more
steve: ok, i love you and i'm gonna go now
michelle: ok, love you, goodbye
steve: love you, goodbye
michelle: bye
steve: bye
michelle: you hang up first
steve: no you hang up first
michelle: ok, ready... love you, goodbye
steve: ok, love you, bye.
michelle: bye
steve: bye

a broken bumper is all that remains
and another life has just been claimed
in shattered glass
through unsettled past
i know this was never your aim
but you moved in haste
and caused such a waste
crunch time
pinch the dime
why is this always the case
but is there rest in this great rat race
or is it vain to slow down our pace
for what do we run
we must look to the Son
in Him there is peace, love and grace

isaiah 37:14-20...

then hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it, and he went up to the house of the Lord and spread the letter before the Lord. Hezekiah prayed to the Lord saying, "O lord of host, the God of Israel, who is enthroned above the cherubim, You are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, O Lord, and see; and listen to all the words of Sennacherib, who sent them to reproach the living God. Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have devastated all the countries and their lands, and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. So they have destroyed them. Now, O Lord our God, deliver us from his hand that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, Lord, are God.

O to be like Hezekiah
who brings his cares to the Lord
who when faced with the weight of the world
is anxious for nothing
but in everything brings it before the Lord
with trust, with prayer, with petition.
Who knows the reality of the one true God
the maker of heaven and earth


Lord reveal yourself to man, for that is man's deepest need.

wrestled you in high school?

this week at DBU has been "camp week". a week set aside for the promotion and recuting done by various christian camps in the surrounding area. my encounters with some of these various groups have been most pleasant and unfortunately with some quite irritating. one gentleman issued me a "challenge" by saying that if i go and find five lost kids off the streets ("now remember they have to be lost" he made sure to remind me) and bring them to his camp he would sponsor two of them. i told him i appreciated the offer but i felt like he was trying to sell me a used car. and he talked really close to my face. i hate it when people do that. especially when they keep inching their way closer and closer like they're going to give you a kiss and you keep having to inch backwards. i probably should have kissed him. just planted one on him. then maybe he would stop talking so close to people.

our beloved camp pine cove was representing in full force this week. my church has had a great relationship with the camp over the years so some i've gotten to know a lot of the full time staffers. robbie, who works over in shores, was here today and i talked with him for a while. he told me that the no agenda retreat we take our high school group on is his all-time favorite weekend ever. he also said that aside from the gospel message the no agenda retreat is the greatest thing to ever happen in youth minisrty history.

as we're talking a girl walks up with this "i know you from somewhere" look on her face. she introduces herself and we shake hands. after playing a quick game of six degrees of separation it turns out that i have made several of her burritos while i worked at cilantros burrito grill in lubbock. she studied biology at tech but hasn't used it yet while working full time at pine cove. she knew some other people i used to work with and she knows the this guy keith whose wedding i am going to this weekend. this world just keeps getting smaller.

fed by ravens...

in first kings chapter seventeen the prophet elijah hits the scene and tells everyone that its not going to rain until he says so. nice entrance. so now that the ball is rolling for elijah and his new prophet gig, God tells him to go and hang out in the wilderness for a few, drink from a stream and be fed by ravens. i can't help but wonder what might be going on in his head. i know if it were me i would be saying, "but God, we're just getting started here. didn't you call me to go and speak to these people? why are you sending me to the wilderness?"

i can't help but think that often times in ministry God sends us into the wilderness for a period of time. when the fruit of our labor isn't as evident and the work isn't as tangible. we are provided for in unattractive ways such as by ravens or simple things like the stream. these times can seem confusing but i must remember that the Lord knows the plan for my life even when i don't. plans for welfare and not for calamity, to give me a future and a hope.

like the psalmist i pray that it is the Lord and not i who establishes the works of my hands.