To Work the Works of God

Well, the computer isn't fixed yet, but thanks to my heroic friend Dave that should be corrected fairly soon.

In the meantime, here is a quick update/meditation on recent life.

I've been struggling a bit with being busy. School, teaching, and deacon responsibilities all sorta hit at once. Things are starting to settle down, but it was pretty hectic for a while there. At times, I wondered whether I was actually dis-honoring God by being so busy.

So it was interesting in my devotions to come upon this rich little precurser to Christ's healing of a blind man in John 9.

"As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, 'Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?' Jesus answered, 'It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.'"

Jesus went on to heal the blind man, which led to a series of significant clashes between himself and the Pharisees.

Here's the thing that struck me. Whatever situation we face in life was given to us ON PURPOSE by our creator. He sovereignly desired that we should be who we are, face what we face, and do what we do. He will be glorified through it, no matter what. So then, our job here on earth is to "Work the works of God" by displaying the light of Christ to the world in the way we live.

For me, it was a great reminder; I've been given schooling, a job, a deaconship, and other responsibilities so that I might glorify God in my life and display the light of Christ to the world. Outside of that purpose, little matters. Even my busy and sometimes tiring life can glorify God as I seek to honor him first in all things. My prayer is that you and I together would pursue this goal!

School restarts and so does blogging... I hope?

Ok, my buddy Riley called me out on not blogging in a while. There are a couple good reasons and one bad one.

The good reasons are these. FIRST, life has been extremely busy. Seminary classes are starting, I just accepted a job teaching classes for a classical education home-school program, and I've been asked to be deacon of college outreach at my church. Phew! I love all these things, I'm just needing to be good about using my time wisely to prepare well for each one. Thankfully, all of the above are fragmented enough (schedule-wise) that I'm not having any major problems yet.

SECOND, my computer died. Apparantly the power source needs to be replaced, and I don't really have the Ca$h for that new laptop I've been wishing for. So, we're internet free at the moment (I'm at the public library right now).

THIRD, well, I am lazy lots of times.

Hopefully, though, that will change once our computer is fixed. I hope to articulate the outworkings of my "Organizing principle for outreach" in a more practical way. I also hope to give more detailed updates of things I'm thinking about regarding camp, seminary, church, and books. We'll see if it happens or not! I appreciate your patience (knowing that the waiting is just killing you) while I try to find somebody who knows how to attach a power source and its millions of wires.