I'm working from home today, listening to John Piper at the kitchen table. It's the DVD of the first OneDay, from Memphis, TN in May 2000. I attended that with Scott, flying out of Columbia and doing it in style instead of the tents and raincoats of all the college students looking for adventure.

I bought the DVD as soon as it came out, because that one day had really spoken to me. There's something about sitting on a hillside with a few thousand of your "closest friends" - worshipping God and listening to Him proclaimed. And as I re-listen to this message, "Boast Only In The Cross", I am once again challenged to pursue Christ and Christ alone. I am almost twice as old now as the students he was really preaching to that day, and I'm struck by how I'm still living more for myself, more for my dreams, more for my stuff than for Jesus and the manifestation of His Kingdom in our midst.

I don't want to live a life that ends with me saying to the Creator: "Well, I prayed and lived for you, and I collected all these DVDs. I kept my blog up-to-date, and I wrote alot of email. I bought a nice house and got out of debt, sort of. All for Your glory, Lord."

Piper preaches, "Don't buy it! Don't buy that dream! The American Dream... collecting [stuff]."

Maybe this speaks into me today because of THE PASSION last week. Maybe it's because Piper is calling us to boast in the cross, and that imagery is still so vivid for me - watching Christ not only die, but also interact with real people in their real moments. We are usually so caught up in our own stuff that we don't have real time to pay attention to the needs of folks around us. And here's Christ, in the fullness of time, accomplishing the most incredible thing in history and eternity - and He still reaches out to the people around Him.

I pray I can be like that. I pray that I can be open to the Spirit's prompting, obedient to His course. And I pray that I not only boast in the cross, but that I live out its selflessness as the Kingdom is ushered in.
- posted by Rick @ 15:42