Greetings to you all. I know I have taken basically a month off. However, with finals week and then a two week break, that tends to happen. I did really well on all of my final projects and tests last quarter. I got all A's for the quarter, which thoroughly surprised me with some of the classes I had. Dr. Lessing really liked my exegetical and not only gave me a really high grade on it, but bragged it up in class. I was shocked because I knew my Hebrew was rusty and I never would have dreamed that simple old me could have impressed the great Dr. Lessing. The Lord was with me on that one I guess. Then I had an absolutely wonderful two week break. I spent the first week in Nebraska hunting, seeing friends, and relaxing. I got a decent four by four buck, the biggest buck I have shot yet, and our group got a couple of pretty nice ones. I got to spend some quality time with my old college buddies which is always fun. Then on that Sunday in the middle of break, Mom, JoAnna, and I took Dad to the chiefs game. He had never been to a professional football game and has been wanting to go for quite awhile. So we got really good seats for not that bad of a prices, being a terrible team isn't always the worst thing, and we had a great day of watching football. The best part of being at a game is always the surroundings and events that do not get shown on T.V. The national anthem and fly over was awesome, the people around us were really cool, and there was even a fight in our section that entertained us during the fourth quarter when the game was basically already over. It was a long day, but dad loved it and we all had a great day. Then I spent a day and a half in Iowa, before we took off for Illinois. JoAnna and I went Tuesday night, the parents came Wednesday, and Tim got in Wednesday too. The whole family was together for four days and it was a great time. We spent most of the time eating, drinking, playing cards, laughing, and just loving the blessed family the Lord has given us. We did take one day to do an "outing". It was this outing that made us realize how redneck we truly are. Our outing consisted of breakfast at a really neat little cafe, spending a couple hours in the gigantic Scheels in Springfield, and then going to a cemetery. In Scheels they have a full size Ferris wheel, three life size NASCAR simulators, a golf simulator, a bow range, and all kinds of other fun activities and options besides just shopping. Justin and Tim did the NASCAR race, I took dad to the golf simulator and helped him pick out a hybrid he liked and bought, and we all had a fun time taking silly pictures in different areas of the store. The cemetery we went to was Lincoln's tomb. It was actually pretty impressive and worth seeing once. Then on Sunday I went to church with the family, and then headed back to spend my birthday in St. Louis. It was another great birthday. Having a birthday that is almost always just a couple days from Thanksgiving is perfect for reminding me how truly amazing life really is thanks to the good Lord's abundant blessings.
The new quarter started Monday and I can already tell this is going to be the hardest quarter of my seminary career. However, good news is if I can survive this quarter, it is all down hill from there. I have five classes and four out of the five require more time than the typical class here. However, I know everything will get done and I will survive, it will just take all the focus and motivation I have in me. Other than that life is going so well right now I cannot imagine being anywhere else or doing anything else other than what I am doing.
My thought for the day is a trivia question. I am going to ask you the question and then leave a space so you have time to think about it before you see the answer. You can look below right away if you just want to know, or you can try to think about it and answer it yourself before you look. Are you ready? Where is the one place in the Bible where we see Jesus standing at the right hand of God after His ascension? There are several places we see Him sitting at the right hand, but there is one place where He is standing.
Need a hint.... it is in the Book of Acts.
Need another hint.... it is at someone's death.
Ready for the answer.... OK. The answer comes in Acts 7:54-60. It is the stoning of Stephen. Right before he is stoned to death, he looks up, sees Heaven open, and Jesus is standing at the right hand of the Father. Dr. Lessing stated it this way, "In other words, Jesus doesn't take this sitting down." Jesus sees Stephen, a man trying to spread the Gospel and knows he is about to be stoned to death by the very ones Stephen is trying to save. Jesus, who doesn't take this sitting down, stands up and allows Stephen to see Him standing there. Stephen in his final words asks God not to hold the sins of these people stoning him against them. This is the same as when Jesus asks the Father not to hold the sins of the ones who crucified Him against them. This is kind of a big deal that Jesus actually gets up out of His seat and allows Stephen to see Him right before he is about to die. Does this mean that this is the ONLY place Jesus has ever stood up? Not at all. However, this does show us that Jesus is not only watching over us, but He cares about us and sympathizes with the pain we go through. He knows what it is like to suffer in this world, and He knows when we are suffering. He may even be standing, watching over us when injustice causes us to suffer such as with Stephen. However, just as He knows we suffer, He knows the joys and glory we will have with Him one day in Heaven and even more in the new creation. He knows our destiny because He is our destiny. So now you know a fun trivia Bible fact, but you also should be reminded that Jesus is not just sitting in Heaven idling waiting for His second coming, He lives and reigns from His right hand seat in Heaven, always watching over us and caring for us. He is an active King who lives and reigns and has sent His Spirit to live and reign in our hearts until that day when we are joined with Him above. All Praise be to Him who lives and reigns as thee active King of Kings upon His throne.
Dear Heavenly Father,
We thank you so much for not only the daily, richly, and abundant blessings You so freely bestow upon us, but also for being our magnificent King who lives and reigns over us. Keep us close to You always, that we may know You, love You, and trust in You until our time comes when You call us home to You. We pray all of this in Your Son's most holy and precious name, Jesus Christ, Amen.
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