Stopping to Think

  Photo by Debby Hudson on Unsplash When you read the opening chapters of Genesis, one of the things you notice is the incredibly long lives of humanity’s first generations. Adam, 930 years ( Genesis 5:5 ). Seth, 912 years (5:8). Jared, 962 years (5:20). And Methuselah takes the cake at 969 (5:27).  But by the time you get to chapter 11 of Genesis, a change is taking shape. Shem, Noah’s son, lived 600 years ( 11:11 ). Eber lived to 464 (11:17). And by the time you get to Terah, the father of Abram, he lives only 205 years (11:32). That’s still amazing by our reckoning, but it’s also a far cry from Adam’s 930 years. If you move forward in time another 500 years to the days of Moses, we read his words in Psalm 90:10 that, “The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty.” This resonates far more closely with our experience.  What do we see in this? The unwinding nature of sin. God created the world, and in the first chapter of Genesis we read of him bringing

“If you’re an elder, take a risk and get real with the others.”  Jeramie Rinne, Church Elders, 92 If you're like me, the sad truth is that many things that appear on the front pages of newspapers and scream from the top of news feeds, things that are genuine tragedies, be it police brutality, violent mobs in our major cities, bombings internationally, natural disasters-can all seem like so much white noise. Our brains weren't meant to handle this constant bombardment with information, and once it hits a certain point it all starts to blur. But some headlines jump out. For me, those aren't generally front page. They're obituaries. Certain obituaries in particular. The obituaries of those who have committed suicide grab hold of my attention like no other news I read. Like a lot of kids today, I became aware of suicide pretty early in life. I had an uncle and an aunt commit suicide when I was very young. Later in life I would lose another aunt, friends, and acquaintances. 

This is the outline to a lesson I taught a while back. Numbers of these thoughts are not very well developed, so if you have questions or comments, feel free to take advantage of the comment section below. 1 Peter 1:6-9 LBC ABF, 10/9/2016 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. Where is your Joy? (v6a) Where is your joy? That is, what makes you happy? I’m not asking what do you think should make you happy (we’ll get there), but just try and think about the word joy or  the word happiness,

"I think the art of life consists of tackling each immediate evil as well as we can." CS Lewis Commonplace Monday is a series of posts wherein, on Monday mornings, I share short quips, sentences -perhaps as much as a paragraph- which I have collected in my various commonplace books and files. If I wrote down or recall where it came from I will certainly give attribution. However, sometimes I write down things and not where they came from. So if you see anything like that here and recognize it, that's what comment sections are for. 

I have taught through Ecclesiastes a couple of times over the past few years. This book stuns me over and over with its devastating appraisal of the human condition. So, I thought I might go back through some of my notes and share them with you here. I can't promise how frequently I'll have them up for you, but hopefully someday I'll have the whole book finished. My hope is that you will be as encouraged, convicted, and challenged by this book as I have been. Ecclesiastes 1:1-11 The words of  the Preacher,  the son of David,  king in Jerusalem. 2  Vanity  of vanities, says  the Preacher, vanity of vanities!  All is vanity. 3  What  does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun? 4  A generation goes, and a generation comes, but  the earth remains forever. 5  The sun rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens  to the place where it rises. 6  The wind blows to the south and goes around to the north; around and around goes the w