It’s hard to believe it’s already halfway through April! This year certainly didn’t start our slowly in our household.

It’s been an interesting year thus far. We’ve had two casts (the 2nd is due to come off tomorrow – yay!) and a 2nd car has been down for about 7 weeks. Yes, life has been a bit more interesting.

But broken hands, broken wrists and broken cars aside, life is moving it’s way along. The girls are very active – one in soccer 2 night a week with games on weekends, and the other with dance on those same two nights (!) and her 2nd recital coming up next month. She’s just a little bit excited to get back to dance once the cast comes off.

Me? I just want my car back.

But in the midst of all of the busy-ness and the broken-ness and the forced stay-put-ed-ness (is that even a word?) God is teaching me. God is teaching me that at times we all get broken. After we are broken, we have a period of rest. A period of healing. And that period of healing isn’t always as long as we expect it to be – and yet still at times seems to stretch for an eternity! But once that time of rest and healing has past, we have to get on with our lives.

We can’t wear the cast forever. If we did, our skin would not like us much. Our broken-ness would never truly heal, because it would never re-gain the strength it needs to function properly.

Have you been broken?

I have. It hurts. Being broken is not fun at all, and I very often lack the patience to step back and allow that time of rest and healing before I jump back into “normal” life. But we need that. We need the chance to allow the healing to take root before we rely on that broken area to support us again.

And once we have given it time to repair, we need to start flexing those muscles again. We need to re-build the strength that once was there. We need to get back into life.

As we approach Easter, I am also reminded that our Savior was broken. He was broken for us – to heal the rift that sin created between us and God. His body was tortured, He gave up His life willingly, and He allowed His disciples to fully experience the broken-ness of His death for a time – but then He brought healing and restoration.

He was broken for me. His broken-ness heals me. It allows me to embrace life and to flex those muscles and gives me that strength that I can rely on – that which was broken has healed to be stronger.

His broken-ness is my strength.

It would be so easy each week to say something like “we came, we set up, we sang songs, we were taught, we tore down, we left”

After all, isn’t what we do week in and week out?  We show up, we do our thing, we leave… or is it something more than that?

Is church something that is more than just a place that we show up once a week to get our weekly feeding and feel good about ourselves because we “go to church”

Uh, yeah!

Church isn’t a place.  Church isn’t a weekly fill up.  It’s not just something we “do” week after week after week.

Church is who we are.

But some weeks, it feels like a place we go to do our thing.

For me, Sunday was one of “those” days… or at least it started out that way.

But God…

I so love those words!  But God.  What would my life be if not for all the times that life was going along, but God interveined?  Things were looking down, but God turned them around?

But God stepped in and answered the prayer of my heart on Sunday.  He reached down to this insignifigant child of His and touched a heart that was stony and softened it.  He reminded me that church isn’t a job.  It isn’t “what I do” – it’s who I am and who I minister to and who I am called to love – and be loved by.

So, with that in mind, here’s what we “showed up and did” – ha!

• Glory To God Forever
• Salvation Day
• Your Mercy
• Here is Love
• kids storytime
• Every Move I Make
• announcements
• message
• The Wonderful Cross
• communion

It’s pretty hard to keep a stony heart in your chest when you are singing about the glory and majesty and mercy and love and sacrifice of the wonderful, amazing God that we serve!

After all, where would any of us be if it were not for the “but God’s” in our lives?

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. – Psalm 119:105, ESV

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Some days I just need this reminder that God is leading me step by step, and it doesn’t matter that I can’t see the end – or even what’s around the bend in the road – because I know that He is in control.

Yes, I know, there are two Word Filled Wednesday posts this week.  But this one goes with Amy Deanne’s verse so much better.

I’ve been reading this Summer… a lot.  The girls have to read at least 30 minutes per day, and I have been reading with them.  I have also been staying up with Eric as he works into the wee hours of the morning, and most often I read then as well.  Needless to say I’ve read quite a few books in the past 2 months.

But something I read tonight in one of these books struck a chord with me, and I thought I’d share it.  It is in response to a question about how a place that the characters are visiting is making them feel – giving them a completeness, a wholeness, a rightness to the world that they have never known.

“There is a love here that is rarely found on earth.  Perhaps in families, certainly between a husband and wife on occasion, but almost never in the world at large.  Love governs everything here.  Everything.  Love and the continually practiced presence of the Most High.

“Yeseph explained it once to me.  He said that the Most High is indeed ever-present with his creation, with us.  But we often lose sight of him – we fall away from him unless we practice his presence.  By that he meant we must keep him with us in our thoughts and deeds, lest we forget.

“For it is not the One who forgets us, but we forget him.  It is how we are made, a defect perhaps, but one that makes belief necessary.  And belief is the Most High’s greatest gift.  So even there he has rescued us.”

“Rescues us from ourselves.  I see.  Is it love that transforms even the common things – the sunrise yonder, for one – into such works of beauty?  Is it love that makes me feel as if all my life until now was a life lived in shadow?”

“Oh, yes!  Love, and the knowledge of the Most High”

“But I know very little of the Most High.  How can it be that I feel as I do?”

“In your heart of hearts you know him.  Durwin used to say that all men were born with the knowledge of the Most High in their hearts.  The trick is to spend more time remembering, and less time forgetting what we already know.”

“From now on I will spend all my time remembering.”

This is an excerpt from “The Sword and the Flame” by Stephen Lawhead.  It’s the third book in the Dragon King Trilogy.

I think that it is quite applicable to our lives as well.

We do often lose sight of God in the busyness of our day-to-day lives.  We do often forget Him as we go along through life.  The trick, it seems, is to spend more time remembering.

How is your memory today?

Today we are going to take a look at David.  He has come to bring some food to his brothers, and – more importantly – to get word on how they are doing for his father.  Imagine his excitement!  He gets to be away from the sheep for a day and gets to go to the front lines of the battle!  He gets to go hang with the warriors.  What young man wouldn’t think that was cool?

He gets there, and it’s not quite what he expected to find.  There is no battle, the warriors are just milling around on their hillside… talking.

David hears snatches of the conversation and his interest is peaked.  Apparently King Saul has made some pretty big promises to the man who will go out and face this Philistine from Gath.  Really big promises.  Like make him part of the family promises.

David is intrigued.  He is asking questions.  He is thinking about things…

²⁶Then David spoke to the men who were standing by him, saying, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should taunt the armies of the living God?”

Eliab – David’s oldest brother – hears him asking questions and gets a little huffy.  David feigns innocence, but people have already heard what he was saying.

He actually seemed interested in fighting Goliath – and no one else had even considered it.

³¹When the words which David spoke were heard, they told them to Saul, and he sent for him.³²David said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fail on account of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.”

³³Then Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are but a youth while he has been a warrior from his youth.”

First, I would like to point out the attitude with which David goes before King Saul.  It is an attitude of humility.  David already knew enough about Saul to know that if he came in arrogance, he would fail.  If he walked in full of himself, he would be ignored.  But he came in with humility – “Your servant” is how he referenced himself to Saul.

And he didn’t call anyone else a coward… especially Saul.

Saul looked at the oung man standing before him and was a bit confused.  David was probably in the range of 16-22 now – having reached his full height, but I’m sure he hadn’t filled out much yet.  He was handsome, but he was not a trained warrior – far from it!  He was a shepherd.  A musician.  How could he fight against this man of war?  This GIANT man of war!

But David had a good argument.

³⁴But David said to Saul, “Your servant was tending his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and took a lamb from the flock,

³⁵I went out after him and attacked him, and rescued it from his mouth; and when he rose up against me, I seized him by his beard and struck him and killed him.

³⁶“Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, since he has taunted the armies of the living God.”

³⁷And David said, “The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine ” And Saul said to David, “Go, and may the LORD be with you.”

Wow – this kid is claiming to have killed bears and lions with his bare hands.  Defending sheep is apparently a bit more challenging than I thought.  It’s not just sitting around all day playing the lyre and enjoying the idyllic countryside.  You actually do have to do things.  You actually have to fight against large animals.

Apparently it was a convincing argument.

Of course, he also claimed that the Lord would protect him.  That is the most important part of his claim – God was with him.  I’m sure Saul remembered what it felt like to have God’s presence with him, after all, the Spirit of God had been with Saul for some time – leading & guiding him as be began his rule.

So, Saul took young David at his word.

³⁴And David said to Saul, Your servant kept his father’s sheep. And when there came a lion or again a bear and took a lamb out of the flock,

³⁵I went out after it and smote it and delivered the lamb out of its mouth; and when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard and smote it and killed it.

³⁶Your servant killed both the lion and the bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God!

³⁷David said, The Lord Who delivered me out of the paw of the lion and out of the paw of the bear, He will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said to David, Go, and the Lord be with you!

³⁸Then Saul clothed David with his armor; he put a bronze helmet on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail.

³⁹And David girded his sword over his armor. Then he tried to go, but could not, for he was not used to it. And David said to Saul, I cannot go with these, for I am not used to them. And David took them off.

⁴⁰Then he took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones out of the brook and put them in his shepherd’s [lunch] bag [a whole kid's skin slung from his shoulder], in his pouch, and his sling was in his hand, and he drew near the Philistine.

Saul set out to make David go to battle looking like he wanted him to look – and like everyone around him looked.  He put his own armor on David (which tells me that David must have been somewhat tall, as Saul was head & shoulders above most of Israel) and girded him for battle as a soldier.

But David was not a soldier, he was a shepherd.

David put on the armor and tried to walk around, but he couldn’t.  He knew that if he were to go out and attempt to fight Goliath in something that was so foreign to Him it would be nearly impossible.  So he took it off.

Instead he took the staff that he had come with and the sling that he used to fight off wild animals.  Along the way he stopped at the brook and chose five smooth stones to use.

He trusted God to be his shield.

He went with what he knew, he played to his strengths.

He was familiar with the staff and the sling.  They were weapons he had wielded before with success.  I’m sure he has played at swords as a child, but he was not trained in hand-to-hand combat with one.  And given Goliath’s size, well, hand-to-hand combat most likely would not go well for him.  I mean the guy was nearly twice his size!  His head was at the perfect height to be cleaved from his shoulders… not exactly a pleasant thought.

So he walked forward with the tools God had given him in the past, and trusted God to provide the rest.  He didn’t even have the stones when he headed down, but he knew that God would provide those too.

He had no armor, he had no shield bearer.  He had no sword.  But he did have God – and that made all the difference.

He walked forward with certainty and purpose and full of faith that God would prevail… and those who taunt God would be destroyed.

We are backing up today to take a closer look at Goliath – and just why it was that he was so intimidating.

⁴Then a champion came out from the armies of the Philistines named Goliath, from Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.⁵He had a bronze helmet on his head, and he was clothed with scale-armor which weighed five thousand shekels of bronze.

⁶He also had bronze greaves on his legs and a bronze javelin slung between his shoulders.

⁷The shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and the head of his spear weighed six hundred shekels of iron; his shield-carrier also walked before him.

Six cubits and a span.  That is what we are told is Goliath’s height (before or after his head was removed though?  sorry, bad joke)

So just how long is a cubit?

The research I did this morning points to the average cubit being about 18 inches long – although accounts vary from 12 inches to 24 inches.  A span is from the tip of your thumb to the top of your pinkie, fully extended – averaging about 9 inches.

So, if you multiply 18×6, you get 9 feet.  Plus 9 inches, that puts Goliath at 9’9″ tall.  Not exactly a small fry.

Then you add in all of that bronze armor.  Historians estimate that the scale-armor alone weighed about 155 lbs. – and that is before you add the weight of the helmet, sword and greaves and Goliath starts hefting that javelin around to toss it. This guy had to be more than just a tall skinny whisp of a man.  He had to be strong too.

Oh, and keep in mind that the Israelites weren’t exactly known as a tall group of people to begin with.  If David was in his late teens or early twenties, he could have been around 5’9″ in height – not exactly short, but not a towering presence either.  Or he could have been even shorter – around 5’3″.  The bible doesn’t share that information. But when you are up against someone who is almost 10 feet tall, what difference will a few inches make?

That’s certainly enough height difference to create a bit of an impression.  Then you add in the fact that Goliath was covered from head to toe in bronze armor – not the lightest to be sure – and was hefting around some heavy weaponry and you begin to understand the Israelite’s fear.

This was one big, strong dude.

This massive guy was calling someone out to stand toe-to-toe with him on the field of battle, and the fate of an entire country would be resting on their shoulders – the fate of their family would be in their hands.

No one was willing to take that risk – they were just too afraid.

They were looking at the physical presence and it looked impossible.  They were listening to his taunts and believed the lies that they would never measure up.  None of the men in the Israelite army could get past their fear long enough to take the step to faith that God would fight this battle for them.

Except David.

This week we will be studying the story of David and Goliath.  I am hopeful that we will be able to pull a variety of ideas from this passage to discuss.

Let’s dive in, shall we?

⁸He [Goliath] stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel and said to them, “Why do you come out to draw up in battle array? Am I not the Philistine and you servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves and let him come down to me.

⁹“If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will become your servants; but if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall become our servants and serve us.”

¹⁰Again the Philistine said, “I defy the ranks of Israel this day; give me a man that we may fight together.”

Wow.  That sure was a mouthful.  Israel comes to defend their land against the Philistines (again), and they are taunted for even showing up!  Basically this guy is standing there asking them why the even bothered coming out – after all, they are just going to lose anyway.

Do you ever feel like that?

It doesn’t matter if I try to overcome _____________ (fill in your own blank), it’s bigger than me.  It’s more than I can handle.  I can try to fight, but I will just end up losing parts of me in the process.

But you show up.  You recognize the battle for what it is.  Then the taunts really start in.  “You can’t do this.”  “Don’t you see the opponent over there?  They are more powerful than you.”  “You are too weak to even enter into battle, why did you even show up?”

Ouch.

But I want to make sure you notice something hiding in the middle of verse 8.

“Am I not the Philistine and you servants of Saul?”

Um…

Well, not exactly.

After all, they were the children of Israel – servants of GOD, not Saul.

So not only is this guy berating them for even showing up, but he is ignoring God.  He is ignoring the fact that he is ragging on God’s chosen people, and thereby dissing God.

Stand back – lightning could strike at any time!

Here is an entire army worth of men who are under the protection of God, and they are letting the physical override the spiritual.

They are trusting their eyes instead of their faith.

This goes on for 40 days – they suffer through this large specimin of a man hurling insults to them day after day after day, and it’s beginning to take it’s toll.

They are discouraged.

They are afraid.

They are hiding from this giant of a man and believing the lies he is cursing them with.  Even Saul is cowering before Goliath.  He could order someone to go out and fight, but everyone is sure that it would mean certain death for whomever walks into that field.

They are not trusting God to protect them.  Instead, they have put their faith in Saul – and he seems terrified.  More than that, God has already left him.  God has already chosen a new king to replace him because Saul doesn’t trust in Him.  Saul trusts only in himself.

When we trust only in ourselves or those around us, we miss out on the blessing that comes through faith.  The blessing of God’s peace in the midst of trials, and the chance to lean into His strength and know that we are safe in His very capable hands.

The best part though?  Each time we trust in God, our faith grows stronger and we are quicker to trust in Him next time.

And there will be a next time.  There always is.

But God is always there.

Wow – I hadn’t realized how long it has been since I posted a setlist!  Life has been just a tad busy I guess.  Sorry about that!

This week’s topic was centered around worry in our home groups, and the passage we were focusing on was 1Samuel 13:1-14.  It highlights a time when Saul decided to take matters into his own hands instead of waiting on Samuel, or, rather, waiting on God.

Worry and impatience.  Anxiety.

There are so many times in the Bible where this comes up and causes problems for people!

With that in mind, our setlist focused on giving our anxieties to God and keeping a heavenly focus.

• Forever [F]
• Today is the Day [F]
• Rain It Down [A]
• We Will Worship You [D]
• kids storytime
• Beautiful One [E]
• announcements
• message – Staying Small in Your Own Eyes
• Trading My Sorrows [G]

It was a really great sermon, and hopefully we got a good recording of it.  I will post it this week if so.

I really liked leading Rain it Down and We Will Worship You back to back – the first focuses on crying out to God in the midst of the storms instead of trying to run away from them, and the second calls for is to cry out when we get too comfortable, to content.  These songs remind us that we need God in both the good times and the bad – not just the bad.  It is so easy to forget about God when everything is going well… but we can’t!  Our focus needs to be fixed on Him daily.  Our desire needs to be to have a relationship with Him daily.  We need to seek His face… daily.

And that is often so hard to do!

When things aren’t going our way, it is easy to cry out to God.  It is easy to admit that we don’t have it all together.  It is easy to admit that we need Him, because we (obviously) can’t do it on our own.  We need to translate that same need to when things are going our way too.  We still need Him, and we still can’t do it all on our own.  We just so often don’t recognize our need.

We need to continually focus on Him.