The Shack

Hey everyone:

I don't know if Lynda and I will be there on Sunday or not. I'm much improved and will probably be going to work next week. Actually, I worked some today as I attended and took part in public meetings at Centerton at 3PM and 6PM. Hopefully this needed activity won't slow my improvement. But, if I'm able to travel, we need to drive to Oklahoma City and assist Sara for a couple of day and probably bring Ephraim back to stay with us for a while. Richard heads to Boston on Saturday for two weeks of classes for his doctor of ministry program. So, I'll either convalesce here or in OKC.

Where did we get to in The Shack on Sunday? How far should we have read to for class on Jan 17, and probably how far for class on Jan 24th? Help us out who have missed, not just Lynda and me.

Christmas Party

Trecia and I are sorry we missed the Christmas Party this year. We always enjoy it. However; I have a great gift saved from last year. If anyone wants it let me know.

Fix Your Eyes on Jesus

As I said in a previous post, I have been especially struck by the commands the writer of Hebrews gives us. This is not the focus of the lesson series, but these commands would make a good series of their own. The first was in Hebrews 2:1.

We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.

The second, from Hebrews 3:1, seems to tell us how to do that.

Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess.

In chapter 1 we are told that Jesus was superior to angels. Then the command was given to pay more careful attention to the message so that we will not drift away. In chapter 2 we are told that Jesus, who was already shown to be superior to angels, was made lower than the angels to be like us. He was made like his brothers he is therefore better able to help us in our times of need. So Jesus is so important, that as we think of the message we have heard, and pay more careful attention to it, the most important part of that is to fix our thoughts on Jesus.

Good words for this season.

The Christmas party is scheduled for Dec 12th. A sign up sheet will be going around Sunday for food to bring. Marion is cooking the meat (turkeys I believe). Everyone else will sign up for side dishes that they are bringing.

Christmas Party

I didn't make it to Life Group this past Sunday. Thought my daughter, Katie, was going to come to church and then ended up not. When is the Christmas Party??? Thanks.

Hebrews: Pay More Careful Attention

I am much enjoying our study of Hebrews. The approach of the lesson writers, a series focusing on how things are better since Jesus came, is a novel approach. Let's see, we've had:

• Jesus is superior to angels
• Jesus is great than Moses
• Jesus is the better way of entering God's rest
• Jesus is the greater high priest
• The new covenant in Jesus is superior to the old covenant

Yet, this type of approach overlooks something else in the book that is also important: the commands the writer of Hebrews gives us. The book includes quite a few "Therefore, we must..." type commands. These typically alternate with the "better than" segments. Take the first one:

"We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away."

Those who first read Hebrews, or who couldn't read and only heard it read, were at a decided disadvantage to us. They have no New Testament to study. They had no televisions or tape recorders to allow them to hear things over and over again. In their fellowship times, an elder would read from the scriptures that they had--the Old Testament--and then expound on it. It's possible that they might have read from one of Paul's letters, depending on how widely these had been copied and distributed at an early date.

They didn't have commentaries to explain how Jesus fulfilled their scriptures. They didn't have many published books created to help them live the life God wanted for them. Just what they heard.

Perhaps, then, we have less excuse than they did for drifting away. How should we paraphrase the command of Hebrews 2:1 to make it more applicable to our modern era? Perhaps:

Since Jesus is superior to all ministering spirits, we must pay more careful attention to all the life-building information God has sent our way, so that we do not drift away.

Ah, It's Friday

Yes, the end of the work week. In twenty-five minutes I can pack my portfolio, put the computer on standby, and head home. Of course, I'll wait a little longer than that to let some traffic move on down the road ahead of me. Time to go home and relax.

Relax? We've got the kids coming in next Wednesday. The house needs cleaning. The Christmas decorations have to go up, since we won't see the kids at Christmas. No way are we going to have the house un-decorated when Ephraim arrives, toddling about, saying "I see..." to everything he sees. The outside lights went up last weekend, all but two strings I need to either fix or replace.

Most of the leaves are already moved to some place we want them to be. I'll have to clean up a few. Then there's the two maple trees that Carroll Electric decided to decapitate, which need shaping. That'll take an hour at least. Add trimming the crape myrtle to that and it'll be two hours.

Last Saturday saw the garage mostly organized, but not fully so. At least an hour there. Plus, the receipts and bills have been piling up downstairs, waiting to be sorted then filed. We have these new trays to keep them in, which should help, but which also feed procrastination.

I'd like to write some, maybe one article for Suite101.com in American colonial history, and maybe 1,000 pages in my novel in progress. Plus there's a couple of freelance writing gigs I need to evaluate more.

Help! I'm a prisoner of the weekend. Oh for Monday to come and the blissful slowness of the office.

hello there!

Is anybody home? I am not seeing many new posts! We could have some real neat conversations on this thing!

I think what Dan suggested about The Shack would be good to study. The women did that study on a Wednesday night and it was really awesome. I have read it twice and enjoyed it both times. But it doesn't really matter with me what we study. I do enjoy the books of the Bible.

New Lesson

I would suggest a lesson series on the book "The Shack". I have read it once and have downloaded it to my Ipod. Breiefly it is about a man whose daughter was murdured and became bitter to God. He is summoned to the shack where the murder occured in a strange way. He encounters God in three persons. What follows is a dialogue with the persons in the God Head about all the eternal questions.

I wouldn't mind selecting a book from the Bible and studying that. I would like us to look at Romans.