In the arid setting [that the Israelites wandered through for forty years], there are no safety nets for food, no alternative sources of supply. Without God’s daily provision of manna, this people group would have quickly perished from the face of the earth. That is the corporate historical context that Jesus intends us to evoke in our hearts and minds when we ask for our daily bread.

In this Wilderness of Zin setting, daily manna symbolizes a conscious, continual posture of always acknowledging being totally dependent on the Lord for everything. In giving us that daily bread remez, it’s as if Jesus intends us to be praying,

“Lord, please provide our community of faith with the necessities we require this day, and may we live today acknowledging our need to be totally sustained by You because we are indeed truly dependent upon You for everything.”

Importance of Bread In our twenty-first-century Western culture, we have lost the first-century significance of bread. In Bible times, bread was absolutely essential for every Middle Eastern meal. People did not have forks and spoons to eat with when they reclined to eat. Rather people used a piece of bread torn from a loaf for dipping into the various common food bowls…. Bread was the vehicle that brought food from the table to your mouth to sustain your life. 

Insignificance of Bread Today In Western culture today, bread has become insignificant. …When we stop for fast food, our mind and our stomach is usually much more focused on what’s between the two pieces of bun than on the bun itself. When we only have a salad for lunch as part of being weight and health conscious, often times we intentionally avoid bread. How does all this affect our understanding of what it means to ask our Father for our daily bread?

Some Implications to Consider:

• This “Lord’s Prayer”—better called the “Disciples’ Prayer”—is a prayer that the community prays for the community. In the Middle East, the community is always more important than the individual. Consequently, a person would always sacrifice personal rights for the benefit of the community. Not so in the West! Here the individual always considers himself or herself to be more important than the rest of the community. …This begs the question: What kind of lenses, filters and presuppositions are we implicitly bringing to the praying of this Disciples’ Prayer?

• The request to give us this day our daily bread is the only part of The Disciple’s Prayer that deals with material things. ... Thus when it comes to material things, Jesus is encouraging His disciples to pray for today’s community necessities, not today’s niceties or creature comforts. When you reflect on your last 100 prayers for material things, how many of them were only for daily necessities? How many were for what the community of faith needs, not what your particular individual needs are?

• Maybe we are not even praying for our daily bread any more. Could it be that we collectively feel that we are quite able to furnish our own bread? Thus, it may not even be in our consciousness that God is somehow still needed to provide us with our daily bread. 

The nature of our prayers always reveal something about our (often flawed) view of God. If that is true, what might our “we-don’t-need-to-be-asking-for-daily-bread” prayers say about our understanding of the scope of God’s Providence? What might our prayers (or the lack thereof) also be revealing about us?

• There is great wisdom as well as practical guidance to be found in God’s Word in the sequence of the words and thoughts that unfold in a passage.  This petition to give us this day our daily bread is not the first sentence of the Disciples’ Prayer.  Note the immediate thought development context that precedes this request as recorded in Luke 11:2-4:

- First, Jesus has us start by collectively coming to our Father. That usage – a form of “Daddy” – conveys an approachable, personal Father in an intimate family setting. 
- Next, we immediately acknowledge hallowed be Your name, a phrase that reminds us of God’s holy nature as well as our calling to revere and defend His Name.
- Then Jesus has us acknowledge Your Kingdom come. This reminds us that as His disciples, it is all about His Kingdom, not our kingdoms (organizations, businesses, churches, etc.). It’s all about doing “the Lord’s work the Lord’s way” – not doing our work our way. 

Only with those attitudinal postures in place, and with our souls continually affirming these three spiritual realities are we then in the right posture to now corporately ask for our daily bread.

Thank You, Lord, that you do provide my daily bread, even when I forget to ask and, worse yet, forget to appreciate it.

Words of wisdom for brides, bridesmaids—and, I might add, graduates and prom-goers.

A great quote from martyred missionary Jim Elliot: “Wherever you are, be all there. Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God.”

“Whenever I am tempted to wallow in regret over a mistake, an unwise decision, a sinful comment, I have often found encouragement in these thoughts...”

Another great quote, this time (I think) from the blogger’s dad, pastor/author C.J. Mahaney: “Only God gets His to-do list done every day.” (I love that!)

FUNNY!! - It’s a video, so you’ll need a fast connection, and a wait for the download - but worth the wait!

Have a great year, full of blessings and grace!

Actually, since I’m beyond (or below?) sporadic in sending out Christmas greetings, many of you are due an update beyond one year, but I’ll try to be brief....

The proud parent bit:
Ian is now in his sophomore year in the pre-IB (International Baccalaureate) program at East High. On the side, he plays guitar in the youth worship team at church, and occasionally writes music (last year he recorded a self-produced CD), but his big passion the last year or so has been learning to create computer animation. He’s written a number of video games, prompting mom and dad to frequently say, “Get off the computer and do something productive!” But we were forced to eat some crow a couple weeks ago when, after entering one of his games in a British game-writers’ contest, he won third place—and 500 British Pounds!*

Annica is currently in eighth grade and her last semester at Central Christian Academy. She’s been there since preschool, so next year will bring some very big changes, no matter where she goes to high school! She’s considering IB, too, as well as a couple other schools. She continues to be an avid artist and cook—and good at both! She’s also a natural-born spelling champ: last year she placed third in the ACSI district bee and went to regionals; this year she was first in district and will return to regionals in February. (For those of you who’ve seen Spellbound, rest assured: she gets no pressure on this from us! It’s just her thing.)

Work notes:
I continue to be self-employed as a designer, but over the past few years have added web development* to my print work. I do the design (and research and planning, where necessary), but Eric does the code. That’s his evening job: he continues as director of R & D at Sharpline. He’s been there 23 years plus: almost as long as we’ve been married!

Our folks:
Eric’s mom is “foster mom” to dogs from the “PALS” animal-rescue organization. In addition to three of her own, she usually has one or two foster dogs underfoot. She continues to be very active and always on the go: taking yoga, doing the “red hat thing,” and taking part in Bible studies and other activities at her church.

My folks are still living on Mission: my dad is in pretty good health overall, and gets out to the farm whenever he can. My mom is in fairly good physical health, but her memory is not so good, and seems to have deteriorated more quickly this year.

Gratitude:
We continue to be amazed by God’s grace toward us, giving us blessings abundant and undeserved. Most of all among our earthly blessings we count you, our family and friends. Thanks for your patience with this unpredictable correspondent; we love hearing from you!

(Well, so much for brevity!)

Blessings to you and yours!

Jana, Eric, Ian and Annica

*Find us on the web:
You can see and play Ian’s winning game here.
You can sample some of his music and his other video games at his site.
If you or someone you know needs a website, you can check out my work here.

Saturday—day before yesterday—we got a call that our next-door neighbor had died that day.

Our sixteen year old neighbor.

He wasn’t some thug out driving drunk or getting high. He was a quiet kid, a smart kid, who played sax and bass guitar, got along with his sisters, went to church, liked to play chess. Last summer we carpooled to drivers’ ed, his family and ours. When I was driving Ian and him home, I’d ask Cole questions, and he would have an actual conversation with me. Which is a rarity in sixteen year olds, but I appreciated it even more, given how quiet Cole was.

Two weeks ago, Cole was running in a track meet. A week ago, he thought he had stomach flu; everyone else in his family had had it recently. Thursday or Friday it became clear that he was very sick. Tests were run. Lymphoma, they said. More tests were scheduled.

Saturday, while in the recovery room, he died.

I feel guilty saying I’m thankful. Thankful that my kids are still here today, yes. But also thankful for the reminder to not take today for granted.

Surfing the web this evening, I “happened” across the following. It’s taken from a commencement speech that Steve Jobs gave somewhere, about a year ago, I think. It crystilizes the state of mind we’ve been in since Saturday.

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything—all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure—these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.

...No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent.

From there he goes on to say that the most important thing is to follow your heart and intuition. Which sounds nice, but—sorry, Steve—it’s way off.

The most important thing is to love. Love the people that God has put here with you, and do it now. Hug the teen that doesn’t want to be hugged. Call the friend you haven’t seen in forever. Tell your spouse or your parents or whoever needs to hear it what you appreciate and admire about them.

And just spend time with them. Because this may be that day.

Live like it.

The author says that after apologizing, he “felt a lot more like Jesus.” That prompted me to brainstorm… when are we most like Jesus?
- When we forgive people who are beating us up.
- When we try to avoid the limelight.
- When we serve out of love, not out of hoping for something in return—even a “Thanks.”
- When we speak the truth boldly—at the right time, for the right reasons.
- When, after speaking the truth boldly, we’re considered crazy!
- When we’re okay with people thinking and saying untrue things about us, because we know where we stand with the Father.
- When we’re giving.

That’s certainly not all, but being a nice holy number (and having nothing to do with my brain running out of steam!), I’ll call that good.

You are my lamp, O LORD; the Lord turns my darkness into light.
With Your help I can advance against a troop; with my God I can scale a wall…
It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect.
He makes my feet like the feet of a deer. He enables me to stand on the heights.
He trains my hands for battle…
You give me a sheild of victory; You stoop down to make me great.

When I’ve read this in the past in the book of Psalms (where it is recorded as Ps. 18), I had “spiritualized” the content; thinking of these words as metaphorical. But seeing this in the context of the narrative of David’s life, it dawned on me that in this song, David was talking about actual, physical battle—which was a big part of his job and his life’s work.
So I decided to paraphrase these verses to apply to my work. Granted, I’m not the leader of God’s chosen people as David was, but I still need equipping from God to do my job. So here is…

The Designer’s Psalm:
You are my inspiration source, O LORD. You give me ideas when I have none.
With your help, I can make headway on my workload; I can put checkmarks all over that to-do list!
It’s You who gives me ability to do my job. [Why should I fear my own inability?]
You train my mind, my eyes and my hands for creativity and excellence.
You gift me with a little bit of You, The Creator; the lowest, smallest bit of Your creativity is above and beyond all of mine.

David adds,
“The LORD lives. Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be God, the Rock, my Savior!”
To which I can only say, “Amen!”

I carry a fair amount of guilt about our back door. I think to myself, If I were a better pastor, they would still be here; or, If I had done a better job of discipling them, they would not have fallen away; or, If I hadn’t preached on that controversial issue, they would not have left angry. Each one who departs leaves me with a distinct sense of failure.

This is an issue Jesus wrestled with. In John 6:66 we read, “From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.” ...You will never completely close the back door of your church. When people leave, it hurts. Learn all you can from those who leave. Listen to hear if there is something important God would say to you through them.

Reach out to them, apologizing when needed, offering clarification and love when this is what’s called for. But remember that when Jesus, God’s Word made flesh, preached the gospel on this earth, most of his hearers did not accept his message.

Jesus knew that God’s kingdom would not expand by “pleasing all of the people all of the time.” Instead, the Kingdom expands as the relative minority of people who hear the gospel, live it and in turn, give it away. Our task is to keep scattering the seed.

Excerpted from an article by Adam Hamilton, senior minister of Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas. (They have a pretty nice website, too.) Read the full story on christianitytoday.com.

I don’t know about you, but I often need to be reminded how much God loves me (and others), so I looked up some verses to help myself focus on that. Then I thought others might benefit from them too, so I’m sharing them here…

Isaiah 54:10
Though the mountains be shaken
and the hills be removed,
yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken
nor my covenant of peace be removed,”
says the LORD, who has compassion on you.

Zeph. 3:17
The LORD your God is with you,
he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
he will quiet you with his love,
he will rejoice over you with singing.

Romans 5:6-8
You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man… But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

1 John 3:1
How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!...

1 John 4:10
This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Ps. 103:8-14
8 The LORD is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in love.

9 He will not always accuse,
nor will he harbor his anger forever;

10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve
or repay us according to our iniquities.

11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his love for those who fear him;

12 as far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

13 As a father has compassion on his children,
so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;

14 for he knows how we are formed,
he remembers that we are dust.

well I’m weary of the spoils of my ambition
and I’m shackled by the comfort of my couch.
well I wish I had the courage to deny these of myself
and start to store my treasure in the clouds.
cause this is not my home; I do not belong
where the antelope and the buffalo roam.

and I’m just a little jealous
of the nothing that you have.
you’re unfettered by the wealth of
of a world that we pretend is gonna last.
they say God blessed us with plenty;
I say you’re blessed with poverty -
cause you never stop to wonder
whether earth is just a little better than
the land of the free.

You can see more of his music and listen to some of it here. Check out his journal, too.

Anyway, he’s headed back for these parts next month—September 7 to be exact, at the First Baptist Church of Augusta. For tickets or more info, you can call them at 775-5466. Don’t miss it; we’ll see you there!

P.S. The photo of the cool door you see on the homepage of Daily Beggar is one I originally spied on AP’s online journal; it’s a door in the church C.S. Lewis attended. I emailed Andrew and asked where he got it, and if I could use it. Right away, he answered that he’d shot the photo, and sent me two copies. So he’s a nice guy, too!