Christ the Savior

Today I visited Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow. As I entered I was captivated. It was a mult-sensory experience. The smell of the candles, the vastness of the cathedral walls, the beauty of the artistry and architecture was magnificent. As I looked up to the ceilings I was overwhelmed with the artistic depiction of our triumphant Savior and His return in glory. Literally, I lifted up my head and saw a picture of our ultimate redemption. The history of the Cathedral is a testimony of beauty, destruction and rebirth. Christ hte Savior was built in celebration, destroyed by an oppressive government and rebuilt as a symbol of rebirth. We too were created in beauty, destroyed by sin and reborn with a proclamation of Christ's ultimate victory. "Awesome" is a word that is sometimes overused, but "awe" is underappreciated. Today I am in awe as I consider the greatness of God and His love for me.

Ecclectic 101

Seems like I always have an interesting conversation when I fly. I sat next to a man named Mike from Australia who now lives in Vriginia. He travels extensively around the world (within a month he was going to be in China, India, Russia and Brazil. It was cool since I have been in those countries with the exception of India - and I made big points when I told him that my favorite was Australia. But, the real conversation starter was when he asked me whether I enjoyed studying the Bible. I was reading Timothy Keller's book, "The Reason for God". I responded "yes" and we enjoyed an interesting conversation. He asked if I had read "The God Delusion" by the famous atheist Richard Dawkins. (I have blogged about Dawkins before and some of his thoughts from the book.) He said he enjoyed the book because he likes the writing style of Dawkins. Within moments of our conversation about Dawkins he brought up Joel Osteen and said that he would love to go to his church and see him "live". OK, let me summarize. Mike loves to read and atheist's enthusiastic rants about how God doesn't exist, but he would love to go hear Joel Osteen preach. How's that for ecclectic? Mike is a good example of what we can expect in the arena of conversation if we are willing to dive in. On the past few Sunday evenings we have been discussing the opportunities that exist for the church today and we have been discussion our level of preparedness or the lack thereof. Is it challenging to minister to an ecclectic world? We should read the New Testament with a fresh perspective.

Comfort Food

I love the label "comfort food". Although it is seldom used in a positive way I like the sound of it. Most of the references to comfort food that I have heard have a close connection to either chocolate or potato chips. (No offense to potato chips, but that's not much of a contest - even for a salt lover like me). I'm getting ready to board the plane and head to Moscow. I'm looking forward to the trip. But, as I sit in the airport in Washington, I am reminded that this is not home. I am away from my home and my family. So, I grabbed a cup of comfort - decaf from Starbucks. A warm cup of familiar coffee is comforting. It's a blessing to have a taste of home in so many places. It's a great reminder of how we should live every day. The New Testament reminds us many times that this life - the here and now - is not home. We are strangers, pilgrims, sojourners, travelers. So what is our comfort food? The Psalmist describes it perfectly, "As the deer pants for the water, so my soul thirsts for God". Take comfort in the presence of God. No matter where we are God is with us.

Growing a great soul

Yesterday I shared a message about the relationship between obedience and nourishment for the soul. It's not hard to draw some parallels between what goes on in our physical body and our spiritual health. When we have a healthy diet we reap certain benefits. How do we grow a healthy soul? We feed it. After pondering the menu of life my conclusion hasn't changed. The healthiest diet for the soul is packed full of obedience. Prayer is good. It's a great way to commune with God, draw near to God and hear from God. It's like a good appetizer. But, if we fail to obey, our prayer life alone will not grow a great soul. Bible study is rich. It has the potential to fill our minds and hearts with eternal principles. It's like my favorite bowl of soup. But, those principles do not help us if they are not attached to obedient response. Obedience is the main course. It integrates our prayer life and our Bible study.

Rest

It's Sunday night and I'm winding down. It's a great time to talk about rest. We live in a 24/7 world. The fact that I'm sitting in bed blogging is an indicator of how much our world has changed in the last few years. Earlier today I shared a message at Heritage drawn from the words of Jesus in Matthew 11:25-30. His invitation is amazing. It seemed to me like an appropriate message for moms on Mothers Day. Jesus invites us to come to Him and find rest. Weariness is epidemic today. Yet rest is available. Why do we go without rest? I'm not talking about physical fatigue. I'm talking about soul fatigue. It's because we try to find rest outside of our relationship with Jesus. Real rest, true rest, soul rest cannot be found outside of our relationship with our Savior.