Life

In a whiny voice…”Our life is sooooooooooooooooo hard!” 

Reflections

On last Tuesday night a friend of mine, Cedric Lundy, posed a question on Facebook.  He asked, “I wonder what my 96 year granddaughter of a slave is thinking and feeling right now?” Just yesterday he took some time and shared about a conversation he had with her.  I thought it was important to share it here with his permission.

Cedric wrote:

“This is something that many people thought they would never see in their lifetime”

That comment was repeated a few times the night of the election once the outcome was clear. Images of Jesse Jackson with tears in his eyes, Martin Luther King III being interviewed. It was obviously a historical event long to be remembered. All of this sparked in me a thought, which some of you may have seen up as my status the following 48 hours after election Tuesday, “I wonder what my 96 year granddaughter of a slave is thinking and feeling right now?” Some of you encouraged me to find out, and thus I called her the following morning.

Global

Status report on global Christianity in 2006. My professor at Fuller linked us to this work.  It is interesting to see trends and shifts that are happening throughout the world.  It is a PDF file and can be open by clicking here.

Blessed

Have you recently stopped to think about how blessed you are?  Even if things are rough in life right now for you…there are numerous other ways that you are blessed.

I was reflecting on this, this morning.  I’m blessed because…I have an amazing loving wife, a sweet baby girl, a family that is loving, I’m loved by God, have friends that care, a home to live in, food to eat, etc…

I could go on and on but my sweet baby girl is waking up.

How are you blessed?

Five for Friday

Aubrey is a blast to be around.  It has been a joy to watch her grow and learn.  Today I though I’d bring back a posting that I’ve not done for quite awhile, Five for Friday.

Today, five of my favorite things Aubrey does.

1. Get excited to see us.  When ever Joanna or I see her after work, her face lights up, her arms and legs move rapidly, and she squeals.

2. Looks at the world with wonder.  Watching her explore and experience the world with wonder and joy challenges me.  Aubrey loves the outdoors.  She gazes at leaves, birds, the grass.  She is always exploring the world around her.

3. “Reads” her books.  She is enthralled with her books.  She would rather sit with books then play with her toys.  She will sit for long periods of time taking the books off the shelf and then looking through each one multiple times.  Recently I saw her holding it up with both hands and “talking” like she was reading the book out loud.

4. Cuddles.  Every night before she goes to bed, Joanna or I have her lay next to us with her doll and let her calm down.  It is a sweet time.

5. Smiles.  Joanna says she smiles with her eyes.  Her smile brings great joy to all of us.

Blind Spots

We often live life with blind spots and not even notice.  These are realities that are present but we cannot see them for whatever reason it may be.   I found Lisa Sharon Harper’s post: Black and White Evangelical Voters: A Teachable Moment very insightful in regard to a blind spot many in the white evangelical community may have.

President

Let’s just say, I’ve found interaction with followers of Christ this morning interesting.  Last night and this morning I’ve also watched status updates on Facebook and they have been interesting too.  (Feel free to interpret “interesting” however you would like.)

Two words come to mind:

1. Historical.  It is impossible, no matter how you voted or feel about policy to not see this as a monumental moment in our country’s history.  I posted on this in June and you can see the post here.

2. Responsibility.  Justin Taylor shared a post last night that speaks to ALL followers of Christ and their responsibility.  This responsibility would not have changed if McCain, Nader, or anyone else were elected.  You can read Justin’s full post here.  Here are some of the words from his post:

No matter who you voted for–or whether you voted at all–it’s important to remember that, as President, Barack Obama will have God-given authority to govern us, and that we should view him as a servant of God (Rom. 13:1, 4) to whom we should be subject (Rom. 13:1, 5; 1 Pet. 2:13-14).

• We are to pray for Barack Obama (1 Tim. 2:1-2).
• We are to thank God for Barack Obama (1 Tim. 2:1-2).
• We are to respect Barack Obama (Rom. 13:7).
• We are to honor Barack Obama (Rom. 13:7; 1 Pet. 2:17).

Thanks Justin for the Biblical reminder of our responsibility.

Trust

Mark Driscoll posted this earlier today.

…(Those) who have gotten sidetracked for the cause of a false king and a false kingdom by making too much of the election and too little of Jesus, today is a good day to practice repentance…

Allow me to repeat this…no matter who is elected, God is still God.  Obama has been elected and God is still God.  If McCain had been elected, God would still be God.

So where are you putting your trust?

Halloween

Aubrey as a pink bunny for Halloween.

Joanna was a hot wife, I was a disappointed Cubs fan, and Aubrey the pink bunny.

Backwards

Tonight I shared in something I’ve not done before.  We prayed backwards.

I joined together with 200 other people praying together in a live room with a video feed for the election tomorrow.

This event was organized by Carlos Whittaker.  You can check out his blog here.

As a group we prayed for…
1. Pray that our leaders would grown in Faith. In their relationships with Jesus Christ
2. Pray for their marriages.
3. Pray for their children.
4. Pray for those around them.
5. Pray for their emotional and physical health.
6. Those on the left pray blessing on McCain, those on the right pray for Obama.

There is an ugliness that is divisive and has been happening in Christian communities over the election.  Tonight was a beautiful picture of unity that I’m confident brought a smile to the Lord tonight and MUST occur as we move forward.

I’ll close with these words from scripture…

“May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus so with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” -Romans 15:5-6