The Calling

"Real spiritual and relational change requires a commitment to move far beyond the certainty of false intimacy toward unsettling and sometimes shattering levels of disappointment that we reach when we really love others. Only then will trusting God become more than a sermonic platitude. Only then will it become the rock on which we stand."

"As God begins working in your life, you can begin to love others as God created you to do. Move toward others courageously. Don't deny the pain of disappointments in relationships. Face them squarely. Allow yourself to hunger for deeper relationships, and as you draw closer to God be assured that He will draw closer to you. He will give you hope." - Harry Schaumburg

Offering and Wages Payable

Something from the book of Kings caught my interest last night: under Joash and Jehoiada, the priests assigned to collect money to meet the expenses of repairing the temple "did not require an accounting from those to whom they gave the money to pay the workers, because they acted with complete honesty" (2 Ki 12:15). I have no good reason why I like this verse other than its reference to our meticulous accountant friends. They get their very own line! I've frequently pondered the very real temptation to use church funding for private purposes, and how those lawyers and accountants who are often responsible for our church finances deal with it. There is also a convergence, or collision of sorts, of covenant theology, political economy, and taxation of public goods taking place on all sides in the Old Testament. More on OT administration of government another time.