Doug Van Pelt

That's Ashton, of the Awakening

Pictured here, in front of the banner that hung on the rear of the trailer they used for their tour last Fall.

Uzziah did some amazing things. 2 Chronicles 26 lists some of them. In Jerusalem he made machines designed by skillful men for use on the towers and on the corner defenses to shoot arrow and hurl large stones. That is rad. It sounds like things seen in the movie Braveheart or something. All his accomplishments, though, went to his head and he entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense before the Lord, which was a priestly thing. The priests followed him in and tried to talk him out of this, but he argued and raged, and then he broke out with leprosy, which he kept until his death. He even had to live in a separate house the rest of his life, cut off. As some are ought to say these days, "It sucks to be him." Good thing for us we have their example, though. Sometimes a good way to learn is the "Other People's Mistakes University," in addition to the old "School of Hard Knocks."

Yesterday, on my way into downtown Austin for the SXSW convention, my mind wandered into thoughts of hurting people and how God can bring such hope and peace to someone willing to be honest with Him and surrender to His care. I felt gratitude that I wasn't hurting, so I offered up a prayer, "Father, I'll keep my eyes open for any hurting people that You bring across my path. If you'd like to comfort them through me, I'm willing to be used." (or something along those lines) I hesitated a moment when I prayed that prayer, because I knew the seriousness of it -- that God could stretch me or take me out of my comfort zone. It's real easy to "stay inside" my "comfort zone" and not get involved in someone else's problem, but it's usually always rewarding later, when you see God at work. I thought of the potential discomfort, but trusted that it was okay since God was involved, and went ahead and mentally said, 'okay.' Funny thing is, looking back, I don't recall any conversations that would qualify as that. Maybe there wasn't pain around me. Maybe it wasn't God's will. Maybe I didn't mean it. Maybe I missed an opportunity by not looking carefully. I don't know. Maybe He wants me to ask that more often, maybe He wants "today" to last longer than one day. Who knows? I won't worry about it.

It's always fun to read about King Hezekiah, because you can say, "I was reading the book of Hezekiah," or something, trying to trick people who don't know the books of the Bible. "1st Hesitations 3:12 says, 'blah blah blah...'" Hezekiah was a lot like us, though. He made mistakes, and repented of the pride of his heart. And then he made mistakes again. And repented again. It's kind of inspiring to be able to identify with leaders with flaws. It's also interesting to look at the men that opposed him, like this punk named Sennacherib, king of Assyria. He wrote letters that insulted God. That guy was primed for an awakening. He got whipped something fierce by the power of the God he mocked. That's a mistake.

One last business tidbit: Our Ad Sales Director, Heather Reynolds, is attending the Niche Media seminar today in Dallas. It should be a real beneficial thing, as it focuses on selling ads for specialty, or "niche," magazines, of which we are. It'll be neat to see ads from unexpected sources in the future (or places that have always "made sense," but we've never seen in the mag).

Lord, we bless You today, because You are good. Thanks for giving us tongues to praise You and minds with which to simply think, "You are good. I love You." I pray that we all, by simply pausing to consider You, may be blessed to know and sense that we are really Your valued, cherished, and precious children, given life because You so chose it. Amen.

Posted by Doug Van Pelt at March 14, 2005 09:34 AM