Safety or Risk: The Scary Truth about Living a Faith without Borders

This is my dog Sydney. She LOVES to be outside. 

She explores our backyard like it is her vast wonderland, which it probably seems like for a 12 pound puppy dog. 

The fence in our yard is in need of just enough repair that she has some small windows in to what lies beyond her safe haven. She barks at the other dogs like she is much bigger than she is. She defends her turf when the neighbor is tending her garden. She owns her space and is bold. 

Enter the open door...

Sometimes when I go out front to take out trash or get the mail, I will invite her to go with me. She hesitantly stands at the front door, wanting so badly to go out with me and explore this strange new world - full of possibilities and new adventure. 

And yet she hesitates. No amount of coaxing will get her to budge.

Even though I will be right by her side and will not let anything happen to her, the great unknown is just a little to much for her. She is happy with her walls and fence and the safety and comfort they bring. 

And so, she stays. Safe in what she knows and missing out on all that she might discover if she just ventured out.

Today I feel a bit like Sydney. 

A few weeks ago I was comfortable with my life and my ministry. Great house. Wonderful family. All was well.  And then God saw fit to rock that boat a bit. 

He has seen fit to begin to break down my safe walls and opened the door to possibilities for my future that I did not know were there or would not have even considered just weeks ago. I hear Him asking me, nudging me, to follow Him and just trust. I know in my heart that He will never let me down and will always be by my side, and yet - I hesitate. Comfortable in the walls I have made for myself.

As He so often does, He spoke to me loudly through music this week. 

I have had this song, Oceans by Hillsong, on repeat for most of the last 2 days. The chorus is shouting at me and yet gently soothing my soul at the same time. It says this:

"Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders. Let me walk upon the waters wherever You would call me. Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander. And my faith will be made stronger in the presence of my Savior."

And so the decision is mine. I can stay where I am and wonder what greatness God has for me beyond the borders I have built for myself, or I can venture out to the unknown - firm in the knowledge that my faith WILL be made stronger in the presence of my Savior. 

I don't know about you - but I choose to walk forward in faith. Trusting God will lead and guide. That what He has for me through that open door is more than I could ever ask for or imagine. 


So what about you? Are you being called beyond your trust borders? Are you ready to go? What is holding you back?

Trust in the Lord with all your heart

and lean not on your own understanding;

in all your ways submit to him,

and he will make your paths straight.

Proverbs 3:5-6

I would love to hear from you. Shoot me your comments and let me know what you think. Share it with others as well and follow this blog for future thoughts and reflections. 

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!

The Pea Shooter vs. The Bazooka

I Samuel 17: 4 - 11 

And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. He had a helmet of bronze on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze. And he had bronze armor on his legs, and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders. The shaft of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and his spear's head weighed six hundred shekels of iron. And his shield-bearer went before him. He stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, Why have you come out to draw up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us. And the Philistine said, I defy the ranks of Israel this day. Give me a man, that we may fight together. When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.

It's a story most of us have heard. A young boy called from shepherding the sheep defeats the giant with only 5 stones and a sling shot.  As I read this story afresh today in my bible reading time, I was struck again with the magnitude of what actually happened. Israel had been at war with the Philistines for a long time. Battle, after battle. Then comes the giant, Goliath. How much of a giant was he really that a whole army could be afraid to fight him? Glad you asked! Best estimate is that he was around 10 FEET TALL!! Now I have a friend that I sing with who makes all of us who stand next to him feel like he is a giant, but he is no where near 10 feet tall. I think the tallest guy I have ever know was 6'11" - and that is really tall. But 10 FEET! Whoa! No wonder all of Saul's men shied away at the prospect of being the one to defeat the champion of the Philistines. 

So here's the cliff notes of the rest of the story - The war could be over by just one man defeating this giant of a man, but there were no takers, until David came along. His father sent him to give food to his brothers who were fighting in the army. While he was there, David hears about this giant and says he will be the one to go and fight him. Most everyone thinks he is nuts! Saul (the king) tries to outfit David with armor, which was to big for him to move in, so David went out to met Goliath with only his sling shot, his shepherd's staff and 5 small rocks he picked up in the stream on the way to the battle field. Goliath laughs at this boy who thinks he can defeat him. David shoots a rock into Goliath's head with his sling shot. Goliath goes down. David takes Goliath's sword and cuts off his head. End of story!

This got me thinking, why was David so confident that he would win against this 10 ft. tall seasoned warrior? Well, he had the God of the universe on his side and he knew it. Seemed like not much of a risk when you looked at it stacked that way. But so many times when I look at what life is throwing at me it can seem like I am looking in the face of a bazooka and I only have a pea shooter in my hand. So I asked myself this morning, what giants I am facing in my life and am I trusting the God of the universe, who is on my side to defeat them and I ask you to ponder the same question?

He doesn't ask us to come fully equipped. David certainly didn't. He didn't have experience. He didn't have armor or a sword, and for all those looking on didn't seem to have long to live(given the challenge ahead of him.) But God more than made up for where David was lacking and David knew He would!

God + David's willing heart + 5 small stones and a sling shot = victory against a giant long ago. 

God + YOUR willing heart + the little you have to give = victory over what giants in your life today?

God IS faithful. God IS working in you today. God IS waiting and willing to fight your giants today. Will you let Him?