A Stoplight Conviction

So, i was sitting at one of the thousands of stop lights (hyperbole? maybe a little bit) which had imposed on my life in the last 45 minutes when i felt the sudden urge to honk my horn. This isn't the first time i'd felt this impulse, and i daresay it won't be the last. I know that honking at a light won't fix my problem, but it would certainly express my irritation. But why is it so frustrating when i find my path obstructed in any way for any amount of time? It is because i have somewhere i want to be; i have a goal. We are made to move. To not be content to be prevented from satisfying our desires and achieving our ambitions and dreams. And that determination spurs us on to overcome and succeed. We see this in every little and big thing in our lives. You want to go to a certain school but don't have the money or grades. It frustrates you. You want to go hang out with your friends but your parents won't give you permission. It frustrates you. You deeply love someone and want their best, but they are being unwise or selfish. It frustrates you. The same pattern emerges no matter where you look. And yet there is one area in which there appears to be a model breakdown.
 As christians, we loudly proclaim that our goal is Jesus, and we believe with all our hearts that it's true. Yet we welcome every obstacle. So what if my instinct is to open my computer and click on the internet tab? So what if i don't have an instinct to open my bible or talk to Jesus? Those two are completely unrelated. So what if i get more excited about the prospect of a relationship than growing in the one i already have with the perfect Husband? So what if i get angrier when someone wrongs me by infringing on my freedom or my pride than i do when i wrong God? I would suggest to you that this isn't a model breakdown. I would suggest to you that, to be perfectly frank, if i am not frustrated by these obstacles, my goal is not Jesus. You are made to move. Do not sit at every stoplight, relishing it as though it were your destination. Let's learn to make our goal Jesus, and to be passionate about getting there.

Gentle, but Strong

i know i just wrote about the sunset, but that doesn't mean i can't appreciate the sunrise, does it? :)

There is always a reward for those who will rise early. You see, the sunrise is lovely, no matter where you are. It makes even the most oppressive place seem resplendent. Because the sunrise is hope. The sunrise is different from the sunset because it is always gentle, yet always strong. It is more precious than the sunset in its rarity, because few see it. For the sunrise is hope. The sunrise always promises a new day, full of light and beauty. When i see the sunrise, i see what my Jesus has promised to me. And my heart will hope.

a sunset moment

Does the sunset fascinate you like it does me? Do you study it and wonder at how God expresses Himself through that ever changing painting? His bold strokes that ignite a passionate fire that consumes the sky. He is power. He is declaring His intense desire for me and seeking my love that i refer to so loosely as “passion”. The sky practically radiates the emotion in His heart. And just as i start to become nervous at the thought of an omnipotent God setting fire to the sky from the depths of His heart (or i’ve gotten used to it and have become complacent), i realize that the roaring flame has been replaced by a gentle candle light, glowing on the clouds to produce the most ethereal and calming effect imaginable on this earth. But where did He go? The imminent reality of darkness has come to mind and, as much as i want to enjoy the sweet flush of the atmosphere, i am starting to feel rather frightened and alone. What will happen when it’s all gone? I already can’t see Him and - and i feel His arms come around my waist. He has come to watch the sleep of the sun with me.
“Do you see that?” He whispers about the soft embers before us. “That’s how I love you.” What He leaves unspoken is the choice before me: i can fret about the darkness, or, i can let Him hold me and savor His love together. I choose the sunset.

2013 CMS Youth Conference Promo

This is a video Wendy and I made to promote the conference! Come, ya'll!

DIY

It is quite common for bloggers to post really cool Do-It-Yourself ideas, but being as uncoordinated as i am, i haven't really done anything like that. However, recently, some DIY ideas of a different nature were brought to my attention, and i thought that they were not only well worth doing, but definitely worth sharing.

There's a girl i know who discovered an awesome way to utilize even the smallest of resources. Her plan consists of this: all the change that she has (money, that is), excluding her tithes, she has set aside to belong to God. Change usually just sits around because it doesn't seem like it's even worth trying to use, but if Jesus used 5 loaves and 2 fish to feed over 5,000 people, imagine what He can do with my quarters and dimes! My Lord is in the habit of taking small, insignificant things and making a miracle out of them. This specific friend of mine collects her coins and finds coins for a month, then brings them to the bank to be turned into cash. All the while, she is praying about the use of that money, and as opportunities arise to glorify God with it, she gives that money to those purposes. i've decided to try out this idea, and i've discovered that quite a bit of money can come out of those coins. Not only am i using otherwise untouched resources, but it excites me so much that i'm looking for pennies everywhere i go! i'm getting so pumped to see what God's going to do with my "talents" and i can't encourage you enough to figure out a way to do the same with any resources you have that could bear a little more utilization.

This next idea is... well, i set up a whole blog just for it, so i'll just give you a link to it and let you see for yourself. :) 10,000 Reasons

Never Gray

i drew a picture a while ago. i was sure it was finished. But when i looked at it, i was shocked to find that it was gray. Completely gray. No definition of character, or place, of anything. No light, no shadow - it was all shadow. A shadow: no substance, yet full of darkness. Shame, that overbearing brute, forced me to the ground at the sight of this picture that i had so proudly shown everyone. What a fool they must think me! How they must despise me! And so i have kept my picture hidden away. i recently took it out, and noticed that the nights had drawn their dark lines into my picture, defining the vague. And yet, i can’t tell what my drawing is anymore, whether it is pleasant or repulsive. Maybe if color - but no. i have no colors in my possession, only gray. i know One who has many colors, and uses them in all His works. i suspect He wishes to have a hand in my picture, and maybe that’s where its lines, those sure lines, came from. i think i’ll invite Him over today and see what He can do with it. Maybe then, i could show my picture to people and they would like it. Every picture of His that i have ever seen is exquisitely beautiful. Never gray.

beauty

i'll see if i can articulate this properly. You can definitely help me out by commenting below if there is anything you want to say on the subject that i might have been unclear on or completely missed. :)

So, we all know that creation was made in such a way that it points to God and explains Him in part and draws us to worship Him, right? When we see thundering waterfalls or vibrant, heavenly sunsets or gentle forests, our response, we know, ought to be to become completely awestruck and in love with the Creator. But what about when we see people? I'm not just talking about people who are physically beautiful, though that's a gift as well. I'm talking about ALL people. People are not just part of creation - they are made to be God's glory. God boasted about Job to Satan. He didn't boast about the Grand Canyon or the aurora borealis. He boasted about a MAN. Creation wasn't complete until He had made man. He made man in HIS image! Do you ever wonder at that concept? Not only are we eternal, but i believe it also means that each of us have bits of His beauty in us. Attributes of our Father that we naturally display. I don't mean just believers either. I mean everyone. I know you have all seen that person who seems to radiate with physical and internal beauty. They just seem to attract people everywhere they go. You can't help but fall in love with them. i would like to suggest that, while that is a gift given to them by God, there is a bit of that in the most unlovable person, and i would challenge you to look for that beauty in people in your life that you find hard to love. Maybe it's in their fearless heart. Or their simple joy in small things. Or the way they will quietly serve you without a word of complaint or reproach. God puts things like that in everyone to remind us of Him, and to help us love each other. In Ezekiel 16, He gives this eloquent story of His love for Israel. He starts out by talking about how she was unwanted (abhorred, actually) by everyone and left on the side of the road, in blood and filth.Yet, He takes her in, makes a vow to her so that she becomes His, and He endows her with all this royal beauty. And He says, in verse 14, "your fame went forth among the nations on account of your beauty, which was made perfect because of My splendor which I bestowed upon you." He doesn't say "...on account of your beauty, which I gave to you once you became Mine". He says, "...on account of your beauty, which was made perfect..." I think that that is what God does in us when we become His. He doesn't put beauty in us. We weren't entirely ugly before we came to know Him. We did have ugliness (sin) in us, and it very much consumed us, but when we came to Him, He took it out of us and cultivated the beauty which He had already put in us, and continues to do so, so that His beauty is perfected in us. My point in saying that is not to downplay the seriousness of sin, or our own natural filth. I say this because i don't want you to come away  from this with the elitist, christianese, holier-than-thou mindset that we tend to have when finding out what God does in us, and look down on the ones who don't have their beauty "perfected". I want you to see the beauty in the lost, because THAT is what drives me to my knees praying for them and loving them. I see the beauty that the sin and destruction of the world is corroding in them and i see what incredible things God could make with that beauty and i want it to flourish in His care instead of wither and die in corruption. Do not think that i am telling you to focus on people instead of God. Because i see this beauty in people, i tend to love them too much, and not entirely in Jesus' ways. That is one of my faults, and that is my disclaimer. I have been hesitant to write about this because of my failings in this area, but after praying about it, and observing the lack of love i see because people don't see that beauty at all, i feel i should write about it anyway. I am learning to worship God as a result of observing people, and i am learning to love people better as a result of seeing Jesus' beauty in them, and that is my hope for you.