Every day with…

February 1st, 2009 Tim Posted in SevenLakes Info |

(Nancy) If there’s anyone out there who reads this regularly you know that Tim and I are in our 40’s. At this age some people gets sportscars or change careers or become disillusioned with their mates. I have no clue why, maybe because “God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise” (1 Corinthians 1:27), Tim and I are on a journey with the Lord. That sounds kind of lofty. It’s more like a toddler being pulled, kicking and screaming. One of my favorite prayers right now is “thank you that our lives are in your hands.” One of my favorite verses right now is Job 5:17-18: “Blessed is the man whom God corrects, so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty. For he wounds, but he also binds up, he injures but his hands also heal.” [Someone might point out that this was said by one of Job’s good-for-nothing friends who was wrongly trying to convince Job that his suffering was punishment for sin. That is true but I know that God does discipline those he loves (Hebrew 12:5-7) and does prune Jesus’ followers to live more closely in Him (John 15:1-3).]

One reason why I like that verse is that it juxtaposes the omnipotent power of God (Almighty) with the loving, personal care of his hands to lovingly correct and lovingly bind up and heal. It’s kind of a picture of the gospel. We are foolish kids playing with the deadly mercury of sin and our Father picks us up, shows us our folly and supplies us with the cure, namely Jesus.

 Who would have thought a self-centered, hot-tempered, skeptical, procrastinating perfectionist could start to change? Who would have thought I’d need to re-evaluate whether it’s really necessary to scan every single receipt into Quicken and whether our culture’s treatment of animals (we idolize food and mistreat food stock, some idolize pets and overspend on them) has any bearing on my family’s life?  I fully believe that one of the holiest things I did yesterday was play foosball with my son. Religion’s easy: “don’t do this, do do this.” Life with Jesus is hard: “day by day, moment by moment trust and obey. You’ll fail, I’ll show you. Just when you think you’ve got it all together, I’ll disillusion you. Just when you think you’re hopeless, I’ll show you how far we’ve come.” And life with Jesus is a lot more…LIFE. I laugh more, I cry more, I hurt more, I love a little more. And right now I think I need to go eat some pancakes.

Enjoy church, sing to Jesus. Enjoy the Superbowl and its commercials. Love your children and your God. And pray for me, I have a LONG way to go.