Survival Camp

July 29th, 2005

Every summer our church hosts a camp at Lake Camanche. There is a worship band, powerful speaker, delicious cooking, games and activities all week long. A number of parents volunteer to bring up their boats for the week and take the students wake boarding, tubing and water skiing. The students are divided up into teams with a guy and girl counselor in which they are split and share a sleeping area (under the stars!) and small group. Maybe this doesn’t sound like the getaway of a lifetime, but it is actually the highlight of many of the student’s summers and this is where Bobby and I will be all next week. I’m already looking forward ro blogging about it when I get back!



War of Words

July 26th, 2005

Today I started reading a favorite book of mine called War of Words by Paul David Tripp. This is the fourth time I’ve read this book and I learn more and more each time. The drive of War of Words is to get to the heart of our communication struggles. Words are such a natural and consuming part of each person’s day. Tripp delves straight to the deeper issues of why we speak in ways that are not honoring to God or uplifting to each other and shows the hope from God’s Word that will help us change our words to be characterized by grace and truth. I recently read Proverbs 18:21 which says, “Words kill, words give life; they are either poison or fruit–you choose.” This sparked my thoughts about the way I speak and how I so carelessly toss words out. So I pulled this book off my shelf hoping for a renewed perspective on my responsibility to speak in a godly manner. I highly recommend this book for it offers great encouragement and hope in learning to communicate rightly as the gospel radically changes the way we communicate:

“The purpose of this book is not just to hold out the lofty standard
God has set for us and then remind us how far we all far short of it.
Most of us are painfully aware of the distance between where we are
and where God wants us to be. No, this book is a book of hope…about
change that is possible because of the person and work of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Word who is the only hope for our words! ”
The last couple of days I’ve had a relaxing time hanging out with my brother-in-law, Billy. We spent time at Starbucks, Bobby’s office, a brief cooking lesson and even went to see Charlie and the Chocolate factory…a film that is weird beyond description, not worth renting, hearing about or seeing even once! We tried to make the best of the two hours by laughing as we were weirded out by Johnny Depp’s violet-colored contact lenses and false teeth. I also am doing some planning for our summer camp coming up next week and even spent some time in the Godsong recording studio. If you are not a regular at Godsong music I encourage you to visit more often. They are diligent at keeping up the site with stirring blog entries and always an array of new photos. There will even be some new songs available at the site, including this most recent one that I had the privilege of being a part of, Call.


You reach down from on high
And put joy in my life
So I praise You as faithful


Excellence

July 24th, 2005

I’ve been having a wonderful time this week with my parents up to see us, we went for a long walk and had ice cream. Monica stayed for a few days and we had a great time watching “Shark Week” on the Discovery Channel, getting haircuts and enjoying food and conversation together. Now Billy is up for a few days, as he just moved out here for his new job in Southern California. This weekend we had very hot weather, a big wedding to attend and lots of excitement as we shared with others that we are having a baby. It seems that our lives are always full. Not necessarily good things all the time or bad things all the time, but full of the Lord working. I’m so glad that we have some precious close friends and family to share life with as we encourage and sharpen each other to walk in the light of God as we love Him and serve others each day.

Today I spent some time reading Psalm 8 and I was profoundly moved by the descriptive and specific way that the writer glorifies God:

“O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth,
Who have set Your glory above the heavens!
When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
The moon and the stars, which You have ordained,


What is man that You are mindful of him,
And the son of man that You visit him?
For You have made him a little lower than the angels,
And You have crowned him with glory and honor.
O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth!”
Psalm8:1,3-4,9
God is amazing. He was never created, but He created all that exists. I think of the Grand Canyon, the ocean, mountains and even the red tide–how amazing creation is. And yet, it is only a slight reflection of the awesome God whose fingers formed it into being. We are usually so focused on ourselves and getting glory for our own name that we fail to recognize God as He is and in doing so do not see ourselves in proper light. It is difficult to see the One who is so far and so exalted above us when all we do is look at ourselves. This Psalm is a deep expression of the humble response we should have as we see glimpses of God’s glory in creation and our lives.
Man is nothing. He deserves no acclaim and no praise. Yet his whole life he is out to find happiness, self-worth and success. God is the only one who is worthy and deserving of being exalted. For no matter how bright we are or accomplished we become we are no match for the grandeur of God’s majesty. Life is so fulfilling when I look up and see myself in light of the Lord, so small and insignificant and yet He loved me so much that He sent His Son to make atonement for all of our sins. And He doesn’t even stop there, but continues to guide me and give me such good gifts that are all beyond what I could have imagined. He is excellent indeed!



Repent. Rinse. Repeat.

July 20th, 2005

This week we’ve been busy with Bible Boot Camp, our annual high school and middle school day camp. Each day the morning consists of two hours of intense Bible teaching, a lunch break and then we spend the afternoon doing some arranged activity of games at the park or something similar. This year’s study is on sin and repentance from 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” I was very convicted listening to Bobby teach on confession. He asked the students, “How many of you confess your sins on a daily basis?” Barely any students raised their hands. Then he asked, “How many of you sin ever day?” Every hand went up. “Ah” he said, “We’re all hypocrites here, aren’t we. We know we sin, but we won’t even confess it.”

This sunk in as I thought about it throughout the day. Most Christians including myself do not take sin as seriously as we ought. Sin is so excusable to those who have been saved because we think it doesn’t have a hold on us anymore. But really when we sin and don’t repent we are being deformed from Christ’s image into Satan’s. Bobby talked about some verses in John 8 which describe Satan as the Father of lies. None of us would ever want to be called a child of Satan’s, but we also will not confront our sin and confess it to God and others. We always like to think we can be somewhere in the middle, even though there is no such place. I thought of Paul’s rhetorical question in Romans 6

“What shall we say then?
Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?
Certainly not!
Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death,
that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father,
even so we also should walk in the newness of life.”
Romans 6:1-2,4
It doesn’t even make sense that those who have been saved would continue to live as one who is perishing and yet we do. It is not that we must determine in our wills to be godly, we would fail at this too. But Christ has given us the grace, strength and hope to actually walk in the newness of life in Him. We must be careful to humble ourselves by taking our sin seriously, confessing it to God and others, repenting and turning from it unto righteousness. This is the idea of the Bible Boot Camp theme this year: Repent. Rinse. Repeat.
I was thoughtful about this all day, but found encouragement in the worship time we had tonight. Today was beach day and we spent eight hours at the beach with a campfire, hot dogs and smores. Ty led a song called Facedown by Matt Redman. I’ve heard this song a number of times but tonight in light of the days lessons, I heard it in a different way seeing how lowly and broken we should be in the presence of the Lord in light of our sin. Even though these activities are for the students, I think I always come away affected.
Who is there in the heavens like You?
And upon the earth, who’s Your equal?
You are far above.
Your the highest of heights.
I am bowing down to exalt You.


And I’ll fall face down
As Your glory shines around…


The half-way mark…

July 17th, 2005

Today marks halfway through my summer break. I was pondering some of the things I’ve gotten to do so far and looking forward to the things that are yet to come before I head back to the office. Some of the things I wanted to do were replaced by the unexpected, but I also did things I hadn’t planned that I enjoyed. Some highlights of my summer so far include endless reading and napping, seeing the red tide in Southern California, painting my end tables with my mom, lunches with Missy, starting a girls Bible study, Mario Kart and visiting our family in Texas. I’m thankful for the time I’ve had off from work so far and am excitedly anticipating the month and a half I have left.

Tonight at the girls Bible studywe were confronted to take our desires and discontent seriously. I shared some thoughts on contentment from 1 Timothy which says:

“Now godliness with contentment is great gain.
For we brought nothing into this world,
And it is certain we can carry nothing out.
And having food and clothing,
with these things we shall be content.


But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare,
and into many foolish and harmful lusts
which drown men into destruction and perdition.
For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil,
for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness,
and pierced themselves through many sorrows.


But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue
righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience gentleness.
Fight the good fight of faith.”
1 Timothy 6:6-12
As I read this passage and shared with the girls I realized that contentment is a revealing and substantial topic for most everyone. We all took a little quiz that asked questions such as, “Have you complained this week?”, “Do you ever worry about your future?” and “Do you ever feel inwardly jealous when else gets something you want but can’t afford?” These questions and the many verses we studied showed us pretty quickly that we are prone to having ungrateful and self-centered hearts. Maybe we aren’t all greedily swept away by our love for money, but it isn’t hard to see that we are swept away by many other things. Our love of all things that are not the Lord lead is into so much evil and harmful temptations and lusts. We often do not trust that God is working things rightly or that we are getting our due. We worry about our needs being met and envy others for their family, circumstances, popularity, appearance or possessions.
I started thinking how sad this situation of discontent really is in light of the magnitude of the sacrifice for our salvation. Christ has given us life and yet we want so many other things. It’s almost as though He is not enough for us. I was convicted to see that discontent even in my own heart is due to an improper focus on the physical temporary things of this world rather than the spiritual reality of the fight of faith. I like how Missy encouraged me by saying that it isn’t that we are stuck in our discontent, contentment is a mindset. Being convicted of this sin we can choose to think and respond differently on matters of contentment by trusting God’s will, seeking “first His kingdom“(Matthew 6: 33) and being diligent to obey the things He has set before us in His Word. We can discipline our thoughts to find ultimate joy in God and learn to get over ourselves by focusing our lives on others in service and ministry.
You are the only one I need
I bow all of me at Your feet
I worship You alone
You have given me more than I could ever have wanted
I want to give you my heart and my soul


For You alone are Father
And You alone are good
You alone are Savior
And You alone are God


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