Friday, February 25, 2005

sitting in the airport

right now i am sitting on the floor in hartsfield airport in atlanta waiting for my flight home. why am i on the floor you might ask. so i can use the electrical outlet for the laptop. i think it makes me look kewl with my glowing apple shinning forth from the back of my screen as i sit here on the floor. of course my bum is falling asleep soon my legs will fall asleep and then my feet and i will probably look stupid when i try to stand up and fall on my face.

i can't wait to sleep in my own bed is has been a long week. winterfest, intern hunt and prepare/enrich certification all in one week. lisa is the best wife ever.

oh i got gmail! so if you want to email my gmail account and add to my kewlness send it to phyrebyrd@gmail.com

Wednesday, February 23, 2005

here is cabin 4 at the abilene koa

abilene koa cabin 4
cabin 4 at the abilene koa

reflections on abilene

last night there was a big thunder storm. i forgot how this town uses it street as flood control so i drove thru alot of big puddles it was fun!

had diner with my friend paul and caught up with him.

i love my cabin at the koa. it is nice and queit. no cable tv. i am about 10 feet from the bath house and i have wifi! what more could you want.

very different from the hotel at winterfest last weekend. which was noisy with crappy wifi and all the junk on cable. although the company was awesome with all my teens.

Tuesday, February 22, 2005

intern hunt

well i am sitting in the bean waiting for my next candidate for our intership program this summer. i had three guys this morning and i have two more to go for the day. i have some good candidates so far but i am still looking for the young women to interview.

it is hard to look at these college students who are seeking a ministry position and figure out who would work best at falls church and me. i have to find one youngman and one young woman to fill our positions. prayer is my big tool, seeking the Lord's wisdom and listening to who He is calling to work with us.

had lunch with my old friend glen macdonald and keith the youth minister where he is preaching. it was a lot of fun and i don't think our poor waitress will forget us soon. tonight i eat with some former students and it will be great to catch up with the,

Monday, February 21, 2005

i made it to abilene

i have been on the road all day long and right now i am sitting in the bean sprout listen to my friend and former student paul bryan present a movie he made on homelessness. this is a really kewl movie he put together for a class project that won an award!

i will be writing from acu for the next few days as i hunt for interns and get certified in a premarital councling instrument.

to see the movie click here

Thursday, February 17, 2005

halloween 2004

i know that this little slide show is about 4 months late but i just had share what we did halloween eve 2004

the meals of Jesus: the wedding in cana

The meals of Jesus
The wedding in Cana
John 2.1-.11

As best as I can tell the first actual recorded meal of Jesus would be the wedding in Cana found in John 2.1-.11. Jesus, his disciples and his mother are invited to a wedding of an unknown couple. Everything seems to be going great when it is discovered that the wine has run out. This is a big deal because there is nothing for the guests to drink. It as if you went to Dairy Queen and they ran out of ice cream or to Kentucky Fried Chicken and they were out of chicken. (Both of these examples have happened to me.) This new couple is about to face a very embarrassing situation. In which they will lose face and status with their friends, family and their community.

Jesus’ mom hears about this and tells Jesus about the situation. His answer is interesting. Instead of saying “No” or “Okay Mom.” He says “My time has not yet come” (John 2.4). What kind of answer is this? It is the answer of the Messiah who is not ready to go public with his identity. It is the answer of the Messiah whose hour of glorification has not come

In John’s gospel there is a lot of talk about “time.” On two occasions mobs either want to kill Jesus or try to but they can’t because “his time had not come” (John 7.30 & 8.20) Jesus’ family wants him to go up to Jerusalem during the feast of Tabernacles to make a name for himself but he refuse because “The right time for me has not yet come” (John 7.6). Timing seems to be everything. For the first half of John’s gospel Jesus’ time has not come. He is not ready, the time has not come, and the hour is not here for the Son of Man to be glorified.

It is not until chapter 12 that the hour comes. Then in at the beginning of chapter 13 John tells us “It was the time of the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father.” Then he washes the disciple’s feet. As Jesus prays for himself just before he is arrested he tells the Father that the time has come for the Father to glorify the son and the son to glorify the Father (John 17.1). All of the talk about “time” is pointing to the Crucifixion.

In Cana Jesus’ time has not come for him to reveal his identity. Followed by attempts on His life that are thwarted because His time to die had not come. Finally the glorifying event comes, the time is ready and Jesus is Crucified. It is all about timing. It is all about the Father and the Son being in control.

I find it interesting that at the Wedding in Cana it is only the servants and the disciples who know where the new wine came from. It is to the servants and His disciples that the Messiah reveals himself. The Master of the Wedding, the bride, the groom and the rest of the wedding party have no knowledge of where this best wine saved for the end came from.

It is as if John is letting us in on the secret. It is as if John is telling us that we are the servants or disciples to whom the best new wine saved for the end has been revealed. It is as if Jesus is that best new wine and we his servants are to take it to those around us. The LORD has saved the best for the last. He saved his Son to rescue us from sin. We are the servants who take this wine to those around us. They don’t know where it came from but we do.

The wedding story ends with “This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed in Cana of Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him. Jesus doesn’t “go public” but he shows his disciples his glory and they believe.

Friday, February 04, 2005

The Meals of Jesus: The Meal that Never Happens

We don’t have a written record of the first meal of Jesus. We can assume that Mary
nursed Him for his first meal. If you stop and think about the fact that the creator of the
universe needed a young freshly married woman to sustain him it is amazing. Every
fiber of Mary’s being was created by the child who she nursed.
The first recorded meal of Jesus is one that never happens. After being baptized by John
the Baptist, Jesus is full of the Holy Spirit. Then the Spirit leads him into the dessert to
fast for forty day and be tempted by the Devil. We find a full account of this event in
Matthew 4.1-.11 and Luke 4.1-.13, while Mark (4.12 & .13) deals with this event briefly.
At the end of the forty days of fasting Jesus must have been so hungry. So the Devil
exploits what could have been a weakness and asks “If you are the Son of God, tell these
stones to become bread.” (Mathew 4.3 & Luke 4.3). The tempter knows who Jesus is and
he wants Jesus to use His power take care of His own physical needs by altering creation
in order to show that He is the Son of God. Jesus answers the Devil “Man does not live
on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4.4,
Luke 4.4) this is a quote from Deuteronomy 8.3.
If you go back and read Deuteronomy 8.3 you will find that the full quote is a reminder
to the Israelites of how the LORD takes care of them. At first the LORD caused them to
be hungry and then fed them manna so that they would learn that man does not live by
bread alone but on every word that comes from the LORD.
What sustains us? Is it the bread of this world or the Word of the LORD? After not
eating for 40 days and nights Jesus skips his first meal. He overcomes the next two
temptations to teach us that it is the Word of the LORD that truly sustains us and not
simply food.