Judges 17-18; Psalm 89; 2 Corinthians 3

I went away for the weekend w/my GIRLS to the Lake.....
I prayed before I left to 'be still'....
For the last year...

hearing 'risk everything'....

figuring out what my everything is and really seeing it and .......
I heard 'I am ahead of you'.....

And You were....

We talked more and about different things than we have ever talked about....perhaps because I 'tried' to LISTEN more than speak....

There were questions and the conversations were deeper than they had ever been .

I came away from my time with them BLESSED beyond belief.
I came away Thanking God for them in my life.
I came away knowing that God IS ahead of me always.....
I came away momentarily sad that I can't seem to remember that and yet encouraged that YOU never give up, it's me who gets frustrated and quits....

YOU never do.....
I hear......it's not about me, never has been and never will be and that THAT is good news .......

I came away.....stunned, I think I mostly tend these days to BE stunned....You are amazing God!
And then this morning in the reading was :

2 Corinthians 3: 7-18 The Government of Death, its constitution chiseled on stone tablets, had a dazzling inaugural. Moses' face as he delivered the tablets was so bright that day (even though it would fade soon enough) that the people of Israel could no more look right at him than stare into the sun. How much more dazzling, then, the Government of Living Spirit?
If the Government of Condemnation was impressive, how about this Government of Affirmation? Bright as that old government was, it would look downright dull alongside this new one. If that makeshift arrangement impressed us, how much more this brightly shining government installed for eternity?
With that kind of hope to excite us, nothing holds us back. Unlike Moses, we have nothing to hide. Everything is out in the open with us. He wore a veil so the children of Israel wouldn't notice that the glory was fading away-- and they didn't notice. They didn't notice it then and they don't notice it now, don't notice that there's nothing left behind that veil. Even today when the proclamations of that old, bankrupt government are read out, they can't see through it. Only Christ can get rid of the veil so they can see for themselves that there's nothing there.
Whenever, though, they turn to face God as Moses did, God removes the veil and there they are--face to face! They suddenly recognize that God is a living, personal presence, not a piece of chiseled stone. And when God is personally present, a living Spirit, that old, constricting legislation is recognized as obsolete. We're free of it! All of us! Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him.