My Favorite part 1
Every once in a while I like to dig into my favorite memory verse in the Bible. And I know I say they are all my favorite verses. But my mom got me this one in a frame for my office wall. And, while I don't have an office to speak of, that doesn't make it any less awesome. So. 1 Thessalonians 5:17, "Pray without ceasing." And, to be perfectly honest and transparant with you, the reason I first chose this verse as my favorite is because I always root against my dad. He's a life-long Yankees fan, so I adopted the Red Sox. His favorite verse (because he claims its the only one he can remember) is John 11:35, "Jesus wept." Two words. The shortest verse in the Bible. I love my dad. So I had to get the next shortest verse. Three words. Pray without ceasing. And, yes, I could have gone with 1 Thessalonians 5:16, "Rejoice evermore." But then we would have had the same number of words. And since I couldn't go lower than him, I went with a word count that is one higher. Now, let me be clear. I don't root against my dad. He's one of my heroes. I just root against his sports teams. The Red Wings and the Fighting Irish are about the ones we agree on. But I'm all for my dad. I pray for him. Without ceasing. Which--and this is what I actually want to talk about in this Rant series--does NOT mean (to me) that we forgo everything and anything else except talking to God. That would be a little bit strange wouldn't it? "Can't talk to you, I'm praying." "Can't go to work, I'm praying." "Can't even say I can't do anything... because I'm praying." That's ridiculous. I think its more of a lifestyle that we're talking about here. An attitude of gratitude. The next verse, 1 Thessalonians 5:18 says, "In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." Its a lifestyle. A lifestyle of prayer. Which, by the way, is just as much about LISTENING as it is talking. My prayer every night with my son is just thanking God. Thanking God for the day. Even on the hard days. Especially on the hard days. Thanking God for His presence in our lives. Thanking God of the bond that a father and son share. As Logan puts it, "The bond that cannot be broken." And that's what happens when you have an attitude of gratitude. That's what happens when you rejoice evermore (or no matter what). That's what happens when you give thanks in all things; you strengthen that bond. I'm convinced that God is holding onto us and will never ever let us go. And how much stronger--how much BETTER--when we're holding on to Him just as hard? When we run TO Him instead of running FROM Him when we get into trouble. When we ask Him for help when we need help. I've long thought that asking for help is a sign of wisdom, not a sign of weakness. And... when someone helps you (which is really God helping you through that person) you have something else to pray about. Something else to be thankful for. Soemthing else to rejoice about. So don't EVER throw someone over because you think you need to pray. Prayer, and again, I think this is where we're going in this Rant series, is communion with God. Talking and listening. Breathing in and breathing out. Receiving and releasing. Living and loving. So pray without ceasing. Live without giving up. Love at all times!