From My Heart

Exodus 33:14  "And [God] said, 'My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.'" Moses was leading the Israelites to the Promised Land. By the time they reached the 33rd chapter of Exodus, I think Moses might have wanted to take them back to Egypt. They were a bunch of complaining, idolatrous, ungrateful people that God labeled "stiff-necked". What nerve! Look how blessed they were. Released from slavery. Going to the land of milk and honey. God personally leading them with a visible sign by day and night. I would never do such a thing....and, yet... How blessed I am everyday. I have been released from spiritual captivity. I am going to a Promised Land greater than the one ever offered to the Israelites. I live in the Land of the Free that all of the world wants to come to, now. I have milk and honey... and meat and potatoes... and a supermarket full of goodness. And I complain. And I am ungrateful. And, yes, I suspect I am even fairly idolat...

"I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercessions and thanksgiving be made for EVERYONE - for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants ALL men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth."  1 Timothy 2:1-4 At 2:40pm, on April 15 of this year, two bombs exploded at the Boston Marathon killing several and inflicting catastrophic injury on others. In the hours that followed we learned that two brothers were responsible - Tamerlan and Dzokhar Tsarnaev.  At our church, the choir sings a song called 'There's Power in the Name of Jesus'. We were rehearsing it shortly after the bombing and something caught me in the words this time. They go something like this: "A mother barely twenty out there on her own, A teenage boy in prison, before he's even grown."  A teenage boy. In prison. A BOY. Nineteen y...