profound awakenings...

so this morning was one of those mornings when i woke up thinking big... or should i say BIG... (this is not an everyday occurrence)

so it went kinda like this... (remember, my eyes are barely open if at all)

"what is the importance in my knowing God?
to know Him as Creator to the extent that i am His creation
to know Him as Redeemer to the extent that i have been sold as a slave to sin
to know Him as Savior to the extent that i am lost without Him..."

i'm sure that the list could go on... i'd like to embellish it, but i'll just put what i thought... i wonder about the use of the word "extent", but that's what was there... gonna meditate on it awhile and let you know where it goes ;)

begging for fruit and eyes opened to opportunities...

we've been playing tennis as a youth group after sunday evening worship throughout the summer... it is NOT because we are good at tennis. in fact, we could be a traveling comedy act. it is more of a reminder of the lessons that we were learning as we went through the study of 3D evangelism. it became pretty humorous (or amazing) how many opportunities that God opened up for randy pope to share his faith with others through playing tennis.

point is: what do you like? what are you good at? ask God to open doors to be used in those places for His kingdom... ready to share the reason for the hope that you have. it's been interesting the people He's been bringing across my path the last couple weeks. use me God!

joy in heaven

i just came from spendin' an hour or so at the funeral home. one of my grandmother's best friends joined her in heaven the other day. for much of my younger life, phyllis lived in massillon, but i could always tell when she had come to visit gram, 'cause the laughter from the trailer could be heard all the way up at the house... isn't it such a wonderful blessing to have friends that we can share joy with?

i also finished up my 52 week Bible reading plan yesterday... (not bad for starting out in march of '06!) - obviously one of the last things that i read was the end of revelation, and as i was thinking about phyllis and gram in heaven - i was once again meditating on that passage:

"behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away." and He who was seated on the throne said, "behold, i am making all things new." also He said, "write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true." and He said to me, "it is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. to the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. the one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son." rev. 21:5-7

praise God for those saints that have gone before us, for a sure hope and for His Son who makes it all possible! "precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His saints." ps. 116:15

so long sweet summer...

got a few minutes of alone time at the park today... matt v. had wanted me to play tennis with him at 9:30, but he didn't show up. so i grabbed my discs and headed for the back 9 where the woods would give me a little time of serenity. i haven't really gotten the chance for any of that since camp. the combo of being behind on sleep, kids excited about memorizing Scripture (3080 verses memorized at camp by the 33 campers - another 100 or so that i've helped with this week), and finding places to watch the olympics in the evening probably explains why i've barely blogged for quite some time.

so as i sit here today and think "WHAT IN THE WORLD DO I HAVE WORTHWHILE TO TYPE?" the thing that strikes me is this: i ran into the park superintendent and his 8 year old son digging a ditch in the middle of the woods. my serenity interrupted by a man who began to pour out his heart to me. wow, God, keep my eyes open! i don't know where the days ahead are headed - summer's leaving, school's about to start, i'm no longer prepping camp messages... but i am excited for what You have in store. bring me opportunities - make me FRUITFUL, O LORD!

an outline - a prayer - "Lord, we want to see!"

i'm getting ready to speak for camp in just over a week... here's some of my notes from the first night's sermon. please pray that God would open eyes to see!

"in their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. for what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. for God, who said, 'let light shine out of darkness,' has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." 2 corinthians 4:4-6

"in the year that king uzziah died i saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. above him stood the seraphim. each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. and one called to another and said: 'holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!' and the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. and i said: 'woe is me! for i am lost; for i am a man of unclean lips, and i dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!'" isaiah 6:1-5

"and when he had finished speaking, he said to simon, 'put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.' and simon answered, 'master, we toiled all night and took nothing! but at your word i will let down the nets.' and when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. and they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. but when simon peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, 'depart from me, for i am a sinful man, O Lord.'" luke 5:4-8

"the knowledge of God and the knowledge of ourselves go together. that is, we never have one without the other. to know God as the sovereign God of the universe is to know ourselves as His subjects, in rebellion against Him. to know God in His holiness is to know ourselves as sinners. to know Him as love is to see ourselves as loved though unlovely. to seek God's wisdom is to see our own foolishness in spiritual things. since God is the only standard by which any of those things can be measured, we do not know anything properly unless we know Him. or to put it in other terms, if we do not know God, we consider ourselves to be sovereign over our own lives, holy, loving, wise, and so on, when in reality we are none of those things." j.m. boice

"Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him. when he came near, Jesus asked him, 'what do you want me to do for you?' 'Lord, i want to see,' he replied." luke 18:40-41

spurred on by spurgeon

two of the different books i was reading today (yeah, i read a bunch of different books a little at a time in different areas of study towards my personal development goal of finishing two books a month) had good quotes from charles spurgeon that i thought were worth sharing...

"the doctrine of the atonement is to my mind one of the surest proofs of the divine inspiration of Holy Scripture. who would or could have thought of the just Ruler dying for the unjust rebel? this is no teaching of human mythology, or dream of poetical imagination. this method of expiation is only known among men because it is a fact; fiction could not have devised it. God Himself ordained it; it is not a matter which could have been imagined."

"a great change has to be wrought in you, far beyond any power of yours to accomplish, ere you can go in with Christ to the marriage. you must, first of all, be renewed in your nature, or you will not be ready. you must be washed from your sins, or you will not be ready. you must be justified in Christ's righteousness, and you must put on his wedding dress, or else you will not be ready. you must be reconciled to God, you must be made like to God, or you will not be ready. or, to come to the parable before us, you must have a lamp, and that lamp must be fed with heavenly oil, and it must continue to burn brightly, or else you will not be ready. no child of darkness can go into that place of light. you must be brought out of nature's darkness into God's marvelous light, or else you will never be ready to go in with Christ to the marriage, and to be forever with him."

oh, and in case you're interested, here's a good biographical sermon to read or listen to about the life of charles spurgeon.

an old prayer... for the coming year

a big part of my cycle of meditation follows the quiz rotation... so as we move on from galatians, ephesians, philippians, colossians, 1&2 timothy and philemon to luke (and as i have been preparing camp sermons), i've begun reading a commentary on the gospel to supplement the more important activities of actually reading, memorizing and meditating on the gospel...

well, today in my reading, there was a quote from "the 1662 prayer book" - an old prayer, but one that sums up what my prayer is for the upcoming year and our intimate relations with the gospel according to luke:

"Almighty God, who calledst luke the physician, whose praise is in the Gospel, to be an evangelist, and physician of the soul: may it please Thee that, by the wholesome medicines of the doctrine delivered by him, all the diseases of our souls may be healed through the merits of Thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord."

AMEN!