The Evidence.

Yesterday I taught Colossians and it was a whole lot of fun. I mean how can you not have fun when someone tells you that you get to speak for 3 hours about the superiority of Jesus and how he has made a way for us to be rescued from our sin? It sounds like a good time to me. 

I feel like I am really starting to get the hang of this whole speaking in front of people thing. Its fun and gets my adrenaline pumping. But after teaching I always get this felling like I had just been hit by a big truck. My mind is tired, my body is sore and all I want to do is lay down. It’s funny because you can notice when one of the staff members here are about to teach, they are super focused, their appearance starts to become a little bit more sloppy and they start to walk around like a zombie after a while. You can also notice when someone has just taught. The last place they want to be is in their office because it’s a mess and at times they magically disappear for hours so that they don’t have to talk.

I say this because I walked into my office today and saw the evidence that I had just taught all over the place. My desk looks like someone just broke in and trashed the place. I have 7 coffee cups, 2 Pibb Extra cans, 3 candy wrappers and an empty bag of sunflower seeds on my floor around my desk. Also, I found random pictures on my computer of my ratty self that I don’t remember taking.

I love my job.

Here is the evidence:

Ya its a little trashy 

I don't remember taking these ... Its kind of funny though

Front Porch Sitting.

I often joke, with a hint of sincerity, that I can’t wait until I get old. I like the old man style, you know what I am talking about … the khakis with a polo tucked in over their old man belly and some gray or white sneakers. I like how the old men give you a wink after the do something nice, its like they are saying “this is what I’ve learned over the years … take some notes.” But probably the thing that I like the most is that the old men get to do a lot of front porch sitting. (I see it on tv or in the movies and it just looks like a good time!)

I can only imagine what takes place while they sit on the front porch. I think about the debates about this or that. I think about the conversations about any and all topics. I think about the stories told: the good, the bad and the entertaining. I think about how they probably reminisce about the old days: their successes, their failures, the missed opportunities and the opportunities they took that changed everything. 

 I talk about this because I’ve given up on waiting for these days to come. I’ve started doing some front porch sitting of my own. Every once in a while I will wander down to my favorite place at camp to just sit, look and reflect. I sit in a comfy chair, look at the mountains and think about what is going on in life. I use these times to get alone with God. To think about how he is working in my life, where I see him and where I may be missing him. I ask him to show me an honest view of my life. To show me where I can grow and what I need to improve in order to serve him more wholeheartedly. I sometimes sit in silence and listen to see if he wants to tell me something, and at times he does. Sometimes I sit and talk to him out loud and just pray for my life, for those I love, for the school, for whatever crosses my mind.

I know I look forward to the old man Todd Livingston and his front porch sitting, but I love these times right now. They are sweet times with God and I wouldn’t trade them for anything. 

Not a bad front porch view

My Utmost For His Highest.

One of my fellow staff members spoke about this devotional in class the other day and since then I have been reading it and letting it guide my prayers for the day. The devotional is called "My Utmost For His Highest" and it is by Oswald Chambers, who I guess is some old guy who was pretty smart. You can find it online by this web-site http://utmost.org/.

The reason I bring this up is because today's devotional is really good and I just felt like it was something that needed to be shared. So here it is. (Also, when he says "missionary" I believe that he is talking about all Christians because we are to be living as missionaries in an unbelieving world.)

. . . they went forth for His name’s sake . . . —3 John 7

Our Lord told us how our love for Him is to exhibit itself when He asked, “Do you love Me?” (John 21:17). And then He said, “Feed My sheep.” In effect, He said, “Identify yourself with Myinterests in other people,” not, “Identify Me with your interests in other people.” 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 shows us the characteristics of this love— it is actually the love of God expressing itself. The true test of my love for Jesus is a very practical one, and all the rest is sentimental talk.

Faithfulness to Jesus Christ is the supernatural work of redemption that has been performed in me by the Holy Spirit— “the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit . . .” (Romans 5:5). And it is that love in me that effectively works through me and comes in contact with everyone I meet. I remain faithful to His name, even though the commonsense view of my life may seemingly deny that, and may appear to be declaring that He has no more power than the morning mist.

The key to the missionary’s devotion is that he is attached to nothing and to no one except our Lord Himself. It does not mean simply being detached from the external things surrounding us. Our Lord was amazingly in touch with the ordinary things of life, but He had an inner detachment except toward God. External detachment is often an actual indication of a secret, growing, inner attachment to the things we stay away from externally.

The duty of a faithful missionary is to concentrate on keeping his soul completely and continually open to the nature of the Lord Jesus Christ. The men and women our Lord sends out on His endeavors are ordinary human people, but people who are controlled by their devotion to Him, which has been brought about through the work of the Holy Spirit.

Now that is some good stuff! It opened my eyes to remember that everyone is loved by God and thus they need to be respected and cared for with my full effort. 

Lord, help me love better and love with your heart and not mine.

Encouraged.

I was told lately that I have a very appreciative laugh and at first I didn’t know how to take that. I didn’t know if they thought that I was an easy laugh and hence didn’t have a refined since of humor because let’s be honest … we all know that isn’t true … But they informed me that my laugh and easily amused sense of humor made them feel funny and they liked it. So I took my appreciative laugh as a good thing.

This is on my mind because this past weekend I took a road trip up to Virginia to hang out with a friend from the summer camp because it was our fall break. It was some quality man-time filled with ping-pong, Frisbee golf, movies, football and most importantly a lot of laughter.

On my way home, as I was listening to some podcasts, I got to thinking about how much I really enjoy laughing. I like being around people that make me laugh and I enjoy making people laugh. I get encouraged by it. So I guess that it is a good thing that I live in a community where laughter is a daily part of our lives. I love this place because we study the Bible, we love Jesus and we have fun while we do it!

*** As a side note the lectures from this year are now posted on the ESBS web-site. So if you want to listen and maybe learn something here is the link http://www.esbsonline.org/media/audio-2012-13/ ***