Thursday, March 9, 2006

Good Morning

 

Didn't realize this till this morning and I was searching for something on my computer, but we are beginning our third year of class emails this year round about now.  I don't have the exact date, but I did find one from early March 2004. The blog has been up about a year, and I think today's post will be number 200 on the blog.

 

I think we should be proud of these kinds of milestones, in that we have stuck with our program for so long and so faithfully.  To commit to a daily devotional time is tough, and I know that we all have had to shift and slide to catch up a lot of times, but we are all moving in the right direction.  I really appreciate the commitment that each and every one of you have made to the class, and for help and encouragement you have given to me.  The material that we have been covering has not been easy or fluffy -- we've done studies of Romans, of Luke, and our Methodist Spiritual Reader study, Narnia (well, maybe the Narnia study was a little fluffy) -- and when we finish our study of Revelation we will have covered four volumes of Barclay's Daily Study Bible, which is an accomplishment.

 

So great job, everyone.

 

Today's Reading:  Revelation 5:5; read pages 185-186 in Barclay; stop at "The Lamb"

 

-- short bit of reading for today.

 

-- the gist of today's reading is the idea that Jesus has triumphed, and because of his triumph he is able to open the scroll, he is able to know and reveal God's secrets.

 

-- Barclay makes the interesting point that the two titles given to Jesus in this section are really Jewish titles, titles that refer back to the Messianic prophecies -- the Lion of Judah, the root of David.  Just yet one more reminder about how interwoven we as Christians are with the Jewish faith.

 

-- the other point that is interesting is the one that Barclay makes about John's tears.  Sometimes, we are sorrowful because we don't know the whole story; we don't know the complete plan that God has.  This is the case with John here -- he weeps, but his weeping is not necessary -- God's plan makes the tears unnecessary. To me, that is a powerful way to deal with sorrow -- it may be one that is beyond our abilities to embrace much of the time, but it is one that is there for us when we need it.

Today's Scripture

Immediately he spoke to them and said, "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid"

Mark 6:50b

Today's prayer requests:   Dr. Page

Dr. Page is Ron and Brads' finance teacher at Auburn, who has lymphoma, and is not doing well.  We need to remember him as he struggles with the disease and the treatment.

Also, as Megan wrote yesterday, we need to remember her student Corey and his mother, as that struggle with his health issues.

Today's class member prayer:

Megan Douglas

Have a great day.

Jay