ecclesiastes...the journey continues

i read about 5 chapters of ecclesiastes this morning, so this could be long... :- ).  the over-arching theme that is hitting me is this, 

•  then i realized that it is good and proper for a man to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given him-- for this is his lot.  Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work--this is a gift of God.  He seldom reflects on the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied with gladness of heart.  Ecclesiastes 5:18-20.

that is not me!  I would like for that to be me, but it isn't.  why, you might ask.  i feel guilty for things i have...b/c i worked hard and my priorities haven't always been lined up to where i want to live for God.  b/c i focus too much on what "i can do", what is my plan...and in this verse (and others that are basically identical in other chp's of ecclesiastes) it seems like it is more focused on God bringing the riches, God supplying the peace, God gives...all this person, or type of person, does is receives...  just receive

now for me, if i go to lunch with someone...i will always look for a way to pick up the tab.  and if some how, someone else picks up the bill...it is hard for me to just accept that and say thank you.  it is hard for me to just receive.  why?  i don't know...but i am praying that God works with me on that in the new year!  

i have more, but i will save it for another post.  HAPPY NEW YEAR!

ecclesiastes...year end review!

ecclesiastes 1 

i was told by a friend/mentor one time, who was told by a friend/mentor one time, it is always good to read ecclesiastes at the end of the old year/beginning of the new year.  it is a real kick in the pants and just kind of puts things in perspective.

so, this week, i am still going to be sporadic at best...so short Bible books seem to be on the docket.  this is particularly intriguing to me this year.  not that i don't always work hard, but, this year...my work has been more focused.  one job, for most of the year.  selling chemicals, leading the company, focusing on building a future...one thing.  for the past several years, i have been really involved in student ministry in different churches.  since march of this year, my focus really has been our company.  so, i was hit pretty hard right off the bat by this line;

verse 3 what does man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun? 

when you go onto read, you learn what we gain...zilcho!  in fact, you can read verse 2.  everything is meaningless!  this is coming from, according to God, the wisest man whom ever lived.  everything is meaningless...just let that resonate in your agenda and your calendar for a little bit.  

i was going to, and probably still will, be planning this week.  planning my next couple of months.  setting goals for me and my salesman, plotting out new product lines and new territories.... sounds exciting, huh? i need to, i have to remember these words when i am doing these things...i probably need to read this more than once a year!  some verses that jump out to me are these in matthew 6, i think it is important to note that Jesus refers to solomon in these verses...the very writer of ecclesiastes.  you get gypped a little bit in the MSG, which is the link i posted to, but it makes up for it in other areas.  but the MSG says, "the ten best dressed men and women..." , the NIV says, "even Solomon in all his splendor..."  the point is, Jesus is saying, Solomon was right...it is a chasing after the wind!  

so, for me...it is good to stop and reflect on a year that seems like it has been very productive, and say, so what!  i mean, great that God provides and thank you God for all you have provided for me...but as far as my efforts...so what!  refocus my priorities Lord!  it's a constant prayer for me. 

it's really really late...and i need some sleep so that i can work a full day tomorrow...lol!  see ya tuesday!

matthew 10

well, i wrote a little about it yesterday, so i thought i would share some thoughts about it today.  matthew 10.  the 12 apostles and sending them out!  now, if you stumbled on this and have not read my post about 'mike' on my other blog, you should go read them first and then come back here and read this.

i tend to lean towards the Jesus that came to seek and save that which was lost, the Jesus that didnt come to coddle insiders, but came for outsiders.  the Jesus that was the friend of sinners...you know, that Jesus.  we are down!  i love that Jesus...mostly b/c i like hanging around lost people more than "church" people, probably because i have been a lost person for much longer than i have a "church" person. (not sure why i keep on putting quotes around church???).  

so, when i read this the other day...one thing stood out to me.   verse 5 says this, these twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, "Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. ..."  

up until this time in the book of matthew, Jesus had called the first two disciples, called matthew, been teaching (sermon on the mount), healing people all of that stuff that Jesus does...then i view this as like a commissioning service.  he is giving authority and power to his 12 apostles and sending them out with specific instructions.  

where are they going to?  Go nowhere among the Gentiles (that is most of us!) but go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (the jews).  but...but.... i thought Jesus was about the outsiders?  guess i was wrong...

then Jesus goes onto give them these encouraging and comforting words... 

and these words bother me the most... i am running short on time, so i can not un-pack this...but wow!  i get the feeling Jesus isn't really concerned with my comfortable little world...

out...

well...im out of town working.  and no wi-fi...well, very limited wi-fi.  anyway...i read matthew 10 tonight.  i have lots of thoughts in my head, not sure how to get them on here...so, i'll wait!  

Merry Christmas if i dont talk to you before then!  

Haggai chp. 2

i missed a day AND i have already commented on haggai chp. 2 .  don't worry i have confessed my sin to the Lord and he is faithful to forgive me... :-) when i started this thing, way back....on....monday,  i told myself if i posted to this 3 or 4 times a week i would be happy.  so, that is just an fyi...

verse 15-19

they are heavy for me today.  God is speaking, through Haggai...let me say that again, God is speaking!  the actual words of God...He says this, 

" 'Now give careful thought to this from this day on -consider how things were before one stone was laid on another in the LORD's temple. When anyone came to a heap of twenty measures, there were only ten.  When anyone went to a wine vat to draw fifty measures, there were only twenty.  I struck all the work of your hands with blight, mildew and hail, yet you did not turn to me', declares the LORD.  'From this day on, from this twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, give careful thought to the day when the foundations of the LORD's temple was laid.  Give careful thought:  Is there yet any see left in the barn:  Until now, the vine and the fig tree, the pomegranate and the olive tree have not borne fruit.

" 'From this day on I will bless you.' " (NIV, emphasis mine)

i am sometimes so busy, i dont give careful thought.  and when i get busy, there are times that it seems like i never get ahead.  God is saying to His chosen people here, always remember, give careful thought to how it was before you obeyed me.  you worked hard and i struck all of your work down because i was trying to get your attention!  Yet you did not turn to me!!  seriously, that is me, to this day...that is me!  but then the Lord says this, from this day on....this day when you obeyed me...from this day on, I will bless you!  wow! that sounds like a pretty good deal to me.  i want some of that...i want to give careful thought to my ways, i dont...but i want to.

how bout you?  what do you want?

im going to spend some time with my wife and kids for the next couple of days...so, probably see ya in a week or so...

Haggai chp. 2

people sometimes ask what the Lord is doing in my life.  actually they ask something like this, how is your ministry?  what ministry are you plugged into at XYZ church?  it is kind of comical, really...imagine someone asking you that and me repeating it in like the whitest, most annoying, smart voice...cocking my head to the side...  see, i told you it was kind of comical.  my "ministry" now doesn't look anything like what it used to.  and sometimes i think it isn't as holy or as meaningful.  i love how the Lord speaks through his prophet here in verse 3.  He says, to you who knew how the temple was before it was destroyed (my old ministry) how does it look now? does it seem to you like nothing?  my answer would be a resounding yes!  i am not even a member at a church, i dont serve at a church, i just attend...one service, can you believe that?  

today, through my small group and some others, we are giving $828 to a family that was contemplating going to mexico to get dental work done b/c they hit financial hard times.  i will be around no less than 30 lost people today and i will let my little light shine towards them in a  relevant, non-invasive ways.  today, i will minister to all sorts of my family by holding true to my principles and my values in a business environment.  today, i will minister to my kids and my wife just by serving them in some small capacity so that they know i love them by my actions...not just words.  today, i will do all of these things because Jesus made a deal, a covenant,  with me.  just like the jews, God made a covenant relationship with...'For I am with you' declares the Lord Almighty.  And my spirit remains among you.  Don not fear.'  because Jesus is with me, that is why.  that is why i will do or be a part of the things that i will do...and how much bigger is that than any temple?  any ministry?  any itty-bitty little thing that we would attempt to "box" God up as?

the rest of the chapter is full of great ness...i am done writing with that thought though.  God saying, for i am with you ... 

Haggai chp. 1

the book of haggai is a funny place to start.  it is funny to me, b/c it is relatively obscure, and b/c it has been used and talked about in "my world" for about 2 years now.  francis chan out in california did a sermon series on this book a couple of years ago, then a small group (home bible study group) that i am part of did a study on the book, then the pastor where i was attending did a message series on the book...so this relatively obscure book in the old testament, is one that you might say i have read a couple of times!  but it's impact is still huge... some thoughts...

so, God is going to speak through haggai.  and apparently he isnt too pleased with some of their actions.  "these people say, 'the time has not yet come for the Lord's house to be built.'"  when the Lord speaks through a prophet and He starts off with an accusation...not good.  he continues, "is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?"  ok!  who doesnt think that God gets sarcasm?  seriously??? i think this is speaking to the desire within us who are selfish.  you know that feeling, the one of knowing what is right...but not choosing what is right.  and we can justify it, manage it, rationalize it, explain it and defend it....then the Lord comes and just blows it up with a little sarcasm.   

then the next two paragraphs are similar...and i dont know what they say, except the one thing i know they say.  "give careful thoughts to your ways..."  a little wisdom for us.  the ways i choose matter, so i should give careful thoughts to them.  God goes onto tell the people who really is in control and there is this line at the end of the next to the last paragraph..."and the people feared the Lord".  not like afraid of, but kind of.  more like reverence "feared"...but i think kind of afraid of too.  if the Lord had just peeled back your motives and you were caught living for yourself and not really caring about him...and he explains that he controls everything...i would be afraid!  maybe he is telling me that!  proverbs 1:7 says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge...maybe for us to fear the Lord, he has to show us some things, ask us some questions, subtly strike some fear into us.  so that we get on with the plan...the last paragraph says 23 days after this story started, the people started to work on the house of the Lord.  

what do you need to start?  what in this chapter speaks to you?  there is more i COULD have done...but this, today is a start for me.  have a great day!

just 9 more minutes

you might wonder why the weird name of this blog address.  so, i should probably start there...  i was trying to come up with a name for a blog that is really a daily thing, one where i post thoughts about the bible verses that i am reading through.  this is really a blog for me, a tool to help keep me accountable, more than anything.  so, i tried about 147 names last night and got frustrated big time...all these blogs with great names were taken and it seemed like no one was doing anything with them.  so, i went to bed...knowing that the Lord would infiltrate my thoughts and my dreams and a great name i would wake up with! (a little sarcasm) so, i woke up with a couple of thoughts...but i was expecting some greek word that had dual meaning and everyone knew the word but it really meant something really spiritual in the greek or even better IN hebrew!  well, i didnt get that and the alarm was getting ready to go off...  

i just wanted to hit the snooze and get 9 more minutes of sleep...

so, that is how the name came about.  it has a little more meaning...it seems like most mornings, for me, it is easier to hit the snooze than it is to get up and spend time with the Lord.  so, this morning i got to thinking...what would happen if i chose to get up instead?  what could i do with 9 more minutes each day?  why are snooze alarms adjusted to such odd amounts of time?  you know deep, meaningful, thought provoking thoughts...???

i will probably still sleep in some mornings.  i will probably hit the snooze some mornings.  i will probably not always be real insightful, but my goal is to be real...with myself, with God and with you AND about myself and about God.  i dont really know you...yet!

so, enjoy.  join in.  take the 9 minutes you would have snoozed and spend with me and the one true God of the universe.