Randy Wray’s Blog

Is it possible that the first person who started teaching the story of Noah and the flood, as a children’s Bible story, made a mistake? Just because you have flannel animals doesn’t necessarily make it an appropriate Bible story.

Consider the implications had the story ended here:

But the story does not end here. If it were not for the next verse it certainly would have been a brief history of the world.

The story of Noah is a difficult story to comprehend and apply.

I’m not going to jump on that bandwagon that criticizes and condemns the world. Yes, there are bad people in the world. Yes, terrible atrocities happen at the hands of people in the world.

I want to think that my life, like that of Noah, pleases the Lord. Not that I believe I’m the only one who pleases the Lord. I just want to stand out from the crowd as one who is trying to please the Lord with every thought, every action.

It seems the Lord is continually looking down from heaven:

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After a long winter’s nap, a peaceful time of hybernation in the shed, the pool is back baby! I’m as surprised as you are that the aquatic play pen survived to begin the sophmore year.

We filled it up Sunday night and of course the kids, who have more courage than sense, swam in the frigid waters of the bearing sea off and on throughout the day yesterday. Myself, having more sense than courage, put on my shorty wet-suit and spent about 10 minutes lowering my core body temperature.

Since we have no air conditioning in the house and temps will reach 93 today the chilling water sounds good. Now to figure out how to install a floating desk so my laptop won’t get wet.

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We can all think of pleasant happy memories we do not ever want to forget. Maybe it was a wedding day, the birth of a child, the day you came to accept Jesus Christ. Maybe it was the day you graduated from college, got that new surfboard or Les Paul. Good memories we want to keep remembering.

But there are days that are not so good. There are memories that are not so good. Still, it is to our great benefit to hang on to these memories.

It might not be healthy to live every day in the shadow of painful unpleasant memories. Those who have lost loved ones certainly live in the shadow of death every day.

So once a year when a day, like today, comes around it is appropriate for us to remember.

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Welcome to my redesigned blog!

I’ve made this change is for many reasons (here are a three):

I wanted to own my posts (and own up to them I guess). When you post with blogger the content does not technically belong to you. That’s only an issue, of course, if I ever come up with some insightful, original thought. You never know. Stranger things have happened. With my own domain I own the content and am free to distribute or delete at will!

I wanted greater flexibility with my blog. With my own domain name and my own hosting account I will be able to accomplish more with the blog. When I started the blog I had the idea to use this platform as a resource to encourage and equip others. This new platform will do just that. Of course this does not mean that silly stories about "the pool" or "cat-fishing" will cease. I know for many of you the trivial, brainless, humorous portions of the blog are why you keep coming back.

It just looks cool to have randywray.com instead of randywray.blogger.com!

So, if you’ve bookmarked the old blog please update with the new blog address: www.randywray.com

If you have graciously included me in your blog links please update the link by simply removing the word "blogspot" from the tag line so that it just reads

There may be a few bugs here and there relating to comments and such but I’ll figure it out as we go along. In order to leave a comment (which I encourage you to do - the interchange in the comments is worth the price of admission) you will need to register. There is a link in the bottom right or a link in the comment section. You are registering on my blog (my domain) you are not signing up for an account with WordPress (the blog publishing platform). Select your username and you will receive an automated message with your password.

Before I hear any smack about the order of the blog buddies notice that they appear in alphabetical order. If you want to be at the top of the list change your name!

Thank you for your support and readership. I truly am humbled (and sometimes puzzled) that anyone would care to read.

NOTE: If you are interested in taking your blog to the next level let me know. Brad and I have set up a blog hosting project (just for ministers and spiritually oriented bloggers) called TheoBloggers and can help you take your blog to infinity and beyond!

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Finally the word of the Lord came to Elijah saying “Go, show yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the face of the earth.” Yes, the second part sounds good but are you absolutely sure about the first part?

Ahab has spent the last three years hunting for Elijah. Ahab has traveled the kingdom and beyond hunting for Elijah, the man he deems responsible for all his problems. Ahab has been so obsessed with finding Eljah that he made all other nations and kingdoms swear that they had never seen Elijah. Ahab single greatest objective is to find and eliminate Elijah.

The word of the Lord came to Elijah saying, “Go show yourself to Ahab . . .” No Moses moment for Elijah (I can’t do it, I’m not good with words, send someone else). No Jonah moment for Elijah (I’m on my way, the other way).

Courage to obey even at great risk. Perhaps that’s why Elijah meets Obadiah first instead of Ahab. Was God using Obadiah as a buffer? So that Ahab couldn’t take credit for finding Elijah?

The first words from the mouth of Ahab ‚ÄúIs it you–the biggest troublemaker in Israel?” Considering the damage Ahab has done, considering the damage Jezebel has done it makes for a curious statement.

Ahab is basically saying “we were doing just fine until you opened your big mouth about how what we were doing was against God.”

Ah yes, shooting the messenger.

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Spring like weather.

Had a catch with Madison.

Had a catch with Reese.

Beth threw for the first time in 8 weeks.

Madison and Reese beat me in soccer 10 to 1 (the one goal they let me score was a pity goal).

Slow cooked ribs for dinner.

“And I think to myself . . . (sing to yourself what comes next) . . . oh yeah!”

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The mighty dolphins prevailed over their number one rival (the all-stars) last night with an impressive 9 to 5 victory.

The dolphins and the all-stars have been the number one and two teams in the league for the past few years. The games are always exciting, tense and usually with a much closer score.

The two teams have played 5 times this year and the mighty dolphins have taken 4 out of the 5 games. Last night was the last time the team will face each other for the season.

The softball team has been a real source of encouragement and enjoyment for Beth and Madison. It’s one of those rare occurrences in the world of youth sports where the team has quality girls and quality parents.

Not all the girls are good softball players but they are good girls. The core group of parents are the kind of people you want your children around. Beth has done a great job teaching the girls (and the parents) about playing hard but playing to have fun.

They only have a couple of games left in the season but the game last night was the biggest game left. With 11 wins and 1 loss, barring any major upset, the mighty dolphins will swim away with the league title.

Of course it’s all because of the strategery and coaching of the best coach in the league.

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Relationships are what makes the job of ministry rewarding.

We have been blessed, because of our ministry, with so many enriching relationships. In fact, it is the absence of relationships or conflict in relationships that causes ministry to be so draining.

We have lived in Arlington, Virgina and worked with the Arlington Church of Christ for 6 ¬? years. This work has been challenging, frustrating, rewarding, and fulfilling ‚Äì often all in the same week. I‚Äôve grown as a minister and as a person. I‚Äôve done my very best to challenge, through my life and teaching, others to think and behave in a manner consistent with the disposition of Jesus Christ. We‚Äôve had great success in many ministry endeavors and believe the future to be bright for the body of believers at Arlington.

So it was with a mix of emotions that I informed the congregation yesterday of our intent to leave Arlington. It was not a decision that we reached hastily. We wrestled with the idea of leaving Arlington since September of 2005 as we begin to see God move us in a new direction.

As I told the church yesterday we are sad that we are leaving because of the many solid relationships we have with so many. The church at Arlington is poised to be effective in many arenas of ministry and it is difficult to think I will no longer have a role in her future.

We are also excited. Mainly because we have seen God move and answer prayers. God has been faithful to us and has led us, without question, in this new direction. In August we will move to Stockton, California and begin working with the Central Church of Christ.

We do not fully understood why God has led us in this direction but we have no doubt that he is leading us. I’ve read the story of Jonah too many times. It’s generally not a good idea to say “no” to God.

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If I’ve read it once I’ve read it a thousand times. But something happened yesterday as I read this passage getting ready for our Thursday night small group Bible Study.

Genesis 6:5-7 (NCV) The LORD saw that the human beings on the earth were very wicked and that everything they thought about was evil. He was sorry he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. So the LORD said, “I will destroy all human beings that I made on the earth. And I will destroy every animal and everything that crawls on the earth and the birds of the air, because I am sorry I have made them.”

Three statements leapt from the page into my heart:

“He was sorry he had made human beings.”

“His heart was filled with pain.”

“I am sorry I have made them.”

Pain, grief and regret. The God who made all things good inherits a severe case of buyers remorse.

Even though I’ve had these same feelings I can’t begin to imagine the depth of these feelings in the heart of God. I know some of you may. Your own creation, your own children may have brought you to the border of these feelings.

Sure, I’ve been hurt, crushed, perplexed, experienced the pain of disappointment. I’ve regretted meeting someone. I’ve been sorry for meeting someone. My heart has been filled with pain by the actions of some.

The way of the world is self-seeking, self-serving. That should not be a surprise. When those who say they know God are self-seeking and self-serving that’s what should bring us great concern.

The world is unjust. We know that. God is just. We know that also but this truth has some difficulty taking root in our heart.

There are two ways to view this world:

Evil without hope

The way you view the world affects the way you treat others.

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In the belly of Sidon we find the city of Zarephath; a dangerous place for Elijah to visit and certainly not a vacation destination. Considering his current predicament, he obeys the voice of God and begins his journey.

Why was Zarephath a dangerous place for Elijah to visit? Bonus points to the person who leaves the answer in the comments.

The move to Zarephath was certainly a divine appointment for both Elijah and a certain widow in that town. As you read the story (1 Kings 17:7-24) you see God was working in the hearts of a renegade prophet and a disgraced widow.

Jesus, himself, points out that there were many widows in Israel during the time of Elijah. He says:

Luke 4:26 (NCV) But Elijah was sent to none of those widows, only to a widow in Zarephath, a town in Sidon.

The work God does in her heart confirms YAWHEH as the One true God. I find it curious that it took the raising of her son from the dead and not the endless supply of oil and flour for her to accept this message.

This is where it gets a bit fuzzy for me. I want to resist the idea that God took the life of this child to confirm his presence. I want to instead just accept that in the course of his sojourn with the widow the child died and thank God that Elijah was there because he brought the child back to life.

The difficulty lies in the reaction of Elijah to the loss of the child.

1 Kings 17:20 (NCV) Then he prayed to the LORD: “LORD my God, this widow is letting me stay in her house. Why have you done this terrible thing to her and caused her son to die?”

Elijah, perhaps for many reasons, blames God for the death of this boy. He then, after a crude form of CPR, again calls upon the Lord saying:

1 Kings 17:21 (NCV) Then Elijah lay on top of the boy three times. He prayed to the LORD, “LORD my God, let this boy live again!”

A request the Lord granted:

1 Kings 17:22 (NCV) The LORD answered Elijah’s prayer; the boy began breathing again and was alive.

God was trying to get someone’s attention! Was it the widow’s attention? Was it Elijah’s attention? Was it the boy’s? Is it mine?

He’s been providing oil and flour for so many years - small things in comparison to raising a child to life - and yet such a big thing they may have taken for granted.

I want to be ever appreciative of the small ways in which the Lord demonstrates his faithfulness to me. I’m not all that excited about the “big” thing he might choose to do in order to recapture my attention.

“God, You’ve got my complete un-divided, and grateful attention!”

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