A funny thing happened . . .Friday, Oct 22, 2010

Funny thing happened on the way to the altar today (Alter = practicing the spiritual discipline of connecting with God through reading His word.)   After writing two days ago that I want to spend time with God each day before I watch tv, eat, go online, etc., this morning I totally forgot. Didn't remember till late this afternoon when I went on my computer. I fell asleep on the couch last night and didn't sleep very well all night. I woke this morning to the TV on and just fell into old habits of channel surfing. So, just got to the online reading tonight. But, wow, am I glad I did. It totally pierced me. I must say, I find both parables of Jesus challenging. Far too often, I am like the disciples, wanting position and recognition before Jesus and too often forgetting his great work on my behalf which puts all my "work" in proper perspective. God owes me nothing, but I owe him everything.  Ann

Ouch! Me a Pharisee? Thursday, Oct 21, 2010

I am struck by a couple of things from today's reading, but most of all that I can see myself in the remarks of the Pharisee's to Jesus, always looking for an easy way out of following God . . . "Moses said it was ok to divorce, right?" For me that sounds like, "Hey Jesus, it's ok for me to bail on relationships that get messy, right? You don't want me to stick it out with people who hurt me, disappoint me, betray me, do you?" Or the rich man who felt he had kept all the commandments and done every good thing a person could do and asked," What good thing do I need to do to get eternal life?" How surprised he must have been when Jesus went straight for the heart of the matter and said in effect,  "You must do the impossible," knowing that true "goodness" or "righteousness" such that this man proclaimed he had, only comes from God. So, for this man, what he needed to do was to surrender his "manufactured" path of righteousness and choose God's, which in this case meant selling all he had and giving it to the poor. Jesus knew the man could only do that by the power of God at work him. I know that for me, often I am just like the rich man. I am willing to follow Jesus if it is comfortable, if it doesn't disrupt my world to much, if it seems "reasonable" to me or if I can do it on my own.  So, this morning I'm asking God to lay bare in me any and all of the hidden conditions of my heart, for I desire to be a fully sold out, devoted follower of Jesus.

Blurry eyed but here! Wednesday, Oct 20, 2010

A bit blurry eyed this morning. I told God that I as an act of worship I want to read His word and listen to and talk with Him, before I do anything else each day . . . so no TV, eating, showering, email, computer, etc. until I sit down, pull out my Bible and turn to our daily reading. So, where did He take me this morning? To the invitation to be all out, full throttle in worship of Him. I want to be like the one leprous guy who turned back to praise Jesus for healing him, not the 9 others who went on their way.  Ann

Discomforted by Jesus Tuesday, Oct 19, 2010

Day two. Left my computer at the office, but had my paper copy of the daily reading, so got up this morning, grabbed my Bible and journal flipped to Luke 14 and John 11. I was challenged by Jesus . . . "whenever you throw a feast invite the homeless, the poor, the blind," those who can't give me anything in return . . . and I thought about our Thanksgiving feasts and I realized that I am more like the Pharisee's than I care to admit. This cost of discipleship Jesus speaks of pushes hard in the face of my comfort, my pleasures, MY LIFE, as I want to live it. Me, my and I seem to be my operative words. I would rather not be discomforted, I would rather be in control than completely surrender my life to the life Christ offers me. Ouch! It hurts to see how much growing I need to do.

So, how is God stirring your soul in the readings so far? Ann

Let the Reading Begin! Monday, Oct 18, 2010

 Hey folks I thought I would start us out here for our online discussion and place to encourage one another regarding reading through the Bible in a year. You will also find this on Collage's facebook group page.  Since everyone wanted to grow in the spiritual discipline of connecting with God through reading His word and interacting with Him as you read we thought we would use this online Bible reading program.  Click on this link and you will be taken to the site.

One Year Bible Online

When you go there on the left side you will find the Chronological reading link. Click on the month and when it pops up, scroll down and find the day of the month it is, and click on the day and the reading will pop up. You can set the default Bible to be whatever version you want and you can read it in parallel versions. Also, there are commentaries you can read too if you want more. On the left side of the page you will also find a link that will let you print out a paper copy of the whole year of reading through the Bible chronologically so you can put that in your Bible or journal and use it when you don't want to read online. 

So, here are my comments on today's reading and the "spiritual discipline" of communing with God through spending time in his word, listening to him and talking with him. I got up this morning, to do this reading, just generally commune with God and send out this information - blog. I was blurry eyed, and tired, yet I couldn't sleep anymore because I had a sense of anitcipation of meeting with God and starting out on a new adventure. That lasted for all of about 2 minutes into the reading, when I realized I hadn't really heard - connected- comprehended a single word of what Jesus was saying in John 10. I think I read the words "and sheep hear his voice" about 10 times, before I woke up!

So, I stopped myself, laughed at myself with God, and said, "forgive me Father, I fell right into the "I got to check this devotional reading box, so I can get on with my day trap and it only took me 2 minutes to fall!" Then I said, "Father, would you lead me, teach me, guide me, help me to know you better, to know myself better, become more like you Jesus, as a result of reading this passage." Then I proceeded on to read. I had to stop myself like that a couple of times, slow down, focus, and reconnect with God. Whats funny about all this, on Saturday I was talking to someone telling them about how I wanted to grow more in discerning God's voice in talking to me. I even alluded to this very passage! Well, bottom line, for me, as I pushed on through the sleepy distractedness, I found myself reading more than just this mornings reading. I went back and read a chapter before the ones listed here because I wanted to understand the context of what was happening in these chapters. So, all I have to say is . . . Keep On Keeping On! Ann