No Difference Whatever

Great reminder from Martin Thornton in "Christian Proficiency":

"We must re-learn the essential truth that Christian prayer is rather like cleaning a car. When we are lucky enough to have a new one we wash and polish away with enthusiastic fervour, it is a devotional job. When the novelty wears off it becomes rather a nuisance and rather a bore, but we can still clean it efficiently, and here is one vital point: there is no difference whatever in the result."

Paradoxes (The Valley of Vision)

O Changeless God,

Under the conviction of Thy Spirit I learn that
the more I do, the worse I am,
the more I know, the less I know,
the more holiness I have, the more sinful I am,
the more I love, the more there is to love.

O wretched man that I am!
O Lord, I have a wild heart,

and cannot stand before Thee;
I am like a bird before a man.
How little I love Thy truth and ways!
I neglect prayer,
by thinking I have prayed enough and earnestly,
by knowing Thou hast saved my soul.
Of all hypocrites, grant that I may not be
an evangelical hypocrite,
who sins more safely because grace abounds,
who tells his lusts that Christ's blood
cleanseth them,
who reasons that God cannot cast him into hell,
for he is saved,
who loves evangelical preaching, churches,
Christians, but lives unholily.
My mind is a bucket without a bottom,
with no spiritual understanding,
no desire for the Lord's Day,
ever learning but never reaching the truth,
always at the gospel-well but never holding water.
My conscience is without conviction or contrition,
with nothing to repent of.
My will is without power of decision or resolution.
My heart is without affection, and full of leaks.
My memory has no retention, so I forget easily the lessons learned,
and Thy truths seep away.
Give me a broken heart that yet carries home
the water of Grace.

Learning From The Wise Men

The wise men are some of the key figures of Epiphany. Not only did Jesus, the light of the world, reveal himself to Jewish shepherds but also to foreign "wise men". Some think they were seers or priests from Persia or modern day Iran, but obviously we don't know with certainty. What we do know is that they traveled great lengths following a star in the sky, convinced they were en route to meeting the king of the Jews, and the star led them to Israel. Not only that but we find out the gifts they brought to Jesus:

• Gold
• Frankincense
• Myrrh

Some have said that each gift represents a different aspect of Jesus: gold for Jesus' royalty, frankincense for Jesus' priesthood, and myrrh for Jesus' sacrificial death. Others say that the gifts represent the best of culture. When I come to Jesus, do I come as the wise men do? Grateful that He's a sovereign king and I don't need to worry? Grateful that he's my perfect high priest interceding on my behalf? Grateful that He's my perfect sacrifice and I'm not trying to work my way back to him?

Would we all learn from the wise men to see Jesus as much greater and lovely! No gift is great enough for Him, he deserves the best we have.

There is a time to born, and it is now (Walter Brueggemann)

There is a time to be born and a time to die.

And this is a time to be born.

So we turn to you, God of our life,

God of all our years,

God of our beginning.

Our times are in your hand.

Hear us as we pray:

For those of us too much into obedience,

birth us to the freedom of the gospel.
For those of us too much into self-indulgence,
birth us to discipleship in your ministry.

For those too much into cynicism,
birth us to the innocence of the Christ child.

For those of us too much into cowardice,

birth us to the courage to stand before

principalities and powers.

For those of us too much into guilt,

birth us into forgiveness worked in your generosity.

For those of us too much into despair,

birth us into the promises you make to your people.

For those of us too much into control,

birth us into the vulnerability of the cross.

For those of us too much into victimization,

birth us into the power of Easter.

For those of us too much into fatigue,

birth us into the energy of Pentecost.

We dare pray that you will do for us and among us and through us

what is needful for newness.

Give us the power to be receptive,

to take the newness you give,

to move from womb warmth to real life.

We make this prayer not only for ourselves, but

for our school at the brink of birth,

for the church at the edge of life,

for our city waiting for newness,

for your whole creation, with which we yearn

in eager longing.

There is a time to be born, and it is now.

We sense the pangs and groans of your newness.

Come here now in the name of Jesus. Amen.

The Christian Calendar

It's a new year, and it's been a long while since I've posted anything here. Balancing a few different outlets of social media has never been a forte of mine. However, since Advent kicked in at the end of 2010, I've been wanting to post some resources for those exploring the Christian Calendar year... The book I'm using devotionally this year is called "Living The Christian Year: Time to Inhabit the Story of God" by Bobby Gross.

I've read quite a few others in previous years, and while I'd still recommend other books, this book has been an amazing companion and guide on the journey this year. Gross starts out talking about discovering "sacred time" and how the calendar can continue to call us back into God's story and living within it and letting it help order our days. He starts with the season of Advent, gives us a brief yet thorough overview of what the season means & why it's important. He then offers devotional guides to help you pray & read Scripture that corresponds with that time (based of the Lectionary). It's simple yet effective.

Here are a few quotes for you:

"We want to inhabit the still-unfolding Story of God and have it inhabit us and change us. And this is exactly what the ancient liturgical habit of living the Christian year helps us do."

"Like 9/11, an ordinary day in our common calendars can become charged with memory and meaning, can become, in a way, hallowed."

"Each season suggests a spiritual choreography for our own lives. We perform movements that mirror God's: waiting, giving, telling, turning, dying, rising, and pouring out."

Pick up a copy and let it lead & remind of the much Greater Story we live in, and teach you to step in unison.

"Resting On God" - Valley of Vision

This prayer has been deeply convicting and encouraging lately...

O God, most high, most glorious,

the thought of Thine infinite serenity cheers me,

for I am toiling and moiling, troubled and distressed,

but Thou art for ever at perfect peace.

Thy designs cause thee no fear or care of unfulfilment,

they stand fast as the eternal hills.

Thy power knows no bond, Thy goodness no stint.

Thou bringest order out of confusion, and my defeats are Thy victories:

The Lord God omnipotent reigneth.

I come to Thee as a sinner with cares and sorrows,

to leave every concern entirely to Thee,

every sin calling for Christ's precious blood;

revive deep spirituality in my heart;

let me live near to the great Shepherd,

hear His voice, know its tones, follow its calls.

Keep me from deception by causing me to abide in the truth,

from harm by helping me to walk in the power of the Spirit.

Give me intenser faith in the eternal verities,

burning into me by experience the things I know;

Let me never be ashamed of the truth of the gospel,

that I may bear its reproach, vindicate it,

see Jesus as its essence,

know in it the power of the Spirit.

Lord, help me, for I am often lukewarm and chill;

unbelief mars my confidence, sin makes me forget Thee.

Let the weeds that grow in my soul be cut at their roots;

grant me to know that I truly live only when I live to Thee,

that all else is trifling.

Thy presence alone can make me holy, devout, strong and happy.

Abide in me, gracious God.

If you're looking for more prayers like this, pick up a leather one or paperback.

To make things new that never were - Walter Brueggemann

A prayer from Walter Brueggemann from his book "Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth" for Pentecost Sunday:

We name you wind, power, force, and then,

imaginatively, "Third Person."

We name you and you blow...

blow hard,

blow cold,

blow hot,

blow strong,

blow gentle,

blow new...

Blowing the world out to nothing to abundance,

blowing the church out of despair to new life,

blowing little David from shepherd boy to messiah,

blowing to make things new that never were.

So blow this day, wind,

blow here and there, power,

blow even us, force,

Rush us beyond ourselves,

Rush us beyond our hopes,

Rush us beyond our fears, until we enact your newness in the world.

Come, come spirit. Amen.

Fullness In The Desolate

Over the last couple years, I've been trying to take a Sabbath once a week. Basically, I'm attempting to have one day in the week that's set apart to be different than the other 6 days. A day to remind myself that I'm created, I'm not immortal, and that I'm sustained by a Hand infinitely stronger than mine. It reminds me to be a child again, to breathe a little deeper, and to not shoulder the cares of the world alone. In the words of Eugene Peterson, the Sabbath is a day to "pray and play". Initially I felt like I was able to find the sacredness of the day and really attempt to make it different, but over time it's gravitated back towards a usual day and less "set apart". I find myself tasking and not being. I find myself not praying or playing. As I sit down to pray, to listen, and read, I end up picking up my iPhone and checking Twitter or Facebook, or reply to an email that could have easily waited till the next day. Then I'll get back to what I was doing, but sure enough, a few minutes later I'm back on my email. Have I become a slave to technology & immediacy? Am I really not able to simply focus on one thing or person for an extended period of time?

Not only does this affect my times spent with God but it also affects my time spent with others. With my wife, friends, and co-workers. As I'm in conversation with them, I'll get a text, a voicemail that I "need" to check, a phone call I "must" take. Charles E. Hummel wrote a short a short essay titled "Tyranny of the Urgent", where the basic idea is that we too easily allow the "urgent things to crowd out the important ones." I find this to be profoundly true in my life. When I look back at my life in 15 years, what will I think the truly important things were? What were the urgent ones? It's almost as if the only reason I attend to the urgent ones is because they're yelling a little louder than the important ones. I don't want to lose the important ones in the volume difference. How will my wife remember me? Our kids? Our friends? Was my time spent on people or tasks that could have waited?

I've had a couple thoughts about this since this frustration's been hitting:

First was a quote I read Mark Buchanan's book "The Rest of God: Restoring Your Soul By Restoring Sabbath". He asked the question, "If people stop to listen to you, to whom are you stopping to listen?" It's a great question simply because it reminded me of where the weight of my words come from. He went on to say, "Our speaking comes out to our listening. What we say comes out of what we hear. We have to be people who listen, day and night, to God." This was true of Jesus, who said he only would do what he saw the Father doing. I hope I could say the same of myself, but so often I'm not looking for what the Father is doing. I'm not listening to what the Father is saying. In a sea of noise, would I hear the Voice that created all voices. I must remember to slow down to listen.

The second thought came yesterday during church as we read from Mark 1:35, which says, "And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed." The word that stood out to me was desolate. As I set apart time to listen, there are distractions all around me. "Desolate" would not be the appropriate adjective to describe my times with God. I'm not saying the distractions are in and of themselves "bad things", but in that moment, they're not the best thing. I need to learn from Jesus' example to find a time in the day (for him it was very early in the morning) and in a setting that wouldn't offer distractions in order to listen and be with God. To be in silence. To confess my need. To beg for help. To thank him for all He's done, is doing, and will do. Perhaps it's in the desolate places that we'll find fullness.

"You who stalk the earth with new life" - Walter Brueggemann

Christ is Risen... He is risen indeed!

You Easter one

you who stalk the earth with new life,

you who soar the heavens with fresh governance,

you who traipse the seas with odd authority,

You life-giver,

You a strange anomaly among us,

for everywhere are signs of death:

...Benjamin taken in his youth,

our tax dollars at work in Serbia,

endless diagnoses among our friends,

people made redundant in all our euphemisms of "down-sizing,"

too much money and too little health care,

your church here and there nearly consumed with anxiety for itself.

And yet you appear here and there,

now and then:

You say "Fear not," and we are comforted,

You say "Peace I give you," and we are less restless,

You say "Go and sin no more," and we glimpse a new innocence,

you say and we listen,

you act and we are healed,

you... and us,

you and life,

you and newness,

you for us,

you with us,

you,

you,

you... and we are dazzled in our gratitude. Amen.

Tongues From Centuries Speaking Now

O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing (Charles Wesley, 1739)

1O for a thousand tongues to sing my great Redeemer's praise

The glories of my God and King, the triumphs of his grace

2Jesus! the name that charms our fears, that bids our sorrows cease

'Tis music in the sinners ears, 'tis life and health and peace

3He breaks the power of cancelled sin, he sets the prisoner free

His blood can make the foulest clean; his blood availed for me

4He speaks, and listening to his voice, new life the dead receive

The mournful, broken hearts rejoice, the humble poor believe

5My gracious Master and my God, assist me to proclaim

To spread through all earth abroad the honors of thy name

A thousand, a million, a trillion tongues (Walter Brueggemann, 1998)

O for a thousand tongues to sing

our great redeemer's name;

To sing beyond ourselves, extravagantly,

with abandonment,

beyond all our possibilities,

and all our fears,

and all our hopes...

to our redeemer dear, the antidote to our death,

the salve to our wounds,

the resolve of our destructiveness...

A thousand, a million, a trillion tongues,

more than our own,

more than our tradition,

more than our theology,

more than our understanding,

tongues around us,

tongues among us,

tongues from our silenced parts.

Tongues from us to you in freedom and in courage,

Finally ceding our lives and our loves to your good care. Amen.

Revise our taking - Walter Brueggemann

A Lenten prayer:

You, you giver!

You have given light and life to the world;

You have given freedom from Pharaoh to your people Israel;

You have given your only Son for the sake of the world;

You have given yourself to us;

You have given and forgiven,

and you remember our sins no more.

And we, in response, are takers:

We take eagerly what you give us;

we take from our neighbors near at hand as is acceptable;

we take from our unseen neighbors greedily and acquisitively;

we take from our weak neighbors thoughtlessly;

we take all that we can lay our hands on.

It dawns on us that our taking does not match your giving.

In this Lenten season revise our taking,

that it may be grateful and disciplined,

even as you give in ways generous and overwhelming.

Amen.

A Couple Shots At The Memorial With My New Cam

At the dawn - Walter Brueggemann

Our first glimpse of reality this day - everyday - is your fidelity.

We are dazzled by the ways you remain constant among us,

in season, out of season,

for better, for worse,

in sickness and in health.

You are there in watchfulness as we fall asleep;

You are there in alertness when we awaken...and we are glad.

Before the day ends, we will have occasion

to flag your absence in indifference...

but not now, not at the dawn.

Before the day ends, we will think more than once

that we need a better deal from you...

but not now, not at the dawn.

Before the day ends, we will look away from you and

relish our own fidelity and our virtue in mercy...

but not now, not at the dawn.

Now, at the dawn, our eyes are fixed on you in gladness.

We ask only that your faithfulness

permeate every troubled place we are able to name

that your mercy

move against the hurts to make new,

that your steadfastness

hold firmly what is too fragile on its own.

And we begin the day in joy, in hope, and in deep gladness. Amen.

It Might Get Loud

This poster is pretty genius.

Bon Iver - Blood Bank

bon iver - blood bank from Parker on Vimeo.

We Are Not Alone

"The Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God." - Romans 8:26-27

We are not alone in our prayers. In our sighs. In the very things that surpass words. Unable to speak? Process? Understand? Put to words?

You are not alone.

We are not alone.

Pray As You Can

Read this in "Sacred Space" this morning and it made me think:

"One of the chief dead-ends in developing my spiritual life is to want to have someone else's spiritual life. If, for instance, I visit a convent one day, or see a monastery on TV, I may find myself thinking, 'I wish I could pray like them.' But if I am a school teacher, or an accountant, or looking after my children all day, then that rhythm of prayer may just not be suited to me. Pray as you can, not as you can't is an obvious maxim, but one that is frequently overlooked, leading to a lot of unrealistic expectations and frustration."

"Finding my own rhythm, a way of praying that suits me, may involve some experimentation with times and places and with different styles and approaches. At times I will need to persevere and not give up on something too easily. I also need, however, to be prepared to say, 'This doesn't work for me.' Finding a way of praying I can sustain is an important step in developing my relationship with God."

Isn't that encouraging? First off, it reminds me that we are all called to pray. It's not an optional piece of life. We were created to interact and be in relationship with God, and prayer is a major component in that journey. The struggle shouldn't be, "should I pray" but rather "how should I pray". Find ways that help you engage with God. Sometimes I journal my prayers because it helps me focus. Praying out loud helps me remained focused as well. Silent prayer doesn't work as well for me, simply because I start thinking about a million other things. Going on walks around the neighborhood is a great exercise as well. If you're not sure to pray, start with prayers you know. Open up the Psalms, or perhaps pray the Lord's Prayer. Let those prayers start the journey but then open up to other prayer pieces. Be honest with God. Tell him how you're feeling.

The other thing this quote did was give us freedom to be who we are. Comparison brings one of two things: pride or shame. Pride because you've assessed yourself next to someone else, and you fared well. Shame because in the comparison, the other person looks better than you and you feel "less than". Neither are good, healthy postures. Good self-assessment is welcome, but one should never be shamed into trying harder. The motivation should always be, "God, shape me to be who you've made me to be. Continue to create where I've destroyed, continue to grow where I've withered. Make me truly alive."

Lastly, I'd encourage you to find some books on prayer to read. Pick up books that address the understanding of prayer like Richard Foster's "Prayer", CS Lewis' "Letters to Malcolm", Anthony Bloom's "Beginning To Pray", or Eugene Peterson's "Answering God: The Psalms As Tools For Prayer". Also consider books that actually call you to pray along with them like the Puritan's "Valley of Vision", Walter Brueggemann's "Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth", Phyllis Tickle's "The Divine Hours", or the Jesuit's "Sacred Space".

Would we be a people who pray regularly as God has made us to be. It's in that place that we'll continue to be shaped and refined.

Shalom Seekers: A Third Meditation on Psalm 34:14

"Swerve from evil and do good, seek peace and pursue it."

The first couple meditations focused in on refraining from evil, engaging in good, and finally we end with this last phrase: "seek peace and pursue it." The word for peace in Hebrew is "shalom" which although it does mean peace, the peace spoken of here is on a much grander scale than the peace we might imagine. We see peace as the lack of conflict or war, while the shalom of the Bible is a peace that entails a wholeness, a rightness. Not just a wholeness for the individual, but also for his relationships and for the whole world he lives in. With the fall of man in Genesis 3 we saw a multi-layered curse issued because of it, clearly seeing its fruits throughout the world today. This curse affected the relationships between man and God, man and woman, and man and nature. God's desire is for a large scale shalom movement, re-newing and re-novating that which has been incomplete and fractured for thousands of years.

So what does it mean for us today to seek peace? I would argue it entails seeking wholeness in our lives. The first "rightness" we must find is a rightness in our relationship with God. We need what Jesus called a "new birth", or a "second birth". Jesus came to earth, died on the cross, and rose again to bring us from a place of separation from God to a place of union with God. He came to correct that which we were utterly incapable of correcting. In Romans 5:1, Paul declares that we have peace with God through Jesus Christ. This vertical peace spoken of in turn leads to a desire for a horizontal peace, a rightness of relationship with others and with nature. We are taught by God to be good stewards of our friendships, our jobs, our city, and our environment.

The final encouragement is the same in the verb at the end of the verse: "pursue it". It's a reminder that shalom seeking is not always an easy thing to do. In fact, it's just the opposite: very hard and discouraging at times. We see an "anti-shalom" that permeates the earth and even our hearts. It takes the gospel of Jesus transforming our fist-shaking rebellion towards God into clean submitted-hands that work to carry out the very things that Jesus's hands did on the earth. We follow him towards a global shalom. It takes discipline and an intentional focus on the things we hope to see happen, regardless of the initial outcomes. It takes what Nietzsche called "a long obedience in the same direction":

"The essential thing 'in heaven and earth' is... that there should be long obedience in the same direction; there thereby results, and has always resulted in the long run, something which has made life worth living."

Let it be so.

Doing: A Meditation on Psalm 34:14

"...and do good"

This is part 2 of the meditation on Psalm 34:14.

Although the last phrase's emphasis was on the negative (ie saying "no" to evil, turning away, or swerving from evil), we can't let that be the end of the movement. We can't turn from evil and then assume we're "good". It's good to turn away, but what are you turning towards? Something better or worse? The Pharisees found themselves in this same place, turning from evil, but turning towards self-righteousness, in a sense attempting to be their own saviors. This sort of thought process was violently opposed by Jesus, because it led to the Pharisees assuming they were "healthy" when in fact they were just as sick as the tax collectors but completely unaware. They were outwardly healthy but inwardly dead.

So what do we turn towards? Jesus seemed to have a "third way". It wasn't a life spent on pleasure (like the "sinners" he hung out with), but it wasn't a life devoted to meaningless ritual (like the Pharisees he confronted). He invited people to repent of both these paths, and be "born again". This re-birth involved placing a new spiritual heart within people. A new humanity learning to live again under a new King in a new kingdom. Jesus the King was crucified by his subjects under the old kingdom's regime so that today we could live under a new authority, stronger than sin and death (the very things he declared as dead on the cross and evidenced by the empty grave). What do we trust in as we swerve from sin? Our new good deeds? Our good behavior only lasts so long, and then we realize the problem wasn't just our outward actions, but our inward intentions. We're bent outwardly, but primarily inwardly. Jesus' life isn't just meant to "un-bend" our actions, but also our heart. In a strange sense, we all had been kidnapped since birth and Jesus' life was the very ransom that paid for us to be freed from the hands of our captors. We learn to trust in his ransom, recognizing that we lacked the power to ransom ourselves, and then also learn to live a new life that's forever affected and influenced by that very ransom. If you want to read a simple book on this thought, check out Tim Keller's book called "The Prodigal God".

Another thought: often our empty religion can lead us to a list of things we're refraining from (sex, alcohol, rated R movies, fill-in-the-blank morality) but never call us to engage in anything. The word repentance is commonly misunderstood by our generation, and is almost called a bad word. However, in the word "repentance" is the idea that we don't just turn from something, but we also turn toward something. Jesus calls us to follow him. So often we think faith is about abstaining, but it's also about engaging, feasting, delighting, and enjoying God and his gifts. We turn from evil and turn from thinking that our turning suddenly makes us holy, and turn towards Jesus, following Him, trusting in His ransoming sacrifice. Would we consider what are we swerving from but also swerving to?

Those rescued from death, from kidnappers, from a terminal disease always live differently. They are a grateful people. They know what matters. They seem to be present, in the moment. Would we not just settle for outward purity, but an inward joy that leads to a full life of someone who's grateful for the days they have. The gospel is not just about saving people from something, but rather saving people for something. Let's be known not just for what we say "no" to (which is necessary often), but primarily for what we say "yes" to... Would we consider ways of doing good, not just in word but in action. He didn't say, "swerve from evil and talk good (Okie way of saying "talk nicely"), but "do good". Throughout the New Testament, it's clear our faith doesn't just affect a portion of our lives, but rather consumes the whole thing. True religious affections always lead to full expression of life, they must be manifested. The God-life in us always finds its way out into our actions, evidenced by fruit that looks like God. Because of the good work in you, go and "do good".

Swerving: A Meditation on Psalm 34:14

I read this in Robert Alter's "The Book of Psalms" yesterday from Psalms 34:14.

"Swerve from evil and do good, seek peace and pursue it."

Other translations say "turn from evil" (NIV), "depart from evil" (NASV), and "turn your back on sin" (The Message). Such a short sentence, but intense in content. As I was thinking through and meditating on it yesterday, I had a few mental jaunts on the particular words David used here. I'll split them up into a few blogs but hopefully there are some inspiring thoughts and practical ways of responding to and living this text in our every day lives. The first meditation will focus in on the initial phrase, "Swerve from evil" and address 3 thoughts that branch out from it.

1) First, this phrase implies there are such clear things such as good and evil, and God gives us an ability to choose or un-choose those things in our lives. He will hold us responsible. We aren't just animals of instinct that have don't have the ability to say "no", but rather are creatures that possess wills and self-control. Evil is not just a subjective assessment determined by individuals who look through the lenses of their upbringing, culture, or life experience and then label something good or evil. It's ultimately determined by God. He created us, and knows the very things that serve to build his image in us and the things that tear down and distort his image in us. God desires that we turn from evil things, things that are anti-God and anti-human for that matter (see pg. 19 of Rob Bell's "Sex God" for some interesting thoughts on this). We are not the final judges, God is. This takes a massive amount of humility to admit and even submit to. It feels wrong at times because we've been fed the exact opposite. We love being told "our reality is the ultimate reality", "we're in charge" and "we call the shots". We don't. We never will. God does. God always will.

2) The second thought I had was connected to the imagery of swerving. When I was in college, we took a trip and had a four hour drive home from San Francisco airport to San Luis Obispo. On our way south, we stopped at a friends house in San Jose for a quick hot tub break. Part of the effects of a hot tub that I had forgotten about was how relaxed and sleepy it makes you after. Unfortunately I had the next slot to drive, and sure enough after a few minutes it was evident I was struggling to stay awake. Not only was I struggling, but everyone else in the car fell asleep except for me and a friend. Luckily, she kept asking me questions to keep my mind active, but at one point she asked me one question and I didn't respond. Not only did I not respond, but the car was set in cruise control veering off the road heading towards a concrete wall. She screamed, "Joel!!! Joel!!!!!!" and a I woke up and was confronted with a decision: drive straight into the concrete wall and crash into it or swerve left back onto the road and miss the concrete wall and ultimately drive to where we were heading in the first place. I didn't set off thinking, "I really want to drive into a concrete wall!" but rather was confronted with that and had a choice to make. For many of us, we don't start off headed in the wrong direction, but by the grace of God are awakened along the way and have to make a decision. "To swerve or not to swerve." Would I remind you all that sin always tastes good for a season, but also yields fruit in season. It might not be immediate, but its seeds are planted and they grow and will bear its fruit of death in your life.

3) The last point I wanted to make regarding this phrase is connected to the passion it shows we should learn to take against sin. Our response to sin shouldn't just be a "oh, I'll guess I'll turn away" but rather a passionate, "I'm not wasting any time" turning. It brings up the memory of Joseph in Genesis 39, who while being enticed by Potiphar's cougar of a wife would say, "How could I do such a wicked thing and sin against my God?". It got to the point where she was tearing his off his clothes (in true cougar fashion) and he had to sprint away. Joseph swerved. He turned away from short-term gratification and ran towards long-term joy. He hadn't just connected his sin to wronging Potiphar his boss, but the big deal for him was sinning against God and followed through with his convictions. We'd hope he'd get his reward immediately from God for his obedience, but was actually thrown in jail for something he didn't do. That doesn't seem like a just scenario, but in the end, Joseph's character was being shaped and God would use him for amazing things.

What do you need to turn away from that you'll eventually crash into? What do you need to swerve from? Who can you talk to about that to hold you to the things you're feeling stirred to turn away from?

Would we be a swerving people.