No matter how much you might want to know a secret, until someone tells you, you just cannot know what it is.
I’m speaking today at the First Woodway Christian School Chapel. This is probably one of the most difficult challenges I have working at my church. Mostly because it is completely out of my element. I’m really comfortable speaking to college students – I have no clue how to communicate to kids. I once heard it said that if you can communicate with a kid, you can communicate with anyone.
So, today I’m sharing with these students that ‘No matter how much you might want to know the secret, until someone tells you, you just cannot know what it is.’ This is why none of us would know about God unless He revealed Himself to us. The secret is Himself, and thankfully, He’s made himself known! My statement goes something like this: “unless God had decided to show us who He is, unless He had chosen to make known His own life and ways, we simply could know nothing – yes, nothing! – about Him.”
Thus, God has revealed Himself in 3 distinct ways:
- The World He has Made
- How He made You & Me
- The Bible
The ultimate point here is that while we can observe God in His creation – how we can observe God in you and me – ultimately, if it were without His Word (the Bible specifically) we would not really know anything about God. Therefore, it is essential for us, no matter what our age, to read the Bible waiting in anticipation to hear from Him, because our God is a talking God who has spoken to us by His Word. And by virtue, by Him speaking, we grow to become more like Him.
UPDATE: Abby and the Swine Flu
Many of you have asked about how Abby is doing and I’ll be quick to say that I’ve delayed my declaration of her health until all was clear. As of Saturday, it seemed that “all was clear” and it is! She no longer felt the pain of the flu (ache’s soreness, tiredness, etc.) and is just about fully functional now. YES, it appears the baby is okay as well. There was some initial concern for the health and protection of our little girl (still unnamed), but the Doctors (yes, we asked multiple) indicated that since we were well along our way of the pregnancy there was no danger to the baby. If it had been earlier in the pregnancy, we might have been a little bit more fretful.
So that’s good.
The thing we’re fighting right now for Abigail is congestion. She’s had somewhat of a rough “cough” which is not fun (baby or not). Thus, Abby is doing much much better – thank you to those who brought food over and who have been the most gracious to ask and pray for her (and me) during this past week. We have felt very much loved.
Funny story
At church yesterday, Jim Gray our Senior Adult Pastor, shared with everyone in the congregation that Abby had the swine flu and asked that we pray for her (along with a host of others). Well, a gentle laughter erupted from the college section because well, Abby was sitting with them. We quickly let Jim know that all is clear and people could give Abby a hug without fear.
enjoy.
Most Popular for October
No, I cannot believe it either: October is over. That being said, here are the most popular reads from the blog this month:
- Abby’s Craftiness – apparently, everyone is amazed at Abigail’s ability to make things from felt, string, and the two hands God gave her. I’ll say this – I’m not so much amazed as much as I am impressed with her. She’s going to be a great mom!
- Early Prayers – this was a post I did of a prayer I prayed (and have been praying) for our little girl. We still don’t have a name, for now we’ll just call her “Daddy’s girl.”
- Can you sum up your 40 minute talk in less than 2 minutes - everyone seemed to really like this post because well… it was about keeping things to the point.
- Boy or Girl? Take the Poll – a ton of you took the poll… 60% of you were right.
- No Phone Friday – this was a short post sharing that I was giving up the phone for this particular Friday… so if you called me on this day I didn’t answer and I didn’t notice.
At the time of this posting, 20,376 of you have visited the site. That’s a small town. Thanks for reading.
enjoy.
Great Links / Reads this Week
Here’s my list of blogs or articles that I think you should read. There really is no other reason why you would read these other than my recommending them… so now, we’ll see the power of my influence.
- Matthew Hyatt has a great post about 5 Characteristics of Weak Leaders. He does a great job of summing up weak characteristics among leaders. Many times and in many ways, leaders develop blind spots to their leadership. This is a quick check-up to consider if you’re a leader, or if you’d like to be one.
- If you read this article from the Gospel Coalition, you’ll know more about John Piper than he does.
- Have you ever wanted your coke can to have a Snap Cap so it wouldn’t become flat over time? Well, here’s you’re chance!
- Here is a list of really bad church names… trust me, they’re really bad.
- This is a news article that proposes that libraries may be dead in our schools… because of the Kindle. I’m considering switching to a Kindle… but we’ll see if I fork up the cash!
enjoy.
Read the New Testament in 60 Days
This past Sunday I challenged our College Leadership to read the New Testament in 60 days… the way the calendar works out, there are 6o+ days left in the year. Thus, you could potentially read the entire New Testament before the end of the year.
Now, don’t be that guy and say “quality over quantity. Therefore, it’s better to read a little than a lot.” Yes and no.
Most of us have never read the entire Bible,
yet we claim that our lives are based on it.
What’s preventing you from at the very least, reading the entire New Testament these last few days of the year? How cool would it be if we all just dove into the Scriptures to see what God might teach us through them? Besides, it’s only 4 chapters a day… you watch 4 TV shows a day, you certainly can read 4 chapters in the Bible!! So, join me/us in this pursuit!
enjoy.
