Review of week

This summer has been fantastic. I've just completed the week of the Summer Creative Writer's Camp and the participants showed excellent talent in writing fiction. I have a few manuscripts to send in to my publisher.
Nicholas and Alexis are coming by this weekend, bringing along their two jolly pets, a dachshund named Jack and a German Shepherd named Sam. These two will mix it up with our Sheltie Misty and the result is an ever-running circus around the house.
The Zockoll household anxiously await the court ruling on Jill's disability. We went into the court hearing and our lawyer said that it seemed to go well. Please pray with us about this - a favorable court ruling will help pay for a good number of bills.
Our Thursday night college Bible study has been a blast. Six college fellows, coming back from colleges around the region, gather and pore over the word. The first half of the evening is a direct study in Genesis, and maybe a few apologetic notes and some Koine Greek. The rest of the evening fills up with questions-and-answers time. I finally called it a night at 11 p.m. (We started at 6:30 p.m. but asked them to stay and fellowship in our fireplace room as long as they liked. peter said he finally got to bed at 4:30 a.m.
Wednesday night Koine Greek class at Oak Ridge Baptist Church is a joy as well. I have about a dozen adult students - and are they fast learners! The enthusiasm has brightened my soul. What a thirst for the Word! We're in John chapter 1 in our translation.
It's back to writing for the summer until school starts for me on August 9th. I have a couple of corporate accounts for which I'm writing - one includes an inventor, and it's quite intriguing. We've also had our first meeting of the Theta Chi Writers Guild here in Knoxville. We voted on officers - I am the president and that means I'll be getting things organized.
God has been so good to the Zockoll household. He's taken us through a year of especially hard trials... and to be able to breathe fresh air once again is a deep and satisfying joy.
One final note for today: you may find numerous articles on the web written by me, and some of them are bogus. A few writing services have stolen my name in order to 'beef up' their inventory of writers. I am dealing with a lawyer in order to fix this, so if you see articles on things like "Las Vegas" or "Breeding Alaskan Huskies", I must admit that I did not write those.
Brad Zockoll, Jill Zockoll, Peter Zockoll, and Julianne Zockoll thank you for your prayers and wish you a wonderful summer!

I wanted to share a key Greek word with you this morning:

In 1 Corinthians 4, and I've found a powerful word for us to review. The time of the writing was when Paul was dealing with a pride issue with the Christians in Corinth. He reminds them that Christianity is not a fashion, but a relationship with Jesus and a ministry! He brings the point home in the middle of a strongly worded passage:

"For I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last, as men condemned to death; for we have been made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake..."

The word 'spectacle' is theatron, from which we get our word “theater.” When Paul says we have been made a spectacle to the world, he is not complimenting us, nor is he making this an exciting pride-filled prospect. He refers to the way the apostles have been publicly humiliated. This kind of humiliation was both a slam to the pride of the Corinthian Christians as well as a cold shower to wake them up to the reality of service here on Earth. We should be willing to face shame so that others may see Christ. We're willing to step out and show Jesus, no matter if it means alienation or scorn.

May I ask: are you a spectacle for Christ?

Building up this summer

I have numerous projects lined up for this summer: completing the outside painting on our home, laying out a brick walkway, and seeing to the insurance settlement for the hail damage to our roof. I've even made it a goal to get back to running and try to lose some weight. Then there's the Writer's Camp that I'll be hosting, along with some other writing assignments from some customers. However, I'd be amiss if I don't take these "vacation months" and apply the most important construction work...

I see the principle in Luke 11 applies to Christians as well as non-Christians. In the passage, Jesus relates what happens when a man was able to rid himself of an evil spirit... but left his "house" empty. If the unclean spirit were not replaced by the presence of God, then the "house" would be open to other problems, as many as seven other spirits more evil than the first problem.

Jesus' point was that mere humanistic fulfillment cannot replace the power of God (Luke 11:24-26). Yet how many of us Christians are content to fill up our lives with moral and social goodnesses in replacement of the true power of Christ?

My summer is aimed at delving into God's teaching, especially in the book of Philippians. I want to constantly fill my "house" with Godly wisdom. In this case, it's okay to be a pack rat.

The Brad Zockoll household wishes that you would pray for the final ruling on Jill's Social Security Administration's status so that we may get the funding needed for her medical care. Please also pray as Peter readies to attend L'Abri this fall - the location in England.