This is a difficult time of the year for me. It’s Ice Cream Season! I know, “how hard can it really be?” It’s hard, because I love Ice Cream and it would be very easy for me to be at an ice cream stand every day for the next several months.
My all time favorite flavor is Mint Chocolate Chip. I could order that every time I go to the ice cream stand. I especially love certain varieties of Mint Chip. The brands with the slivers of chips rather than the entire chips, that would be the top.
When we lived in North Carolina, we were introduced to a store that actually sold Frozen Custard. That place was awesome! They had the standards everyday, vanilla, chocolate and a special for the day. But everyday, you could make your own creation called a “Concrete.” You would simply add ingredients to the custard to be blended together. I always loved a mint chocolate concrete. Big surprise, huh! It was even better if the special for the day was Sweet Cream.
Sometimes, though, I like to get out of my comfort zone and get something different. I don’t like to go there a lot, just enough to get my taste buds working again and to remind me of what I like.
I thought about that, not only because I had a big bowl of Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream last night, but because of what I read this morning. Let me explain.
When I want to do some reading in scripture, I tend to go where I am comfortable, I read what I know, read what I like. Often times that means that I am reading the New Testament, and probably reading a Gospel or one of Paul’s Letters. I particularly like the Gospel of Luke and I enjoy reading from Paul’s letter to the people of Rome. In these readings, I hear a lot about God’s grace, I hear about the love of Christ, and I like that. It’s comfortable, reassuring and easy on my spiritual walk.
But this morning as I began, I wanted something a little different. I wanted a different flavor, if you will. So I turned to the Old Testament and to the Book of Hosea. Don’t ask me why this book. It was more about being different and choosing a different flavor.
If you’ve never looked at or tasted this book, I’d challenge you to open it up. It will hopefully cause you to think a little bit. It is not comfortable and reassuring and easy on your spiritual walk. It will give you a spiritual brain freeze, cause you to squinch up your forehead and make you think a little bit. Go ahead – take a sample.
Hosea is a minor prophet. It is named this by scholars, not because it is any less significant in the message, but mostly because it is not as long as the Major prophets that you may know like Isaiah and Jeremiah. It may not be as long, but the message is just as important for us to hear.
I didn’t get very far, just a few chapters. Maybe it’s like a new flavor, with which you have to take a test run. But the taste that I had makes me want to come back for more. It caused me to think about what message God has for us and what God is calling us to be.
Hosea is making a charge against the people of God. The charges are not nice either. Hosea says, “There is unfaithfulness, no love, no acknowledgement of God in the Land, and there is only cursing, lying, and murder.”
We don’t like to eat that flavor do we? We don’t like to admit that there are times that we are not the people that God is calling us to be. Quite frankly, we are unfaithful at times. Hosea is reminding me of that.
So this e-pistle is not the warm fuzzy that it usually is today. I thought we should ask some tough questions of ourselves and take a taste of something out of our comfort zone. Ask yourself – if you were judged today – would you be found unfaithful, lacking love, and having no acknowledgement of God? If you answered yes to any or maybe all of those questions – what do you need to do to change that?
I invite you to taste something different this week. Take some time to go to Hosea . . . Keep looking, you’ll find it!
This week, Hengust Robinson will be preaching. I will be taking some time off and doing something really outside my comfort zone. I am competing in my very first Triathlon in New Brighton. My goal is quite simple – cross the finish line with a smile on my face. Along the way, I am going to be praying for strength, not only personal, but God’s strength to be with me. I will be praying for you along the way as well.
Please pray for me, and know that I am praying for you.
Greg
My all time favorite flavor is Mint Chocolate Chip. I could order that every time I go to the ice cream stand. I especially love certain varieties of Mint Chip. The brands with the slivers of chips rather than the entire chips, that would be the top.
When we lived in North Carolina, we were introduced to a store that actually sold Frozen Custard. That place was awesome! They had the standards everyday, vanilla, chocolate and a special for the day. But everyday, you could make your own creation called a “Concrete.” You would simply add ingredients to the custard to be blended together. I always loved a mint chocolate concrete. Big surprise, huh! It was even better if the special for the day was Sweet Cream.
Sometimes, though, I like to get out of my comfort zone and get something different. I don’t like to go there a lot, just enough to get my taste buds working again and to remind me of what I like.
I thought about that, not only because I had a big bowl of Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream last night, but because of what I read this morning. Let me explain.
When I want to do some reading in scripture, I tend to go where I am comfortable, I read what I know, read what I like. Often times that means that I am reading the New Testament, and probably reading a Gospel or one of Paul’s Letters. I particularly like the Gospel of Luke and I enjoy reading from Paul’s letter to the people of Rome. In these readings, I hear a lot about God’s grace, I hear about the love of Christ, and I like that. It’s comfortable, reassuring and easy on my spiritual walk.
But this morning as I began, I wanted something a little different. I wanted a different flavor, if you will. So I turned to the Old Testament and to the Book of Hosea. Don’t ask me why this book. It was more about being different and choosing a different flavor.
If you’ve never looked at or tasted this book, I’d challenge you to open it up. It will hopefully cause you to think a little bit. It is not comfortable and reassuring and easy on your spiritual walk. It will give you a spiritual brain freeze, cause you to squinch up your forehead and make you think a little bit. Go ahead – take a sample.
Hosea is a minor prophet. It is named this by scholars, not because it is any less significant in the message, but mostly because it is not as long as the Major prophets that you may know like Isaiah and Jeremiah. It may not be as long, but the message is just as important for us to hear.
I didn’t get very far, just a few chapters. Maybe it’s like a new flavor, with which you have to take a test run. But the taste that I had makes me want to come back for more. It caused me to think about what message God has for us and what God is calling us to be.
Hosea is making a charge against the people of God. The charges are not nice either. Hosea says, “There is unfaithfulness, no love, no acknowledgement of God in the Land, and there is only cursing, lying, and murder.”
We don’t like to eat that flavor do we? We don’t like to admit that there are times that we are not the people that God is calling us to be. Quite frankly, we are unfaithful at times. Hosea is reminding me of that.
So this e-pistle is not the warm fuzzy that it usually is today. I thought we should ask some tough questions of ourselves and take a taste of something out of our comfort zone. Ask yourself – if you were judged today – would you be found unfaithful, lacking love, and having no acknowledgement of God? If you answered yes to any or maybe all of those questions – what do you need to do to change that?
I invite you to taste something different this week. Take some time to go to Hosea . . . Keep looking, you’ll find it!
This week, Hengust Robinson will be preaching. I will be taking some time off and doing something really outside my comfort zone. I am competing in my very first Triathlon in New Brighton. My goal is quite simple – cross the finish line with a smile on my face. Along the way, I am going to be praying for strength, not only personal, but God’s strength to be with me. I will be praying for you along the way as well.
Please pray for me, and know that I am praying for you.
Greg
4 comments:
Go all the way brother! I look forward to the story of the triatholon. Did you know that Turkey Hill (not College Hill) makes a low fat Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream? My favorite too! Have fun this weekend with a smile on your face.
Greg,
Run that race with the image of a big bowl of Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream waiting for you at the finish line! Good luck!
We can thank GECOX for the icecream obcession! It is not only me, Bekah, Ty, Jerry, or Doug but you have that bug too. Let that motivate you on Sunday...know I will be praying for you!
I had Haagan Das light caramel swirl last night.
I'm proud of you for doing this (the tri, not the ice cream). You're covered in prayer (and don't wipe it off, either.)
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