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!

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. 

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.