Somehow this picture never fails to give me a bit more zest in whatever I am doing. :-) Zest that I badly need in my bible reading plan to catch up with the days I have missed so far. Zest that seems to be missing in the morning when I wake up and head to work nowadays (but more on that later).
Since my last post, I read 10 chapters (Genesis 32-42), which is 4 days in in my http://www.bibleinayear.org/ daily reading plan. As always, so much speaks to me in these chapters, but I will focus on what's top most on my mind as I recall the readings. Ol' Nitrox did not grow up in a Christian family, so it is only a few years ago that I started praying that God will make me like Joseph, David and Daniel - men who were blessed with spiritual and material success. As I read these chapters again, the question in my mind is if I can truly be like Joseph?
Joseph went through tremendous ups and downs in his life. Starting as a favourite son, to being sold as a slave, to being the head of Potiphar's household, to being falsely accused and sent to jail, to rising up to be the leader among prisoners, to seeing his chance of getting out of jail dashed (when the chief butler forgot about his promise to bring Joseph's case before Pharaoh), to being rasied to the second man to Pharoah in all of Egypt, to being a blessing to Egypt and all the nations around when there was a famine. Talk about ups and downs! Ol' Nitrox is going thru a small "trough" at work - re-organisation changes are threatening cut my job back to it's scope 4 years ago when I started in the current company. This has been a particularly painful pill to swallow since we have grown the business more than 4 times in the 4 years. But as I look upon the circumstances at work now, the "trough" pales in comparision to any one of the "downs" that Joseph had to go through.
Lord, you have made me to love you with all my heart, with all my soul, and with all my strength (Deuteronomy 6:5). So give me the strength to JUMP back from whatever troughs/downs that life brings my way!
5 comments:
Your prayers have always been a breath of freshness. My reading is on for a few days but I find that very so often I have to close myself off for thirty minutes or so to catch up. I've really been digging the reading, as this is the first time straight through and it seems more like a story! You'll be in my prayers as God brings to light what it is He wants you to learn through all this!
Me again...are you having issues where you'll miss getting a daily email? I've noticed that a few times. Just curious if you've experienced the same thing.
Kewl,
Hmm...that's a great example. The path of God is never striaght. It is almost always windy and curvey :0
For me, i have been rethinking about the meaning to be a disciple of Christ. I am taking a course on discipleship with a friend that is going to be a pastor. We exchange so many ideas and he is a huge influence in how I view Christian living....
I have another blog that focus on my spiritual walk.. =>
http://soulofachristiantriathlete.blogspot.com/
Jesus is one radical God. CRAZY!
I am hoping to follow a reading plan where I can read the bible in one year. I 'll have to take a look at that website.
One of my favorite things about teaching the five year olds in Discoveryland about God/The Bible is that I get to hear all of those great stories again. Last November we learned all about Moses and then last month we learned about the Christmas story. It's just so amazing how God used these people and how they didn't let anything get in the way of listening to what God was telling them to do.
Sometimes when things are not going the way I want them to I just have to remember that God is in Contol and I just need to trust him.
What a great photo! I love it! :)
I hope your situation at work improves. Sometimes it's easy to think we have it hard until we step into someone else's shoes (Joseph, for example.) Perspective can make all the difference.
By the way, thanks for sharing the website with us all. A friend and I are enjoying having the daily reminders!
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