The grand kids, and world's bestest daughter-in-law, from the Big City East came and spent the weekend .... and we had fun. We went to Halloween farm just north of us, and petted the farm animals; where upon my grandson stuck his fingers thru the wire and got bite by the rooster .. then after telling us about it, I guess he thought that should make the rooster sorry, he went back and stuck it in again, and got bite again. after the second bite he decided not to do it again. Then we got my granddaughter some pretty gourds for her teacher back home, and everyone got to buy a pumpkin. Later while my granddaughter, and d-i-l, were at their hair appointments we took the grandsons out to ride the mini-tractors at another Halloween maze - that was an experience! We had another great time, and all our travels were protected.
In the past Sunday night's men's small bible group I think we had one of the most interesting studies .... we talked about the Sunday morning theme: 'Brokenness - A Discipline.' Let me explain the theme first; brokenness is a discipline not so much in the sense that we need repaired although it often includes that, but brokenness in the sense that we are always in the process of being drawn closer to Christ, and that can only come about as we remain 'pliable' in his hands. Even in the good times apostle Paul said, 'from glory to glory he's CHANGING us.' So we never arrive at completion, we're constantly being changed, and change means always being pliable to his will. Anyway in our small group we looked at the stories of Job & Jonah, and how brokenness related to them and applies to us - quite interesting. Let me give you a few of the issues we debated and leave you to your own conclusions. [Oh, by the way we didn't have time to get to Paul's story, which I touched on in the morning message]. Was Job's brokenness because he was simply the victim in a cosmic contest between God and Satan? Was Job so perfect he didn't need to ever be broken? Do we ever think that about ourselves? Did God use this example with Satan to accomplish a greater glory, both for himself and Job? How did this example of brokenness influence Job in his remaining life? If our brokenness doesn't influence us in a relational way to Christ have we truly been broken? .......... all of which leads us to Jonah's story ................. Was Jonah truly broken? Was Jonah's obedience really based on fear instead of being changed? Did Jonah really think he was above the need to be broken - do we ever think that? Did God's mercy toward Jonah show us that even when we refuse to be truly broken God still seeks after us? Then we reviewed the beginnings of Job & Jonah's stories, the attitudes which each of them started with and how that influenced they concept of brokenness. In his brokenness Job ran towards God, in Jonah's brokenness he ran from God ... so it is more probable that true brokenness happens only when we are running toward God [perhaps even unconsciously; don't forget the Prodical was running back to the Father] than when we are running from him? I wished we would have time to include the apostle Paul's story of brokenness, for Paul certainly understood the principle at work in this discipline. Maybe that's for another day?!
In the past Sunday night's men's small bible group I think we had one of the most interesting studies .... we talked about the Sunday morning theme: 'Brokenness - A Discipline.' Let me explain the theme first; brokenness is a discipline not so much in the sense that we need repaired although it often includes that, but brokenness in the sense that we are always in the process of being drawn closer to Christ, and that can only come about as we remain 'pliable' in his hands. Even in the good times apostle Paul said, 'from glory to glory he's CHANGING us.' So we never arrive at completion, we're constantly being changed, and change means always being pliable to his will. Anyway in our small group we looked at the stories of Job & Jonah, and how brokenness related to them and applies to us - quite interesting. Let me give you a few of the issues we debated and leave you to your own conclusions. [Oh, by the way we didn't have time to get to Paul's story, which I touched on in the morning message]. Was Job's brokenness because he was simply the victim in a cosmic contest between God and Satan? Was Job so perfect he didn't need to ever be broken? Do we ever think that about ourselves? Did God use this example with Satan to accomplish a greater glory, both for himself and Job? How did this example of brokenness influence Job in his remaining life? If our brokenness doesn't influence us in a relational way to Christ have we truly been broken? .......... all of which leads us to Jonah's story ................. Was Jonah truly broken? Was Jonah's obedience really based on fear instead of being changed? Did Jonah really think he was above the need to be broken - do we ever think that? Did God's mercy toward Jonah show us that even when we refuse to be truly broken God still seeks after us? Then we reviewed the beginnings of Job & Jonah's stories, the attitudes which each of them started with and how that influenced they concept of brokenness. In his brokenness Job ran towards God, in Jonah's brokenness he ran from God ... so it is more probable that true brokenness happens only when we are running toward God [perhaps even unconsciously; don't forget the Prodical was running back to the Father] than when we are running from him? I wished we would have time to include the apostle Paul's story of brokenness, for Paul certainly understood the principle at work in this discipline. Maybe that's for another day?!
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