Fasting with a friend

A woman I work with is also doing a Daniel fast, so I asked where she ate her lunch. Today I joined her. She is a great encourager. Some weeks ago I had mentioned that I lost my stagefright when I first became a Christian and she responded with one word "Boldness!" That one word showed me that it wasn't as trivial a gift as I'd often thought.
So today at lunch I was telling her about my continuing efforts to memorize Ephesians 6:13+ and I was telling her that I would have to think a lot to understand the part about my feet being fitted with the readiness that comes with the gospel of peace. And she said "You're doing it now, by memorizing scripture and being ready to use it." She's quick. It's a blessing to know her.

Fasting

The thorn in my side goes by the name of gluttony. If it can be overdone, I can do it. Food, books, ... I even think of my thirst for skills as a form of gluttony. As a brand new Christian, I was intrigued when I heard about fasting. And after hearing Chuck Swindoll do a series on Esther, I started to notice how often fasting went hand in hand with prayer in the Bible.

At Shelfari, in the Spiritual Formation Group, we are discussing fasting in Chapter 4 of Spirit of the Disciplines. I may have come across Foster's Spirit of the Disciplines when I was searching for fasting in the public library. (My fellow Southern Baptists wouldn't have recommended anything unless it was published by Lifeway!)Now 12 years later, I'm diabetic and don't fast from food completely. But yesterday I started a 10 day Daniel fast and that seems like it may be a good way for me to go.

Yesterday morning I had a strange experience in church. A lady I like to sit with had just recently come out of the hospital. She had been prescribed steroids and was commenting about how much she had been eating and how even her grandchildren were making comments. She has never been one to do good things about her health - she makes me look like a health nut, which is hard to do. (I fear and pray for her health.) During the entire service on this morning she ate an entire bag of pork rinds and a large box of good'n'plenties. I was aghast and speechless (which is unusual for me) Last week I'd read PistolPete's blog entry about public gluttony compared with private sexual behavior and that's all I could think about. She offered me some of her stash and I turned it down ... if I hadn't been fasting from meat products and sweets, I might have had some.

Foster on Prayer

"To pray is to change. Prayer is the central avenue God uses to transform us. If we are unwilling to change, we will abandon prayer as a noticeable characteristic of our lives." - Foster Celebration of Discipline p. 33

I see this too much in my own life. Right now my life is approaching a state of emergency, but I still am resisting change.

I'm listening!

On Monday I started working on memorizing the Ephesians 6: 13 verse about putting on the whole armor of God. I have not had great success in memorizing in the past, but this week I've made good progress doing the one thing that has worked. That is writing the verse longhand, over and over.
On that same Monday, as I was helping a third grade class with their reading lesson, a sweet little boy walked up to me and said "This is for you" and he handed me a cut out paper soldier (circa 1812) with a red uniform, boots, a tall hat and a sword. I put it on my bulletin board by my desk and find it is great encouragement.
Then today I was asked to substitute for the eigth grade history teacher. He said "It'll just be a video" because the regular class was scheduled to be something that needed his assistance ... looked like making oral presentations on the Holocaust. The substitute video had nothing to do with what they were studying. It was "Knights and Armor"!!

scripture to memorize

Ephesians 6:(NIV)
13Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

Back to the "mission field"

I opened shop for ESL class today after having taking a year's sabbatical. I figured I'd enjoy it if I had a couple of dedicated students, maybe five or six adults. I had two terrific volunteers show up and no students at first. Then Mrs. Kim came. She has been a faithful student (and a prayer warrior!) for several years. Then things went into the realm of the inpredictable. Pastor Kim arrived with twelve adolescents age 11 to 20. I think the 20 year old was supposed to be the chaperone. I'm here to say that 13 year olds are the same all over the world! The picture's not my class. I just found a google picture so you can picture Korean adolescents. Add two and you have my class.

Turks and pizza

Here's a post by someone who understands why I love to teach ESL. Once again, it's relationships that are important. That's an idea that's difficult for Americans who think "Git er done" is the most important thing. It has been work that goes against my cultural and tempermental grain - I used to be concerned over how to get my students to arrive on time and how to maximize acquisition of language and vocational skills. I'm learning to remember that my mission is centered on relationships ... with my students and with my God.

Which theologin am I? quiz results

Which theologian are you? created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Anselm Anselm is the outstanding theologian of the medieval period.He sees man's primary problem as having failed to render unto God what we owe him, so God becomes man in Christ and gives God what he is due. You should read 'Cur Deus Homo?' Anselm 87% John Calvin 67% Jonathan Edwards 67% Jürgen Moltmann 53% Martin Luther 53% Charles Finney 33% Friedrich Schleiermacher 33% Paul Tillich 33% Augustine 33% Karl Barth 27%

Life and Death

Romans 6:5-14 (The Message)

3-5That's what baptism into the life of Jesus means. When we are lowered into the water, it is like the burial of Jesus; when we are raised up out of the water, it is like the resurrection of Jesus. Each of us is raised into a light-filled world by our Father so that we can see where we're going in our new grace-sovereign country.

6-11Could it be any clearer? Our old way of life was nailed to the cross with Christ, a decisive end to that sin-miserable life—no longer at sin's every beck and call!

What we believe is this: If we get included in Christ's sin-conquering death, we also get included in his life-saving resurrection. We know that when Jesus was raised from the dead it was a signal of the end of death-as-the-end. Never again will death have the last word.
When Jesus died, he took sin down with him, but alive he brings God down to us.
From now on, think of it this way: Sin speaks a dead language that means nothing to you; God speaks your mother tongue, and you hang on every word. You are dead to sin and alive to God. That's what Jesus did.

12-14That means you must not give sin a vote in the way you conduct your lives. Don't give it the time of day. Don't even run little errands that are connected with that old way of life. Throw yourselves wholeheartedly and full-time—remember, you've been raised from the dead!—into God's way of doing things. Sin can't tell you how to live. After all, you're not living under that old tyranny any longer. You're living in the freedom of God.

What happens to my resolutions?

Romans 7:13-25 (The Message)

13I can already hear your next question: "Does that mean I can't even trust what is good [that is, the law]? Is good just as dangerous as evil?" No again! Sin simply did what sin is so famous for doing: using the good as a cover to tempt me to do what would finally destroy me. By hiding within God's good commandment, sin did far more mischief than it could ever have accomplished on its own.

14-16I can anticipate the response that is coming: "I know that all God's commands are spiritual, but I'm not. Isn't this also your experience?" Yes. I'm full of myself—after all, I've spent a long time in sin's prison. What I don't understand about myself is that I decide one way, but then I act another, doing things I absolutely despise. So if I can't be trusted to figure out what is best for myself and then do it, it becomes obvious that God's command is necessary.

17-20But I need something more! For if I know the law but still can't keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! I realize that I don't have what it takes. I can will it, but I can't do it. I decide to do good, but I don't really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don't result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time.

21-23It happens so regularly that it's predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God's commands, but it's pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge.

24I've tried everything and nothing helps. I'm at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn't that the real question?

25The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different.

I said something at work that could get me fired. I was being flip and certainly didn't MEAN any harm, but it was in very poor judgement. Very very poor judgement. (whacks self on head)

As a distant friend told me on the phone tonight,"You will make mistakes at work."

I have missed the mark so many times. I will miss the mark over and over again. I need a Savior to set things right.

Here's a PS. I am listening to John Piper speaking about these verses. I've made a link to part 2 of the 3 part series. I'm so glad to have a holiday to put time into this. I think it's important.