August 27 – Birth Day

        Psalm 139:13-16a - “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made....my frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body....” NIV © 1973

        The psalmist here paints a beautiful poetic picture of God creating a new physical life. It is interesting to note that the NIV uses the words “unformed body” in verse 16. The original Hebrew word actually means “embryo”. This verse alone, although there are others, (e.g. Jer. 1:5), confirms that life in God's mind begins at conception. Humans are his special creation (Gen. 1:26).

        There are more than 7 billion people on planet Earth in 2016. That averages to 19,178,082 living persons who share the same birth day in a calendar year. Does that large number make you feel insignificant? Yet God knows each one of us from the day that we were conceived, and even before, as Jeremiah 1:5 suggests.

        With whom do you share your birth date? Check out http://www.onthisday.com/birthdays to find some people remembered in history who have the same birth date as you. I share my birth day with U.S. President Lyndon Johnson, actor Paul Reubens (Pee Wee Herman), and Anna of Brandenburg, queen of Denmark (16^th cent). While I will not be remembered in the history annals of the world, God remembers me right now. I thank him that he is my Father and God, the most powerful creator and inventor of all time.

August 26 – Watch Your Life

        1 Timothy 4:16 – "Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and [those who hear you]." © NIV, 1973

Proverbs 16:17 - ".....he who guards his way, guards his life."

        In 2010 I spent a week in El Salvador with King's Castle, a mission organization that works in youth evangelism and discipleship. I was with a team of college students from the U.S. and with some locals, participating in "spectacle evangelism" in the greaterr Santa Ana area. We were sleeping in a church building each night, and were transported via rented bus each day to and from our various destinations. The church building was very close to a busy road, and the bus had little room to park between the building and the road. One day, as we were exiting the bus on the highway side, one of the locals, in his decent, but incomplete English, stated "Watch your life", as we had to step from the bus onto the road. We Americans thought it was funny that he had used a phrase that was technically correct in American English but not used in the colloquial way that we say "Be careful!". So it turned out that I now have a perpetual inside joke related to bad English.

        It also turns out, that same phrase is used in I Timothy in the NIV, only in a slightly different context. The warning, however, is still there. It is a call to constantly be on guard about the direction that we are taking and about the worldview we are living. Everyday we should be mindful of how we spend our time, money, resources, ambitious thoughts. All of those things do reflect the worldview that we are living. Surrendering our lives daily and asking for God's guidance and direction the first thing in the morning, is one way to keep on track during the day. Let's guard our thoughts and life while pressing on to know God and his will and plans for our lives. Read I Cor. 16:13 and Prov. 4:23 for further thoughts.