{"id":549,"date":"2010-03-28T13:23:19","date_gmt":"2010-03-28T20:23:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jonandlayne.com\/?p=549"},"modified":"2010-03-28T13:39:42","modified_gmt":"2010-03-28T20:39:42","slug":"courage-pharisees-my-friend-and-my-bride","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jonandlayne.com\/courage-pharisees-my-friend-and-my-bride\/","title":{"rendered":"Courage, Pharisees, My Friend and My Bride"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Jon Post<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

I spent much of today thinking about what I wanted to post. I decided I\u2019d just post a few things I\u2019ve felt and written down recently. I\u2019ve felt a little discouraged lately and I know missionaries are supposed to be perfect and awesome and not have any problems but this week I guess I wasn\u2019t the great missionary<\/em> that most people seem to think I usually am. Here are a few thoughts from the week. Feel free to read one at a time and come back to the others later. I’ve been loving the depth of the Hebrew language as I study the Bible lately and as a result I debated about it in my head for a bit tonight and decided to put the word \u201cSelah\u201d after each thought. No I don\u2019t think I\u2019m some kind of psalmist I just really like the meaning and depth of that word. After unloading a passionate thought when I put \u201cSelah\u201d after it I just feel like it caps it and proclaims that peace<\/em> that is so present after expressing deep things. So there it is. Read on. This is what my life is like here some times.<\/p>\n

————————————————————————————————————————-<\/p>\n

What does it take to find courage? I found it tonight in just singing a song of desperation. I sang and sang and sang and found courage in a thankful heart. I know it sounds clich\u00e9 but it\u2019s true. I found that lifeblood rhythm that God planted in everything while I was just singing a \u201cthank you\u201d to my Christ for His blood.<\/p>\n

Selah<\/em><\/h3>\n

Pharisees\u2026 What a show\u2026 Men more interested in tithes and recognition than service. A man more interested in screaming his \u201csermon\u201d than the truth of the Word of God. How did the Gospel get hijacked by these fools? How did the most beautiful, most honest, most caring, most loving, most gracious, most free, gentle Gospel get turned into a two hour pitch for a \u201cdonation\u201d and a magic prayer that heals everything?
\nA day is coming\u2026 a day when these men\u2026 these men whom God has commanded to be the chief servants in the church, to live in abject SLAVERY to the body of Christ\u2026 these men who live as if the whole reason for the church is to bring honor, wealth, comfort, glory to THEMSELVES\u2026 these men will look for mountains to hide under to escape the wrath of a holy God.<\/p>\n

Selah<\/em><\/h3>\n

My friend Lazaro, I really like him. I worked alongside him trying to keep up with his endless energy. His smile and laugh are pretty infectious. And he sings\u2026 oh friends he sings\u2026
\nHis language; N\u2019kangela, his heart; praising his God, his African voice; lifted to heaven. It\u2019s so natural to him. I really really like Lazaro. We joke, we work. And I\u2019ve even gotten to study the Bible with him. He doesn\u2019t have his own so he knows very little beyond what his pastor preaches on Sunday mornings. What an honor, to discover the Living Word of God with my friend. I really like Lazaro.<\/p>\n

Selah<\/em><\/h3>\n

My wife
\nMy princes, my bride. Nothing compares\u2026 nothing.
\nAfrican sunsets, wind gently playing in the tall grass, rainbows of birds; bright and beautiful as they skirt the tips of the grass, a jeweled river; dazzling in its reflection of the sunrise as it cuts across the Angolan countryside\u2026
\nAll of this beauty\u2026 All of this\u2026 Nothing compares\u2026 Nothing.
\n\u201cI have set her as a seal over my heart like a seal on my arm. For love, Ahava<\/span>, love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns in me like a blazing fire, like a mighty flame. Many waters cannot quench Ahava<\/span>, love.\u201d Song of Solomon 8:6-7
\n<\/em>My lover, my bride.<\/p>\n

Selah<\/em><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Jon Post I spent much of today thinking about what I wanted to post. I decided I\u2019d just post a few things I\u2019ve felt and written down recently. I\u2019ve felt a little discouraged lately and I know missionaries are supposed to be perfect and awesome and not have any problems but this week I…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonandlayne.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonandlayne.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonandlayne.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonandlayne.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonandlayne.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=549"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/jonandlayne.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":552,"href":"https:\/\/jonandlayne.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549\/revisions\/552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonandlayne.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonandlayne.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonandlayne.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}