Month: April 2010

Categories
Daily Post

Immutable

As you know I work in the world of geekdom.  This week I was on a call where the attendees keep using the word “immutable” over and over again.. Its almost as fun as idempotent.  So I decided to instant message my neighbor and said:

Butcher, Jason T [11:46 AM]:I’m Immutable

But then, I started thinking about that word and what it means.

not subject or susceptible to change or variation in form or quality or nature

For lots of things in life immutability is a great thing, but for a follower of Christ this good be a bad thing. Do I really want to be immutable?  Do I want to not be subject to change in nature?  Do I want to be unalterable?  This is an interesting thought, because for many things in life, yes you do want to be constant, fixed and enduring.  Like this:

24See that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. 25And this is what he promised us—even eternal life. (1 John 2:24-25)

But in other situations being immovable, unalterable, unchangeable and changeless is a terrible place to be.   I think as followers of the Christ, we also need to be looking for places that we are not immutable, because God’s promise is immutable.  I want to be able to say I “used to walk in these ways, in the life I once lived”, but I have changed because of the unchanging, unwavering, immutable love of God!

3-4Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life—even though invisible to spectators—is with Christ in God. He is your life. When Christ (your real life, remember) shows up again on this earth, you’ll show up, too—the real you, the glorious you. Meanwhile, be content with obscurity, like Christ.

5-8And that means killing off everything connected with that way of death: sexual promiscuity, impurity, lust, doing whatever you feel like whenever you feel like it, and grabbing whatever attracts your fancy. That’s a life shaped by things and feelings instead of by God. It’s because of this kind of thing that God is about to explode in anger. It wasn’t long ago that you were doing all that stuff and not knowing any better. But you know better now, so make sure it’s all gone for good: bad temper, irritability, meanness, profanity, dirty talk.

9-11Don’t lie to one another. You’re done with that old life. It’s like a filthy set of ill-fitting clothes you’ve stripped off and put in the fire. Now you’re dressed in a new wardrobe. Every item of your new way of life is custom-made by the Creator, with his label on it. All the old fashions are now obsolete. Colossians 3:3-10 (The Message)

I think today I will tell him

Butcher, Jason T [11:46 AM]:I’m Immutable because I have changed

Categories
Daily Post

The Caleb Factor

My friend Joel heads to Aruba this weekend, and I am jealous.  Yes, jealous.  Not really because of his destination, I am jealous of his preparation.  For the last 3 months, despite our constant barrage of heckling, he has been working each day to prepare his body for this trip.  Now, some of you may say – how vain, and as a matter of fact that is what most of the heckling was about.  But today I say how marvelous.  I am not sure if he hit all of his goals or not, but at least he was forcing himself everyday to work and strive for his goal.

Last night I was with a group of men who have been studying the book of Joshua.  Right there in Joshua 14 is the ultimate daily buffeter.

7 I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the LORD sent me from Kadesh Barnea to explore the land. And I brought him back a report according to my convictions, 8 but my brothers who went up with me made the hearts of the people melt with fear. I, however, followed the LORD my God wholeheartedly. 9 So on that day Moses swore to me, ‘The land on which your feet have walked will be your inheritance and that of your children forever, because you have followed the LORD my God wholeheartedly.’

10 “Now then, just as the LORD promised, he has kept me alive for forty-five years since the time he said this to Moses, while Israel moved about in the desert. So here I am today, eighty-five years old! 11 I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I’m just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then. 12 Now give me this hill country that the LORD promised me that day. You yourself heard then that the Anakites were there and their cities were large and fortified, but, the LORD helping me, I will drive them out just as he said.”

Caleb had a promise from Moses and God, and waited 45 years to receive it.  But he says he was as fit as the day he recieved the promise.  Don’t you think that he must have woke up everyday and thought about the gift he was to receive.  I want to believe that he worked everyday to keep himself ready to take the land and receive his gift.

What so awesome is we have a gift like that waiting for us.  A promise of eternal life if we  fix our eyes on Jesus.  Of course that’s one of the reasons I write this blog; to help each of you work each day to attain your spiritual goals and to stay focused on our promise.

Caleb was fit spiritually, he was fit physically, he “followed the LORD [his] God wholeheartedly”.

I have a trip like Joel’s coming up this summer, and he and Caleb have inspired me.  I want to follow the Lord God wholeheartedly every day, even though I fail most days.  So today I am going to publicly introduce  a small addition to this blog that I will call the Caleb Factor.  To help force me to keep in shape, not so I can take the land, but so I can always be ready to serve.  I will be sharing a little number from time to time to show my progress and my goal.  I am not turning this into a fitness blog, however, I hope you this will continue to motivate you to buffet each aspect of your body each day.

So the starting number is today’s; 184 and the idea is that in June it will be 174.

How will you let the Caleb Factor inspire you?

Categories
Daily Post

Short and Sweet

Well, I am out of time this morning.  I spend a lot of my writing time reading about the mine disaster in West Virginia, and then I got caught up in the Governor’s press conference.  So today I don’t have many deep thoughts, but a little encouragement and a Psalm:

1 Blessed is he
whose transgressions are forgiven,
whose sins are covered.

2 Blessed is the man
whose sin the LORD does not count against him
and in whose spirit is no deceit.

3 When I kept silent,
my bones wasted away
through my groaning all day long.

4 For day and night
your hand was heavy upon me;
my strength was sapped
as in the heat of summer.
Selah

5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you
and did not cover up my iniquity.
I said, “I will confess
my transgressions to the LORD “—
and you forgave
the guilt of my sin.
Selah

6 Therefore let everyone who is godly pray to you
while you may be found;
surely when the mighty waters rise,
they will not reach him.

7 You are my hiding place;
you will protect me from trouble
and surround me with songs of deliverance.
Selah

8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will counsel you and watch over you.

9 Do not be like the horse or the mule,
which have no understanding
but must be controlled by bit and bridle
or they will not come to you.

10 Many are the woes of the wicked,
but the LORD’s unfailing love
surrounds the man who trusts in him.

11 Rejoice in the LORD and be glad, you righteous;
sing, all you who are upright in heart! Psalm 32 (NIV)

Enjoy the day, live like you are forgiven and treat others better then you would ever want to be treated yourself!

Categories
Daily Post

Taxes – Yuck

I finally did my taxes last night – which by the way is an interesting way to account for your year.  I entered all the data provided for me by my financial institutions and employers in the nice little boxes.  I scowered my online checkbook looking for deductions.  Alas, I could not get the red number to turn to green and gave up the fight with a dreadful result:

Federal Tax Due - Yikes!
Federal Tax Due - Yikes!

Yes, I owe.  It’s times like this that real challenges can sit in front of you.  Paying is of course one of those, but not really the challenge that crossed my mind today.  The challenge is how you look at this bill.   I am not a big fan of taxes, but I do understand the “give to Caesar what is Caesar” thing.  The real question is do I understand the give to the Lord what’s the Lord?  I am going to be resentful and frustrated?  I am going to be filled with anxiety over this money?  Or alternatively, am I going to trust that there is a reason that I will be separated from so many portraits of dead presidents?

Last night, I started out thinking, man, all the things I could do with this money.  I could have bought a chaise lounge for my back porch, or I could have padded my bank account, or I could have taken a trip back to West Virginia to see the championship trophy ( oh, that’s right, scratch that one!)  But you get my idea and my lament  – oh,  all the things I could do with that money.  But then this morning I stumbled across an underlined verse in my old college Bible – which I have been using quite often lately – from 2 Peter.

19They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him. 2 Peter 2:19

Hm, Money can be a dangerous master.  Maybe, its becoming my master?  So, that’s the way I am trying to think about this little dent in my check book.  Am I a slave to money? Or am I going store up my treasures on spiritual things – like relationships, and contentment and joy.

19“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. Matthew 16:19-20

Can we look at things like this that happen to us in life as a gift from God as well?  Maybe sometimes, we need to have gentle reminders of what we are slaves to?  What has mastered you?  What should you give away?

Categories
Daily Post

Easter Monday

Its Easter Monday.  Can you imagine the thoughts running through the minds of Jesus’ followers when they woke up and realized the events of the weekend?  Do you think it was hard to get to work on that Monday! Wow!  Now we take the joy of Easter and the victory of the Christ’s actions into our daily lives.  I know this morning when I was running, I felt a little lighter on my feet (and believe me that was not because of my weight!)

Anyway, enjoy the day, and as you interact with others, remember the actions of the Christ and the impact that can have on your life – if you let it!

Ephesians 2:4-6 (New International Version)

4But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,