This week's text is about Naaman, who is the army commander of the king of Aram.  He is a great warrior and has won many battles for the king.  One other thing we learn about Naaman is that he has leprosy.    Interesting isn't that somebody who needs to be strong physically is dealing with a disease that affects him physically and probably affects his ability to fight.  Leprosy also had a stigma in the ancient world that lead to people being shunned as well.  So in some sense Naaman has a ticking clock around his neck.  As soon as he isn't able to fight, he will be replaced and probably thrown out to the edges of society.  It is probably no wonder that he wants to explore any treatment option possible.  So when he hears about this prophet in Israel that can cure him, I bet he made sure to move heaven and earth until he could get there.  We see this in the text because he offers the king of Israel a treasure trove for this potential.  Elisha answers the call and tells Naaman to simply wash himself in the river Jordan.  Naaman explodes, at this simple request.  He had expected some great trial that would be worthy of his fighting prowess and his physical skill.  He had to do something to earn this cure, right?  Wrong, the cure wasn't about him earning it.  The cure wasn't about what he could do, instead the cure was God's doing and on God's terms.  

Isn't this the way though we think about God in our lives?  We feel we need to earn stuff so that God will come through in the clutch.  However what if God worked another way?  What if it wasn't about our efforts and skills but instead it was based on God and God's plan.  Scary isn't it, because it shows us that we are not in control.  What if we took the time every day, in prayer to ask God what God wants us to do?  What if we took the time each day and sought God's will by reading the Bible?  Would our stress levels go down, because we didn't worry so much about how we needed to earn God's favor?  Would our lives have more meaning because we actually had to talk to God and listen for what God was speaking into our lives? Take some time right now, in prayer and tell God what is on your heart and then take about five minutes and listen.  Breath slowly and listen.  What is God saying to you?

sIn this week's text we are with King Solomon, one of King David's sons, who is now the king of Israel.  King Solomon has a dream where God asks Solomon what he wishes for.  What would you pick?  Money?  Power?  Fame? To be ruler of all the Earth?  Solomon asks for something, that I think for many of us would be on the low part of our lists, wisdom.  Wisdom at first glance may not seem like a great choice at first because it is not an instant gratification choice.  Being wise doesn't suddenly get you loads of cash to pay off your debs or allow you to buy awesome new toys or go on vacations.  Being wise though, has a lot of non monetary benefits.  It allows you to make choices that are more life giving.  Wisdom allows you to have better relationships because wisdom forces us to listen more than speak.  Wisdom allows us to know how to better spend our limited resources so that we can feel their abundance.  I wonder if this is why God said to Solomon that God would make him rich because using God's wisdom allows us better utilize what we have.  So do you think asking for wisdom was a wise choice (pun intended!)?  What would you ask for?  Why?  Have you ever thought about praying to God about your wish?  Now I am not saying God is a Genie, who is about granting wishes.  What I am saying is have you had a conversation with God  about things that are important to you?  By having these conversations, we can begin to see where God might be working in our lives and how God might be wanting us to go in the world.  So what do you wish for from God?  Pray and talk to God about it.

This week, we are talking about something that is really hard, admitting our sin.  The text for this week, tells of the time that King David had an affair with Bathsheba.  Besides the affair, King David, takes it a step further and has Bathsheba's husband killed, so that he can become her husband.  The prophet Nathan, comes to King David and tells him story about two people in his kingdom, a rich man and a poor man.  The poor man has a lamb who he loves and takes precious care of.  One day, the rich man has a guest come and visit him.  Not wanting to use any of his own flock, he takes the poor man's lamb by force and serves it to his guest.   King David is enraged that somebody would do this in his kingdom.  He demands that Nathan tells him who has done this vile act.  The prophet Nathan tells King David that he is the rich man in this story.  He took Bathsheba from her husband and killed him.  David is stunned at this news as he realized the gravity of what he had truly done.  It was this event, that lead King David to write Psalm 51.  In it he asked for forgiveness.  Some of you might have actually sung this part as part of a Sunday Morning Liturgy.
                                                            Create in me a clean heart, O God,
                                                     and put a new and right[b] spirit within me.
                                                              11 Do not cast me away from your presence,
                                                       and do not take your holy spirit from me.
                                                                12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
                                                         and sustain in me a willing[c] spirit.
We all sin.  That is an unfortunate part of life.  As Christians we need to go to God and ask for forgiveness but even more we need to go to that party we wronged and admit what we have done.  This is hard stuff isn't it.  Our society doesn't want us to admit our faults or errors.  However what happens when we don't this?  Relationships that are already broken are most often never able to be healed again.  One person is wracked with guilt for what they have done and the other person has to pick up the pieces from what happened to them.  Nobody wins.  

When I worked in the medical field, I had an instance where I made a pretty big mistake.  I gave the patient the wrong imaging agent, so instead of seeing their bones, I was left with looking at their heart.  There was no harm done to the patience physically, the hard part for them was that they needed to come back on a different day to repeat the test.  Instead of taking responsibility for my mistake, I blamed my coworker.  I still remember her face as I put the blame for my mistake on her shoulders.  She bursted into tears and started sobbing.  I had never felt so low in my life as I felt at that moment.  I had really hurt her, I had betrayed her trust and our friendship because I didn't want to lose face.  Like King David when my eyes were open to the pain that I caused somebody else, I asked for her forgiveness.  I apologized to her and made sure that the patient, as well as my boss, knew it was my fault.   If I had never apologized and asked for forgiveness from my coworker, our relationship would have been permanently  broken.  Thankfully, our relationship healed and we are still good friends.

​So is there somebody in your life, that you have sinned against?  Have you done something that God wants you to repent and to account for?  This is uncomfortable to do.  It is not easy.  However, when we do this, when we ask for forgiveness, then the healing that needs to happen can begin.

"As for me and my household we will serve the Lord".  You might have seen this phrase on a plague, a quilt or a Dollie.  It is a phrase, that is very powerful, but what is even more powerful is the response by the people that Joshua is speaking to.  You see, Joshua was near the end of his life and he saw the people of Israel, God's people, not following the advice and ways that God has set before them.  He knew he didn't have much time left, so he laid out for them the reasons that he and his household followed God.  These reasons, included God honoring God's promise and by making Joshua and his household blest to be a blessing.  When the people of Israel were reminded of what God has done for them and was still doing for them, they saw why Joshua was so impassioned in his speech.  They saw why it was important that they need to figure out how they were going to walk or not walk with God on the journey ahead.  This is why they said as a community "Therefore we also serve the Lord, for he is our God."  Joshua asked them again, if they wanted to go through with this and they again repeated "We will serve the Lord!"  Saying and doing the things that God wants us to do is hard.  There are times, where we feel it is easier to just ignore what God asks for us to do.  So how do we do what is right versus what is easy?  How do we be the peace keepers; the people of integrity; and the people of grace and mercy?  We listen to God and say to ourselves and others We will serve the Lord!
​  So what is God calling you to do this week?  Where do you feel like in life to take the easy way out instead of God's way?  Have you and your family talked about how God is working in your own lives and what God is calling you as a family to do?

This week we are talking about the Ten Commandments.  So far this year, we have been seeing and learning about all the different promises that God has made to the people of Israel starting from the time of the flood and including the promise to Abraham and Sarah to bless them and their descendants to be a blessing to the world.  So with all these promises it makes sense that God would ask the people of Israel to follow the Ten Commandments.  God is about life affirming promises and allowing people to live to their fullest.  However how often do we see these as a set of rules to ruin our fun.  How much easier it is to steal from one another; to lie to one another; or to hurt one another.  It takes energy and love to think about the person next to you as a person versus just some object.  God wants us to follow the Ten Commandments not because God likes making rules but because God wants us to treat each other with the respect that God treats us with.  Have you ever thought what commandment was actually helping you this week to be a better you?  What do you think you can do differently?  How does this make you feel, and how would your life or relationships be different because you decided to follow the Ten Commandments because of what they encourage us to do instead what they are preventing us from doing?