Up way too early this morning. It has been one long stretch the past couple of weeks at work, with a couple of projects just taking too much mental effort and stress and strain. I basically worked on one thing last week, a similar thing the previous week, and both of them were ust really intense mentally. The only real stress I had on me was just figuring outthe problem - relatively easy as far as outside pressure goes. But one of the "perks" of being a programmer is that you sometimes get a puzzle that's difficult to solve, especially when what you do effects so many other pieces downstream in the flowchart that you've also got to mindful of not breaking anything in order to get your fix in. Whew.

So, I slept okay, but when I had to get up at 5:30am (read: had to go potty, the only reason anyone would get up on a Saturday morning), I decided to come down and surf a little, blog a little, make a pot of coffee, and dig into the Word. I'm still on a kick on OBEDIENCE, where I'm being challenged within to be obedient out of love and choice want-to, not compulsion and have-to. If God longs for a cheerful giver, then I want my longing to serve Him to override my laziness and don't-want-to attitudes. I think this Thursday evening at PowerHOUSE I'm going to preach a backwards sermon - backwards in that I'll end with my "title": OBEDIENCE IS NOT SACRIFICE. I think that's where I've had alot of problems in the past, and seen it in others: we view our obedience to Christ as a sacrifice, as taking up our cross, as laying down our lives. But that's not entirely true. I've got two Thursday's to speak, and the second one (right now, subject to change) will be along the lines of OBEDIENCE IS A PROMISE, coming out of Jesus' promise in John 14:5, that if we love Him we will keep His commands. Hmmmm...
- posted by Rick @ 06:34