Breath Taking

There are not many things in this world that are truly breath taking, and the ones that are - many times we are to busy to notice. This morning I had my breath taken away.


My normal schedule is to wake up and make lunch for the boy and then take him to school (usually still in my pajamas) a bit bleary eyed. This morning, both my young ones had to be to school early, so off went at the crack of dawn. I am not sure if it was because I was more alert this morning, already having showered for the day, or what exactly, but when we drove out of our neighborhood this morning I literally gasped when I saw the sunrise.

It was truly magnificent. This picture was taken a full 15 minutes after I originally saw it and it had changed significantly, but it is still awe-inspiring. I had my daughter turn around to look at it out the back window of the car and reminded her that we were given the gift of that sunrise this morning. 


The moment so touched me that I have thought most of the day about the creativity of my God and how each morning He paints the sky like a fresh canvas, never looking exactly like any other one and then repeats the same thing each evening. I wondered what the sunrise in Pakistan this morning looked like and in Saudi Arabia as I read my Facebook news feed and chatted with friends abroad. All unique and yet beautiful and breathing taking for those who were blessed enough to take notice.


These thoughts took my mind to the very first sunrise and sunset with only God there to enjoy His masterpieces. How breathtaking that must have been.


It saddens me to think how many of these gifts I have missed because I am to sleepy or to busy to notice. So this year of 2012 is devoted to not missing the breathtaking moments as often as I am blessed to catch them. To hearing the still small voice of the Great Creator beckoning me to stop and see what He made for me to discover each day. 


Happy New Year and here's to a year of catching awe-inspiring, breathtaking moments and being thankful for each and every one.

Will They Know I am a Christian by My Love?

I have seen this picture a couple of times over the last few days, but today is stirred renewed emotion in me when I thought about the men holding hands protecting those that they don't know and don't agree with - literally risking life and limb.


If the caption is true, and these men are Christians, they are showing the truest form of John 13:34-35 when Jesus says: "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."


I have to wonder if, in the same circumstance, I would do the same. And more importantly, am I living that out in my own suburban world every day? What does that even look like in my world?


I would love to hear your thoughts on this. Sound off...

Who Do You Think You Are?

Some of my favorite chapters in the entire Bible come from the book of Job. Yes, Job. I know - depressing book, God let's Satan take everything away from Job, including his kids, makes him sick with boils all over his entire body, and leaves him with a nagging wife and 3 friends who tell him just to curse God and die. I can see why most people choose to gloss over this book, it's not very uplifting (at first glance). But if you haven't read it, I encourage you to. But don't quit before the end, that's my favorite part.


Synopsis:


So after all these horrible things have happened to Job and he has a grand pity party(chapters 1-31), a young friend of his decides to speak up and begin to put things in perspective for him a but (chapter 32-37.) Then it happens - after many long chapters of silence, God speaks. It actually says "God speaks to Job out of a storm". For those of you who don't live in Texas, you may not be able to conjure up in your mind what that might look like, but I have lived through one of the worst Texas storms Ever - in a tent (and then the cab of my truck), so I have a pretty good grasp on what Job must have experienced that day. All I can say is WHOA!!!


Basically God says (this is the Jan Paraphrase), "Job, you sure seem to think you know it all. Now stand up and take it like a man while I tell you a few things and give you a little fresh perspective."


God proceeds to describe some of the things He has done like:

• telling the waves how far they can come
• telling the sun rise and sun set when to happen
• creating the storehouses for snow and hail
• telling each lightning bolt where to land
• creating all the star constellations and telling them when to appear
• creating great beasts of the land and sea who are subservient to no one but Him (including a dragon that I am pretty sure Disney ripped off for all his movies.)
• and walking on the bottom of the Ocean just because He can (one of my personal favorites. Sorry I just have this picture in my head of God talking a little stroll on the bottom of the Sea and hanging out with creatures we don't even know exists yet because they live so deep)

I mean it goes on for 5 chapters so you get the gist. But I really encourage you to read it yourself.

I think I just need to print out these chapters and tape them to my wall so that every time I find myself wanting to have a little pity party (which I was last night), I can gain a little perspective on my life and Who it is that is in control of it. I certainly don't want to get so far gone that I have to hear God speak to me out of a storm.

All that to say - He is God and I am not and I need to trust that as long as I lean on Him, He has my life in the palm of His hand and can take care of anything that would threaten to harm me. He'll do that for you to if you know Him. 

If you don't know Him and want to, send me a message and we'll talk. I'd love to introduce you to Him. He will change your life!

P.S. The story does have a happy ending. But you'll have to read It yourself to find to what happens. I wouldn't want to spoil it for you.

95.3%

If you follow my blog, you know that over the last months, I have been embarking on a journey that I have never been able to complete successfully in the past. I am reading through the bible in a year. Well, with about a week left in the year - I am happy to report that I am 95.3% complete (right on track according to my reading plan in YouVersion.) 

I can tell you that the ONLY reason I have bee able to complete this task (which at times was daunting) was that I had a accountability partner. Someone who was not only on this journey with me, but got an email once a week telling her how I did. Together we are finishing this race and together we will do it again next year. So, here is my challenge - if any of you want to get in on it with us, make a comment of send me a message via Facebook or email and I will put you on a list and send out instructions. It's gonna be great!

Today, my reading took me to 2 Timothy. A letter from Paul to Timothy that was written while Paul was in prison in Asia for preaching the gospel. Timothy was a young man and Paul continually encouraged and taught him in the faith of Jesus Christ. A true "mentor-mentee" relationship. In many ways that mentor legacy still lives on, many centuries after his death, as I learn and grow from reading his words in the bible. Here is what I learned from Paul today.

In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for special purposes and some for common use. Those who cleanse themselves from the latter will be instruments for special purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work. 2 Timothy 2:20-21

When I read these verses I thought I knew what they meant, but just to make sure - I looked them up in some commentaries.  Here is the gist of them: In the church there are some people who are set apart to so special things, have special impact and special purposes (gold & silver). They are set apart from the crowd of people who call themselves Christians but have little to no impact for Christ in the world around them (wood & clay.) In my mind, I picture all those who look one way at church and totally different at work or at a restaurant or at home or where ever, the rest of the week. This passage says they are common.

I guess I always knew this principle, but it is the last past that really stuck out to me - "Those who cleanse themselves from the latter (being common, being like everyone else in their day to day lives) will be instruments for special purposes, made holy, useful to the Master (Christ) and prepared to do any good work."

I am not sure why this struck me so powerfully today. I think maybe it is because I am becoming more aware of the people around me that are quite possibly in the wood & clay category. It makes me so sad to see and yet it makes me examine myself all the more to make sure there are no places in my life that would put me into that category. I want to totally cleanse myself of those things so that when I am looked at by God, he sees me as gold & silver, set apart for a special purpose, made holy and useful to Him.

I hope that you too want to be gold & silver in the house of the Lord. I know that each and everyone of us has things in our lives that are wood & clay. Things that hold us back from being useful for Him.

My prayer is that as we close out 2010, enter 2011 and take that backward look at our lives, as we so often do this time of year - that God would show us all those things we need to "cleanse ourselves" of to be wholly useful to Him as we go forward in our faith. I pray that He would reveal to us the special purposes He has set us apart to do and that we would jump in with both feet, no matter how daunting the challenge. 

Refuse to be normal and common in 2011. If we are joining the likes of Paul and Timothy, being different is not all that bad!

I love you! (now be condemned to hell)

Thought that title might get your attention. God has really been messing with me the last 36 hours about this topic. Here's the short back story...

I have a good friend, whom I love dearly, who invited me to take a look at a conversation that had been taking place via Facebook feed arguing religion. This friend takes more of a Universalist approach to god and spirituality - kind of "as long as a person is sincerely searching for some form of Deity, a loving god would let them spend eternity together" type thinking. 

After several posts back and forth, I felt like I was not getting anywhere, so I wrote, "I think you are in a place where you have your heals dug in and no matter what is said, you will just argue your point. You know what I believe and I think I get what you believe and the two are not the same. At some point, we will know we were either right or wrong. I do hope that you know that just because someone doesn't believe the same as I do, doesn't mean I don't love them. I love you!" End of discussion, right?

Well God woke me up at about 2:30 the next morning and really convicted me that really what I was saying with that statement is "I love you - but I am not willing to keep arguing the truth with you until you are no longer destined for hell." Harsh,  right?  No - SPOT ON!

I do not want my friend to spend eternity outside the presence of God. How many other people that I love fall in to this category. We agree to disagree and just don't discuss it. How selfish of me! Do I really LOVE these people or just give it lip service, because I am pretty sure that a love that would allow a friend to spend eternity in hell because it is to hard to keep talking about differences in  belief is not the kind of love I am called to have as a follower of Jesus Christ. 

In my Bible reading I just began the book of Lamentations. The children of Israel had been exiled to Babylon and after so many years hearing the voice of God through the prophets (and taking that for granted), He fell silent. It broke my heart this morning to read the pleas to hear God again. They felt abandoned and lost and alone. They cried out in anguish and got no response. 

I can't even imagine that in my worst night mares. Being separated from God - well my mind can't wrap around that. But that is what people are destined for in hell. The absence of God. Totally gone. No evidence of Him at all. Does anyone deserve that?

The Bible calls me to lay down my life for my friends, that's a pretty tall order, but if it means that my friends won't have to spend eternity in a vacuum of Godlessness - that I am willing to fight for! Lord give me the courage and the words...

Who do you need to start (or finish) a conversation with today?

Is Jesus Really All That Great?

Shocking title I know. That is kind of the point. The shock value of that statement made by someone who claims to love Jesus with all their heart is high. It was hard to even type it.  But as I read my Bible in the comfort of my home this morning, as I pour over my music that I will bring as an offering to the God I love so desperately this coming Sunday, this is the question that came to my mind.

Is Jesus really all that great? Because most of the time, we sure don't act like it. 

I was at a conference last week and heard the story of a woman (Christine Caine) who has been called to start a ministry to rescue other women from the sex trade. (more about A21 here) She told the horrific story of a girl who had been held captive and taken to another country for the purpose of working in a red light district. This girl was one of the few who even survived the journey. She was eventually rescued from the sex trade and brought to a safe house where she encountered Christine who told her about Jesus. 

Wonderful you might say! Well, yes it is wonderful. But the girls response? "If your Jesus is so great, why did it take you so long to get here?"

I heard another story from someone just getting back from a mission trip to the jungles of Africa (literally.) They went to tell people who had probably never of heard of Him, about Jesus. When speaking to one woman about Christ and His plan of salvation, they ask her if she would like to accept Him into her life and her Lord and Savior. Her response? "Yes! I have just been waiting for someone to come and tell me how."

For me, both of those stories bring deep sorrow and conviction because more often than not, I am the one who is taking to long or waiting to tell someone about my Jesus that they so desperately need. 

It seems such an obvious thing - share the one who saved your life with anyone around you who will listen. And yet we keep silent out of fear or embarrassment, or a host of other reason we have on a long list of bad ones. 

I don't know about you, but I am always eager to hear a great story. We are transfixed by the story on the news of the man who risked his life for a total stranger by pulling them out of a burning house. We stop what we are doing to listen to the story of the hero who foiled the armed robbery with a selfless act of bravery. If you were the one in those stories who was rescued - you would be more than willing to sing the praises of your hero to anyone who would listen out of gratitude. Right?

I had the privilege of being a part of the filming of  of some awesome stories last week. Stories that made me laugh and made me cry (always the sign of a good story - right?) Stories of people whose lives have been saved. Stories of people who had no hope and now do. I am so very grateful that they decided to share their stories with me. 

Each of us has a story. I look at my story compared to some and tend to minimize the value of it because in my eyes, it is not as dramatic as some. I am coming to find that thinking that thought is toxic to me and those that God has put in my life. Just because I was not rescued from the sex trade or some other tragic situation does not minimize my story of redemption. I am a sinner, saved from a future that I surely deserved, given the gift eternal life with my Jesus forever.

I say that I believe that Jesus is "all that great" but when I hide his redemptive work in my life by not telling my story, I have to ask myself if I really believe that. 

Someone needs to hear my story because it will speak to them and maybe, just maybe show them that what they need in their life is Jesus. So I will speak my story boldly and ask God to use it for His glory. 

What is your story? It is the most important story that someone will hear for the one who needs YOU to tell it to them. 

Tell your story to someone today, they might have been waiting for you!

Broken

Today I am sitting in St. Arbucks far from home having a non-fat, extra-hot, with-whip, 1/2-pump, mocha-white mocha (how's that for an order - you may commit it to memory so that if you ever have need of a favor you will know I can be bought) and finding myself having a bunch of alone time to reflect. 

I find myself looking out the window at the people passing me by and wondering how many of them would consider themselves broken? Broken in some way, mentally, physically, emotionally or spiritually. How many are searching for literally God only knows what?

I know that I certainly fit in to the broken category in many ways. I guess we all do in our own way. We have sin to thank for that. But today I am finding myself broken in a different way. I find that God is breaking my heart in new ways for people who need Him. People who are broken because of this fallen world and don't know that only Jesus is the fix for that. 

I find myself holding back tears every few moments as I am touched by a song or a thought and know that I am not alone in my tears. God sheds them everyday for His creation that He loves so very much. Those that He longs to mend in various ways but will not turn to Him. His creation that turns away from Him to find fulfillment and healing in other things. 

So today, I welcome being broken. I embrace the tears and want to see my world as God does. I feel that unless I do, the people God puts in my path and on my heart will continue to be broken in a way that is not desirable. 

How long has it been since you took a good long look at the world around you and were broken as you saw it through God's eyes? Take some time and do it. Someones life could depend on it!

And if you are looking for a little light listening to spur you on, check out:

Addison Road - Run

Mercy Me - Won't You be My Love
Hillsong Song - Hosanna
better yet- support the bands and go buy them on itunes :o)

Heaven Can Not Contain Him

It never fails to amaze me what new things I see when I read scripture and what God puts in my heart when I spend time in His word. This year, along with a good friend for accountability, I am endeavoring to read through the Bible chronologically. As of today, I am officially 44.1% done. Yea! 

The point of that paragraph was not to brag, but to let you know how many years in the past my resolutions to read through the Bible have failed and I truly believe that the accountability has been the key to staying on track this time. I am just to weak and lazy to do it on my own. So, get an accountability partner and get after it. You don't have to wait til January 1. Pick a partner, pick a plan and get after it. Here is the link! And if you don't have a partner, put me down - I would be honored to monitor your progress for you! (and leave me a comment if you decide to take on this challenge.)

Now - on to what God is doing in my heart today. 

The current subject of reading is Solomon building the temple of the Lord. Man! What and undertaking that was. It took him 7 years to complete. Specially cut wood (sorry H - it was cedar), carvings on all the walls and doors of flowers, palm trees and Cherubim, and then all of that overlaid with pure gold. I struggle in my mind to even imagine such a magnificent place. Here is an artist's rendering but I imagine that this does not come close to doing it justice. You can read about the description in 2 Chronicles 2.

The verse that stuck out to me was when Solomon, in all his wisdom, spoke this in 2 Chron. 2:6 -

"But who is able to build him a house, since heaven, even highest heaven, cannot contain him?"

Even highest heaven cannot contain Him! And with one small phrase, I am once again put in my place. Small and not able to bow low enough to worship my God. 

Why is it that it is so very easy for us (me) to let my mind wander away from the reality of who I worship, who I give my life to?

I find myself taking the reading of His word casually, as something to check off my To-Do list and move on. I find myself forgetting that when I am putting together a church service, I am not just creating a list of songs and a flow for the morning, but I am needing to search the heart of the Almighty God for His plans to commune with His people. As my son would say, FAIL!

Oh God! Forgive me for letting this world get in the way of seeing You for who You are. For forgetting the awe and reverence I should live in every moment of every day. For thinking in any way I can on my own bring people to have a revelation of You. 

Not even heaven can contain you!

Lord, thank you for your mercy. Thank you for "right sizing" me yet again. My life, my all is Yours! Use me to point people to you, the omnipotent, awesome, one and only God!!

Holy Discontent Wk #3

So sorry that I skipped a week of posting on the book. The "Reader's Digest" version of last week is that it gave an overview of the holy discontent of great people in history like Martin Luther King Jr. and Mother Teresa. There was not much speaking directly to me, so I found it hard to write on, although the group discussion was good and I discovered something about myself. I have MHDD - Multiple Holy Discontent Disorder. I thought I had mine pegged after week one, alas, week 2 brought things into a clearer light. (and before you worry to much about my MHDD - I also discovered that I am not alone in it.) So, if you have not quite found your HD (Holy Discontent), fear not and read on.

This week's reading I found easy to read and thought provoking. The chapter title is Your "One Thing." Before you worry that you have been off track with all the many things you give you time and energy and passion to, relax. Hybels is quick to let readers know that we, as believers, should feel passion and take action on things that call for it (like earthquake relief in Haiti), but all of those things are probably not your "one thing".

Eph. 2:10 says that "we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." Basically that means that even before we were born, God had specific things He set us apart to do. (yes, YOU TOO!). As I read this book and think about what that might be for me, the picture becomes more and more clear. I am right where I am supposed to be, spurring others on to a more connected, passionate worship of God.  I will say that it took someone else pointing it out to me before I saw that though. I mean, I KNEW that in my heart and my spirit but I think I was so busy trying to look (2 chapters in to the book - can we say over achiever) for something new and unique as my HD that I totally missed what God had already revealed to me in so many ways before. 

If you are reading this and thinking you are behind the curve because you are still not sure what your HD is yet - don't be! Not everyone in the discussion group has clarity yet, and I don't think most are supposed to at this point. It is a process after all. To help in the process, Hybels gives this description, "Your "one thing" is the stirring situation that causes so much damage to your soul that it brings you to your own Popeye moment - a place where you feel you simply must do something. ... it is God inviting you into a intentional and personalized partnership to renovate reality. "

In short, your HD is something that: wrecks you, vies for all of your attention, keeps you awake at night capturing your heart and your imagination. It is the one thing inside you that your soul feels MUST BE ADDRESSED. When you find it you will know "you were born for it."

In new and exciting ways, God is re-purposing in my soul what I was born for - to worship Him with everything thing that I am and to help others do the same. So, how about you? Do you know what you were born for? Sound off in the comment section and let's get a little discussion going for those who are not able to make the meet-ups. Ready - Set - GO!

Holy Discontent wk. 1

It seems that people, other than me, are eager to hear the heart of God for their lives. Go figure! He has brought together what I think will prove to be a great mix of women for the study of Bill Hybel's book Holy Discontent. For the next 7 weeks, we will pour over it, underline, highlight and discuss. I would like to bring some of that here to those who can't be in the group physically. Feel free to buy the book and get in on the discussion via comments or just read what is written here. Either way - I hope that God reveals something to you about your Holy Discontent. Let's get started...

To start, Bill asks this question, "Why do people do what they do?" For most people when you speak of their job, the answer is to get a paycheck. However, there are some who are passionate about what they do, so much so that they do it for very little money - teachers, social workers, pastors, the list could go on. Not that only people who don't make much money can be passionate about their jobs. But people do other things besides working with their time. They volunteer, they give money to causes. One woman in our group, "V",  supports 2 women in countries where women have little to no human rights. She stated (paraphrasing) that she does this because it tugs at her heart and is wrong, so she does what she can to help.

So, why do you do what you do? To go one step further - what are you passionate about? What get the "firestorm of frustration" (as Bill calls it) going in your gut? What is your underlying motivation?

In the opening chapter of the book we look at Moses. A Hebrew man raised by the Egyptian Pharaoh's daughter, He did not taste of the slavery his people did. But one day he was taking a walk and came across an Egyptian beating a Hebrew. He grew so angry that he killed the Egyptian. The next day he was out walking and came across 2 Hebrews fighting with each other. His eyes were opened to the plight of his people and the firestorm was ignited. The story is much longer than I will go into here, you can read it in Genesis. but he basically was so heart broken to see his people self destructing that he couldn't stand it any more and decided he had to do something about it. After a life changing discussion with a burning bush (GOD), he found that he would not be on his own in his fight for the Hebrew people, God's heart was breaking for them as well and they would fight together. This was Moses' holy discontent. 

Hybel's goes on to say that "still today, what wrecks the heart of someone who loves God is often the very thing that God wants to use to fire them up to do something that, under normal circumstances, they would never attempt to do." So it begins with you determining what it is that you just can't stand. Hybel's also pointed out the very important fact that God is in the business of restoration. If we only look at the world through the lens of what is broken and forget that God desires to restore it, it will only result in anger and frustration.

When we realize that the anger and frustration we feel for the things that break our hearts in this world also break the heart of God, we have usually identified our holy discontent. 

One of my favorite lines says this, "The most inspired, motivated, and driven people I know are the ones who live their lives from the energy of their holy discontent. Most important, they suit up and jump in to the game when God says, "If you'll hook up with me, I'll involve you in effecting some much needed change around here!""

Oh, that I would live my life from that place. Actually taking action instead of just complaining. The bible is filled with stories of common, ordinary men and women who have partnered with God to do things they could never do on their own. I want to be one of those!

So take stock. What fuels your firestorm of frustration? What breaks you heart and makes you want to help change the world? If you can't answer that quite yet, stick with us on our journey. I pray that our faithful God will speak clearly to each of us and that we will be courageous enough to jump in the deep end with both feet!

Chapter 2 next Wednesday, May 26. 7-8:30 pm in High Connections at the church. Join us there or online.

The Friendship and The Fear

Yesterday was a typical Sunday. Full of church and work and worship and fellowship with other artist/worshipers as we sat in the room back stage waiting for our time to once again take the stage to lead the congregation in song. What happens in that room during our "down time" is a mystery to most and each week is very different, depending on the characters that are appear (and I do mean characters!) Lot's of bonding and conversation takes place over 6 hours of on and off the stage. 

At one point yesterday, the conversation turned to a song called Friend of God. Now, no offense to the writer, but that is a song that I can hardly stomach singing. The version of it that most people hear is to me - very "bubble gum." I feel that it shows only the "hey let's go fishing together, or to the mall" side of God. One participant in the conversation made a statement something to the effect of "lots of people come to church and need to see that side of God." I assume this is because they only hear about the wrath side of Him from a non-churched person's perspective. 

The conversation continued down that line for just a bit and while I agree to a certain extent that everyone who comes to God needs to know that He is desires to be their friend and have them come to Him with any and everything in their lives, most people forget that He is also to be feared as seen by David's mistake referenced in my previous blog post. 

I always find it humorous when I have a conversation and shortly there after God brings something to my attention in scripture that adds something to the conversation (a true picture of a friend I suppose.) This morning in my reading I read this:

Psalm 25:12-14 Who is the man who fears the Lord? Him will he instruct in the way that he should choose. His soul shall abide in well-being, and his offspring shall inherit the land. The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant.

For me, the highlighted verse nails it on the head! How can you have a friendship with someone you do not KNOW and how can you KNOW GOD and not fear Him? They go hand in hand.  If I have just met someone, I would not normally consider them my friend, only an acquaintance. To be a true friend, it takes relationship and to build relationship you have to spend time getting to really know that person. 

In my lifetime, I have had very few people that I would consider friends in the deepest sense of the word. A friendship takes work, it takes time, it takes giving more than you get sometimes, it takes honesty, it takes love and all that takes effort. But when that occurs - you have something very precious and oh how I long to have that kind of friendship with my maker.

Several years ago a singer/song writer named Matt Redman came on the Christian music scene. Most of you would know his as the writer of The Heart of Worship. I had occasions to hear him speak and not only learn from his leading as a worshiper but as a God follower. His heart is one that is not found very often. I imagine him like King David - a man after God's own heart. He wrote a song called The Friendship and The Fear. The lyrics of the song are rich and so I leave you to ponder them today and ask yourself these - On the friendship scale, have much to you give compared to how much you gain? Do you fear the Lord, I mean really fear Him? If you struggle with how to answer these questions, then join me in the ever present quest to know Him better. If you could answer them to your satisfaction fairly easily, then I would challenge you by saying I don't think you KNOW Him as well as you think you do.

VERSE 1:
Show me the way of the cross once again
Denying myself for the love that I've gained
Everything's You now, everything's changed,
It's time You had my whole life;
You can have it all.

CHORUS:

I resolve to give it all;
Some things must die,
Some things must live.
Not, "What can I gain,"
But, "What can I give?"
If much is required when much is received,
Then You can have my whole life;
Jesus, have it all.

VERSE 2:
I've given like a beggar but lived like the rich
And crafted myself a more comfortable cross,
Yet what I am called to is deeper than this,
It's time You had my whole life;
You can have it all. 

6 Steps and a Sacrifice

What is your morning prep like to get to church on a Sunday? If it is anything like my house was when my kids were small there is one word - chaotic! Even now that my kids are older there is some element of that to get everyone to church on time. Because I work at church, I have to get up way before the sun (which should be breaking some sort of commandment, but according to Proverbs 31 - apparently is not! ) Usually one or more of my children either choose to or have to come with me because of their volunteer schedule. Anyway - you get the idea.... In my house, unless I am very intentional, we usually arrive to worship the God of the universe pretty much in the same manner we would make a trip to Target or get out the door to school/work.

In my Bible reading I have come to the story of King David returning the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem after being captured by the Philistines and being away from the Israelites for some time. He decided it was time to bring it back to where it belonged and so he made a plan to go get it. Enter problem #1 - David didn't follow the rules. The ark was supposed to be carried by certain people in a certain way any time it was transported. Instead, he had prepared what was, I am sure, a very nice cart pulled by oxen. Of course! Why not? It was probably very heavy and this would make the 6 or so mile trip much easier and quicker.  

So they story goes that they are moving along, the ox trips, one well meaning guy (Uzzah) reaches up to steady the ark so it doesn't fall to the ground and BAM! He's dead. Why, you might be asking? Well, no one was supposed to touch the ark but the priests appointed to care for it.  Not fair, you might be saying. What was he supposed to do, let it fall? Well, that is exactly what King David said. He was not very happy with God. 

2 Samuel 6:8-11 And David was angry because the Lord had burst forth against Uzzah. And that place is called Perez-uzzah, to this day. And David was afraid of the Lord that day, and he said, How can the ark of the Lord come to me? So David was not willing to take the ark of the Lord into the city of David. But David took it aside to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. And the ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite three months, and the Lord blessed Obed-edom and all his household.

So, here is where I have to laugh! David sees the Obed's house is prospering because of the presence of the Lord, so he decided to try to move it again - but this time doe it the right way. He uses the priests to follow all the proper directions for moving it - including carrying it on poles the whole 6 miles. But take a look at the highlighted verse above. David was afraid of the Lord that day... There was now a holy fear going on that should have been there from the beginning. David remembered who he was dealing with. So here is what he did:

2 Samuel 6:12-14 So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom to the city of David with rejoicing. And when those who bore the ark of the Lord had gone six steps, he sacrificed an ox and a fattened animal. And David danced before the Lord with all his might.

Did you catch that? Every 6 STEPS David sacrificed not 1 but 2, what I would imagine were,  large animals. Every 6 steps for 6 miles they stopped and made an offering to the Lord. This was one long and bloody trip, full of work, but also filled with joy and worship before the Lord.

Truthfully, I probably need to paste this passage of scripture on the dash of my car, or on the bathroom mirror so I can see it when I get up (REALLY EARLY) to worship on Sundays. I have to remember who I am worshiping. I can not and should never treat coming in to the presence of God like it is something nonchalant. 

Through the blood sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, I no longer have to sacrifice animals every 6 steps to come before the Lord in worship, but I am called every minute of every day to sacrifice my life to Him. I love that Jesus made a way for me to boldly approach the throne of GRACE. Thank God for grace! I am grateful to be able to call the one who made me - my father and my friend. But I have to hold Him in the proper place, high and lifted up above all things here on this earth - full of awe, reverence and a holy fear. 

So this Sunday as you wrestle with the kids to get ready and into the car, as you wake up exhausted from the weekend which was once again "to full" and think twice about even going to church - consider all those obstacles you face and all the work it takes to get there as a joyful sacrifice to the King of Kings. Put on some worship music and dance before Him as an individual and a family as you prepare to join others to do more of the same. 

Son of...

Being adopted, genealogy has always been important to me. I have 2 - the adopted side and the biological side. Someday I will post that whole story here for you to read, but today I have other things on my mind. In my chronological Bible reading I am in 1 Chronicles at the moment and most of what I have been reading for the last week or so are lists of people. So and so the son of so and so then son of so and so, on and on it goes. You get it. One of the most interesting things about "the lists" is when it breaks off from the normal pattern and tells what this particular family of people were given to do. A lot of them were warriors, it tells whether some were archers or swordsmen. THEN you come to the Levites. They were in charge of the temple (or at that time - the tent of meeting) where the ark of the Lord was kept. In my simple mind - they were put in charge of the church building. Their sole job was to keep things functioning properly, provide assistance to the millions of Israelites who needed to come and give their various offerings and to minister to the Lord. No small task for sure!

For a long time I have been convinced that if you traced back my genealogy you would find that I am a Levite, though I am not completely sure which of my 2 lines you would find it in. 1 Chronicles seems to say quite a bit about the Levites and their duties compared to other people. I guess that is particularly interesting to me given my job at the church. Today in my reading I noted that it listed singers, priests and gatekeepers. If you want to see what their duties entailed you can read it in 1 Chron. 9. I find a lot of similarities between what they were called to do and our modern day worship, hospitality and facilities teams. Sufficed to say - they had a lot on their plates! Just like we do today. The running joke is that Sunday happens every 7 days, so when one is done - you move on to the next one.

Of course, to me (because I am one), the stand out was the singers. It says in verse 33 : Now these, the singers, the heads of fathers' houses of the Levites, were in the chambers of the temple free from other service, for they were on duty day and night. Contrary to what you may be thinking right now, I am NOT trying to use this as an excuse for all the singers reading this to get out of serving in other areas of ministry. LOL I just find it interesting that it says they were on duty 24/7. The music never stopped. They were constantly singing before the Lord (which is funny to me considering so many do not put that level of importance on music in the church today.) In my mind - that just put a whole different level of importance on what I have been called to do as a modern day Levite. Do I really consider myself "on duty" 24/7? Do I keep in the fore front of my mind the thing God created me for? I am giving Him all that He deserves when I come before Him? Am I doing it with the right heart motivation?

Lots of questions to be pondered as I prepare to lead others into His presence on a weekly basis (whether on the stage or off it!)

Everything thing the Lord has given someone to do is of importance. We all play a part. So, today, what ever YOU have been called to do to serve the Lord, and rest assured He has called you to something - think about how you are going about doing that and see if it might deserve to go to another level. He deserves nothing less than your very best. It is all for His glory!!

Therefore I exhort you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice – alive, holy, and pleasing to God – which is your reasonable service.

Romans 12:1

Descriptors

So, by way of update (if you have been following the blog), I am going strong on day 114 of reading chronologically through the Bible. It is actually a very cool way to do it because not only do I get the stories in order as they occurred (as much as possible), but YouVersion has this little box on one side of my page that keeps track of my progress. Today I am officially 31% done with reading the Bible through in a year. Being a big numbers girl, seeing that graph move, knowing that someone is keeping track of my progress gives me the accountability I need to keep going every day.

I have officially moved into the section of the Bible that is the "not so mind gripping" - the LISTS! Yesterday, in 1 Chronicles 1 & 2, I read the lists of people who had these sons, who had these sons, who had these sons and every once in a while a daughter was thrown in the mix (that is a whole separate blog post), etc. When reading through these lists, I noticed something. Occasionally, I would come across a name and there would be a descriptor there like: 

The sons of Ham: Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan. The sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabta, Raama, and Sabteca. The sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan. Cush fathered Nimrod. He was the first on earth to be a mighty man. A few more verses down it describes The son of Carmi: Achan, the troubler of Israel... 

In reading 2 chapters, I came across a few more of these descriptors and it made me wonder "why did these particular people deserve the extra line in scripture?" Now, I am not a seminary grad and so I am sure this is probably not the correct answer to this question, but in my head, what makes sense is that they did something that made them stand out and was noteworthy. Some good, some not so good.

Then in today's reading I saw this in Psalm 87:6a The Lord records as he registers the peoples.

Humm... what is He recording about me? Daunting question! What is God recording about how I am living my life? What descriptors would I find behind my name in His record?

If you follow me on Facebook, you may have stumbled across a bit of a heated debate in one of my comment threads about social injustice. ( I so love stirring the pot!) At one point, commentators said something about it being all about "us and what we know" and  "turning into a "who" is more prideful than the other." The funny thing is that I know all of these people and would not consider any of them prideful or self centered (and I certainly know of enough people who ARE to adequately compare!) I guess if anyone speaks from experience or tells others what they know or have done it can come off as prideful or self serving to some. We all get labeled with something by someone, even ourselves. 

We use descriptors to tell people who we are in our profiles, people use descriptors to introduce us to someone new, God uses descriptors when He records things about me in His record book. The latter are really the only ones I care about. I just really pray that of all the things God records about my life, the good outweighs the bad, the action overshadows the apathy, the love outshines the hate, the passion overtakes the indifference. I won't always get it right - I just want to be moving in the right direction.

What will he record about you today?

Modern Day Slaves

Did you know that today, April 21, 2010 there are more slaves in the world than ever before in human history. It is estimated that there are somewhere between 27 & 30 million slaves, but some counts are as high as 200 million. The most distressing fact is that 80% of those are women and children forced into some form of sexual slavery. 80%!!!

Last night I went to a advanced screening of a new documentary film done by a group of students (Artists for Abolition) at Texas A&M Commerce called Worth Fighting For. The event was compelling to say the least. To walk into the room and be confronted with girls behind a chain link fence holding signs with their age and how much it would cost you for an hour of "pleasure", all the while being explained the process by the "sales man" - well it was extremely unnerving! One of the most disturbing parts was that as the girls got younger - the price went up. It made me sick, especially since the girls portrayed were the same ages as my girls. I learned that 6 people are sold into slavery every 2 minutes. In the time it takes me to write this blog post, there will be about 60 more slaves on this planet, some as young as 4.

When the film began, there was not a sound in the room, except the occasional sound of tears being shed for those oppressed. One of the guys that helped create the film said something that will be burned into my memory forever (I HOPE!) He said that when he was confronted with the reality of this injustice in our world he wept. He went to his campus and laid face down with his open bible on the quad cement and cried out to God saying "Lord, I want someone to weep with me." He then felt God answer him by saying "I want someone to weep with me too."

I think we have become so callused to the injustice in our world that we forget that God weeps over it and he longs for someone to weep with him. It brought to mind a line form one of my favorite songs that says "Break my heart for what breaks Yours..." a line that in daily life is pushed to the back of my mind and replaced with my everyday, suburban to-do list. What on earth has happened to me that I have become so comfortable in my life that I forget that God weeps over the enslaved and the broken hearted and the lost?

Well, as I am still trying to process all of this and what it means for my future, I know one thing for sure - I have been changed at my very core and now I have a decision to make: Will I sit and let apathy kill me and others, or will I  embrace this new adventure God seems to have put in front of me, let Him take the lead and just follow?

"For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, Now I will arise," says the LORD; "I will set him in the safety for which he yearns." - Psalm 12:5

Swimming Up Stream?

I was having coffee with a friend today and we were talking about growth in the Lord. We talked about how hard it can be to not conform to what many people's view of the Christian life is (going to church on Sunday and being like the world the rest of the week) and also how hard it can be to stay outside the "Christian bubble" we have made for ourselves and really effect change in the rest of the world around us who need Jesus. 

Growing up in the church - I'm a PK (preachers kid), my tendency is always to immerse myself in all things Christian. Christian music, christian literature, christian movies, christian friends... It is easy that way, comfortable. And yet, I don't believe Jesus ever meant for the word "Christian" to become a adjective instead of a noun, and I certainly don't believe He ever said it would be easy to be one. Staying in side my little comfort bubble won't do much to bring other people to Him. As of late, I have been feeling an increasing burden to reach those who shy away from those so safely tucked in their Christian comfort zone. if my world is only the "bubble", how can I relate to those who want no part of it? 

At some point in the conversation, I thought of the analogy of a Salmon swimming upstream. A salmon swims upstream for one reason and one reason only - to reproduce. I would imagine that they have to be very strong to make this journey. It is hard work and in the end - they give their very lives for the new lives that come from their struggle. 

I feel like I am at a place in my Christianity that God is asking me if I am willing to put in the hard work for the new life that will come out of it. Am I willing to go against the flow? Am I willing to do what it takes to grow to a point that I am strong enough to endure the struggle that will come from the journey? I believe I am! I trust He will guide me along the way. It will not be easy, but in the end I pray that God uses my journey to produce lots of new lives that will go through the same process of reproducing themselves for His kingdom.