more ancient relevance

So if you're reading along and caught up you read/will read in Matthew 18 today. And I love how Jesus raises the value of children in these writings. I peeked ahead a little and he does the same thing in chapter 19. Jesus answered his disciples' question about who was the greatest in the kingdom of heaven by showing them a child.

Here is what I love so much about this. I looked back in chapter 17 to see where Jesus was. And I'm not sure. It notes he was in Capernaum and I think he and the disciples were hanging out in someones house. So when the questions gets asked, Jesus doesn't need to go out looking for a kid. He was hanging out with them! He simply calls a little child to him. Sounds like close proximity to me.

So two weeks ago I'm sitting in church and when my buddy Pastor Dave gets up at the end of the service to give the benediction ( umm...........that's where he tells us the service is done and we should get out ) he says the most holy thing I've heard for awhile. There had been a little child fussing a little during the service. I remember that. I remember what Dave said. I don't remember what songs we sang or much about the sermon. I'm not even sure who gave the sermon (sorry giver of the sermon). But here is what Dave said. He said he just wanted us all to know that kids are so very welcome in church! He raised the value of little ones.

According to the radical and relevant Jesus, the kingdom is theirs.

More Ancient Relevance

I love the vivid descriptions of creation and nature as God sort of rips into Job in chapter 38. I am especially struck by v.12 "Have you ever commanded the morning to appear and caused the dawn to rise in the east?".

and v. 31&32 "Can you direct the movement of the stars - binding the cluster of the Pleiades or loosening the cords of Orion? Can you direct the sequence of the seasons or guide the Bear with her cubs across the heavens?" By the way the reference to the Bear is most likely Ursa Major. It means "Great Bear" in Latin. The seven brightest stars form the Big Dipper.

Here is what strikes me: I've always love a good sunrise. And while I'm not much into astronomy, I try to watch a lunar eclipse or a meteor shower if possible. I always thought of these things being on auto-pilot so to speak. I see God as having created them and then sitting back with a good cup of coffee and then just watching them.

I don't think that's how it works. I believe God creates the sunrise new every day. When it's time, it's like He says "Okay, now do it again." And like a symphony director, he orchestrates the movement of the stars across the sky. That makes these events sacred rather than automatic. I need a renewed appreciation for creation.

The Ancient Relevance

So I'm a member of this facebook group called "The Ancient Relevance". We are following a reading plan that takes us through the entire Bible in 2009. And by what I'm about to write my fellow ancient revelers, no that's not right (although some of us probably were), my fellow ancient relevanters, that can't be right either, my.........ummm............those of you reading along with me this year, will be able to tell that I'm a bit behind the reading plan. I will be catching up this weekend.

Anyway, I read through the Bible every year and it seems almost new every time. I love that. And this is especially true for me this year as I am reading the New Living Translation. I've been an NIVer for years.

Job chapter 2 really struck me this morning. Job has boils from head to toe. And his friends have heard about him losing most all of his possessions and how all his kids have died in a tornado. So they are traveling from their homes to comfort him. When they arrive they are shocked. They hardly even recognize Job. And I love what they DON'T do in verse thirteen. There's no false comfort, no empty greetings, no words about hanging in there till things get better, no attempt to explain his tragedy and circumstances away. They just sit with him. For days.

"Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and nights. No one said a word to Job, for they saw that his suffering was too great for words."

Our word "compassion" comes from the latin words "com" and "passio", literally meaning to "suffer with." Compassion, then is not just a feeling. It is action. To have compassion for someone is much more than loving them with head and heart. It is to suffer with them. It is to sponsor a child with Compassion International. It is to take a mission trip with ChildReach Ministries and hold an orphan in your arms. It is to travel to the Ukraine and give teenagers a forever family through adoption. It is to sit in the gutter with someone and say absolutely nothing.

Ha Ha Ha

Last week I left Peru, with warm, no hot, 80 degree temperatures, which I love................

And came home to shovel 10" inches of snow.....................

To wake up to single digit temps today..................

With a forecast of -27 degree wind chills tonight..................

Very funny God.

a divine redirection

We have nurses down here on this trip to Peru from Kent State Stark and Malone University. But the project was not planned as a medical outreach.

Enter God.

As the team was doing various construction jobs today at the Hannah's site we got a visit from an elderly lady named Julia. The Peterson family met Julia while walking to church last Sunday. They "went the wrong way" and met her on the street. Julia has a terrible infection on her foot that was not being tended or medicated properly.

Today Elisabeth and Jessica spent time with her, tenderly cleaning her wound and giving her some medication. 2 nurses who came to Peru to not be nurses were caregivers today. Julia left with tears in her eyes as she thanked them for their care, their concern, their touch.

It was yet another great day in Peru.