We were up early this morning getting everything ready for the kids to go off to school — well all the kids except Joshua. He had an oral surgery scheduled for this morning. Granny, aunt Janet and cousin Susie all came over to get the kids on the bus so that Kimberly and I could take Joshua to the surgery.

After about fifteen minutes of instructions for post-operation life (like not smoking, driving, drinking alcohol, etc…) Joshua was taken back, put under anesthesia, and as of right now Kimberly and I are waiting.

This is the second time Joshua has been put to sleep for surgery and Kimberly and I have found ourselves “waiting.” It is not a very comfortable feeling placing your son into the hands of another (no matter how well qualified.) Both Kimberly and I both brought “stuff to do,” but there is a quiet distraction that really keeps us from being truly focused. We are trusting the doctor with our son, and there is nothing that we can add to the process. It will take the time it takes, it will cause Joshua necessary pain, and in the end we are trusting that it will be for his benefit . . . so we wait.

Isaiah says, 40:31 “. . . but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” So we know what it means to “wait on the doctor” in the “waiting room” but is this the same of “waiting for the Lord?” It is where we recognize that life is out of our control, and we trust/place it into the hands of another who is far more qualified to take care of it. If we wait, for the Lord, then in the end, our lives will be better off.

So Kimberly and I sit, waiting.

4-19-10 Update
Joshua is doing wonderful and is back to normal activities. Thank you for all the prayers and phone calls. Some of you have asked what he had done:

He has many, many teeth on the bottom, so two were removed to make room for the teeth to align naturally. Also, on the top Joshua had a tooth that really wasn’t a tooth at all (a bony growth that would never change) so it was removed. And he has a tooth impacted way up in his gum. So a gold chain was attached to it, drawn through the gum and attached to his upper set of braces. This will slowly pull the tooth down as the chain has increased tension. I am beginning to understand the angst in my mother’s voice as she would correct me as a boy not to open bottles with my teeth, cut items with my teeth, etc…

Thank you volunteers and parents for letting us share life with your beautiful kids.

This past Sunday I preached from 1 Samuel chapter 2:12 ff. It is the story of Eli and his three sons (I am counting Samuel as an adopted son). I focused on the comparison of the two biological sons (v. 12) against how Samuel is presented in the story. Here, I would like to discuss a part of the passage, I was not able to spend too much time on.

1 Samuel 2:13-14 “The custom of the priests with the people was that when any man offered sacrifice, the priest’s servant would come, while the meat was boiling, with a three-pronged fork in his hand, 14 and he would thrust it into the pan or kettle or cauldron or pot.”

I find the phrase, “The custom of the priests with the people. . .” to be very interesting. Earlier, when the law outlines how the sacrifices were to be collected, slaughtered, and burned, there was no mention of the practice that is mentioned in the rest of the verse. There was no mention of a three-pronged fork, boiling the meat, etc… Something happened between the giving of the law, and the actual carrying out of the law that resulted in a “custom.”

This “custom” in an attempt on the part of the priests to make their job more comfortable or even convenient for themselves. And the people have a “chance” to get more meat back since, “All that the fork brought up the priest would take for himself.” So if the priest hooked a little piece the people got to keep more of the meat. So this led the people to be greedy with that which was to be the Lord’s.

Whenever you seek to make God’s Word more convenient or comfortable (by adding to it, or changing it in some way) you take away the God given tool that is designed to keep people from acting upon their sinful nature that is within them. God’s Word and the leaders who teach it, are there to fight against creeping “customs.”

Judges 21:25 “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”

Along these same lines is keeping a balance between being culturally relevant and staying true to the original meaning and teaching of Scripture. God has called all believers to study, memorize, apply, and love His Holy Word. Teachers of the Word are admonished to “15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. (2 Timothy 3:15)” Jesus looked around and used illustrations (seed, people on a journey, bushes, etc.) as a way to help people understand spiritual things. Today teachers still look around a see (wiis, iphones, cars, etc.) and make the cultural connection. It is not as easy as it may seem on the surface. If you reference a popular television show that many people are watching (hence it being popular) but the show may be filled with course comments, sexual innuendo, rude behavior. . .then have you endorsed the show? Do you want to spend time (precious time) talking about what’s wrong with the show? So don’t mention the show, but now you have left out a huge chunk of where the “culture” is focusing their attention.

So obviously we pray, study Scripture, and ask the Holy Spirit to guide us along this arkham’s razor.

Let us just make sure that we don’t try to make God’s Word more convenient for us (or others) to change the meaning which will lead to others sinning (2 Timothy 3:14,16).

*http://www.marklawrencegallery.com/ The picture above is from this web site. I really like his abstract work as it relates to biblical principles.

Music is a gift from God that moves the soul like nothing else. This Sunday Matt C. our worship director wrote a new song regarding Christ’s life, death, and resurrection, and it was very powerful. The praise team did an awesome job, of leading us into a worshipful time with the Lord. Our children also sang a special, guided by a wonderful sister in Christ Pam. G. They met for several practices and finally had their Easter debut. My kids listened to a cd of the song every night for weeks, and enjoyed practicing with their friends and eating pizza at rehearsals.

This Sunday, we began a new preaching series entitled “Parenting Under Attack” in which we will look at parents from the Bible (where they got it right, and where they got it wrong). Thank goodness they didn’t always get it right, or I would feel pretty bad.