yeah...I got a good night's sleep last night!
Maybe it was the comfort of knowing that a music celebrity was staying at our house. Maybe it was the courageous thought that I was protecting a music star's life. Or maybe (more likely) it was that I went to bed at 11pm instead of midnight.
:?)
Kendall Payne crashed at our place last night after a show at the University of Texas in Austin.
We're almost "out" of Proverbs, but that doesn't mean we'll have to live by the streets' rules or the laws of the jungle. We can still hide His Word in our hearts.
The new issue of HM (20th Anniversary Special Edition) looks SO amazing. I'm very happy with it. Although there's one little spot at the bottom of each one-page ("featurette") story, where I put some sort of headline in that black box near the bottom. It's supposed to be trimmed halfway off, but most of the letters are showing up, which kind of ruins the effect. Maybe the majority of the copies don't have this much left after the trim.
I love the bluntness of verse 16:
"If you find honey, eat just enough --
too much of it, and you will vomit."
That's it!
A friend of mine's favorite is v.24:
"Better to live on a corner of the roof
than share a house with a quarrelsome wife."
In Proverbs 27 there are some more gems:
"Better is open rebuke
than hidden love."
I like the practicalness of v.14:
"If a man loudly blesses his neighbor early in the morning,
it will be taken as a curse."
That makes me think about the enthusiasm that sometimes accompanies new converts. But it's not often new converts ("babes" in Christ), but "adolescents" or "teenagers" in Christ who haven't balanced social graces with their call to be salt and light in the earth. Saying, "Praise the Lord, brother!" or "God bless you this morning, Steve!" can actually be an improper (did someone say "sin" ??) thing to do. If we apply the Wisdom from this verse, we see that sometimes tact goes a long way, but even well intentioned "tactless-ness" can backfire and turn into a "bad witness."
V.17 is great:
"As iron sharpens iron,
so one man sharpens another."
It's a good call to discipleship and mentoring. Those are big and religious sounding words, but they can flesh out as simply as meeting someone for coffee once a day or once a week or once a month, and just reading a little bit of the Word together, talking, and praying for one another. There's not much intimidation there. "They" say that every believer needs a Paul, Timothy, and Barnabas in their lives.
"Paul" would be someone you know and interact with on a regular basis that mentors you, that shares from his or her wisdom and experience the things and lessons of the Lord. You benefit from their character.
"Timothy" would be someone that you or I mentor or disciple. We share our experience and any wisdom that we have with them (when invited to, of course... it's a mutually submissive relationship, not a dictatorship). They benefit from any character that the Lord has graciously molded in our lives.
"Barnabas" would be a peer that is like a good friend. You bless him/her and he/she blesses you. It's a give and take kinda thing, where you are walking through similar paths in life and encourage each other. All three types of relationship bless and edify both parties involved, but this one especially is a mutually-beneficial relationship.
And the thing about iron sharpening iron is:
It happens when you bash them together!
It's conflict or opposition that creates the physical properties of iron sharpening another piece of iron. It's not laying next to each other, it's striking each other. That can be uncomfortable, but it's how we can grow.