Big Meaning in The Little Mermaid 09/02/2010
It seems I can’t read to my kids without seeing the love of God poured out on the page. Some portion of the blame lies in the purposeful selecting of works by Christian authors. More remains the purpose of God alone. Today, for instance, we never saw it coming. Excitedly, our imaginations darted towards eternity as we read of the sadness that helped to drive Hans Christian Andersen to the words he’d pen in tales the world would both cherish and warp to better fit their desires. Heartache seeped from life to fiction as he wrote from the depths of his pain. As we read a short listing of Andersen works and discussed the themes of outward adornment not being equal to the beauty within us, we couldn’t help but muse at the possibility that Hans was in fact, Christian as his name. Without digging further into the notion, we started our ocean floor adventure with The Little Mermaid. A story frozen in my fourth grade mind, lost as the innocence of that time, still cherished without any real understanding of what it all meant. I couldn’t wait to return to remembering as we sat down to read the story as it was written after seeing the more popular distortion of the real thing. The imagery and juxtaposition of it all just invites one to dream a while, and so we did, stopping once and again to acknowledge the absurdity of one teacher’s would-be dream crushing ridicule. Surely God had allowed hardship in order to yield fruit so sweet as these words were to my very soul as I read them aloud: “So I shall die,” said the little mermaid, “and as the foam of the sea I shall be driven about never again to hear the music of the waves, or to see the pretty flowers nor the red sun. Is there anything I can do to win an immortal soul?” “No,” said the old woman, “unless a man were to love you so much that you were more to him than his father or mother; and if all his thoughts and all his love were fixed upon you, and the priest placed his right hand in yours, and he promised to be true to you here and hereafter, then his soul would glide into your body and you would obtain a share in the future happiness of mankind…” Surely God has only allowed hardship into the life of a little child, of any one of His children, to yield fruit so sweet as Salvation, that we might win an immortal soul by the gifting of His Right Hand. Introducing Weekly Reader 09/01/2010
I've made myself about sick with all the promoting I'm doing lately. Don't get me wrong, I'd never plug something I don't believe in...yeah, I'm including that pendant you all helped me get. Seriously, I never take it off. I think my family is staging an intervention bout it. Anyway, I need to balance out my {perfectly pointful} self-promos with some unsolicited promoing for others. Don't pay too much attention to that title, by the way. The people I promote won't necessarily be readers of my stuff, nor will I be sharing blogs you'll find in my reader. I don't even have a reader. Basically, I'm sharing at random, and I really dug getting the Weekly Reader back in elementary school. Okay, before I further solidify my brand of making up words and being a tad dorky, here's a blog {not post, the entire site} I read this week that really made me think. It makes me think. Every word just inspires and prompts me. Stop by, stay a while, encourage a Brother, and leave with your eyes a little more on Jesus! Wake Up My Faith, Kevin Adams ps...the intervention regarding my improper {over}use of {these} went about as well as the one about my ... addiction... Something magical happens while studying Scripture with my children. Something positively magical. The text comes to life. They really get it. I really get it. We grow. Every bit of that is magical. Seeing their little faces light up with the understanding that Jesus Christ is Lord...there's just nothing like it on the planet. Getting to witness that first hand is so amazingly life affirming. Learning something new right along with these life-sized pieces of my heart is an honor and an opportunity unlike any other. Growing together in eternal ways as we grow apart in the temporal, there's hope in that. Real and lasting Hope. Just last week, we were reading in Isaiah and the passage just jumped all over me. We often detour in our Bible time, but the busy mom in me is quieted by the unexpected adventures we'll share. I'm finding that God seldom leaves the message on the page as He places the lessons on our hearts. We are meant to share. We're supposed to explore His Word. That search will never be in vain and His Word will not return empty as we shout and live it out! In Isaiah 11:2, the prophet is sharing some of the coming Messiah's character, as revealed to him by God. The spirit of the LORD shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. (NRSV) Wisdom, understanding, and knowledge all in one sentence...was God just itching to use His new thesaurus that day or something? Our God is many, many things--pointlessly redundant isn't one of them. Using my trusty e-sword I found these words each point to specific qualities of Christ; subtle as Jesus, and profound like Him, too. The Hebrew wording God chose represented His Son as One who would conduct Himself wisely, understand perfectly the world around, and know--truly know--the Lord. As "Christians" we're meant to be followers of Christ. Can we follow Him, even here? Absolutely! See that part in the middle there? Those two words, "counsel and might", they say we can. The Hebrew shows us that Our Savior will not only counsel, He gives purpose, too. How wise of Him to know we'd not long follow advice without a greater reason behind it--a purpose! I'll leave you with the real and lasting promise made in that word "might". It won't soon be leaving me. Our Father breathed a word that basically says that Jesus will force the victory--a victory that will last into eternity! We aren't left to our own devices, our own works, our own worth any longer. Jesus is advising us and providing us the victory over circumstance, over sin, and ultimately over death! What does this mean to you today? Hope for Women is Having a Twitter Party! 08/26/2010
 We’re throwing the best twitter party from 9-10pm EST on Thursday, September 9th—the best part is, you’re invited! Feel free to bring a friend or ten…there will be plenty of chances to win some really awesome prizes. I’ll be telling you all about those great giveaways next week, so stay tuned! Maybe you’re wondering what a twitter party is, or even what twitter is for that matter, let me share a bit about how we’ll be hosting this conversation in 140 character increments. I promise, if I can figure it out {with the help of a sweet and ever so patient friend} you can absolutely join in—new to twitter or not. Head over to Hope for Women Magazine for more information on our first twitter party! Today is a walk-through; next week, we're talking about some of the fabulous prizes! ps...I so want to tell you to be there or be square. It's ever so difficult, but I'll refrain. Philemon Study Links 08/23/2010
I don't want to say another word without hearing from you all! So, comment with a link to your blog or share your heart out in the comments! I can't wait to chat with you--at your place, or mine! Thank you all so much for joining me on the pages of Philemon! How do you say "we're all watching to see that you handle this in a Godly way so that the Truth behind our faith doesn't get lost to any of the people looking to you as an example of Christ-like living" in a way that speaks love? Something like this: Philemon 1:23-25 NRSV (23) Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends greetings to you, (24) and so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers. (25) The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. How many times have we needed someone to hold us accountable to our faith and to those looking to us for direction? How many times has that accountability not been offered or worse yet, been offered harshly? Judgment is not ours--praise the Lord! I love this closing and the instruction in loving friendship it offers! I can't wait to reflect on this portion of Scripture over the weekend! I'm really looking forward to joining you on your blogs as you share your thoughts on what we've been learning this week. Please stop by to leave your links in the comments to Monday's post. 7 days in Philemon :: Discussing Verses 8-22 08/19/2010
As I read this book aloud to my children, I couldn't help but notice how much of Paul's words need to be my own to the Lord and in this letter lie His reply as well. I've rewritten a portion of this passage to reflect the movement in my heart upon reading the words. Having to return my kids to His hands is heartbreak and hallelujah all at once. Verses 10-13 spoke for me, the words that will always encourage me in those moments when I must let go and let my children grow with God. Dear God, I am appealing to you for my children, Dade, Maxx, and Ella, whose mother I have become during my imprisonment to your Son, Christ Jesus. Formerly they were useless to you, but now they are indeed useful both to you and to me. I am sending them, that is, my own heart, back to you. I wanted to keep them with me, so that they might be of service to me in your place during my imprisonment for the gospel. Verses 15-16 held His reply: Dear Daughter, Perhaps this is the reason they were separated from you for a while, so that you might have them back forever, no longer as children but more than children, as beloved siblings--especially to me but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord. I know this isn't factual study of the Scripture, but when Jesus meets you on the page to hand-deliver an application to your heart, it means something more. Something I had to share with you all today. So, tell me, what did you find in your study time? *** Our Study Schedule I’ve broken it down by verses this way to reflect what we’ll be talking about from day to day, but you can study at any pace you like. I hope this allows us to really dig in and dig on what God is saying through Paul's words.
From there, I’d like to invite you to share your time in Philemon on your blog, facebook, twitter, or wherever you feel God prompting. I’ll be sharing here next Monday and you’re more than welcome to leave your links in the comments to that post. Some tools I use in studying are: Glo e-Sword Harper Study Bible Strong’s Exhaustive Bible Concordance 7 days in Philemon :: Discussing Verses 4-7 08/18/2010
Okay, so I expected some deeper learning, but I never saw verse 6 coming. I’ll get to that in a bit. First, I want to talk about you. Well, you as it appears and changes among this book of Scripture anyway. I read in those tiny little notes at the bottom of the page that Paul is talking singularly to Philemon in verses 4-21, though some ancient versions of the text in verse 6 include the plural form. All the different versions of you, collective and singular, get lost in translation. I won’t get into the Greek as I could talk your ear off, but I urge you to take a look…it’s fascinating to see the varying of words we just don’t have in our language and nothing gives such a rich understanding as reading God’s Word as it was written! Even in a formal letter, keeping quite personal is a sign of such great love. I want to encourage you to invite a friend to join you for some good old-fashioned pen-pal action. You can pick your dearest inconveniently located friend, as I have, or you can write to someone living under the same roof. The outcome will be rich blessings all the same—I’m sure of it! So, back to what’s really blowing my mind, did anyone else happen upon the huge difference in verse 6 among the translations? I’ll share a couple; my favorite translation and one more commonly used, but don’t stop studying there, it’s just the beginning! I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective when you perceive all the good that we may do for Christ. (Philemon 1:6 NRSV) I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ. (Philemon 1:6 NIV) What a difference a translation makes. See why getting to the Greek and the Hebrew and the author’s life and writing style, as well as his audience, and the lingo of his time is so important in discovering the true meaning of Scripture? I’m spending some time in study and prayer over this and I’d love for you to join me. That’s the beauty of spending a full week on one page—we have time to explore! I'm psyched to hear about your time in Philemon thus far! *** Our Study Schedule I’ve broken it down by verses this way to reflect what we’ll be talking about from day to day, but you can study at any pace you like. I hope this allows us to really dig in and dig on what God is saying through Paul's words.
From there, I’d like to invite you to share your time in Philemon on your blog, facebook, twitter, or wherever you feel God prompting. I’ll be sharing here next Monday and you’re more than welcome to leave your links in the comments to that post. Some tools I use in studying are: Glo e-Sword Harper Study Bible Strong’s Exhaustive Bible Concordance 7 days in Philemon :: Discussing Verses 1-3 08/17/2010
 Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our dear friend and co-worker, (Philemon 1:1 NRSV) to Apphia our sister, to Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church in your house: (Philemon 1:2 NRSV) Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (Philemon 1:3 NRSV) Having never read this portion of Scripture, I'm learning so much already and we're just three verses in. Never mind the fact I'm just learning to pronounce the poor guy's name, or that I've just now discovered what an epistle actually is--this greeting just blows me away. There's always more than meets the page with Scripture. Even just a simple greeting takes on deeper meaning when you look a little closer, and often when we listen closer, too. For me, this passage is one of many ways the Lord has been faithful in affirming the call He's placed on my heart to write about friendship from a Biblical perspective. I don't think the book God's got me writing would be complete without a mention of the accountability Paul offers his friend, Philemon. Quickly clearing up any question as to whether this letter were personal and thereby not holding as much weight as a formal letter might, Paul brings Timothy into the conversation, addresses Apphia (likely Philemon's wife), Archippus, and the church (who met in Philemon's home). There is a level of understanding human nature and helping a friend to work around a potential temptation to hide from a hard situation in Paul's greeting. Well, to me, at least. I'm certainly no scholar--I can't say that loudly enough in text, but I'm screaming it over here. That's the beauty of God's Word being alive...It means something to our hearts on so many individual levels though the Truth never changes. I'd love to hear what the Lord is whispering to you through the opening of this letter, I bet it meets you right where you're at, too! *** Our Study Schedule I’ve broken it down by verses this way to reflect what we’ll be talking about from day to day, but you can study at any pace you like. I hope this allows us to really dig in and dig on what God is saying through Paul's words.
From there, I’d like to invite you to share your time in Philemon on your blog, facebook, twitter, or wherever you feel God prompting. I’ll be sharing here next Monday and you’re more than welcome to leave your links in the comments to that post. Some tools I use in studying are: Glo e-Sword Harper Study Bible Strong’s Exhaustive Bible Concordance In case you missed Friday's post, let me tell you a bit about 7 day studies, here at Let the Son Shine. Spending 7 days at a time on one area, we'll journey together through Scripture and how to apply Its precepts and concepts. Sometimes we'll do a direct study, other times we'll focus on a particular topic and see how God's Word teaches and trains us to approach it. Every time we will be walking away with a deeper understanding of how the Lord has set us apart from this world and made us His very own. This time, our focus is the book of Philemon, I hope you'll come along for what promises to be a fruitful adventure in Spiritual growth!  As we study this portion of Scripture, we can’t let words like “friend” and “co-worker” detract from the formal nature of Paul’s letter to Philemon. Instead, this familiarity should set the loving tone in which the Epistle was written. Imprisoned in Rome, the Apostle Paul writes not only to Philemon and the church in Colossae, which met in his home, but also to the entire Church Age. With love and kindness and Truth above all else, Paul appeals on behalf of Onesimus and slaves to Christ everywhere. We’re in for an awesome time in study and fellowship with our Jesus, and with one another! We’ll be studying on our own and discussing together for a more well rounded understanding of the text, but please don’t let the journey stay there! Talk to the Lord at every turn and ask Him for the wisdom and application this Scripture holds for you. Ours is a personal and purposeful God! Amen? There are several ways we can connect over the next week—in the comments, on twitter, or on facebook. Feel free to use any form you prefer and I’ll be sure to bring those insights from elsewhere into the comments to keep out thoughts in one place. I’ve created a list and hashtag (#7daystudy) on twitter for those who’d like to follow along there. Our Study Schedule I’ve broken it down by verses this way to reflect what we’ll be talking about from day to day, but you can study at any pace you like. I hope this allows us to really dig in and dig on what God is saying through Paul's words.
From there, I’d like to invite you to share your time in Philemon on your blog, facebook, twitter, or wherever you feel God prompting. I’ll be sharing here next Monday and you’re more than welcome to leave your links in the comments to that post. Some tools I use in studying are: Glo e-Sword Harper Study Bible Strong’s Exhaustive Bible Concordance |  
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