Your Name Written in Heaven

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If the light hits a thunderhead just right, and the colors start bouncing off the sky-water so that it seems to glow with its own light, I start to think I'm getting a glimpse--the palest of glimpses--of what it will be like to see the new Jerusalem, the holy city, descending out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband, having the glory of God, aglow with light like a precious stone.

I reviewed my memory of Revelation chapter 21 again tonight, and as usual, there were more amazing things standing out from the familiar words than I could ever manage to tell about in one post--because the more you digest the Word of God, the more you see its infinite depth of detail and beauty.

Tonight I pictured John, standing there with the angel tour guide, taking it all in, trying to find words to tell me what it was like to see that city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.  

He sees it all, the lighted glory, the massive size, the huge wall, the gates with the names of the twelve tribes of Israel written into pearls giant enough to be gates for a wall that measures one hundred forty-four cubits high.

He sees twelve foundations of the city, noticing names written on them, too, names of the twelve apostles....

...of whom he is one.

The tears linger close to the surface.  Imagine with me what it would be like to be John in that moment, realizing for the first time that his own name is on one of the glorious expanses of precious stone under-girding the very city of God.  

Because when Jesus chose twelve apostles?  John was one.  

And down to the very day of this vision, while he was imprisoned on a lonely island for his Lord, he was faithful to his call.  Imperfect?  Yes.  Growing daily?  Yes.  Slow to realize he had a lot to learn?  Yes.  Yet surrendered to the firm and gentle hand of One who could shape him for higher service?  Yes.

But though John must have seen his name right there, somewhere in that list of beautiful foundations written large, he doesn't say a word about it.  Not here.  Not to us.  He's completely focused on something greater.

"And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.  And the city had no need of the sun, nor of the moon, to shine in it:  for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof."  Revelation 21:22, 23

The Lamb, Jesus, the Cornerstone, is the light that makes the whole city of God, including its streets, its wall, and its foundation, shine with the light of a precious stone.  And the city itself with all those jewels?  Perhaps simply a visual and physical glimpse of the spiritual beauty God desires His church to have.

"Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ."  1 Peter 2:5 

And right now, should you and I so choose, we are being built into the city, into that spiritual temple, and our names can be just as surely written in the book of life of the Lamb as the apostles' names are written in the foundations of the city.

How?

"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved..." Acts 16:31

Faith's Sacrifice (Zacchaeus and a Roman Centurion)

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 Slo Bolt Cilantro, almost blooming

I strike the letters hard and more than once sometimes, because we either need to learn how to take apart and clean the keyboard or buy a new and more ergonomic one.  But some days the words I type into my memory via ScriptureTyper strike me harder than I strike them.

Because while some people's faith helps them subdue kingdoms?  Other people's faith gives them courage to wander about in sheepskins and goatskins and in dens and mountains of the earth, homeless because of that faith.

Some people escape the edge of the sword, while others are sawn asunder.  Some fight the battle valiantly and win, while others are tortured victims not accepting deliverance, because to do so would sacrifice their faith.  Some stop the mouths of lions and get set free in the morning after one night in the den, while others endure bonds and imprisonment indefinitely.  

I sit there in front of the screen, amazed at how easy it is to think faith always equals an outward victory, when the victory of faith may be as often a victory of patient endurance that on the outside looks like it ends poorly.

It's both reassuring and daunting, to be honest--reassuring, because the appearance of failure might not always actually be failure; daunting, because how I long to be the one who rests well in the den of lions for one night knowing it will all be over by morning (See Daniel 6).

Slo Bolt Cilantro, blooming

It happened that way for Zaccheus.  While he hadn't seen or heard Jesus in person, he had heard enough about him to believe.  His belief led him right down a path of change--restoring what he had stolen from people through his job (adding more than enough to compensate for lost time and interest) and helping the poor out of his rightfully acquired wealth.  

Yet he was still a societal outcast, a hated employee of the Roman government.

When Jesus came to town, Zaccheus determined to see him.  Yes, just seeing his new Master would be enough.  He could not get through the press of the crowd, and he could not see over their heads, so he climbed up in a Sycamore tree, thinking perhaps he could catch a glimpse and a paragraph in the sound of His voice as the Lord walked underneath.

Though it had already shown itself strong enough to change his life, his faith didn't dare imagine what happened next, what honor and joy would be his as the Savior stopped, called to the man in the tree, and invited Himself over for dinner.

Can you imagine?  

The God of the universe stopping by your house for the evening, taking time to visit, to teach, to bless.

Zaccheus's faith opened up an experience more wonderful than words could describe, full of joy, happiness, awe, and delight.

{Read his story in Luke 19:1-10, and my favorite commentary about him in The Desire of Ages.}

Volunteer Sunflower

At first glance, the Centurion had a similar experience.  He expressed his faith in Jesus' power to heal his servant no matter where in the world He was, just by speaking the word, and his servant was miraculously healed.

Yet it meant that in honoring the Roman's faith, Jesus couldn't honor his home with His presence.

Jesus had begun the walk, fully planning to step through the Centurion's door and grace the entire home not only by healing the ailing servant, but also by blessing the members of a Roman (read, Gentile) household with the express image of the glory of God in their hallways, their dining room, their sickroom.

The Centurion. however, understood by faith something of the privilege it would be to have Jesus come to his house, and he rightly knew himself to be unworthy of Him.

While he still sought the blessing of health for his beloved servant, he eloquently and publicly declared his faith in the One who had more beings and elements than Roman soldiers at His command.

The servant was healed, and I imagine the household rejoiced; yet by faith they sacrificed (or at least deferred until the second coming) one of the greatest treasures imaginable.

{Read the Centurion's story in Matthew 8:4-13 and Luke 7:1-10, and my favorite commentary about him in The Desire of Ages.)

Jesus could look down the ages, and see there would be others who wanted nothing more than to catch a glimpse of Him, but who might fear to come near because they were society's outcasts.  He knew they needed to know that if He could spend the day in Zacchaeus's house, He would welcome them as readily.

Then again, looking down the ages, He knew there would be others who would need the assurance that no matter how far away they feel (and are), His power extends that far and farther.  Even if He's not in the room, even if we don't feel worthy, even if we or those close to us are tucked away in some distant sickroom at death's door.  Jesus can simply say the word, and work miracles from afar.

Only our God really knows how many people gave their lives to Him because they were there on those days, with the Centurion or with Zacchaeus, or how many people have held on to their faith because they read these stories in the Bible at just the right time.

Zacchaeus didn't get to see how far-reaching his story would be; he simply acted on his faith and drank in every word that came out of the mouth of God that day, at his own dinner table.  The Centurion didn't expect Jesus to be in awe of his faith when he humbly begged Jesus to just say the word; he simply made the sacrifice only faith can make, and trusted Jesus with the results.

Countless others made the same sacrifice, and even greater ones than the Centurion made that day.  A widow gave all her money to the Lord, not knowing where her next meal was coming from.  John the Baptist spent many dark days in prison, apart from the Light of the world, dying a cruel death alone yet not forsaken.  Stephen was stoned, his face aglow with the glory of God, giving up his life with peace and even joy because he had seen God.  

Out of all their suffering, these faithful ones did not see the blessings accomplished by their sacrifices.  

They didn't get to see how a small offering could turn into a rich treasury, the thread of humble gifts traced back to two mites for inspiration.

They didn't get to see how a dark, lonely death after a successful ministry might encourage the countless others who suffered cruel mockings and scourgings for their faith.

They didn't get to see how perhaps a man holding the coats on the sidelines of a stoning could trace part of his conversion story to the moment of glory on Stephen's face, or how countless more through the centuries could trace the beginning or the longsuffering and endurance of their faith to one of these two men.

We don't always get to see the results of our faith, either, but my prayer is to be faithful, even when the days seem long and the price for faith seems high, and to be used by God in somehow blessing someone nearby while His pen writes my story.

What it's Like to Memorize a Book of the Bible

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Sometimes when you start something, you don't really know where it will take you.

You're talking Bible with a friend one day, you unearth the same dream of memorizing the same book, and there you are, right at the beginning of a long path, committed.  You know then it's a long path, putting all twenty-two chapters of Revelation irrevocably in your mind, but you don't know how long.  But you know from that day forward you'll never turn back.

You hardly know how to walk the path, actually, but you just start with a step, and then keep taking another step and then just one more, until one morning almost six years later you're at the path's end.

Except standing there, at the end, you're looking at sixty-five more paths stretching out in front of you, all as enticing as the first one.

Because when you've worked long and hard to make Bible memory a habit, and it takes more than half a decade to make a book stick in that brain of yours?  

That habit is hard to break, and you can't imagine not trying for the next book (in fact, you've already begun the work on several) and then the next book, and maybe even the next one after that, and why not keep trying until you've either got the whole thing or the Lord comes?

After all, by the time you've walked that first path, you've learned that the more you work toward memorizing a book of the Bible, the more you realize you've only just begun to grasp its truth, its beauty.  You feel as if you're at the mere edge of a vast treasure house, and you don't dare stop exploring it, reveling in it, drinking deep of the waters of life you've found at the fountain inside.

A lot of things happen inside you when you put words straight from the Bible into your mind.

• You start to notice how much unity there really is in the Bible, because everywhere else you read reminds you of something you've been trying to memorize.
• You therefore run out of room for your hand-written cross references in your Bible's margin.
• You learn to keep trying new things until the memory work really sticks (you memorize while walking with a little hand-held Bible until you move to a place where it rains more often and you can't take your little Bible outside as readily, so then you make a calendar to track review goals and new goals to work on inside under a good roof, but then you think you're cheating too much when you're reviewing so you put everything on ScriptureTyper which helps test you without giving you a chance to check for that word you can't remember, until finally you've "mastered" the whole thing according to a standardized mechanism and then you truly feel finished).
• You pick up more depth in a sermon that has anything to do with your book of choice.  Even when that sermon is in Spanish: because you already know the verses in English, any new Spanish vocabulary words on the power point screen are easy to understand.
• Your desire to go home to heaven grows more intense than ever, and you feel less at home on earth all the time.
• At the same time, you feel more content with your earth-home, as imperfect as it is, because you know it's really just temporary, and the longest, most dreary day or week or month or year on planet earth will from heaven's vantage seem incredibly insignificant.
• You hear phrases or even single words in normal conversation, and your brain immediately finishes a phrase from the verses you've been working on.
• You know good and well that the day after the goal was "met", you'll be right back reviewing, reviewing, reviewing, one section at a time...because you don't want to lose everything those six long years gave you.
• You find out how true it is that everything in this world can change (in fact, almost everything about my life HAS changed since I started this crazy memory goal), but the Word of our God stands forever.  It does not fail, it does not change, unless it merely becomes more beautiful with each passing day (which is perhaps only a change in my vision, for the better).

I suppose this post is a bit of a celebration of a long-worked-for goal being met, but more than that I hope it can be an encouragement to my several friends who are also working on memorizing a book of the Bible.  

To keep at it.  To make this habit of wrestling through until the memories are automatic and stick through life, letting these words change the heart and life.  To work one day at a time, knowing that you'll never have the whole book if you don't start with one verse, and then add one more and one more until you know its every verse by heart.

What God's Wrath Tells Us About His Love

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Walking once again around "our" salt lake (La Sal del Rey), I kept watching one of my favorite natural phenomena:  a sun dog.  Before long, there was a little rainbow splotch on either side, and then, to my utter excitement and delight, I could see an almost unbroken ring of light all around the sun.

Do you find, like I do, that the more time you spend thinking about or memorizing something, the more you notice it in the details of every-day life?

Another good reason to train ourselves to think about good things, for sure.

So the ring of light around the sun, clear yet faint, had me thinking of something I'd been typing out by memory quite a bit recently:

"And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat upon the throne.  And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne in sight like unto an emerald."  Revelation 4: 2, 3.

John had the privilege of seeing something not many human beings ever see, this side of the second coming.  In fact, the Bible tells us that no one can see God in His full glory, and live--at least not before sin has been completely removed from us and our world.  (See Exodus 33:20.)  Thus the vision John saw, glorious and incredible as it was, must have been to some extent a veiled vision.

This thought occupies my mind a lot lately, this thought about my God who is so great that His very presence has power to give life as well as destroy sin and those who love it.  Who parts the Red Sea as well as devours His enemies and the enemies of His people.  Who sets foot on rugged mountains in the wilderness and simply by being there makes even Moses "exceedingly fear and quake" (see Hebrews 12:21).

Yet this same powerful-beyond-comprehension God comes down, asking His people, May I be your neighbor?  I want to dwell with you.

They build Him a tent, they fill it with the things He tells them how to make, furniture and curtains that must have been some of the most exquisitely beautiful things human beings have ever made.

And this God, who doesn't dare reveal Himself in His fullness lest they perish, finds a way to live among a stubborn, fool-hearted, complaining camp of Israelites.

The centuries roll by, and Solomon builds another house for the Lord God omnipotent, a house whose beauty surpasses the glories of every earthly kingdom.  It's still a humble house for the God of heaven, but again He graces His undeserving people with His presence, keeping enough distance to preserve their lives, and promising that no matter what, if they turn and genuinely seek Him, He will hear from heaven.

More centuries roll by.  It's hard not to be upset with stubborn Israel, until I remember I'm stubborn and slow, too.  A temple destroyed, another one built, the all-patient God still pursuing His people, still looking for ways to get closer, to show them more of His saving love, to draw them to repentance by His goodness.

It wasn't enough for Him to be near them; this time He finds the only way to be truly among them, able to take the children in His arms to bless them, without His overwhelming might consuming them.

That way is Jesus, in human flesh.

We have a hard time reconciling the gentle Jesus on earth with the displays of thunder and smoke on Mount Sinai in the old days.  We can't imagine how the God who stays the same yesterday, today, and forever, could be both full of wrath toward sin as well as full of the kind of love that dies for filthy sinners.

Yet without catching at least a glimpse of the power of God's wrath, we can't grasp the fullness of His love.  


Without knowing how much He hates sin, we can't bring ourselves to reverence the One who holds vengeance in His all-righteous, nail-pierced hand.

Without knowing just how powerful God really is, and how His fire consumes sin in a flash, we can't appreciate the way He worked profoundly long and hard to win Judas, trying to save the traitor from wrath.


Without remembering how the people begged God to stop speaking to them for fear they would die by the glory of His voice, we can't appreciate how mercifully he dealt with the woman caught in adultery.


He told the accusing crowd they were welcome to cast the first stones at the woman, if they were without sin themselves.  Which meant He alone had the right to stone her.  Indeed, if it hadn't been for the human flesh veiling His glory, the whole crowd would have been consumed on the spot.

Instead, He took up His cross, and let her go free, focusing all His wrath not on her, but on Himself.

What wondrous love is this, O my soul?

It's not a love to be taken lightly.  It's not a love to be treated casually.  It's not a love to shrug your shoulders at, or to ignore while immersed in the faint and worthless pleasures of this world.

This love, unbounded and unfailing, brings me in utter and awestruck humble submission to the One who promised to guide me through this life and bring me safe at last to the home He's preparing for me in that city with foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

A Wayfaring Stranger

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In the morning I sit down at the computer, striving with my mind again, working hard to etch holy words into it, using my fingers, those instruments I'll use later at the piano, as one more way to reinforce paths across my consciousness.  

I memorized Hebrews 11 years ago, which is in a way what eventually led to my other memory projects, which is another story.  Except that I had lost the Hebrews words somewhere in my mind, and I've thought about that faith beginning so many times lately I decided needed to get those words back again.

"Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God..."

Did you ever think about how Paul wrote you into the very first slot in faith's hall of fame?  Teachers use that technique every day, affirming any evidence of the specific qualities we want our students to strengthen today.  Paul wants me to remember and to believe in the One who made me and everything I see out of nothing, without wavering.  

Because without a beginning, how will I travel the rest of faith's road?  The one that winds through lands unknown, the road Abraham knew so well?  Life's grand scheme is not the place to wander for wandering's sake alone.

"By faith Abraham, when he was called to go to a place he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went...dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise....

"These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off...and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth...But now they desire a better country...wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he hath prepared for them a city."

I sit at home, typing these words over and over and over, yet I am not home.  I have more under my feet and over my head than Abraham did, my boxes are {almost} all unpacked after my summer of life like Abraham during which I always and never felt at home, and I'm surrounded with comforts. 

It's just that I must not become too attached.

I've learned when I get too attached, I forget I'm still traveling, and I forget to keep moving toward that city with foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

Later I sit down at the piano, taking my volunteer responsibilities for a middle school choir seriously by preparation.  Good intentions without works would, in this case at least, be dead.  I don't sight read well in front of people, and choirs don't rehearse well with a pianist who's always hitting the wrong harmonies.

The first few measures stump me for a couple of weeks.  They're not technically difficult; in fact, they're easy, which in some ways makes conveying the atmosphere of the piece more difficult.  But the only "mood" word at the top of the score is "Mysteriously", and I'm not connecting the music with any sort of mystery.  

I write "flow" and "float" instead, my attempts to capture an elusive feeling, hoping those will give me a more defined intention to communicate through my fingers.

It's not that I don't like the piece; I feel like I could play it over and over all day, choir or not, without growing weary of it.  It's so hauntingly hopeful I can't shake it out of my mind.  It's more that I don't feel like I'm doing its potential enough justice.

I sit down to rehearse with sixth grade, and that's when they hit, those holy words from my time in front of the computer.

This song is Abraham.

"I'm just a poor, wayfaring stranger.

"I'm trav'ling through this world of woe.

"Yet there's no sickness, toil or danger

"In that bright land to which I go." 

And this song is that city, the holy Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, where there will be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain.

"I'm going there no more to roam."

But here, now, until that day, I will always be roaming, on my way somewhere else.

"I am going home."

The "Mysteriously" written at the top of the page makes sense now.  It's Abraham, in the early morning, the last morning at home.  Everything is ready to go, his whole household willing to wander like strangers in a strange but promised land, wherever that is.  The sun peeks over the horizon, he gives the command, and away they go.

Not knowing where they're going.  That's the mystery.  I understand this kind of mystery, and I can play this kind of mystery.  I don't erase them, but "flow" and "float" sit meaninglessly at the top of the page now that I've written "Abraham....didn't know where he was going" next to "Mysteriously".

In the afternoon sunshine, I squat down beside various garden plants with my camera.  I'm thinking today especially about the volunteers.  The sunflower, the beans.  

I'm thinking about what it means to put down roots with the hope of a harvest when we know we're always traveling toward that other home, what it means to be a stranger, if also a delightful surprise, where no one expects you to even show up.

I pulled a slender, young thorn bush, only a single stem so far, out of the garden today.  I used pliers to keep my fingers safe.  That little thorn bush's root was longer than the stem above the ground.  I think about my roots, and whether they're as deeply rooted in Paul's faith that understands where this whole wide world comes from as the little thorn bush was in my garden.

The song still plays through my mind, while I'm out here where there can't be fruit without roots, where not even a pole bean can grow toward heaven without being firmly planted.  I wonder how a pilgrim grows roots, without anchoring in what can be seen.

Because even pilgrims, those whose wanderings through life on earth as if it were a strange land may seem to take away all sense of rootedness, need this faith-root clinging down into the Word made flesh, not living by bread alone but by this every Word coming out of God's mouth.

It's the only way to bear fruit, have purpose in life, keep the heart from setting itself on things moths and rust and thieves destroy.  

It's the only thing that kept Abraham going on until his death bed, still embracing the promises in faith that God would raise him up in the glorious and soon resurrection to receive them.  And it's the only thing that can keep me pressing forward, through trial and victory, all the way home.

{If you'd like to listen to my new favorite arrangement of this old spiritual, Sheet Music Plus, which sells the printed music, has sample recordings.  Here is one of Greg Gilpin's SAB The Wayfaring Stranger, as well as one of his SSA setting of the same piece.}

Things to Memorize (A Habit for Day 15)

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 Yesterday we talked about how the Israelites in the wilderness were really good at forgetting what God had done for them in the past, and how merciful He was to them in contrast to their pitiful complaints.  He was right there all the time, yet they couldn't see past their worries.

Thus today feels like a good day to talk about remembering (a gentler word for memorizing, really) the things that will help us keep holding onto Jesus' hand.

In my own experience, stress has a way of putting blinders over my eyes, so I forget how the Lord has helped me before.  I forget His promises, I forget to praise Him for the blessings I already have, I forget to ask for wisdom as I head toward what feels like disaster.

He's always there; I just need help remembering that.

It seems like the only things that readily come to mind are the ones I've spent time reviewing.  So for me personally, the only way the good things have a fighting chance of even entering my brain when I'm stressed is to have them memorized.

Lest you're afraid you won't be able to memorize anything, think for a second about all the things you know by heart.  Song lyrics from your favorite radio station?  The route to work?  The grocery store that has the best deal on avocados?  The names of your friends?

Maybe we could afford to put some additional focus on remembering the things of God, before we're too stressed to search for them, so they'll be as natural to us as the morning drive to work.

Here are some ideas of things to memorize (or at least think about often) to get you going.

• Bible promises.  Keep them short if memorizing is hard work for you, or keep a journal where you write down in your own handwriting the most meaningful ones to you.  Then you can read a book straight through of promises you've claimed for yourself personally.  Trust me, it's hard to be discouraged after a few minutes of pure Bible promises!  Some of the most powerful are the shortest, so memorizing a few is doable for just about anybody.  Need wisdom?  James 1:5.  Need guidance?  Psalm 32:8.  Need hope?  Jeremiah 29:11.
• Experiences you've had where God has clearly blessed your life.  Write them down in story form and share them with family or friends, if appropriate.  Write them down in list form, and keep the list where you have easy access to it and can review it when you're tempted to think God has left you alone.
• Hymns.  Words are almost always more catchy if they come with a tune.  Choose some songs you already love.  You can also choose from different topics, such as praise, prayers for help or guidance, what Jesus did on the cross, the second coming, or heaven.  

Speaking of heaven, I used to feel a little bit like spending a lot of time thinking about heaven would be a sort of denial of the rough realities of this life.  As I've allowed myself to ponder and sing about heaven more, however, I've come to realize it does the opposite.  I can see my present realities with more clarity (which helps me make better decisions for the here and now), and the words about heaven give me the long-term determination to live in heaven's hope no matter what my outward circumstances.

I would thus encourage you to spend a lot of time especially reading and singing about the cross, as the only way you have a way out and a choice; and heaven, where that way out is ultimately leading you.

(Click button for series index.)

(Photo by Barbara Frohne) 

Memory on a Monday: Revived and Revised

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First, the disclaimer.  This post will be similar to one I published here two weeks ago, but not the same.  I couldn't recover all the words, so I had to string most of them together all over again.  But since I didn't want to lose the ideas, and my little blog seemed like a good place to store them, I'm repeating myself a little.

It Takes Work 

It can be tough to get things to stick in your mind. That goes for my mind, too. The toughness of it discourages many people from even trying to memorize. My opinion, however, is that just about anybody can memorize something. Slowly, quickly, whatever. I watch my piano students do it all the time, even when they think they can't. I teach them how to memorize, and I require them to practice every day, and then they work like crazy to make it happen. So when people tell me they can't memorize--and I'm sorry if you're one of those who has told me that very thing--I don't believe them.  {insert teacher smile}  Because I just think it would be better to say, "Memorizing is hard for me."  Or, "I've never figured out a good way to make things stick in my mind."  Or, "I haven't had much success memorizing in the past, but I sure would like to try again."

Repetition

There's just not a way around it.  For me, memorization takes repetition, and lots of it.  And let's face it:  we usually hear the word "repetition", and think BORING.  Sometimes that's true.  Repeating something over and over until it's stuck in your head for good, ready for recall at any given moment, can feel boring.  (Notice I said "feel".)  I will be the first to admit there are things that would bore me to tears to commit to memory.  However, if and when I'm memorizing a wonderful piece of music, I don't get bored.  The same should be true of when I'm memorizing a promise from the Bible, shouldn't it?  So if I am repeating some of the most profound words ever given to human beings and I feel bored, I have to take a moment, step back, and refocus.

Am I bored because I'm trying to rush through the words too quickly?
Am I bored because I'm not thinking about what the words mean as I repeat?
Am I bored because my memory verse is just another item on my list for the day?
Am I bored because I'm avoiding a challenge the verse introduces into my life?
Am I bored because I think I've heard the same old thing so many times it's no longer relevant?
Am I bored because I forgot to ask for the Holy Spirit to help me discern spiritual things?

 What I don't want is mindless, Spirit-less repetition.  I need desperately need repetition if I'm going to get something to stay in my brain, but it must be interested, alive repetition.

How I Repeat

When I memorize and repeat, I first take one verse at a time, or a smaller section within a verse.  I repeat it ten times to myself.  And to avoid the boredom I mentioned above, I try to notice key words and grammatical structures (like rhyming, assonance--matching vowel sounds--, alliteration, and the like) and imagine the scene (if it's from a story).  I find that after ten times, I can usually repeat the section or verse without looking and without hesitating.  If I take a verse a section at a time, I repeat the whole verse five times when I've learned each section.  Ten and five were random, except that I used to memorize on my morning walks with a miniature Bible in one hand.  I could count the repetitions with my fingers, and five and ten were obvious multiples of my fingers.
 

Review

After the initial repetitions, I add a verse or chapter to my memory calendar to be regularly reviewed.  I've talked about that before.  I simply can't remember something if I only go over it one day and call it good.  It won't be in my mind if I don't keep it in my repertoire, so I try to be as intentional about the review process as I am about the initial repetitions.  I don't review the with the same number of repetitions each time, but things feel a lot more solid if I focus on it every few days.
 

 

Creative Repetition

Sometimes it feels like the above methods get me into a rut.  In fact, I feel a little that way at the moment.  So for me right now, and for those of you who need to get more creative than simply repeating something inside your head over and over and over....here's my brainstorming about how to spice up the memory process a little.  I haven't tried all of these ideas, but I probably ought to.  Because every time I do something a little different, the ideas stay in my head just a little more firmly.

1.  Say your memory verse out loud.  I'm a total chicken when it comes to this kind of thing, even when I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that no one is nearby to hear my do it.  I guess I'm afraid of the sound of my own voice, or of being surprised by someone coming in the room when I don't expect it and finding me out.  I've learned with my piano practice, however, to sing aloud with my melody and count out loud, and I've found those practices to be incredibly helpful to my playing.  I have no reason to believe saying my memory verses out loud wouldn't have the same benefits.

 2.  Find or make a recording of your memory verse, and listen to it.  While driving.  While washing dishes.  While taking a shower.  While....you name it. If you're an auditory learner, you need to have some kind of repetition you can listen to.

3.  Find or write a song with the words of your memory verse.  Sing it a lot.  With your family, as you drive in the car, as you do chores around the house, as you pull weeds in the garden, as you try to go to sleep at night and your mind is taking that precious sleep time to figure out your life, as you wait in line at the grocery store.

 4.  Write your verse by hand.  Slowing your mind down enough to write with your hand can help focus or re-focus your mind on what the verse actually says.  It adds a physical motion to the memory work and repetition that helps things stay in my mind, at least, a little more firmly.  It doesn't matter if you keep the page or not--but if your verse is especially encouraging to you, it might be fun to write it out in a beautiful card and send it to a friend or family member who also needs a bit of encouragement.

5.  Scripture Typer.  While I haven't tried Scripture Typer, I have several friends who tell me they've loved it.  Typing out the verses is faster than writing them by hand, and yet it still adds a physical motion to the words they're working hard to remember.

6.  Think up some hand motions to go with key words in your verse.    There's a definition from my freshman music theory class in college I remember word for word to this day...along with the hand motions my [excellent] teacher put to it.  That was twelve years ago, and I never once reviewed that definition.  I think it's just there in my mind to stay, even without the repetition I've been saying I need so much.  Maybe I need to try this idea out soon for myself!

Thanks for coming back for the re-write!  And sorry for accidentally deleting this post without having it backed up.  My apologies to Marci,  who left a sweet comment that also got deleted with the first posting of these thoughts.  Thanks, Marci, for reading!

Nebuchadnezzar and the Fiery Furnace

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It has been a long time since I've updated you on my memorizing goals and progress.

So today is the day for a progress report, because it's good for me to evaluate how it's going.   And for something beautiful and difficult and mind boggling I've seen in the Bible, and may not have seen in any way other than through memorizing large chunks at a time and repeating small chunks over and over until I get familiar with the large chunks.

And in the whole package you get the regular and gorgeous Shasta daisy that was growing wild along the road, along with the totally strange and cute two-faced daisy that I didn't notice until I stooped down to take a picture of what I thought was a normal daisy.  It startled me a little.  I had never seen such a thing.  Which is a small reflection of what happened to Nebuchadnezzar at the fiery furnace, but more of that later.

First, the progress report.  I have to honestly say that even though I have all my little goals plotted out on the extra calendar I told you about, I've been behind quite a few times.  Things get crazy, I pack up my house, jump in the car, and end up clear on the other side of the country....and the next thing I know I haven't been memorizing for a week.

The thing that has been totally great about this system, though, is that I am MEASURABLY behind.  Which for someone with my personality bent, is huge.  It means I don't have to beat myself over the head for getting behind.  All I have to do is catch up.  All I have to do is look at my calendar to see how far I'm behind, come up with a reasonable system (not trying to make up for a week's worth of work in one day), and catch up.

I know that may sound strange.  You might think I should just acknowledge that I haven't been perfect, pick up from there, and be happy whenever I do something.  But for me, a measurable goal means something, and it helps me reach my goal if I have a way to catch up.

So.  This system has been the best ever for me.  I love it.  I just finished catching up from a being-behind stint today, and it makes me so happy to know that it hasn't all been time lost, that I'm still reaching for my goal in meaningful ways without giving up or being behind where I feel like I should be.

YAY.

  

 

Now for Nebuchadnezzar.

You know the story of Daniel chapter 2, right?  How the king has a dream that outlines world history to the end of time via an image with different metals (gold, silver, brass, iron, iron-clay mixed)?  And you remember how Daniel 3 opens with Nebuchadnezzar blatantly trying to deny prophetic world history by building an image made entirely of gold?

Yeah.  Bold.  Blatant.  Blasphemous.

Because with that gold image, Nebuchadnezzar snubs his nose at the God of heaven who not only gave the dream and provided the interpretation (through Daniel), but also showed through prophetic vision that His own kingdom would be the everlasting kingdom from generation to generation.  It's  obvious and intentional rebellion against the God he just acknowledged as the only God who could reveal secrets this way.

He invites--nay, commands--all his officials to be present at the dedication of the image.  These officials include the newly promoted Hebrews, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who refuse to participate not only in the worship of a God other than their own, but also in such flagrant blasphemy against Him.

What's surprising is that when they do not worship the image, Nebuchadnezzar gives them a second chance.  In the face of such mercy, however, they boldly declare in front of the king and his closest advisers that it doesn't matter how many chances he gives them.  They will remain faithful come what may.  Furnace or no furnace.  Divine rescue or no divine rescue.

Here's the difficult part.  The furnace is so hot that being close enough to throw in the three Hebrews is enough to kill the mightiest men in the army of Nebuchadnezzar.

Think for a second about how large his dominion really is.  It's big enough that the Bible says Nebuchadnezzar makes a decree for all people, nations, and languages.  His authority essentially covers the earth.

And out of the whole world, he has the best of the best in his army.  But without giving it a second thought, he has just thrown away their lives in a fit of rage.  

Makes a person think about the implications of losing a temper.

The top people in his army are gone, their lives lost in throwing away the lives of three of the four men who came out ten times better "in all matters of wisdom and understanding" than all the wise men in this extremely large kingdom.  (See Daniel 1:19, 20.)

We already know these three of the four wisest get rescued, and have a chance to walk with Jesus in the furnace.  I'm not going to dwell there, partly because Nebuchadnezzar could not have known it would happen that way when he willingly gave the command to murder them and partly because although the story from their angle is bursting with promise and victory, there are other perspectives that leave me in awe.

First, in contrast with the men who bound and tossed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego into the flames, Nebuchadnezzar, seemingly forgetful of what just happened to his mighty army men, draws near to the flames.  And not only does he draw near, he lives to tell about it.  He's the fourth one spared from the fury of the flames, by nothing less than Divine intervention.

He doesn't deserve it.  He just lost his temper and did his best to throw other people's lives out the window, with partial success.  Yet somehow, the God who "searcheth the reins and hearts" (see Revelation 2:23) sees something in Nebuchadnezzar that's still worth working with.

Because God doesn't look at people like I do.  He looks at the heart.

And it brings up a bit of a question for me.

Why did God spare Nebuchadnezzar, and not the men who simply followed his orders to their own death?  In these moments where God certainly knew how to spare those who were faithful to Him as well as the wicked king who tried to take them out, couldn't He have had room to spare the ones who bound and threw them into the furnace?  Were they really more beyond hope than this apparently pompous, tempestuous king?  After all, Daniel later describes Nebuchadnezzar this way:  "Whom he would he slew; and whom he would he kept alive."  (Daniel 5:19) 

Sounds pretty heartless.  Pretty hopeless.  Yet somehow God looks all the way through the temper tantrum and pride, and sees something He can work with.

Amazing grace.

Yet what about the others?

I don't ask these questions to arouse doubt.  In my heart of hearts, what these questions bring on a great sadness, a grief for those men who lost their lives, but not doubt. 

Maybe it's my personality not to doubt.  (Don't worry.  I have plenty of other flaws.)  With the story of these men, however unnatural it may seem, I am overcome with grief, not doubt. I have no answers.  I don't know why their lives were allowed to end that day.  I'm simply and incredibly sad that they did lose their lives; and I'll just tell you what I do know.

In the Bible, which I have always found to be the word of God to my very own soul, I have found a God who knows everything and everyone.  He knows who is completely hardened against Him and without hope, and who has even the slightest potential of someday hearing His voice.  He knows what would happen with every life, whether spared from tragic death by heat of a furnace or not.  He knows better than anyone else can how temporary the deaths on this earth really are for those who trust Him.

It's not that He always gets His way.  He labored and labored and labored for Judas, for example, only to have Judas turn completely against Him and lose his life in spite of all the Lord's efforts on his behalf.

But he knew those men who picked up His servants and threw them in the fire, inside and out.  He knows whether He will resurrect them to eternal life at His second coming, or not.  He knew whether more life coursing through their veins would be a blessing or a curse to them and those around them.  So while I want to be careful to say that I don't at all believe God would ever take pleasure in the death of any person, I want to also carefully and intentionally say that whatever the questions, I trust Him.  We can trust Him.  With all of it. 

We can trust Him to give amazing grace in the face of our terrible rebellions.

We can trust Him with our living and our dying, as well as that of all those around us.  Even when we and He don't get His way.  He'll sort it all out, and we can trust His judgment.

We can trust Him, even when our questions don't have immediate answers.  Because there's no way we can know all the answers.  That's part of why He's God, and we are not.

Anyone Can Memorize, Part 2

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Since this goes right along with the theme from an earlier post this week, I thought I would share an except from our family worship reading yesterday.

"Let the more important passages of Scripture connected with the lesson [weekly Sabbath School lesson] be committed to memory, not as a task, but as a privilege.  Though at first the memory be defective, it will gain strength by exercise, so that after a time you will delight thus to treasure up the words of truth.  And the habit will prove a most valuable aid to spiritual growth."

White, Ellen G.  Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students, p. 137, 138.  Mountain View, CA:  Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1943.

Anyone Can Memorize

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(The daffodils that seemed to bloom under the snow.)

Things had gotten to a difficult state.  I was trying to revive my regular memory-verse/chapter/book time in my new life in Virginia, but it was difficult.  I was constantly resting (from graduate school, I thought), and each day's schedule was just a little different.  My mornings haven't been very early, so the early morning fresh air and solitude were not working as a viable memory time slot this fall.

Finally, I started forcing myself to work out one verse every day.

Slow going, I thought, since I used to do several a day during my morning walks.  But I found it harder to memorize in the house, with the day's work surrounding me and waiting for me.

Then the extra calendar came.  It's one from a mission organization, reminding me at the beginning of each week to pray for a specific mission project.  I already had a calendar for the daily appointments and other such details, so this hung next to it blank, there for the photos.

One day, however, it hit me:  I needed a Bible memory schedule, a set of goals to get me really back on track.  I wanted to do more than just review what I've learned before.  I wanted to set more goals, and not only set them, but actually reach them.  I was about to draw out a grid or make one on the computer, when it hit me:  the extra calendar!  I grabbed it, quickly worked out a system, and got back on track.  With both my memory verses, chapters, and books, as well as the reminders to pray for specific missions projects (one each day each week).

Want to know what the plan is?

It's simple, and here it is:

1.  Memorize three verses per day, from the end of a chapter to its beginning.

2.  When the three verses per day add up to a whole chapter, take one day thereafter to review said chapter.

3.  Review one other chapter from current Bible book.

4.  Review one chapter each from no more than two previous books.

5.  Cross off the accomplished goals, which are written on the calendar.  (That makes me feel really great about reaching a goal.)

BOOKS?  You might wonder how I got that far.  Well, this is the disclaimer:  I have memorized a book of the Bible, but I wouldn't say it's perfect.  I had just decided one day that if I had to memorize the music I performed (and sometimes twenty-plus pages of it), there was no reason I couldn't be memorizing large portions of Scripture.  The reason for the review is that my mind does not automatically retain the first "memorizing" of something.  I have to keep going over and over and over and over it, again and again.  But I do find that the more I use my memory, the easier it is to use my memory.

I'm on my second book, which is smaller than the first by ten chapters.  I'm hoping to have the ground work done on it in just a few weeks (if I stick to my calendar).  Then I'm planning to work on a small book, before biting off a bigger one again.

Why do I memorize?

My reasons are simple, and here they are:

1.  The things I've memorized help me to be more in tune with what I'm reading in other parts of the Bible, and thus I see it more and more as a whole, rather than separate parts.

2.  The things I've memorized come time my mind sometimes.  Why not make that Bible texts and hymns, instead of whatever I can find on the radio (and I'm not bashing all radio, but you know what I mean).

3.  The process of memorizing helps me understand passages more deeply, and challenges me to grow in my own walk of faith.  (Try repeating the response of courage Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego gave to King Nebuchadnezzar over and over and over without it humbling your own fear of trial.)

4.  And this is related to #3:  When I'm going through trial, I hope and pray that God will bring these words of faith to my mind.

That's where I am with memorizing.  You know what?  I think you can do it too.  It might take some slow going to get your memory active and in shape--don't take on a whole book of the Bible any more abruptly than you would a marathon if you hadn't been running regularly beforehand.  But set yourself some goals.  Reach them.  Then set more goals.

I know you can memorize, too.  You do it all the time.  That recipe, that song you hear over and over, that road you take to the grocery store, you name it.

I'd love to hear how it goes for you.