Sunday, December 12, 2010

What Do you Call Me?

One of the things that Pastor Jeff said during the sermon was that Jesus doesn't call me by my sin, He calls me out of my sin. Man, oh, man! The world call us by our sins. "ou're the adulterer, the drunk, the thief, the liar, the (fill in the blank)". They remember us for what we have done and don't want to know us for who we are now, in Christ.

Now here is the sticky part: how do we label fellow Christians? How do you label me? How do I label you? If I am stepping on your toes, don't feel bad. I am dancing the jig on my own as I write this. Do we, as Christians, remember that fellow Christians are just as forgiven as we are? Jesus tells us to forgive others (Mark 11:25) but He also tells us that if we don't forgive others that God will not forgive us (Matthew 6:15, John 20:23).

Let me tie two things together for you, for me. If I don't "unlabel" my fellow Christians, if I choose to remember their past (sordid or otherwise) while claiming that my own has been forgiven, why would I ever expect that the world would see forgiveness as whole, all encompassing, and total? Why would I expect that non-Christians would believe that Jesus can forgive when I don't act like I believe it?

Ouch. Maybe even double ouch.

Division in the church is a great tactical weapon of Satan and labels fuel discord among believers. My prayer for us all that we will not only present but truly live in such a way that we show a united and forgiven front to the world. I pray that we will allow the light of our God to shine brightly through us and pierce the dim, hopeless darkness that covers this world.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Silly Anecdote No. 902

Today I'm going to share Silly Anecdote No. 902 from the Michelle files with you. I have ear aches - lots of them. My Mama tells me that I was not really sick as a child but that good health does not seem to have followed me into adulthood. Regardless, I suffer from ear aches and I'm really sick of it.

The goofy part of this story is the fact that I decided that if I were to put cotton in my ears to block the wind from getting in them then I can ward off future issues. The problem is that I was in the house and, while our home may be a little chilly from time to time, it is not known for it's wind gusts. After I got past the gales of laughter coming from Mark I decided that this idea was actually okay. I was going to prevent the ear ache from returning.

I have no idea if this flash of brilliance is going to work but I discovered something phenomenal. I mean fantastic. Show stopping. Awe inspiring.

I couldn't hear much of anything with cotton in my ears.

This is perhaps the most brilliant thing that has happened to me in a long time. "Why?" you ask. I'll share with you. All of the little sounds that distract me from everything that goes on around me were muffled. I couldn't hear them. They were gone. The sounds of the television coming from downstairs - finito. The hum-drum noises of the dryer (or the silence when the cycle finished) were gone. I was in my own world and I was quiet. The lack of chaotic noises helped to quell my need to participate in the frenzy.

The lesson that I learned is this: sometimes maybe I need to put a little cotton in my ears in order to spend time alone with God. I mean really alone with God. Maybe I need to take an extra step to drown out the noises of things around me and focus on Him. Perhaps silencing the sounds in my atmosphere will encourage me to hush to so that I can hear His still small voice.

I think that I may add a couple of cotton balls to my daily quiet time. It may not prevent ear problems but I'm betting it's going to change my life.

Monday, December 6, 2010

This Is as Close as I'd Like to Get, Thank You

In Sunday's sermon Pastor Jeff said something that got my attention. My paraphrase is this: for non-Christians this [world] is as close to heaven as they are ever going to get and for Christians this [world] is as close to hell as we're ever going to get.

Does that make you stop and think? If it doesn't then you need to stop and think about the fact that you didn't stop and think.

This world is as close to heaven/hell as you're ever going to get

based on the decision that you have made about Jesus.

Thank God that I know Jesus and have chosen Him as the Lord of my life. If this world is as close to hell as I'm ever going to get, I'm just fine with that. Most days that pass find me longing for my eternal home. I don't want to stay here forever; this life is hard and tough and there is a gross separation between the worldly and the spiritual. Being here leaves me in the world, away from my true home, my spiritual home, and away from my spiritual family and a perfect existence that is spent praising my Creator. Being on planet earth leaves me with a hole, a longing for the God of all the Universe and only eternity with Him is going to fill it. There is good news for the Christian.

The news is bleak if you're not a Christian. This life is as close to heaven as you'll get. The brokenness, the hurt, the uncertainty, the pains, the mortal body - all of this is the best there is if you don't know Jesus. Hell will be a thousand times, no, a million times, no, a bazillion times worse than this life. And the very, very, very worst part? Eternal separation from the love of your God - knowing that He is there and all that you had to do was invite Him in to live in your heart but you did not do it. Living with the knowledge, that after every knee has bowed and every tongue has confessed, that the perfect Lamb died for you but you made a choice to leave Him out of your life. That decision will haunt your forever and you won't have the chance to change it once you've landed in hell.

The good news is that if you are reading this, there is still time to change that decision. TODAY IS THE DAY! Ask Jesus to be the Lord of your life. Weigh the costs. Discipleship is not easy. It's not always fun. But it is always rewarding. Ask Him now. If you're not sure you're ready, ask Him to make you ready. He will. He loves His people and He meets us where we are, but only on this side of eternity. Once we've crossed that divide there is no looking back.

I am praying for you today that you will know Jesus as Lord. If you already know Him, I'm praying that you (and I) will have a desire to tell the others around us that He is alive and living and that He he died so that you don't have to.

As for me? I'm doing my best to stay the straight and narrow path and am looking forward to eternity with my Jesus. This as about as close as I'd like to get to hell, thank you.

Pride and Joy

I never really appreciated Stevie Ray Vaughn until after his tragic death in a helicopter crash in August, 1990. He played a mean blues guitar; I'm talking wicked mean. Not many folks could make a Fender sing like Stevie Ray, not even his brother Jimmy.

One of my fave SRV tunes is Pride and Joy. The last verse of this song is

Yeah I love my baby....heart and soul
Love like ours wont never grow old
Shes my sweet little thang....shes my pride and joy
Shes my sweet little baby....Im her little lover boy

Man, Stevie is proud of his girl! The lyrics lead you to believe that she is, in return proud of him. As much as Stevie and his girl love each other, though, they got nothin' on God and His love for us.

You might think that I'm stretching here but did you know that God wants to be our pride and joy? Isaiah 28:5 (NLT) tells us that after God's children have been exiled and returned to Him that

Then at last the Lord of Heaven’s Armies
      will himself be Israel’s glorious crown.
   He will be the pride and joy
      of the remnant of his people

God desires to be my pride and joy, your pride and joy? He wants me to want Him more than I want any other person or thing in my world. He wants to be my One desire, the One place where I place my hopes and dreams, more so in Him than in my husband, my children, my friends, my job, or any other thing. He wants me to take pride in Him, in being His child, in having the Creator of the Universe as my Father, and in knowing that all things come through Him and by Him.

Don't be shy! Let the whole world know that God is your pride and joy. Let Him reign supreme in your life and watch others notice the change that is evident in your life. Maybe you'll get to break out your blues guitar and put a little rhythm to your praise. Something tells me that God (the ultimate creator of the Fender Stratocaster) loves a good blues guitar, too!

Monday, November 29, 2010

Toilet Prayers

The Bible has much to say about communicating with God. We are to tell God the thoughts of our heart, sing His praises, listen to Him, worship. We are also to go to a special place: Moses spent 40 days with God on top of Mount Sinai. Elijah experienced God's presence on Mount Hoerb. Jesus continually withdrew to the Garden of Gethsemane so that He could spend time alone with the Father.

And for us in contemporary America, an open altar on Sunday is a great place to drop to your knees and start your week praying, alone or with friends. Worship music is playing, the lights are set at "just right". You are alone with your Creator regardless of being in a church congregation of 10 or 10,000.

The above are all very official ways to spend time with God. But what about toilet prayers?

Yes, toilet prayers. Here are scenarios that will possibly lead you to this place:

At work, the day is overwhelming. Deadlines loom, bosses scream, co-workers don't produce necessary information. You need a minute to stop and regroup with God. In case of emergency use the office facilities . . .
The kids are out of school after a highly sugared holiday party and you didn't get enough sleep. They're wired; you're tired. The coffee maker broke yesterday. What you would do for just two minutes with God bring endless creative possibilities and solutions. Can I just make it to the guest bathroom, the one at the back of the house?
Serving others is fun and you love to do it but you need a second to catch your breath and ask God to remind you why you are serving. Oh, no! There's nothing in site but a porta-potty.

The humble bathroom. A less-than-dignified place of and far-less-discussed place for prayer.

Let's be honest. I have found myself in all of the above situations praying desperately and I am inclined to believe that God hears these prayers. I actually think that He may even be a little more in tune with these than with my Sunday morning altar prayers. Why? The answer is simple. When I find myself huddled into a bathroom stall, in the stale gray of a public restroom, or the overly green hard of a plastic outhouse, rest assured that pretenses of pride are gone. I cry out to God and He hears me. I have left myself and my own efforts behind. I am crying out to Him from deep in my heart and I am completely relying on Him.

This is the essence of prayer. Abandonment of self and focus on my God. In the bathroom? Yes.

I am a huge proponent of getting me out of the way, looking to God with my entire being, and focusing on WHO HE IS and what I am not. I'm ready to spend time with a toilet trivia book and a little extra Charmin if that's what it takes to talk to my Daddy.

Relentless

The message yesterday was called Relentless and the subject was God's tireless pursuit of us. I "know" this in my head but I tend to forget this in my heart, especially in daily life.

God loves you. He loves me. The Maker of the Universe chases you down every day, waiting for you to respond to Him. Even if you have not yet given your live to Jesus, God wants to be part of your life.

The news is really good for Christians. 2 Chronicles 16:9 tells us that "The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him". That is great news! When we do our best to follow God, even in all of our broken efforts, He strengthens us.

All He is asking us is to pursue Him, to put everything else in second (or third place) and choose Him first. He's not requesting us to be perfect but He asks us to try and to do our best to be like Him.

In this season when we celebrate the birth of our Savior, I challenge us all to relentlessly pursue God. Tirelessly. Effortlessly. He gave His all for us. Let's do the same for Him.
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Our $29,000 God.

Reposted from Stuff Christians Like - Jon Acuff This is good stuff and you should definitely read it. I don't want a God who fits in my pocket, either, and neither should you.

Our $29,000 God.

Posted: 24 Nov 2010 04:23 AM PST

A few months ago, my five year old, McRae told me, “The biggest number I know of is 26.”
At the end of her understanding of numbers was the number 26. In her mind, that was really how big numbers come. If you wanted to describe how far the moon was from earth, probably about 26 miles. Want to say how long it felt to wait for Christmas to get here? It was like 26 minutes! Number of pieces of candy she estimates she got for Halloween? 26.
It’s her biggest number. Until that is, I told her about 27. And blew her mind.
She’s not great at “sizing” things. But that’s OK, she’s 5. She’s pretty sure fairies are real. She’s convinced every dog in the world would like to meet her. The other day at Costco she saw a man with a white beard and proceeded to yell to everyone in the store, “Santa is shopping here today! He. Is. Here. Today!!”
That’s OK behavior for her. She’s just a kid. She’s little. But oddly enough, she’s not the only one who tends to get sizes all twisted. She’s not the only one who tends to “under size.” In fact, I think lot of us do that, especially when it comes to God.
I learned this last year when the Stuff Christians Like community raised money to build a kindergarten in Vietnam. On a random Monday, I asked readers to help me raise $30,000 and that honestly made me nervous. It’s weird to ask for money. It changes your intimacy levels. It’s like actually holding hands during couples skate at Roller Kingdom in Hudson, Massachusetts. Sure, you might skate around in circles with Stacy Valentino listening to Bobby Brown’s “Tender Roni,” but holding hands is a whole nother level. (That example got really specific and 7th gradery.)
But it’s true, asking for money is awkward, which is why pastors do the money disclaimer when they preach. They start their sermon by saying, “I never normally preach about money, I never preach about tithing, except today.” And that’s always the Sunday your neighbor or coworker finally agreed to come to church with you. Your friend always comes on the money Sunday or the day the mime group, “Gloves of Love” is there to perform.
So I was anxious about asking for money. And I honestly thought it would take us 6 weeks to raise $30,000. But if you’ve read this site for a while, you know that was not the case.
We raised all $30,000 in a matter of 18 hours. It took us less than a day to complete the entire campaign and I realized I had been like McRae with the number 26.
Here’s what I essentially said to God before the project started:
“God, you are massive. You are huge. You made the universe and created all space and time. You are without end! But, you are slightly less big than $30,000. You’re like a really solid $29,000 God. And that’s awesome. I mean that’s pretty good. I think you’re almost all powerful, you’re just not $30,000 powerful.”
Have you ever done that?
Have you ever been faced with what felt like an insurmountable challenge and in the midst of that, you’ve worshiped a really small God? Have you ever prayed something like:
“God, you are gigantic. You rule the universe. You’re just not as big as my college application process. You are slightly too small to handle that.”
Or
“God, I love you. You are massive and supreme. You are huge, except you’re not big enough to handle my divorce. You are smaller than this experience.”
Or
“God, you are like the real He-Man, you are master of the universe! You are so big and so all knowing, except you probably don’t know how to handle my job search. You’re big, you’re just slightly tinier than my unemployment.”
No one would actually prays those words, but that’s what flows from our heart when we allow doubt to set up shop. That’s how we live when we feel like we’ve got to force things to happen or they never will. That’s what happens when we under size God.
The truth is, God is bigger than $30,000.
God is bigger than a divorce.
God is bigger than unemployment.
God is bigger than a teen daughter who swears she doesn’t love you.
God is bigger that money problems.
God is bigger than our biggest dreams.
And I thank God that he is. I think sometimes we want him to be pocket-sized and manageable. I’ve heard people say things like, “I want a God who can explain to me why bad things happen to good people.” I understand that frustration, I do, but here’s the thing. I don’t want a God who ever has to fit within my understanding. I don’t want a God who is limited by mind and my experiences.
I want a big God. A God that spans generations and space and time. I don’t want a God who needs my approval or comprehension to do something big. How we as a people have lost a sense of the mysterious when part of the trinity is the Holy “Ghost” is beyond me, but we have.
This holiday season, as the birth of Christ is remembered, let’s celebrate our big God. Let’s honor a huge, wild, unable to be controlled by our small minds God.
He’s bigger than that thing you worried about or dreamt about.
I promise.