“…but i did obey God…” saul seems to think that he’s done the right thing here. not only the right thing, but he feels like he has gone above and beyond the call of God, thought of a better way to use the resources that God clearly told him how to use them. God wasn’t pleased with saul’s disobedience, even though saul had (at least in his explanation) good intentions and motives for doing what he did.
in high school english class we were taught to read what characters say with a certain level of skepticism, as some characters will lie or embellish in a story to make themselves look better. i think that saul was probably doing some of that here: backpedaling, coming up with great reasons why he showed weakness and allowed the people to do whatever they wanted. i think that he was probably scared of the people or greedy…or a little bit of both…there in the moment.
but let’s just give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that he really did think it all through, that he intentionally allowed israel to plunder the cattle and brought back the king all for the glory of God…in that case, saul chose to use resources that God had given him in a way contrary to how God had told him to use them. like God giving me a hundred bucks and saying “give this to the third person you see,” but instead i call my banker, tell him to invest it, earn three hundred bucks and buy a plaque that says “God is awesome.”
while it may be true that God is in fact awesome, the point is that God told me to use the money differently. the same goes for saul. he was disobedient. he was foolish. and the fact is that i do this crap all the time.
maybe i don’t hear God telling me what to do, maybe i genuinely think i have a better plan, or maybe i just relent to pressure in a moment of weakness. but the point is that every time that i look back on a decision not to trust God, i regret it.
the world cup is on. they’ve built the stadiums, they’ve mowed the grass…
though i don’t think i’ll be able to watch much of it, because of my schedule and whatnot, i’m excited about it nonetheless.
i was in france in 1998 when they won the world cup on their own soil. the party in the streets of my little town was off the chain that night. the excitement in the air was electric.
after seeing invictus, and the espn 30 for 30 documentary the sixteenth man, i can only imagine the energy and anticipation that is circulating in south africa right now. very cool. (plus, like every american soccer fan every four years at every world cup, i think we actually have a chance this year. )
check out some amazing photos of the preparations at the big picture, a photo blog of the boston globe.
last fall we bought a minivan. we got it used, with quite a few miles on it, knowing that we would most likely have to repair it sooner or later. well, when we pick it up from the shop today (the second time since we’ve owned it), we will have invested an additional $950 into it, beyond the purchase price. that’s a lot of money to us…
BUT
for the convenience and comfort and flexibility that it affords us (especially gretchen, since she’s the one who drives it the most), i still say that it’s worth it. i guess you can ask me in another six months to see if we’ve had to dump any more money on it.
ANYWAY
saw this video this morning, and it made me think of how gretchen and i both said we would never drive a minivan…and how now we love it. enjoy.
nice. i just got a coupon in the mail from guitar center for 10% off any one item in the store. up to a $500 discount. i think that’s just incredible. how generous of them.
however, upon reading the fine print, the discount excludes a purchase of any of the following brands:
i’ve always thought that the term “humpday” was a little off-putting. but that’s how you drive up traffic to your site, right? use strange, intriguing titles and then back them up with outstanding opening paragraphs that instantly hook your readers and convince them to finish the post…
well i’m pretty sure i just lost about 80% of you.
just a few quick hits for your wednesday afternoon:
1. i’m working on my budget request for the next year. this sort of thing takes almost everything in me to complete, because it taps into the weakest part of my brain… so if you talk to me in the next couple of days and i’m speaking in gibberish, or you drive by a guy passed out in a gutter somewhere and you’re pretty sure he looks like me with a swollen cranium… well you’ll know why.
2. i already tweeted this earlier today, but felt like it deserves repeating: i’m in love with this weather. a nice storm the other day, bright blue skies today, t-shirt temperatures. fantastic.
3. this sunday’s service looks like it’ll be very moving. can’t wait.
4. i go on vacation in about 3 weeks. that means a whole week of sleeping in as long as i want (until the girls wake us up), eating whenever we want (as long as it fits into the girls’ schedule), eating at whatever restaurant we want (as long as it’s cheap and they serve grilled cheese), relaxing and watching movies all day (between episodes of caillou and dora the explorer), and ultimately having a great time. not complaining. just saying that vacations have changed drastically in the last three years.
1. my daughters were in our bed this morning from 6:45 or so on… amelia smacking me in the face with a little doll, ella lying the other direction kicking me in the neck and chin repeatedly. good morning daddy.
2. i think yesterday’s service was fantastic. the band was on, the technical difficulties were minimal (yeah, they happened, but they were minimal.)
3. best line from pastor riley’s message yesterday: “there’s a difference between ‘going to worship’ and ‘worshiping.’ one is an activity and the other is a lifestyle.”
4. second best line: (talking about king saul’s daughter merab being promised to david in marriage) “she might’ve been a tire-biter. who knows.”
5. the girls had to stay home from church, because ella had a fever. now amelia has it. yay.
6. the puzzle of the new york skyline that i started a few days ago is all done…except for the sky. everything’s the same color. it’s taking forever. i just want to finish it so that i can get it off my dining room table. it’s driving me a little crazy, actually.
7. yesterday afternoon, i don’t know what happened, but i was cranky. maybe because the very second that i was about to lay down to take a nap, amelia and ella both woke up at the same time. maybe because the house was a disaster. maybe because i’m just a huge jerk. maybe because of that stupid puzzle. i had to get out of there. so we drove over to el campesino for tacos and beans and whatnot.
8. el campesino is the bomb, seriously. i love it. i want to live there.
9. gretchen and i (mostly gretchen) have been working hard on something. she’s very excited about it, and i think you should check it out.
10. i want to go on a cruise. i don’t care if it’s to the galapagos islands or across the ohio river, but i want to eat lobster and sushi and prime rib and cheesecake, and i want to have access to an unlimited supply of it. i want to sit in the shade peering occasionally over the top of my murder-mystery novel at the hot sun and sea for hours on end. any ideas? anybody have any advice about cruises? about getting good deals? let me hear them.
11. scott cameron (guitarist in the band) has already started to put together a set list for the popcorn festival in the fall. i guarantee that as soon as we have a date, you’ll want to be scratching it into your calendar, because it will be ridiculous.
12. i’m especially proud of my band this week. some of the technical snags that we came across, nobody even knew about, because my team is so strong and versatile. maddest of props to those lads and lassies.
13. whether you were at marion 1st nazarene yesterday or not, what will you do with today to make sure that you are living a lifestyle of praise? how will you work? how will you play? how will you drive, talk, focus, think, etc?
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