On Reading the Bible

What started as a Facebook status update quickly turned into something worth preserving as a blog entry.

Caleb Allen finished reading the OT (from where I would've been if I'd started my annual goal in January), but is still a bit behind schedule. I've never spent this much time in the Word. It's so amazing how refreshing it is! To my non-Christian friends, "you've GOT to check this out!" How anybody can choose not to believe escapes me. …

I'm going to cut off the "status update" right there and now start in on making the rest of it into a more meaningful, well-written post.


Annual Bible Reading
If you are friends with me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter, you may recall me posting (Facebook status, via a tweet) about my new goal to read the Bible annually by reading three chapters daily.

I have long struggled with daily devotions. Like many people, I've started many a time, only to lapse after a week, two weeks, a month… it almost felt like, "Why should I bother? It'll only last a short time anyway." Nevertheless, it was an area in which I really wanted to improve… eventually. To be completely honest, my newfound resolution is due in no small part to the influence of my wonderful girlfriend, Amber (of whom I wrote last month), who has been reading the Bible annually using the 3-chapters-a-day plan for seven years already. It's a very simple plan: you start on the first of January at Genesis 1:1, read three chapters daily, and cheat occasionally by reading more than three if they are short (this is necessary because the ratio of chapters to days would require actually reading ~3.25 chapters daily).


Keeping Up
Still struggling, I improve.

It should be a surprise to no reader that one cannot easily go from not doing something at all to doing it perfectly overnight. To say I've not missed days, sometimes several in a row, would be to lie. Amber has been such a blessing to me in many ways; and one important way is that she has continued to gently encourage me to be faithful to my daily readings. When she invited me to join her in doing daily readings, she had just finished Ezekiel and was ready to start Daniel. Having maintained her habit, Amber is now several days into Matthew while I only finished Malachi tonight.

But the more I read, the more I WANT to read… it's a different response than I've felt in my previous attempts. I'm not sure why it's so different, but that it is different I am sure. Perhaps I'm more mature now than in my previous attempts (I should hope so!). Perhaps I'm more motivated (I think I am). But whatever the reason, I'm excited for it!


A Response to Worship
My heart yearns for more and questions those who reject Him.

As I've been reading over this past month, I've been compelled, forced, stretched to my limit, to question how anybody can reject Truth! I think of my friends from college: Chad Whitaker, Christine Price, and Mike Mrozek stick out in my mind. How can they seriously maintain that God is unreal or that He doesn't matter or care? Is there anything I could've done to make an impression on them? It isn't as though they haven't heard. Chad was raised in the church and ran sound, just like me, before leaving home for college. Christine quotes passages I've never read in order to make fun of them! Clearly ignorance is not the issue. I suppose I could've been more outspoken, though I don't even know exactly what that would mean.

I can't change what I didn't do in college, but I can make an ardent plea now.

To my non-Christian friends, "You've GOT to check this out!" There are many spirits out there, but only one of them loves us! The Bible is that spirit's attempt to tell us about itself. And what a mighty spirit it is! He is called many things: Yahweh, Jehovah, Creator, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, God Who Provides, God With Us, Lord of lords, King of kings, God Almighty, Most High, Lord of Heaven's Armies, Comforter, Living God, Holy One, I AM.

As I have been reading my Bible, I have been repeatedly overwhelmed with the thought of how much a blessing it is to know I have a relationship with the one spirit in all of that which exists who actually CARES about me! My friends, what a blessing it could be for you to know this spirit! This spirit is not absent from our world or from our lives, and it is willing that you would seek it. You may think you've been loved in your life (or you may not); you may think you've been blessed in your life (or you may not); you may think you have been comforted in your life (or you may not); but I tell you this, YOU AIN'T SEEN NOTHING YET! The spirit who existed before he created all that exists, who so ordained cells to multiply in your mother's womb, and who breathed the very breath of life into your flesh has so much stored up for you that you cannot even begin to imagine it!

How could you pass up on this? Why would you want to‽

You can call me crazy for believing in something I cannot see, but I tell you the truth, I have seen my God! (An old hymn says, "You ask me how I know He lives: He lives within my heart!") I have seen His works; I have seen His blessings; I have literally felt His strength holding me up when I was about to collapse (no, I mean, literally—when I stood in the hospital room where my beloved sister's soul-less body lay, I felt as though I was going to collapse, but a strength came upon me and physically held me on my feet! And it happened a couple other times that week, as well.); He orders the steps of the godly and delights in every detail of their lives (and I can attest to it!).

WHO IS LIKE MY GOD‽
There is none like you, O Lord.


Closing Remarks
Don't dismiss the opportunity to be a part of something worth being a part of.

My friends… if you don't yet call yourself a Christian, please… take some time to read the Bible. I really liked the end of the Old Testament; starting in Daniel may be good. If you have questions, just ask me!

If you do call yourself a Christian, please… take some time to read the Bible! It is so refreshing to read about the wonders of such a mighty spirit that bends the very laws of nature it created and yet concerns itself with the daily dealings of a creature such as I.


God bless you, reader.

A Book About Rachel

Today I started working on my book, a book about my departed and beloved sister, Rachel Marie (Allen) Amstutz. I do not know how long it will take to finish, only that it will be finished one day.

For whom am I writing this book? Me. I'm writing this because *I* want to have it; it will have special meaning to me. But I recognize others may want to read it too. I bet that my family will want a copy of it, and it would probably be good for Rachel's children to read someday, too. Rachel's closest friends from childhood and church, those to whom she reached out, and even some who accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior in the wake of her death may also be interested in reading it. I very much hope to get this published for those who would share my joy in having and reading it.

This purpose of the book will be (at least) twofold.
1) God's Preparations. As time went by, facts came to light that revealed the many, many ways in which God was actively preparing the world for the day he would call Rachel heavenward; I want to document and discuss these.
2) People's responses. I know that many people penned journals, poems, and songs in dedication to, honor of, or memory of Rachel. I want to collect these. As word got out that she had moved on to her glory, letters of encouragement poured in from all around the world - literally. Some were sent to me, some to my parents, still more to my brother by birth, and of course, to Rachel's bereaved husband, my brother by choice, Scott. I want to collect as many of these as I can, too.

So now it comes to this: I need your help!

From whom I need help:
Family, friends, or acquaintances with Rachel, Scott, myself, or my family. (Basically, anybody who knows us!)

What I want:
I need more content, and you guys have it all!
If you did anything like write a letter, journal, song or poem, jotted notes on a Post-It, made a "sticky" on your iPhone, ANYTHING AT ALL in response to Rachel's death and the days and events surrounding it, please send it to me!
If you made a decision about your future (children? salvation? outreach?), tell me about it!
Rachel touched so many lives, and I want to try to capture as much of that as possible. I think you will actually be surprised when you learn just how much Rachel affected others, not just you.

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UPDATE: This info was added after this entry was originally posted.
To reiterate, I'm primarily doing this for myself. I personally am interested in seeing this stuff if you have it. If you feel comfortable sharing it with me but don't want it published publicly, that is perfectly OK! I've already had one person send me something with the request it not be shared outside the family, and I'll honor any such request. -Thanks.
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Timeframe:
As soon as you can get it to me.
I have a few things already to get me started, so I'm not sitting around waiting on things to get going. But I'd like to get your input as quickly as I can, while it is all still pretty fresh in your mind. Now, if you don't have something prepared can you can send me, take your time. Write it up. This will be an ongoing endeavor, so don't rush yourself.

Where to send it:
If you have electronic media to contribute, please send it via email to MySisterRachel+contribution@gmail.com. If you have something that cannot be sent via email, alert me via email so I can hook you up with a mailing address.


Book orders?
Like I said, I expect that there will be other people besides me who will want a copy of the finished book. If you are one such person, please send an email to MySisterRachel+bookorder@gmail.com, and I will let you know when the time approaches.


General contact information.
If you have anything to say or ask about related to this project, you can just use this email address: MySisterRachel@gmail.com (without the +-tags).

Commend it to God

I received the following in an email from my dad this morning. As myself and my family have been dealing with life without my beloved sister Rachel, who moved to Heaven on April 18, 2009, we have needed to remind ourselves that we only need to cast our cares on Him. The message in Dad’s email was encouraging to Dad and me; I hope it encourages you, too.

Luke paints some very moving scenes for us in his record of the early church. Not least is that emotion-charged farewell to the Ephesian elders on the docks at the port town of Miletus. Paul was on a tight travel schedule, and time would not permit a visit to his beloved Ephesus. So he sent for the elders of the church to come and see him off. They came. Misty-eyed, and with a dull ache in his heart, the superlative missionary urged parting counsels upon these men whom he had come to treasure—men whom he had prayed, preached, and wept into the body of Christ.

And then he uttered the well known words, "And now, brethren, I commend you to God." That word "commend," I discovered, means literally "to set down beside or in front of someone," and so can be very beautifully expressed,

I lay you down beside God.

In the hot summers of yesteryear we would drive to the beaches of New Jersey to enjoy the sun, sand, and surf. It was always a problem what to do with your wallet, car keys or other valuables while splashing in the Atlantic, for the beaches were crowded, and little was safe. It was no problem when Mother was with us, for we simply entrusted our valuables to her care, dismissed our concerns, and enjoyed the water.

That's what Paul was saying. His paternal instincts to the contrary, he knew that he could not cling possessively to his converts forever. There comes a time when the fledgling must leave the nest, when the parental hand must be withdrawn. Life flows on, and the work we have begun we must soon lay down and trust to the continuing care of the Great Shepherd. There comes a time in the ministry of the missionary and the mission, when in a decisive way we must say to a particular soul, or to a particular church, or of a particular work, I lay you down beside God.

This calls for grown-up faith, when God must be trusted only and utterly to do what is beyond our power to do. And is not this what our Father calls us to do not only with persons we treasure, but with all the cares of life? With the problem that has exhausted our wisdom and patience? Lay it down beside God- With the future and its uncertainties? Lay them down beside God. - With the fear that besets us? Lay it down beside God.

And what shall we say of life itself, and of the substance of time and things placed in our trust? Lay them down beside God, where neither moth nor rust can corrupt and where thieves cannot break through and steal. Paul understood that attitude. He learned out of his own experience of surrender to say,

I am convinced that he is able to guard what
I have entrusted to him for that day. 
                                   - 2 Timothy 1:12 (NIV)

Jesus I will trust Thee
Trust Thee with my soul
Guilty, lost and helpless,
Thou canst make me whole;
There is none in heaven
Or on earth like Thee
Thou hast died for sinners,
Therefore, Lord for me. 
                           - Mary J. Walker

Credit: Conley, Joseph F. 2009. Lay It Down! Reflections: Musings of an Old Missionary. Nashville: Xulon Press, 31-32.

About the Author: Joe Conley was the man who delivered the chapel message at Fort Wayne Bible College that God used to tell my dad that he and my mom were to be assigned to West Kalimantan, Indonesia. Further, he headed Regions Beyond Missionary Union with whom my dad served in Indonesia.