The House You're Building

  [1] Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. [2] For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. [3] For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, “As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest,’” although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. [4] For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.” [5] And again in this passage he said, “They shall not enter my rest.” [6] Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, [7] again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden...

  Have you ever thought about what it was like when God created the animals?  I’m a huge Harry Potter fan and one of my favorite parts is seeing how the artists in the films visually recreate some of my favorite magical creatures like hippogriffs and thestrals.  Imagine the whimsy of God, making the massive blue whale, the intricate hummingbird or the pieced-together platypus.  Not only inventing their physical characteristics but choosing their behaviors.  I on team dog because God made them loyal, sweet, and playful.    What was God thinking when He created sheep?  Did you know that sheep are mentioned more than any other animal in the bible [1] ?  Not only were sheep an important part of the ancient world’s economy, but God uses them in the Bible as an analogy of how we act.  It’s almost like God knew us and decided to design an animal that reflects our tendencies to show us our need for Him. Most ar...

Sisters and Seekers, Let's talk about Sunday night.  It's the time of the weekend we don't want to face because our weekend is coming to an end...I don't know what yours is typically filled with but mine is often a mixture of catching up on housework, taking the kids somewhere, seeing friends, church, maybe a long walk with the dog, and then during the after-dinner dishes that feeling of dread seeps in.  Work tomorrow.  Thinking about all the unique things that week will bring.  Calling the doctor to schedule an exam, making sure I stop at the bank to get cash to pay my yard work help, getting the present for the birthday party because I forgot to order it on Amazon and that particular toy won't get here in two days because it's not prime...but did my weekend really give me the rest I was hoping for?  Did I continue to bring a spirit of busyness with me or did I carve out time to rest.  Does my soul feel reset or am I dreading the week to come because I d...

Blog readers, Does it feel like I am a one topic soapbox sometimes?  I feel like I am, no matter where I'm at spiritually it seems I always come up against the same wall of performance.  I do believe that we get caught up early in life in a lie that the rest of our journey towards being more Christlike has to correct.  For me that is perfectionism, Type-A, achievement.  I'll aways come back to this topic on my blog in some form or another.  It's the times when I have the most time to reflect and rest that I feel that tendency the most.  When the pull of where I am and where I want to be causes tension.  Here is an expert from my journal today.  I hope it blesses you! Lately I've been feeling burdened by guilt.  Not conviction.  That is a huge distinction because as I've paid more attention to my inner voice I feel like there are a lot of "should" rolling around in my head.  Nothing from the Lord, where He is directing me ...

2 And the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. 3 And Moses said, "I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned." 4 When the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, "Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here I am." Exodus 3:2-4 In reading the story of Moses this afternoon, I noticed something I hadn't before.  When replaying the narrative in my mind, I'd always thought that God just speaks to Moses from the bush.  If you reread verse three carefully, you'll see that before God spoke, Moses chose to turn aside.  God had sent an angel to speak to Moses on His behalf.  Moses saw the angle as a burning fire.  The interesting thing to Moses wasn't that the bush was on fire, but that it wasn't being consumed.  Something mystical and divine was occuring. God set up the encount...