Compassion Found

"And when they cried out to you again, you heard from heaven, and in your compassion you delivered them time after time."

This is found in Nehemiah 9 -- After God had helped the people to reconstruct the wall of Jerusalem, they celebrated and also recounted the many times that they and their ancestors rebelled against God but He he continued to have compassion . . .

It could just of easily been a recounting of my story . . .

I was just struck with God's mercy the last couple of days as I've been reading through Nehemiah -- the pattern was that over and over again the people sinned and rebelled and God still had mercy! This is one of the many times that in the Old Testament we see in the lives of His people as a community the pattern of how God's love and mercy continues to work in our lives today . . .

"But you are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love." (9:17)

"Because of your great compassion you did not abandon them in the desert. . . . You gave Your good Spirit to instruct them." (9:19, 20)

"But when they were oppressed they cried out to you. From heaven you heard them, and in your great compassion you gave them deliverers . . ." (9:27)

"But in your great mercy you did not put an end to them or abandon them, for you are a gracious and merciful God." (9:31)

I'm in a land that knows little or nothing about grace and mercy. It's hard to watch -- none of us can make it to Nirvana.

I am so thankful that I don't have to. I am so thankful that I don't have to live in shame and regret. I am so thankful that I don't have to live with the burden of trying to 'do good' so I can work off my sin.

And neither do you. I'm praying that today you will be thankful. And that you will live and move and breath in the forgiveness of Christ!

Your Kingdom come . . .

Wow!

Praise God that the serving . . . and the food flowed yesterday! Way to go Creekers!

Check out that pile of food for the hungry and needy in Corpus! (And for some perspective those 4 barrels in the back are huge and they are flowing over and we could have filled 4 or 5 more!)

We can wash and feed - and we should give ourselves away at every point the Holy Spirit leads us - but only Jesus can truly fill. He said: "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him."

My prayer is that our acts of Radical Mercy will be pictures of heaven coming to earth --- and lead to eternally transformed lives!

Les Miserables

Last night we watched Les Miserables again - it has been several years. Man, this is one of my top 5 all time favorite movies!

What an incredible picture of the destructiveness of sin, the power of mercy, and the freedom of forgiveness compared to the slavery of the law . . .

If you've never seen it, get it and watch it . . . and I would encourage you to do so with your whole family (there's a couple of violent or rough spots so if you have small children you may want to preview it) . . . It will create incredible opportunities to talk about what God has done for us.