From the Inside Out

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Man, I am loving this song lately…

From the Inside Out (by United)

A thousand times I’ve failed; still Your mercy remains.
And should I stumble again,I’m caught in Your grace.
Everlasting,Your light will shine when all else fades.
Never-ending,Your glory goes beyond all fame.

Your will above all else, my purpose remains:
The art of losing myself in bringing You praise.
Everlasting, Your light will shine when all else fades.
Never-ending,Your glory goes beyond all fame.

In my heart and my soul, Lord I give You control.
Consume me from the inside out.
Lord let justice and praise become my embrace,
To love You from the inside out.

Everlasting,Your light will shine when all else fades.
Never-ending,Your glory goes beyond all fame.
And the cry of my heart is to bring You praise,
From the inside out,
Lord my soul cries out…

Simply lovin’ it.

The One

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I’m supposed to be working, but my mind is wandering. And while it is, I’m here to write down something from yesterday.

I grabbed my Bible and journal, and headed for an empty room. Before reading, I tried to get quiet (outside and in). It worked more than usual. The time was prayerful, and in it I found myself amazed at two things:

  1. God’s timelessness. I can’t imagine that concept; without beginning and end, before and beyond all else. Then it dawned on me that I was communing at that moment, in that room, with the God of Adam. My prayers were being received by no less than the One who shaped the dust and shared the Breath. And I was blown away! Pun NOT intended.
  2. God’s knowledge of us. As I sat there attempting to open myself up to Him, I recognized that God didn’t need me to open my doors to Him. He already knew all that was inside. The act of revealing was more for my sake. However, I found a real comfort yesterday in the thought of how deeply known I am. And it passed through my mind that Shannon is that deeply known too. And so is each of my family members; yes, even my in-laws. And the entire Glen Elm church as well. And so are you. And yes, this is the same God who created Adam way back when… and He knew His every in and out as well.  And I was blown away again.

Then…

Upon entering the Word, I found the message of Jeremiah 17:9-10:

“The heart is hopelessly dark and deceitful,
a puzzle that no one can figure out.
But I, God, search the heart
and examine the mind.
I get to the heart of the human.
I get to the root of things.
I treat them as they really are,
not as they pretend to be.”

We as creatures in God’s image are wonderfully complex, though sometimes the “wonder” is not entirely wonderful. It can also be very dark and twisted. But God enters as we allow Him to be the Searcher, Examiner, and Figurer of all that is within and around us. That thought felt mighty good yesterday.

It feels good again today.

Office

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No, I’m not speaking of the one at the church building; I now have one at home.  Yes, that’s right… if you can consider an unpainted room with a beater of a computer on an old desk surrounded by boxes an office.  But it is OUR office, just down the hallway from OUR room, on the main floor of OUR house!

I’d hoped to blog nearly every day last week (I had topics in my head, oh yes, I did), but it was simply insanity.  In the midst of Lectureship at WCC, Thanksgiving, moving stuff, cleaning and painting a bit, living between two houses all week, and stuffing work into the cracks, I hit Thursday feeling like my ‘to do’ list was yet untouched.  Into panic mode for three days, Sunday morning came and was a special one, and Sunday afternoon came to a crashed nap in front of a football game along with my bro-in-law, dad-in-law, and a friend.

Today’s Monday, and it is definitely a day off.  Time for some ‘home errands’ and hopefully more painting before the week is half done.

Over and out.

Falling

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October 10.

First snow falling of this winter.  I know it won’t last, and true winter isn’t here yet, but yuck!

Long Weekend Highlights

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Yes, that’s Thanksgiving weekend I’m talking about.  For any American readers, yes, this IS the time for Thanksgiving.

A few favourite parts…

Lectureship ’06 at WCC: Piles of people to visit that we hadn’t seen for a long time, a worthwhile workshop for ministry folks on “Broken Churches”, a “wow” kind of presentation about the work of Christians in the Ukraine, and a well-taught class on the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts. Add to that our China presentation and my leading a late night worship time, and the evening was full.

Sports: Late night chances came for some volleyball and some hockey, both games I haven’t played in years.  Volleyball–I can at least fake like I know where to be and what to do; hockey–hey, I’ve got the blisters and pulled leg muscles to prove I was there.

Keys: Saturday we were handed the keys to our new home.  Sunday and Monday saw us moving boxes and the few pieces of furniture that we own.

Riders: Is there something wrong when the highlight of my Monday was moving boxes and furniture?!  Ouch.

This week is going to be a quick one!  Monday’s gone.  Today is “breeze through the office; do what NEEDS doing; get heat, water, power, phone hooked up; and whatever else comes along” day.  That leaves three days for getting ready for Sunday’s tasks, visiting a few fine folks for suppers and visits, and gearing up for the Riders’ final home game on Friday and the Glen Elm Kings’ first hockey game on Saturday.

Anyone else up for another long weekend?!