Jesus Coming Soon

In Honolulu, there is a church with a large "Jesus Coming Soon" sign. As we near our departure from Christchurch Anna's reaction to the impending departure has shed some light on waiting for Jesus to return.

Anna understands the concepts of past and future, but in no further detail than that. Tomorrow, two days from now, a week from now, a month from now, even a year from now are all “tomorrow” in her vocabulary. So, over the last several months she keeps asking, “Are we leaving tomorrow?” Now that we are within a week of leaving and we can show her the days on the calendar, she is beginning to grasp the idea of future more clearly. We have told her, “It will be ten more sleeps before we leave”. Still, some days she gets up and asks, “Are we leaving today?”

If only I could look forward to Jesus’ return like this – knowing that it is “tomorrow” but not knowing how far ahead and waking up each morning asking, “Are we leaving today?”

Chilean Miners

We followed the rescue of the Chilean miners via the internet. I was surprised that even when the fourth miner came out of the ground, I still teared up even though three had been rescued before him. This made me think of how awesome it must have been when Lazurus was called out of the house by Jesus after he had been dead.

I am overwhelmed as I think of Jesus taking me from the miry pit and putting me on firm ground. He rescued me.

Ella Enchanted

Last night we watched Ella Enchanted. Ella is "cursed" with obedience. She must obey every command told her by anyone. You can imagine how this gets her into trouble when others figure this out.

In the end, she falls in love with a prince who would rather not command her; of course she desires to do what he wishes as he has her best interests in mind. She breaks the curse and they get married.

This made me think about my obedience to God, how it is not automatic. I don't want to get into a free will argument; rather I just want to reflect on loving obedience to my King.

Dead Man Walking or Live Man Running?

I was listening to a sermon by Alistair Begg and he made a comment that has been swimming around my head for the last week. He said that morticians make dead people look alive while Jesus called Lazarus back to life. I find that much of my spiritual life is plying the mortician's craft to myself - using makeup to dress up my dead flesh. Ironically, Jesus has given me new life and I neglect letting this life shine.