The Last Arrow is a book…

by Pastor Erwin McManus, who’s a dynamic speaker at Mosaic Church in Hollywood. I am constantly inspired by his words of the future. The Last Arrow is a reference to the last episode in the life of the prophet Elisha, which was recorded in 2 Kings 13: 14-20. King Jehoash has a curious encounter with the prophet Elisha, right before Elisha dies. The prophet instructs the king to take his last arrows and strike them on the ground. In a strange Simon-Says moment, the king strikes the ground three times, but the prophet scolds him for not striking it more times, and furthermore relays to the king, that he will only conquer the enemy of Israel three times in battle, instead of completely destroying them. Erwin’s moral of the story is to strike the Last Arrow as many times as possible, until there are no more arrows. He makes the analogy to live your life to the fullest, with nothing left for the next life.

¹⁴ Now Elisha had been suffering from the illness from which he died. Jehoash king of Israel went down to see him and wept over him. “My father! My father!” he cried. “The chariots and horsemen of Israel!”

¹⁵ Elisha said, “Get a bow and some arrows,” and he did so. ¹⁶ “Take the bow in your hands,” he said to the king of Israel. When he had taken it, Elisha put his hands on the king’s hands.

¹⁷ “Open the east window,” he said, and he opened it. “Shoot!” Elisha said, and he shot. “The Lord’s arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Aram!” Elisha declared. “You will completely destroy the Arameans at Aphek.”

¹⁸ Then he said, “Take the arrows,” and the king took them. Elisha told him, “Strike the ground.” He struck it three times and stopped. ¹⁹ The man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck the ground five or six times; then you would have defeated Aram and completely destroyed it. But now you will defeat it only three times.”

²⁰ Elisha died and was buried.

Crew is a group…

Irene and I joined a local CREW, which is a book club that meets every week in SoPas. The group is cool. It’s a very diverse and interesting group. There’s young and old, men and women, married and single, new and old believers, different colors (race), different jobs. Chad and Bailey are the Crew leaders. There are corresponding questions with the Last Arrow. And there are good snacks. So far we’ve had Portos, Starbucks, and 85°.

I like the community, meaning, it’s nice to get to know new people that live and work near by.

I like their stories. They are all experiencing God in every day ways.

I like the challenges. What are new ways to step out in faith for me? For me, it’s a season of preparation and renewal. M is filling out college applications, and we’re all preparing for what’s going to happen next for her. Our family and our house will be really different next year, depending on where she goes to college.

Book Club: Welcome

Here’s the sermon on line for Chapter One: The Point of No Return.

Mosaic is a church…

We went to Mosaic church for many years when the kids were young (2000-2012), and later lost track of Mosaic when the church moved several locations. In the meantime, we have been attending Christian Assembly Church in Eagle Rock for the last few years, but the kids never got plugged into the youth programs there. Ironically, we chose CA Church because they had extensive youth programs, but it just never worked out for them, either due to timing or fit. Regardless, Irene and I enjoyed the small group that meets in South Pasadena.  Then, this summer, Mosaic started a new location in South Pasadena, at the Rialto Theater. The kids visited and really enjoyed the youth group at Mosaic. I really like the inspiration at Mosaic. We went to Mosaic Conference in September and got hooked. For now, we attend Mosaic with the kids and attend CA Church on the other weeks.