no longer

i've been reading a commentary on the minor prophets, which of course begins with hosea. this week, Hosea 2:16 really caught my attention... (twice actually - which means that the first blog entry remains unwritten or actually has been included together with this one):

the first english version of the Bible that i had looked at translates the verse "you will call me 'My Husband'" and "no longer 'My Master." i was meditating and praying through that idea... how i long for myself and for the students to which i minister to react in our relationship with God based on the true nature of His covenant with us: a loving relationship, rather than one of duty... ie. not saying "well, i'll do it because i have to" or afraid of punishment but out of joy of relationship and a longing for the pleasure of God. (understanding that HIS pleasure is what brings me pleasure).

well, when i was getting ready to type that all out the other day, i was caught up short when i read the esv (and subsequently several other versions). rather than translating the word to english "master," - it leaves it as the proper name "baal." that can throw a whole new twist into it - not saying that the first thought is not a good meditating/prayer point, but that perhaps it is not necessarily the main point that is being addressed here.

rather (and it makes sense understanding the entire context of hosea), the prayer should be that we as the people of God would return to proper relationship with our covenant God as opposed to pursuing and crying after other lovers. speaking personally and corporately - it is SO EASY to be tempted to "chase the skirts" of so many baals.

oh God, may i, may we return to our first love! do a Hosea 2:17 work in us... "remove the names of the baals from [our] mouth[s]!"

baby it's COLD outside...

(though def not as cold as minn/wisc... we are soft!) so last night, i was a little reluctant to go out to the car to go home. i wound up following a little trail on the internet, that i will now lead you down. why, you ask? because the end results are a couple really cool things that i found!

(keep in mind, this is all occurring while i'm having a conversation with matt clutter on the facebook)

last week, rachel had commented on my blog that she had gotten my message to levi. however, when she asked me this week if i had seen her message, well, i had not. so i read it last night and then clicked to look if she had updated. seeing her profile, part of her "interests" intrigued me: bible quizzing. hmmmm, i thought, i wonder who all i might know of all the bloggers who are interested in bible quizzing. who did i happen to find? teens for Christ northwest! i read on their blog about an online practice quiz generator (i probably should have noticed that the entry was from 2004) which was located on their homepage. the generator's not there, but i DID find two gems: reftagger and wordle.

reftagger allows me to type in a reference such as my life verse, Hebrews 4:12, and as long as i capitalize it, the reader can scroll over the reference and see the verse! without me having to worry about linking to bible gateway or anything else...

wordle in simple terms makes word art. the input comes from your entered text OR from an rss or atom feed. what is really cool is that the words are sized by how often they occur. the really sweet art on tfc's site shows the gospel of luke, and which are the 400 words that most frequently occur (it can weed out common words like "the" and "a" and "and").
(oh, this one's actually only the top 300 words...)

i was like, COOL! so i experimented awhile. here are some of my creations:

Godspeed by mortal


dr. seuss's ABCs for my little cousin levi
(i removed the words "big", "little", and "begins" cause they dwarfed everything!)


some will seek forgiveness, others escape by underoath


sunday, bloody sunday by u2


running to stand still by u2


every new day by five iron frenzy


come thou fount of every blessing


Hebrews 4:12 (NIV)


stare at the sun by thrice

oh the irony

the other day i was listening to the radio and a guy was commenting on the somali pirates who had hijacked a saudi oil tanker. he was lamenting the fact that they had given in on their demands and accepted $3 million for its release rather than their initial $5 million ransom price. he was making a humorous point about the devaluing of the dollar, and that if they were gonna take such a risk they ought to get their money's worth. well, believe me, i was surprised to see this article a little later on. welcome to reality, boys, Jesus' words still ring true:

"for what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?"
Luke 9:25

oh the weather outside is frightful...

so a verse that i've been mulling over since sunday evening's sermon is Matthew 24:12: "and because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold." as i was meditating on it yesterday, another verse that came to mind was 2 Timothy 1:6: "for this reason, i remind you to fan into flame the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands."

i've been getting a graphic illustration of this lately because of the cold weather and stoking my woodburner. i am also reminded that charles spurgeon referred to members of his congregation who would pray for him while he preached as the church's "boiler room."

so i am striving to be stoking my life daily with the Word of God (Psalm 39:3), adding the breath of prayer (Ephesians 6:18), praying for the spark of the Spirit (Luke 11:13), moving around in acts of service (1 Cor. 16:15) and seeking the warming friction of fellow believers (Prov 27:17). may my heart stay well warmed within me, O God!

"when you set yourself on fire, people love to come and see you burn!" john wesley