Day 135: Curiosity

Daily Sheet: Day 135: Curiosity

Family Book: “White Water”

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Travel: Solomon Islands

Song: “Shepherds Watch” – Michael Card

Day 126: Action

Daily Sheet: Day 126: Action

Family Book: “Irena’s Jars of Secrets”

Travel: Poland

Video: “Us For Them” – Gungor (official lyric video)

Day 102: Benevolence

Daily Sheet: Day 102: Benevolence

Family Book: “If the World Were a Village”

Travel: Gabon

Map: Mary Kingsley’s Travels

Video: “Open My Hands” – Sara Groves (talking about her inspiration behind writing this song)

In Psalm 84:11 we read, “No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly.” Sir Richard Baker comments, “But how is this true, when God so oftentimes withholds riches and honor and health of body from men, though they walk ever so uprightly? We may therefore know that honors and riches and bodily strength are none of God’s good things, and the good things of God are chiefly peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Spirit, fruition of God’s presence, and a vision of His face in the next. These good things God never withholds from the Godly.”

Video: “Open My Hands” – Sara Groves (live acoustic performance)

I believe in a blessing I don’t understand. I’ve seen rain fall on wicked and the just. Rain is no measure of his faithfulness; He withholds no good thing from us.

I believe in a peace that flows deeper than pain, that broken find healing in love.
Pain is no measure of his faithfulness; He withholds no good thing from us.

I believe in a fountain that will never dry, though I’ve thirsted and didn’t have enough. Thirst is no measure of his faithfulness; He withholds no good thing from us.

I will open my hands, will open my heart.

I am nodding my head, an emphatic “Yes!” to all that You have for me.

Questions:

Do you think Sir Richard Baker is right?
Why does Sara Groves say, “I believe in a blessing I don’t understand”?
Why, if God is faithful, do people experience drought, pain, and thirst?
What is our role in all this?

Day 101: Belief

Daily Sheet: Day 101: Belief

Family Book: “I Believe: The Nicene Creed”

Travel: Congo

Map: Mary Kingsley’s Travels

Video: “Creed” – Rich Mullins (with introduction by Rich)

I hope I would leave a legacy of joy; a legacy of real compassion. Because I think there is a great joy in real compassion. I don’t think that you can know joy apart from caring deeply about people, caring enough about people that you actually do something. But I have a feeling like if my life is motivated by my ambition to leave a legacy, what I will probably leave as a legacy is ambition. But if my life is motivated by the power of the Spirit in me, if I live in the awareness of the indwelling Christ, if I allow His presence to guide my actions, to guide my motives, those sorts of things, that’s the only time I think that we really leave a great legacy. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. My ambition to be a good guy is a fleshly ambition. And when Christ calls us to take up our cross and follow him, a lot of us think that what that means is we’re supposed to lay down our vices, and we’re supposed to cling to virtues, but I think that unless Christ is Lord of our virtues, our virtues become dangerous to us and dangerous to the people around us. I think that when Christ calls us to take up our cross, what He means is you must die not only to whatever vices are in your life, which he will eventually kill out, you must also die to whatever virtues are in your life. Your life is not valuable because you are an articulate speaker, your life is not valuable because you are a generous person, your life is not valuable because of any of that. If we empty ourselves of everything and allow God to be present, then it’s no longer us, it’s Him. Then it becomes a spiritual thing. And that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. And that’s when I think Christianity really begins to make sense.

Video: “Creed” – Rich Mullins with Third Day (with Croatian subtitles)