Fog
Mon-Thurs we had 2hr. delays each day for fog...now we have been canceled today. That is our last clamity day...any more and we'll be making them up in June.
I sort of feel like I've been in a fog lately...a wilderness of sorts...it has been very different from desert times I've experienced in the past, but none the less, it is still a time that I feel a bit disconnected from the kingdom life I am called to live and the King of that kingdom.
I was reading in Isaiah the other morning and came to this passage in Isaiah 58:
5 Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
only a day for a man to humble himself?
Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed
and for lying on sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD ?
6 "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter-
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say:
Here am I.
"If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.
11 The LORD will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.
I guess I've never really thought about fasting as having a direct and practical impact on meeting others physical needs. I have always thought that fasting was about praying for a need and going without something to "deny" the flesh and show that "man does not live by bread alone."
Then I read this scripture again and realized that our desire to simplify, to get rid of excess, to live on less so as to give more away...is really all about fasting. I never realized that our fasting should take on REAL physical forms of caring for others. The meal(s) I give up should be feeding someone else. The motorcycle I sell should allow me to give someone else what they need.
We should be going on permanent fasts of things in our lives and allow the funds we would normally spend on them to take care of the hungry, naked, and homeless all around us. I think this is what Jesus meant when he talked about the rich giving out of their wealth. If I give away hundreds or even thousands of dollars to help the needy, but it doesn't REALLY cost me anything then what's the point? If I fast something in my life, but never think to meet someone else's need with the resources I've given up, then what's the point in that?
I sort of feel like I've been in a fog lately...a wilderness of sorts...it has been very different from desert times I've experienced in the past, but none the less, it is still a time that I feel a bit disconnected from the kingdom life I am called to live and the King of that kingdom.
I was reading in Isaiah the other morning and came to this passage in Isaiah 58:
5 Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
only a day for a man to humble himself?
Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed
and for lying on sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD ?
6 "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter-
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say:
Here am I.
"If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.
11 The LORD will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.
I guess I've never really thought about fasting as having a direct and practical impact on meeting others physical needs. I have always thought that fasting was about praying for a need and going without something to "deny" the flesh and show that "man does not live by bread alone."
Then I read this scripture again and realized that our desire to simplify, to get rid of excess, to live on less so as to give more away...is really all about fasting. I never realized that our fasting should take on REAL physical forms of caring for others. The meal(s) I give up should be feeding someone else. The motorcycle I sell should allow me to give someone else what they need.
We should be going on permanent fasts of things in our lives and allow the funds we would normally spend on them to take care of the hungry, naked, and homeless all around us. I think this is what Jesus meant when he talked about the rich giving out of their wealth. If I give away hundreds or even thousands of dollars to help the needy, but it doesn't REALLY cost me anything then what's the point? If I fast something in my life, but never think to meet someone else's need with the resources I've given up, then what's the point in that?
