Three things I look for in a restaurant as I'm entering for the first time are a full parking lot, fat cooks, and retirees! I'm not talking about a spot for your next anniversary or where you might take your business clients. I'm talking about the place where you go when you are ready to give way to avarice, need a bib for your shirt, and leave the hand wipes at home because you have every intention of an unashamed finger-licking culinary event!
If Friday and Saturday nights aren't full-lot-nights, then you know the people who live in the area aren't excited about eating there...chances are, you will not be overly excited about the food either. Heavy kitchen staff you ask? Give me employees who just can not stop eating every time the owners turn their heads; I want them plump and hopeful of their next bite! Retirees may be the ultimate measure. Lots of hair the color of a pure driven snow not only says family friendly but great value. If you are on a fixed income, as many retirees are, you look for healthy servings at a great price. Find the convergence of these three factors, and you've just caught yourself a great restaurant for the day. Hampton Roads is filled with local spots just waiting to be discovered. I hope you make that part of your summer fun.
This idea of criteria that are portents of coming satisfaction, I believe, was God's great motivation in giving us the Holy Scriptures. I want to invite you to read three chapters of the Old Testament book Nehemiah (8-10). You find a profound picture of a city rediscovering the wisdom of God's commands and statutes, ulitmately culimating into the rebirth of a nation. At first they weep, not just because they feel guilty for not having followed God's ways but out of sorrow for all the years they had lost, all the years they had forgone the glory of living in exchange for mediocrity. Then, as you read further, chapters nine and ten, you find them coming to moments of great celebration. Why, because they first confessed their own personal culpability for a life not well lived and also how their lives had led others astray, ultimately leading to the downfall of their nation. They then vowed (covenants) in their hearts and publicly in their assembly to no longer forsake His statutes but rather to forsake a life void of God's direction and embrace a life defining relationship with their Creator, their Heavenly Father. This practice of confession and covenant only and always lead to rejoicing! (As you read, don’t get bogged down in the unique Hebraic practices that comprised their covenant commitments but rather ask God to reveal to you what you have personally forsaken.)
God wants you and I to discover the wonders and splendor of this existence, life this side of eternity. All of Scripture is designed to teach us the evidence that needs to be present in each of our lives if we have any hope of the greatest "catch of the day" -- possessing a life lived well, full. I hope you gleaned from your reading too that an entire nation was reborn through the efforts of two people in the stories of Nehemiah, both he and Ezra. Want to see change in our city...our world? Grasp the life He promises, an idyllic life within all our reach.
Pastor Fred
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