Proverbs 8 & 9

***Proverbs 8*** Proverbs 8 says that wisdom is eternal. Wisdom was God's first creation, wisdom was there before time when the world was created. This chapter sounds a lot like John 1, except John is talking about Jesus... The Word of God. The Word of God is the mind of God, the wisdom of God... and Jesus is the wisdom of God become flesh. Jesus was there at the beginning of all thing and with God during creation. And you know what the crown jewel of all creation was... you and I. Whether the world is 6,000 years old or 14 billion, God waited for you and I to be here now... God waited to love us. And God waits for us to love Him, to be in relationship. Even if you love God, He is still waiting to be in a deeper relationship with you. And God will wait and wait and never give up. Until we are face to face with our maker... only then will our relationship be as He intended...... I love this song. ***Proverbs 9*** "Let all those who are simple come to my house." I'm not real sure what Solomon means by his definition of simple, but I think that there is some different understandings of simple today. What is a simple life? What is the opposite of a simple life? Maybe a complex life where there are more questions than answers. I believe that today the simple life is falling in line with society's expectations. Letting the world we will live in dictate how we live. Instead God calls us to a more complex life, a life of faith, where questions far outnumber answers... A couple years ago I was asked to come to speak to the young adults at a Lutheran church. We talked about everything... God, life, love, heaven, hell... it was a great time. The question came up "how we do know what decisions God would have us make." I thought about it for a minute and replied, "in my life I have found that most of the time God would prefer I picked the most difficult choice." God would prefer I take the road less traveled. God prefers that I focus on relationships not wealth, humility not honor, love not pride. I wouldn't say that this is true for every decision, but it has gotten me where I am right now. It was hard to walk away from Chrysler and go to seminary and it was hard to turn down full-time opportunities to wait for Abiding Grace to grow... but it's what I chose to do, and I am fully confident God has placed me where I am supposed to be.