Isaiah and Sara

Scripture of the Day:
John 3:30
He must become greater; I must become less.

May I become less as HE becomes greater, each and every day.
in Christ,

Isaiah

Scripture of the Day:

John 1:46
46″Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked.
“Come and see,” said Philip.

Come and see…

in Christ,

Isaiah

I have two Google Wave invites left.  If you want one, comment…

First come, first serve.

Update: All gone.  Thanks for playing.

in Christ,

Isaiah

I haven’t posted for some time, and rather than give you a long list of excuses… I thought I’d just write a new post.

Lately I’ve been reading my paper Bible far more than my electronic versions of the Bible.  There’s just something about paper and the heft of a book, and the feel of underlining a verse in “real” life.  I underline and highlight verses on my electronic versions and it just isn’t the same.

So, my question to you is this:  Do you prefer reading the Bible in paper form, pixel form, or a combination of both?

I’ll admit that I’m both, when I’m laying in bed at night, it is much easier to read on my iPod touch, which doesn’t require a seperate light and physically changing pages…

So… Paper, pixel or both?

in Christ,

Isaiah

I’ve been reading more lately, so I thought I’d share a couple books that I’ve been reading.

Killing Cockroaches: And Other Scattered Musings on Leadership
by Tony Morgan

This is a great “pick-up” book.  By that I mean pick up and read a chapter or two at a time, not pick-up line book.  This is a book on church leadership after all… Anyway, its all musings from Tony as he talks about his time in the ministry, and previously as a ceo, fighting to keep from killing cockroaches (literally and figuratively).  There are several guest posts that highlight this idea.  Here’s one of my favorite “chapters”:

10 EASY WAYS TO KNOW YOU’RE NOT A LEADER

1. You’re waiting on a bigger staff and more money to accomplish your vision.
2. You think you need to be in charge in order to have influence.
3. You’re content.
4. You tend to foster division instead of generating a helpful dialogue.
5. You think you need to say something to be heard.
6. You find it easier to blame others for your circumstances than to take responsibility for solutions.
7. It’s been some time since you said, “I messed up.”
8. You’re driven by the task instead of the relationships and the vision.
9. Your dreams are so small that people think they can be achieved.
10. No one is following you.

All in all I say its definitely a “Recommended Read”

Notes From The Tilt-A-Whirl: Wide-Eyed Wonder in God’s Spoken World
by N.D. Wilson

Wow. This book hit me at just the right time, and in just the right places.  I read this book as fast as I could, then began to recommend it to those around me.  I’ll try to explain why I thought it was so good.  In a few pages, N.D. Wilson goes through the seasons as metaphors for life.  All throuhgout the book there are stories of wonder, each weaving in and out of a philosophical concept, even diving into the “problem” of evil.  I really can’t explain it well enough, but I’ll say this:  Read this book.  If you want you can even hit me up in the comments, and if you’re local you can borrow my copy.  This is one of the books that I received free, from following @michaelhyatt on twitter.

What books  have you read lately?

in Christ,

Isaiah

Yeah, I twitter.  I have since March 2007.  At last count I have 2,988 updates, which means I’ve posted about my life 2,988 times.  Wow…

So I decided to write a little post about why I twitter… here’s a few reasons:

1)  Free stuff

I have received 10 free books (4 “real-life” books and 6 ebooks), tons of free Music and some great deals on Amazon mp3s, just by reading the tweets from people I follow.  Booya.

2)  One place to update what I’m doing

I like updating one place to update multiple sites – I like to be efficient.  For some time you couldn’t update Facebook via text, but I could update Facebook via twitter via text.  So there you go.

3)  It helps my friends and family keep up with what I’m doing.

Sometimes I don’t have time to call or draft an email about what we’ve been doing, but I can twitter.

4)  Limited to 140 characters.

This keeps me from writing ridiculously long posts about my life and making me look like a selfish “its all about me” tool.

Ok, so I better stop there.  I could keep writing, but that’s not the point of this post.  I just want to give you and idea about why I do it.

To find me: www.twitter.com/ihenni

Thanks,

in Christ,

Isaiah

up*date

verb |ˌəpˈdāt; ˈəpˌdāt| [ trans. ]

give (someone) the latest information about something

Yeah, I’ve been gone a while, and the lack of posting is mostly due to the fact that I’ve been lazy.  So far this summer I’ve been to Western Wyoming Christian Youth Camp in Lander, WY, Camp Como in Como, CO, and Nebwyodak SR High near Deadwood, SD, then immediately to Hills Alive in Rapid City, SD.

It has been a crazy summer so far, and it seems that every time I come back from a trip there’s a desk full of paperwork to catch up on.  But I have to say that’s how I like it… I’d rather be busy than bored any day.

Now that I’ve returned, I’m thinking back over the summer thus far and it has been an amazing one.  Youth have been impacted for Christ through the three camps I’ve been to in ways that only God can.  What an awesome God we serve.

If you’ve been to any of the camps, you probably saw the “trading cards” we had of our camp teams, faculty and staff.  I just wanted to share with you the favorite verse that is on mine:

Isaiah 55:8-9

⁸ “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the LORD.

⁹ “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.

God’s ways are not our ways… and I am so glad for that.

His thoughts and will are so much higher than ours, and I am glad for that as well.

As you go through the rest of your own summer… I have two questions:

How has God impacted you this summer?

How will you impact others for God?

in Christ,

Isaiah

p.s.  let me know if you think this “counts” as an update, haha

For the past few weeks that I’ve been at camp, especially during the evenings, I had my flashlight with me wherever I went.  When I couldn’t see, it lit my path and kept me going in the way I wanted to go.  I even did the “nerdy” thing and wore it with the geeky holster.

I’m sure you all have some idea of where I’m going with this…

Psalm 119:105 says, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.”

Yeah, Isaiah, we get it… read the Bible and God will light your way, just like the flashlight lit your way.  That’s true, but keep reading.

One evening I woke up in the middle of the night.  I’m still not sure why, but I awoke, prayed, and rolled over to my side.  When I did that I felt a constant pain in my hip, which was better when I rolled back onto my side.  I figured it was something with the mattress, and, being so tired… ok and lazy, I just dealt with it and slept on that side…

The next morning I woke up to realize that I had left my flashlight in my right hip pocket.  That which lights my way in the darkness was a pain to me that night.

I learned 2 things:

1) I’m apparently quick to forget whats in my pockets…       ok and lazy…

and

2) Sometimes that which lights our way can be painful, even convicting if we keep it in our pockets (hidden away).

We’re told to shine our lights, but we feel scared too… then we feel the conviction that we had the chance to shine, and kept our flashlight off.

We’re walking with our friends in the dark, knowing we have the flashlight to turn on so we do not stumble, but neglect to turn it on… for fear of being “religious” or “judgmental”.

That flashlight convicted me, because of the times I neglected to share my light while others fell around me… but it also encourages me, because we have the light to shine.

God’s word is a light to our feet so we do not stumble, and sometimes God will nudge us when we aren’t doing what we’re supposed to be.

Matthew 5:14-16

¹⁴“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. ¹⁶In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

Go out and shine… and Light the Darkness.

in Christ,

Isaiah

p.s. keep the flashlight on, just don’t leave it in your pocket.

Joshua 14:6-10

⁶ Then the people of Judah came to Joshua at Gilgal. And Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, “You know what the LORD said to Moses the man of God in Kadesh-barnea concerning you and me. ⁷ I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the LORD sent me from Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land, and I brought him word again as it was in my heart. ⁸ But  my brothers who went up with me made the heart of the people melt; yet I wholly followed the LORD my God. ⁹ And Moses swore on that day, saying, ’Surely the land on which your foot has trodden shall be an inheritance for you and your children forever, because you have wholly followed the LORD my God.‘ ¹⁰ And now, behold, the LORD has kept me alive, just as he said, these forty-five years since the time that the LORD spoke this word to Moses, while Israel walked in the wilderness. And now, behold, I am this day eighty-five years old. ¹¹ I am still as strong today as I was in the day that Moses sent me; my strength now is as my strength was then, for war and for going and coming. ¹² So now give me this hill country of which the LORD spoke on that day, for you heard on that day how the Anakim were there, with great fortified cities. It may be that the LORD will be with me, and I shall drive them out just as the LORD said.“

I read this passage some time ago, and its been sitting, percolating as it were, in my mind.

“Yet I wholly followed the LORD my God.”

Caleb, one of the two spies who took a stand saying that the Israelites would be able to conquer the men of Caanan.  Forty years later he returned, still as strong as he was before, still wholly following God, and believing that even though the men of the hill country were strong… his God was stronger.

Then there’s me.

ouch.

The last post was talking about how we put other things, other people’s writing, before God’s Word.  That convicted me.

So here’s some questions for us…

Am I wholly following the Lord with my reading time?

Am I wholly following the Lord in my work? – not just doing the minimum?

Am I wholly following the Lord in how I spend my money?

Do you have any other questions we need to ask?

in Christ,

Isaiah

Dear <put you name here>,

Do you really think that your email and RSS feeds <add whatever is taking your attention> are more important that my Word this AM?

Love, God.

SMACK!

Does this smack anyone else upside the head like it did me?

Thanks to fmckinnon for the quote