The Seabourns

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Death and Life and Easter thoughts 2011

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I’ve been continuing to think about some things from church this week.

Death (Luke 22:14-20)

  • The last supper: bread and wine.
  • The bread. Jesus’ body. Broken. Crushing wheat is part of the break-making process. Leaven changes crushed wheat into bread.
  • The wine. Jesus’ blood. Poured out. Crushing grapes is part of the wine-making process. Fermenting changes crushed grapes into wine.
  • The passover system of 2 goats. One sacrificed. One a scapegoat, carrying sins far away. The broken body of a sacrificed animal. The broken body of God in flesh.

Life

  • Jesus said, “I am the bread of life.” (John 6:35)
  • Life is in the blood (Leviticus 17:11)
  • Jesus’ offering cleansed our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God. (Hebrews 9:14)

Death and life. Bread and wine.

Question: Are you cleansed from acts that lead to death? Are you serving the living God?

Attention all grandads

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Karin’s grandaddy passed away last week. She is a colleague. Karin wrote a powerful tribute to her grandaddy.

I would have liked Karin’s grandaddy. Anyone who values drinking a Coke with peanuts inside is my kind of a grandaddy! It’s a Seabourn family treat also. For the Seabourns, little red spanish peanuts are the kind for Cokes!

I’m a granddad to 4 wonderful grandchildren. I hope to be a grandad to them like Karin’s grandaddy was to her.

In Stephen Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Habit 2 is begin with the end in mind.

To begin with the end in mind means to start with a clear understanding of your destination. It means know where you are going so that you can better understand where you are now and so that the steps you take are always in the right direction.

Imagine your eulogy at your funeral. What would your friends say? What would you like them to say? Your family? Your co-workers?

Question: What do you want said at your funeral? What are you doing today to become that person?

One of the most courageous women I know

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She is one of the most courageous women I know. I watched a video she released today, and I cried. I showed it to Kay, and she joined me in crying. Joyful crying. Kay and I have 2 videos from Christine we want to share with you.

She and her special-guy husband made a huge career change a few years ago. They left behind years of youth ministry and a pastorate to run an RV park of mobile homes.

But that’s not the half of their courage.

They have adopted 3 very special needs kids who have serious emotional issues. They already had 2 kids with less serious emotional issues. Two of her adopted children have RAD, reactive attachment disorder.

Kay and I had the privilege of teaching a Sunday School with Christine in the class many years ago. Michael was the youth minister at our church.

Christine released this video today. Daughter Mackensie made this video of Christine and Mar celebrating Mar’s 3 years in the family. It’s not been an easy 3 years. Click here to read Christine’s blog post and watch the video. [Alert: Some of Christine’s blog posts are very raw, very transparent. Read other posts at your own risk!]

It’s good to see today’s celebration video first. Then you’ll understand the power in this second video from a year ago.

What a picture of love, both Christ’s for us and Christine’s for her children, especially the “unlovable”.

This is Easter week. Thank you, Christine, for this picture of total love.

Question: Do I truly “get” God’s love for me? The type expressed through Christ? The type Paul wrote about in 1 Corinthians 13? Do you?

Bible reading plans help me stay on track

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I did it! I finished reading through the Bible in a year. I’ve read through the Bible several times, but I’ve never made it in a calendar year period.

I think five things helped me:

  1. My church started 2010 with a 90-day challenge to read through the New Testament by the end of March. Knowing others were doing the same plan helped me.
  2. I got a copy of the English Standard Version Study Bible. This was a new version to me. I found the newness refreshing as I read familiar passages.
  3. I also took time to read the introductory study notes before starting each new book. I found these notes very insightful and helped me stay engaged. As I read through the book, I looked for confirmation of the things I read in the introductory materials. It was kind of like a treasure hunt. And it was very engaging. I felt like I had completed a Survey of the New Testament when I completed the 90-day challenge.
  4. I chose the YouVersion.com reading plan called Chronological to read through the Old Testament in the remaining months of 2010. Reading chronologically gave new insights and connected historical passages with Psalms and other wisdom literature and with the Prophets written in the same time frame. YouVersion gave a calendar overview so I could see where I was in the reading plan. Seeing the green boxes appear each day I completed my reading was motivating to continue. It may seem a little thing, but having a visual picture of where I was in the plan was very motivating. The YouVersion app on my Android phone kept track so that when I finished reading a chapter, it checked it off. Very nice!
  5. I installed YouVersion.com’s Bible App on my mobile phone. Having the Bible with me all day, using a Reading Plan, having the App track my progress in short intervals as I had time to read another chapter all contributed to success in 2010.

I’m going to do a 30-day Gospels reading plan in January to start the year off with Jesus’ life and ministry. I’m also going to do a couple of shorter reading plans on Courage (1 week) and Prayer (3 weeks).

And I’m joining 1 billion in 1 month! Join in reading the Bible for 1 billion minutes in the month of January. YouVersion recently passed the 4 billion minutes of Bible reading. Imagine if around the world, the Bible is read for 1 billion minutes in January! Join me, not for YouVersion’s sake, but for our own! If you have an iPhone or Android or BlackBerry or Windows mobile phone, install their Bible App and read wherever you have 15 minutes.

Let’s do it! Let’s read 1 billion minutes in January!