morningjournal

In other words, hi Diane

This journal has been as silent as a cemetery and as inactive as an abandoned car the past several months and the only one who has regularly commented on the inactivity is my sister, Diane. So, this one’s for you, Diane.

Often, forms of writing such as blogging grab my attention for a season. For reason unbeknown to me, my interest level ebbs and flows like the ocean. 
 

Writing is a part of my core habits of life I need to have at least a semblance of sanity. You would think I would blog my fool head off every day after reading that last sentence. However, life has other things I must do before I can get around to writing. Ok, most of the time lately, I have to do those other things instead of writing.

Lately, I have returned to writing everything out by hand in a spiral-bound notebook. I have even returned to handwritten notes for the pulpit; a habit I started many years ago – the way Daddy did it. After losing three hours of work on a manuscript two hours before I was to preach a few weeks ago, I may never use a computer to write out sermon notes for as long as I have preach in me.

I’ve gone back to writing everything out by hand in my journals as well. The computer, complete with all its bells and whistles, seems also to have a shorter attention span than a spiral bound notebook. Henry Kissinger was a more famous handwriter who said that his head was connected to his hand in a way that a typewriter was not.
 
NOTE TO READERS: typewriters were used in ancient times. It was a keyboard invented by Christopher Latham Sholes(1819-1890) who took a bunch of letters, surrounded them with a bunch of metal parts. On the original typewriters, a derivative of which I used to own and use regularly, actual words were spelled out before your very eyes on a piece of paper. There was no screen or hard drive. Editing involved actual cutting and pasting the typed page. The only cursor was the typist.

Since I’ve resumed the habit of handwriting every journal entry, I’ve written an average of 10 pages a day. When I write in a blog, I seem to hear the unstated opinions that people don’t really have a lot of time for reading other people’s blogs, so that seems to limit me in many ways.

Usually, in the handwritten journals, I’ve written about yesterday. Often, there is a commentary, some Bible thought, but for the most part, I’ve just been simply remembering, recounting, and rehearsing yesterday’s stuff that happened. I do this sort of thing to help me shake the bad vibes out of my head I usually wake up with, work through the bleary-eyed grogginess I feel when I first wake up, and help me see yesterday wasn’t so bad after all. So, it seems to work.

Writing everything out, in full sentences and paragraphs, helps me understand yesterday in a way that speaks simply, as accurately as possible, and gives me a little more hope for today. All the things that happened yesterday weren’t so bad after all and maybe today won’t be so bad either. I usually do not encounter burning bushes and the directions to the Damascus Road don’t always lead me into a blinding-light experience with God. But, I do encounter my family, their lives, my church, and the stuff that is going on in and around the area known as my mind and somehow, God’s there in all of it.

I have thought of either just typing out all these pages in this blog or maybe just mailing them to my dear sister Diane, who has wanted me to resume this journal writing on a more regular basis. Since you, Diane, have been reading them more than anyone else, maybe I’ll let you read them when you come back to Cleveland in a couple of months. I’ve been writing stuff since around 4:30 a.m. and now it’s nearly time to start mowing the grass. But, first, I think I’m going to eat a little and maybe have a nap. See you soon.

Help me Christian brothers and sisters! A common temptation works to seize me, control me, and force me to live out its evil will even as I write.

I fight it with all my might using all the weapons of warfare I can use. I quote the story of the first temptation to myself. I remind myself of Allan Lovelace's sermons on Romans which is all about righteousness. I even have providential help: two people have told me: A. Just say No and, B. I succumb to my temptation, it may not be evil, but it will be just "stupid."  

Like everyone else, I, the Rev. Joe Lynn Brooks, face temptation. Like everyone else, I face the common temptation to purchase a Snuggie. But, let me quickly add, IT IS NOT FOR ME, MIND YOU. It’s for my beautiful, but cold-natured wife.

You, gentle reader, know that if I succumb, it will leave even more groaning taking place around our fallen world. A Snuggie, I hear in my ear, will bring her  undeniable comfort and possibly a lower electric bill because I’m no longer heating blankets for her once or twice an evening. The dear, beautiful cold-natured wife Lisa does not know how beneficial it would be even now as winter fades into spring. 

Yes, Lisa, you need a Snuggie. Everybody's doing it honey. Look at all the news media  reports, honey, that have covered the growth of the phenomenon -- the blanket with sleeves. Come on, dear, you'll be beautiful, only more so. Here's the place we could buy one. Just $12.99 and it even has extra freebies!

Come on, dear, I say, it's only fifteen bucks. Thus far, she's resistant; she still prefers the normal regular blanket. Oh, well. But, anyway, thanks for your prayers. But, should you see Lisa driving around in her little car in something nice, bright and red, you’ll know she finally gave in.

The news business is one that didn't require an economic meltdown to create layoffs. Christopher Ave, the political editor of the St. Louis Post Dispatch has written a song called “The Copy Editor’s Lament: The Layoff Song.”

Ave told Al Tompkins of Poynter Online, “In a way this song is kind of a love letter to copy editors and a mild reproach to people like me who aren't copy editors and who may not have always appreciated their work," Ave said in a phone interview. "A lot of us in journalism sort of chuckle at copy editors' slavish devotion to style, but you know what? They can really save your butt."

I worked as the copyreader for the Cleveland Daily Banner for two years. I found many similarities between the world of the journalist and the pastor. Go to a conference, Web site, or seminar in either field and they are basically saying the same thing: “How will we reach the next generation?” News journalists write about this as do pastoral leaders. The link to Barna.org says that most Americans say that Christianity is no longer their “default religion.” These are the things we’re thinking about in an age of change.

I’m not a regular reader of Today’s Christian Woman -- a self evident truth. I am also not a regular reader of articles that tell wives who are about to leave their husbands how not to.

Nevertheless, I found this article in one of those click-to-click surfing journeys through the world wide web. The article tells the spiritual journey of a woman who learned to love her husband, whom she was about to leave. Her mom gave an assignment, which I would think would work for anyone – husbands, wives, employers, friends, neighbors.

The mom’s assignment she gave her daughter is well worth the time it would take to click over to the article, read it, and complete the assignment.
 

Many people have come to faith in Christ through CTTW. My job is to help find new writers who would be interested in learning more, getting some training, and maybe an assignment. So far, I have found two writers at Waterville who are now working on assignments with the ministry. A third writer is in the beginning phases of investigating CTTW and I've got two more who will be contacted soon.

If you, dear reader, would like to learn more, click on the link. Contact me here at Morning Journal, or my e-mail address if you'd like to have someone discuss the possibility of writing for CTTW. jnlbrooks@gmail.com
 

Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. Philippians 2:56 (MSG)

The first half of this mental shift is to stop thinking immature thoughts, which are selfcentered and selfseeking.  Babies, by nature, are completely selfish. They think only of themselves. That is immature thinking: "Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life" (Romans 8:5 MSG).

The apostle Paul wrote, "To be perfectly frank, I'm getting exasperated with your infantile thinking. How long before you grow up and use your head-your adult head? It's all right to have a childlike unfamiliarity with evil; a simple no is all that's needed there. But there's far more to saying yes to something. Only mature and wellexercised intelligence can save you from falling into gullibility" (1 Corinthians 14:20 MSG).

The second half of thinking like Jesus is to start thinking maturely, which focuses on others, not yourself. In his great chapter on what real love is, Paul concluded that thinking of others is the mark of maturity: "When I was an infant at my mother's breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good" (1 Corinthians 13:11 MSG).
 
Read the rest of Rick Warren's devotional here.

If someone were to come up to you on a crowded street corner, with Bible in hand, and ask you, “Why do you believe that studying the Bible is a lot like looking at frogs?” What would you say? Are you prepared for the answer.

Here is what you do when you're studying frogs.

1.  You go where the frogs go.

2.  You watch the eggs hatch.

3.  You see them leave the water.
4.  You watch them jump.

5.  You catch one, observe him more closely.

6.  You then take him, dissect him, study him internally.

The process you’re engaged in is a lot like a good Bible student which is called inductive study. The main thing you're doing is observing the frog before you jump to conclusions; that's the same way you study the Bible. Read the Bible thoroughly, listening to what the text is actually saying. This gives you the understanding you need to interpret and apply the Scriptures.

            
Chuck Swindoll said “When you are going to study I Corinthians, you must first join the church at Corinth.” Observe the things that are going on in the church.

Observation: What does the passage say?

We need to look for what is actually in the text. Read the text, looking for the things you already know and the things you have never seen.  

Interpretation: What does the passage mean?

          
You start to see what the text means when you've read carefully.   

There are different types of literature found throughout Scripture. There are speeches, parables, allegories, and many other types. While God inspired all Scripture, you don't interpret the types of literature in the same way. A poem in Psalms is not to be interpreted in the same way as a letter from Paul. Both are equally important, but they are conveying the truth in a different way.  

Application: What does the passage say for me to do?

The goal of Bible study is a transformed life. It’s to get deeper in relationship with Jesus Christ. Application is a step you take to help you decide to respond to the truth in obedience. When we discipline ourselves in the Bible, we can grow. When you know what God says, you can be equipped to know how to put His truth into practice.

Don Pierson said he understands God's heart more by watching his farm animals. Every morning, his hungry lamas, sheep, cows, horses, and dogs, march on the front porch. The animals paw, scratch, and nudge the screen on the window until Don comes out to feed them.

Don said that he wished God’s people were as persistent, consistent, and driven as his animals. There is nothing more persistent, Don said in a conference held last year at Candies Creek Baptist Church, as a lamb that knows it’s hunger can only be satisfied by it’s shepherd. Don is the prayer ministry strategist for the Tennessee Baptist Convention.

I sense the kind of hunger Don talked about in Moses’ voice when he prayed, “Lord, if you’re not going with us, I’m not going.”

There was a hunger in Moses’ voice when he “said to the LORD, "You have been telling me, 'Lead these people,' but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, 'I know you by name and you have found favor with me.' ¹³ If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people."

God, assured as always, replied, "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest."

 
The words God said only brought the hunger to the surface even more. ¹⁵ Then Moses said to him, "If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. ¹⁶ How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?" (Exodus 33:12-16)

I like the fact that Moses didn’t just let God’s words remain on the surface. When God told him, “My presence will go with me,” Moses wanted God to know that there was no other way their wilderness trip would have an eventual good outcome without Him. Moses asked for complete and full directions for his life and for Israel.

Often, we feel a hunger to learn more about God, to experience more of His presence in our lives, but there is no consistency, no real abiding with Him. We think we can develop fully developed spiritual muscles and have well-developed Christian attitudes by listening to a sermon or two every week. This is the equivalent of believing that because you watched the Rose Bowl last year, you should be able to go out and play four quarters of football. Our spiritual development requires work and effort just as any other area of our life.  
 

In the book “Body Prayer: the Posture of Intimacy with God,” authors Doug Pagitt and Kathryn Prill wrote, “The notion of the human body being involved in prayer is not a new one. It is, in fact, an ancient practice that is well documented throughout the Bible.”

People who live under a king’s authority often approach him on their knees. They expose their neck, showing both their reverence for his position and power. The kneeler conveys the wordless message, “I owe my life to you.”

Kneeling in prayer shows vulnerability and so much more. It shows that we owe our lives to God. It further asks for His blessing over all areas of our lives. But, mostly, it’s not just how we kneel that is important, it’s how we live once we get off our knees.