Shaken tea

So I am not sure how I am going to start this blog off so maybe I should begin with the events of the day. I had today off from work, which was really nice! I slept in until 11am or so. When I sleep-in I usually do not sleep in that late. However, this week I will be working some third shifts so I am trying to get my body on that schedule a little more before I have to actually work. Once I got up from bed I bummed around a bit just doing small things, but really I didn’t do much. I did get into my bible and studied the first part of Philippians 3, which we studied last night in small group. I wanted to hit back on it again as well as write a little about it in this blog. It will help me meditate on it more and thus being able to focus my thought on things above.
Back to the event of the day before I get back into Philippians 3, after my pretty uneventful morning I got ready for my 3 o’clock interview at the University of Louisville Hospital for a full time CT position. I should know by the end of the week if I got the job. Anyways, once I got home my wife and I talked some and I read some article in a magazine and kirstin messed around on the computer. I took her to work and then went home to eat as I watched a episode of Extreme Home Makeover on the computer. Then I went out and brought kirstin some food to her at work. Followed by some good old exercising at the gym. Now I am at Starbucks drinking some wonderful tea, listening to some awesome music, and writing a blog.
I got their “shaken tea”, which I have never gotten before and let me tell you…IT IS AMAZING! Some of the best iced tea I have had. I am so glad that I found out about this creation because every time I come to Starbucks and get a coffee based drink I am usually disappointed, as I do not like strong coffee. All of Starbucks’ coffees are strong blends. So this usually leaves me with only a few options. Now I can add more items to my list of things I like at Starbucks.
It is interesting to come to Starbucks by the way. Because we are relatively close to the Seminary I usually see a lot of Southern Seminary students here reading/studying and socializing. Really, I think at the various Starbucks near the Seminary they are the most concentrated places to find students other than the actual school. Just something interesting I observe every time I come here. Also, the staff are really nice here like tonight I was given not just ONE free drink but TWO! Can you believe that? Awesome!
Anyways, I think I will stop talking about Starbucks since I have written almost as much on Starbucks as I did on the rest of my day. I will get back to Philippians 3. I want to add the scripture I was reading today but since I do not want to pay for the Internet here at Starbucks I think I will just type a section of it.

(2) Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh. (3) For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh – (4) through I myself have reasons for such confidence. If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: (5) circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; (6) as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless. (7) But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. (8) What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ (9) and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ -- the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. (10) I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

The first thing that stands out is the instruction to “watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil”, but what really gets me is the reason Paul uses. It is the next verse that Paul makes a distinction between a christian and a non-christian. There is a sense of pride in identifying with Christ. It gives us the feeling that we are set apart for something different. In contrast to what we might be set apart for Paul writes that he had every reason to put his confidence in his flesh and not to believe in Christ. He was a Jewish stud. He was passionate, smart, born of the best blood line, and he followed the law to the T. In his day he was at the top of his game, with a brand new car, nice home, people liked him, he had valuables, he was looked at as someone to imitate, the grass was defiantly greener on his side of the fence. But Paul writes, “whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.” Isn’t that interesting, he understood that he was set apart of Christ. He had it ALL, but he considered it a “loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus”. Literly he lost it all. Paul was sitting in jail with no possessions, no nothing. Because of what?, because he identified with Christ and he understood that he was set apart to “glory in Christ Jesus”.
His sole desire was not doing the God things, but God Himself. I think the conviction behind Pauls words in verse 10 say it all. “I want to KNOW Christ”. I don’t know, Paul is one crazy dude and intense. I certainly hope that I can be just as crazy and intense. I think that Paul is still a stud, not because of all his fleshly qualifications but because he has ONE desire; Jesus Christ. Can you really count all of life’s stuff as a loss to knowing Christ? What a stud.

I certainly want verse 10 to be true of me.

“I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.”