upward & inward

OCTOBER 1   2 Timothy 2; Ps. 118 2   2 Timothy 3; Ps. 119:1-24 3   2 Timothy 4; Ps. 119:25-56 4   Titus 1; Ps. 119:57-80 5   Titus 2; Ps. 119:81-104 6   Titus 3; Ps. 119:105-136 7   Philemon 1; Ps. 119:137-160 8   Hebrews 1; Ps. 119:161-176 9   Hebrews 2; Ps. 120 10   Hebrews 3; Ps. 121 11   Hebrews 4; Ps. 122 12   Hebrews 5; Ps. 123 13   Hebrews 6; Ps. 124 14   Hebrews 7; Ps. 125 15   Hebrews 8; Ps. 126 16   Hebrews 9; Ps. 127 17   Hebrews 10; Ps. 128 18   Hebrews 11 19   Hebrews 12; Ps. 129 20   Hebrews 13; Ps. 130 21   James 1; Ps. 131 22   James 2; Ps. 132 23   James 3; Ps. 133 24   James 4; Ps. 134 25   James 5; Ps. 135 26   1 Peter 1; Ps. 136 27

  Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.”    Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”    Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” John 18:36-38a In a culture that stresses having the “right” identity, you and I have many.    For example, I am a son of my parents, husband to my wife, father to my children, grandfather to their children, a neighbor, a friend, a pastor.    You get the idea.    All of these relationships mark us – identify us.    While we might like to consider all of these identities equally, there is a hierarchy whereby one identity overshadows or has priority over another.    As we raised our children, my k

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:12-13   Listen, loved ones, and let me tell you about my friend, Randy.   He and I were about as opposite as two friends could be.  I worked in technology and he built buildings out of brick.  I loved to run and he loved to hunt.  While the towers fell in 2001, I sat dumbstruck with the rest of the country wondering what would happen next.  Randy would learn of it two weeks later because he was up in the Canadian tundra, near the Arctic Circle without cell service, hunting musk ox, and avoiding grizzly bears. Yet, when he and I would sing together, I felt I could sing better because it was us singing.  He included me. He encouraged me to play guitar, sing, and lead. For several years, leading our church’s worship team together, we were a team. He would lead the congregation and I would lead the band. It worked well, we both