Creating, collecting, and sharing thoughts and ideas. And learning along the way.
Rolling in the Green!
Love to Look Out West
The Beautiful ‘Burbs in the Great Upper Midwest
“That’s when Peter stood up and, backed by the other eleven, spoke out with bold urgency: “Fellow Jews, all of you who are visiting Jerusalem, listen carefully and get this story straight. These people aren’t drunk as some of you suspect. They haven’t had time to get drunk—it’s only nine o’clock in the morning. This is what the prophet Joel announced would happen: “In the Last Days,” God says, “I will pour out my Spirit on every kind of people: Your sons will prophesy, also your daughters; Your young men will see visions, your old men dream dreams. When the time comes, I’ll pour out my Spirit On those who serve me, men and women both, and they’ll prophesy. I’ll set wonders in the sky above and signs on the earth below, Blood and fire and billowing smoke, the sun turning black and the moon blood-red, Before the Day of the Lord arrives, the Day tremendous and marvelous; And whoever calls out for help to me, God, will be saved.”
It may sound like a prophet is drunk, but that is not the case. Here is Luke’s account of Peter and the other eleven disciples of Jesus, who are preaching the Kingdom of God everywhere they go, and Peter invokes the prophets of old to remind the Jewish people of what has already been prophesied and has already come to pass, including the prophecy of prophesying by young men and women filled with the Holy Spirit. Are you listening, believer? That very same Holy Spirit is still at work to this day, and will be until the return of our Lord. These are not old wives tales or drunken tales, no, these are truths that will surely come to pass. Let it not be said that you were not told.
Lamplight Against Gray Skies: The Beauty of a Late Evening in April
“That’s exactly what Jesus did. He didn’t make it easy for himself by avoiding people’s troubles, but waded right in and helped out. “I took on the troubles of the troubled,” is the way Scripture puts it. Even if it was written in Scripture long ago, you can be sure it’s written for us . God wants the combination of his steady, constant calling and warm, personal counsel in Scripture to come to characterize us, keeping us alert for whatever he will do next. May our dependably steady and warmly personal God develop maturity in you so that you get along with each other as well as Jesus gets along with us all. Then we’ll be a choir—not our voices only, but our very lives singing in harmony in a stunning anthem to the God and Father of our Master Jesus!”
So, here’s the thing of it, people: it’s great that you are a believer and all, but do you think you could possibly “develop maturity” in your Christian life? And what exactly does that mean, you say? Well, Paul describes it as the ability to “get along with each other as well as Jesus gets along with us all.” Perhaps that may sound simplistic, but the fact is that it does take some doing to keep one’s calm in the face of strife and conflict, and to present oneself in a responsible and clear way. Developing relationships with our fellowmen from all walks of life (think of the people that Jesus hung out with) that reflects a caring, helpful, and gracious attitude, being slow to anger, and long-suffering in building bridges and bearing olive-branches — that is the kind of maturity that would serve us well in our Christian walk. Because in doing so, you are reflecting Christ himself — one who did not flinch to speak his mind and preach the imminent Kingdom of God and the way to it, and yet was the last to lift a finger to condemn the weak and fallen. Are you maturing in your Christian walk?
“Mommy, I could use some petting!”
