Ryan's Ramblings

remember...

We never know how things will turn out.

If you are looking ahead to 2012 and worrying or wondering about the future, you are wasting your time.  You would do well to stop ruminating over the unknown and start remembering the work of God in your life over this past year.

God is constantly imploring his followers to remember...

"Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the LORD your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm." Deuteronomy 5:15

"Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years,..."  Deuteronomy 8:2

“Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb for all Israel." Malachi 4:4

[Jesus says] "Do you still not understand? Don’t you remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered?" Matthew 16:9

"Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel,..." 2 Timothy 2:8

"And he [Jesus] took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” Luke 22:19

Sitting here at my cluttered desk on New Year's Eve 2011 I am remembering...

...that my sister has a new kidney.

...that God has done the impossible at our school (TCIS).

...that I have lived another year with my precious wife and two wonderful daughters.

...that I have enjoyed a year of good health.

...that I have friends and family who are growing in their walk with the Lord.

I can't do justice to these rememberings.  In print they look so clean, simple and easy, but you know as well as I do that life is messy.  With the good comes the bad and amazingly, in God's economy, out of the bad God brings good.  This is where remembering really makes a difference.

We never know how things will turn out, but that is ok.  We don't need to know the future. We just need to remember how God has worked over the days and months of 2011.  We need to allow his faithfulness in the past to speak words of hope into our future.

Remember...God loves you.

Happy New Year

 

Wherever It Pleases

"The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."  John 3:8 (NIV)

My calendar was full.  I wasn't planning on going, but then the boss said that I had to go.  I didn't want to.  However, I kept my mouth shut and went.  When I got home that night I journaled about the day.  It was one of the most inspiring and memorable days of my life.  I couldn't have imagined the people that I met.  Their stories intersected with my story and my life will never be the same.

I am learning to go with the Wind...wherever it pleases.

Living Life

"Fear not that your life will come to an end, but that it will never have a beginning."--John Henry Newman

Fear and worry are serious issues.  They can really mess up your life, if they even allow you, and those around you, to live life.  It could be said that there is a wise kind of fear--a reverent fear--that keep us on the straight and narrow, and there is a form of worry that is really just a healthy dose of responsible and prudent care and concern...I guess. 

But I am not talking about those kinds of fear and worry.

I am talking about the kind of fear and worry that rob you of life and leave you with regret.  The kind that keep you up at night and keep you from getting out of bed in the morning.  The kind of fear and worry that we all wrestle with, especially in the face of risk.

John Maxwell says this of risk and fear:

"What's ironic is that those who don't have the courage to take risks and those who do experience the same amount of fear in life.  The only difference is that those who don't take chances worry about trivial things.  If you're going to have to overcome your fear and doubts anyway, you might as well make it count."

The element of risk in our lives is experienced in a myriad of ways, but the real weight of engaging in risk is realized in the decisions and actions that affect those things that are most precious in life--our own hearts and lives and more importantly, the hearts and lives of those that we love.

For us to truly "live" there has to be something bigger in our lives than the fears and worries that accompany the risks of life.  We need courage.  I like the quote from the father in the movie, "The Princess Diaries,"

"Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear."

Is there something "more important than fear" in your life?  Is fear and worry keeping your life from having a beginning?  If so, I recommend that you look to Jesus.  He is the visible image of the invisible God.  He knows what risk is all about and he has a lot to say about fear ("fear not"), worry ("don't worry") and living life ("I am the way, the truth and the life").

Upwards?

Easter Sunday was over ten days ago.  The remembrance of the cross and the death of Jesus are well over a week behind you.  Where have you gone from there?

Upwards?

"The path of life leads upward for the wise; they leave the grave behind."  (Proverbs 15:24, NLT)

Remember . . . He Is Risen!

What God Wants

History is filled with the accounts of people offering sacrifices to God.  The blood, sweat and tears of sacrifices offered up to God, and the gods, flow down through the ages.  Yet, this costly stream of offerings has had no lasting value--it has evaporated into nothing.

Jesus Christ gave his life upon the cross as the supreme sacrifice for the sins of all humankind.  Sacrifice is costly and God paid the ultimate price to take away the sins of the world.  The debt of sin was paid with the blood, sweat, tears and life of God's only son.  The God who had it all, gave it all upon the cross.  The sacrifice has been given.  God doesn't need our meager offerings.  Take a look at Psalm 50:9-13.

God says,

But I do not need the bulls from your barns or the goats from your pens.

For all the animals of the forest are mine, and I own the cattle on a thousand hills.

I know every bird on the mountains, and all the animals of the field are mine.

If I were hungry, I would not tell you for all the world is mine and everything in it.

Do I eat the meat of bulls?  Do I drink the blood of goats?

So what, if anything, does God want?

Keep on reading in Psalm 50:14-15. 

God says,

Make thankfulness your sacrifice to God,

    and keep the vows you made to the Most High.

Then call on me when you are in trouble, 

    and I will rescue you, and you will give me glory.

I could try to expound upon these verses, but for now I think that the scribblings that I have put next to these verses in my bible say it best.  The scribblings are in parentheses.

Make thankfulness your sacrifice to God, (thanksgiving and gratitude)

and keep the vows you made to the Most High. (obedience and discipline)

Then call on me when you are in trouble, (reliance and trust)

and I will rescue you, and you will give me glory. (praise and worship)

God wants: thanksgiving, gratitude, obedience, discipline, reliance, trust, praise and worship.  As you can see, the things that God desires are those things that reside in and resonate out of the very heart and life of who we are. 

The blood and water that flowed from Christ's body so long ago still flows.  It has not evaporated.  God no longer wants a sacrifice of blood that results in death.  Rather, God wants the sacrifice of a life lived fully for Him.  As you consider the cross and the empty tomb this Easter, remember what God has given to you and give him what He wants in return.

"Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship." (Romans 12:1)

Brother Saul

I didn’t become a Christ follower until I was a teenager.  As a young boy I used to go to church occasionally with my grandmother and I always found it odd that the people in the church referred to one another as “brother” and “sister.”  To me, it was a bit too intimate of a reference to bestow upon friends and acquaintances.  It just seemed strange and out of place.  At that time I didn’t have the maturity to fully understand and appreciate the Christian reference of “brother” and “sister” as a form of address of another person.

In chapter 9 in the book of Acts I read of a man named Saul who was, “…uttering threats with every breath and was eager to kill the Lord’s followers.”  In the biblical account Jesus knocked Saul off of his high horse and then sent one of his followers to pray for and care for Saul in his time of need.

Jesus sent Ananias to lay hands on and pray for Saul and Ananias didn’t like this idea.  He replied, “But Lord, Saul is the enemy.  He is a torturer and killer of Christians!”

Jesus’ response to Ananias was, “Go."

It is in verse 17 of Acts 9 that this interesting story takes an odd twist for me.  “So Ananias went and found Saul.  He laid his hands on him and said, ‘Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road, has sent me so that you might regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.’”

“BROTHER Saul?!?”

It is strange enough to refer to fellow Christians and friends at church as “brother” and “sister,” but “BROTHER Saul?”  Why would Ananias do this?

Because Jesus said, “Go.”

Nearly forty years later I still don’t think that I fully understand why Christians would consider and address one another, and the people that make up the world around them, as “brother” and “sister.”  I am still immature in this realm of my faith.  1 John 4:9-11 is a good place for me to begin to grow up in this area.

“God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him.  This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.  Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other.”

“BROTHER Saul?”

Jesus said, “Go.”

Meet Wisdom

I don't know about you, but I need wisdom.  The opposite of wisdom is...foolishness.  I seem to have plenty of that in my life.  Wisdom is an interesting thing in the Bible.  It is always there and always associated with God, but it is hard to get a handle on. 

Wisdom in the Bible is called "wisdom" and is at times referred to as a lady.  Wisdom is personified as one who was with God from the very beginning.  At times it seems as if wisdom is realized in God and at other times wisdom is referenced as something or someone that is alongside of God.  I don't know the answer to this, but I am encouraged as I see that there is an essential connection and relationship between wisdom and God.

As I have shared before, I like to try to read a chapter of Proverbs every day--because I desperately need the wisdom of God in my life.  This morning I read Proverbs 8 and I learned something about wisdom and I thought that I would share it with you.  In Proverbs 8 wisdom is talking and here is what he, she, it, is saying:

• This is where I (Wisdom) am found.  (vs. 1-5)
• This is what I (Wisdom) am worth.  (vs. 6-21)
• These are my (Wisdom's) credentials.  (vs. 22-31)
• This is what you should do as it relates to me (Wisdom).  (vs. 32-36)

Do you need some wisdom today?  Take a look at Proverbs 8 and meet wisdom.

40 Years vs. 11 Days...You Choose

As I was reading the Bible this morning my mind and heart were arrested by a line in Deuteronomy 1:2-3.  In this passage Moses was getting ready to address the Israelites as they were about to enter into the Promised Land.  Here are the introductory comments in the first chapter of Deuteronomy. 

"Normally it takes only eleven days to travel from Mount Sinai to Kadesh-barnea, going by way of Mount Seir.  But forty years after the Israelites left Egypt, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses addressed the people of Israel..." (NLT)

Wow.  The Israelites spent 40 years on a journey that should have lasted 11 days. That is a tragedy.  It wasn't the distance of the journey that delayed their arrival, but rather it was the path that they chose to take. 

Along with my reading of Deuteronomy 1 this morning I read Psalm 78.  It is a review of the history of the Jewish nation.  Psalm 78 reflects upon and remembers the story of the Israelites from the time of their deliverance from slavery in Egypt to their hopeful days in the midst of King David's reign.  In Psalm 78 I read that God brought them out of Egypt, led them through the Red Sea, guided them by cloud and by fire, and gave them water to drink and food to eat (which is essentially saying that God gave them life).  And yet...they kept on sinning, they complained, they did not trust God, they rebelled against God and they did not remember Him, His ways, nor His presence in their lives.

They spent 40 years on a journey that should have lasted 11 days because of grumbling, selfishness, a lack of trust in God, rebellion, a failure to remember and reflect upon the ways of God in their lives and...sin.

Wow, they spent 40 years on a journey that should have lasted 11 days...

Sin, grumbling, a self-centered attitude, worry (which is a lack of trust in God), rebellion and ingratitude will lead you down a road that you don't want to travel.  It is a way that will strip you of hope and leave you with regret.  It is a path that will rob you of precious years-even entire seasons-of your life.

I don't want to wander for 40 years and waste the precious days of my life.  I suspect that Moses and the Israelites didn't want to be on the 40 year plan either.  But it has been said that,

"Sin will take you further than you want to go.  It will keep you longer than you want to stay, and it will cost you more than you want to pay."

They spent 40 years on a journey that should have lasted 11 days...

Most of the folks that started out on the 11 day journey were dead and gone 40 years later.  They never made it.

Please note that not everyone missed out on the Promised Land.  Joshua made it.  May we all heed his words:

"...Choose today whom you will serve,...as for me and my family we will serve the LORD." Joshua 25:15 (NLT)

God Knows...

I am currently sitting in a Starbucks in Busan, South Korea overlooking the East Sea (or the Sea of Japan as the Japanese like to refer to it).  It is a beautiful site, an amazing view...nearly breath taking.  But this is not what holds my attention right now.

My mind is captured by something I just read in Psalm 77:19.

"Your road led through the sea, your pathway through the mighty waters--a pathway no one knew was there!"

As I sit here and look out at the East Sea and read this scripture my mind goes to the context of this psalm.  The children of Israel were following God's direction away from the Egyptian army and suddenly they were stopped by a seemingly IMPOSSIBLE obstacle--the Red Sea.

They were in what most would consider to be a hopeless situation.  There was no conceivable means of escape or salvation for the fleeing Israelites.  From their perspective they ran into a dead-end along the pathway of God.

The rest of the story is nothing less than amazing.  God parted the Red Sea, delivered the Israelites and destroyed the enemy. 

God made a way where there seemed to be no way.

What kind of impossible situation are you up against?  We need look no further than the daily newspaper to be filled with hopelessness.  God is not bound by our perceived realities.  God led the children of Israel down a pathway that no one knew was there--no one except God. 

Are you up against a seemingly impossible situation?

Be encouraged.  God knows...and he knows the way out.

New!

Hi everybody.  This is a just a note to say thanks to all of you for your faithful readership of this blog and please let us be the first to wish you a Happy New Year!  At the time of this writing it is Dec. 31 here in South Korea and the new year of 2009 is just hours away.

Here are a couple of pictures of us at one of our favorite downtown spots here in Daejeon, South Korea.  The lights and the people are amazing during the Christmas season.  We are so thankful to be able to share this time together as a family.

As we move into the new year we all leave behind a 2008 of various experiences and memories.  Hold onto the good, as that is from God, and be done with all the rest.

In Christ all things are new...even 2009.

"...Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person.  The old life is gone; a new life has begun!"
2 Corinthians 5:17