The Life of Moses

Today I am reflecting on the life of Moses. I am preparing curriculum for the next quarter in my class and I have been reading through Numbers and Deuteronomy. Numbers and Deuteronomy are two of my favorite books – because they give such great insight and narrative to my favorite Bible character not named Jesus. Here is what I love about Moses: the man is fallible enough for me to identify with him, yet Godly enough for me to strive to be like him. I want desperately to have Moses appear here in 2005 so I can go get a cup of coffee and just talk with him for a long time.

Moses life breaks down into three 40 year periods. The first 40 years he was living in Egypt as Pharaoh’s grandson, the second 40 years, he was a shepherd in the desert, and the last 40 he led the nation of Israel out of Egypt, into the wilderness to the edge of the Promised Land.

I grew up going to Church and going to Sunday school every week. I learned a lot about Moses in Sunday school – how he was put into a basket as a baby and floated down the river and was found by Pharaoh’s daughter. I heard lots and lots of stories about he plagues, Passover, crossing the Red Sea, the 10 Commandments and Mt. Sinai – I learned a lot about Moses – but there is so much more!

Let me share one of my favorite stories and my reflections on it:

While they were at Hazeroth, Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married (for he had indeed married a Cushite woman); and they said, “Has the LORD spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us also?” And the LORD heard it. Now the man Moses was very humble, more so than anyone else on the face of the earth. Suddenly the LORD said to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, “Come out, you three, to the tent of meeting.” So the three of them came out. Then the LORD came down in a pillar of cloud, and stood at the entrance of the tent, and called Aaron and Miriam; and they both came forward. And he said, “Hear my words:
When there are prophets among you, I the LORD make myself known to them in visions;
I speak to them in dreams. Not so with my servant Moses; he is entrusted with all my house.
With him I speak face to face—clearly, not in riddles; and he beholds the form of the LORD.
Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?” And the anger of the LORD was kindled against them, and he departed. When the cloud went away from over the tent, Miriam had become leprous, as white as snow. And Aaron turned towards Miriam and saw that she was leprous. Then Aaron said to Moses, “Oh, my lord, do not punish us for a sin that we have so foolishly committed. Do not let her be like one stillborn, whose flesh is half consumed when it comes out of its mother’s womb.” And Moses cried to the LORD, “O God, please heal her.” But the LORD said to Moses, “If her father had but spit in her face, would she not bear her shame for seven days? Let her be shut out of the camp for seven days, and after that she may be brought in again.” So Miriam was shut out of the camp for seven days; and the people did not set out on the march until Miriam had been brought in again. After that the people set out from Hazeroth, and camped in the wilderness of Paran. (Numbers 12, NRSV).

Reflections:
• Aaron and Miriam are clearly angry at Moses for marrying a Cushite, but there also seems to be a deal of jealousy mixed in. I think they feel like Moses gets all the credit – and the LORD speaks through “us” also.
• Verse three has always struck me: “Now the man Moses was very humble, more so than anyone else on the face of the earth.” Wow, what an amazing statement! This is one of those statements that make me strive to be like Moses. The man is humble and that fact is about to be played out a few verses later.
• God hears the complaining, and calls these three to a little meeting and says basically – when there are prophets I speak to them in visions and dreams, but I speak to Moses face to face – be careful who you complain about. Then God struck Miriam with a skin disease.
• Aaron gets freaked out and pleads with Moses not to be punished. Here is where I see Moses humility: Moses intercedes for Miriam (who had just been complaining about him) and asks for her healing. I am struck by Moses in this story because as Aaron and Miriam complain against Moses several things are going on:
o The complaints are an attack on Moses’ credibility as a leader.
o The complaints are hurtful because they come from Moses’ own family, those closest to him.
o The complaints are personal, because they are mixed with envy and jealousy.
o The complaints are unfounded – there is no cause for complaint against Moses.
• With all those things stacked up, if I were Moses, I would be hurt, angry, confused, etc. And Moses may have experienced all those things as well, but as opportunity for Moses’ reprisal arises – Moses seeks healing instead of retribution. Awesome, may God grant me a measure of Moses’ humility and grace.

Wuerffel determined to rebuild Desire Street Mission

Just click the article title, it will take you to an awesome article I read today. It is an article by Bill Curry about Danny Wuerffel. I really like Danny Wuerffel.

It's a Girl!

My life changed over the weekend. Not as much as it will change over the Christmas holiday, but what I found out on Friday afternoon had life altering repercussions.
I found out that Amy and I are having a little girl. WOW! A daughter – the thought of which melts my insides and scares me (not the run away and hide kind of scared, but the, this is heavy kind of scared).

I am about to be a father for the first time, and the thought of someone completely and utterly depending on me for everything is humbling. From day one, when she needs food, changing, burping, to be warmed up or cooled down – she looks to me (and Amy of course). It doesn’t stop there, I will be the source of information for my little girl (I will not be the one teaching her colors, because I am color blind) – but that weighs heavy on me, I think about all the questions that kids ask, and I am excited for the innocent curiosity of my little girl, but it makes me wonder if I can answer all those questions without saying “just because.”
I wonder what she will look like, whose personality traits she gets (and I am praying that she gets her looks and personality from Amy). I wonder if I am patient enough, strong enough, adequate enough…

But, it’s more than that – as a Father, in many ways I will shape my daughter’s view of her Heavenly Father – her God. And this thought, more than any other (except one, which I will get to in a minute) is what I spend time thinking about. The love, grace, discipline, etc that I give to my little girl will color her view of the Almighty and that makes me ache to be more like Christ. I want to teach her to love God – not religion, to follow Christ – not just rules, to be a light in the world – not afraid of the world. I pray for strength and intentionality in my relationship with my daughter, so that she can look back on her upbringing not to remember me, but to remember Christ in me.

One last thought about my new daughter, the thought that comes to me most often, is how crazy I am about this little girl who I have not even met yet. Have you ever seen a batter’s knees buckle when they see Barry Zito’s curve? That is exactly how I feel inside I think about my daughter, I just kind of go all rubbery. I can’t wait until Christmas.

Abide

I grew up in North Idaho, which has no potatoes and a lot of trees. While I was in high school, some friends of mine built a house up in the mountains. To build their house, they had to clear cut the area first, which meant removing some very old and very large trees. A year after they had built the house (during the spring), I was up at their house and we started looking at a tree with a 4 feet thick trunk. At the top of the tree, new branch buds were groing! The tree had been cut down for a year, but the top of it didn’t know that it was dead yet.

I thought of that tree while I was reading John 15 the other day:

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. You have already been cleansed (pruned) by the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.” (NRSV, 1989 – parentheses mine).

A fruit tree cannot fulfill its purpose (producing fruit) if it is not connected to the vine. If I went out to my neighbor’s yard and cut off a branch from his apple tree, that branch I cut off will not provide me with any apples at harvest time. A really large tree may take a year for all the nutrients to run it’s course through the entirety of the tree (this tree was really tall), but the tree will not produce fruit for long – it is cut off from it’s sustenance.

My relationship with Jesus is like the trees/vines that Jesus talks about in John 15. The fruit that Jesus speaks of in this text is not simply making more Christians; it is the end product of your relationship with Him. If my spiritual life is connected to Christ, who is the vine/root, the results of my spirituality are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control.

However, if I try to live my life, disconnected from the vine, I may produce those results in my life for a little while, but just like that giant tree continued to grow for a little while, the growth will not last long. The problem is, I do this far too often, I think that I am the one who is all powerful, who has all the answers, who can make this or that work. I forget to rely on Christ, to utilize His strength and to spend time abiding with Him. I get all worked up and excited when I get a pathetic little bloom. If I only knew.

Earlier, I talked about living a holistic Christianity. Abiding in Christ is at the very heart of living a holistic Christianity. It means walking with Jesus at all times, leaning in Him in times of struggle, celebrating with Him in times of joy; it means depending on Him for all my needs: physical, spiritual, emotional and relational. This does not mean I live up in a room, shut away from the world, and with a vow of silence so that I can depend only on God – it is through community that He may meet many of those needs.

God, let me abide in you, grow in you and produce fruit to Your glory. Amen.

Listening as Prayer

Something that drives me crazy…about myself…is my stunted prayer life.
Here’s the thing: I know the power of prayer, and I acutely desire to be in a deep relationship with my Creator and Savior – the problem is, I rarely spend much time in prayer. It irritates me that my prayer life is so shallow, so I have spent a lot of time lately pondering my prayer life (part of this pondering time I have actually spent praying, which has been good).
I started thinking about my relationships (particularly with my wife) and I realized that I am not much of a talker/communicator in my relationship with Amy. I started thinking of my interactions with my friends, we watch tv, laugh at funny movies but do I spend much time intentionally communicating in the relationships I value so highly? The answer hit me in the face…NO!
So, I have identified a growth area for my life. I am not content to simply say: “That’s just how I am, I don’t talk/communicate much.” Therefore, I am beginning a new way of life – where I communicate more. Last night, Amy and I ate at the dinner table (unusual in our house) and had conversation. I spent my last waking thoughts in prayer. I won’t lie, it isn’t always easy for me, but I know it is good. So please help hold me accountable to my communication in relationships.
In all of my prayer ponderings, a funny thing occurred to me. The majority of my prayer life is made up of me talking to God – asking for things, thanking Him for things, giving praise for things, etc. all of which are good. But, I started thinking about the idea of listening as prayer. This might seem crazy, weird or just different – but the thing is, to effectively communicate in relationships, it requires listening as much (if not more than) talking. I have had to (and continue to) learn this the hard way – just ask Amy. If listening is important in communicating in relationships, then wouldn’t it be of huge importance to listen in prayer? The problem lies in this: when I listen, usually there is an audible voice speaking back to me, and I have honestly never audibly heard the voice of God. Today’s question is: how can we listen to God (I have some ideas, but I want to brainstorm on this for a while).

Holistic Christianity

A holistic Christianity is what I envision. A church that doesn’t compartmentalize it’s spirituality – Sunday morning…check; Wednesday night…check. A holistic Christian does not simply put on the Jesus face two or three times a week, instead they walk with Christ (asking others to come along) at work, play, and home.
What I am seeking, in my quest to be more holistic (and more authentic in my Christianity) is to have Christ at the center of every piece of my day. I am a sports fan who loves Jesus. I am a Jesus fan who loves the Chicago Bears. Those things are connected in my life.
I am proposing that we look for ways to connect each of the areas of our lives instead of trying to disconnect them. I Look for ways to bring my love of Christ into my love of sports (and visa versa). For too long I believed I had to live with a disconnect in the passion areas of my life. Now, as I stretch to become more holistic in my Christianity, I am brainstorming ways to blend the various things I am passionate about, together. Not to place priorities above Christ, but to prioritize Him in all things.
The more I examine my life, the more I am led to Christ and I am confronted with this man. Jesus had a very holistic approach to life: His life, time, money, family, work (ministry), and faith – they were all intertwined. Jesus’ life was 100% engulfed by His love and devotion to His Father – and that connected to each facet of His life. Read the Gospels and you find a man whose actions, time, family, friends, talents and passions were all permeated with God. When I begin to grasp the intensity of Jesus life and ministry, I am absolutely stunned by the holism of His life – and I want to be more like Him.

My first Blog post. Woohoo!