onething... one day down, three to go

well, the first day of onething 2006 is officially over for me. i rolled in to the prayer room about 7:15 am as we sought to squeek out all the technical difficulties which plagued the system. all in all it was not too bad, though the talk back seemed to have some problems. once we got going it was a great set though.

10am - de-brief, walk around the place to give it the ole check out, see if all the new set-ups pass my approval, not that it matters one bit. i also went down to the bookstore area to pick up the newest addition to the ihop family... free drip coffee!!! after all that i returned to the prayer room and sat down at my desk, sort of...

at some point i actually got to spend some time with jesus in romans 8, which is truly one of my favorite passages in the word.

just after abby got to the prayer room, i think about 12:30 or so i had to run to the airport to pick up my friend greg and his wife allison. on my way to the airport i was thinking about the way i was feeling: a headache just waiting to breakthrough, slightly flushed and hot throughout, and feeling like i have a million things to get done, but realizing that i truly have nothing to do. all of a sudden i remembered, this is the classic onething feeling. i seem to feel the same way every year.

abby and i then spent the next few hours at the prayer room on and off, in between feedings and changings and walkings and the sort, seeking to serve the needs of our wonderful child.

we left about 6:30 and went to my parents house because my aunt and uncle, and their three children, are in town until tomorrow.

funny note, we almost ran out of gas in the extremely bad part of town, aka every part of town along us71 from downtown to grandview! it was a slight scare but we ended up getting to a gas station, and not dying or getting shot.

all and all a good day at onething.

we will see what the next three days hold for us.

r

compulsive ministry

i was reading a bit of henri nowen's the way of the heart over breakfast this morning and i was so compelled by his insight into the present (he wrote in the seventies, but still, if not more appropriate an analysis) condition of ministry.

he talked about becoming compulsive in our ministry style. we are those who continually stay busy, we continually 'conform' in some way or another to the socially accepted 'norms' of what a minister should be.

i realized as i was reading how utterly compulsive i am in the way i live. i spend much of my life in a frantic, almost panicked state, worried that i will somehow miss out on whatever it is that i do not want to miss out on (usually whatever is being recognized or honored from a platform of some level).

it compels me to live an extremely obsessive life, one more book, reading one more article, becoming a master analyst, journaling, staying abreast on history, economics, theology, politics; and the list can go on and on, to whatever i fell that will better my life at that momement.

so this morning i was thinking about that, and the propensity of my own heart to travel that path and i realized the absolute root behind it all. whenever my identity is moved from my present position in christ, and wanting and longing to be pleasing in his sight alone, and i begin so concerned with what men acclaim me to be, it causes me to come into a frenzied state of being.

this is surely no way of living. i think the wisdom of the lord is so beautiful and so profound in this way. his way is the way of weakness, the way of simplicity. the things that are effective in his purposes are prayer, fasting, silence, solitude, serving, giving, etc... (i.e. all things that take something from us so that we cannot exalt ourselves in the external before men).

it is absolutely brilliant... he takes all men from every sphere of life, wealthy or poor, honored or despised, intellectual or illiterate and puts them on the same playing field. the one who knows all manner of wisdom and intellectual knowledge is still required to become as a simple child. he will only ask if we learned to be humble, unconcerned about our position or honor before men.

greatness in his sight is simple, weak, humble faith in this life. it is actually being concerned with the interests of others more than our own interests. wow...

i could go on, but i am going to leave it at this for now, for the sake of my own heart and not over-analyzing or trying to milk this for all its worth...

r

daniel

i have been thinking some this morning about the life of daniel, and the purpose of god to raise up a man who could stand in the courts of the king of babylon to give perspective from god's heart during a very crucial time in the outworking of god's purposes.

i have been praying this morning that the lord would make me like daniel. i am asking him that i would be one who could understand the signs of the times, and interpret them through godly perspective.

two things stuck out to me:

1. daniel and his friends are given wisdom after they purpose to be undefiled by the delicacies of babylon. application: i wonder how much a purposed heart pursuing righteousness will be given wisdom into all things that we might be able to speak with clarity and purpose concerning the workings of god in the midst of history (our current history that is).

2. it is given of god. daniel, however naturally apt to be full of wisdom, was given a special grace to understand the wisdom and literature of the chaldeans that he might speak god's word into the midst of an important time in god's purposes.

i am asking that the lord would make me like daniel in these ways (and certainly in others). i am asking him that he would give me a supernatural spirit of wisdom that i might discern and rightly interpret that which is happening around me, that i might bring god's perspective to current situations.

r