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Your 7 Days?
Loving God and Loving People on purpose
“And the officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing, and I had not yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials, and the rest who were to do the work.”
Nehemiah 2:16
Last time we traced our leader’s path as he viewed the city’s walls and gates. And how his role was to tarry – but with hope. To shine light on the way forward.
Today we explore more of how this nighttime mission was a secret. He lists all the people this would affect: the regular Joes all the way up to the priests, nobles and officials. Teamwork would matter.
“I had not yet told the…nobles.” Nobles here is notable men of the clans who directed public affairs. The root word means free or fully from charar. “Pure from the cleansing power of fire (choriy) and therefore noble in rank.”
He is good to cleanse us, yes? When we walk through the fire and are not burned, it is still not without pain. He uses all means necessary to purify us so He can trust us with His plans.
“I had not yet told… the rest who were to do the work.” Work is melakah – article, business, craftsmanship. And told is nagad – to be boldly out, to declare, to expound fully.
Work here implies a craft. These notable men, priests, and officials were to be doing dignified work as they helped reconstruct the wall and secure Jerusalem’s safety and future. Likely they were not used to this type of labor and would need to see it as the craft that it is. Nehemiah’s job would be to boldly declare such worth and importance to those carrying out the mission of God.
If we back up a tad to the verb examining from last time, there is an interesting slice of commentary worth noting. “The Hebrew translated ‘examining’ is sober, ‘breaking’. Rashi, the medieval Jewish commentator, suggested that Nehemiah was breaking the walls to bring conditions to the attention of the people!” Source
He is good to bring to mind my pride when I’m in times of transition. How I’m still clinging and trying to make things happen in my own strength. If indeed Nehemiah was busting holes in the walls to show their true condition, both he and those he was seeking to lead would need a hefty dose of humility to keep from fixing things in their own power.
What a task: boldly declare the worth of the work while challenging these men to rely on God through it all. To see it as a mission under Yahweh and in His strength.
How about us? The enemy is looking for anything he can to destroy the Church. All he has to do is get us out of the Word – or use it to turn on each other. Our walls of protection come from unity, from trusting in Him to move and work, vindicate and propel forward.
Let’s keep one hand on our Bibles and the other reaching out toward each other. Because the other thing happening in the Body right now is reconciliation. Understanding, discussion, healing & powerful prayer. It is dignified work, friends.
Let’s allow the prayer of the One Who set this dignified work in motion be answered through us.
Final Friday is tomorrow. Tour our city and catch local art, including:
The Workroom featuring their Spring Showcase. Plus, live music.
At Reverie catch 3 of our city’s “Rogue Photographers” who are in partnership with IGWichita.
At City Arts see 2017 Congressional Art Show, a special exhibition of artwork from area high school students and Myriad by Friends University senior art students.
Check out a map and more participating venues here.
Know someone seeking to beat cancer? Enrollment is now open for the Livestrong program at the Wichita YMCA.
Did you know Watermark was named as the bookstore to visit in Kansas by Real Simple? Yep.
Free Spring Gardening Classes coming up:
Raised Bed Gardening at Rockwell is tonight, March 30th, from 5:30 to 7:00.
Landscaping with Annuals at Alford Library on April 4th from 5:30 – 7 p.m
And don’t miss the Sedgwick County Extension Office’s Tree Festival –
Or Budgeting Basics April 5 and 12 from 1:00 – 2:15 pm at the Downtown Senior Services Center. Register here.
Next week at Wichita Art Museum’s Senior Wednesday enjoy Natural Kansas with Jim Mason, director of the Great Plains Nature Center.
Make sure to get to the Spring Open House at Johnson’s Garden through April 2nd. Great deals including 25% off seed packets and $3.99 perennials.
And find out how you can win a free membership to Botanica.
Plus, the Kansas Wildlife & Parks Magazine is accepting entries for their Wild About Kansas photo contest. Share your favorite wildlife, hunting, fishing, and other outdoor photos.
Enjoy another Creature Feature on Monday, April 3rd at Great Plains Nature Center from 1-2. Deb will “whisper you through the world of animal noises.”
Yay! Outdoor Market Opening Day for Kansas Grown Farmers Market is this Saturday, April 1st from 7-noon. We have a nice season of local vendors and produce stretching before us.
And mark your calendars for the Community Benefit Concert featuring Billy Currington and Chris Janson coming up to raise money for the wonderful girls at Carpenter Place.
Library:
The next installment of Candid Conversations on Race will be this coming Tuesday, April 2nd, entitled Police on Racial Profiling: In Their Own Words. Listen to a well-researched presentation along with a Q&A session with Chief of Police Gordon Ramsay and a diverse panel of community representatives.
And you certainly won’t want to miss the Young Artists’ Exhibit at Angelou on Tuesday April 4th from 6:30-7:15. Enjoy a special storytime, refreshments, and art from children of nearby early childhood education programs.
And at Evergreen this Saturday April 1st, come to Community Health Screenings & Health Fair from 10-2.
Then learn more about Microsoft Publisher at Evergreen Tuesday April 4th from 2:30-4:00.
Have a great weekend!
Making Spring Wreaths
Bold
Art
Printable + Watercolor
Local Eating (Delish)
Boys and the Zoo
Feeding Pelicans
Pelicans
Majestic
Spring Break finale
Creation glory
Your 7 Days?
Still thinking about our city’s All-City Racial Reconciliation Conversation. And how if the way forward will indeed be through relationship, then those who have been most impacted ought to be leading the way. If there are those like me out there who know there is a problem, but we only understand it somewhat, our best bet will probably be to sit down and elevate the voices that most need heard.
As we earn trust with minority churches to invite us in and teach us, we can walk this way. Starting with some key points from Dr. Don Davis’ talk:
Good stuff, right? You can download the slides of Dr. Don Davis’ talk here.
I’d also love to point you to a few online resources I’ve found helpful.
I’ve mentioned this before, alerted to it from IF: Gathering. Latasha Morrison’s Be the Bridge is doing some real good around the nation. You can listen to a podcast about it here:
http://leadstoriespodcast.com/s02-episode-12-lead-voices-tasha-morrison
Poke around her website here:
And read an eye-opening article at Christianity Today here:
As our eyes are opened, let’s let those who have always been aware lead the way.
“Then I went on to the Fountain Gate and to the King’s Pool, but there was no room for the animal that was under me to pass. Then I went up in the night by the valley and inspected the wall, and I turned back and entered by the Valley Gate, and so returned.”
Nehemiah 2:14-15 (ESV)
Last time we saw the beginning route of Nehemiah’s secretive nighttime excursion. Today we see the rest of it as he circles back and returns the way he came. I thought a map might help. (Actually, I just needed one.)
Nehemiah originally leaves by way of the Valley Gate heading south (left on this map) around to the Fountain Gate. He does this to inspect the wall. The Hebrew for inspect is sabar – to view, tarry with hope.
Isn’t that what a leader does? Viewing a situation, seeing what needs to be done? Knowing when to wait, but waiting with hope?
Even the two verbs to describe Nehemiah’s arrival to the wall near the Valley reflect hope: hayah – to come, a beacon. And alah – ascend, climb. Leadership often requires being a beacon for others when the ocean is dark and shoreline inscrutable. Or climbing to a higher vantage point and calling back to others what’s ahead.
So grateful our Leader does this with perfect humility.
I keep thinking about the word behemah. There is a Hebrew word for horse. And specific nouns for donkey and mule. Makes me wonder why Nehemiah’s riding source is referred to as a mount. An unspecified beast.
Then we spent some time at the Zoo this week, marveling over God’s intricacy and variety. Viewing beasts, large and small, that are anything but unspecified to our creative God.
“A cavalcade would have attracted notice. Nehemiah probably rode a mule…rather than a horse. Riding over rough places by night he would require the most surefooted animal.” Source
When God’s Word refers to a surefooted animal, it is the female deer. She can place her back legs precisely where her front have trod while scaling rugged terrain.
Isn’t He beautiful?
“He makes me as surefooted as a deer,
enabling me to stand on mountain heights.”
(Psalm 18:33 NLT)
And His beauty and power in our lives are not based on circumstances:
“Even though the fig trees have no blossoms,
and there are no grapes on the vines;
even though the olive crop fails,
and the fields lie empty and barren;
even though the flocks die in the fields,
and the cattle barns are empty,
yet I will rejoice in the Lord!
I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!
The Sovereign Lord is my strength!
He makes me as surefooted as a deer,
able to tread upon the heights.”
Whether He’s asking you to lead or let go, press on or tarry with hope, may you choose to rejoice in the Sovereign Lord. The One Who climbed a hill to Calvary to call back to us His Father’s love.
Want to learn how to grow some veggies? Come to Basic Vegetable Gardening at Johnson’s Garden Center from 10-11:30 this Saturday, March 25th.
Tulips, Fairies & Forts is back at Botanica. Magical.
Bulletproof Revolution is coming up at Green Acres Bradley Fair from 7-8 pm, March 30th. Learn more about Bulletproof Coffee and snag some giveaways.
Did you know our Starlite Drive-In is open for the season? Grab a punch card for 7 visits, get the 8th free.
Live music coming up at Mead’s:
Kayley Renee Music Thursday, March 30th from 6:30-8:30 pm.
And Wednesday, March 29th, see Wood Chicken w/special guests from 8-10.
At Watermark Storytime this Saturday, March 25th, from 10:30-11:00 hear Bonnie Bing read from her book Pony Tales, benefiting Botanica’s Carousel Restoration.
Also this Saturday, March 25th, come to BBQ, Bread & Brews from 1-4 at Mid-America All-Indian Center.
Library:
SCORE: Essentials of a Business Plan will be Saturday the 25th from 1-2:30 at Central.
Then from 2:30-4:30 at Central on Saturday, enjoy Kansas Regional History Writers.
Then March 28th, Central Branch’s Tuesday Topic is Women and Homelessness. Come over your lunch from noon to 1:00 to learn about the challenges women deal with unique to their gender.
And glean from Resume Writing and Job Searching at Angelou from 6-7:30 pm on Tuesday, March 28th. “Learn about searching for jobs, filling out online applications, and making resumes. Using Microsoft Word, guidance will be provided on using the resume templates to build a resume.” Register here.
Have a great weekend!
A favorite
Watering Help
Tree planted by streams of water
Biking
Tents and friends
Sunset
Sunrise
Glory
Your 7 Days?
“I went out by night by the Valley Gate to the Dragon Spring and to the Dung Gate, and I inspected the walls of Jerusalem that were broken down and its gates that had been destroyed by fire.”
Nehemiah 2:13 (ESV)
We are still in the middle-of-the-night surveying by Nehemiah and a few of his men. He has taken his 3-day rest and is figuring out what is broken, what needs repaired, and how to move forward. Starting with a gate.
Gates are what allow us in, welcome us to a specific place. But they also keep out that which is an enemy of the good. I remember the rest of being in a safe place with toddlers; where gates could be closed, no breakables were present, and I could relax such stringent focus on preventing trouble.
I’m so glad one of the Names our Savior chose was The Gate. We can come in and be saved from destruction. But we can also freely go out and find pasture and purpose. The Good Shepherd makes use of the gate’s dual purpose.
Nehemiah went through the Valley Gate, but also inspected the Dung Gate – the Hebrew is ashpoth: refuse, ash. The Dung Gate led to the rubbish dump. Scholars also think it could be referring to 2 Kings 23:10 and the babies which were sacrificed by fire to the false god of Molech under Manasseh, king of Judah.
A place that leads to ashes and death.
And the Dragon Spring is also an interesting notation. The Hebrew for Dragon is tannin – serpent. Monster.
Sometimes I think we get lax on what a horrible enemy we have. To be too focused on it is backwards and unhealthy. But to think of the evil as anything less than monstrous is to be vulnerable to his schemes. He would seek to destroy anything of our Beautiful God in our lives.
There is a place in our bedroom where, if I lay my head down, I see only the top of our neighbor’s tree and endless sky. I often lay my head there when I get a friend’s devastating report or hear of heartbreaking world news or something else that feels broken down. That seems to be eaten by the fire of the vicious dragon. The death and hate and ashes which oppose the Shalom He longs to bring – and one day will.
Some days I can’t wait. I know, though, that “if we’re not dead, we’re not done” here. There is more He wants to do in us and through us to prepare us. And the image of a Spring helps see redemption in the pain. Well or Spring is ayin – of the eyes/appearance.
“A fountain known as the eye of the landscape.”
He can turn anything the serpent means for evil into good.
After all, scholars wonder if the Dragon Spring refers to the Pool of Siloam. Where the One Who would crush the serpent healed a blind man. And like this man, you may not have all the answers. But if you have encountered the Most High, you can relate to him.
This you know: once you were blind but now you see.
Great Beginnings for Families is being offered through the Sedgwick County Extension Office. These are bi-lingual classes offering practical ideas for nurturing young kids, and are court approved. Register here.
Coming up at Watermark:
See Jung Yun for an author talk and signing on Thursday, March 16 at 6:00 p.m. for her novel Shelter.
Then tomorrow night, Friday the 17th, see Lyndsay Faye for an author talk and signing of Jane Steele at 6:00 p.m.
Then Monday March 20 at 6:00 p.m., catch Josh Barkan for a signing of Mexico.
Finally on Tuesday, March 21st, come for a signing of David Nichols‘ book Ike and McCarthy.
Come tomorrow, March 17th, for Wichita Art Museums’ Opening Reception: The Artist Project beginning at 6 pm. “Join Wichita artists and WAM board members for camaraderie and a sneak peek at WAM collection gems selected by artists featured in the book, Wichita Artists in Their Studios.”
And are you needing some kid ideas for Spring Break next week? WAM is offering Artcation Tuesday through Saturday, the 21st – 25th, from 11-3. Enjoy special art projects, movies, and explore the galleries. Come one day or all!
Do you know if you’re at risk for Type 2 Diabetes? You can take an online self-assesment and learn about the YMCA’s Diabetes Prevention Program here.
Coming up this Saturday the 18th: Johnson’s Garden’s Become a Backyard Beekeeper
And for more creative Spring Break options, check out the Great Plains Nature Center:
At Explore Prairie enjoy a guided nature hike, a craft, and Barry the Bison!
For Explore Woodlands, see a Screech Owl program and woodland crafts and activities.
Come to Green Acres‘ Workshop: Understanding Inflammation tonight from 6:30-7:30.
And City Arts will be hosting a Spring Break Art Camp. Choose from Digital Arts or Mixed Media, with early drop off or pick up available.
Upcoming live music at Mead’s Corner:
Olivia Mainville & The Aquatic Troupe w/ Jack & The Bear and Aaron Lee Martin are featured tonight, the 16th, from 8-10.
Kill Vargus ALBUM Release & Tour Kick Off w/ Cavves & Leftmore is Friday March 17th from 7-10.
Then Saturday the 18th from 8-10 enjoy All Strings Considered.
Enjoy Reverie’s Monthly Game Night Saturday the 18th from 5:30-8:00 p.m.
Library:
Teens: Are you interested in helping your local community while learning this summer? Learn more about being a Summer Volunteer.
And see some wonderful, free Spring Break Kids Events here.
Have a great weekend!