Really Living

1 Thessalonians 3:8 (New International Version)
"For now we really live, since you are standing firm in the Lord."

I can't say for sure whether or not I've read this verse before ... but on Saturday, it really made an impression. These simple but profound words of Paul challenge me for the following reasons:

1. They reveal Paul's disregard for the pleasures of this world.
2. They reveal Paul's heart for other believers.
3. They reveal Paul's passion for the kingdom of God.

Two weeks ago, I joined my students in a poetry assignment. The task was to select a phrase that begins with the word 'I,' and then finish that phrase at least twenty different ways. I chose the phrase 'I feel alive when."

In light of Paul's words in the verse above, I'd like to critically revisit my work.

What are my highest priorities?
What am I passionate about?

Most importantly, do I feel "truly alive" when believers in my care are "standing firm in the Lord?"

Obama in Cairo

I was greatly encouraged to hear President Obama firmly oppose Israel’s reckless settlement expansion program. As settlement buildings, infrastructure, and residents continue to carve up the West Bank into an unintelligible patchwork of regions and municipalities, the prospects for peace in the region grow bleaker and bleaker. Any talk of a ‘two-state solution’ to the conflict – an eventual outcome rightly supported by the President – will require the allotment of sovereign territory to the Palestinians. Logically speaking, such a territory would include the West Bank, with Ramallah as its capital. The Israeli settlements, however, make such a realization well near impossible.