Working the Phones

When I was 24 years old and finishing up my bachelor's degree after my time in the Marine Corps, I worked a number of different jobs.  One of them was as a customer service representative for Penske Auto Centers.

What does a customer service representative do you might ask???  You answer the following type of calls:

• If one of our auto shops forgot to put oil in your engine after an oil change, or forgot to secure the oil plug in your oil pan (yes that did happen and more often than you would think possible) and your engine seized up 5 miles from the shop due to a lack of oil...
• Or, if a technician did not remember to put the lug nuts on the wheels after changing them, or didn't tighten them enough to secure them, and then while a you the customer were driving down the highway some time afterward and suddenly your wheel literally flies off and bounces into oncoming traffic (I can only picture this one in my mind...but it did happen...more than once)...

Finally

And I, when I was with you brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom.  For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.  And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and much trembling, and my speech, and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

After many months of saying I would do it...I finally did.  The above passage is 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 and for some time I have intended to memorize it.  Today I did...I completed it...and hopefully will remember it tomorrow.

Looking In the Mirror

I am a complicated person...but then again aren't we all?  In reality, I am no more complicated than anyone else, yet I like to think so because it makes me seem special.  Through most of my life I have needed to seem special.  Do you ever have similar thoughts???  By God's grace and His gentle guidance, I continue to learn more about myself with each passing year.  I can honestly say that this surprises me.  While we all will ascent to the reality that we continue to grow and learn throughout our lives, when I was younger I truly believed that at some point I would graduate and reach some level of self-knowledge, a "knowledge of God & life", or more clearly understand the "ways of the universe".  This ultimate knowledge or maturity would propel me past the daily struggle of looking in the mirror and struggling to understand, WHO is that person looking back at me?

Thoughts on Heaven

Our church--Rooftop--just began a new series on Heaven this past Sunday.  We have been preparing for the series for several weeks with music, promotions, decor, and  clouds suspended in the air...it looks really cool!  In several weeks I will be preaching the message "What Is Heaven Like?" and as I have begun reading and studying I realize what a tall task this is going to be.  Think of all the descriptions of Heaven or the different perspectives of Heaven, or all the attributes of an infinite God that are on display in Heaven.  A difficult task this is sure to be!

That being said, this morning as I was reading I was presented with a perspective of Heaven which I haven't considered at length before.  Heaven is the home of God the Father...our perfect and loving Father.  This might not be "breaking news" to any of you, but this struck me as important.  There is a relational component to Heaven that I seemed to have overlooked that may in fact be the greatest thing about Heaven--it is the one place that is truly home, where my/our true Father lives and waits for our arrival.  My primary problem is that I am broken and I struggle to trust, love, and cherish relationships as God intends for me to experience.

A Great Question

Early one morning this past week as David and I are sitting together in the living room, reading our Bibles and writing in our journals, I look over and see him fervently writing and then looking off into the distance. Interested in the thoughts of my eldest son, I asked him, "What are you thinking about?" Now David is an internal processor and often does not respond quickly with what is on his mind, but not this morning...

Morning Habits

For many months now our eldest child David, who is now 11, has been getting up most mornings at 6:15am, 30 minutes earlier than the daily morning wake-up time in the Zilkie home.  He has been doing so in order to spend time praying and journaling.  I invited him to try this daily practice at some point last year while I was up doing the same, and for incentive I offered him a cup of coffee from the pot I make and drink each morning.  Initially he said "yes" because I know he likes to drink coffee and also because he was intrigued by my invitation to do what he saw me doing in the morning when he woke up.

(***Let me step up on my soapbox at this point and encourage you parents to model the important things that you do in your life...for your children to see.  You may not know it, but they are watching and for a time in their life they do look up to you and trust what you invest your life in is of potential value to them as well.  Don't be afraid to let your children see you do virtuous things. I do not believe the words of Matthew to "hide in your closet so that your acts of righteousness are not on display" apply in this context.  How else will our children learn the necessity and value of these same things in their lives if they don't ever get to see you and I doing it?)

Happy New Year!

I wanted to send out a quick "Happy New Year!" to all our friends and family, as well as a prayer for you to experience the fullness of God's grace and truth in your lives.  This morning I read Daniel 2-4 and how God is the great "Revealer of Mysteries".  May God reveal very clearly to you His mysterious yet wondrous love for you and His perfect will for your lives this 2014.