Echoes and Stars

1. It is true, one day we may be the subject of ridicule. And to admit you are a follower of Jesus will invite derision. This may happen.

But there will also be the joy of meeting another believer and the thrill of comfort in that reverse echo of the day in which all our sorrow and tears will fade into the tears and the rest of all that has been hoped for.

2. The NT is incomprehensible to America because we are consumed with avoiding suffering at every point and the NT was written in the context of suffering and to a people whose joy was anchored in being saved from the wrath to come.

3.  I do prefer rising at dawn and drinking coffee over sleeping late.

4. Paul never mentions the Emporer by name in his letters. Nor do the other NT writers. It’s almost like it didn’t matter who it was.

5. So I’m reading Andy Catlett by Wendell Berry and it takes place in 1943. Andy is nine years old. And I just realized that is the exact age my dad was in 1943.

6. Reading poetry out of a physical book is an act of rebellion in our culture so obsessed with entertainment full with lights and sound. It’s an act, once normative, now rare.

7. The older I get the less I want to level the rough terrain of the Bible. I want to sweat through the climbs of difficult passages and feel the chill of those that expose me to the elements of my own failings. I want to be offended by its lack of modern taste and propriety even if it means I’m alone for a time.

8. To be thankful and content with what God has provided, while desiring something else, is about as hard a thing as possible.

9. Another effect of the whole 30 diet is reorienting your taste buds to taste food without sauces added. I still long for sugar-laden BBQ sauce. But am enjoying food differently also.

10. I love sitting alone in the quiet of an early morning but better is sitting in the quiet with Bethany.