Sunday musings

Dr. Wright and I at Caesarea

Although I had originally thought I would be able to go to church in Nazareth on Sundays, it didn't work out. I decided instead to go along with the volunteers on their field trip. Dr. Wright, the president of Jerusalem University College, was leading one of the busses, so I went with him. He taught one of my classes last year, and is a phenomenal tour guide. He knows the sites well, but also knows how to appreciate and address their theological significance. It was fun to learn from him again.
We went to Legio, Megiddo, and Caesarea. I've been to those places several times before, but there is always something new to lear, or re-learn.
However, it did remind me of the times I had gone to those places with my JUC classmates, and made me miss it some! My class was smaller, and more attentive than this group. While sitting in the Hippodrome, looking out over Herod's man-made port and the turquoise Mediterranean, I began again to think about how quickly times change, and how even the best and most impressive things collapse. I've been thinking about that a lot senior year and beyond ;)
But this evening I read a devotion by Charles

Milk, Crackers and Devotions.

Spurgeon, which had some interesting thoughts. He was saying that it is an encouragement to find that we are dissatisfied with the world, and do not find happiness in it, because it means we are a child of God, dissatisfied with a world of Sin. He then continued to say that we must "feed" on Christ, and seek him for joy and peace.
With that in mind, I think I must dedicate myself to seeking God. While all my future is uncertain, I can know for certain that learning and memorizing the Bible will be time well spent.
Herod built architectural wonders, and lived in luxury, but through ought his life he was paranoid, egotistic, and unloved. Contrast that with Paul, locked in the prison of Caesarea on his way to Rome for a trial before Caesar. He had nothing in this world, and yet he said

"I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrectionfrom the dead."
Philippians  3:7-11