Have we lost the Word?

I was reading in 2 Kings 22 about how King Josiah is directing the repairing of the Temple. Verse 11 is rather striking: "And Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, 'I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the Lord'". If it was "found" that implies it had gotten lost. Seeing how the secretary responded in telling the King about it, "here's a book we found", shows he had no clue what it was. How could the Book have gotten lost? I wonder who had tossed it where it was found. Had anyone picked it up before this and threw it down not realizing what it was? I probably should study this a bit more. But for now...
So the book - the Word of God- was lost in the midst of the structure. Could this be what is happening today? We have our stuctures of church, of what we define as church, and in the midst of those programs, traditions and schedules, the Word somehow gets lost. Sometimes it gets lost even when we are using it - I mean we use it to say what we want it to or to support our own little agendas. The whole Word directs us to God, it is understood with the help of God, it helps us think like God. Today the church is full of more world thinkers than kingdom thinkers. It easy to let our minds conform to the world, it takes the Word (with the Holy Spirit's help as our teacher) to transform our thinking.

The book of Zephaniah was written in the days of Josiah. There is a warning of the coming judgement because of man's pride. But ends with what God does so well, mercy. Zephaniah 3:17 - "The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing."
Josiah was in his twenties when they found the Word and his response to it ushered in a Reformation. I am hopeful that those in their twenties will find the Word and do the same today. I may not be in my twenties but I want to be a part of it.

Greatness

While we seek to encourage our children to go after their dreams, how do we not think like the world? What looks "great" to the world is not what looks "great" to God. Hebrews 11 is known as the "Hall of Faith" and seems to list people that did "great" things. Do I really what my kids to be great in God's kingdom? Am I really ready to cheer them on knowing that the world will not understand? It is a challenge to be transformed in the way we think of success.

How were the people of old considered successful? Let's see...Noah built an ark to the jeers of the world around him, Abraham went to place and didn't have a complete plan in place (he didn't even know where he was going), Moses considered the reproach of Christ of greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, some conquered kingdoms, stopped the mouths of lions,received dead back by resurrection, suffered mocking, flogging, chains, imprisonment, some escaped the sword, some where killed by the sword and on it goes. The list in Hebrews 11 is rather sobering. But, gives me an encouragement knowing I am part of something much bigger than myself - and I am surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses. So, in my pilgrimage as a parent, I want to encourage and spur on my children to walk by faith.

Jimmy posted such a "great" blog http://jimmymccarty.theworldrace.org/index.asp?filename=a-moment-of-clarity.