pass the halves...

If you read the beginning of Genesis 15 in the Bible, there's this peculiar story of God making a covenant promise to Abraham (Abram at the time). It was a promise that he and his descendants would take possession of what would become known as Israel (i.e. the Promised Land). Abram asks God how he can know for certain that he will gain possession of the land and God does something crazy. He asks for a bunch of young animals to be brought before him, cut in half and lined up down a sort of aisle with each half on the opposite side of the other. Then God, in the form of a blazing torch, passes through the aforementioned aisle. This in turn seals the covenant, or promise, that God just made with Abram. I did a little reading and found out something interesting. It was a widely held practice in the ancient near east (Middle East) to seal covenants in this way. Ancient Hittite (the kingdom that found it's roots in modern day Turkey) and Amorite (semi-nomadic peoples of Mesopotamia) texts indicate of similar practices being held to seal covenants made between different parties or people groups. The thing about it was that by performing this ritual and personally passing through the animal halves, you were calling down a curse on yourself if you were to break the covenant. In a sense, you were witnessing your own fate (through the fate of the dissected animals) if the entirety of the covenant were not kept. This sounds like some other crazy and distanced ritual of the ancient world until we realize that God himself passes through the halves on his own accord. He is calling down a sort of curse on himself if His end of the promise is not kept to Abram and his descendents. Then I thought...God didn't need to do that. He's GOD. His word should be enough for us. Later in the Bible, there's an account through the prophet Jeremiah of Israel not holding their end of the covenant to be faithful to God. He draws on this ritual narrative again of passing through the halves. Essentially he's saying that it is now the people of ancient Israel's fate to end up like those animals. Then I think to Jesus. The lamb (frequently the animals used in the ritual sacrifice were lambs) that was sacrificed for us. The New Testament talks about Christ's body being broken for us. All the images I have in my head of this ancient ritual of passing through broken animal halves come rushing back into my head. They go immediately to the fact that instead of holding us to our end of the bargain and covenant, God took the curse on Himself. I bet an ancient king wouldn't have done that to someone who broke his treaty...

obedience...what??

"We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, 'I know him,' but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did."
-1 John 2:3-6

Does anyone else feel as uncomfortable as I do? Why of all passages do I feel most weird about putting this one up for everyone to see? How many "Christians" does this contradict? Who feels just a little hypocritical? It's not just about what we can claim to believe...it's about our actions. It's about our walk. A verbal commitment or proclamation doesn't count for much if there's no reality to back it up. In fact, a declaration of the mouth should be the last thing on our mind when it comes to looking at ourselves and seeing where we "match up." I feel a little exposed right now....also, Jesus was a carpenter. Just a note.

The gift of the prophetic...

"Scholars can interpret the past; It takes prophets to interpret the present."

-A.W. Tozer

There are many things that the human intellect can never achieve, but one of the most important is the gift of prophetic insight. We can study all we want, read all we can, and grow wise beyond our years, but unless we get on our knees and pray for the Lord to interpret the present for us, we will lack Godly understanding. The gift of prophecy, contrary to popular belief, is not the ability to tell the future. It may encompass that, but primarily it is the ability to see from God's point of view. Given that definition, how important is it for modern prophets to be raised up during these difficult times in our world?? We don't need one more talking head or pundit to "interpret" anything for us, nor do we need our supposed leaders to come up with their version of solutions for our problems. The people of God need to be praying earnestly for the voice of the Lord to be raised up, and the eyes of His faithful to be opened. The truth won't come through the likely channels of communication, and it won't come from the people we expect it to come from. The prophets of the Lord have rarely been attractive to anyone, and usually they are rugged. They don't care for man's wisdom, and earn the scorn of people...including large parts of Christendom. We need to pray for these people to come along, and for the eyes to see them when they do.

listening

This morning I was meeting with my staff and we were talking about a book we're going through called "Listening to God." At first it seems like it would be just another self-help thing with 7 easy steps to hearing the Lord. I've seen so many books, articles, and sermons that take that approach, and truthfully I didn't want anymore. I opened it up, read the first chapter and it blew me away. He starts by talking about his wife's slow death of cancer and how it acted as a catalyst to bring him to his knees and cry out for the Lord. He showed how suffering plays a crucial role for many people in showing them their need for God. Some people would say that this is proof that we have "made God up" to suit our needs or provide outside help for ourselves when we're hurting, but I think that it's just the opposite. God moves during this time. It's not just a conjuring up of feelings that goes on when we hurt and look for an explanation, it's an active moment of intervention in our lives on the part of God. Similar to the way that the wind blows without our doing or consent and physically affects us. Need brings about provision. Talk to the countless number of people that have spent time serving in abject poverty and ask them about the crazy ways people get their needs met. It's more tangible. We don't need the provision of God in our every day lives. We've already "provided" it all for ourselves. If we do ask God for something it's usually emotional or theoretical. How often is it a basic human need? How often do we hear his clear answer? How often do we wait until he speaks? There seems to be a connection with suffering/need and hearing the voice of the Lord. Read the Bible and see when He shows up most.

football

Right now I'm sitting on my couch and watching the undefeated Broncos lose to the winless (in their last 12 games) Chiefs. I've had to re-realize that "it's just a football game" over and over again in my life. When I sit down and watch my team play I don't want to see them lose, and as much as I would like to I don't want to see just a "good game." I want them to win and win big. It's nice to pull for a team that dominates...but seriously, how often does that happen? It sure doesn't happen with the teams that I cheer for. (check out Texas A&M for example...) I've started thinking to all the times that a team I love loses and it puts me in a bad mood. All the times that I'll yell my face off at a game, only to be dissappointed when my team get's their butt kicked. Don't get me wrong, I love sports and there is an element of it that's fun regardless of the outcome, but most of the time my heart and emotions get away from me. Maybe it's just that I'm an overly passionate person, or maybe it's normal...either way I don't like it. I feel like we can easily put the passions, interests, and hobbies ahead of the more important things in our lives. I think I can border on "worship" of these things sometimes. When all put in perspective, I realize that dudes I don't know playing catch and tackle in front of thousands of people shouldn't determine my mood. For better or for worse. I think to all the people who put their identity in things like this (sports, politics, work, cars, relationships, etc...) and I don't want to be one of them anymore. I have one God.

Know your world...

I recently found this on another friend's site and thought it was amazing. If there was ever a time to know about the Middle East it's definitely now. This is a test to see whether you know the geography of the area or not. It includes North Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia. I've been there twice and I still had some trouble figuring it all out...see how you do. Here's the link: http://www.rethinkingschools.org/just_fun/games/mapgame.html

Slacklining

If you could map out all the people who slackline in the world and put me and my friends somewhere on the spectrum of talent we'd fall near the back. There's so many ridiculously amazing slackliners out there (backflips) but the mere fact that there's few people who do it makes us look good. Clark and I went out on Sunday to the park on Canyon St. and set up a long one. Pretty soon we had a nice little crowd around us. Whatever works. These two high schoolers came up, broke out their bong and soon we had a nice little convention around us fascinated with our every move. They asked us what we did for a living and I told them I worked with kids at the church down the street. One of them told me he was a quaker, but didn't know what communion stood for and wanted to. We shared some Jesus with them and they listened for awhile. I ended up giving them my number and telling them (plus all the others around) to stop on by and I'd buy them lunch. Hopefully they'll come. That's how it works sometimes.