Ok, I realize that’s a bold statement for anyone to make. Suggesting that God actually spoke a thing, directly to a human, may upset some, or at least puzzle them. We can, however, look to the Bible to see if such a ‘word from the Lord’ lines up with Scripture. Knowing that God cannot lie gives us confidence that whatever man has to say about a thing must line up with what God has already said. In those seemingly gray areas that the Bible isn’t clear we can at least discern the Spirit of such a ‘word’.

We are told to ‘test’ such ‘words’, which is exactly the process I spoke above. Is the ‘word’ for me, or just for global society? Does this ‘word’ require anything of me? Is it personal?

So, go ahead, test this ‘word’ using both the Bible and your discernment, but be prepared in case God is speaking! It may be He is speaking to a global audience, but it is also possible, very possible, He is speaking directly to YOU!

During a pretty normal week I was going about my life, living hours of regular stuff, interspersed with moments of sheer wonder! My life is like that. Lots of church stuff, family stuff, some business stuff and too much yard maintenance. I enjoy some daily devotions and prayer, but not enough. I say ‘not enough’ because when I am purposing myself to be ‘spiritual’, God always shows up and blesses me, and then the phone rings or my cell phone beeps at me. These are real ‘wonder killers’. You know what I mean.

Then things began to change. Troubles began to pile up. Not just interruptions, but actual problems began to manifest and demand attention. If busyness happens because I initiate some things, well, that’s kind of ok because I’m thinking I’m in charge. But when things happen outside of my control, messing up my day, causing pain or confusion, well, that’s not ok. After all, I’m a man of education, of experience, of faith! I’m a child of God! I know stuff, and I’m successful, and I don’t like it when things go wrong, or bad, or, especially, painful to me or my loved ones!

So, on this day when my world was being attacked by all sorts of issues, and my ‘normal’ ways of dealing with them were not working very well, meaning that I wasn’t able to stop it all, even by praying a prayer and have it all ‘right’ again, I paused to … ask God for help.

I suppose a lot of our prayers are like this. The history of Israel is certainly proof that when in trouble men call upon God to deliver them from whatever bondage they find themselves in, but when life is good the people quit seeking Him, and, well, stuff happens to draw them back to Him again. Right?

Now, back to that ‘week’ I was having. After a time of verbalizing to God how upset I was, about the stuff upsetting me, I knew it was time to be quiet. (Those of you who know me will no doubt chuckle at that thought, of me being quiet, but it does happen!) I resolved to try, again, to ‘let go and let God’.

The simplicity of this concept is very attractive to me. The best theology I know of is the theology that draws a person to Jesus, so I pondered how to ‘get more of God’. A song goes “More love, more power, more of You in my life…” and certainly speaks to what I was desiring. I know I need more of God’s love, not FOR me but for others FROM me. I definitely want more of God’s power, in my life and in YOUR life! And, of course, I agree with the lyrics and want more of God in my life.

So, that was my simple prayer: “I want more of You, God.”

(Drum roll) Perhaps your prayers are like mine in that they are not immediately answered. But when they are, what then? You see, this is exactly how it happened, and how the Lord spoke this ‘word’ to me, and to this very moment still has me upended, or should I say set aright!

I said: “I want more of You, God.”

And the Lord said to me: “I want more of YOU, Skip.”

That was it. No lecture. No in-depth teaching. Just a simple request BY GOD ALMIGHTY!

I’m sure you can take it from here. You can apply this to your life, or discard it altogether. Either way … God is speaking to you as well, asking each you to respond to His Voice. Why? Because He loves you. Because He listens to you so often asking Him for this or that, and now asks YOU to give to Him!

Go ahead. “Get under the spout where the Glory’s pouring out.” You won’t regret it!

Have you ever thought about the ‘power of story’?

‘Story’ is how the ancients have communicated throughout history. Good and bad, right and wrong, and everything in between ‘recorded’ by ‘story.’

It seems to me that the power of story is being lost, cheapened, if you will, by the instant communications we have today. Depth is lost because we don’t have the time to go deep. Richness is lost because we only want the scintillation of the moment, moving so quickly to the next one we miss the real point of the current one.

Our Bible is, after all, a story. Plot lines and characters and everything else you can imagine are in God’s story book for us. In fact, this story has a bunch of stuff you CAN’T imagine, which makes the mystery and the intrigue and the wonder of it all so amazing as it all unfolds for us, right there on the pages! Our minds can’t help but ‘go there,’ when we read God’s story.

Take a minute right now and try to comprehend the story of our creation as told to us in Genesis. So many questions pop up. Who made us? How were we made? When were we made? Why were we made? Is the story really real, or just a human made delusion of the ancients? Was there a real Garden of Eden? Who was the serpent, if he wasn’t a snake? Was he just a snake? Was it really an apple they ate? Who else was in the Garden? Was anyone watching it all? Who? How many were watching? Where did they come from? What’s the point of this story?

Talk about a serial-made-for-life, or a made-for-life-serial. Either way, this one is fantastic from the get-go, and best followed from the beginning, although you can pick it up in any episode and it’s still fantastic. You don’t need a DVR because you have a Bible and can re-visit any part of the show at any time you wish. It would be nice if we could switch on the closed-captions and get a running commentary of what was unfolding, because we can’t quite keep up. Know what I mean?

You see, from one perspective this Bible is the Story of God, and from another view it is the story of man and his, man’s, response to what God is up to. Isn’t it amazing that this God Story, the one He wrote since He is the Creator, is so analyzed and argued by man, the creation? Even though we have Romans 1 to tell us this fact, that things are backwards in our thinking, we continue running along…..backwards. (laugh here)

Why is it that a really good story, one like A Few Good Men from modern times, or Tom Sawyer from a bit earlier, can be watched or read, over and over, with excitement and joy and even learning of some kind each time, and yet God’s Story, the Bible, sits on the shelf of so many homes? Put on the DVD of Hunt For Red October, or Jason Bourne, or even Sense And Sensibilities and I can watch for hours, again, even though I know the lines!!!

Is it because we don’t really think about what we are reading when we read the Bible? Perhaps we don’t really believe it. Perhaps we say to ourselves “Oh yeah, I know that one….” and move along without sincerely pondering what we just read. Perhaps it’s because what we just read in the Bible is so fantastic, so amazing, so almost other-worldly that we can’t process it!

Some of us have the habit of going to the end of a book and trying to see if we want to invest the time in getting there. Is it worth it? Let’s just read the Summary, if you will, and decide from that if the details merit further reading. Ok, news flash! At the end of The Book, God restores His Creation, re-creating what He wanted at the beginning, defeating all His enemies, placing His creation, man, with Him in Glory. The reader is left with a pretty simple question: “Will I be there?”

The answer to that one is, thankfully, in the pages prior, starting with Genesis… Go for it! It’s a fantastic read.

John McCain died today, and the news has been, properly, honoring and remembering him and his incredible life. It’s made me think about how ‘good’ we can be if we choose to do so. Senator McCain was far from perfect. He endured a failed marriage and more than a few infidelities along his way to growing into the ‘mentor of character’ so many attribute to him today.

We are choosing, now, to remember the ‘best’ of John McCain. We are choosing to look at his real accomplishments, not his failures or shortcomings. His differences with his political colleagues, his notable temper, whatever else the smear-mags could dig up….none of that is what has defined him. It’s been his character. His life-long service. His devotion to family and country. His goodness!

Perhaps we could be encouraged by this man’s life. Perhaps we could see that we too have failures and shortcomings, but that our Father in Heaven, God Almighty, through Jesus Christ and by the Power of His Holy Spirit, looks at ‘our’ character through a crimson lens, the blood of Jesus. He ‘sees’ us as cleansed and pure and righteous and holy….all the things we would never claim. God sees goodness.

The Lord looks at our heart, so see if we are repentant, humbled by our mistakes, and seeking that grace called forgiveness that He so freely offers us. My human nature is to defend myself; to try to say that I’m right because of how I feel and think. But when the I AM shows up everything is put right, including me. Can you see it? Can you see how the puny “I’m” has to give way to the majestic I AM ?

As we honor John McCain, looking beyond his human weaknesses, let us honor God, and look straight into His incredible strength, and hear Him tell us again “I love you, and I will never leave you.”

Christianity has strayed, at times, far from the teachings, life, and Love of Christ. We all know this. We need to always ask ourselves if we are really ‘following the Way’, and make the course corrections in our lives, so that the Blessings of Christ can be abundantly poured upon us.

Is it complicated? Does it require great academic understanding of the Scriptures, knowledge of ancient languages, and submission to human authorities we might question? Is that Christ?

I am amazed at how people don’t want to read the Bible because they think it is too complicated, too controversial, or too boring. The Bible is, after all, God’s Word to us and He certainly wants us to read it and be set free from the bondage of sin. Is it possible the Bible really IS readable by anyone, or everyone? Of course it is. I believe the Bible is meant to be read, over and over, because it consistently speaks to us. God knows exactly where we are and what’s going on in our lives and what we need to ‘hear’, and that’s why with EVERY reading of the Bible His voice comes to our inner man and speaks to what we need, individually and specifically. It’s truly amazing!

For example, I just read Romans 11-13 as part of our Church reading schedule. I’ve read the book of Romans many times, and yet with recent reading something popped out at me I hadn’t ‘seen’ before. Each of the 3 Chapters can be titled, or summarized, in a word: Mercy, Sacrifice, and Authority. Each of these words capture a main point of the Chapter and certainly don’t replace all the other words and ways God might speak to you. Subsequent readings might change the title summaries. Exciting stuff!

However, for THIS reading look what happens when you think of God’s mercy as a sacrifice of authority, or God’s authority sacrificed with mercy. Or God’s sacrifice of mercy, or His sacrifice of authority. Or His authority to sacrifice mercy, or His authority to mercifully sacrifice!

You get the point. These three words, no matter how read or arranged, speak of God’s LOVE for us, poured out upon us.

As we try to obey just two simple ‘words of Jesus’, the ‘love God and love one another’ commands, we cannot help but run into mercy, sacrifice, and authority!

How simple following Christ really is! His love for us was surely demonstrated by His sacrifice for us. His mercy surely saves us from the penalty due us because of our sins. His authority surely causes every knee to bow before the King of Kings, Who has defeated every foe. Etc.

Read it. Connect the dots. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you the revelation of the mystery, Christ in you, the hope of Glory!

About 11:30 this morning, between the storm clouds, came a burst of sunshine so inviting I had to go for a 4-mile hike around the wetlands and forests near here. It’s a special Blessing to be able to take advantage of such things.

Another Blessing is the great benefit that hiking provides- the time to think- and to be alone with one’s self. After a mile or so the mind can get rid of all the normal day-stuff to process and explore more important things.

Let’s examine the Wonder of Discovery. First, let’s think about what Discovery is. It’s much more than just learning something new or experiencing something for the first time. In the simplest terms, Discovery means to dis-cover something. To remove the cover; to un-hide; to see deeper, etc.

The great explorers of days past, like Columbus or Lewis & Clark, dis-covering the new continents, ‘worlds’ to them, were filled with awe as they pushed on. Whatever hardships they endured were the victories of the discovery, as they not only overcame, but triumphed in seeing and being a part of something so new, un-dis-covered, if you will. The excitement builds, emotions peak, things become awesome…full of ‘wonder’. (awe; surprise; marvel)

And so, in this Wonder of Discovery, I not only ‘learn’ something, but actually ‘experience’ the thing, adding to the mental addition that a piece of knowledge gives, but also the emotional and even spiritual dis-covering.

But wait! It gets better. The Wonder of Discovery leads us to a higher place, that spiritual place so difficult to explain but which I’m sure the explorers of old surely confronted:

The Discovery of Wonder

Once something is un-covered, and whatever lies beneath begins to reveal, one doesn’t throw the cover back on! One doesn’t run from, but to! The Wonder happens. Wonder is awesome, isn’t it? Wonder drives us, if we are free enough to let it happen. A touch of fear may grip some of us, because of the unknown becoming known, but the excitement builds and the mind marvels, and even the pores open and the body demands more oxygen as the endorphins explode within us. We might now say it becomes Wonder-full!

I think Wonder is a God thing, which is the main point. Wonder is God revealing Himself to us, the dis-covering of science or nature or His being and nature. If we can just take the time to Discover the Wonder. It’s happening all around us, all the time, covered by the world and our busy lives of earth-dwelling. God gives us His Word so that we can uncover and discover His Wonders. The Bible will come alive to you if you pursue the Wonder it reveals, and not just the history or geography or whatever else keeps it ‘covered’.

When slaves are set Free they rejoice. They dance and sing and praise and go all crazy because of being no longer captive, bound up, limited and…enslaved. Freedom is the greatest Wonder for a slave to imagine. God sent us Jesus Christ so we can be set free, and He leads us to Discover the Wonder of relationship with Him.