Affliction

This year our church is reading through the Psalms. I have been using my thoughts on the Psalms to guide a Bible study I lead on Tuesday mornings with Eric. My friend has an incurable disease and lives in a shack behind his mother's house in Dobsonville, Soweto. 

We started our last Bible study by sharing verses (from the reading plan) that were especially meaningful to us. Eric shared the following four verses, all from Psalm 119.

v67 Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word.

v71 It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes.

v75 I know, O LORD, that your rules are righteous, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.

v77 Let your mercy come to me, that I may live; for your law is my delight.

Now you know why I love going to Soweto every Tuesday morning. Please pray for Eric - that he would be healed, or if God chooses not to heal him; that he might be used to minister to the many other HIV+ people in Soweto.

Pondering

Pondering . . . funerals always make me do that.

On Saturday we buried a co-worker. It was a nice service, one which I felt honored his life and celebrated his ministry.

On Sunday I was reading [providentially] chapter 15 of Paul Tripp's  Whiter than Snow.  

He says when we get older we change from being astronauts to becoming archaeologists. We move from launching into unknown worlds to digging through our past. And when we do, we "will be forced to conclude that we are flawed human beings." 

Tripp then offers some great advice  . . . we don't have to beat ourselves up, deny our failures, be defensive about our weaknesses, or rewrite our histories (to make ourselves look better). 

He concludes "our hope is not in the purity of our character or the perfection of our performance." 

Obviously our only hope is in the atoning blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Good advice while pondering after a funeral. 

Top 5

I read 42 books last year.  

The 5 books I enjoyed the most were (in the order which I read them) . . . 

1) Spurgeon  by  Arnold Dallimore

A great biography on the "Prince of Preachers."

2) The Reason for God  by  Tim Keller

An apologetical classic.

3) Written in Stone  by  Philip Graham Ryken

Best book I have read on the 10 commandments.

4) Into Africa: The Epic Adventures of Livingstone and Stanley  by  Martin Dugard

I visited Victoria Falls with my in-laws and this book gave me a greater respect for the  missionary who found the falls.

5) The Mission of God  by Christopher J H Wright

Long - but worth it. A fantastic look at missions throughout the Word of God.

My mother-in-law gave me 6 books by Brad Thor. I have loved reading about his hero Scot Harvath. The language is a little rough at times but the story lines are fantastic.