To Rejoice Is Your Choice

More than a year ago I felt the need to understand more about what true worship of God really means. Since I work in our church library a few hours each week, I was in the perfect place to look for others' ideas on the same subject.

 As I was inputting data on the computer relating to the books in our Christian Living section, I found a book by Jack Taylor entitled, THE HALLELUJAH FACTOR. I have to say he’s almost as difficult to read as J.I. Packer which must speak to my low level of intelligence, but Dean and I are determined to get through the book together—me reading and he listening (and sometimes dozing).

Today’s chapter entitled “Pathways to Praise" was based on I Thessalonians 5:16-18. In the verse we are called to do three things:  be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances.  Here is what I gleaned from the first admonition:

God wants us, His people, to be joyful. Check out the scriptures—you’ll see that God, Himself, is joyful. Dr. Taylor lists all the verses just in the book of Psalms which speak of joy and the act of rejoicing (a page full). He even mentions Jeremiah, a prophet I would never connect with the word, joy.  Yet, despite his words of judgment from the Lord, there are at least four places in his book that he speaks of joy or rejoicing.

If I were to describe the apostle Paul in an unthinking way, I would say he was probably a bustling, officious, authoritarian type who did not bear fools gladly and I would never associate joy as a descriptive word for him. This is obviously a poor description because his character is revealed in his teaching letters to the various churches. In them are numerous mentions of joy and rejoicing (as well as concern for the welfare of his brothers and sisters in Christ).

Our Lord Jesus would seem to have little to be joyful about as he dealt with rejection over and over, knowing He was facing a horrible death on the cross. Yet his very birth was ushered in by angels singing of great joy and His mother, Mary composed a special song of joy about his coming. Luke 2:52 describes a youngster who must have been a joy to know. His Father certainly looked on Him with favor. And Hebrews 12:2 speaks of Jesus…”who for the joy set before Him endured the cross…”

So many Biblical examples of joy and rejoicing lead me to pay special attention to this admonition Paul gives us in I Thessalonians. It’s not surprising then to read Dr. Taylor’s statement that joy is necessary to praise. He’s not talking about fluffy emotions of happiness but genuine joy in Christ—knowing Him and knowing His love.

Bottom line:  As I prepare to praise God, I will make the choice to rejoice, always.

The Hooray Chapter

I’m including this gorgeous picture of Brian's--a Tucson sunset because I forgot to do so last week—it has nothing whatsoever to do with the subject of my blog, but isn’t it beautiful?.                                               

 And yes, the colors really were that vivid.

Hooray or hurrah or yippee—Dean and I have finally reached the last chapter in J.I. Packer’s book BELIEVING GOD. Not done yet but will be by next week. What a tussle, but so very rewarding because it has really made us stretch our gray matter.  I can already see I need to check it out of our church library next year and read it again—Yikes!

Packer calls his last chapter, "The Adequacy of God" and focuses on that wonderful 8^th chapter of Romans. He prefaces it with Luther’s statement about the book of Romans, being “the clearest gospel of all.” Then Packer alludes to Romans 8 as a sort of microcosm of the Gospel

Case in point: the chapter starts out with “there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus” and ends with “[nothing]… can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.”  In between we find such precious nuggets as “All things work together for good to those who love God…”(verse 28) and “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (verse 31b). And because of Jesus’ death on the cross and His resurrection, we finite, puny human beings can call the Creator of the Universe, "Abba, Father" (verse 15)--remember, Abba in Hebrew is like saying Daddy in American. I think that’s a pretty awesome privilege!

I’ve recently enjoyed participating in the Beth Moore DVD/Bible study titled “The Inheritance.” God is so gracious and kind to us, His adopted children. The 8^th chapter of Romans is a great picture of our inheritance through Jesus. If you feel like you need some spiritual rejuvenation, sort of like a “battery jump” for your spirit, go to Romans 8. You will either realize again what you have been given in Christ, or you will realize what you need—which is a personal relationship with the Great I AM.

I would love to dialogue with any readers interested in discussing this topic. In the meantime have a great weekend (if you read this when I post it).

Tucson Rendezvous

This blog post should have been written last weekend but my brain was apparently in relax mode until the middle of this past week (and I'm still late). At any rate, the annual Diehl Reunion in Tucson was a fantastic get-together, as usual. The one grandchild in the group helped make the time just that much more enjoyable. 

Ryder is such a cuddly sweetie and has learned to pose perfectly because his daddy takes so many pix of him (for which we are grateful, Todd).

The family’s propensity to “pig out” was no different this year and we enjoyed eating all the yummy offerings whether they were from Diehl or Tucson relatives. Here’s a sample of one of Brenda’s spreads.

The house’s caretaker took Dean’s hint and found a pool table which he refurbished. Did a fine job and the table was enjoyed by several. (picture) However, I didn’t see any games of“Farmer Pool” this year. What happened, Wendi and Jeff?

The swimming pool also got daily usage although  I can tell you personally that 72 degree water does not comfortable make! It's a toss-up on the best way to acclimate oneself to a less than tepid temperature in a swimming pool—sudden immersion of the entire body or immersion by degrees. The shrieks of shock are approximately the same amount of decibels.At any rate, the male “children” had a good time as evidenced by the human cannonball aka Todd. 

The group enjoyed shopping trips of various sorts and Dean and Brian made a trip to Mt.Lemmon where Brian got some gorgeous shots of scenery. It was wonderful to see Aunt Dorothy, Uncle J, Brenda, Rick, Andrew and Emily as well as visiting again with Dorothy’s friend, Debra Ann.

All things in this life do come to an end, whether good or bad and happily, every one arrived back home safely. Dean and I had special reason to give thanks for a safe trip as a large sandstorm came through on I- 10 about 20 minutes ahead of us causing a 19 vehicle pileup extending to both sides of the freeway, killing 3 people and severely injuring several others.   

Here’s an aerial picture taken by Brian about an hour later as he flew from Tucson to Phoenix and as the storm churned on. Thank You, Lord for our guardian angels.