THE TABLE - regularly

"And you shall set the bread of the Presence on the table before me regularly." Exodus 25:30

Think about your life? What you do? An average day? Where do you place your deepest connections with God? Do you have a regular time with God?

(pause for reflection)

I'm guessing many of you answer: I don't. I know I should, but I don't have a regular time with God. Most people I talk to say they want a more regular time with God and admit their lives are far from it. 

The good news is your not alone. The bad news is you can't stay this way. 

What is Regularly?

There are many ways we use the word regular. We drink regular coffee. We fill our tank with regular gas. We shop at the regular stores with the regular things for sale. This means the customary or the standard way of doing things. In addition, regular sometimes implies everything is in order: at the deli stand the sandwiches were place in a regularly order. The newspapers were in a regular stack.  

THE TABLE - in detail

"And you shall set the bread of the Presence on the table before me regularly." Exodus 25:30

Late at night. The swooshing of paint, scratching, dry brushes dipped in paint, only to become dry again. My life has been in a period of waiting, expectation. Each day a moment of pause till our little baby comes. In the evening I write and paint. Two lights point onto a canvas made from reclaimed wood, fractured, forgotten, left by the side of the road. I want to redeem them. I wait for my baby.

The Presence "On the Table"

This verse Exodus 25:30 says to set the bread of the Presence "on the table", like it's no big deal. The table I mean. It just assumes the table exists. Which it does, but not by shear luck or happenstance. It's a table made from pure ingenuity, detailed work. It's a table built with intention. 

Our lives with God, living in his presence, are to be the same: beauty in the details.

THE TABLE - presence

"And you shall set the bread of the Presence on the table before me regularly." Exodus 25:30

Do you remember your dinning room table growing up? It's where memories were made sitting there with your family? Some of my most memorable conversations happened at our dining room table. It's often where important decisions where made. Think about discipline and the shaping of your family? Many times it was at the table where our identities were formed.

The Dinner Table

I remember fork marks. That's what I remember from my table growing up. We had this huge (seven kids) thick brown wooden table. It had benches down the middle and two chairs on either end, one for my dad, the other for my mom. We'd sit stretched out between them two. In the spot where I usually sat there were fork marks stabbed into the table. I would run my fingers over them. I don't remember who put them there? I could have been me. Then again there were five brothers in my family, it could have been my twin brother benjamin or little brother daniel. I think I was about ten or eleven then, just old enough to know that fork marks were not appropriate where our family gathered together as a presence.

OBEY | A LIFE OF FAITH

We're coming to the end of these "OBEY" posts. What we've discovered in Exodus 19:4-6 that God moves his people from a "rescued people" to a people called to be the "people of God". In the middle of this statement is the call to obey the commandments of God.

And yet this requires a great deal of faith.

You may think you have faith? You may be short on faith? But everyone of us will at some point will make the decision of whether or not we will take the leap, test the waters, and follow God to where he's called us.

Let me give you three reasons to enter a life of faith:

1. Doubt is not always a sign of unbelief.

Many believe; many doubt. Many doubt while believing. If we were required to access God's presence only by prefect belief we'd all be in a whole lot of trouble. Just the human condition alone (which has a hard time remembering our own cell phone number and internet pass codes) is enough to show that perfect belief is not possible.

OBEY | LIFE AND SEX

So now we come to the sex part. You've clicked the link. You're intrigued by the word sex. Aren't we all? You probably, like many others, have views on sex. These views are most deeply entrenched in who you are. They make up how you think? What you do? How you live? Where your heart goes on a rainy day?

Here's what I'm going to do; and what I'm not going to do. First, not. I'm not going to give you a lecture on sex - what's right, what's wrong, and tell you seven steps on how to move from what's wrong to what's right. I take a pretty conservative view of sex, but I also know there are millions of blogs, books, and podcasts ready and willing to give you a punch to the gut when it comes to sex. I don't feel the need to add to the stack.

Second, am. I am going to tell you how your life will change when you give your sexuality to God. This is the whole point of the Exodus passage we've been looking at. God tells us that we move from a 'rescued people' to a 'people of God' when we obey his commandments. The reason sex is a part of this process is because it's deeply embedded in who we are; in fact, as identities go, it's one of the strongest I've ever come across. If your human, you probably agree with me. 

OBEY | LIFE AND SUFFERING

"Only God knows my heart on the inside." 

These are the opening lyrics to my friend Aaron's new album
Dreaming of Eternity by Rend the Heavens. Here's my thought: if God knows my heart, then he knows I don't understand suffering.

C.S. Lewis calls this the impossibility. As humans we find it impossible to understand how a good God could allow suffering. "If God were almighty He would be able to do what He wished." The Problem of Pain

Suffering is one of the greatest painful elements of life, and hence one of the greatest tests we will go through as human beings. It's within these moments we often decide whether to stay as a people of God, or move to create our own identity.

Suffering comes in many forms: personal pain, gossip from a friend, physical discomfort, relational brokenness, loss of a loved one, financial disaster, incurable sickness, lack of something we need, painful self-inflicted choices, and ultimately death. There are many more. These are just a few. I want to explore suffering as an act of obedience in three categories:

OBEY | LIFE AS PRODUCERS

"Ah...the art of productivity."

I love this part of these blog posts. I love the word productivity. I love calling myself a producer. It implies as sense of activity that I seek with every breath. It's part of my being. I breath productivity; not because I'm amazing at it, but because I want to be.

And yet, let me be vulnerable. While I love the idea of being a producer, it's something I severely struggle with. There's a sense of striving, fighting for worth, acceptance, and longing in what I produce that's always been with me. I sleep very little, I work very hard, and it's a fight to put work down and play with my kids. On father's day Nancy ask the kids what dad's favorite thing to do was. Their response in unison: "work on the computer!" Ouch, I thought, is it that true? Out of the mouth of babes come my failure at productivity as much as my desire for success. 

My point is this: When we, as producers, place our skills before God he does two things: first, he grows our productivity; second, he grows us in how we handle our productivity. 

OBEY | LIFE ON MISSION

the city cat family

Abigail's our resident family artist. She draws; she paints; she makes things, craft things. It's part of who God's made her to be. 

One Christmas, a couple years ago, she made the family a gift. It's pretty common for her to make gifts, but this one took a while. For days she was in her craft area making this gift for the whole family. She was drawing, using paper, paying attention to detail. Finally, on Christmas Day she unveiled her gift. Now, I gotta admit: it was pretty darn good! 

She created a story of the "City Cat Family". She made a book, written and drawn over about 8-10 pages. It was incredibly elaborate, extremely detailed. The story walked the city cat family through their house where they lived and all the things they did around the city. We spent a long time that morning looking at it, reading it, and asking questions.

OBEY | LIFE AT WORK

"work is hard; that's why they call it work."

How do you find your place in work? If Exodus 19:4-6 is right, about following God in obedience as he makes us his people, then we should be able to follow him in work as well. But first, a few categories:

job

A job is something you do in order to trade for some type of benefit. In the West it's usually for financial reasons that we go to a job. At my son's preschool they had 'jobs' they did, which where interactive, educational games. The idea was that for the next few minutes he'd be working a job. Jobs are something we clock in and out for. Often we interview to work at a job. We acknowledge the giving of our time and skill set in a position at a job. 

During high school my twin bother and I cleaned movie theaters. We'd go in at midnight after all the films were finished and spray down the bathrooms, vacuum the foyer, and sweep the theaters. We'd often find cash that'd fallen out of people's pockets while cuddling with someone special during the latest blockbuster. Another guy we work with once found a gun. The worse was someone would chew tobacco and leave a cup full of tobacco spit under their seat. Often, we wouldn't see it until it was too late. We'd knock it over and the cup of tobacco spit would run down the theater, under the seats, all the way to the front of the screen. We'd, of course, have to clean it all up. Cleaning theaters was a job. It was something I did for money. Not necessarily something I enjoyed.

OBEY | LIFE WITH KIDS

Are your kids flourishing?

You may have kids? You might not? If you do, then I want you to think about what it means to make your kids blossom in all that they do? It begins with a life with Jesus as his grace flows into every other area of their life. If you don't have kids, think about the kids might have or kids you get to hang out with via family member or friends.

I have kids. I have five, in fact (three living, one in heaven, another to be born in about three weeks). You might think this is a lot. You might think this is not enough. I think it's about right…except that I miss our little Sabrina every single day I breathe.

OBEY | LIFE IN MARRIAGE

What's your view of marriage? We all have one. Are you turned off by marriage or turned on? 

I remember hanging out at a skatepark when I was younger. All these high school kids were talking about sex. This one kid kept responding: dude, sex is over rated. I remember thinking I don't know what your experience was man, but I'm guessing it wasn't awesome. I've heard people talk of their marriages similarly: marriage is okay, kinda overrated. 

marriage as: good, skeptical, or functional 

There are many views of marriage. Let me throw out a few common views: good, skeptical, and functional. There are some who have a decently good view of marriage. They've seen parents or friends model a healthy marriage, entered into a solid marriage, and for the most part like being married. These are the people (and it's a smaller group than you might think) who think you know what, marriage is pretty a good thing for the most part. When you ask them if they are happy in their marriage, they generally say yes. 

Others view it with skepticism. Maybe from a bad experience? Maybe they've experienced the pain of divorce, but when they think of marriage they think of hardship rather than beauty. Still others have a somewhat functional view of marriage. Maybe they are married, but it has become a tiring process. Their spouse refuses to change. They want something more, and find themselves functionally getting by because it's where they happen to be at this moment in life. They view marriage as utilitarian, like brushing their teeth or washing their car. It's just something they do.

OBEY | LIFE WITH GOD

"I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." Exodus 19:4-6

quiet time vs. everyday time

I remember when I was younger my youth leader explained what a quiet time was. "It's a time set aside for you and God to connect. No distractions," he said, "You can read your Bible. You can pray. The point is that it's quiet." So I became a quiet time guy. I used to sit on the front porch of our house. We had seven kids in a three bedroom house. My twin brother and I shared a closet for a bedroom. The porch was my early morning escape. I still remember reading through I Corinthians on that porch.

Some time later, I think in the middle of college, another leader explained that life was more about constantly talking to God, not just having a quiet time. This made a lot of sense to me, since I was incredibly busy. So, I chucked my quiet times and started talking to God throughout the busyness of the day.

OBEY | EXODUS 19:4-6

In the story of Exodus God is about one thing: rescuing Israel and calling them to be his people. After the Red Sea, after the fire and cloud begins, after providing water from the rock and bread from heaven, God says to Moses: "See how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself (Exodus 19:4)."

a very serious moment 

This is the moment in the story where God is hovering over mount Sinai giving Moses the ten commandments. God has shown up as a thick hovering darkness of cloud followed by thunder and lighting. People are not allow to touch the mountain. Instead, they must have prepared themselves for this moment: washed and ready, no sexual activity. Preparations are like training for the big day: a big game, a wedding day, a graduation, a first date, an interview at your first job.

Translation: what's about to happen is very serious.