Dead Ends and Dark Dungeons

Hello Friends!!  This blog comes on the heel of Homecoming Sunday at FBC of Mocksville (which was EXCELLENT) and a fairly eventful week at Campbell.  In the past week I have spent my time fielding frustration and swinging at all pitches.  While some may have been a homerun (like my Hebrew test) others have not proven themselves worthy to even get a base.  I remember my days of softball and the cheers of "good eye" or "way to watch".  Well, I must say that looking at this week no one can cheer those for me.  

I'm not sure what was different about this week but I do know one thing, I'm going to have to do a better job of predicting the calls and being ready to wait for the right pitch. This week in preparation for my children's sermon I was reading through the sermon text in Colossians 1:9-18.  Each week I strive to make the children's sermon relevant to the sermon topic; some weeks are easier than others.  

Anyways, in The Message (TM) version of this passage, the language used struck me...it struck me for 1) as a reminder of the people I have in my life and 2) it reminded me of the Call I have answered.  It is presumed that Paul and Timothy are writing to the Church in Colosse when we find this particular passage.  Verses 9-12 are a prayer for the Church.  Reading those first in the mindset of it being ourselves though brings about a new light.  Reading from TM the prayer is for:

• Wise minds and spirits attuned to God's will
• Rightful living for the Master so as to make him proud of our work
• Learning 
• Strength to make it through the long haul - not the grim strength but the glory strength
• and Lastly for thankfulness

How I wish this was my prayer more often!  Think about it...we ask for the things we think we need not that we are able to discern what we encounter or that we may feel the presence of God's Holy Spirit.  We pray for the deeds we must accomplish but not that they may be to Honor God the Father.  We pray for things like patience but do not want to endure the learning.  We pray for Christ to be with us in all that we do, but he already is; rather we should pray that we have his strength to carry us through.  I would also dare to say that I neglect to actually give thanks to God for all that he is done already for being blindsided by what I anticipate.

Verses 13-14 read as follows:

"God rescued us from dead-end alleys and dark dungeons. He's set us up in the kingdom of the Son he loves so much, the Son who got us out of the pit we were in, got rid of the sins we were doomed to keep repeating."

What an image that is! God rescued us! Yes, we all know it, we all preach it, and hopefully we all live it.  But do we celebrate it?

Let's see what the next inning will hold, maybe this will help me with that bad eye!