At some point or another, we feel just that: typical.

The 168 hours of the week turn into a run-of-the-mill-treadmill scene where daily events turn into nothing more than the daily grind.
A guy named Solomon saw this coming oh about 3000 years ago.

Here's his version of Typical:

"Everything is meaningless," says the Teacher, "completely meaningless!" Everything is wearisome beyond description. No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied. No matter how much we hear, we are not content. (Ecclesiastes 1:3, 8)

Have u ever wanted to rewind part of your life. Here's your chance ------

Here it is backwards:
(8, 3:1 setsaiselccE). tnetnoc ton era ew, raeh ew hcum woh rettam oN .deifsitas reven era ew ,ees ew hcum woh rettam oN .noitpircsed dnoyeb emosiraew si gnihtyrevE . "!sselgninaem yletelpmoc" ,rehcaeT eht syas ",sselgninaem si gnihtyrevE"

Kewl HUH. That took some doing.

Forwards or backwards, the truth about life is that it can often be exercises in meaninglessness and adventures in futility. So can we 'break the spell of the typical'?

I don't think we can - not by ourselves anyway.

Here is the point Solomon was making: we're trapped under the sun and in a state of same old - same old until we do something about it and that something involves Someone.

There is a God of the universe who gives us the privilege of actually connecting with Him and His purposes on earth. It doesn't involve anything real special to do that either, just a desire to break the spell and turn it around.

This is the point Jesus was making to his disciples when they asked Him how to get out of the typical. They saw something incredibly different about Him - especially that His life was anything but typical. They noticed that He spoke with His Father all the time, especially before

He went out and did untypical things. So they made a simple request:
"Lord, teach us to pray" (Luke 11:1).
So Jesus did:
Pray like this:

Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us today the food we need, and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us. And don't let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one. (Matthew 6:9-13)

When you pray, you connect with your heavenly Daddy - which should remind you that you ARE 'someone', and your Father is in complete charge of things. When you pray, it reminds you that God has a purpose and plan for you that is anything but typical. When you pray, it reminds you that you have needs like food and forgiveness - and especially you need protection from the evil one who doesn't want you to accomplish God's will on earth.

Most of all, when you pray, God opens your spiritual eyes and breaks the spell that kept you seeing daily events as random and repetitive repetitions. He died so you could live, and He lives so you can die to yourself and accomplish the unbelievable untypical mission he has for you.

So come on, can you dream for that day?

Remember, when you pray, there's NOTHING that can't be done.

Think on that a while.
till next time
tc
Romans 5:1

God's Splendor

I think the word splendor is something we sometime just take for granted. For the last 3 days, I have been awakened by a stirring within me. All I want to do is wake up before the sonrise, watch the beginning of a new day while reading from God's word and just sit. This morning in the worship service, the common ground band played an old favorite song of mine, "Sit with Me A While". It made me reflect on the buzyness I have in my life. I never have time to just sit. I teach and speak to students about not getting caught in the Mary/Martha syndrome, but I find myself there more often than I like. But there is so much work to be done, so much to do.
Another revelation : This week, I have accepted the fact that I can not reach every student, but I can reach students one at a time. I've know it for years, but in talking with other collegiate leaders, they gave me some depth and insight in that area.

Rewind: In going back to the busyness of life: it's nice to just sit and reflect. Sit and think. Sit and meditate or just SIT. Life's going by so fast. But all the effort is so worth it. Tonight, I witnessed someone return to Christ. Someone I have been praying for, for years. It was through the beauty of being "broken". It was a true thing of beauty. True weeping is such a God thing. But through the flowing and flooding of tears, joy is released and inner peace is restored. We talked afterwards. The strange thing is, I knew it would happen. I wasn't sure how or when but I knew it would. God's grace and mercy is so sufficient. I sometimes feel so inadequant to do what I do, I guess that's just another God thing.

peace i give u, peace i leave with you.
tc
Romans 5:1