Worth a watch. “Love the hell out of everybody.”

“I appointed twelve leaders of the priests – Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten other priests – to be in charge of transporting the silver, the gold, the gold bowls, and the other items that the king, his council, his officials, and all the people of Israel had presented for the Temple of God.

I weighed the treasure as I gave it to them and found the totals to be as follows:

24 tons of silver,

7,500 pounds of silver articles,

7,500 pounds of gold,

20 gold bowls, equal in value to 1,000 gold coins,

2 fine articles of polished bronze, as precious as gold.

And I said to these priests,

‘You and these treasures have been set apart as holy to the LORD. This silver and gold is a voluntary offering to the LORD, the God of our ancestors. Guard these treasures well until you present them to the leading priests, the Levites, and the leaders of Israel, who will weigh them at the storerooms of the LORD’s Temple in Jerusalem.’

So the priests and the Levites accepted the task of transporting these treasures of silver and gold to the Temple of our God in Jerusalem.”

 

Ezra 8: 24-30 NLT

 

That is a lot of treasure.

 

The priests and Levites were set apart, badal – to exclude, make a distinction. That word exclude seems to have a negative connotation. The priests and Levites are excluded from certain things. Which doesn’t seem fair until you finish the sentence: “as holy to the LORD.” Holy is qodesh which means sacred. Highly valued, important, and worthy of respect.

As God would have it, I woke this morning distressed by a dream. The dream? My husband had taken a second wife. He couldn’t understand why I was upset. I kept crying, “Love is jealous, love is jealous.”

 

I wouldn’t share him.

 

I couldn’t have him holding my hand at Thanksgiving, grateful for the ways God had provided for our family that year, knowing he was holding her hand, too. I was not going to sit next to him on our basement floor by the twinkle lights of the Christmas tree, watching our boys open the exact right presents, and exchange a contented, knowing look with him, wondering if he would then turn and give her a similar look.

 

And there is no way the most intimate aspects of marriage work when shared with another.

 

It actually made my stomach queasy.

Fortunately, I am quite sure my husband would say one wife is plenty. The dream was about my Savior.

 

The LORD our God is a jealous God.

You shall have no other gods before Me.

I will not yield My glory to another or My praise to idols.

Worship Him with reverence and awe for our God is a consuming fire.

And, as always, since He made us what He asks of us is for our good. Our best.

 

When we have nothing else in that sacred place but Him, every other relationship and activity and possession falls into its proper place. That most important relationship – like a marriage – is sacred, worthy of respect and highly valued.

 

And the flip side is, of course, also good news: as New Covenant Believers, we are all priests in His kingdom. We get to be excluded from certain things in this world, but only because we are included in the qodesh, the sacred. And we are His treasure.

The priests and Levites agreed with Ezra and accepted the task. Accepted here is qabal, to undertake. They undertook Ezra’s assignment to guard the treasures well. The Hebrew for guard is shaqad – to lie awake/be intent on doing something.

 

Are there treasures He has assigned you to guard? Relationships, a confidence, a course of study, a trust, a job, a ministry, a family, an assignment? Let’s be intent on doing it, grateful He will be the One to lie awake as we entrust the ultimate outcome to Him.

I’m so glad Jesus undertook His assignment. That He resolutely set His face to Jerusalem.

 

His most holy act bought for us what no amount of gold or utensils or sacrifices could: complete forgiveness and righteousness, an adoption into His family.

 

A treasure beyond compare.

 

Enjoy Coffee with the Curator at Museum of World Treasures the 3rd Thursday of every month.

Do you know about Opera Academy of the Midwest?

Come tonight, August 18th, at 6 pm for the 40th Anniversary Screening of Taxi Driver at The Orpheum.

Enjoy a night of Food Trucks at the Fountain Friday, August 19th, at the Waterwalk beginning at 5:00.

Heard about Wingapalooza? This Saturday the 20th at Intrust Arena you can enjoy a wing taste-off with Wichita-area restaurants and chefs. Buy advanced tickets here.

Jeffrey Toobin with Watermark Books will have a reading and signing at Abode Venue. Doors open at 5:00 this Monday, August 22nd.

Tour the Art Garden this Saturday at 10:00 am at the Wichita Art Museum.

Catch an End of Summer Party at Mid-America All Indian Center this Saturday the 20th. From 1-3 enjoy discounted admission to the  museum (kids 12 and under are free), crafts and activities for all ages. (Thanks WOTC!)

Get your tickets for Johnson’s Garden Iron Chile Head Festival this Saturday the 20th. Enjoy local craft beer, food trucks, and an opportunity to take home fresh roasted hatch green chiles.

Catch The Feast: A Monthly Poetry Gathering this Saturday at City Arts. From 1-3 this Saturday the 20th hear poetry from Laura Madeline Wiseman and Lee Ann Roripaugh.

Are you remembering the Old Town Farmers Market? Every Saturday morning.

Wanna work at Botanica? They’re hiring for the Garden Cafe.

See what’s new this week at the Library, including a Voter Registration Drive this Saturday at Rockwell from 2-5.

 

Have a great weekend!

Justice before reconciliation – acknowledgement of sin always precedes restoration of relationship. This will be true in our nation as well.

I am an intense baseball mom fan – especially as the boys get older

Eggroll in a Bowl recipe via South Your Mouth is a winner – all my guys ate it up.

Traveling with my hubs is good for our marriage.

You only get prizes for the Library Reading Program if you pick them up.

Episcopal church doors are often red. Actually, many denominations’ doors are some shade of scarlet.

I learned it’s because “red doors traditionally mean ‘sanctuary’ — the ground beyond the doors is holy, and anyone who goes through them is safe from harm. Some churches also say the red signifies the blood of Christ that has been shed so that all who come to God’s care may be saved. In ancient times, no one could pursue an enemy past red doors into a church, and certainly no one could be harmed or captured inside a church.”

Interesting, huh?

We are good at growing peppers. Mediocre at tomatoes.

I will keep learning the same lesson – over and over if necessary – until I get it. Not because He’s mean, but because He & I can’t move on to the next thing without learning to rely on Him in the first.

Saying goodbye will always be hard.

His timing is not my timing.

The tongue is a small thing, but what enormous damage it can do.

 

What did you learn this summer?

A trip to see the Royals – and ready to get out there

Finally

First game certificate

Gorgeous evening

Hit the T-Rex Cafe

Wishing

Aunt & Uncle Birthday love

Deanna Rose Farmstead is worth the trip

Dancing in the sun

Visited Trader Joe’s, of course

Grandparent love

Batman

Becoming Hulk

Road Trip Church beauty

Glory

 

Your 7 Days?

My grandfather was a pastor and, as such, moved around a lot during his time of service. My grandma can look at a room, plot its dimensions in her brain, and make furniture fit like a pro. They understand packing, moving, saying goodbye, and being content in every circumstance.

 

But mostly they know how to make new friends.

When I look back on my growing up years, I am grateful for the stability of being raised in one city. And being surrounded by one community. I love that my teacher was also who I would run into at the Bakery. And my friend’s dad was my softball coach. And my parents’ co-workers were fellow church members.

 

Once while my sister and I were still at home, my grandmother made a comment to my dad he recently passed on to me: In all her moving and goodbyes and hellos, she had never seen such a supportive community as the one in which we grew up. Based on her experience that comes on pretty good authority.

But as I went to my childhood church this past weekend, and walked down the courthouse square eyeing fresh produce, and spent time in my friend’s home, there was no reason to have to take my grandmother’s word for it. I was reminded anew the blessing of my hometown experience. And how I have never not known a community who will love and have your back and show support.

 

Sometimes as we grow and change, we look back at things with fresh eyes. If your growing up years weren’t all beautiful perfection, I understand that as well. And, no one’s was. If it was all blissful, we’d have no need to rely on Him.

 

But I love how time and distance and experience can hold up a new lens with which to see the past.

 

Through my current lens, I can see God’s hand on every step of my life. And I’m profoundly grateful.

“And there by the Ahava Canal, I gave orders for us to fast and humbles ourselves before our God.

We prayed that He would give us a safe journey and protect us, our children, and our goods as we traveled. For I was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers and horsemen to accompany us and protect us from enemies along the way. After all, we had told the king, ‘Our God’s hand of protection is on all who worship Him, but His fierce anger rages against those who abandon Him.’

So we fasted and earnestly prayed that our God would take care of us, and He heard our prayer.”

This second round of exiles is still organizing before making their journey. They have a group of Levites, ready to serve in Temple when they arrive.

 

Now they need logistical protection.

 

This section is so interesting. Particularly that Hebrew word for Ezra being ashamed.

It is boosh, meaning embarrassed or anxious. My husband and I talked through this on a road trip, some of our best talking time. He helped me with some of the practicalities of Ezra’s situation: the people were all looking to him not only to organize them, but utilize the resources he obviously had from the King to get the whole crew there safely.

 

Remember, this was 900 miles and four months of travel. Not by high efficiency vehicles, Amtrak or airplane. By foot or animal. Across various terrain. Accompanied by bandits and wild animals and with limited security. It was dangerous.

 

Ezra had already accepted monetary help as well as utensils and an official document to show to anyone asking that the group had the king’s authorization. So why the embarrassment of asking for some security?

 

Because of what he had told the king.

 

Ezra didn’t just make sure to point out God’s wonderful ability to protect those who follow Him to the king. He also warned him:

 

“…His fierce anger rages against those who abandon Him.”

Ezra was making sure the king knew how high the stakes are in going against this Covenant Yahweh:

 

The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Who is powerful in love and blessing, is not to be used or taken for granted.

 

The Hebrew is so exquisite in the description of this God:

 

His hand (yad – ability and power) is on all who seek Him. The word for on here is al – the same word to describe this Creator God’s Spirit hovering over the great deep before He made the entire universe. His power is on or above – hovers over – all who baqash Him – eagerly inquire and seek after.

And this power doesn’t just hover over; it works for good. Good here means towb: Beauty.

 

His hovering presence and power work for beauty in the lives of those who beg to know Him and His Way.

But His power and wrath are on (al) those who forsake Him.

 

Power here is like a fortress, but a fortress of wrath. The word for wrath is aph, of the nose or nostril. The image it evokes is an angry bull snorting his fierce rage.

So this same God Who hovers over to work beauty in the lives of those earnestly seeking Him also allows His fortress-strong, angry-bull wrath to hover over those who abandon Him. The word for abandon here means to be remote or absent; to refuse and leave destitute.

 

To widow.

 

This is First Love language.

 

But we should back up because the wrath of God is not a popular topic. It makes us defensive.

 

Since we already talked about God’s Spirit hovering over the surface of the deep before galaxies and the tiny circle planet perfectly sustainable for human life were created, let’s stay there. In Genesis. In the Beginning.

After this intricate, expansive, ordered, and glorious masterpiece of a universe was spoken into being, God made man and woman. Not because He was lonely or needed something. This Three-in-One Elohim has had community for all eternity.

 

He made us because He wanted to.

 

And soon after He handed this breathtaking creation over to man and woman, they betray Him. It’s not enough, He’s keeping something from us, being faithful to Him is more effort than desired.

That’s what sin is. Distrusting His character, His motives toward us, and desiring to do it our way. Basically, as our small group is known to say, sin is giving God the middle finger.

 

I don’t think You can take care of this, and, frankly, I don’t want You to. I will do it myself.

 

At this point I think we understand, but the angry bull wrath still seems a bit…reactionary. He didn’t have to make us. Can’t He give our middle-finger-giving selves a break?

 

At these moments I wish we could peek into Heaven. And the armies and armies of angels. The way there are creatures made solely to say over and over, “Holy, Holy, Holy is the LORD God Almighty…”

If we could see. If we knew how completely dazzling He is. How worthy.

 

But not just that…how obeying and eagerly inquiring after His ways is the only ticket to live freely. Spaciously. To be in unison with the tides and Milky Way and wing flap of a lady bug.

When we resist this awe-inspiring Creator God we resist our own souls. All we need to be truly satisfied. Every ingredient for Shalom and the kind of joy Hollywood doesn’t sell.

 

There is a fierce enemy, a hateful adversary out there. Not just for the exiles’ travels, but for all our souls. He breathes out lies. He promises protection and devours you like a lion. He wants to destroy everything of beauty because this is the only shot he has.

 

But we have a Helper. Ezra’s Azar. Daniel’s Lion-Tamer. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego’s 4^th Man in the Furnace.

Maybe our caravan had heard these exile stories from a generation before. Maybe they weren’t thrilled with Ezra’s protection plan: No weapons and no king’s calvary. Just prayer and zero food. After all, their children – the little ones – were with them.

 

Jesus loves me, this I know

For the Bible tells me so

Little Ones to Him belong

They are weak

But He is strong

 

But perhaps they trusted. We know they followed Ezra to humble themselves with fasting.

And He answered: athar – to listen and be moved by.

 

If He has drawn you to Him, if you have seen the Ultimate 4^th Man in the Furnace and what He accomplished on the cross, He is your First Love. And He is moved by your earnest seeking of Him.

 

It is finished.

When our hateful adversary hisses how we don’t deserve it, we simply hold up the Cross and say, “Of course not. Never have deserved it. But His sacrifice was enough to cover me.”

 

And that’s the only eternal protection we need.

Mamma Mia! is now showing with Music Theater Wichita. Get tickets here.

This week for the KEYN summer concert series we have The Astronauts. Come out tomorrow night, Friday the 12th, for the final concert.

It is 2nd Saturday time.

Which means it’s time for Yoga on the Lawn at the Wichita Art Museum

Coming up with Saturdays at Naftzger Park: A Magic Show. Bring the family from 10 to noon this Saturday the 13th.

You will want to see the Totally 90’s Double Feature at The Orpheum: Spice World & Clueless this Saturday night at 7:00. Costumes encouraged.

Bike Wichita is hosting some classes coming up the 13th and 14th. Register here.

Are you keeping up with Summer Kid Series at The Palace?

Come to the next 1 Million Cups gathering Wednesday the 17th at 9:00 a.m. at Wichita State Old Town.

You should check out Senior Wednesday at The Kansas African American Museum.

See Bryn Greenwood and Rae Meadows at Watermark the 16th and 17th.

Reverie is expanding. This is good news.

Champlin Farms will be selling peaches at Tree Top Nursery on Saturdays beginning August 13th.

This weekend is the Haysville City Wide Garage Sale.

Carolyn at Wichita on the Cheap has some free and discounted ticket opportunities for the ongoing NBC World Series.

 

Several informative events coming up with the Library, including learning about iPads today at 1:00 and info about Microsoft PowerPoint next Tuesday at 1:00. See the weekly calendar here.

 

Have a great weekend!

Bird sighting

Pretties

Summer

Being brave

So he’s 9.

Church beauty

Glory

 

Your 7 Days?

“Do you not know?

Have you not heard?

The LORD is the everlasting God,

the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He will not grow tired or weary,

and His understanding no one can fathom.

He gives strength to the weary

and increases the power of the weak.

Even youths grow tired and weary,

And young men stumble and fall;

But those who hope in the LORD

will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles;

They will run and not grow weary,

They will walk and not be faint.”

 

Isaiah 40:28-31