Archive for April, 2009

Exegeting Exodus

8 April, 2009 · Filed under Teaching

This morning has been totally different and out of routine for me.  Caed woke up around 3:30AM, which is always nice.  I left with Kyle at 6:45AM to go to Dallas for the morning, and so right now I’m sitting in Uptown at a Starbucks on McKinney.  My Bible reading was in Exodus 1 today, and there were a few highlights that caught my attention.

Then a new king, who did not know about Joseph, came to power in Egypt. verse 8

This is one of my favorite verses in the Bible.  It reminds me of the ebb and flow of life and the lesson that our faith usually puts us in opposition to the power structure, and rarely in line with it.

“Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become much too numerous for us. Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.” verses 9-10

The new king uses fear of the possibility to convince a nation to act.  I don’t feel that you have to read into that very much without being convicted as an American.  Our leaders are excellent at reminding us to be afraid of the “What If…”

But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread verse 12

The Egyptians begin the long lesson that the people of God will always conquer the ways of man.

The midwives answered Pharaoh, “Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive.” So God was kind to the midwives… verses 19-20

The midwives deceive Pharaoh and Go is pleased with them.  I really don’t know what to make of that.

God listened to their groanings. God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw what was going on with Israel.  God understood. chapter 2, verses 24-25 from the message

Many years pass between the injustice of the infanticide and God’s movement.  You could easily ask why God took so long (the Psalmist often seems stuck on this question).  But the better lesson might be to know that God listens, God remembers, God sees, and God understands.  He is not bound by our time, and he acts in a manner that is outside of our comprehension, but God listens, God remembers, God sees, and God understands.

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It’s Not All That Impressive

7 April, 2009 · Filed under life

picture-11

That’s the data from my run last night (compliments of Nike+).  I have really been trying to up the ante on my exercise lately, and yesterday was a test to see how the process was going.  I have yet to lose any weight, and I don’t think I look different.  But my overarching goal has been to increase my fitness level and stop wheezing when I carry Caedmon up the stairs to bed.  So I went running before dinner last night….

And I was thoroughly happy.  The data may not show it, but I was able to keep a much better pace than usual, and I ran for longer than I normally do as well.  The four major dips in the workout are the times I was climbing the hill on the Cain Center track.  I wasn’t nearly as tired when I got home.  It was a big boost of encouragement to keep swimming, hitting the elliptical, and lifting weights.

It’s not all that impressive, but it’s a start.

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