Reads Like a Journal----Saturday, May 22, 2010 by Dave Sonnenberg

READS LIKE A JOURNAL


Saturday, May 22, 2010

by Dave Sonnenberg



Have you ever undertaken the discipline of journaling? Have you ever read the journals of someone else--- ie. the published journals of another such as Lewis and Clark, a famous person, or someone who has entrusted you with their story?



Journals allow someone to put down their thoughts/prayers/dreams/ as well as enables a person to simply document "this is what happened". Journaling is a discipline that enables us to document the ways in which we have interacted with the world on a particular day or season of our life, yet in retrospect may allow us to see where God was leading us or guiding us.



I don't journal enough but I can tell you that I feel most energized and refreshed when I am taking the time to take note of what is going on in the course of my daily life and not simply "going through the motions". The great thing about journaling is that there is no magic formula- no right or wrong recipe. (Morton Kelsey's Adventure Inward is a great book on journaling from the Christian perspective)



Todays reading has the feel of a journal in that you see the author using the word "we" over and over to describe the experience. It is a shared experience he is having with Paul - an experience that has the thrill of a roller coaster ride- ups and downs, twists and turns, fear and adventure- a surge of adreniline along the way. "We" reminds us that for as much as we give Paul credit for starting church after church and being the key figure in the early church that there were lots of others who played critical roles.



In the Christian community today, one might point to certain people as leaders and the voices that matter. "We" reminds us that the sharing of faith is a massive team effort. Our individual stories indeed matter a great amount but they need to be connected to others. "We" are in this togethter must become our motto as we engage the 21st century world.



ACTS 21
When we had parted from them and set sail, we came by a straight course to Cos, and the next day to Rhodes, and from there to Patara.* 2When we found a ship bound for Phoenicia, we went on board and set sail. 3We came in sight of Cyprus; and leaving it on our left, we sailed to Syria and landed at Tyre, because the ship was to unload its cargo there. 4We looked up the disciples and stayed there for seven days. Through the Spirit they told Paul not to go on to Jerusalem. 5When our days there were ended, we left and proceeded on our journey; and all of them, with wives and children, escorted us outside the city. There we knelt down on the beach and prayed 6and said farewell to one another. Then we went on board the ship, and they returned home.


7 When we had finished* the voyage from Tyre, we arrived at Ptolemais; and we greeted the believers* and stayed with them for one day. 8The next day we left and came to Caesarea; and we went into the house of Philip the evangelist, one of the seven, and stayed with him. 9He had four unmarried daughters* who had the gift of prophecy. 10While we were staying there for several days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. 11He came to us and took Paul’s belt, bound his own feet and hands with it, and said, ‘Thus says the Holy Spirit, “This is the way the Jews in Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.” ’ 12When we heard this, we and the people there urged him not to go up to Jerusalem. 13Then Paul answered, ‘What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.’ 14Since he would not be persuaded, we remained silent except to say, ‘The Lord’s will be done.’

15 After these days we got ready and started to go up to Jerusalem. 16Some of the disciples from Caesarea also came along and brought us to the house of Mnason of Cyprus, an early disciple, with whom we were to stay.

Paul Visits James at Jerusalem17 When we arrived in Jerusalem, the brothers welcomed us warmly. 18The next day Paul went with us to visit James; and all the elders were present. 19After greeting them, he related one by one the things that God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. 20When they heard it, they praised God. Then they said to him, ‘You see, brother, how many thousands of believers there are among the Jews, and they are all zealous for the law. 21They have been told about you that you teach all the Jews living among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, and that you tell them not to circumcise their children or observe the customs. 22What then is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come. 23So do what we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow. 24Join these men, go through the rite of purification with them, and pay for the shaving of their heads. Thus all will know that there is nothing in what they have been told about you, but that you yourself observe and guard the law. 25But as for the Gentiles who have become believers, we have sent a letter with our judgement that they should abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled* and from fornication.’ 26Then Paul took the men, and the next day, having purified himself, he entered the temple with them, making public the completion of the days of purification when the sacrifice would be made for each of them.