Water, Water for King David

2 Samuel 23 :13-17
And three of the thirty chief men went down at harvest time to David in the cave of Adullam, and a troop of Philistines was encamped in the Valley of Rephaim.
David was then in the stronghold, and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem.
And David said longingly, Oh, that someone would give me a drink of water from the well of Bethlehem by the gate!
And the three mighty men broke through the army of the Philistines and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem by the gate and brought it to David. But he would not drink it, but poured it out to the Lord.
And he said, Be it far from me, O Lord, to drink this. Is it not [the same as] the blood of the men who went at the risk of their lives? So he would not drink it.
This passage about David has bothered me for a long time. I didn't pay VERY much attention to it to be honest; I just thought it was one of those stupid things David did, that showed how very human he could be. "Acting so irrationally and with such carelessness and yet... God still calls him a man after His own heart." (that was my first thought)

Now I can hardly believe how careless I was with this passage.

Of course David wanted water... a little taste of home in the midst of war, and not as a passing whim but with a type of hunger that homesickness can create for the things you once enjoyed . He did recognize the sacrifice and risk his men took in order to get him this drink -- so why did he pour it on the ground without so much as a sip?

He did it because of it's value. He did it because it was the very best. It was water fit for a King! So he gave what he most desired at that moment to God. He didn't even sample what he would offer to his LORD. There no "two for you, one for me!" in his thinking. He loved God. He had something of great value now in his possession that could be laid before his God.

It reminds me very much of Genesis 22 where Abraham is asked to sacrifice Isaac. Isaac his beloved son! -- a result of a longstanding promise from God! I can understand the passage as it relates to Jesus and the Father, but it's hard to wrap myu mind around the willing sacrifice of a blessing from God.

My immediate thinking when God sens a blessing is that it is for my enjoyment. I do not immediately think, "Yay! God has provided a way for me to give to him the very best!" And so the blessings, although very much a blessing no mater what is done with it, remains in that moment mine alone. BUT, if I were to offer it back to God as it says in Malachi 3, just wait and see... "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it."

Instead I often give left overs... left over time, left over talents... I don't mean left overs as in... bits that have sat around and are now useless, I mean giving out of an abundance, but not when it costs something. Is it as bad as offering second best? Probably, earlier in Malachi it gives a warning to Priests who were not offering "the best". It says in verse 7-9 "You place defiled food on my altar."But you ask, 'How have we defiled you?' "By saying that the LORD's table is contemptible. When you bring blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice crippled or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?" says the LORD Almighty.
"Now implore God to be gracious to us. With such offerings from your hands, will he accept you?"-says the LORD Almighty.

The thing is... God does not demand EVERYTHING, just the recognition that because of His position he should be considered first. If we do put Him first the blessings in our lives, through that right relationship with Him will expand to include not only ourselves but those around us.

In this act of pouring out the water, and throughout his time in the cave David offered praises to God. Leading by example, he showed these men that worship, true worship, picks you up out of darkness and into the Light. It pulls your attention from your own distress and/or depression and focuses it on the one who holds LIFE in his hands.

It makes life in a "pit" not only bearable but joyous! It makes heroes out of mere men. To pour out the water didn't, as I had first supposed, reveal David's human-ness by some rash reaction; but rather, revealed the heart of God in him as he humbly offered the best that he had.

Good Grief

If I could paint a "living" picture to represent grief, I think it would be an asteroid landing in a lake. There is that initial tidal wave. Emotion that is so completely overwhelming everything around is overwhelmed by it. Immediately following are waves, they come quickly one after the other, with very brief moments of respite. Following this, smaller waves a greater distance apart, but still moving in against the shore, carrying out with them a bit of the soft sand. Later, possibly much later, are little ripples... so far apart they are hardly noticed by those that are not close to the water, but they are there and they still upset the water enough that the calm "glassy-ness" is not yet returned.... maybe it never will.

I was talking with my sister in law the other night and we were talking about this very thing. I know I've written about it probably more than one can bear to read, but I am still surprised that I can randomly cry over a friend that passed away many years ago now. I was sitting in church on Sunday and these waves of grief just kept washing over me. It had nothing to do with anything specific that was said... I just remembered her and missed her. My sister in law was telling me her similar story and we talked about missing family and friends even some that although still alive, for one reason or another are no longer a part of our lives. When the grief again creeps in after so many years it can be a little surprising, don't you think? The larger gaps in between the ripples give you a false sense that things have returned to the way they were before the tragic event that immersed you in a time of grief.

Well, all that said... I know it will sound very strange, but I am glad for the ripples. Somehow it validates once again the stronger emotions that came first. It reminds me that my life was forever changed by someone else being in it. Even though the time seemed short, there are phrases and ways of looking at things that are a part of me now because of that friend... the grief is a sort of reminder of where it came from.
More than that, those ripples remind me of the fact that I miss this person because death in and of itself was not a part of God's perfect plan. He has given us a chance to join Him in eternity. He conquered death, he conquered sin and there will be a day when I can enjoy the fullness of that victory. So deep down under the sadness there is still always a glimmer of hope and joy and perfect peace.

It is in that way... a Good Grief.

Project Natal for XBOX 360

So amazing!! You have to watch it, it's crazy.
It feels like all of a sudden they've taken things straight out of science fiction and made them fact!

The Dave is in Africa Bilbo Baggins says...

the title is an ode to my brother Dave :P

He is in fact in Africa, at this very moment... staying in a child headed household*, apparently not very far from the city of Nelspruit.

Working with a group called Hands at Work Africa...

I highly encourage you to check out the website. I really appreciate the mission and vision of

this group. It seems they really throw you right in the deep end though.

David hasn't even been in the country a whole week, but he will be spending the next few days

alone in a village, hopefully with some sort of interpreter as he doesn't yet know the language...

and with a list of jobs that need to be done there.

* a child headed household, is a home where both parents are missing - usually orphaned children with one older (12 year old in this case) sibling taking on the role of both Father and Mother.

I'm sure he would value your prayers and if you would like to follow his adventures he has a blog that he will update as often as he can.

Susan Boyle - Singer - Britains Got Talent 2009 (With Lyrics)

beautiful... I love how an entire audience was called out...
she really is somehow entrancing.

LIFE

It's fragile isn't it?

This week I was talking to someone who is struggling through a rough patch. I noticed how much of the problem is caused by a desire to control ones own circumstances. But it's all an illusion. We don't really control anything, except perhaps our choice of reaction. Things happen that are so outside our control that it's almost laughable that we could ever even imagine we have control even for a moment.

I always watch the news, especially Hollywood news, and I was surprised to hear they were covering a story about Natasha Richardson who, by all accounts, suffered a very minor accident. But tonight, they reported she has passed away. A freak accident on the bunny slope. It is tragic and sad. Completely beyond her control... beyond even the control of the physicians attending her.

Another friend is applying to Universities, but seems to have been living too long elsewhere to still be considered in State.

We have a several students moving on, and now wonder the direction the school will take. What the future holds is not within our control.

None of us knows with certainty the days marked out for us.

Knowing this... what is my role? How, now, shall I live to make the most of each moment. I was reading through an excerpt with one of my students, "Markheim" by Robert Louis Stevenson. In it, Markheim, asks a miserable looking shop keep, why do you not live? Why don't you treat each second as a fiery precipice? You have no friends, you spend your holiday alone reviewing your bookkeeping. There is no life in that living. Take a chance, stand on the edge...

It's so easy to "take control". It's so safe. Or at least that is the illusion. I don't want to live this way, but I realize that more and more the last few years I have allowed myself to be controlled and managed by my culture. I have been seeking out a living, I have been saving my monies, I have worked hard, and taken time for myself... and I have become a product of that. It has become a much greater effort to abandon myself to God. It has become harder to give joyfully without counting "the cost".

But in the span of eternity, what does it gain me.

What am I really in control of? Whether or not I die to myself daily. Life is really to short, to not live with eternity in mind. The only way to live in a way that effects eternity, is to abandon my life to God, the one who has created time and eternity, the one who has created me and knows just what I am fitted for. The only one who can direct my life in a way that has maximum effect.

You want to talk about control - He's got it.

There is a verse... that says that he keeps everything in place... He sustains all of creation by His Word.

There is nothing that happens that God is unaware of. Not one sparrow falls to the ground that he doesn't know of. He knows every hair on our heads. He searches us out. There is no where we can go that He is not there.... Before we took our first breath He knew us... all of whom we would be.

Knowing this, (and liking the feeling of some sort of control) why would I live a life in any way separated from the one who knows what's next. The one who can change hearts and lives. Why would I let my lazy or selfish pursuits put up barriers between us?

I am so glad that despite the fact that I can be... have been, at times unfaithful... God is always faithful. Even if everyone else is a liar, God is true. (Rom 3:3,4)

"But now, God shows us a way to be made right with Him.....

.... by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.

For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God's glorious standard. Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Jesus Christ when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as a sacrifice for our sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding His blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when He held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, for He was looking ahead and including them in what He would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate His righteousness, for He himself is fair and just, and He declares sinners to be right in His sight when they believe in Jesus.

Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. So we are made right with God through faith...." Romans 3

Father, help me to abandon myself to you. Thank you for saving me, I pray that you give me the strength to accept the abundant life you have for me. Forgive me for trying to take control away from you... it is so proud and so foolish. I pray that I will really live, and not waste this precious time you have given me. Father, please do bless those that have become aware this week of their lack of control. I pray that they will soften their hearts towards you. That they will accept you and the good plans that you have for them. Plans to prosper and not to harm... plans to give them a future and a hope. Father please be their peace, when life feels like it's falling to pieces. Surround them with the warm and inviting light of your love. Please Father, I pray that though some may try and whisper lies, they will see the truth of Your word... in Your Word made flesh.

Be'shem Yeshua, Amen!

Kunio Kato 2009 Oscar's Speech

My favorite speech of the evening!! He is an absolutely genius...