March 18, 2011

3-18-11 Friday, 6:46 am Springfield, 56 degrees, sunrise at 7:20 am, sunset tonight at 7:23!

We drove long and hard yesterday, leaving Wilmore at noon, and arriving home at 9:00 pm. The meetings with the alumni council were good, and we made progress on the goals for the council. I have today and tomorrow to work on my message for this weekend, to catch up with my small group and peer mentor group which met in my absence, and to work forward on the HCI prescriptions, especially the vision process and the mission audit task force.

The new tires were delivered for the Concours, and I will take them to the mechanic this morning, and hopefully pick up the bike late this afternoon. I have a verbal agreement to trade in my KLR to the dealer, which leaves me only the Bajaj scooter to sell.


Isaiah 53

“Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of parched ground; He has not stately form or majesty that we should look upon Him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him, he was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and like one from whom men hide their face, he was despised, and we did not esteem Him.” (verses 1-3, NASB)

This chapter of Isaiah is a powerful witness to the person and work of Christ. The first verse is quoted in the Gospel of John, 12:38, as Jesus was performing many signs for the Jewish people, but they were not believing in Him. In my generation, of scientific advancement and sophisticated academic studies, most people will miss the revelation of the arm (strength) of the Lord. For example – there is a nuclear reactor in Japan approaching a meltdown as a result of the damage from the 9.0 earthquake last week. If God reveals His strength by stopping this disaster, who would believe it? When a person is healed, or an impossible situation redeemed, who believes that it is God?

This prophetic chapter about Christ continues: “Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging (stripes) we are healed.” (Verses 5-6) The suffering of Jesus, rejected by people, beaten by soldiers, nailed to a cross to suffer and die for our salvation, happened exactly as prophesied hundreds of years before He was born to Mary and was raised in Galilee.
Today, March 18, 2011 I will live confidently upon the promises of God, relying upon the work of Christ on the cross for my salvation, and I will endeavor to have beautiful feet, bringing good news to people in the bondage of sin and suffering for whom Christ died. Guide me most holy Lord today.