I'll take one brief moment to note how odd it is that somehow, some things just seem to balance out. As mentioned previously, work is a bear. That makes reading time a precious commodity. That makes quiet time hard to come by. It makes Wednesday night services a bit more difficult to get to. And it cuts into the time available to listen to some other sermons from the rest of the world.

That in mind, I happened to just fall asleep on the bus ride home from work one day. I have this unexplainable talent for nodding off just enough to wake up a stop or two before getting home. I don't know how to explain that one, but it goes back to my time bussing it from NW Houston to the UH campus back in my college days (an hour & a half means of getting homework read during the day).

So, the other day, I wake up with the MP3 player blaring a Rob Bell sermon. Several stops prior to home, so I snap to attention since it's one of the older Bell sermons I've got loaded and never got around to listening to as systematically as I had hoped for. Short version of the story: the message just hit home in so many ways. I stopped off to listen to it while I shopped for groceries. Listened to it all over again once I got home. And fired it up another time on the way into work the next day.

Add to that, I'm still thoroughly enjoying my latest toy - a Message Bible. It's disturbingly readable. Addictive almost. Listening to Bell preach with the book handy, it's a pleasantly odd experience reading Peterson's translation and meshing it with Bell teaching from another version. The oddity comes from the fact that I kept finding myself reading more and more around the section used for example in order to find all the context imaginable for the message.

So, with all that's crushing me on the work front (and I say that in a pleasant, enjoyable way), I just crack open The Message for a random read. Anyone experienced in this practice knows where this lands you. And truth be told, I'm not an easy reader of Psalms - it strikes me too much like reading poetry. Maybe that's just a guy thing, dunno. But once more, I land on a message that just soaks in. Like maybe you've discovered a new life-verse or something.

Just great enough that I thought I'd share ...

Psalm 40
A David Psalm
1-3 I waited and waited and waited for God. At last he looked; finally he listened.
He lifted me out of the ditch,
pulled me from deep mud.
He stood me up on a solid rock
to make sure I wouldn't slip.
He taught me how to sing the latest God-song,
a praise-song to our God.
More and more people are seeing this:
they enter the mystery,
abandoning themselves to God.

4-5 Blessed are you who give yourselves over to God,
turn your backs on the world's "sure thing,"
ignore what the world worships;
The world's a huge stockpile
of God-wonders and God-thoughts.
Nothing and no one
comes close to you!
I start talking about you, telling what I know,
and quickly run out of words.
Neither numbers nor words
account for you.

6 Doing something for you, bringing something to you--
that's not what you're after.
Being religious, acting pious--
that's not what you're asking for.
You've opened my ears
so I can listen.

7-8 So I answered, "I'm coming.
I read in your letter what you wrote about me,
And I'm coming to the party
you're throwing for me."
That's when God's Word entered my life,
became part of my very being.

9-10 I've preached you to the whole congregation,
I've kept back nothing, God--you know that.
I didn't keep the news of your ways
a secret, didn't keep it to myself.
I told it all, how dependable you are, how thorough.
I didn't hold back pieces of love and truth
For myself alone. I told it all,
let the congregation know the whole story.

11-12 Now God, don't hold out on me,
don't hold back your passion.
Your love and truth
are all that keeps me together.
When troubles ganged up on me,
a mob of sins past counting,
I was so swamped by guilt
I couldn't see my way clear.
More guilt in my heart than hair on my head,
so heavy the guilt that my heart gave out.

13-15 Soften up, God, and intervene;
hurry and get me some help,
So those who are trying to kidnap my soul
will be embarrassed and lose face,
So anyone who gets a kick out of making me miserable
will be heckled and disgraced,
So those who pray for my ruin
will be booed and jeered without mercy.

16-17 But all who are hunting for you--
oh, let them sing and be happy.
Let those who know what you're all about
tell the world you're great and not quitting.
And me? I'm a mess. I'm nothing and have nothing:
make something of me.
You can do it; you've got what it takes--
but God, don't put it off.