Post-Bible Study

5 guys came out.  It was a really good group. Praise God!  Micah and Reed were both really encouraged coming away from it.  3 of the guys live on campus and are active in their dorms. Pray God would grow these men and give us favor on their dorm floors reaching out to their friends.

Ethical Question

Say for instance there was a former UofA student who since graduated and was hanging out in the dorms one night with his friends.  In an attempt to meet people he joins the Ping-Pong Tournament happening down the hall.  Out of a group of 20, he progresses to the semi-finals.

Should the former student purposely lose, or fight to win and steal the title from the legitimate freshman residents of the dorm?

…and i will walk 5,000 miles…

The lines are everywhere I walked during a typical recruitment day.  Oh yeah.  It’s that time of year.

Leave from house to walk to Gila dorm at 9:30am to pick up tent, gila to mall to set up tent, down the mall for free eegees, to mexican taco stand to hang with freshman I just met, back to tent for a while, random call from Richie who wreched his bike and lost a battle to the pavement, walk southwest to try and find him, return to tent, pack up tent and return it to Gila, continue to Starbucks to get an hour by myself, back to the Union for dinner with the crew, to the circle to drop Richie off at saferide, back over to Gila to pick up flyers, realize someone already picked them up and head to AZ-SO/Volleyball courts for Overflow, decide to go to Nico’s after Overflow, detour back to Gila, take a round a bout way to a parking lot, drive to Nico’s, get dropped off at House at 11:30pm.

Pray Blog (again)

just updated it again: www.prayforuofa.blogspot.com

My wife's up in Ohio. I'm in Tucson. I wish I could be up there.

http://amullarkey.wordpress.com/

Twitter Style

Today I bought my first pair of Rainbow sandals. After walking back from campus with them looking like a penguin, I am hoping they’ll fit better soon.

“They will see His face…”

On Revelations 22:4

…O Christ, He is the fountain,
The deep, sweet well of love!
The streams on earth I’ve tasted
More deep I’ll drink above:
There to an ocean fullness
His mercy doth expand,
And glory, glory dwelleth
In Emmanuel’s land.

The bride eyes not her garment,
But her dear Bridegroom’s face;
I will not gaze at glory
But on my King of grace.
Not at the crown He giveth
But on His pierced hand;
The Lamb is all the glory
Of Emmanuel’s land.

O I am my Beloved’s
And my Beloved is mine!
He brings a poor vile sinner
Into His house of wine
I stand upon His merit -
I know no other stand,
Not e’en where glory dwelleth
In Emmanuel’s land.

Rev. Samuel Rutherford, Puritan, 1600-1661

For such a time as this.

I think Esther 4:14 is a chilling calling verse that reveal a lot about God’s Sovereignty.

¹⁴ For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?"

God will deliver. Period. Whether you or I do anything at all, whether my University forbids religion in the dorms, whether America socializes religion and banns Christianity, doesn’t matter. He preserved the Messianic line after 70 years captivity in Babylon. God will do his deal.

The question is, will we respond to our calling? Not to do God a favor, but to save ourselves. Do you catch the subtle reference to Eze 3? “¹⁸ When I say to a wicked man, 'You will surely die,' and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his evil ways in order to save his life, that wicked man will die for ^[a] his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood.”

So what about that is fair? Why doesn’t Mordicai give the same ultimatum to all the other Israelites, telling them “Hey if you don’t act you’ll die for your disobedience. Don’t worry though, God will save all your other Jewish friends though through some other means.” Answer: I don’t know, for whatever reason, God chose Esther. And although her responsibilities were greater, her rewards was far greater as well.

Internet Explorer

If you’re still using it, please do yourself a favor and go here:

http://www.google.com/chrome

or here:

http://www.apple.com/safari/

or yes, even here:

http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/firefox.html

The Book of Daniel

I’ve always had a difficult time with the book of Daniel because of the languages it was written in and crazy prophesies.  It is hard for me to read it and think it was meant for anything other than a series of motivational stories about Daniel’s courage and faith in God.

But today I was reading it and had a very different thought. The book showcases God’s Sovereign work through foreign nations in a way no other book in the Bible does.  Nebechadnezzer: sternly humbled before God and ends his life regarding Yahweh as the true God.  Neb’s son, the last King of Bablyon, an arrogant, pompous King who dies from a fulfilled prophesy against him the night before.  Cyrus, King of Persia, conqueror of Babylon, for a reason only attributed to God directing his heart, releases the Jews from captivity in Babylon and sends them back to Jerusalem along with their temple treasure to rebuild the temple.  King Darius, successor of Cyrus, is yet another King who finds favor in Daniel, and seeing God close the mouth of the lions and spare Daniel’s life, also turns to God and believes Him as supreme.

Sure, the book gives a model for us to follow.  But I think there’s something else going on in it that God wants us to notice.

Prayer Blog

I started a prayer blog.

I will continue this blog as it's been, with a mix of serious and not so serious posts. Both Ariel and I will regularly update our prayer blog with specifics about our ministry at University of Arizona.

http://prayforuofa.blogspot.com/

David vs. Job

David:

Hear, O LORD, and answer me,  for I am poor and needy. Guard my life, for I am devoted to you. You are my God; save your servant who trusts in you.  Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I call to you all day long (Ps. 86:1-3).

Job:

"If I have walked in falsehood or my foot has hurried after deceit- let God weigh me in honest scales and he will know that I am blameless- (Job31:5-6).

Compare and contrast?  Two righteous men, two very different ways of appealing to God: one on the basis of God’s goodness, the other on the basis of his own goodness.  Two very different results follow:

David: “I have found David son of Jesse a man after my own heart” (Acts 13:22).

Job:  "Would you discredit my justice? Would you condemn me to justify yourself? (Job 40:8) “…I [Job] have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You.  Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” (Job 42:6).

Next time you read through Job take note of how Job views himself at various points throughout the book.  It’s fascinating.