Equipping Men for Impact

I have written before about the importance of modeling to our children. We never know how they will interpret our actions! This is a great story and a funny anecdote regarding the importance of our actions, but I think provides some insight into children’s perceptions.

“Do you want extra “blank” with that order?.”  Normally, I would probably turn down that extra “blank”, whatever it was.  However, while training for the Northface Ultra-marathon, I found myself eating way more than I would ordinarily eat.  I needed to eat more food to compensate for all the calories that were being burned up during the training runs.   Before training for this event, I would estimate I would consume about 2000 to 2500 calories in a given day.  During the training months, particularly during the end of training, getting close to race day, I estimated the intake doubled, to about 4000 calories. I would easily burn up about 2000 calories in a single 20-mile training run.  During those training runs, I was reminded of how much spiritual food I was eating (or not eating) in my daily Christian walk. I also realized how much more I needed to spiritually eat to be obedient to God’s Word and His plan for my life.

“Your words were found and I ate them…”  - Jer. 15:16

About Joshua 13

Unless you are really itching for some tedious study, Joshua 13 at first appears one of the more dull chapters of biblical text. Mostly it details the boundaries of the lands of the various tribes and which enemies were yet to be conquered.

The Story

Rather than quote the entire story, I shall summarize. In the preceding chapters Joshua has kicked butt all over Jericho and Ai. He’s developed a reputation – and most of the locals are ticked (v1-2). However, some of the locals from Gibeon hatch a deceitful plot to avoid getting wiped out (v3-5). They come to Israel with worn out shoes and rotten food and pretend to be from far away and want to make a peace treaty with Israel (v6). Israel is skeptical, but the con artists are good and fool them (v7-13).

I recently drove my family from New Jersey to Texas via St Louis and Kansas. Not an exact straight line but one that my boys found to be fun. We stopped by Washington DC and saw the normal things such as the Washington monument, Lincoln, war memorials and bad parking. From there we went to a placed called the Ministers Tree House. That was pretty neat.

“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but I do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away everything I own, and if I give over my body in order to boast, but do not have love, I receive no benefit” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).

I am sure you probably do not struggle with the same communication problems that exist within my home! You always agree with your wife about how to spend your leisure time and money, and your kids never ask you for money, right?

Lev 23:33-43 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,  “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, On the fifteenth day of this seventh month and for seven days is the Feast of Booths [or Tabernacles] to the Lord. On the first day shall be a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work. For seven days you shall present food offerings to the Lord. On the eighth day you shall hold a holy convocation and present a food offering to the Lord. It is a solemn assembly; you shall not do any ordinary work.