Tag Archive - thoughts

how wide/long/high/deep

December 2, 2009 in personal with 0 Comments

Ephesians 3:17b-18

…And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ

It seems that we really like to measure things… comparing houses, tv screen sizes, cars that get better gas mileage, or can hold more people, even neighborhoods that make sure your grass is mowed often – 3″ and no taller!  We are constantly in search of measuring up in the more or less department, yet we never seem to be able to grasp the more important measurements…  like the one above.

How Wide, Long, High and Deep is the love of Christ!

Stop and think about that right now.

Compare God’s love to what you’re worried and anxious about… to the fear that you’re holding… to the sin that you think you can’t be rid of…

Which is wider, longer, higher and deeper?

Which matters more?

God loves you more than we can ever measure… hold on to that.

in Christ,

Isaiah

Meditate

December 1, 2009 in personal with 0 Comments

Lately, I’ve been digging into meditating on the Psalms and trying to just focus on one passage of Scripture.  I still read other passages, but every day I’ve been trying to focus on Psalm 1… Verse 2 says why.

1 Blessed is the man
who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners
or sit in the seat of mockers.

2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.

So, even before the beginning of the new year and all the resolutions, I’m trying to change.  I want to be able to meditate on the law of the LORD, on his Word, day and night.

That somewhat begs the question though, how do we meditate?

I’m reading some of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Meditating On The Word to find out how…

We’ll see how this goes.

in Christ,

Isaiah

p.s. How do you meditate on His Word?

paper or pixels?

October 8, 2009 in personal with 2 Comments

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

books I’ve read lately

August 19, 2009 in personal with 1 Comment

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

Killing CockroachesThis 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

Notes from the Tilt-A-WhirlWow. 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

summer update

July 22, 2009 in personal with 0 Comments

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

flashlight

July 5, 2009 in personal, SCC with 0 Comments

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.

Wholly – completely, totally, absolutely

June 13, 2009 in personal with 1 Comment

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

Priorities

June 12, 2009 in personal, quote with 0 Comments

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

SCC – Visiting the Bayard Youth

March 2, 2009 in Uncategorized with 0 Comments

Last Wednesday I traveled to Bayard, Nebraska to visit the youth of the Bayard Christian Church.  I was there to teach a lesson, share about the college and hurt Chris, er… I mean to lead some games.

The best part about visiting Bayard was sharing stories from our time at SCC.  Chris, the Youth Minister, was my roommate in college.  I was able to share my story, of how Chris helped me get out of my shell, and some funny stories about waking up.  One involved a metal hanger, yelling Chris’ name and well… I think you can figure out what happened.

After the lesson and story, we played various games of tag.  I love tag – it requires no extra supplies… just youth and room to run.  We played varitions of Everyone’s IT, one of which was called Ninja Tag (my favorite).  In Ninja tag, you are allowed to be tagged three times, but each time you are tagged, you have to cover the wound with one of your hands.  Thus, after 2 times, you’re relegated to a purely defensive stance, but it is fun.

We also played a version called Rooster tag, in which you are allowed to only stand on one leg, and are only tagged out when the leg you are holding up touches the ground.  This version ended rather quickly, mostly because of a painful incident involving Garrett’s knee and Chris’ back.  I tried not to laugh.  Really!

Anyway, it was a fun trip to Bayard and I enjoyed visiting with the students.  So, now I pose a question:

What’s your funniest youth group story?

in Christ,

Isaiah

Generosity

February 24, 2009 in Uncategorized with 0 Comments

I was reading through the story of the Israelites as they built the Tabernacle in Exodus, and I came upon this passage.

Exodus 35:2-7
2 Then Moses summoned Bezalel and Oholiab and every skilled person to whom the LORD had given ability and who was willing to come and do the work. 3 They received from Moses all the offerings the Israelites had brought to carry out the work of constructing the sanctuary. And the people continued to bring freewill offerings morning after morning. 4 So all the skilled craftsmen who were doing all the work on the sanctuary left their work 5 and said to Moses, “The people are bringing more than enough for doing the work the LORD commanded to be done.“ 6 Then Moses gave an order and they sent this word throughout the camp: “No man or woman is to make anything else as an offering for the sanctuary.” And so the people were restrained from bringing more,7 because what they already had was more than enough to do all the work.

The Israelites just kept giving and giving and giving… They gave until the craftsman actually said, “Stop!”

What about us?

Are we giving to God, to our Churches, to others like that?

Just a thought…

in Christ,

Isaiah

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