A few years ago I accompanied friends of mine on a trip to Europe. One of our travel group had daily business meetings. The other two of us set off everyday to see what adventure we could find along the route of the nearby rail road line.

One morning we got up and decided we were off to Antrewp. We had heard Antrewp was diamond capital of the world and the city sported a diamond museum. Well woo hoo! Off to Antrewp we went.

When we got off the train we headed out across then city center square toward the massive museum. Huge signs advertised the glorious gems within.

We walked up the building full of excitement. The gate was shut. Hmmm.
We looked at the sign by the gate. Museum closed on Tuesday.

We had completely neglected to check any details. We had not consulted with anyone. No research online. We had barreled forward with our plan but we were stopped at the gate.

The Book of Isaiah tells the story of a prophet shouting out warning signs and warnings. The people don't listen. And so they are shut off and great heartache ensues. The good news is the story didn't end there. The prophet had a message of hope if only the people would listen.

The Book of Isaiah is a massive 66 chapter book split into two sections. The first half is the warnings and promises to the people prior to their caputure. The second half is the message to the people in captivity. I'll cover that second half next week.

Ever notice how the instagram Bible and wall hangings only show the verses of hope? Do you know that they are only hopeful in context of the words of judgment? You don't need a savior if you aren't utterly forsaken.

The people of Israel broke covenant.

Ah, sinful nation, a people loaded with guilt, a brood of evildoers, children given to corruption! They have forsaken the Lord; they have spurned the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him. Isaiah 1:4

There was then Judgment and call to action

When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hid my eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood! wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing wrong, learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. Isaiah 1: 15-17

The prophet Isaiah witnessed God.

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. 6:1

Isaiah encourages me to ground my faith by embracing God as He is. Holy. Mighty. Massive.

The earth is defiled by its people; they have disobeyed the laws, violated the statutes and broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore a curse consumes the earth; its people must bear their guilt. Is. 24:19

Ain't that the truth?! If you watch the news for too long you'll be convinced. The world then is the same as now. In need of a Savior. And Isaiah is one of the best places to hear God's plan for redemption.

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned. Is. 9:2

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, MIghty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Is 9:6

For this salvation of Jesus and for the grace bestowed then and now I join in the praise.

Surly God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The Lord, the Lord, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. Is. 12:2

O Lord, you are my God: I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you hae done marvelous things, things planned long ago. Is. 25:1

You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, The Lord is the Rock eternal. Isaiah 26:3-4

The first half of Isaiah leaves the people locked out of their homes, cut off from glory but watching expecting salvation. In minor fashion exactly how we sat outside the diamond museum. Locked out but with a train ticket home. We just had to follow the map.
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I've learned my lesson. When traveling I do more research. I try to read the signs. If only we would all try to apply the same words of warning from Isaiah and follow the savior.

Check out The Bible Project's Read Scripture for the first half of Isaiah.  This really helped me see the layout of the book.  Watch and learn.

Love is patient. Love is kind.

At marriage retreat last weekend I was running through the well known love chapter in the Bible. 1 Corinthians 13 is right up there with John 3:16 for the sheer quantity of times it's included on printed products and memes, wedding invitations and Instagram photos.

This time as I read it I ticked through the list considering if my life included the various aspects of love. It's a good challenge as a marriage, parenting, friendship and internal bitterness checkup.

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”
‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭13:4-7

I fail on most of these daily. This time though my heart stopped at the "rejoices with the truth" bit and I've been pondering this line all week.

I rejoice a lot. I cheer when my kids smile and when the resident chef makes a delicious dinner. I smile when I cash a paycheck. I rejoice when my team wins.

Problem is I rejoice other times too. I smirk when people I disagree with are caught in a lie. I high five snarky remarks. I don't think that's what the love chapter would call rejoicing with truth.

Then my internal dialogue continued. How do I respond when my spouse tells the truth? When my kids do? When I don't like the truth they speak? Consider.

Me. I have a great idea! Let's (fill in the blank with my random request)

Resident Chef: That won't work today. (Please note he is speaking truth)

Me: pouting.

Hmmm.

Me to child: How was your day? Did you do piano?

Child: cringes. Not yet. (Please note she's speaking truth)

Me: Grrr! Why not?!?

Hmmmm. Not rejoicing. Mostly I rejoice when I like things and I pout when I don't. I'm not even considering the truth. Sigh.

All week I've been wondering what my life would look like if I embraced this rejoicing with truth. If instead of pouting or growling I tried love.

Love says: Thank you for telling me. I can help you with this problem. I'm grateful you trust me. We can fix it. I am so glad I understand better now. I didn't know that part of the story.

No sighs. No pouts. Love looks like grace and rejoices with truth.

I heard a story about two friends walking into a shopping mall. By the front door stood a shabbily dressed woman holding a sign. The sign said "Please help, my baby is sick. We need money for the doctor." The first friend pulled out a $10 bill and pressed it to the woman's hand. As the friends walked away the second friend laughed and said "Oh man! You got scammed! I know her and she has no kids!"

The first man smiled and replied "Wonderful! I'm so glad there is no sick baby!"

I want to see the truth and rejoice with the truth. Truth is on my bad days God loves me. In the midst of my failures He extends grace. When I seek help He extends his hand. He rejoices when I confess. Cheers when I come home.

Knowing why they trusted God, they knew why the known facts were never all the facts. - OS Guinness. Today try planting your feet on eternal truth. Then try responding with grace to the truths of your friends and family. Let me know what you think in the comments. How do you respond to truth? I'm trying today.

My husband and I spent the weekend at our church's annual marriage retreat. We spent the weekend watching the ocean, eating, laughing and learning. Mostly we paused.  Retreat is a time to step out of our crazy schedule and remember. Oh yes. I know you. I picked you. I love you. We spend time watching other couples. Hearing their stories. Knowing their stories. It helps me to watch those around me. Sometimes that can reflect where I am. The whole weekend is an investment. It takes time to know my relationship matters as more than just a household partnership.

The Song of Solomon. Oh Lordy. Sex. Marriage. Love. Touchy topics there. No pun intended. My ten–year-old, my mother and my husband all read my blog. This post makes me want to hide in the closet or turn pink. And for that very reason I love the book of Song of Songs. For the truth is that those hide and blush or strip and shock reactions are not what God intended. Sex is a gift. Romance is a beautiful picture. Both are holy. And fun. God created sex in all its measure. Partly for creating children for sure. But partly for binding hearts, healing pain, comforting and enjoying each other.

My beloved is radiant and ruddy, outstanding among ten thousand.  Song of Solomon 5:10

The Song of Solomon is a book of poetry that describes the emotional and physical attraction between an engaged couple. It's full of steamy scenes and weighty emotion.  Through the years, this book has been banned, edited, misunderstood, skipped over and explained away. But it's a powerful book.

Hudson Taylor, the great missionary, says Song of Solomon is all about union and communion.

Let him lead me to the banquet hall, and let his banner over me be love.  Song of Solomon 2:4

Song of Solomon reminds me that God is all about relationship. He's comfortable with emotion. He doesn't want stale or boring to be words that describe our human relationships or our relationship with him. 

Song of Solomon also runs straight into the bedroom. Lots of people want faith in God to be a part of their lives but they build a brick wall around their sexuality and post signs that say "Not Welcome". "Not Here". "You don't know what you are talking about". I think people are scared if they agree to let God be God of everything, including their sexuality, that they will lose out. Truth is Song of Solomon makes it very clear that God's isn't out to wreck anything. He's out to save everything. Including our identities, expressions, relationships and sexuality.  

OS Guiness in the book Fool's Talk describes the way that our problems start when we begin to suspect God of wrongdoing and our views as correct.

"On the one hand, for each of us, sin is the claim to the right to myself, and so to my way of seeing things, which - far more than class, gender, race and generation - is the ultimate source of human relativity. On the other hand, sin is the deliberate repudiation of God and the truth of his way of seeing things. If my way of seeing things is decisive, anyone who differs from me is wrong by definition - including God. No, especially God, because his way of seeing things is more powerful and therefore more threatening than anyone else's.  His word, our interference."
 
When we cheapen sex to a visual or a one night stand or refuse to seek God's guidance in all areas of our sexuality, we cheapen the gift.  It's like drive-by faith. Sunday morning confessions that mean nothing on Monday. A marriage is supposed to be a way to live out the picture of the gospel. And so the Song of Songs encourages me. The faith is supposed to be deep and fun and joyful and life long. It's supposed to be emotional and passionate.  To know and be known.

My beloved spoke and said to me, "Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, come with me."  Song of Solomon 2:10

The Song of Solomon challenges the idea that God's view of sex is boring, wrong, outdated, restrictive or wrong. Read the book. It's beautiful. It's a gift. I'd challenge you to shift your heart. Invite Him in to shape and guide your relationships and your sexuality. You can trust him.

Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame.  Song of Solomon 8:6

Date your Spouse!  Need ideas? Check out the Date Box.

New Spring Church has a full list of devotionals HERE.

Eric Metaxas is New York Times bestselling author of Bonhoeffer, Amazing Grace, former writer for Veggie Tales and radio show host is a brilliant and funny man. Good combo. Years ago, in a land far away (NYC), Eric created a forum for professionals to gather and discuss life's deep water questions. Like most good ventures, this forum birthed a book.

Socrates In the City, Conversation on “Life, God and Other Small Topics” is a collection of essays by some of today's brightest minds. Questions like “How Good Confronts Evil” or Making Sense out of Suffering”. Tough minded, witty and funny this book will challenge you to think deeply. No light weight faith allowed!

Some favorite quotes from the book:

"When it comes to a culture that exalts the self, Christianity is countercultural in the extreme." Charles W. Colson

"The God of love will not be the puppet master of the universe, pulling every string" Sir John Polkinghorne

"Even when God doesn't immediately tow us out of our suffering, the fact that he's with us in it is at the least the most impressive and satisfying answer to the problem of suffering that I know". Dr. Peter Kreeft

Eric Metaxas sent Quirky Faith a copy of Socrates in the City to give out to a reader. I'll be drawing a winner from the Quirk-Email subsriber list tomorrow morning. If you haven't signed up yet you can do so HERE.

Buy your own copy at the link below.

At the beginning of every year, I come up with something new I need to change. A new ‘new year’s resolution’. Most years, I make it a few days, maybe a few weeks. But, still, every year I find it fun to try to work on something new. In the past, my resolutions have stemmed around becoming healthy, losing weight, and reading more of the Bible. But, this year, I wanted to do something different. Something drastic. Something crazy. I decided to…..(drum roll)…..give up Facebook. For. The. Whole. Year. All of 2017.

I’m what you would call a Facebook stalker. I constantly go on and read other people’s posts, look at pictures, but don’t often post anything myself. When I do post, it’s normally a share or something amazing or extremely cute about my girls. Instead, I watch and read other people’s lives. And, I’ve noticed more and more that I have been comparing my life to other people’s Facebook lives. I must be doing something wrong because my daughter doesn’t like her school work. Or my 14 month old isn’t talking much yet. Or I never have a clean house. Or I never make homemade tortillas. Etc. Then, I realized that Facebook lives are either 1. The best of people’s lives OR 2. The worst of people’s lives. You never see the mundane day to day life. You don’t see parents repeatedly telling their children to clean their rooms. Or children constantly not following directions. Or the constant changing of diapers, even though you just changed it. Or the mess from the high chair (and child), right after that super cute picture of the 1 year old’s first birthday cake.

However, my favorite thing on Facebook is to read parenting and education articles, gather recipes, and get new ideas. I save all of these to read at a later time or to refresh my mind of what I’ve read. When giving up Facebook, I realized I would miss my saved links and articles most. So, I decided I would save them to my computer before entirely giving up Facebook.

So, on January 1st, I went on Facebook a last time. I posted to my wall that I was giving up Facebook for the year. Then, I opened all my saved items. I saved them to a Word document or bookmarked the link. My plan was to deactivate the account, but instead I decided to delete it from my phone and see how much it tempted me to go back on. If I was consistently tempted to go back on, then I would deactivate it. I was worried about losing all my pictures and past postings. I have used Facebook in the past to record funny things my children have done throughout the years.

The first few days were hard. I didn’t realize how much I opened Facebook up without even realizing it. I opened Facebook up, while waiting for my tea, while walking upstairs, while getting ready. I often unlocked my phone to open Facebook, then would realize what I was doing and closed it again. The first week was a definite eye opener for me. But, I learned something new. I learned how much of my time was just wasted on my phone. I didn’t even realize how much time was spent reading or scrolling on Facebook. I hate losing track of time, but I realized how much time I had lost before I gave it up.

Now, it’s been almost 3 weeks and I’ve learned so much more! I still think about it once in awhile, but I’ve found a better use of my time. I spend more time watching my girls play. Talking to them about what they’re learning. Doing crafts and activities. Knitting. Reading to my girls. Reading the Bible. Walking outside in the snow. Cleaning the house. Cooking homemade tortillas. All those other resolutions I wanted to do, but never had the time.

But, more than that, I’ve watched and assessed how my attitude toward life has changed. I pray and talk to God more. I read the Bible more. I incorporate God more in my discussion with my girls. I was never faithless with Facebook, but I definitely incorporate more of my faith in discussions throughout my life.

My 10 year old noticed. She noticed that she doesn’t get away with as much anymore. I notice when she doesn’t clean her room as well as it should be. I notice when she hasn’t done all of her schoolwork. I notice when she’s been spending a little too much time on the computer. I notice the paintings she’s been doing. I notice how well she’s playing the piano. I notice all the time she spends working on “projects.” I notice more in general.

I think my 14 month old has noticed too, in her own way. She noticed Mom getting on the floor and playing more. She has more undivided attention now. She eats more homemade meals and snacks now. I read more books to her. We’ve pulled out crayons and colored together. I actually watch her play more. We constantly have classical music on in the background. I listen to her laugh. I love coming up with new ways of making her laugh. I notice her and try to appreciate her more in the moment. Rather than overlook sweet moments.

I don’t know that giving up Facebook is right for everybody. But, for me, it has made a huge difference. But, I think what’s made the most difference is obeying God. God has been laying it on my heart for awhile now that I needed to do something drastic. But giving up Facebook was too much for me. Now that I’ve listened, my eyes and ears have been opened more to Him. So, for the 2017 year, you won’t find me on Facebook. You can find me playing with my girls, actually reading a book, writing more, listening to classical music, outside going for walks, cooking with and for my girls, reading to my girls or taking them on adventures. Goodbye Facebook. Maybe another year.