Soaking

My summer is drawing to the close. It's been fun getting my hands dirty with my dad and being home, but the time is fast approaching for me to head back to Davis. I'm excited, but at the same time I will miss the time that I've had for the past month to just soak.

This summer, I've been reading through a book with a good friend called Every Man, GOD's Man. One of the chapters I just read today is called, The Best Marinade Ever, and it talks about the need in the church today for the spiritual discipline of meditation on the Word of GOD. He says this:

"The defining marker for GOD's man is that he thinks deeply and continuously about what GOD has spoken... the man who immerses himself in GOD's Word takes on the very character of GOD; he is changed into someone new." (p. 133)

Now, I don't know what school of thought you subscribe to with regards to the sanctity of the bible physically, and the truth is that I don't subscribe to anything - but I don't write in my bible. If you're a bible-writer-inner, props to you, but there's no stigma or scriptural conviction that keeps me from doing it - I just use post-its, legal pads, and napkins to write on instead. But plain ol' books, on the other hand, I carve up like a turkey on Thanksgiving. It helps me to take a book like a sponge and squeeze every bit of insight and truth out of it that I can, and I can say that I read that sucker. I also like it because when I want to go back to a book and remember what I thought about it, I can just read my notes and underlinings. It's the bomb - if you didn't know already, I love to read.

So this what I've been doing: soaking my mind and soul in the WORD, in sweet books, and in the very Spirit of GOD. I've been readin' it up, prayin' it up, talkin' it up, servin' it up, thinkin' it up, dreamin' it up, preachin' it up, and lovin' it up. My hope is that at the end of it all, I can look back and say that it all hasn't been for nothing; that I've been transformed by the things that I've learned, the people that I've loved, the friends I've served, and the GOD that I have glorified. It feels so good to have some soak time. See you soon.

"Do not conform any longer to the patterns on this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind; then you will be able to test and approve what GOD's will is: his good, pleasing, and perfect will." (Romans 12:2)

"Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things." (Colossians 3:2)