The Echo of Edification

Edification comes in various forms and can be sent out and received by us in various ways. Sometimes it ricochets further along and touches other's lives. Sometimes we might see how it works -- sometimes we won't.

Other times it can reverberate like an echo between mountains. (And perhaps, just like an echo, it fades over time and gets weaker. Perhaps, that is why we need it on such a regular basis - the resonance wanes and fresh fire must be lit.)

I've just experienced how it can also echo back and forth between two people.
I say this because of a meeting I had with a truly great saint I had the honor to spend some time with this week. I had left thinking I was the one refreshed. I sent him an email thanking him for this time.

I want to share a small part of what he wrote:

It was refreshing for me this morning/afternoon. At times I get cynical and God sends an eager individual my way (usually out of nowhere) and my spirit is renewed. I thank Him and you for that.

THAT in turn renewed me AGAIN!

THIS is edification's echo.

A Love Note from Your Father

(Adapted from the Psalms by Steve McVey)

My dear child,

I am with you. (46:7) Stop striving and know that I am God. (46:10) I have chosen your inheritance for you. (47:4) I rule over everything. (47:8) Remember Israel - They didn't possess the land by their own swords. It wasn't their hand that saved them. It was My right hand and My arm and the light of My presence. I favored them. (44:3) So it is with you--I have poured out grace on your lips and will bless you forever. (45:2)

I will always guide you, until the day you die. (48:14) You thought I was just like you. (50:21) But my loving kindness endures all day long, every day. (52:1) Know this--I am for you. (56:9) My loving kindness toward you is higher than the heavens. (57:10) Stay with me and take refuge under the shelter of my wings. (61:4)

Trust in me at all times and pour out your heart before me. (62:8) I am the One who bears your burdens. I am your salvation and am the God of deliverance for you. (68:19-20) I will show myself strong in the way I act on your behalf. (68:28) Just trust me and praise me more and more. (71:14)

Listen to what I am saying - I speak peace to you, my godly one. (85:8) Your springs of joy are to be found in me. (87:7) I will satisfy you every morning with my loving kindness. (90:14) When you find anxious thoughts multiplying in your mind, my consolation will delight your soul. So be glad. (94:19)

I never change. (102:27) My sovereignty rules over all. (103:19) Meditate on that and I'll be pleased. (104:34) I have sent my word and healed you and delivered you from your destructions. (107:20) I am God. I do whatever I please (115:3) and it pleases me to be gracious and compassionate and to preserve you. (116:5-6) What I have said is settled in heaven. (119:89)

I don't count sins or nobody could stand. (130:3-4) You are forgiven and my loving kindness is everlasting. My loving kindness is everlasting! (Ps. 136 says this 26 times) I will accomplish the things that concern you. (138:8) I know you - when you sit down and get up, what you think. I carefully watch over you as you move through your day and then sleep at night. I am intimately acquainted with everything about you. (139:1-4) I wrote the script for every day of your life before you lived a single one of them. (139:16) I know your path and the way where you will walk. (142:3)

And my child...I do take such pleasure in you! (149:4)

With eternal love,
Your proud Father

The New Reformation?

Excerpts from a recent AJC article -
"Author: Faithful abandoning church" by Christopher Dunn

Empty pews a sign of restlessness

The revolution has begun.

Quietly, maybe, but symptoms are bubbling up.

One is empty pews on Sunday morning, says author Phyllis Tickle.

Every mainline Christian denomination is declining in membership.

...(the faithful) are questioning and experimenting, looking for a way to make church meaningful again. This new movement, which she refers to as emerging or emergent Christianity, will have as big an impact as the Reformation, Tickle predicts.

That was the 16th century upheaval when religious thinkers split open the feather pillow that had been the monolithic belief system of the Catholic Church. No one was able to put all the feathers back into the bag, and it changed the world —- generating new churches, igniting wars and helping push Protestants toward American shores.

The movement is loosely organized, and often quiet. It is made up of people who have gotten to know each other through word-of-mouth, on Internet sites or at conferences where writer-pastors such as Brian McLaren and Tony Jones speak.

The movement’s members are passionate and experimental, socially conscious and ecumenical, deeply devoted to early church disciplines, such a prayer, but they feel free to question and reinterpret long-held beliefs, he said.

Troy Bronsink, a former Presbyterian pastor who leads a strand of the Atlanta movement, describes some involved as “refugees from ecclesiological abuse.”

Discussion groups and the participants’ relationships create a safe space for those willing to question the religion they grew up with and think and talk about new ways to live out their faith, he said.

Like all change movements, it faces backlash from some Christians. Evangelical leaders such as Charles Colson say the trend-followers are relativists who surrender their theology to cultural norms.

Tickle said, “When somebody says they are relativists, I want to smack them upside their heads.”

One has to take belief seriously to question and reposition a faith so that it is meaningful in current culture, she said. And the critics should get used to these faithful who look back to the roots of the faith as well as lean into the future with it.

“Before it’s over, it’s going to be 60 percent of Christianity,” she predicted.

If you would like to read the entire article, you can find it here http://www.ajc.com/living/content/printedition/2008/08/30/tickle.html

Wolves vs. Sheep

“If God would have painted a yellow stripe on the backs of the elect I would go around lifting shirts." Charles Spurgeon

Technical Stuff - New Look! New Poll! New Feed!

Just changed my template to one a little more professional looking. I can at least LOOK professional.

Also added a Bible version poll and feed subscriptions at the bottom of the page.

As you can tell by all of the exclamation points, I am very excited about these changes!

Grace Abounds!

Interesting site related to all things Grace

http://www.gracegems.org/

Rethinking What I've Been Rethinking

I met for about 2 hours with an amazing man today who challenged me about my beliefs. I've already mentioned that when I left my home church 2 months ago after 17 years, that God had "emptied my cup". The only thing I clung to was my faith in Jesus Christ and HIS finished work. He has been building on THAT foundation.

Right now I am in a transitional state - after almost a lifetime of being saved - still a babe in Christ. That being said, I am learning to trust Him, one day at a time. I am anxious for nothing and enjoying my journey. I have faith in the fact that He will restore balance, and finish the good work that He has begun.

Please don't think that I have any special gift or knowledge - I'm just seeking Truth. What I have posted so far here may or may not be. I just want you to see where He leads MY life and maybe challenge your preconceived notions about what we've all been taught, no matter what your background is.

Stay tuned....