If you look real close, you can see the blur of the RC Cola bottle flying up the metal pole in the ground. Also note the big glob that went in my ear. I heard fizzing for about 15 minutes after this.
Monthly Archive for May, 2007
“One of the servants answered, “I have seen a son of Jesse of Bethlehem who knows how to play the harp. He is a brave man and a warrior. He speaks well and is a fine-looking man. And the LORD is with him.”
Then Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, “Send me your son David, who is with the sheep.” So Jesse took a donkey loaded with bread, a skin of wine and a young goat and sent them with his son David to Saul.”
(1Sam 16:18-20 NIV)
So all the sons of Jesse have just walked in front of Samuel, from the oldest to the youngest, and after each one, God tells Samuel, “No, I have REJECTED this one.” until the 8th son, the youngest of them all, comes in.
He gets anointed there around the table with his brothers watching, and the Spirit of the Lord comes upon him, and then they go on about their business.
At some unspecified time later, the KING calls for David. Now what in the world would Jesse & sons be thinking about this? They haven’t made public what happened, because a riot or uprising or civil war might start. It would be hard no matter what. They keep it quiet, and at some point later, seemingly out of nowhere, the KING sends for David, to work and serve in his court.
I guess after this anointing business, they sent David back to be with the sheep! That’s where he is when Saul calls him. What would you think if you were David. Called in from the sheep. ANOINTED AS KING OVER ALL OF ISRAEL. Sent back out to work with the sheep.
I would love to figure out what the timeline was on this. That gives me a lot of peace about wondering which job I’ll do next. I hear people say a lot “This is a great job, but it’s not what I’m going to do for the rest of my life.” Of course it isn’t, but it might be the good thing to do for the next 2, 10, or 20 years.
Speaking of time, I’ve run out. Maybe tomorrow morning I can figure out some timeline stuff.
“Then panic struck the whole army—those in the camp and field, and those in the outposts and raiding parties—and the ground shook. It was a panic sent by God.”
(1Sam 14:15 NIV)
One friday afternoon I was just about ready to leave work and walk home. I had packed up my briefcase and was turning off the lights and everything was normal. Then I heard a thud and there was a shake, like somebody fell out of their chair or dropped a paper box down the hall. I had half a second to wonder about it then the whole floor shook. My desk began banging against the wall and as I stood there I felt like I was on a boat getting hit with some waves. There was nothing to hold on to or step to that was stable, everything was moving, and then it was over.
Another day I was in the bathtub. Our shower doesn’t work so we have a plastic scoop with which we scoop up water and pour it over our heads to rinse soap off. I was rinsing off my face and felt a little dizzy. That seemed normal enough, you know how you tilt your head around with your eyes closed and sometimes feel dizzy. Then I opened my eyes and saw water sloshing out of the bathtub and the hot water heater banging against the wall. From the other end of the house I heard Cindy yell “Earthquake!”
In both of these cases, the Earthquake had such an effect on me that I felt trembly the whole walk home, and dizzy for most of my morning. I can only imagine a bunch of Philistines running around, a little (or a lot) nervous about this Jonathan guy, and then there is an earthquake. That would just be the icing on the cake to send them all into a tizzy. Nothing makes you feel absolutely powerless like a natural disaster or phenomenon. God’s a genius.
“We can’t give them our daughters as wives, since we Israelites have taken this oath: ‘Cursed be anyone who gives a wife to a Benjamite.’ But look, there is the annual festival of the LORD in Shiloh, to the north of Bethel, and east of the road that goes from Bethel to Shechem, and to the south of Lebonah.”
So they instructed the Benjamites, saying, “Go and hide in the vineyards and watch. When the girls of Shiloh come out to join in the dancing, then rush from the vineyards and each of you seize a wife from the girls of Shiloh and go to the land of Benjamin. When their fathers or brothers complain to us, we will say to them, ‘Do us a kindness by helping them, because we did not get wives for them during the war, and you are innocent, since you did not give your daughters to them.’””
(Judg 21:18-22 NIV)
So they made and oath in their rage and then had to figure out a way to trick God and get out of it, because they couldn’t bear the consequences of their oath.
The book of Judges is so crazy. The last verse is a good thesis statement for the whole book:
In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit.
(Judges 21:25 NIV)
I just read today about Vice-President Dick Cheney’s daughter having a baby. She is a lesbian and has a partner of 15 years and at 37 has had a baby and all kinds of people are in an uproar about it. I think she herself said the best thing about it the whole thing,
“This is a baby. This is a blessing from God. It is not a political statement. It is not a prop to be used in a debate by people on either side of an issue. It is my child.”
I think that is a great statement, but that statement itself is REALLY political! Anyway, as I read the critics and fans talk about how a child can be raised with two mommies as well as he can be raised by a mommy and a daddy, I just think, what a bummer.
What a bummer that the world doesn’t see that the Church has better, stronger, more life in its families than the world. Bummer that the world doesn’t see that a family full of God isn’t any better than a family with two moms or dads.
What does this have to do with the Benjamites and their wives?
In ancient Israel, they had no king. Everyone did whatever they wanted. It really is the same today. Whatever is deep inside of you is going to come out, and as it comes out and is shown to the world, people seem to dress it up with whatever ideology that matches it.
What if the issue for this lady wasn’t being gay or having a baby with two mommies or anything else?
What if the issue was Jesus?
What if the issue wasn’t whether people were living together when they weren’t married?
What if the issue was Jesus?
What if the issue wasn’t how do we keep this oath that we made before God and still have wives for the Benjamites?
What if the issue was Jesus?
Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother’s way.
(Romans 14:13 NIV)
How can this lady take her child to church when The Church has said a million times in a million ways that she shouldn’t live like this and shouldn’t have this baby?
I have a bad feeling that in the Muslim world, the Gay world, and a couple other areas, the church is going to find itself stuck looking back on the things it said and have trouble finding a bride for Christ among the tribes.
“Samson led Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines.
One day Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute. He went in to spend the night with her.
The people of Gaza were told, “Samson is here!” So they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the city gate. They made no move during the night, saying, “At dawn we’ll kill him.”
But Samson lay there only until the middle of the night. Then he got up and took hold of the doors of the city gate, together with the two posts, and tore them loose, bar and all. He lifted them to his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron.”
(Judg 15:20-16:3 NIV)
I was just reading along, minding my own business in my Bible, and I read that part. Samson goes off and spends half a night with a prostitute, then escapes. It doesn’t say it was evil, it doesn’t say God was mad, nothing. Samson had a lot of issues, even though he was raised as a ’separated’ kid-most of them involving women.
First with his Philistine wife that was given to his friend, then this prostitute, then of course Delilah. And the angel gave his parents all of those instructions about wine, and they surely worried his whole life about keeping him away from wine, but it was women that were his downfall.
I think about the various boycotts that come through like fads in Christian culture. Boycott Disney, boycott Teletubbies, Power Rangers, Pokemon, Procter & Gamble, paper matches, snorkles, whatever.
I wonder if we focused on drawing NEAR to God and weren’t afraid of wine or gay Teletubbies what would happen. Wouldn’t we surely grow stronger in HIM and be able to resist the evils of Tinky Winky and Delilah and be able to SHARE the power that He gives?!
How is this thought, because I do see a place for boycotts somewhere. Let’s boycott as an act of power and not as an act of fear. If you will boycott things, do it as an act of attack rather than a fearful retreat. Then as you draw near to the goodness of God, His goodness will come out in love toward whatever issue you are facing.
More notes from my pocket. This one says “Acceptable non-conformity” at the top. That is whatever is in the range of rebellion and non-conformity that is still acceptable by society, hence not really rebellious or non-conformist. Like the guy wearing a baseball cap crooked or the prep-school boy with long hair.
I often tend to live (not on purpose) just outside the edge of acceptable non-conformity, and it gets me in trouble. ie. wearing a lawn chair on my back in college before they came out with those convenient tiny fold-up kind. It was not acceptable, according to my boss, for me to walk around with a lawn chair strapped to my back. “What if everyone started carrying around lawn chairs? We just can’t have that.”
now *that* is visceral.
Two decadent events from my city. Hopefully there is something to read after it’s been through the washer.
I went on a long walk the week after Easter. We had a lot to think about and consider. These are the notes of what I got.
“After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up, who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel.”
(Judg 2:10 NIV)
WHAT!? The last few chapters have all been excellent records of what God did, of the boundary lines He established, of the altars they set up and the stones they set up and the people they set up as witnesses to all of these things!
“Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the LORD. He is a holy God; he is a jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins. If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, he will turn and bring disaster on you and make an end of you, after he has been good to you.”
But the people said to Joshua, “No! We will serve the LORD.”
Then Joshua said, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to serve the LORD.”
“Yes, we are witnesses,” they replied.
“Now then,” said Joshua, “throw away the foreign gods that are among you and yield your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel.”
And the people said to Joshua, “We will serve the LORD our God and obey him.””
(Josh 24:19-24 NIV)
they said they would follow the LORD and Joshua said no you won’t
they said yes we will, and Joshua said, OK, you are your own witnesses now!
How much is this just like Peter and Jesus?
I’ll follow you
no you won’t
yes I will
You will be your own witness and hear the cock crow and know that you failed me.
I don’t think the answer is to shy away from making commitments, or to stay away from people making promises, but I wonder how many times we go too fast into making these commitments??
Like the summer camps for kids where they make a commitment to Christian Ministry…then what?
I remember one time I worked at a camp and we were in a pole barn during a thunderstorm. A METAL POLE BARN during a thunderstorm. And they made an altar call and they told the kids if they wanted to commit themselves to Jesus to come forward to their counselor.
After everyone in my group came to me, I asked one little boy, JT, why he came up to the front.
“I don’t know!?” he said with a smile.
I know a guy that used to play in the NBA. He had a strict rule for his son. It wasn’t about curfews or about where on their farm he could or could not go.
It was about who he could play basketball with.
When the dad was training and preparing and learning basketball, and entering the NBA, he had to unlearn a whole lot of stuff that he had learned. He wanted his son to learn the right way to shoot a free throw, the right way to shoot a jump shot, the right way to block, the right way to set a pick, FROM THE START.
I’m not totally sure I want my kids to go to some camp and run up to the front during a call to commitment in the middle of a thunderstorm. The generation after Joshua didn’t learn enough from their fathers, about the memorial altars set up, about the miracles in Egypt, and about God fighting for them in the new land. They learned some new thing from their neighbors because they didn’t learn enough from their fathers, and the whole generation went off track.
Now if I wrote about a handwritten blog, it would defeat the whole point of the handwritten blog, wouldn’t it?
