Summer Road Trip ‘08
Day Two: Psalm 2:12

“But what joy for all who take refuge in him!”

It appears we’ve hit a bumpy section of road almost at the start of our Summer Road Trip. The Second Psalm is scary; can an “angry God” be anything but scary? I don’t like to think of a Loving God having the capacity of angry, yet what is love if there is no potential for anger? (Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to see the anger.)

Psalm 2 is all about the futility of fighting God. Nations (their leaders and their people) assume they can rule themselves without God’s guidance. They assume they don’t need God, and worse, that God doesn’t matter. They “they waste their time with futile plans” (Psalm 2:1) plotting against God and His loving design for them.

God’s anger is just; ignoring God leads to wars and strife. God's anger is not anger that comes from meanness, but anger that grows from compassion. Have you ever gotten angry at someone when they were hurting themselves and would not stop? Ever gotten angry at someone when they were hurting others?

The King referred to in the passage is Jesus Christ Himself. He is the Ruler who sits on the throne over all creation. Some day the evil rulers of this world will be brought down and everyone will bow before the Jesus Christ and declare that He is LORD.

In the mean time, it is the final verse of the passage that we should hold on to:

“But what joy for all who take refuge in him!” (Psalm 2:12)

When the bullies of this world start their ugliness, I want to be standing safely behind my LORD!

Enjoying the Journey!
Pastor Paul

Summer Road Trip ‘08
Day One: Psalm 1:6a

"For the Lord knows the way of the righteous..."

What a way to start the largest and most unique section of the Bible.

The First Psalm is both a warning and a promise to use care when you consider your traveling companions. I count at least six descriptions of the wrong kinds of people; people who will pull us off the road God wants us to travel with Him.

There is also a promise that the trip will go well and be fruitful when we keep our focus on God.

It’s the first part of verse six that jumped out at me this morning: “For the LORD knows the way of the righteous”.

God already knows the road I am traveling. He knows every bump, sharp turn, pot hole that I will face this week. I don’t have to know the future, I only have to trust God’s directions. He knows; I just have to trust.

I’m glad my Navigator is God. I’m thankful that He’s given me the road map of His WORD.

Enjoying the journey!
Pastor Paul

Join me on a Summer Road Trip. It won't cost you a tank of gas, but it just might fill your spiritual tank and gear you up for a great summer. We will be driving through the first thirty chapters in the Book of Psalms, stopping along the way to view a few of their sights. Check in every day for our lasted tourist destination and enjoy the ride! Road Trip '08 beings June 1st.

"Prayer is a form of sacrifice if you are willing to put yourself on the line because of it."

Leaves!

Terrie and I celebrated our 27th on the 27th yesterday. Twenty-seven years ago yesterday I made the second best decision of my life (second only to committing my life to Jesus Christ). We were in Temecula, CA preparing another couple for their wedding ceremony which takes place this afternoon.

It's overwhelming to believe it's been twenty-seven years, but even more so when I look at our four "children" who aren't children any more. Beautiful, passionate, dedicated young people live in our home and we've been privileged to be a part of their upbringing. What a thrill.
This morning they showed us their most recent creation - you see it at the top of the page...LEAVES.

Can't imagine what the last 27 would have been like without Terrie and the four wonderful children she has granted me!

Jumping on our Prayers
Or Sitting on His Commands

Why is it that we assume God MUST answer our prayers? It's not that God doesn't answer our prayers, He does. God is much more attentive to our heart cries than we will ever fully understand. My question has more to do with WHY we assume God MUST answer our prayers within our specific time frame.

It's been an interesting summer so far. God has been good to my family, our church and to me personally. By good I mean, He continues to provide for my needs and bless me with some of my wants. However, for the first time since arriving here to plant ChurchForFamily, I'm seeing God work financially on a different time table than what I personally would want.

You see, I want God to jump on my prayers and answer them right now, while at the same time I'm noticing that I'm not nearly as quick to follow His commands. I want God to be quick for me while I'm being slow for Him.

Immediate obedience is a quality each of us should strive to attain.

Day 31: Proverbs Road Trip

Proverbs 31:30, Charm is deceptive, and beauty does not last; but a woman who fears the LORD will be greatly praised.

What I am most thankful for about this final stop in my Proverbs journey is that it’s not about the “virtuous man”. Most of this chapter is about women. Actually it is a passage that a mother taught to her son. This lady wanted to make sure of two things: First, that Lemi (see chapter 31 intro) stayed away from the bars and drinks. They weren’t going to do him any good. And second, that he found a good wife.

It all comes down to this, a woman that lives for GOD, that’s something to admire and search for. Charm and beauty are nice, but a passion for God, not that’s awesome and lasting. And while this passage is geared to women the reality is there’s nothing comparable to finding a husband or wife who lives for God!

END NOTE: Today ends our Proverbs Road Trip but I hope and pray that you will continue to make reading through the Proverbs a daily habit. God back and take the journey again for a few months. Really get to know the roads and detours. Each time you take the trip you will see new sights and learn new lessons. If the journey gets a little monotonous, trip a cross country trip through the Psalms, that will take you five months if you read a chapter a day.

Enjoy the journey!

Day 30: Proverbs Road Trip

Proverbs 30:7 - 8 O God, I beg two favors from you; let me have them before I die. First, help me never to tell a lie. Second, give me neither poverty nor riches! Give me just enough to satisfy my needs.

I like that! “Give me just enough to satisfy my needs.” I am so grateful to God for meeting my needs. He’s never failed. He never will. The only time I get into trouble is when I want more than I need or misuse what had been given to be to meet my needs.

I don’t want to live “poor”; thinking that I never have enough. And I don’t want to live “rich”; acting as if it’s all mine and I can waste it. Just enough is good enough.

If I have to be poor, let it be that I am poor in pride.

If I have to be rich, let it be rich in God’s mercy and grace.

Goal for today: Appreciate God’s blessings a little bit more than usual.

Day 29, Proverbs Road Trip

Proverbs 29:11, Fools vent their anger, but the wise quietly hold it back.

This trip has been a trip of confession for me. As we approach the end of our Proverbs journey I am once again detoured by a verse on anger. I have to admit while I sit here at the off-ramp of 29:11 that I am at times an angry man.

An angry man; I try to disguise it, I try to avoid it, I try to not be it...but the reality is I deal a lot with anger, I can be an angry man.

I can admit that because anger in itself IS NOT a sin. Sometimes even God got angry. (Of course most of the time my anger is anything but righteous. God's is always just and righteous.)

Anger is not a sin. What is sin and what is foolish is VENTING my anger. Venting is what happens when I don't address the PROBLEM and instead address the EMOTION. That is foolish.

On the other hand I wisely and quietly hold back my "venting" I find out that the EMOTION fades and I can deal with the real PROBLEM (which is usually me).

Goal for today: Wisely hold back when I start to feel angry.

I'm Published...well, sort of.

OK, so it's not on Oprah's book of the month list. It's also not being promoted by Doubleday...

But, I've finally finished with my first novel: Seven Letters.

Here's the story behind the "Story"...

Last January I was at Barnes and Nobles looking for a book by Ann Lamont (Bird by Bird was the title). The book was Lamont’s memoirs on being an author. While looking for it a very young sales clerk “up sold” me a second book (he should have gotten a raise) called “No Plot, No Problem”. I had no idea what the book was, but since it was cheap, I added it to my pile of books to purchase.

When I got home Promise Ann grabbed, Bird by Bird, and we argued over who would read it first. She finally took “No Plot, No Problem” and as we read we both compared note on our readying.

It turned out that No Plot No Problem was not just a book on writing, but a book that challenged would-be authors to write a small novel IN JUST ONE MONTH! Promise got hooked on the idea and asked me if I would join her in the month-long project. I really wanted to encourage her, so I agreed and we set March as our “Write A Novel In a Month” date.

We both got off to a good start and it was a lot of fun sharing our ideas for our individual books – the plots, twists and other issues – for me it became an obsession – being the obsessive that I tend to be – so I pressed on, skipping TV and other personal pleasures and spending an hour or so every day writing.

At the end of week three – with nine days to go – I crossed the 50,000 word goal and still was not at the end of the story that was forming on my computer. I finally finished the story at about 60,000 words! With seven days to spare!

That was March 18th. What took three months to write has taken three months to edit and it's still rough. But the time has come to end my misery and get the thing out there for others to critize and wrestle with!

I've self-published through LULU Press (www.lulu.com) which is a print-on-demand company. What's cool is that I'm not out any $$$ and anyone who happens to actually want to read the thing can purchase it for about $12 (plus shipping).

For everyone else...just celebrate with me that I crossed the line and actually wrote my own "Great American Novel"!

You can preview the first chapter of Seven Letters at http://www.lulu.com/content/967008.

Now...to write the "Great American Song"...better go get busy!

Day 28: Proverbs Road Trip

Proverbs 28:14, Blessed are those who have a tender conscience [fear to do wrong], but the stubborn are headed for serious trouble.

OK, I admit it, I'm selfish and stubborn. I hate to admit when I'm wrong. I struggle with that one. Even when I admit that I'm wrong, I find it hard to get past looking for everyone else's offense and simply deal with my own.

What I want is a tender conscience. I want to be pricked all the way to my heart when I am doing wrong - toward God and toward others. I've already experienced the serious trouble that comes from being too subborn to admit my failures.

I've learned what verse thirteen teaches, "People who conceal their sins will not prosper, but if they confess and turn from them, they will receive mercy." I want to confess, forsake and receive mercy.

Goal for today: A tender heart.

Day 27: Proverbs Road Trip

Proverbs 27:23, “Know the state of your flocks, and put your heart into caring for your herds”

Introspection is not something that is encouraged these days. We start the day with the clock radio telling us the latest news or latest tune, or we head to the table for a cup of coffee and the morning paper. (Or in my case, check the latest e-mails) We sort of blow through our days allowing whatever happens next to guide our daily journey. Absolutely no introspection.

I’m trying to rediscover that past Christ Followers called “The Spiritual Disciplines”. We don’t like the word “discipline” so we say “habits”. But honestly, they all take a certain amount of discipline just line a good exercise or diet routine – both will make you feel better, both take discipline. So it is with the “Spiritual Disciplines”; they take effort, but they make us feel much better.

Introspection is one of those spiritual disciplines. Proverbs calls it knowing “the state of your flocks”. How is it really going in your life? God gives me a certain amount of physical, emotional, spiritual resources – my responsibility is to know what state they are in – to honestly evaluate where I’m at with God, with my family, with my health, with my friends...you get the point.

Introspection should lead me to both confession to God and reliance upon Him. I need Jesus Christ to walk me through my yesterday and guide me through my today. I need to know the state of my flocks.

Goal for today: Put my whole heart into caring for the people and things God has placed in my life.

Day 26: Proverbs Road Trip

Proverbs 26:11, A fool who repeats his foolishness is like a dog that goes back to what it has thrown up.

Vomit makes a lousy lunch!

I’ve been called a lot of things in my life, some good, some very bad and some have even been true. But, there is one thing I do not want to be called: a fool. Cuss at me, yell at me, but don’t call me a fool. I don’t want to be a fool.

But sometimes I am foolish. Sometimes I do act like a fool. Those are the times when I repeat what I know is going to hurt me. I know the consequences; I’ve been there before, yet I go ahead a do the same thing again. I foolishly convince myself that I will enjoy the sin and get away with it. That’s not only foolish, it’s stupid.

I could never imagine eating my own vomit, yet I will “vomit” up sin and then consider eating it again.

I want to live in such a way that I don’t sin, but just as importantly I want to learn from the mistakes and sins that I have committed and not go there again.

Vomit makes a lousy lunch!

^{Day 25: Proverbs Road Trip}

Proverbs 25:26, A good person who gives in to evil is like a muddy spring or a dirty well.

Giving into evil seems pretty far from what most of us do on a daily basis, but if we are honest, we are faced with many evil things and we just sort of allow them to pass through our lives. Television that is questionable, literature that is unwholesome, conversations and words that are obviously ungodly. We just allow it, seldom question it and rarely challenge it.

The last thing I wish to do is to muddy my life with evil things. Honestly looking at the things I allow into my eyes and ears will keep my life "fresh and clean" (sounds like a soap commercial).

Goal for today: Stay clean and guard again evil things that muddy my life.

Day 24: Proverbs Road Trip

Proverbs 24:3&4, It takes wisdom to have a good family, and it takes understanding to make it strong. It takes knowledge to fill a home with rare and beautiful treasures.

This morning at church we will dedicate a precious little girl to the Lord. In dedicating her to the Lord we will be following an ancient pattern found in the Old Testament book of First Samuel where Hannah told the Lord that if He would give her a child, she would give him back to God.

As we dedicate the little one to God we will also be dedicating her parents to God. It is her parents who make the decision today to raise her in a Godly home where Jesus Christ is the center and the Guide of all they do.

Raising a good family takes God’s wisdom and understanding. But such effort is well worth the rare and beautiful treasures that are found in such families.

Day 23: Proverbs Road Trip

Proverbs 23:2: Control yourself if you have a big appetite.

OK; enough said.

Goal for today: Control myself...

Day 22: Proverbs Road Trip

Proverbs 22:6: Train children how to live right, and when they are old, they will not change.

Chuck Swindoll, a pastor and author, helped me understand this verse in an entirely new light some years ago. It seems that the word “train” literally means the “bending of a bow”. When archery makers would make a bow they would attempt to “bend” the “stick” as it was already inclined to be bend. They didn’t work again the woods natural characteristics. In keeping the stick’s characteristics in mind, they simply worked with how it was created.

I share that and hope it makes sense because as my own family concludes it’s “summer road trip” to San Francisco I am reminded constantly that all for of my children are shaped and “bent” differently. Spending a week in a car with three teenagers, a twenty-something, and a wife can put any man to the test (as can spending a week in a car with a man like me!). I’ve been reminded again this week that each one of my family has incredibly wonderful “bents” that I can either enjoy or attempt to break

My goal today is to enjoy – not break – the God given bents in the ones I love.

Day 21: Proverbs Road Tip

Proverbs 21:31: You can get the horses ready for battle, but it is the LORD who gives the victory.

It’s easy to assume that I have won the battles. It’s even easier to assume that I am RESPONSIBLE for the wins! I pray and then I set out to do all the winning. I worry about failing. I “plan around God”.

What I really need to do is just get my “horses” ready. God has given me abilities, knowledge, talents; it’s my responsibility to prepare and use those God given gifts. Those are the things that God uses to bring about victories in my life. But (and this is an important but)...but I must always realize that it is God who gives the victory. God is the One who takes our lives and arranges the circumstances for His plan.

I need to do my part – but attempting to manipulate either God or others is not my part.

I need to be focused on what I really can do and let God handle the rest. Anything less and I’m just fooling myself. I can manage my horses, but God manages the wins.

Day 20: Proverbs Road Trip

Proverbs 20:22 Don’t say, “I’ll pay you back for the wrong you did.” Wait for the LORD, and he will make things right.

I have this saying, “I don’t get even...I get ahead.” I don’t know where I heard it, but I do know that that it’s stuck in my head. Why is it that I assume I actually have the power to get “even” with people? Why do I even try? When I focus on what others have done to me (evil) I allow not only their actions to hurt me – but our history together to CONTROL ME.

A better approach to hurt is forgiveness and, what I call “shifting”. I let God take care of it. I shift the hurt and vengefulness that I feel onto Him. You see, God does a much better job at fixing such things than I ever will and while He is dealing with the wrongs others have caused me – I get to go on with my own life.

So I wait for the Lord and let Him make things right in His time and way.

Day 19: Proverbs Road Trip

Proverbs 19:2 Enthusiasm without knowledge is not good. If you act too quickly, you might make a mistake.

“Look before you leap.” I was standing on a ledge overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge the other day. (Our family is in San Francisco this week touring and visiting my Dad and Brother.) It was amazing to see the fog roll over the Bridge and feel the power of the wind making it’s way through the “narrow” entrance to the San Francisco Bay. But I was careful, very careful. We were high up on a hill and the ocean and bay were far below us. One false move and I would have gone tumbling down the cliff. Needless to day, I was VERY careful.

Sometimes I am not so careful with my actions. I get excited and act too quickly. There is great wisdom in slowing down at times. Enthusiasm is great, but only when there is enough information to balance the excitement. I’m not afraid to make a mistake, I just want to avoid as many as possible.

While I stood on that hill the other day there were lots of warning signs and a few barriers in the way of danger. “Don’t cross here.” “No one beyond this point”. I would do well today to slow down and make sure I have the knowledge to match my enthusiasm.