ExtraChristy

Happy July Fourth! A day to celebrate freedom! What is your idea of freedom? Is it freedom from rules and constraints? Or freedom for doing the right thing?

Dov Seidman in his book How writes a lot about rules.On page 96 he states “True Freedom lies not in the absence of constraint; true freedom lies in the transcendence of rules-based thinking.” The transcendence is not asking the utilitarian question of what is the rule, can we do this, but what is the value involved: given what we believe, should we do this.

Did you know that July 2 was the date Congress declared independence? July 4th is the day the final draft of the Declaration of Independence was adopted which:

“…declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”

So we celebrate not the day we broke the rules, (July 2) and declared freedom from England but the day we declared our values and beliefs, and how independence was the only way to honor those beliefs; what our freedom was for: Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.

Hope you use your freedom for declaring your values today and every day.

Freedom

Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you.

It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don't use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that's how freedom grows. For everything we know about God's Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That's an act of true freedom. - Galatians 5:1, 13-14 (The Message)

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A child was intently drawing a picture of God in Sunday School. She was undeterred when others told her that no one knew what God looked liked for she explained: “Well, they'll know when I'm done drawing!”

Showing what God looks like isn't as easy as drawing a picture, but it is possible. At least according to Eugene Peterson's version of 1 Corinthians 12 in The Message. He interprets the use of spiritual gifts for the benefit of others as a way to show God to others. Gifts such as: wise counsel, clear understanding, simple trust, healing the sick, miraculous acts, proclamation of good news draw God so that others are shown what God looks like.

Hope when your day draws to a close, people are shown God…

“Each person is given something to do that shows who God is: Everyone gets in on it, everyone benefits.” - 1 Corinthians 12

I got a long distance call for computer help today. It was from a former youth group member, now a young man. He apologized for calling every time he had a computer problem. (He calls about once or twice a month.) He knows he is a bother.

Yet every time he calls, I get a warm feeling. For these annoying calls are an answer to prayer. When he was in high school, he had a terrible car accident. Head Injury. Doctors held little hope for him ever waking up, much less walking or talking. At his bedside visiting him, I felt so helpless. Yes, I prayed with him and his family and read him messages sent by his friends, but for weeks, months, there was no reaction. I was so frustrated. My prayer was that I could do something for him that I knew was helping him, something that got through. A selfish prayer, I admit.

In time, due to prayer and the love of his family and friends, he woke up and slowly with years of hard work learned to walk, talk, and just recently drive again! Oh, yes, he learned to use his computer and cell phone.

Where before he laid in bed beyond my best efforts to help, now he calls me and asks for help that I can give him. Thank you God, for those bothersome phone calls. It was just what I asked for.

Jesus Teaches About Prayer
“So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” - Luke 11:9-10

Hope You're Ready when God Answers Your Knock!

Midwest Ohio had its blizzard last night. Today, schools, businesses, and governmental offices are closed as people stay home waiting to be plowed out. In anticipation of the storm, a flurry of phone calls, emails, radio, TV and web site updates blanketed folks with cancellations and cautions.

All over Ohio priorities were reordered; a family went to visit an elderly relative before the storm since their meeting was cancelled; late night work addicts went home early, dinners were calmly eaten at home instead of hurriedly in the car on the way from activity to exhaustion.

There is a story of priorities in Gospels. It is about preparing for the arrival not of snow but salvation:

As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:38-41 NIV

It is good to have interruptions in our prepared and planned lives full of worry and upset. By canceling the urgent, we have time to consider the important.

Hope your Snow Day helps you find what is truly necessary

I came across some information that a high school classmate mentioned she was interested in at our reunion last summer. When I emailed it to her, I added the hope that she was making good use of the geometry proofs we learned in Mr. Nutter's class over a quarter of a century ago.

Now I was thinking of my favorite proof: The Means-Extremes Property of Proportions and other mysteries of lines and angles. But she was in the same class learning a different lesson:

And yes, I LOVED Mr Nutter and his class and if I don't remember the geometry, I remember his wonderful spirit and slow-talking technique that made it so much easier to grasp the concepts. I have found myself pulling in those skills, because of his fine example. I wonder if he's still around somewhere, I'd like to tell him about his positive influence.

Paul, author of large amounts of the New Testament portion of the Bible, often has his rules, proofs, and teachings quoted by Christian students. But at the end of one his lessons, he encourages them not to memorize just his teachings but…

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.- Philippians 4:8-9 NIV

I hope you learn much more that what is taught, and take those better and broader lessons into the world with the God of peace.