This 365-page devotional contains daily entries from Christians in every century of the last twenty. A casual scan of the names on each page’s top reveals a number of well-known headliners from Church History class: Augustine, John Calvin, Charles Spurgeon, Martin Luther. But further flipping turns the “Who’s Who” list into a “Who’s That” query: Daniel Defoe, Hilary of Poitiers, Theognostus, and the Scillitan martyrs to list a few.

The beauty of the book to me is in its width of representation. Various sources in recent years have directed my faith back to aged but fresh wells, particularly a number from the Catholic and Orthodox streams. These are exactly the materials so seldom found in any typically Evangelically-flavoured Christian bookstore in the Western hemisphere, and that’s why I was so pleasantly surprised to find a quality volume like this with Zondervan stamped on its spine, on a shelf in a local shop.

So to my three-year-old sweetie: Thank you, Love. Daddy loves the gift.

And to my cohort-through-the-centuries, I look forward to trekking with you this year. Lead me to where you’ve been and share with me the Lord who led and taught you. I come open.

My primary motive was to use the phone to make more extensive use of Evernote, a program that is quickly endearing itself to me, as it provides order to my daily life.  Beyond that, I now have some learning ahead on how to maximize this new capable-of-much gadget in my pocket.

So iPhone friends, guide me:

What are a couple must-have apps?

Slickest tool or trick you’ve discovered on your iPhone?

The best suggestions will receive public praise on my less-than-heavily followed Twitter account!

Phoenix, what else do you have for us?

A couple answers, at least.

1) Phoenix Zoo

The website claims that it’s been voted one of the nations Top 5 zoos for children.  Seeing as how Phoenix is the #5 or #6 city in the country for population, I’m going to believe the boast.  Situated right next door to the Desert Botanical Gardens, you know the landscape is special, particularly to a family from the Canadian prairies.  Pleasantly sized, this zoo is large enough to house a wide variety of animals (elephants to giraffes to lions to monkeys to tortoises to iguanas and more) without demanding serious miles to be logged, as is necessary in a place like the San Diego Zoo.  Throw in a petting zoo, a couple decent play areas, and a classic carousel, and you can keep a couple cute toddlers busy for part of day.

2) Arizona Mills Mall

Buying or browsing, we always enjoy looking around, when in a new city.  But how to do it while busying the tots?  A bright and busy mall doesn’t hurt.  A well-designed set-up with a handful of toy stores and a Disney store can only help.  Throw in a surprising aquarium (SeaLife Arizona) with a decent play area, and add a large food court surrounded by pumping arcade and a merry-go-round–that ought to keep them busy for a while.  This mall gave us enough enjoyment that we actually visited twice–the second time, we even bought a few things!

There are a host of other things a family might do in Phoenix, but let this post and my previous one at least get you started the next time you find yourself stranded in Arizona with some small ones needing attention.

Destination: Phoenix, Arizona.

Trip-planning has changed its flavour since our children have been born.  It used to involve “Lonely Planet” guides and aggressive checklists to maximize time and opportunities in any given spot.  Both the pace and content are no longer the same.

For what it’s worth, here is the one place in Phoenix that you should not miss if you are traveling with children under the age of eight: The Children’s Museum of Phoenix.  Seriously, this is a fun place!  Initial material I read on it painted an image of a not-quite-Science-Center.  Now, I’m all for Science Centers, but they’re not quite the right cup of tea to serve my three-year-old and one-year-old.

The Children’s Museum, on the other hand, is just perfect.

We spent three hours in the morning and then revisited after a nap in the car.  Tonnes of smiles were flashed, interspersed by laughs, surprises, and adventure.  It was one of the most fun days I’ve had with my little girls.

On the tourist-o-meter, I give this place a perfect score for any families vacationing in the Valley of the Sun.

I hadn’t until today.

Six minutes can change that, and it may set you on a path toward revival.

I submit to you Exhibit A, from the recent Packers-Lions game.

I recognize that the world runs quite well without readers knowing what I’m consuming media-wise, but the purpose of those pages is to share what’s influencing me and perhaps be one more voice for you on what is or isn’t worth your time, in the sea of stuff out there.

As of two minutes ago, those pages are all up-to-date, and I am putting measures in place to providing at least monthly updates on those pages, beginning now.

“If we are to experience God, we must be open to God, to the mystical, to the divine, appearing in our lives. And we must have an openness that is free of any preconditions about HOW that will happen. Looking for God in a godly form is the great historical mistake.”

Christmas Gets Me

A season like Christmas can redirect the spotlight to this mark once again: An “unplanned” baby in a mangey manger in a barely-there town, held by peasant parents who are about to become refugees…

As Hays says: We must be open to God without preconceived notions of what “godly” type of thing we’re looking for. This speaks to the idea that one brave friend recently told me about. He walks through his day with his scheduled plans laid out, and strains to receive what I would call interruptions as opportunities, even as divine knocks upon the door of his life. Part of me is moved by the idea, even drawn toward it. Another part pulls the e-brake and declares, “We aren’t going there, Jay.”

But I cannot get away from Hays’ closing sentence: “Looking for God in a godly form is the great historical mistake.”

I see it often in the pages of the Old Testament. My nativity set reminds me of the Christmas connection. And a look in the mirror pushes harder: “Am I looking into the eyes of a man blind to the divine and senseless toward the sacred, just because he’s pre-determined what they surely must look like?”

I pray not.

The language of the text says that Jesus “withdrew into Galilee”, leaving Nazareth for Capernaum.  More than mere relocation, the shift is backed with Isaiah’s prophetic language:

“The people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.” 

Jesus’ presence is akin to that of light: Comforting, empowering, and revealing.  It was so in the region of Galilee, and it continues to be so in every life that opens its doors to Jesus.

Verse 17 then adds:

From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Too often, we internally shrink this sharp call of Jesus’ into a paraphrase: “Stop being bad, start being good, and you’ll feel God’s blessing on your life.”  That isn’t untrue; it’s just not true enough.

Jesus’ statement is framed as a logical movement from Isaiah’s words, meaning that a more accurate slant on Jesus’ earliest message would be: “God’s light is shining brighter and nearer than you would dare to think.  In view of this, drop everything that hinders and hardens you against this growing God-reign and embrace all that frees and forms you for full participation in it.”

In two lines: Jesus, the Light of lights, is shining.  Draw near and step in to the view and the warmth found there.

Anything less shouldn’t likely be called Christmas.

“Woe to her who is rebellious and defiled, the oppressing city!  She listens to no voice; she accepts no correction.  She does not trust in the Lord; she does not draw near to her God.”

My observation is that most Bible readers nowadays mentally check out when a passage kicks off with the word “woe”.  Perhaps it’s the “old feel” of the term; perhaps it’s the sheer weight of the word and it warning nature.

But we would be wise to swallow the “woe” and rest on what follows.  There is warning.  Anyone who strives to live in a responsible, upstanding fashion may be tempted to deflect a word like “rebellious” toward someone more “worthy of the title”.  But that would dull the blade set to do surgery on us.

Zephaniah fleshes out “rebellious” with these descriptives:

• One who listens to no voice.
• One who accepts no correction.
• One who does not trust Yahweh.
• One who does not draw near to the God he claims as his own.

These are harder shots to dodge.  Who among us doesn’t shut our ears sometimes when we should be listening hardest?  Which of us has called God our own, while living out nothing resembling trust?

Such living wears the banner of “rebellious”, and we dwelling on Zephaniah’s words can convict us that this banner fits with remarkable comfort, more than we expected.

That is the blade of prophecy.  At its sharpest, it has surgical precision and transformative power in the lives of God’s people.  That has always been the intention—to tune our attention.