March 4, 2010

3-4-10 Grayrock Dr. 5:28 am

This is one of those rare mornings in which I wake up before 5:00 am, without an alarm or appointment, feeling rested and ready for the day. I have hoped that as I get older I would require less sleep and have more mornings like this. I will read scripture from the One Year Bible, the daily entry from One Month to Live, and work for a couple of hours on sermon prep for this Sunday and reading in prep for the Easter worship meeting this afternoon. I will also download the 300+ pictures taken in Honduras on our camera. (One thing I would do if I knew I literally had “one month to live” is organize the family photos, including the videos I have taken since 1985, the movies, slides and stills my parents have taken. Hmmm, maybe I should work diligently on this …)

Thank you Lord for the joy of this day.

Numbers 2:1 – 3:51
I first back-tracked to yesterday to catch Numbers chapter 1. It takes place a year after the Israelites departure from Egypt. The Lord spoke to Moses while he was in the tabernacle – It is critical that I spend time in the places that I can hear God’s voice – in the sanctuary, in quiet moments early like this, with my spiritual ears open while exercising, while conversing with prayer partners. Guide me, lead me Lord as you led Moses to accomplish your will.

During this year in which the United States is taking its regular ten-year census, the book of Numbers, with all its details, seems especially relevant. It also reminds me of how important the details and the individuals are to The Lord. In 1:4 God tells Moses that he and Aaron will be assisted by one leading family in each tribe, and proceeds to name the family in each tribe which will assist in this numbering project.

Chapter 2 of Numbers describes the plan by which the Israelites will camp and then march – three tribes on each side of the tabernacle, with the Levites camping immediately around the tabernacle. In total, the number of men 20 years old and up and armed for battle was 603,550. The Israelites did all that the Lord commanded.

What a testimony – to do all that the Lord commands. What does this mean for Wesley UMC in Springfield? What does this mean for Bruce Baxter? Reading these chapters from Numbers, what could be a very boring book, has jumpstarted my thinking today about vital obedience, living faithfully for God in this generation, in this location, in this point of history with a specific congregation.

One outcome of living as though a person is in their final month is to “make peace with God.” I have yet to see this emphasis in Shooks’ book, but it seems vital. And there is no better time than today to begin living in harmony with God’s will, individually and corporately for God’s people. John Wesley was very particular about this for his life, and I have been for my life since I was 18. Guide me today, in later midlife, to diligently pursue Your will for my life, holy LORD.

One Month to Live: (even though I should be reading day 10, I have picked up at day 8 “Kick Start”)
This reading involves the metaphor of life like a motorcross track. This is a possibility for Sunday’s sermon, with a video of Chris and Kerry at a motorcross. The main point is that life has crashes, high-side and low-side. Peter’s denial of Christ was the extreme “high-side” crash of history, and Christ forgave him, restoring him to the center of leadership in the ministry of the disciples. (One could argue that Judas’ crash was fatal, as it was, and any of us could go that route and be out for good, sinning the unpardonable sin against the Holy Spirit as he did).

I am reminded that to compete at any level is to crash. The women’s gold medalist in the downhill, Lindsey Vonn, crashed in Austria a week before the Olympics, injuring her shin so severely she could not have raced at the beginning of the scheduled Olympic competition – but the weather delayed the start of the competition several days, and she healed and then won the gold. I need to trust God completely, that living full-out I will crash, and God will restore, redeem, and use my weakness for His glory. If I live and minister cautiously, the heights and full extent of God’s glory will not be revealed in my life. I am yours O Lord on this racetrack of life. Use me fully.