amos pax!

Our son Amos was born last weekend! We are blessed to have him w/ us. K8 has written a great summary of all the events of his birth on our family blog:

http://www.mymomsaysiambalanced.blogspot.com/

ps 29

So, I thought this was cool yesterday. I was reading Psalm 29 (below) and was encouraged. This Psalm is all about the power/strength of God. It says He rules over creation; He is above the chaos (waters/flood); His strength breaks powerful trees (cedars,oak); He dominates nations (Lebanon/Sirion); His power shakes the earth (the desert/Kadesh); He reigns in His strength. The bottom line is that our God is powerful and worthy of praise, and in the face of it the only thing we can do is worship His greatness.

So He's powerful... check. But what does He do w/ His strength? What does He do w/ all this power of His? Check out v. 11, "The LORD gives strength to his people; the LORD blesses his people with peace." He shares this strength, and blesses US w/ His peace. I find that super cool. The most powerful being in the universe, blesses us by giving us a piece of his strength and piece of His peace. What more can we say, but a word of thanks.


Ps 29:
1 Ascribe to the LORD, you heavenly beings, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.
2 Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness.
3 The voice of the LORD is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the LORD thunders over the mighty waters.
4 The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is majestic.
5 The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars; the LORD breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.
6 He makes Lebanon leap like a calf, Sirion like a young wild ox.
7 The voice of the LORD strikes with flashes of lightning.
8 The voice of the LORD shakes the desert; the LORD shakes the Desert of Kadesh.
9 The voice of the LORD twists the oaks and strips the forests bare. And in his temple all cry, “Glory!”
10 The LORD sits enthroned over the flood; the LORD is enthroned as King forever.
11 The LORD gives strength to his people; the LORD blesses his people with peace.

the way of love by john fischer

Here an article my homeboy Cody passed my way. Thanks Cody, it's a good word.

The Way of Love
by John Fischer

"The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty." - Mother Teresa

In her thoughts on homelessness yesterday, Marti brought up something we would do well to spend more time discussing. It's this idea that homelessness may be closer than we think. Not so much that anyone of us could find ourselves homeless given the right set of circumstances, but that there is a type of homelessness that goes on even in the most secure of homes - a kind of absence of love that leaves family members fragmented and alone. Homelessness is having no one there to love you in your own home.

So disheartened are we who do not know every neighbor on the street much less their stories. When did our God-given consciousness no longer recognize our neighbor as our responsibility? When did we stop caring? Was it during the time we stopped treasuring our families with warmhearted concern and started arguing with each other until we dissolved into faceless fragments of our own isolation?

This has been one of the glaring inconsistencies in evangelical Christianity for some time. Everything revolves around evangelism and yet our homes are falling apart from the inside. So much focus on "outreach;" so little "inreach." You can't love "out" if you can't love "in."

"By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." (John 13:35) Inner love stimulates an outer revelation. As Mother Teresa admonished us, let's start addressing the poverty a world away by remedying the poverty in our own homes.