A giant shout out to Dave Wager for this one. I was on his mailing list for his thought of the day and I go through them every once in a while to get something, well this one spoke to me so well. Hope you like it.

Neh. 6:15-16 (NLT)
So on October 2 the wall was finally finished—just fifty-two days after we had begun. [16] When our enemies and the surrounding nations heard about it, they were frightened and humiliated. They realized that this work had been done with the help of our God.

When our work is finished who will get the glory? Will people look at our plans? Will they see our talent, our insight, our wisdom or our resources as what accomplished the job or will they see Jesus?


It is easy to keep pushing God out of our formulas. We keep wanting to do things to become more “independent” of our creator. What would happen today if I did things that made me more dependent? What would happen today if I spent more time in prayer and study than planning and self improvement? What would happen if I actually trusted what God would do and actually sought how God wanted to do it?

If my day would be much different than the day I have planned, then I need to readjust my plans. I need to sit and evaluate all things in the light of who or what will get the glory when it is accomplished. If I am at the center of things- I need to move aside and make different decisions.

Dr. Schuchardt had a conference this weekend at College Church entitled "Life with no off switch" in which a great many number of things were covered, anywhere from Ipods to anti-depressants. It was the section on depression and psychological states that really struck a chord with me though. The entire time while he was talking about the effect that media has on clinical studies I was sitting in my seat quietly worrying that people would get up and leave or start yelling things at him. I mean, yes, this is Wheaton, but being Wheaton could also mean that people are more vocal towards opposition. The thing that really struck me about this was that Dr. Schuchardt wasn't trying to pick a fight, which is what I feel like most of those kind of things turn into to, just a kind of rambling of one person in the crowd versus the speaker, and the audience is left uncomfortable and recommitted to the fact that said topic will not come up in conversation with others. The talk on Frday very closely turned into this, as there was a certain lady in the back that was obviously extremely upset with the possibility that most psychological states and deficiencies come about from the newer forms of media that are introduced. Now, I can understand why she was upset, I know people that are suffering from different disorders, and I myself not struggling with any disorders that I can think of (Except for enjoying life a bit too much) have really no right to take a stance on it, but looking at pure numbers (which is Ironic because the whole thought of looking at pure numbers is also a result of new media), at the time of the introduction of the telegraph, there were only 8 different kinds of mental disorders. The newest edition for mental disorders, released last year, puts the number at more than 200. did we just find these and label these? or did these problems arise out of the way that we live.

I'll leave you with this, Who ever said that the way we live our lives is the normal way or even the way that life was supposed to be lived?

~Josh