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Do you remember cutting out UPC's from your cereal box to collect prizes when you were a kid? I would get all kinds of things like toys, baseball cards, and posters of athletes. That was the greatest way to collect some junk that you would end up selling in a garage sale.

This morning I looked at my cereal and I literally saw..."Free cholesterol test kit with 3 UPC's." I began to wonder how old am I that I eat cereal where the toy is a cholesterol kit? I don't think of myself as that old, but I do have some old traits not even counting my few gray hairs. Last week I was talked into joining Facebook and I realize that I am too old for it, because I had to ask my younger friends how it works. Then to top it all off, Mandy and I went to dinner on vacation this weekend at 5:30 and were back in our condo by 7 every night. We laughed all weekend about how hold we are. 1997 Jeff would be so disappointed with 2007 Jeff. Oh well. What would 1997 you be ashamed of that you do now?

Oooh Aaaah

Have you ever thought about Jesus' miracles. I have always known that Jesus' miracles were to authenticate his message and to show that He was the Son of God. But have you ever thought about what kind of miracles you would do so that people knew you were the Son of God. I mean obviously healing the sick, feeding the 5000 and giving sight to the blind are pretty awesome miracles, but is that the most spectacular thing that He could have done? We live in a culture where only the most spectacular and outrageous make it on TV. I mean I am sure that David Blaine is dreaming up some other trick to get on Primetime TV.

But what we miss is that Jesus did not do his miracles strictly to be the most spectacular. He didn't suspend the natural order so everyone would ooh and aah. In fact He didn't suspend the natural order of things, but instead Jesus restored the natural order of things through these miracles. You see God didn't make the world to have blindness, poverty and disease - He is restoring what the Old Testament calls Peace or Shalom. Shalom is the harmony and wholeness of the world or in other words - the way things were suppossed to be. So Jesus is not only proving that He is God, but He is showing His redemptive power and His redemptive purpose. You see the ultimate purpose of salvation is restoration of the entire world.

So how do we join in on God's redemptive work in our world? Maybe we need to get busy "seeking the shalom/peace" of our world and being less concerned with the spectacular. In Jeremiah 29 God commands the exiles to go into the cities, keep their identity and spend their lives seeking and praying for the peace of the city. We need to be reminded of this passage so that we can live in Austin, keep our identity as Christians and seek the peace of Austin. Maybe then we would be joining in on the redemptive work of Jesus. Blessed are the Peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God. This is convicting to me and hopefully to all of us.