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Illustration of Sin From a 2 and a 1/2 Year Old

These are always fun :-)

Setting: Last night after the girls have been in bed

(Kerrigan gets out of bed)

Daddy: Go back to bed!

K: I have a booboo

Daddy: Go back to bed and I’ll kiss it better

(Kisses it better)

Daddy: Do you want me to pray for it, so God can heal it?

K: (Shakes her head “yes”)

Daddy: (prays, then says…) Do you believe God can heal your booboo?

K: (Shakes her head “yes”)

Daddy: Then He will heal it. But even if He doesn’t, we’ll still love Him anyway, right?

K: (Shakes her head “NO”)

I LOVE my little sinners! They remind me of how much I need a Savior! This reminded me of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in Daniel chapter 3. Check it out!

-AOD

God Is Able

Have you ever felt bad or even guilty because of how good God has been to you while others around you are suffering somehow? Our family just endured Hurricane Irene and to us it just felt like another storm with higher winds than normal. We had power during the whole storm and had about three small branches in the yard.

On the other hand, a family in our church had a tree on their house (no one was injured), others have no power or lots of clean up to do and still others by the bay and low lying areas have been flooded out of their homes. So It makes me think of how gracious God is to us. Whether we have  trees or no trees; power, or no power and water or no water; in all of it, we give Him glory.

In 2003 the last big hurricane swept through Hampton Roads and we were one of those people that got flooded out of our rental home and we had to stay with some friends for three months just after we got married. After the three months was up, we used our FEMA money to put a down payment on our first home. He was faithful and provided then and now, eight years later He is still faithful and still provides.

Our church will be coming together tonight at 6pm to worship our great God. When we went to clean up today, we made some signs for people driving by to see. I hope that God will draw in some new people that need to hear about this great God we serve.

We need to understand better that WE are not the point, GOD is about GOD! If it takes suffering to make Him more famous, then I will endure! How about you?

-AOD

Helpful Readings on Doctrine

Sometimes articulating the faith to someone can be a complete failure because of our lack of understanding of the basic doctrines. Especially with the epidemic of biblical illiteracy today.

So, I would like to share some of my recent writings on “Doctrine” with you. I recently finished three semesters of theology and I got the opportunity to write a doctrinal summary for each of the major doctrines of Christianity: Revelation, God, Man, Sin, Christ, Holy Spirit, Salvation, Church and Last Things. (I recommend reading them in that order)

Each summary consists of a one page (a couple two page) document condensing the doctrine to a very understandable level.

This is great if your struggling with or if you wish to have a better understanding any of the doctrines of the faith. I used a cool website called issuu.com to bring these to you. You can download each one if you wish.

Comment here or on Facebook to let me know what you think!

-AOD

WORD! GIRL!!

Except, GUY not girl.

Word Girl is a super heroine on PBS kids. My girls love her! The “bumper sound bite” to another scene is a medley of kids musically saying, “WORD! GIRL!!”

Just youtube it if you are that interested :-)

My point is, I could have a medley of kids musically chiding “WORD! GUY!!” about me. I just got my books for the summer semester. I LOVE getting new books! There is something about the mystery you hold in your hand when looking forward to what these fresh pages are about to say. I don’t care much for e-readers or even printed out pdf books. I like the feel and smell of a real book in my hands and the anticipation of what will be revealed on the next page.

The new books got me thinking about words. While “actions speak louder than words”, according to Jesus, my words actually reveal the content of my heart. That can be scary!

The power of your words is determined by you! If we don’t use our words carefully, our influence can shift in a dangerously negative way.

Guard your heart

Choose your words carefully

The right words can lead to life!

Word UP!

-AOD

Lamentations and Holy Week

I would like to challenge you to read the book of Lamentations before the end of Saturday. Why?

Throughout Church History on Maundy Thursday, the climax of Holy Week, the book of Lamentations was read by the congregation in private or public readings. It seems like an odd place to go this time of year because the resurrection is supposed to be about celebration, right? Well, yes, on Sunday. But leading up to resurrection day, some very sad things happened. Jesus rode into Jerusalem as the people shouted “Hosanna! Hosanna!”. They still thought he was going to overturn the Roman oppression at the beginning of what we now call “Holy Week”.

But He did something a bit different, didn’t He? He came and turned the city on its head, but in a different way. He started by turning the tables over in the Temple, a foreshadowing of what “Holy Week” would really be about.

Here’s why I would like you to take this challenge:

Imagine being one of His disciples or even just your average Joe follower that was sold out to what this new prophet was saying. You sold all you had to follow Him. You gave 3 years of your life to Him. Then, by the end of the week, HE’S DEAD!

Enter Lamentations. (Use this as commentary)

Lamentations is 5 chapters which contain 5 poems within the book. Each poem is 22 verses which is the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet. It’s an acrostic (chapter 3 is 3 sets of 22 verses, 66 verses in all). This acrostic starting with the Hebrew letter “Aleph” and ending with “Tav” represents a totality concept, a beginning to end. It draws the reader through the poems and does not allow you to stop at your “pet” verses (“great is thy faithfulness” - Lam 3:23).

It’s poetry.

It’s a prayer in the midst of tragedy. That even when the people perceive that God has done something wrong, the prayer is that God will deliver by His covenant faithfulness. It is a theology of prayer “from below”, that is, from us. So there is angst, doubt, real feelings that we feel, especially in light of the Savior’s death. In fact, the tragedy ends in chapter 5 with us hanging in the balance, wondering if the suffering will be relieved.

This is where we are left in the book. With no hope. All we thought about God and all we thought about our would-be Savior is crushed.

We wonder. Will He come through?

This is where Jesus’ followers were during the days leading up to the resurrection day. The suffering of Zion, the man in Lamentations and Jerusalem are ALL taken up in the suffering of Christ! Let’s feel the weight of this together, from now until Saturday night. And then, resurrection day…

WE CELEBRATE!!

-AOD

Comment with your thoughts, insight or experience during the reading. How has God used it in your life?