Now Then: a transitional perspective... (CJ1)

      Are you good with transitions?  If you are, good for you.  If you're not, join the club.  Transitions seem to be one of the few consistent themes for every person in every stage of life.  If you look at the list of top 10 stressors you will see how many of them revolve around change.
      That is why the way the book of Joshua opens in chapter 1 resonates with me.  The opening verse begins with a significant change for Israel - the covenant people of God.  Their leader and shepherd, Moses, died.  And then we see God respond to this painful loss in how he addresses Joshua in verse 2.  
      "Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready..." Funny how God shows as much gentleness as my 3-year-old daughter does when she points to my stomach saying "daddy, your tummy is getting big."  
      This dialogue is odd.  He doesn't waste time wallowing in the grief over the death of Moses with Joshua.   And he definitely doesn't worry about coddling Joshua in anyway.  The Lord just jumps right in with out delay. Here God moves Joshua forward - past the trauma of his mentor's death, past the enormity of his new position, past everything that might give him reason to pause - with just a transitional phrase, "now then." 
      Don't let this be misconstrued in your mind.  It's not as if God hadn't spoken clearly to Joshua or that He left him with this unexpected burden.  Actually, if you look at the end of the book of Deuteronomy you can see how long the Lord had been preparing Joshua for this moment. The Lord had Moses prepare Joshua.  In Deuteronomy 31 we see some of what Moses imparted to him for the road ahead...
      7 Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the presence of all Israel, "Be strong and courageous... 8 The LORD Himself goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave you or forske you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.  But he didn't leave Joshua with just words he even passed along a gift 3 chapters later. 34:9 Now Joshua son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on him. So the Israelites listened to him and did what the LORD had commanded Moses.  So, this odd opening dialogue in Joshua 1 has a very specific context.  God gives him his marching orders so quickly, because He has been prepping Joshua for so long.  
      Yet, after giving him these abrupt orders, God speaks a more personal word to Joshua that seems betray a hitch of some sort in Joshua's giddy-up.  Even though Joshua gives no hint of fear, the Lord spoke to this ol' boy in a way that would help him man up to don this new mantle of responsibility!
      Look how the LORD ends this opening dialogue... ⁵ "No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. ⁶ "Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them. ⁷ Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. ⁸ Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. ⁹ Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."
      I am not sure if God was speaking to the current state of Joshua's heart - meaning that HE saw the trepidation no one else did. Or if it was a case that HE was speaking to a future state of Joshua's heart - meaning that HE knew there would be moments of terror, loneliness, discouragement, and weakness on the road ahead.  I am of the school of thought that it was not solely one over the other, but more so a mix of both.  When you look at it, either way God promises Joshua the very thing he needs to move forward through this state of heart.  God promises HIMSELF to Joshua!
      Now then, it seems as though the context for God's "now then" moment with Joshua holds a depth that may not have been witnessed before. 
      You see the older I get the more I see the prodigal heart of God when I dwell in these type of accounts.  These moments where God calls and moves a person through a transition always seem to follow some kind of road of preparation.  And that road of preparation deepens our understanding of just how intimately acquainted He is with every part of our humanity.  HE is not scared off by our fears or put off by our insufficiency.  Rather He seems to see these moments as a time to prove His nearness and His sufficiency.  
      Now then, I am forced to recognize the truth.  When a moment of change or transition encroaches on the life I know, I am supposed to see the implicit invitation.  The invitation is simple.  The LORD of heaven and earth is inviting me to experience His nearness and His sufficiency.  The LORD of life is inviting me to choose HIM over and my self, my affections, and my wisdom. This is the truth before me and all of us when change occurs.
      Hopefully, we will choose wisely as Joshua did.  In verse 10 we see how Joshua obeyed the Lord.  And just as God didn't waste time giving the order, Joshua didn't waste time in fulfilling the order.  Yet, the funniest thing is that after following the Lord's lead Joshua found affirmation from the least likely place - the people he was called to lead. ^"16 Then they answered Joshua, "Whatever you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. ¹⁷ Just as we fully obeyed Moses, so we will obey you. Only may the LORD your God be with you as he was with Moses. ¹⁸...Only be strong and courageous!"
      The point I am trying to drive home in my own soul (and hopefully you catch it too) is that even though transitions and change seem like unwelcome bedfellows in this life, they are beautifully necessary.  They force me to find the end of my self, so that Jesus has room to move me, as He sees fit.  Now then... what will we choose?

Contemplating Joshua (CJ)

Just as a heads up, I am reading through the book of Joshua (in the Old Testament) currently.  So, for the sake of my sanity and as a method of remembering I am going to put to paper the stuff God is stirring in me as I dwell in this book for a season.  I am not certain what necessarily may come forth in print, but I pray that as I look at and reflect on this section of Scripture my life will not be as it was when I started.  Hopefully, if you choose to read along and engage with this book also, you can say the same. Blessings...

like father, like son... yearning for mercy

     There are moments in a man's life where you realize you are more like your dad than you care to admit.  I had mine the other day.  Except it wasn't funny or ironic it was scary.  Don't get me wrong, I love my dad.  He is a great guy who loves Jesus and loves people.  We may not (and in some cases "may never") see life and faith the same way; but the fact is if I follow Jesus with half as much reckless abandon as my dad has the Lord will be pleased.
     But the fact is my dad is older and not the man he once was.  He was diagnosed a little while ago with early onset Alzheimer's.  It really hasn't slowed him down too much, but lately things have been changing.  He's more absent minded. He takes longer to accomplish tasks that were once so natural for him.  There are times when you can see him visibly saddened by not being able to do the things he once did.
     Seeing him go through this has brought me to the point of re-evaluating my life, health, and future.  At 32-years-old I am sad to say that I am more absent minded and it takes me longer to accomplish tasks that once were so easy for me.  Yes, I am in the midst of season where I have been sleep deprived because of having 2 kids under the age of 3, a wife who works nights, and having to get up at 5:30 am to get to my job on time.  Yet, if this is me at 32 what will I be like in 10 years.  I know it's selfish to think of me and not my dad in this reality.  But this is where I am right now.
     So I pray simply... 
     Lord of heaven and my life, show mercy.  Grant me the grace needed for my next moment.  Grant me the strength needed to love You and my fellow man as You have called.  Protect my mind that I might help spur on my wife to experience You more intimately daily.  Protect my mind that I might help shepherd my daughter to love You above all other suitors.  Protect my mind that I might help shepherd my son to seek You as the ONLY Wellspring of Life!  
     Lord of heaven and my father's life,  show mercy to him as he seeks Your touch in the momentary fog.  Be gracious and kind; allow him, your servant, to forget not Your benefits.  Be merciful to us, be merciful for the sake of Your glory in our lives, in Jesus name, amen.

Worth the Watch

This video is from Matt Chandler, the pastor of the The Village Church.  It was his message to the church before he had surgery to remove a tumor on his brain.  I am challenged by his faith and his "followership" of Jesus!

Video from Matt

Christmas: a prostitute found

    Christmas Eve services are funny things. There is a rhythm and familiarity about them at most churches, at least that's what it seems like. Do you know what I am talking about? You sing carols. You watch the cute kid routine of "I'm 5-years-old and singing in front of everybody" which causes all the parents to tear up. You read the account of the birth of Jesus. We do all this to celebrate the incarnation of God the Son.
     In the midst of all this tradition, my mind wandered. For some reason I couldn't help but think of one thing. I just kept thinking about an old prostitute.
     Did I just say it like that out loud? It didn't sound that bad in my head while I was typing. Yikes, I cringe as I reread that sentence. Okay, it's really not as bad as it looks. Let me explain...
     As Luke's account was being read I looked at Matthew's account. And I was reading through the genealogy of Jesus, my eyes were drawn to one word. I couldn't focus on anything else. It was a word I have researched before, actually it was the name of a person.
     The more I looked at her name, the more I saw the irony of it all. Here in the Gospel of Matthew, the gospel that according to scholars was written for and to the Jews - a patriarchal society, amidst the history of the Messiah stands the story of a woman. Not just an ordinary woman, here embedded in this genealogy is a woman of disrepute, a harlot, a prostitute. Found here is Rahab.
     It's amazing to think about her story in the context of history. This woman who walked the streets and made her body available for whatever the going rate was discovered a birthright not her own. I know it's a funny way to state what happened, but this is the reality. When she made a deal with Jewish spies she entered into a covenant, which unbeknownst to her inherently held the promise of new life, as she responded to God's moving by protecting His people.
     And when she entered into this covenant her life would never be same again. The woman once noted for her self degradation was not only grafted in the culture of God's chosen people, her life was celebrated by the author of Hebrews by being listed as hero of faith in chapter 11 (v31)! Found here is Rahab!
     To see how upside down this history of the Messiah is leaves me breathless. When you add this woman to the list of people in this genealogy it just doesn't add up. You have a liar & coward (Abraham), a cheat (Jacob), a disappointed widow (Tamar) who sleeps with her deceitful father-in-law (Judah) to bear a child, a murderer & adulterer (David), and then to top it off add in a bunch of unfaithful kings. When you look at this list it doesn't automatically equate with the Chosen ONE, the Lord of life, the promised KING!
     I guess this is what strikes me as so beautiful. Woven throughout this lineage of the Messiah is the brokenness of our humanity. Yet each of their stories has been, is being, and will forever be redeemed in the arrival of the Christ child - Immanuel, God with us. In each of their tales of brokenness I see that reality has not changed much over the centuries. In this lineage I see us, I see me. We cowards, we liars, we cheats, we disappointed, we deceitful, we adulterers, we murderers, we prostitutes, yes, WE are all found here.
     This is why Christ came as He did from this ancestry. It allows us to see that He is not only willing to but that He does make space for each of us in all our sinful stupidity. But He doesn't leave us there wallowing in our poor estate; He offers us so much more. The Christmas story is more than just a baby in a manger. It's the story of God putting to rights all that was marred in our willful rebellion by the extravagance of His grace found in the gift of His Son. For there in the backdrop of angels singing, cattle lowing, and shepherds watching - Rahab is found.