Learn from the children

Psalm 19

¹⁴ May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart
   be pleasing in your sight,
   LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.
Patience, joy, glorious, contentment, rebuilding, storms, people, relationships, boldness, strength, confidence, communication.  Whats it going to be whats it going to be........

I talked with my bride last night and the subject of confidence came up.  It was powerful, very powerful.  I will start there and see where this goes...
2 Corinthians 2
 ¹ So I made up my mind that I would not make another painful visit to you. ² For if I grieve you, who is left to make me glad but you whom I have grieved? ³ I wrote as I did, so that when I came I would not be distressed by those who should have made me rejoice. I had confidence in all of you, that you would all share my joy. ⁴ For I wrote you out of great distress and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to grieve you but to let you know the depth of my love for you.

Forgiveness for the Offender

 ⁵ If anyone has caused grief, he has not so much grieved me as he has grieved all of you to some extent—not to put it too severely. ⁶ The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient. ⁷ Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. ⁸ I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him. ⁹ Another reason I wrote you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything. ¹⁰ Anyone you forgive, I also forgive. And what I have forgiven—if there was anything to forgive—I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, ¹¹ in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.

Ministers of the New Covenant

 ¹² Now when I went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ and found that the Lord had opened a door for me, ¹³ I still had no peace of mind, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said goodbye to them and went on to Macedonia.
 ¹⁴ But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. ¹⁵ For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. ¹⁶ To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task? ¹⁷ Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as those sent from God.

That whole chapter is great, I couldn't leave any out, it all spoke to me.  So good.  That Paul could write with the best of them couldn't he?

Why confidence?  Because of one word, Christ.  We both are growing, growing as individuals and growing as one body.  We both confessed with our lips and heart to one another as God is our witness that OUR confidence is in the Lord, not ourselves.  We are made of flesh.  I have no confidence in myself, as when I did I failed tremendously, but when I put my full confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ....Well let me just say this, Jesus will never fail.  Jesus is my provider.  Jesus is my protector.  Jesus is who my confidence is in, not myself, and my wife confessed the same.  Jesus is OUR rock

Hebrews 3

Jesus Greater Than Moses

 ¹ Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest. ² He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house. ³ Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. ⁴ For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. ⁵ “Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house,”^[a] bearing witness to what would be spoken by God in the future. ⁶ But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.

I'm excited, change o direction.

My bride.  How I love thee.  When I see her worshipping the Lord, I never love her more.  Why, because of her reverence in the Lord.  My bride, how I love thee.  I am oh so grateful in her confidence in the Lord, not man.  My wife, my bride.  Words cannot explain how grateful I am that the Lord arranged our marriage.  I am humbled that God our Father chose such a wonderful daughter of His for me, it is rather humbling.  She is such a beautiful and strong creation made from the apple of His eye.  Thank you Lord, thank you.  I thank Him for giving me a wife wise enough to put her confidence in the Lord and not man, not me.  Rather her confidence is in Christ.

This season, this life we find ourselves in(me and my bride) is glorious.  It isn't a time to mourn and question and stumble.  No time to look back at our mistakes we made as ignorant people.  Its a time to smell the fragrant flowers, a time to enjoy, a time to obey, a time to pursue, a time of childlike love of life.  A time to step in boldness and confidence, we are a new creation.  The old gone away like dust, the new sprouting like wildflowers on the mountainside of Telluride, as far as the eye can see, as vibrant as a kaleidoscope.

As I finished coaching our last football game last night i looked over at the sideline and saw the children playing, laughing, smiling, loving life.  They didn't care too much that we were losing.  At that moment it hit me.
Luke 18
But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. ¹⁷ Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”
Jesus is right, if you are to receive the kingdom, you are to become childlike.  Throw your cares and worries off.  Come with a love of life that is contagious, come into the kingdom like a child, playing, not worried, not being trapped by all the mistakes that happen, taking directions when told, loving all, forgiving all.

I love life.  I love the body.  I love the heart.  I love my children.  I love my wife.  Most of all I love Christ.

It is what it is, and this be it...