This will probably be brief, because I have to leave for church soon. Just a side note...had a really good visit with my almost 93-year-old Grandmama yesterday. She is in an "assisted living" facility about an hour from here (not a rest home...you have to be able to get by pretty much on your own to live there...they just cook your meals and clean your room and stuff) after recovering from two (yes TWO) broken hips in the space of three months! Egad! It was good to see her and she looks pretty good.

Oswald Chambers discusses an interesting topic today. He speaks of giving up or "waiving" our right to choose in certain circumstances and allowing God to choose for us. His prime example is when Abraham and Lot separated because their groups were too big to live together. Abraham, by right, could have chosen first, but he allowed Lot to choose first. Lot selfishly chose the greenest, richest area and left the rest to Abraham. Of course, anyone who knows the end of this story knows that where Lot wound up was Sodom and Gomorrah, neither of which can be found to this day. They were destroyed by God because of their extreme wickedness. Lot escaped by the skin of his teeth. His wife wasn't so lucky. Abraham became more and more wealthy because he waived his right. The point is that Lot's choice wasn't necessarily bad. It just wasn't the best. Or, at least, it wouldn't have been the best for Abraham. Chambers says this: "Many of us do not go on spiritually because we prefer to choose what is right instead of relying on God to choose for us." Earlier he makes the central point, "The great enemy of the life of faith in God is not sin, but the good which is not good enough. The good is always the enemy of the best." "We have to learn to walk according to the standard which has its eye on God."

Reading a chapter of Up With Worship by Anne Ortlund this morning. She writes about doing things with intensity. She wonders how people can sing some of the songs that we sing in church with the lackluster in which they sing. It really makes one wonder why some people are even there. But on the other side of that coin, many people come to church to receive from God, and that is not necessarily all wrong. Some of us are there to give...to worship...to praise with all of our hearts. But there are people there each week who have nothing left to give. They are hurting and desperate. They may not have any luster left. Those are the people who need ministry the most.

Missed anything?
The Beatles--Abbey Road/Alice Cooper--Killer - July 04, 2012
The Beatles Eponymous Album - June 26, 2012
Autism's False Prophets - February 12, 2011
Santana--Guitar God? - November 11, 2010
Tribute To the Red Sox - September 29, 2010