Blue Moon…
…the moon and stars to govern the night; His love endures forever.
-Psalm 136:9
The term “blue moon” generally refers to the second full moon in a month and occurs just once every 2.7 years. The last blue moon to shine on New Year’s Eve was 19 years ago, in 1990.
At that moment in time I found myself utterly alone in a sea of soldiers. It was my second wedding anniversary and I was sitting alone on the shores of the Persian Gulf and my bride was not there to share it with me. In fact, due to my military service, we had only been able to share together, less than 320 days of the last 730 we had been married. But there I sat under the largest brightest view of the moon I had ever and have since seen. I can still see it when I close my eyes and I am still in awe of the beauty of this object that our creator placed there for us to wonder over.
That moon got me through a lot that night and many more. To know that she was safe somewhere under that same moon, being watched over by a loving, caring, gracious God. Even then as a “non-believer” I prayed for her and her safety. I prayed for God to get us through this and bring us back together. He came through on that promise and we are still married after 21 years.
Now, I would be lying if I said it was easy and hard even seems like an understatement at times but He came through on that prayer and so many others over the years. I am still in awe of and ever so grateful for the patience and grace God has instilled in my wife.
Even now there are times when I feel alone in my life but I rest in the comfort that we have a God that watches over each one of us. One that answers our prayers in more ways than we can even imagine. Thank You Lord and thank you Jenni.
Father, I pray for the safety of all people tonight. As we gather to celebrate yet another year You have given us on this earth I ask that You keep us safe and warm in Your love and care. Please Father, bless this New Year and use it to use us to further build Your Kingdom. In Jesus holy name we pray, Amen.
Primal
What would your Christianity look like if it was stripped down to the simplest, rawest, purest faith possible? You would have more, not less. You would have the beginning of a new reformation—in your generation, your church, your own soul. You would have primal Christianity.
This book is an invitation to become part of a reformation movement. It is an invitation to rediscover the compassion, wonder, curiosity, and energy that turned the world upside down two thousand years ago. It is an invitation to be astonished again.
I just finished Primal: A Quest for the Lost Soul of Christianity by Mark Batterson. I was thrilled and challenged by Marks previous books In a Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day and Wild Goose Chase But I believe he has outdone himself this time or more appropriately God has used Mark in bigger and broader ways through this book.
Primal begins with a descent into some of the history of Christianity where we find the “prime directive” from God through Jesus. The Great Commandment: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” That alone is the most primal piece of knowledge one can obtain from God’s word. With that one commandment in place in your life everything else is, to some degree, inconsequential. Now don’t get me wrong here I’m not saying, nor is Mark saying, the rest is unimportant but this is the prime piece of scripture, without loving God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength the rest won’t get you to far.
So many of us, as believers, today are so caught up in a quest for knowledge and answers that we forget to live out our lives with and for God. We forget that our actions and acts toward others are to be the actions and acts of Jesus Himself. We need to be totally sold out for Him. It is so easy to get caught up in the trappings and busyness of “life” and forget that without Christ we cannot truly have life. We are only waiting around to die.
It is my hope and prayer that you would open your heart and mind to Primal and allow God to speak to you through this book as He has to me.
This book is available from Random House Publishers here.
Author
The author of Wild Goose Chase and In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day, Mark Batterson serves as lead pastor of National Community Church in Washington, D.C. One church with nine services in five locations, NCC is focused on reaching emerging generations and meets in movie theaters at metro stops throughout the D.C. area. Mark has two Masters degrees from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Chicago. He and his wife, Lora, live on Capitol Hill with their three children. www.markbatterson.com
