Monday, August 22, 2005

Good Morning!

Hope everyone got a chance to make it to class on Sunday morning. Sorry that I couldn't be there, but I'm sure you guys were able to have some good discussion. Note with the unit, we have just 10 units to go. Hope that you have been enjoying this study, and it isn't too soon to start thinking a little bit about our next study. We would be starting that around November 1, so be thinking of some ideas and let me know.

The new unit for this week is Unit 17 -- God as Loving Parent

Focus Scripture for the Week: Isaiah 66:13

As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you; you shall be comforted.

Today's Scriptures: Luke 13:31-35

Today's Discussion:

-- the part of the scripture for today that connects with our topic this week is verse 34, which refers to God's willingness to take us under his wing as mother hen might protect and love her chicks. That is a view of God that we tend not to see or live like we see.

-- so many times, we tend to treat God, not as a parent, but the distant but nice rich uncle, someone who we reluctantly have to call on infrequently when there is trouble or a need; the person we call on when we have exhausted all of our other options. But God is closer than that to us.

-- thinking of God as a parent, and really having a feeling that he wants the best for you, is one of the most empowering feelings for a Christian. It is a feeling that gives you permission to bring so much to God through prayer, little things and big things. And if we are going to have this daily relationship with God, a lot of it is going to be about little things, because big things don't happen everyday. I'm a big believer in the philosophy of if you take care of the little things, the big things will take care of themselves. I believe that this is particularly true in this case -- if you have a relationship with God where you talk about the little things daily, the big things will take care of themselves.

Question for Sunday:

-- do ration your prayer with God, limiting what to ask him for so that you don't "use up" all of your favors?

Today's prayer request: Amanda and David Edwards' daughter Kasey.

We need to continue remember Kasey -- she isn't sick, but she is having a terrible time adjusting to school -- she's been acting up a great deal, and Amanda and David have been called to school once already, and the school has said that they will suspend Kasey for a week if it happens again. Kasey has been diagnosed with ODD (Oppositional Defiant Disorder), and they are still trying to find medication that works for her in treating this. This has been a very trying situation for all of them, and Amanda said that they could really use all of our prayers.

Today's class member prayer:

Joey Harbarger

Have a great day.

Jay