Joeletter 12.1

This past weekend was wonderful. On Saturday, immedately after work, my Mom and three of my sisters picked me up. Having packed the night before, I hopped into the car and we set out for Chicago.

Beginning Sunday afternoon, this week is the National Bible Bowl tournament. I really enjoyed getting to be up there in Chicago for the weekend, visiting with friends and former teammates. In addition, there was a very nice fireworks show on Sunday night.

Monday being a holiday, I was not required to work. I stayed until Monday afternoon, and then caught a ride home with one of the player's fathers, who also had to work on Tuesday.

So, after an all-to-brief hiatus, here I am again, home. And, actually, home alone. Yes, all the rest of my family is up in Chicago for the week, supporting the team and encouraging my sisters. I have been catching a ride with a co-worker to and from work, which is a real blessing. Except for the fact that I have to wake up twenty minutes earlier . . .

Work at Delta continues to be fine, though warm. It really is a good job. And it takes a lot of time. I am growing less and less interested in donating eight hours a day of my time to the factory, for the next fifty-five years. Unless, of course, it is what I need to do to respond to God. This summer, it is.


So, I realized something this week. I keep forgetting how mighty God is. As my sisters have been quoting to me in preparation for the National Bible Bowl Tournament, they keep quoting Luke 22. Every time, verse 69 jumps out at me. "But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the mighty God." For three or five weeks I was on a continual Jesus high, after reading the "Can You Hear Me?" book by Brad Jersak. I still highly recommend it to everyone. But, so, I was on this great high. Then, last week, I realized that I didn't 'feel' that fountain of joy bubbling up right in the center of my breastbone anymore. I started wondering why. Always before at work, I had a smile on 'cause of the fountain. Now, I was trying to be smiling as an example of a happy Christian. What was wrong with this picture? I realized that I had slipped back into my old pattern of God. While talking with Him, praying to Him, and acknowledging His presence, I was forgetting about His power. And, actually, I was forgetting about His eternal NowHere, too. I was, in effect, returning to my previous God-in-a-box, without realizing it. That was kinda scary. How easy it is to replace God with my false perception of Him. And, thus, how easy it is for everyone else to do the same thing. It has taught me more compassion for those who knew, or think they know, but don't really seem too. For people who are not allowing themselves to live in Christ's freedom.
It helped me see how subtly we can slip away from our Mighty God. We are the only ones who dare, and are allowed, to pare Aslan's claws in our lives, and even (may it never be) in the lives of others. "Come, Lord Jesus, come. Defend your truth. Remove my bumblings. On earth as it is in heaven. Let it be done."


How about you? What are you hearing from God? I'm not kidding, I would love to hear your stories, if they are not too personal. Apparently, you all thought that I was kidding when I asked you to respond last week. That's the only explanation I have come up with for the total lack of responses.

I have found that it is just as beneficial to write about what God is saying and doing, as it is to hear and experience. This is probably why we are encouraged to journal as a spiritual discipline during our times with God. The act of writing forces us to conceptualize God's messages. We have to think back, and connect His dots. And I almost always learn something new when writing. That is, in fact, one reason I write the Joeletter. It's to journal what God is doing in my life right now. You just get to read over my sholder.

And it seems that God's messages are usually timely for the rest of the body, too. I am always encouraged when I see and hear God's messages to other people.

Remember, this life really isn't about this life at all. It's so easy for me to forget that. But, everything in this life is so transitory. Nothing lasts. Nothing is worth all our work, our devotion. It's all gonna burn. Only people, and the Word, will last. And, of course, our Mighty God.


In His Time,