Rewind: Week Four

Sorry. I am a day late on my weekly "rewind," but it has been a very busy week. As I am writing this, I can't help but think about the past few day full of fireworks, farmer's markets, a trip to the zoo, and spending time with my girlfriend. Brittany flew into town on Friday and we were given the opportunity to spend the weekend exploring Omaha together. I was very excited to have her here as she was finally able to meet all of the people with whom I am interacting on a daily basis. If you have been keeping up with my blog posts so far, you know that this has been a convicting summer for me during which I have learned so much and to finally share that with Brittany was very special for me.

On Friday, Brittany and I grabbed breakfast together, stopped by the Coram Deo office and hung out with Justin, Kendal, and Will for a little while. The weather wasn't so agreeable that day so we ended up spending most of the day watching movies at the Bliss' house. But it was good to have a low-key day to catch up and spend time with one another because it had been six weeks since we last saw one another. On Saturday, she and I drove down to the weekly farmer's market that is held in a large parking lot in downtown Omaha every weekend. We purchased quite a few goodies that played predominant roles in the fantastic dinner that Brittany pretty much made by herself while I stumbled around the kitchen acting like I knew what I was doing. We also went to the Omaha zoo Saturday afternoon which was a lot of fun. It is huge and we spent over five hours walking around the complex without seeing every exhibit. But we enjoyed ourselves. Saturday night, we were invited over to Justin's house to watch a fireworks show his neighbor does every year. I swear, this guy had to have spent somewhere around $5,000 if not more on everything that he blew up. And for a pyrotechnic like myself, it was a dream come true. I will have a video sample of the show at the end of this post.

Yesterday, I was able to bring Brittany to the Coram Deo service so that she could finally get to see what I am involving myself with this summer. I was given the responsibility of making the call to worship again this week and that went well. Justin was preaching on prayer from the text Matthew 6:5-15, the Lord's Prayer. He prefaced his message with the warnings found in the text leading up to the prayer itself. We are called by God not to be hypocrites, like the Pharisees, or like the pagans who pray with many words. His sermon pointed out the fact that the Lord's prayer is not a script that we should use in order to talk to God word for word, but rather it is a guideline by which we approach God in prayer recognizing who he is and reminding ourselves of his truth in the process. We begin by approaching God in prayer as if we are speaking to our Father. In light of the Old Testament, this is a new way of relating to him because he was never addressed this way until Christ came and died for us. Therefore, we know that when Jesus died on the cross, he created for us a new connection with God through which we have been allowed to enter into an extremely personal and loving relationship with him.

The second portion of our prayers should be concerned with God's kingdom manifesting itself in our lives and our world. Prayer should not be about our will and our desire, but rather prayer should be driven out of a motivation to get our will in alignment with God's will so that our efforts in life will not be wasted. And lastly, we ask God for his daily provision, forgiveness, and protection in our lives. Often times we forget how personal and intimate an interaction with God prayer can be due to the fact that the approval of other people either keeps us from praying or causes us to try and rehearse our words beforehand so that we don't sound stupid. But it's not about sounding smart or knowledgeable. It's about being honest. In Luke 18, Jesus tells a parable of two men who entered the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, the other was a tax collector. The Pharisee gave God the glory for everything that he had been given in his life: obedience to the law, a positive reputation, and status above others - including the tax collector. Whereas the tax collector could not even lift his head to the heavens and instead beat his chest and cried out to God for a merciful response to his sinful nature. And in the end, Jesus tells us that only the tax collector went home justified. Justin did a great job with his sermon digging into a message that we overlook far too often.

After my call to worship in the second service, Brittany and I left and relaxed at the Bliss' house until it was time to leave for the airport. And I have to admit, I did not like that drive to the airport or going through the process of watching her leave for Chicago again. Six weeks is a long time to be apart. I had nearly forgotten what it felt like to receive a hug from her. Or to kiss her. Or to hold her hand. But when I saw her coming out of that gate on Friday, it hit me all over again. When she saw me and literally sprinted into my arms, I remembered. This was the best weekend I have had this summer by far. I am so thankful that Brittany was able to visit and I am so thankful for the ways God is using her in my life to motivate me in becoming a better man.

Oh, and on a side note, I feel a responsibility in being honest with all of you about something. I cannot say that I am necessarily excited about doing this, but I am very comfortable with my reasons for doing it. This past week, I was trying to think of a good act of service that I could do for Brittany over the summer since I really have no way of being in close proximity to her physically and I think God stepped in and gave me this suggestion. I begged him on end to let me do anything else, but decided it was probably the most significant act I could do right now...that being said, I have begun reading the Twilight series. And I am doing it for one reason. L-O-V-E. How are you going to criticize me for that???? ;-)

Peace