Austin's Prayer

I had debated which of my blogs this post related to the best and finally decided it really relates to both. So I've posted this on my other blog which deals with my family because it relates to my son. I am also posting it here because God spoke to me through this today.

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My eldest son, Austin has nightmares and wakes up crying quite often. I've gotten into the habit of praying with him each night and asking the Lord to watch over him each night and to protect his mind. Tonight as I was praying Austin wanted to pray as well.

It was very cute and adorable, but what really hit me was how sincere he was and how very trusting he was. He had no doubt that God was going to answer his prayers. We just spoke of this at church last night. I need to find that faith again, the faith of a child. They never question that we will take care of them or that God will take care of them.

Austin's Prayer:

"Dear God, thank you for this day and thank you for everything.
Thank you letting us go everywhere like the store, and Cheri's and Krysta's.
Please watch over my blanket tonight and keep the bad dreams out of my blanket's head.
Amen!"

(I had already prayed for him and his dreams so he did not think it was necessary to go over that ground again. However, he had told me that his blanket has bad dreams too and that he wanted to pray for his blanket like I pray for him)

Edge of Eternity - book recommendation

I recently read a book called Edge of Eternity by Randy Alcorn. I happened to pick up this book because I had recently read his book Lord Foulgrin's Letters (I also recommend this) which is very similar to C.S. Lewis' Screwtape Letters. Basically he took the concept and elaborated a bit more (read his introduction in the book for more information on this).

It is a bit funny because I'm also currently reading a nonfiction book by Randy Alcorn called Heaven. This book is very enlightening and I highly recommend it. It is very large and goes into detail as to what scripture says about Heaven and what it will be like. Until reading it I had not realized how little I really thought about Heaven and how little I actually yearn and look forward to my time there. This is important since it is where I'm going to be spending eternity.

But I digress. Edge of Eternity reminded me of Pilgrim's Progress, but the walk being taken is not just the character's Christian walk. It includes the walk prior to becoming a Christian as well. The main character Nick Seagrave is a successful businessman who has recently lost his family due to his drive to succeed at all costs. One night he is caught in a storm and finds himself in a world unlike any he has known before. He finds himself walking a road that is between two realities, the reality of the Earth we know and the spiritual realm many of us rarely if ever give any thought to.

This book is a very good read that will make you think about your current walk in life, regardless of where you may be at this time. I finished the book in one weekend and highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for some good fiction that is thought provoking and will encourage you to dig deeper in your intimacy with the Lord.

Hope of the Early Church

I'm still reading The Untold Story of the New Testament Church by Frank Viola. In the chapter about the church started in Galatia, quite a few interesting facts are shared regarding the early Church which really got me to thinking:

• Over 50% of the new Believers are slaves, many being freedmen (former slaves). A few of the Believers are part of the Roman army and a few may have been merchants.
• These new Believers do not have any Bibles, the New Testament had not yet been written. There may have been a few Jews among them with one or two scrolls from the Old Testament.
• Only 5-10% of the population in the Roman Empire was literate so even if they had Bible, many would not be able to read them.
• Many of the Freedmen are barely able to survive due to their poverty. They would seek work in the marketplace each day to earn one Roman denarius (a day's wage). This would buy just enough food to feed their families. Their diet usually consisted of veggies, bread, wine, olives, fish and fruit. Meat was not eaten very often.
• The cities of the Roman colonies were usually dirty, smelly and unsafe. The life expectancy of a male is 45, for females it is 38.
• Birth control was not normally practiced. Women would marry in their teens and raise families until they passed their child bearing years.
• 25% of babies did not survive their first year and 30% of Jewish children died before they turned 18. The percentage for Gentiles was higher. Baby girls were often "exposed" (abandoned to die in remote places) if their parents were poor.
• Paul & Barnabas spent only 3-5 months with the people of each church, teaching them the Good News. They would then leave them for up to 2 years before returning.

Reading these things made me realize that regardless of the issues I may be facing right now, it is nothing compared to what these individuals lived with on a daily basis.

But what really amazed me is contrasting these new Believers and their faith to that of new Believers in the church today (including myself!). We are constantly trying to come up with new programs and new things to help Believers better understand what it means to walk with the Lord and have their lives transformed. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against these things and many of them have helped me in the past and still do.

However, these Believers in most cases had never heard of Jesus before and here they are after only 5 months of instruction, living as a Church (eating together, fellowshipping etc) with not only none of the programs we have nowadays, but also no Bible as guidance. From what I've studied so far, they often had the whole "Church" thing down better than any churches in the present. They truly lived for one another and supported one another. Can you imagine how powerful that message must have been to take such deep root in their hearts?

Part of it may have been the fact that their lives in many cases seemed so hopeless and this brought them a Hope they had never experienced. I wonder if we are too comfortable in our own lives, to caught up in ourselves and in our mistaken belief that we are in control of our lives, to really let the Good News of Jesus to take hold of our hearts and imaginations.

I have to wonder, what has changed so much since then. Is it us and how we accept the Good News or has the Good News changed? Or is it a little of both? I know God's Good News never changes, but have we somehow watered it down so we are missing something that the early Church embraced so thoroughly?