The Heavens Declaring...

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The very first words in our Bible. The eclipse last week gave such extraordinary images to reflect on. It was intriguing how many eclipse watchers had overwhelming emotional responses to God's display of awesomeness. Some even described the experience as spiritual...

No surprise there ; )

In Psalm 19, the shepherd anointed as king, David, opens with "The heavens declare the glory of God: the skies proclaim the work of His hands..." The psalm continues and so, we are just going to share it in it's entirety.

Watch David go from natural laws to spiritual ones...

Then, this week as we take in the fading summer sun, let's talk with God about how He shows up in everyday or not so everyday events like a total eclipse of a little tiny moon and great big sun.

Psalm 19The heavens declare the glory of God;
    

the skies proclaim the work of his hands.


Day after day they pour forth speech;
    

night after night they reveal knowledge.


They have no speech, they use no words;
    

no sound is heard from them.


Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
    

their words to the ends of the world.


In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun.


It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,
    

like a champion rejoicing to run his course.


It rises at one end of the heavens
 and makes its circuit to the other;
    

nothing is deprived of its warmth.

The law of the Lord is perfect,
 refreshing the soul.


The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy,
 making wise the simple.


The precepts of the Lord are right,
 giving joy to the heart.


The commands of the Lord are radiant,
 giving light to the eyes.


The fear of the Lord is pure,
 enduring forever.


The decrees of the Lord are firm,
 and all of them are righteous.

They are more precious than gold,
 than much pure gold;


they are sweeter than honey,
 than honey from the honeycomb.


By them your servant is warned;
 in keeping them there is great reward.


But who can discern their own errors?
 Forgive my hidden faults.


Keep your servant also from willful sins;
 may they not rule over me.


Then I will be blameless,
 innocent of great transgression.

May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart
 be pleasing in your sight,
    

Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.

Reflecting on our Journey...In The Beginning, God

A friend double dog dared me to see if I could actually launch a blog.

Never double dog dare your intensely wired friends : )

So here we are, several years later and our blog has expanded to include the Rocket Fuel for Leaders subscriptions that are about to come out of beta testing... even as we are re-imaging our website.

More about all that later, right now, we want to get the blog back in gear : ) 

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The very first words in our Bible.

The eclipse this week gave us quite an image to reflect on. It was intriguing how many eclipse watchers had very emotional responses to God's display of awesomeness. Some even described the experience as spiritual...

No surprise there. In Psalm 19, the shepherd anointed as king, David, opens with "The heavens declare the glory of God: the skies proclaim the work of His hands..." The psalm continues and so, we are just going to share it in it's entirety-  watch David go from natures laws to spiritual ones : ) and then, this week as we take in the fading summer sun, let's talk with God about how He shows up in everyday or once a century events like a total eclipse of a little tiny moon and great big sun.

Psalm 19

For the director of music. A psalm of David.

1 The heavens declare the glory of God;
    the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
2 Day after day they pour forth speech;
    night after night they reveal knowledge.
3 They have no speech, they use no words;
    no sound is heard from them.
4 Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
    their words to the ends of the world.
In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun.
5     It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,
    like a champion rejoicing to run his course.
6 It rises at one end of the heavens
    and makes its circuit to the other;
    nothing is deprived of its warmth.

7 The law of the Lord is perfect,
    refreshing the soul.
The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy,
    making wise the simple.
8 The precepts of the Lord are right,
    giving joy to the heart.
The commands of the Lord are radiant,
    giving light to the eyes.
9 The fear of the Lord is pure,
    enduring forever.
The decrees of the Lord are firm,
    and all of them are righteous.

10 They are more precious than gold,
    than much pure gold;
they are sweeter than honey,
    than honey from the honeycomb.
11 By them your servant is warned;
    in keeping them there is great reward.
12 But who can discern their own errors?
    Forgive my hidden faults.
13 Keep your servant also from willful sins;
    may they not rule over me.
Then I will be blameless,
    innocent of great transgression.

14 May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart
    be pleasing in your sight,
    Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.

The Call To Pour Out, However Messy...

Ney Bailey, from Cru, sent me a copy of Ann Voskamp's The Broken Way for Christmas. It's a buckle up and hold on kind of book. Very deeply personal and very deeply explorational. What she does share is the picture of our being made through broken bread and poured out wine for the purpose of becoming Christ to others- Breaking our bread and pouring our wine out for The Kingdom.

For the last year or so, I have been waiting to re-launch this website before inviting others to join us here. Reading Ann's book, and in a conversation with some friends this week... I felt like Jesus said to me, "So, why exactly are we waiting for this to be perfect before we invite others in?"

Well, you know how that conversation ended : )

In the next few days or this week, a new invitation will come, so watch for it and for today- The Call Pour Out, However Messy...

Water into Wine. Five Loaves and Two Fish. Bread and Wine with Friends.

Transforming the ordinary into the sacred. Nothing big or complex. Just Jesus.

Take a minute and wonder what thoughts and emotions would have run wild as our eyes took in Jesus- with just two fish and five loaves to work with: looked up to heaven, gave thanks, broke the bread and fed the five thousand, with twelve baskets of leftovers. An ordinary, would be public relations nightmare (big group, no lunch), and transforms into a display of God's desire

Our God takes the smallest of our gifts or available resources, gives thanks, breaks them and them pours out for His glory and purposes. This week, let's become more available to be five loaves and two fish : )