Update 7/30/24: Worship

 Psalm 95:1-6 “Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let us come into His presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to Him with songs of praise! For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In His hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are His also. The sea is His, for He made it, and His hands formed the dry land. Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!”

I don’t know about you, but when I am out in nature, I can’t help but worship God. The beauty around you just takes your breath away. I love the verse that reminds us that even if we didn’t worship God, the mountains, hills, and rocks will praise the Lord (Isaiah 55:12, Luke 19:40). There is a beauty in learning how to see God in the world around you and taking the time to praise Him. Psalm 150:6 is an imperative (a command) statement: “Let everything that has breath and praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!” That means that every day God gives us breath while we are here on earth, we should praise His name. Worship doesn’t just happen on Sunday morning during singing. Worship should happen every day as we magnify God’s name. I think sometimes we get caught up in church over the whole worship music debate because we forget the whole purpose of worship isn’t about us at all. It’s about giving God the glory that is due His name. I do believe we have lost some of the reverence we used to have in church. I miss singing hymns because they are so full of rich theology. I think there are some great modern songs, but too many times I feel music is more like a concert then a worship service. I think this is mainly due to so many people coming to church out of routine and they lack a deep understanding of who God is. I think that is why Wayne and I loved the series “Behold Your God”. It helped us re-establish a proper view of who God is and a right view of self. I think we like to put God in a box that we are comfortable with and can easily explain to others. But honestly, if you don’t have a proper, Biblical view of God, when life gets hard, you will fall and fail. You have to have to be anchored in a proper knowledge of God-His attributes and character because that is where our hope comes from. 

I am doing a study on Ruth through Precepts Bible study. It is interesting that the first time hope is used in scripture is in the book of Ruth. The word literally means a cord. Kay Arthur demonstrated how when life gets rocky and hard, you grab your cord (your hope), and He holds you. I don’t know if I’m explaining it well, but it was such a powerful image for me of what God does for us. He is our cord that anchors us when storms of life come. Another little God moment as I was studying Ruth. Her future mother’n’law after she married Boaz, was Rahab. If you recall, Rahab, like Ruth, was a gentile. Not only that, she was saved from the conquering of Jericho when she hung a red cord out of her window. Think about how beautiful this is. Hope is first used in Ruth, which means cord, and it was a cord that was a symbol of Rahab’s faith and trust that God could save her. If that isn’t amazing enough for you, both of these women are woven into the genealogy of Jesus. What a beautiful picture of how God had a plan to save both Jews and Gentiles. Anyway, just some of my ponderings from studying God’s Word this week.

Wayne got a new hat. I think he looks great! Who would ever guess that this man has terminal brain cancer.

Wayne tripped and fell in our closet and fell into our hamper. I told him he’s banned from our closet since all the wedding and shower stuff is taking up the extra space. We had a good laugh over this moment. Thankfully, I heard him calling for me so that Shan and In could rescue him.

We had a houseful this week. Wayne’s brother and his family spent the week with us. Shan is so good with his little cousins!

Lots of fun memories made with the family this week…swimming, Buc’ees, games, and lots of laughter.

Micaela and Joella went to the Cincinnati Zoo with the cousins. 

Friday, we all visited Cumberland Falls, which was a first for all of us. Wayne stayed in the car with the littles and the rest of us hiked to Eagle Falls. It was a beautiful, but intense hike. 

All the kids loved loving on their cousins! They had Shan wrapped around their fingers.

First attempt and then we realized Micaela was missing.

Swimming at night! The laughter and fun the kids had was contagious.

When the other kids went to the zoo, Shan and I headed to Red River Gorge to hike. We ended up hiking 3 different trails because Shan wanted to hike over 5 miles. We ended up going 5.5 miles. I was very sore that night and slept well. I’m feeling stronger for my upcoming trip.

Shan is way up near the top. He was like a mountain goat. I could hardly keep up with his speed.

**********

I wrote the above post before this morning. Today a painful, sad event happened. I was grabbing the garbage can from down near the basement. I didn’t see a piece of cement rock and I stepped right on it and twisted my ankle. I felt a pop and terrible pain. I was 99% sure I broke it. As I sat there crying in pain, I cried even more when Wayne hobbled down and looked helpless. He wanted to do something, but couldn’t do much. He was able to get Shan who grabbed me a walker and got me into the car. He then drove us to the orthopedic. It was there that we discovered that I fractured my ankle, which brought even more tears. I was supposed to leave in two weeks for Colorado Springs to conquer Manitou Incline. What makes me sad is this was supposed to be my comeback event. I had planned to hike this last year and then I was diagnosed with cancer. Now I broke my ankle with two weeks to go. Oh well, they say 3rd time is a charm right? 

Shan joked that we are the disabled crew. The prosthetic, the cane man, and the broken bone lady. He always keeps me laughing. 

Prayer Requests:

- Please pray for the pain in my ankle and that it heals quickly. 

- Pray for Wayne as he continues to do his therapy and gain as much strength back as possible.