This is bound to get me made fun of by a few friends…but here’s a link to Sting’s new album Songs from the Labryinth. It’s not similar to anything he’s done before, but still very good.

Cheers.

Two and a half weeks ago (Friday, September 29th to be exact) I finished reading the New Testament. I started in June. Not a record setting pace, but I took my time so that I could catch a glimpse of the “big picture”. While I’m sure it would be beneficial to point out some of the themes that are present throughout the NT…things like Jesus as the fulfillment of OT prophecy, or grace, or God’s plan of redemption through His Son; there’s one theme I find throughout the whole of the NT that I can’t get out of my head. Jesus himself speaks of it, Paul writes volumes on it, James and Peter mention it, and John alludes to it in Revelation.

What is it? Suffering…To suffer. The life of the NT follower of Christ was/is synonymous with suffering. The life of Christ himself was synonymous with suffering. If we follow Christ we will suffer. It’s not a matter of “if”, but a matter of “when”. Paul would have it no other way, because when he suffered he knew he was in the will of God for his life. In fact, Paul considered everything apart from knowing Christ rubbish. To know Christ is to know suffering. That means that Paul would rather suffer for Christ’s sake than for anything else. James reminds us to consider it pure joy when we suffer. Why? Because he knew the benefit, the outcome. Suffering puts us squarely at the feet of Jesus. It puts our focus where it should be.

If we know that suffering is part and parcel of following Christ, we have found for ourselves a litmus test of sorts. In other words, if I’m not currently suffering for my faith, or if I’ve not recently found myself suffering for my faith then I need to re-evaluate my walk with Christ. Because the NT makes it clear that if I’m in the will of God for my life I will suffer.

Don’t know why, but just something I thought worth mentioning.

Cheers.

Yesterday at Glenwood we sang a song with the words Kyrie Eleison in it. The words translated mean Lord Have Mercy. On the way home Julie commented that the words were familiar to her, that she remembered them in a song from the 80′s. I told her she was crazy.

Well, today I did a little digging and sure enough…she was right. The words are from Mr. Mister’s song titled Kyrie. It’s from 1985. If you’re a child of the 80′s you’ll definetely remember this song. And now, it takes on a whole new meaning. I liked it so much I had to purchase it on iTunes. So, courtesy of YouTube here is the song (and video).

Cheers.

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