ooops, wrong week...

I've spent several hours this past week working on a message...for next week. I try to plan out several weeks in advance....good theory, but you've got to have your head on straight...which is a tall order for me these days.

So I'm trying to make up time...still working on the message for this week. Oh, well...maybe that will help me get even further ahead! Wouldn't that be fun?!?!

The house is quiet and still. I'm sitting at the kitchen table writing this instead of my message (for the moment). I'm a night person, so this time of day works great for me. The problem is that my kids are morning people...bad combination. I can't wait for the day when I can just holler, "Go downstairs and stay quiet. Daddy will be down there about lunchtime!" But that's just a few months away...

I'm studying the passage in John 11, where Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. That's a pretty intense scene when you look closely. I'm actually focusing on the encounter that takes place prior to the Lazarus part...it's Jesus' conversation with Martha and Mary, Laz's sisters.

They get it as much as anyone did while Jesus was alive. Yet there was still a piece that was missing.

And Jesus...John captures the intensity of this guy. Our contemporary rendering of the story has had the effect of sterilizing it a bit. As I dig into the specific words that John uses to describe what he saw...wow!

Time to get back at it. Should be a crazy weekend. Carter is coming to town to do as assessment of Northwest's techinical needs. He's a genius at this stuff and is doing me a favor. That will take up pretty much all of Saturday morning. When he's not working, we'll be hanging out. Carter is a friend. He's also my former brother-in-law...which means that Becca will be coming with him. She's my pre-teen niece who I haven't seen in a long time. It's so awesome to see her grow into a young woman. The cousins will love seeing her, too.

So, like I said, time to get back at it...

Peace,

M@