Parenthood

I work two jobs afternoons and nights that has been coming to 75+ hours a week just to dig out of my debt hole and provide for my wife and son. When I have some time to stop and sit, it's hard to help the sigh that comes out: "Whew! I'm beat!" As I nod off because I'm so dead tired, I pray: "Lord, Help me. How did I go so wrong that I've become such a dead beat dad?"

Daily Butter: Back to basics

My little addition to Our Daily Bread (9/10/12):

 

“Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations,…”

(Matthew 28:19a HCSB)

 

Perhaps it’s just me, but sometimes I become overly familiar with a verse and I fail to see anything “noteworthy” because it is not necessarily a new insight. Having grown up in a church fellowship that focused on this “Great Commission” verse for both the why of outreach and the how of baptism, I heard it often and memorized it as a youngster. While not a “new insight,” it hit me afresh that this command to “Go” is followed by “therefore.” So I was reminded of the Bible study basic that the most important tool of interpretation is context and specifically “when you encounter the word ‘therefore,’ you must find out what it’s there for” (forgiving the dangling preposition to preserve the mnemonic). Separated only by the verse number (which sadly prevented me from remembering it well when I memorized it) is the reason: Jesus began this statement to the remaining Disciples saying “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.” and ended it with the reminder “I am with you always” (v 20). It was told to them and is recorded there for us, His people, to remind us to go, not fearfully as individual sheep among wolves, but wisely as peaceful ambassadors of the Almighty (see also Matthew 10:16). Though no easy command, it’s not a burden we are given to bear alone.

 

- Andy Jentes

 

Daily Butter: Hear Ye, Hear Ye

My little addition to Our Daily Bread (9/6/12):

 

The one who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. The doorkeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

(John 10:2-3 HCSB)

 

The magic of someone who knows you by name is just something special. Until my wife says my name, I too “zone out” (much like Joe Stowell confessed in today’s ODB). The amazing part of following Him is not only that we recognize His voice (even in the midst of the noise vying for our attention and allegiance), but that He chooses to call me by name so that I not only hear His voice, but listen. I am so very thankful that He loves me enough to awaken me from my stupor – may I be tuned in enough to hear His voice in the noise (1 Kings 19:11-13).

 

- Andy Jentes

 

Daily Butter: Serve who?

My little addition to Our Daily Bread (Labor Day 9/3/12):

 

Serve with a good attitude, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that whatever good each one does, slave or free, he will receive this back from the Lord. (Ephesians 6:78-8 HCSB)

 

I thought it should be clarified that I am not defining “serve” in the sense of the American Labor Day weekend tradition of the 90+ MPH tennis ball off the racket of Andy Roddick in Flushing, New York. But instead it is more about the balance I (and I think we all) must face in our professions. My jobs are that of customer service, in which I must serve each and every customer with whom I have contact while balancing that I serve at the leisure of the company who writes my paycheck and must do everything in light of the affect on the company and in the interest of the administration and shareholders. So not only do I have to balance those interests, but Paul’s words to the Ephesians remind me that my primary profession is that my Lord and Master is Jesus Christ and my service is as His ambassador (2 Corinthians 5:20). Not that I get it right, but I strive as  to serve each and every person I interact with each day (boss, customer, or coworker) with His love so that He may be glorified and “this little light of mine” might shine in the darkness.

 

- Andy Jentes