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I now have six children.  Yes, some are step-children, but there is still a tie that comes with that! 

Yesterday I was aware of two of the daughters.  One is getting married this weekend and I will attend the wedding.  My wife, Cynthia, is currently in Calgary assisting her daughter (my step-daughter) as she prepares for the wedding.  I am alone, an unusual feeling after a month of time being together and married (happy one month anniversary!).   Yesterday, though apart we were together, as the conversations continued with Cynthia via phone and I heard about the preparations being completed.

On the other hand, Allison, my daughter, phoned to talk about her kids.  She had some pictures and video to show of their excursion on Sunday.  A day at the pool with the giant bubble that is making quite a showing as an entertainment for children and adults!  We chatted a bit and I was reminded of how good it is to have children and grandchildren.

I am glad to be one of those whose family is now coming close to the size of the family I grew up in.   That family holds great memories for me, and I look forward to the memories that will come in the future with my enlarged family!

From Dietrich Bonhoeffer:

“Seek God, not happiness,” this is the fundamental rule of all meditation.  If you seek God alone, you will gain happiness:  that is its promise.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together, p. 84

I am just working on completing my sermon for this week.  I’ve chosen to do a few sermons on the Psalms over the summer.

Choosing passages to preach on is always fun.  This time around I chose to find Psalms that weren’t the usual ones we read – like Psalm 23 (Good Shepherd), Psalm 51 (Create in me a clean heart), etc.  Last week was Psalm 16, this week is Psalm 102. 

As I have been preparing, I am struck with the context of the Psalms.  I’ve always read each Psalm as a separate thing – sort of just dropped in.  There was no rhyme or reason to their placement!

WRONG!

As I read Psalm 102 I am reminded that the Psalms (150 0f them) are made up of five books.  You don’t form books unless there is a theme for the book.  Psalm 102 is part of the fourth book.  The first Psalm in each book tends to lay out a bit of the theme for the book.  I preached on Psalm 90 a few years ago (the first Psalm in this “Book”) – one of those fascinating Psalms!  From it I found the following thoughts:

• Surprise me with your love
• Give me as many good days as bad days
• Show me what you are doing
• Captivate me with your majesty
• Make my work meaningful

Now as I come to Psalm 102, I took a look at 101 and 103.  101 talks of personal piety and purity.  103 talks of healing of diseases and forgiveness of sin. 

So, take a look at Psalm 102 and guess what is found there.  The title for the Psalm will give you some idea!

Dallas Willard wrote and impacted many lives, mine own included.  He died May 8, 2013.

In the latest issue of Christianity Today, July/August 2013, John Ortberg gives his own sense of Willard’s impact. 

Perhaps it is the way that Dallas would just turn a phrase or use a short sentence to pull meaning out of the “air”, so to speak.  Or the way he simply made Christianity make sense, more than any of the alternatives that you might run across.

His first book that seemed to strike the church community, The Divine Conspiracy (he also wrote many other books!), was on the Sermon on the Mount.  Simple and profound words, but both Jesus and Willard!!

And so, I loved reading some of the definitions that Ortberg attributes to Dallas Willard.  Here are a few of those:

• Beauty:  Goodness made manifest to the senses.
• Disciple:  Anyone whose ultimate goal is to live as Jesus would live if he were in their place.
• Reality:  What  you can count on
• Pain:  What you experience when you bump into reality.