The Voice of the Martyrs

I would encourage you to go to The Voice of the Martyrs site and sign up for their weekly e-mail updates. If you are anything like me, sometimes you need a bit of an eye-opener. This morning's e-mail once again lent me some perspective to my own life and some reality to the prayers I pray. Here's just a little excerpt from today's prayer alert for a pastor in China, who can no longer walk on his own and will likely die in prison if he is not released soon:

"He still has four years remaining of the seven-and-a-half year sentence he received after his arrest in 2004. He already had previously spent 12 years in prison for his faith during five separate detentions. He experienced harsh torture, including electric shock, during his previous prison terms. Pray for Pastor Zhang's healing and for his release from prison. Pray the Holy Spirit will encourage him and that his testimony will draw nonbelievers into the knowledge of Christ."

Don't Stare at the Sun

Lately I've found my self singing Mute Math's "Stare at the Sun".

Then yesterday morning I was reading Job in "The Message" and came across Job 37:21-22, which is about staring at the sun and God's splendor. "The Message" describes God's "golden splendor" as His "terrible beauty". That's an awesome description of God.

Then today's Astronomy Picture of the Day has us staring at a hole in the sun.

John Piper's Message at His Grandaughter's Funeral

I really appreciate his ability to grieve not just for himself, but through the grief of others.

What I Said at My Granddaughter’s Funeral :: Desiring God

Pray for the Pipers

John Piper's grandaughter, Felicity Margaret Piper, was delivered stillborn on Saturday night. He tells about it here. Please pray for that family.

Dean's eBible.com Javascript

Just in case Dean changes the layout, here is the instruction site for adding back the eBible.com lookup information: Here!

And here is the code that should be inserted:

<script src="http://ebible.com/api/ebibleicious?mode=mouseover
&translation=NIV&related_topics=0&key=EBIBLE_DEMO&v=1.0" type="text/javascript"></script>

Swap out the "EBIBLE_DEMO" with the API key given at eBible.com.

Focused?

Lately I've been reading books and listening to messages about focus. I've been thinking about focus a lot. Howard Hendricks said, "The secret of concentration is elimination". As one who sometimes struggles with concentration, (OK, I struggle a lot with concentration!) it isn't just the difficulty of keeping my mind on a task. It's the difficulty of eliminating tasks that someone else could do in favor of doing only what I can and should do that will bring the greatest benefit to my family, the church and me.

So here's some questions about focus I've been asking, in relation to this blog:

• If I were really focused would I be posting more to this blog?
• If I were really focused would this blog exist at all?
• If this blog truly should exist, what should its focus be in order for it to be the most fruitful?

I'm hoping to have these questions answered in the next week or two.

Not only was he a Southerner...

...but he was also exalted in the eyes of the people. Verse seven of Joshua says something that could be a bit troubling, depending on how it comes about. "And the LORD said to Joshua, "Today I will begin to exalt you in the eyes of all Israel, so they may know that I am with you as I was with Moses." If the Lord is doing the exalting, then a good thing is happening. That's a sign the leader is humble and obedient and the Lord is doing great things. If the leader is doing the exalting, a bad thing is happening. That's a sign the leader is prideful and/or insecure. The priests were the first to stick their toes in the water. They stood on dry ground looking at a huge heap of water while the whole nation walked through the riverbed. The people had to trust that the heap wasn't going to fall on them. So there was faith all around. But Joshua was the one who heard some really audacious instructions from the Lord, believed the Lord was trustworthy, and gave those instructions to the people. They followed and were amazed by the Lord's power and the nation thought Joshua was great. That was a good thing because it was greatness achieved the right way.