THE SCENE: Sunny, hot but a breeze helped.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
20 Side-straddle hops, 10 Plank Jacks, 10 Side Bend Stretches Left and 10 Right, 10 Cherry Pickers, 10 Tempo Merkins
THA-THANG:
Mosey to Stop Sign at southeast corner of Admin Bldg. 20 Hello Dollies.
Mosey to Outdoor Chapel. Team up into pairs of two. We will do Doras. While one partner runs around building on the sidewalk the other partner does exercise. These are the exercises:
- 100 Decline Merkins off stage.
- 100 Four Count Mountain Climbers
- 100 Big Boys Sit Ups
- 100 Bench Dips
- 100 Four Count Hello Dollies
Mosey to Playground. We will do elevens at benches starting with ten bench jumps and one decline merkin.
Mosey to Pavilion. We will do sevens starting with six picnic table pull-ups and one bench dip.
Mosey to stop sign at northeastern corner of admin bldg. 20 American Hammers
Mosey to AO.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Nine men including one FNG: Joe Salamanca whom we dubbed “Nature Boy.”
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Finding comfort in God’s Judgement
From Proverbs Chapter 1 (24-28) in ESV Bible:
Because I have called and you refused to listen,
have stretched out my hand and no one has heeded,
25 because you have ignored all my counsel
and would have none of my reproof,
26 I also will laugh at your calamity;
I will mock when terror strikes you,
27 when terror strikes you like a storm
and your calamity comes like a whirlwind,
when distress and anguish come upon you.
28 Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer;
they will seek me diligently but will not find me.
Those of us who read the Bible sometimes read about God’s wrath and judgment. It can be quite discomforting when we do so. God seems quite upset, quite irate, when it comes to sin. Sometimes I ask myself, “Do I want that kind of God?” when I read about his anger and vengeance toward sin. God’s wrath is difficult to think about. We tend to like the idea of a loving God but not of a judging God.
I particularly don’t like to think of his anger and judgment when thinking of my own sins. I don’t want that burning fire coming after me!
While God’s wrath may seem “Ungodly” in our modern world of “tolerance for others”, do we really want a God who does not judge sin? When we see the hatred and injustice that occur in this “tolerant” world, do we want a God who sits idly by, just watching it all happen while munching on brownies? When we see children being abused, victims slaughtered by evil dictators, people losing their fortunes due to swindlers, do we want our Creator to do nothing in regard to it?
I want God’s judgment (just not against me!).
Think of yourself as a father or father to be. You love you children. You want great things for them. But are you not going to be angry and passionate when you see someone hurt them? No way! Are you going to sit by and just let them get hurt? I don’t think so. You will tear doors down to get to the one who hurts them. Also, are you indifferent when your children themselves do wrong? Are you going to sit by idly if they purposefully pick a fight with a younger child? Or, are you not going to feel embarrassment, anger, and shame if they steal from a store or friend? You are going to take action! You won’t like doing it but you will discipline them. You will do that because you love them. You want them to be morally straight, to be loving to others, to be of good character.
If we look at the issue more closely, we do want a God who gets angry about sin, who judges bad deeds. We desire a just world where evil is punished. And we do have a God who is just.
But what does our just God see when it comes to us humans? We all sin, after all. Well, our sin probably stirs his wrath. Fortunately, we have a God who loves us. He may hate our sins but He is slow to anger. He is also willing to die on a cross in atonement for our sins. He loves us so much that He sent His only son to die for us. As the great song by Stuart Townend proclaims, “Tis the power of the cross, Christ became sin for us.”
God, thank you for judging my sins. Also, thank you for sending your only son to die for my sins so that I might live for you.
MOLESKIN:
Prayers for Steam on his new adventure of traveling with his job. Prayers for Thunderstruck’s mother.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Convergence and 3rd F this Saturday!
