I’m pretty sure this is for real this time…
You are invited to join with me on the first volume of this, “Imaginative devotional of focus for those who are in the thick of it.” This has been quite an adventure for my family and I as we looked deeply into the character of God. His Love for us displayed through Jesus was the foundation of our wanderings. Some of the septets were written for fun, others serious, still others were written while being lost in the wonder of God’s majesty. Please understand this is a journey. Again, it is not in specific alphabetical order like a dictionary, nor is it exhaustive like an encyclopedia. It is a bit more haphazard than either of those. If you can see it, there is eschatological joy, there is suffering amidst the everyday, there is mystery in the humble glance at the Divine, and there is hope for all mankind for, “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8.
My hope for this book is that it encourages thought about God. May it encourage the reader to look into His love and breathe deeply. May it inspire others to create more avenues of worship that can help to map out this landscape of interactivity with God. He wants us to spend time with Him. Looking to God helps all to be free from sin which ‘easily entangles’ Hebrews 12:1-2. Thoughts born from looking intently on Him, like Psalm 139, have no limits to where they can go or how far.
Enjoy!
Oh yeah, if you’d like to join me as I look at Him, you can find my book on Amazon.com. Just search for my name and the title as mentioned above.
If you go to the Amazon site, you will see 3 versions. The first is the cheapest, but somehow it has a bunch of errors? If you look at a sample you will see what I mean. The second is a small soft cover. That was as close as I could get to the right size for the septets. The hard cover is just bad IMO. Too much blank space, but if you got one, you can use the space to write your own.
I was just notified that everything is big. Well, that, like the errors, was not the plan.
I don’t want to beat the same drum too much, but I’ll just say what the 182 has done for me:
As a Dad – I get to hear my kids think about God everyday. Their thoughts are daily increasing/growing in wisdom and understanding, and their familiarity with the Scriptures is intense! My son used Genesis 1:1 so many times, I challenged him to memorize it in Hebrew. He did and now I’m writing a song about it.
As a Husband – I get to hear my wife talk about God everyday. I love hearing her thoughts. As I listen to her, she helps me to grow in ways often better than I do from my own thoughts. She comes from a different place mentally and at times helps to lift me from darkness.
As a Man – My faults are many, but as I look to Him, I follow and every step leads on top of the waves of what I deserve. My resolve to keep moving is encouraged by Him as He invites me further in.
Even if you get the hard cover and are disappointed by the amount of blank space on each page or all the mistakes that appear, just know you are walking on a trail that doesn’t exist until you take a step. May the 182 be how we move forward from where we are. You never where God will lead you!
As far as eclipses, I didn’t know how they coincided with the beginning of each 182. I guess they are common in April and October. Any prophecy over the last one from me? It surprised me how quickly people went back to the same thing they were doing before it happened.
However, if you don’t like the septets… Sorry? Well, they are mine. If you’ve read any of my stuff before on this site, you’d know it wouldn’t be the first time I sounded stoopid or did stuff wrong, and it causes something else to happen.
If you can allow me to improve, I’m challenging myself everyday. My family recently started the 4th Edition of the 182. I hope I’m getting better.
Well, since I quit that oppressively annoying Big Brother, Facebook, in January, and since my editor won’t return my calls or emails, I want to share a bit of what I left on his answering machine this morning. Don’t worry, it’s clean language. It’s about the Church. I’ve been getting an impression that the 182 could be something more than just a book of poetry.
I’ve been asking God to enlargen my vision. To help me pray Kingdom prayers. Make of this what you will: The impression is that the 182 could be how the Church communicates with each other. Instead of agendas given to us by the secular world that tear us apart, the 182 is centered on our relationship with God. That is something the secular world can’t touch.
Sermons could be generated from it, praise and worship songs could be inspired from it, classes at Christian colleges and seminaries could be taught from it. The age of bowing to the throne of money has ended. It has driven too much of our decisions. Prayer is our weapon, our go-to. Again, this is something beyond the reach of secular agendas. This isn’t limited by secular teachings of evolution, of gender, or of sin in general. The 182 is about focusing on God in the midst of trial and adversity.
May this reach you, wherever you are.
P.S. I can’t keep answering the arrogant/prideful/vain crowd in my head, (it’s exhausting!), but it’s the loudest: I know I’m not the first person to say anything about the Church’s addiction to money/success, etc. But the rot has compromised our witness so much I’m almost wanting to join homesteaders… Matthew 6:22-23.