It has been a long day.

It started out well enough. Oh, it was fine at home, getting the kids ready to eat breakfast so that Vicki could bring them to church after me. I arrived at church, actually running late, but there were very few cars ahead of me. With the holiday weekend, most of the leadership and families are away. I made copies of the morning bulletin, took them to the sanctuary, and took my place behind the laptop and projector in the back of the room.

For LifeBASICS, our adult Bible study time, we finished our series on the Ten Commandments: "Don't covet." We have so much, and yet crave so much more. Every commercial on TV cries out at what we do not possess - and nothing cries out at how much we waste. I do not need anything outside of the provision of God. That is what God told Israel in the last command. In the beginning, He says that He is the only God, the Lord, who had already set them free. And in the end, we have need of nothing else.

Worship was good. In "filling in" for the vacationing praise team, Pastor Mike and the others did a fine job. I love the DVD video/tracks from iWorship. Pastor preached on "The Brazen Altar", continuing to describe for us the make-up of the OT Tabernacle. Today, the altar of sacrifice might be better viewed as an altar of commitment - even as Christ gave Himself, we are called in Romans 12:1-2 to give ourselves as living sacrifices. Just got to get past our lack of commitment, and stay on the altar - instead of continuing to hop off of it at our every whim.

This afternoon was lazy, and that's a good thing most of the time. Then we went to my folks' house for dinner - slow-cooked ribs. I did my part, I promise.

This evening, the kids are in bed, and my wife and I are finally able to sit and watch a movie: The Emperor's Club. It's good, not as stuffy as I thought it might be, but not as moving and inspiring as I'd hoped. At the same time, the character interactions, especially at the end, are really good.

"You never think that what you learn at fifteen will stick with you..."

"Great ambition and great conquest without contribution is meaningless."
... or something to that nature.

Bedtime. It's Labor Day already, and I'm ready to sleep in.
- posted by Rick @ 00:25