Blog by Cy

Ephesians is one of the books of the Bible. I am reading in this book right now. It’s truly a great read. I’ve underlined almost every verse.

Something that really stands out to me is this:

“and to know this love that surpasses knowledge…” Ephesians 3:19

Love that surpasses knowledge? How is that possible? It isn’t. If we can’t know it, then how can we believe it? Love isn’t really knowable, so if love is all we are basing something on then it can’t be true or real.

Love is really all about faith. When you say you love someone, you have faith that they feel the same way.

So here is some truth whether you know it or not, it is still truth.

God loves you more than you will ever be able to comprehend. His love for you has always existed and will never end. He loves you so much He sent His Son to die for you.

You can’t know this love by researching it. You can only have faith that it exists. And can only truly realize its existence once you’ve surrendered everything else to this one simple belief.

Not only does love surpass knowledge, but Love gave you the knowledge you have so that you can lay it down and pick up faith in its stead.

Do you know why she is smiling?

She lives in a slum in a third world country. She isn’t wearing shoes. She isn’t wearing a shirt. She doesn’t really have any toys. She doesn’t sleep in a bed, but on a mat. Why on earth is she smiling? What does she have to be happy about?

Maybe, just maybe, she has it right. Maybe she knows how big God is.

I think most of us struggle in this area. We can picture God. We can imagine His face. We are able to contain Him in our minds so that we can get a handle on Him. Doing this causes us some trouble. Who would want to worship a God who is just a little bit better than we are? No one. We don’t want to follow and worship a God – give our lives to a God that is just one rung above us. But the predicament is, though we don’t want to worship a small God, we also can’t stand to be near a big, huge, massive, perfect, all-knowing, self-sufficient, all-powerful God.

We can stand to be near a God who is basically a good us; but we don’t want to worship Him. We can’t stand to be near a sovereign, pure, almighty God; but if we could, we would worship Him.

Most of us, hold back from fully giving ourselves to God because we are afraid He isn’t big enough to handle all of our junk. So we hold back. We don’t want to believe the truth about God because the Truth of God is too big and amazing for us to fathom. It is out of our comprehension. It isn’t possible to really understand all that God is.

And since we can’t know, we wait until we know something to do anything. But since we can never know we don’t do anything. So how does anyone ever give their life to Jesus?

Faith.

How do I know God is big enough to handle my junk? I don’t. I believe He is. I have faith that He is totally of capable of more than I could ever imagine. Do I know it? No. I believe I have faith.

Faith.

Why is she smiling? Maybe it’s a childlike faith. Maybe she knows God is big enough, because she hears and sees clearer than we do.

God is big enough. Give it all to Him.

Day 4 of thebridge’s reading plan for 2012. Also day 4 of the 12 day fast to start 2012. If you’re reading, how’s it going? If you’re fasting from something, how’s it going?

Here is what I have learned so far:

Having no discipline in some areas of my life causes me not to have discipline in other areas of my life. For example – when I don’t control my eating and I eat junk in huge quantities all the time, my Bible reading, prayer and worship life suffers as well. When I fail to practice self-control in one area – I don’t have it in any area. Period.

When I practice self-control in one area – it’s like I prove to myself I can do it and all of a sudden I have self-control in other areas. So, I controlling my food intake and have been for the past month (not fasting, just not being a pig) and the fruit has been beyond just my eating, but it has carried over to my spiritual disciplines as well.

Many of us have “new years resolutions” that we are attempting to keep. We have new goals for 2012. Many of us, 4 days in, have already given up. Why? Because we don’t want to have self-control in some area of our lives. And when we don’t have it in one area, why have it in others.

I don’t care what your goal is for 2012. If you want to attain it, it will take self-control. Weight goals, self-control. Reading goals, self-control (turn off the TV). Relationship goals, self-control (put the phone down, have a conversation, control your lustful ways).

It isn’t easy. That is why I am fat. Because this idea isn’t easy. But it is worth it. The results of self-control are extending further than I had remembered or imagined. I am super thankful for this experience.

I am by no means victorious. But, then again I don’t have to be.

I’m reading a new book called King’s Cross by Tim Keller. Keller is the pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church on Manhattan. I usually struggle to read his stuff because he is way, way, way, way smarter than me (he certainly would have figured out a way to say that, without using the same word 4 times, that smart).

I’m loving this book. This particular quote just leapt off the page at me:

“There is nothing that makes you more miserable (or less interesting) than self-absorption: How am I feeling, how am I doing, how are people treating me, am I proving myself, am I succeeding, am I failing, am I being treated justly?”

This sentence to me is a description of our society in its entirety. Today, a large majority of the first world is on facebook. What is facebook about? Me.

Another group, not as large, but still significant is on twitter. What is twitter about? Me.

All this self-absorption has made us so uninteresting that real relationships are almost extinct.

Help me out with an unscientific survey would you.

Tomorrow, I want you to keep track of how many face to face conversations you have with someone that isn’t forced (i.e. if you work as a cashier, you have to say words so those don’t count). Then at the end of your day, I want you to count how many emails and texts you sent. Which one wins?

God designed us to be in relationship with Him. We will be hard pressed to be in relationship with Him if we can’t figure out how to have relationships with people.

Post your survey results in the comments when you get a chance.

“But the word of God continued to increase and spread.”

This sentence ends the twelfth chapter of the book of Acts. This sentence is so perfect though couldn’t it end almost any chapter of any book? And maybe not even books of the Bible but almost any book of all time.

This sentence is appropriate always. There isn’t a situation where it doesn’t fit.

Let’s say I was writing a news story about the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Couldn’t I end it with, “But the word of God continued to increase and spread.” Or what if there was something amazing to report, like “The Dow had its biggest single day gain yesterday in more than two years. But the word of God continued to increase and spread.”

What it means to me – regardless of me, despite me, for me – the word of God continued to increase and spread.

Here is something fun we can all do. Sign your emails with 12:24 at the bottom, below your name and all the other junk that you have in your signature. Just put 12:24.

If you end up doing this, let me know, just comment “I’m in.” See if you get any response.

Do you remember when you used to buy CD’s? You know the round discs that contain music? Sometimes on these “compact discs” there used to be a track of music that was not on the play list. It was buried behind minutes of dead air and if you just let it play all of a sudden you would be blessed with 6 minutes of awesomeness.

The days of the hidden track are gone. Really the day of the full album are nearly gone. There are probably kids roaming around that have heard of compact discs but have never actually seen one or listened to music via one.

Sometimes the hidden track was tasty and exciting. Sometimes it was weird. Sometimes it was an awesome cover of someone else. Nearly every time you found a hidden track you would smile.

I noticed kind of a “hidden track” so to speak in the Bible this morning. I was reading in Micah and noticed that it closes out, in chapter 7 like a Psalm. There is a hidden psalm in Micah! That made me smile.

My friend Grant calls my son Isaac, Zeke. Normally I would say Zeke is short for Ezekiel rather than Isaac, but it works.

I am also still reading in Ezekiel. I had hit some doldrums in Ezekiel. To the point I really wasn’t fired up about reading. It is the section where Ezekiel has to call down punishment on a bunch of different parts of the world. It doesn’t make me pumped to keep reading. After a few days of avoiding reading, I’m back in the game. And what did I find?

Ezekiel 34. Now I am all jacked up. Let me share some quotes so you can see why.

“For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will search for my sheep and look after them” Ez. 34:11
“I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice.” Ez. 34:16
“I will make a covenant of peace with them and rid the land of savage beasts so that they may live in the wilderness and sleep in the forests in safety.” Ez. 34:25
“…They will know that I am the Lord, when I break the bars of their yoke and rescue them from the hands of those  who enslaved them.” Ez. 34:27 (last half)

I am always surprised by the places I see Jesus. I know I shouldn’t be, the whole Old Testament is about Him.

Where do you see Jesus that surprises you?

Lou Zamperini.

I will guess 95% of you have never head his name.

Is he special? Why would I have heard his name? What has he done? Is he famous?

Lou was famous in 1934, 1936, 1945 – 48 or so.

In the 30′s he was a track star. In high school he set the US high school record in the mile. At the age of 19 he became the youngest ever US Olympic runner in the 5000 meters. The 1936 Olympics were in Berlin. There he caught the eye of a certain Adolf Hitler during the finals of the 5000 meters. He didn’t win the event or even medal, but he did run the last lap of the 5000 meter race in 56 seconds. Faster than the winners last lap by 17 seconds.

An all star runner at USC, Lou continued to chip away at his mile time. Then, seeing the war looming he enlisted in the Army Air Corp so he could choose where he served. As a bombardier Lou flew just a few missions, though his mission over Nauru made him famous again (594 bullet holes in his B-24). He and Allen Phillips survived 47 days on a life raft floating in the Pacific ocean. They were captured after 47 days of starving and dehydration by the Japanese who subjected them to starvation and dehydration.

He survived 27 months in multiple Japanese POW camps. Because he was world famous before the war, he caught the eye of many. One fella, “the Bird”, took an interest in him. An interest where he beat him mercilessly every day. Physical abuse was only surpassed by the emotional torture. And not just for Lou but for thousands of other POW’s in the Pacific theater.

Lou survived. Lou never gave up or gave in. But his life wasn’t easy. Nightmares haunted him. The Bird’s face followed him everywhere. To forget he turned to alcohol which worked only temporarily. He was very lost.

While floating on the raft. They had gone 5 days without water. Though he wasn’t a believer in God, in desperation, Lou prayed and told God if He got him out of this mess he would always live for Him. That scene came rushing back to Lou as he tried to storm out of a Billy Graham revival in Los Angeles. His wife had made him go, in hopes of saving their marriage and her husband.

That flashback to the raft was the last Lou would have. He didn’t have anymore nightmares. Nothing. The terror was over. It had all been replaced by God.

Lou had broken all of the 10 Commandments but God still wanted him. God is persistent. He won’t let go of us.

If you are a reader, check out the book – Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. It’s the best book I’ve read this year.

If you feel like you can’t take anymore, you feel abandoned, like God isn’t with you – you need to read this book or hear Lou’s story.