There have been some things I've been thinking about...
When I teach, I want to do so in a way that it sticks to my students whether they want it to or not. I don't know how I'm going to do that, but I'll figure it out soon. October 11, 2007
Today, it is so common to see a young girl influenced by everything around her. Actually, it seems like the only thing we see. That is one of the reasons I desire to be a middle school teacher and why I long to write books. There are so many girls out there, and boys as well, that base their opinion of themselves on what other people tell them. Whether it is their friends, the media, their parents, their religion, or something else, so much of what they hear are lies. I want to be a strong voice in the midst of the deception and tell them that they are in fact intelligent, beautiful people that can accomplish anything and everything with Jesus Christ on their side. October 11, 2007.
It's okay for me to write, and it's okay for me to lay myself out on paper. Even then, it's okay for people to go against me. Because if people are going against me, then I know that I am not going along with the normal flow, but rather, I am doing what pleases God: righteously defying the ungodly patterns of this world. November 10, 2007
Also, here are some awesome things that God says and some other quotes:
"Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we my spur one another on toward love and good deeds," Hebrews 10:23-24.
"For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you , remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe...," Ephesians 1:15-19.
"Now, if they who teach are not essentially affected with pure love, the love of God, how can they teach as they ought?" William Apess, 1833
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
WOAHHH MAN
GUYS-
(Everybody)
I have SOOOO much to write about. I mean really... SO much.
We are JUST like leaves, Joy will turn our world upside down, dreams (the sleeping kind), and loovveeeeee: those are just a FEW of the things I will be writing about EACH DAY!!
Aren't you EXCITED??
I know I am.
: )
Thanks for readdding. This has been the Pony Express.
...no it hasn't. Because there's no such thing.
(at least not attached to me)
Tally ho, my darlings. Tally ho.
(Everybody)
I have SOOOO much to write about. I mean really... SO much.
We are JUST like leaves, Joy will turn our world upside down, dreams (the sleeping kind), and loovveeeeee: those are just a FEW of the things I will be writing about EACH DAY!!
Aren't you EXCITED??
I know I am.
: )
Thanks for readdding. This has been the Pony Express.
...no it hasn't. Because there's no such thing.
(at least not attached to me)
Tally ho, my darlings. Tally ho.
I Need Your Help!!
Hey, guys. For a long time, I have been trying to write this book. It's directed towards middle school aged girls, and I'm really excited to get it finished. Can you guys read this from a little girl's perspective and give me some feed back?
Oh, and watch out, because if you're not careful, you just might end up in my novel. ; )
And not to mention, you better not steal my ideas, you silly goose. : )
***
She sat on honey colored pews without hearing a word that was spoken, yet the message screamed everything she never heard. Like a caffeinated child in a padded candy store during the first five minutes of an unlimited recess, the words conquered every thought, dream, and sorrow. Echoing through every bit of tissue in her mind was the strength to stand. “If nothing else,” she whispered to the invisible smiling angel that sat Indian-style next to her, “I can do that.”
This woman was everything that Hope wishes she could be. That strange boldness woven into every thread of muscle, that painful gentleness poured into every broken Jell-O mold heart. Like those size five jeans that the older girls wore, this woman occupied her every desire of what she was going to grow into one day.
One day. She hated that phrase. Why couldn’t one day be this day? Maybe she didn’t go through exactly what this woman had, but she knew that God, too, had a plan for her life. She would see some little girl crying in the park because her mom was drunk again and couldn’t kiss her good night for the fourth time this week. And in that same day, some little boy would be cowered behind the discount rack at Koolot’s, sneaking a bag of frozen peas in his coat sleeves and a can of tuna in each sock because Dad lost his job for the second time this month. And when she saw that, Hope thought to herself, she would be able to be like the lady her mind was listening to. Then and only then.
Hope clenched every muscle in her body. Her lips looked like the mouth of a brand new balloon, her eyes, a rotted pumpkin on November’s hottest Saturday. Her shoulders were like frozen apples and her forearms, leathered clay. Her abdomen, like an over-dried two-by-four, sat ready to snap, and two elephants stood on her either side, pushing her knees together with their whiskered trunks. Her feet held firm to the ground as if they had been embroidered there ten times in a row. At any moment, she imagined, her body would explode into a shattered pile of unwanted dust for the janitor to clean up. Just like she wanted. Then, in seventy years, she wouldn’t have to own up to what she failed to complete. Once again, she wouldn’t own up to her dreams. “If nothing else,” she whispered to the invisible angel that sat with its face cowered into a crooked wing angled away from her, “I can do that.”
***
“What’s that like? I mean, having a best friend?” She asked the girl in the never-been-washed mirror. “Well,” she heard herself say, “I’ve heard it’s something like the most bestest, wonderfullest, supertaculous day in your life. Whatever that is, that is what having a best friend is like.” This is stupid. How dull can a girl get if her only conversation is with herself in a dirty mirror? Attempts at becoming beautiful were wiped all over her mirrored image. Streaks of red lip gloss marked her skin. Black, blue, brown, purple and every other color eyeliner scribbled frustration over the mess of her image. But when she moved her face, to the left and to the right, the markings stayed put, but her face moved. And the farther she moved to the left or to the right, her face became clean. Washed. Like she had never made an attempt at looking like the other girls at school.
“My favorite day would find me dressed in a glowy-white dress. You could see the shadow of my maturing legs when I blocked the sun low on God’s horizon, but nothing else would be shown. Like a radiating shadowed mystery I would be. My hands would hold another’s and we’d spin with our unpainted, chewed on fingernails locked together until we were so dizzy that our the unbreakable bond our hands formed broke. Our bodies would collapse onto the ground. Lying on our backs, we would make imprints of angels in the long summer grass. No one would know we were there, because only we knew about our special place. All of a sudden, evidence of flowers would begin to grow all around us right before our eyes. In ten minutes, long-stemmed flowers would become like the polka-dots on a million Dalmatian puppies. The flowers would bow down towards us, creating a yellow dome. The flowered ceiling would be a hedge of protection where nothing could pass through. The dome sealed in sunshine that would never leave. Smiles so big would cover our faces and the trapped sunbeams in our mouths would pour through the cracks in our teeth and onto our skin. Right then, our freckles wouldn’t seem like such a big deal anymore, and the homework we knew we had wouldn’t matter so much. Like the dirty laundry and undone dishes in my dad’s house, we know we’d always be there. We’d always be in our yellow daisy place no matter where we go for no other reason than that we were together and always would be."
Oh, and watch out, because if you're not careful, you just might end up in my novel. ; )
And not to mention, you better not steal my ideas, you silly goose. : )
***
She sat on honey colored pews without hearing a word that was spoken, yet the message screamed everything she never heard. Like a caffeinated child in a padded candy store during the first five minutes of an unlimited recess, the words conquered every thought, dream, and sorrow. Echoing through every bit of tissue in her mind was the strength to stand. “If nothing else,” she whispered to the invisible smiling angel that sat Indian-style next to her, “I can do that.”
This woman was everything that Hope wishes she could be. That strange boldness woven into every thread of muscle, that painful gentleness poured into every broken Jell-O mold heart. Like those size five jeans that the older girls wore, this woman occupied her every desire of what she was going to grow into one day.
One day. She hated that phrase. Why couldn’t one day be this day? Maybe she didn’t go through exactly what this woman had, but she knew that God, too, had a plan for her life. She would see some little girl crying in the park because her mom was drunk again and couldn’t kiss her good night for the fourth time this week. And in that same day, some little boy would be cowered behind the discount rack at Koolot’s, sneaking a bag of frozen peas in his coat sleeves and a can of tuna in each sock because Dad lost his job for the second time this month. And when she saw that, Hope thought to herself, she would be able to be like the lady her mind was listening to. Then and only then.
Hope clenched every muscle in her body. Her lips looked like the mouth of a brand new balloon, her eyes, a rotted pumpkin on November’s hottest Saturday. Her shoulders were like frozen apples and her forearms, leathered clay. Her abdomen, like an over-dried two-by-four, sat ready to snap, and two elephants stood on her either side, pushing her knees together with their whiskered trunks. Her feet held firm to the ground as if they had been embroidered there ten times in a row. At any moment, she imagined, her body would explode into a shattered pile of unwanted dust for the janitor to clean up. Just like she wanted. Then, in seventy years, she wouldn’t have to own up to what she failed to complete. Once again, she wouldn’t own up to her dreams. “If nothing else,” she whispered to the invisible angel that sat with its face cowered into a crooked wing angled away from her, “I can do that.”
***
“What’s that like? I mean, having a best friend?” She asked the girl in the never-been-washed mirror. “Well,” she heard herself say, “I’ve heard it’s something like the most bestest, wonderfullest, supertaculous day in your life. Whatever that is, that is what having a best friend is like.” This is stupid. How dull can a girl get if her only conversation is with herself in a dirty mirror? Attempts at becoming beautiful were wiped all over her mirrored image. Streaks of red lip gloss marked her skin. Black, blue, brown, purple and every other color eyeliner scribbled frustration over the mess of her image. But when she moved her face, to the left and to the right, the markings stayed put, but her face moved. And the farther she moved to the left or to the right, her face became clean. Washed. Like she had never made an attempt at looking like the other girls at school.
“My favorite day would find me dressed in a glowy-white dress. You could see the shadow of my maturing legs when I blocked the sun low on God’s horizon, but nothing else would be shown. Like a radiating shadowed mystery I would be. My hands would hold another’s and we’d spin with our unpainted, chewed on fingernails locked together until we were so dizzy that our the unbreakable bond our hands formed broke. Our bodies would collapse onto the ground. Lying on our backs, we would make imprints of angels in the long summer grass. No one would know we were there, because only we knew about our special place. All of a sudden, evidence of flowers would begin to grow all around us right before our eyes. In ten minutes, long-stemmed flowers would become like the polka-dots on a million Dalmatian puppies. The flowers would bow down towards us, creating a yellow dome. The flowered ceiling would be a hedge of protection where nothing could pass through. The dome sealed in sunshine that would never leave. Smiles so big would cover our faces and the trapped sunbeams in our mouths would pour through the cracks in our teeth and onto our skin. Right then, our freckles wouldn’t seem like such a big deal anymore, and the homework we knew we had wouldn’t matter so much. Like the dirty laundry and undone dishes in my dad’s house, we know we’d always be there. We’d always be in our yellow daisy place no matter where we go for no other reason than that we were together and always would be."
The Wonder of the Cross
This is singlehandedly (does anybody anywhere know what that word ACTUALLY means?) THE best poem anyone has EVER written (I didn't write it, by the Way):
The Wonder of the Cross
O precious sight, my Savior stands,
Dying for me with outstretched hands.
O precious sight, I love to gaze,
Remembering salvation’s day,
Remembering salvation’s day.
Though my eyes linger on this scene,
May passing time and years not steal
The power with which it impacts me,
The freshness of its mystery,
The freshness of its mystery.
May I never lose the wonder,
The wonder of the cross.
May I see it like the first time
Standing as a sinner lost,
Undone by mercy and left speechless,
Watching wide eyed at the cost.
May I never lose the wonder,
The wonder of the cross.
Behold the God-man crucified,
The perfect sinless sacrifice.
As blood ran down those nails and wood,
History was split in two, yes,
History was split in two.
Behold the empty wooden tree,
His body gone, alive and free.
We sing with everlasting joy,
For sin and death have been destroyed, yes,
Sin and death have been destroyed.
May I never lose the wonder,
The wonder of the cross.
May I see it like the first time
Standing as a sinner lost,
Undone by mercy and left speechless,
Watching wide eyed at the cost.
May I never lose the wonder,
The wonder of the cross.
May I never lose the wonder,
The wonder of the cross.
May I see it like the first time
Standing as a sinner lost,
Undone by mercy and left speechless,
Watching wide eyed at the cost.
May I never lose the wonder,
The wonder of the cross.
Jesus, don't let us become so human that we lose even the wonder of Your cross.
The Wonder of the Cross
O precious sight, my Savior stands,
Dying for me with outstretched hands.
O precious sight, I love to gaze,
Remembering salvation’s day,
Remembering salvation’s day.
Though my eyes linger on this scene,
May passing time and years not steal
The power with which it impacts me,
The freshness of its mystery,
The freshness of its mystery.
May I never lose the wonder,
The wonder of the cross.
May I see it like the first time
Standing as a sinner lost,
Undone by mercy and left speechless,
Watching wide eyed at the cost.
May I never lose the wonder,
The wonder of the cross.
Behold the God-man crucified,
The perfect sinless sacrifice.
As blood ran down those nails and wood,
History was split in two, yes,
History was split in two.
Behold the empty wooden tree,
His body gone, alive and free.
We sing with everlasting joy,
For sin and death have been destroyed, yes,
Sin and death have been destroyed.
May I never lose the wonder,
The wonder of the cross.
May I see it like the first time
Standing as a sinner lost,
Undone by mercy and left speechless,
Watching wide eyed at the cost.
May I never lose the wonder,
The wonder of the cross.
May I never lose the wonder,
The wonder of the cross.
May I see it like the first time
Standing as a sinner lost,
Undone by mercy and left speechless,
Watching wide eyed at the cost.
May I never lose the wonder,
The wonder of the cross.
Jesus, don't let us become so human that we lose even the wonder of Your cross.
Hookers and Robbers
Alright, so I for sure didn't write this, but the lyrics of this song are SO good. Maybe I'll be able to write like this some day:
Crack kids, track kids, hookers and robbers
The naked and hungry, mothers and fathers
Abuses, excuses, and guns in your hands
And I even welcome the arrogant man
I welcome you all to the biggest of feasts
A night of no shame
To pause and to breathe
This is a night of love's renovation
A feast I am sure that could change a whole nation
Me, I am not such an excellent host
I am one who forgives but needs it the most
I found the liar, the killer of hearts
And I ran away with a new way to start
I journeyed a road where a bright man appeared
He looked into me, and my eyes filled with tears
My breath fast and short and my heart burning deep
He gave me new eyes and a new way to see
So come as you are, as you are, as you are
So come as you are, as you are, as you are
I still defiled his great love ways
I felt such a famine when I ran away
I missed the presence, the voice like a song
I was nasty and dirty, I knew I was wrong
But he ran to me like a dream like a father
This love is not earthly this love must be other
He carried me home and threw me a party
A party so loud like the greatest love story
Oh my dear friend applaud now please
I've invited you heart to announce you are free
He takes your chains, busting you out of prison
Just open your heart, let your heart come and listen
Come as you are, as you are, as you are
Come as you are, as you are, as you are
Who could accept all your pounding and screaming
Your raging, your freaking, cussing, and beating
All while He holds you and always forgiving
This is the story of love and of living
Wipe off your tears and laugh just a little
Come break this bread, celebrate the Forgiver
Raise up a glass, a time to remember
Come break this bread, celebrate the Forgiver.
Come as you are, as you are, as you are
Come as you are, as you are, as you are
Jesus died while we were yet sinners, therefore, He doesn't require you to change for Him to accept you. It's the afteraffect of the Holy Spirit that transforms you.
Crack kids, track kids, hookers and robbers
The naked and hungry, mothers and fathers
Abuses, excuses, and guns in your hands
And I even welcome the arrogant man
I welcome you all to the biggest of feasts
A night of no shame
To pause and to breathe
This is a night of love's renovation
A feast I am sure that could change a whole nation
Me, I am not such an excellent host
I am one who forgives but needs it the most
I found the liar, the killer of hearts
And I ran away with a new way to start
I journeyed a road where a bright man appeared
He looked into me, and my eyes filled with tears
My breath fast and short and my heart burning deep
He gave me new eyes and a new way to see
So come as you are, as you are, as you are
So come as you are, as you are, as you are
I still defiled his great love ways
I felt such a famine when I ran away
I missed the presence, the voice like a song
I was nasty and dirty, I knew I was wrong
But he ran to me like a dream like a father
This love is not earthly this love must be other
He carried me home and threw me a party
A party so loud like the greatest love story
Oh my dear friend applaud now please
I've invited you heart to announce you are free
He takes your chains, busting you out of prison
Just open your heart, let your heart come and listen
Come as you are, as you are, as you are
Come as you are, as you are, as you are
Who could accept all your pounding and screaming
Your raging, your freaking, cussing, and beating
All while He holds you and always forgiving
This is the story of love and of living
Wipe off your tears and laugh just a little
Come break this bread, celebrate the Forgiver
Raise up a glass, a time to remember
Come break this bread, celebrate the Forgiver.
Come as you are, as you are, as you are
Come as you are, as you are, as you are
Jesus died while we were yet sinners, therefore, He doesn't require you to change for Him to accept you. It's the afteraffect of the Holy Spirit that transforms you.
Being Fat is the Best Way to Hold your Pants Up: holy Obesity!!
Alright, Everybody.
So hear me out.
This note is probably going to be all over the place, but just allow yourself to really hear me.
I believe and know so deeply and assuredly in my heart that the Holy Spirit is the same exact Holy Spirit that was present in the early church. So why aren’t we seeing huge Holy Spirit revivals like God tells us about in Acts 2:41? I have some ideas.
Our flesh is like any other living flesh. Think of a real leather belt. When you first buy it, it is movable and soft. As you use it and use it day after day, it begins to get harder and harder in texture. You think, “My pants definetly won’t stay up unless I use that belt.” Day after day of relying on that belt to keep your pants up, the leather is really starting to show its weathering with toughness and cracks and just exhaustion. The belt is no longer movable and pretty. It’s worn out and really to fall apart. Maybe it’s already falling apart.
Okay, so you’re probably thinking I have diverted big time but listen to this. Your life is like those pants abd your flesh is like that belt. You feel like your life is going to fall apart because you’re not making a personal effort to “hold it together” with that belt of yourself. You think that if you’re not in control, then your life will just fall apart. But do we really realize that each time we use our flesh (that belt of protection), it gets harder and harder? Just like that belt, our life and everything about us begins to show signs of weathering and use. But the worst part is that our flesh is hard. And if you believe God didn’t lie when He said “your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?” (1 Corinthians 6:19), then our overused and hardened flesh is restricting the power and the mobility of the Holy Spirit. Now this is not to say God could never use weathered flesh to accomplish His will, but why would He want to when there are a few who are soft and who have surrendered their “temple” to the “Holy spirit” “who is in” them (1 Corinthians 6:19)?
The richest, most sweetest part of this story is the redeeming power of our beautiful Savior, Jesus Christ. When we completely surrender our flesh and our will to the Man who made them, our “top coat” gets softer and softer, more and more moldable because of what God is doing inside us. Each time we want to rely on our own power to pull that all nighter or start a new ministry or pursue that girl or this guy, our flesh gets tougher in a really ugly way. But on the flipside, when we surrender our flesh to God and allow the Holy Spirit to be our Guidence and our Helper and our will, we’d be surprised how God would use that same all nighter as a praise for the King on high or that same new ministry in a way we never thought imaginable or God would bless that possible relationship. And it’s because God had grace enough to allow us to relinquish that binding control of our own will to the power of that same Holy Spirit that raised our Glorious Savior from the dead and added “three thousand souls” to the Kingdom of Heaven in a single day (Acts 2:41). It is because of our reliance on our flesh for the accomplishment of both the tiny and huge thing that restricts the power of the Holy Spirit in our life and the lives around us.
So answer your call to live a life fully surrendered to the power of the Holy Spirit. Who needs a belt when God can keep your pants up? Get fat in Jesus and you wont even need a that to keep your pants from falling down.
So hear me out.
This note is probably going to be all over the place, but just allow yourself to really hear me.
I believe and know so deeply and assuredly in my heart that the Holy Spirit is the same exact Holy Spirit that was present in the early church. So why aren’t we seeing huge Holy Spirit revivals like God tells us about in Acts 2:41? I have some ideas.
Our flesh is like any other living flesh. Think of a real leather belt. When you first buy it, it is movable and soft. As you use it and use it day after day, it begins to get harder and harder in texture. You think, “My pants definetly won’t stay up unless I use that belt.” Day after day of relying on that belt to keep your pants up, the leather is really starting to show its weathering with toughness and cracks and just exhaustion. The belt is no longer movable and pretty. It’s worn out and really to fall apart. Maybe it’s already falling apart.
Okay, so you’re probably thinking I have diverted big time but listen to this. Your life is like those pants abd your flesh is like that belt. You feel like your life is going to fall apart because you’re not making a personal effort to “hold it together” with that belt of yourself. You think that if you’re not in control, then your life will just fall apart. But do we really realize that each time we use our flesh (that belt of protection), it gets harder and harder? Just like that belt, our life and everything about us begins to show signs of weathering and use. But the worst part is that our flesh is hard. And if you believe God didn’t lie when He said “your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?” (1 Corinthians 6:19), then our overused and hardened flesh is restricting the power and the mobility of the Holy Spirit. Now this is not to say God could never use weathered flesh to accomplish His will, but why would He want to when there are a few who are soft and who have surrendered their “temple” to the “Holy spirit” “who is in” them (1 Corinthians 6:19)?
The richest, most sweetest part of this story is the redeeming power of our beautiful Savior, Jesus Christ. When we completely surrender our flesh and our will to the Man who made them, our “top coat” gets softer and softer, more and more moldable because of what God is doing inside us. Each time we want to rely on our own power to pull that all nighter or start a new ministry or pursue that girl or this guy, our flesh gets tougher in a really ugly way. But on the flipside, when we surrender our flesh to God and allow the Holy Spirit to be our Guidence and our Helper and our will, we’d be surprised how God would use that same all nighter as a praise for the King on high or that same new ministry in a way we never thought imaginable or God would bless that possible relationship. And it’s because God had grace enough to allow us to relinquish that binding control of our own will to the power of that same Holy Spirit that raised our Glorious Savior from the dead and added “three thousand souls” to the Kingdom of Heaven in a single day (Acts 2:41). It is because of our reliance on our flesh for the accomplishment of both the tiny and huge thing that restricts the power of the Holy Spirit in our life and the lives around us.
So answer your call to live a life fully surrendered to the power of the Holy Spirit. Who needs a belt when God can keep your pants up? Get fat in Jesus and you wont even need a that to keep your pants from falling down.
The Road FAR Less Traveled: care to Marry?
Heya, Everybody.
Thissen (this one), like my other note, will probably be all over the place, too. But, these jumbled thoughts are just an effort to make sense of why the Savior of the entire world decided to let little ole me live again today. After all, He has our days numbered, so why was today included? I think that’s something we all need to question daily as we die to our self, pick up our cross, and choose to follow (or flee) Christ for another day.
This note, I have a feeling, will cause some what of an uproar. A thought worth thinking is a thought that causes halt marks in your brain. If something causes nothing inside of you to move, then it’s not worth thinking. So hear me with open ears and ask yourself why God had you read it. Is that fair? I think so. : )
Alright.
Tell me what the point in dating is. Honestly. I’m just wondering. What does it please? Who does it please?
I have never dated anyone. I have had a boyfriend, but I never considered it dating because we were boyfriend and girlfriend, not causally going on dates here and there or going on dates other than with each other. So we were “together.” Not “dating” or “going out.”
But lets take it even further. What is the point of being “together” with someone? To have a boyfriend or girlfriend? To me, it was a friendship with romance. Am I wrong? You spend time with this person, woo him or her in an effort to capture a living, beating heart, right?
I do not for one second regret the time God allowed blessings to be showered in the relationship my boyfriend had and continue to have as close friends, but for my future, I question the necessity of dating, going out, or considering yourself “together” with someone.
This past week, I have been reading a book called “Set-Apart Feminity” by Leslie Ludy. (Guys, this is a girl book, but you can read the brother book to thissen written by Leslie’s husband, Eric. It is called “God’s Gift to Women: discovering the Lost Greatness of Masculinity.”) In it is a story about a women who devoted all her single years to the romance she shared with her Prince, Jesus Christ. “As an overflow of her devotion to her Prince, she made a decision to live faithfully for her future husband; not to give her heart, emotions, or body away in temporary relationships, but to wait for the man God would one day bring into her life” (Ludy 61-2). This woman spent all her single years serving other people, going to the mission field, teaching children, completely devoted and abandoned to her First and Greatest Lover of her soul, Jesus Christ. The story goes on to tell readers about how this woman was teaching a Bible study and in comes Scott, a man who “had never given his heart to a woman” and had “been holding out for a Christ-like princess and waiting faithfully for her all his life” (Ludy 63). After two years of developing nothing more than a FRIENDSHIP, Scott asked Krissy to marry him. With much prayer, she said she would.
If you sat in a room with every friend you’ve ever known of the opposite sex, you could quite easily separate them into two groups. Be honest, now. There would be a group of friends that you know you could never marry but then there’d probably be that one, or those very few that you could. If it is a real friendship, you probably know as much or even more about this person as you would if the two of you had dated.
I mean, think about it. How often do friends of the opposite sex become sexually impure with each other? The friendship, or foundation in marriage, would be based purely (literally) on connection, shared passions, shared burdens, and the pure (literally) intimacy that friends share.
There isn’t a single need for romance or physical touch in the process of “getting a spouse.” What purpose does it serve? To please our flesh? Yes. To tickle our emotions? Yes. To provide an outlet to sin? Yes. To have fun? Yes. But is any of that necessary outside a marriage? Why toy with something beautiful when you can toy with your spouse and make it that much more beautiful? Why share something with someone when you’re going to share the same thing with your spouse later? The thought makes me cringe… to go on a date with a man I’m not going to marry? For what purpose? To spend his money? Some girls say so. To get a free meal? Some girls say so. To give your heart away? It’s inevitable. When physical intimacy and romance is removed from the picture, there is no goal that can’t be accomplished in a dating-like or boyfriend-girlfriend type relationship that cannot be accomplished in a friendship. All the same knowledge and bonding. All the same laughs and fun. The only thing that is added to a dating relationship is unfaithfulness to Christ (After all, aren’t we Christians the bride of Christ, our Bridegroom? When we love another man or woman greater than Christ, we commit adultery against our Savior.) In the same way, when we hold the hand or kiss the mouth of another, we literally commit adultery against our future spouse, even if we don’t know them at the time.
This is what I consider beautiful: Friend (boy) meets friend (girl). Friend (boy) loves the soul of friend (girl) because Jesus is her life and she’s not living to win the heart of a friend (boy). Friend (girl) appreciates that friend (boy) isn’t chasing after girls to win their favor but that he is seeking to win the heart of his Savior, Jesus Christ. Friend (boy) and friend (girl) do not slip into sexual temptation because they are just friends. Friend (boy) and friend (girl) get to know each other without taking their hearts from their First Love (Jesus Christ) and giving it to the other. In a long time of pursuing their mutual First Love (Jesus Christ) together in a friendship atmosphere, friend (boy) is intrigued and captivated by the soul of friend (girl) and friend (girl) hopes that friend (boy) is praying like she’s praying about their friendship. Both friend (boy) and friend (girl) pray and seek God’s direction. If friend (boy) is in love with the heart and soul of friend (girl), not anything about her physical self, then friend (boy) asks the Owner (God) of friend (girl) if he can have her. If Owner (God) says, “Yes,” then friend (boy) better obey and ask friend (girl) to marry him. If friend (boy) spent his entire single life devoted to his First Love (Jesus Christ) and if friend (girl) spent her entire single life devoted to his First Love (Jesus Christ) and decide to spend their entire married life (if that happens) devoted to Christ, then there is no reason why that marriage wouldn’t be anything but God-scripted amazingness. If you’re friends with a person long enough, you know if the two of you are compatible.
I don’t really know why I wanted to tell you guys this, actually…
Why would you want to “have fun” with and romance another person who is not likely to be your future mate? Why give little pieces of your heart here and there when your future spouse deserves it all? The heart cannot be redeemed. When it is given away, it is there to stay.
I know this sounds really, really radical, but has society twisted true love so much as to say it needs physical touch and romance to be beautiful?
This method of true love many would scoff at. And I’m sure many of those reading this are doing exactly that. But it’s those people who will attract people just like them. Now, that is not to say their love won’t be beautiful or it will be wrong. I am just trying to look at the other side of things, widen the perspective, and search out the Truth.
Now I know this thought is rising in your head: “Hey!! I’m in a relationship! Who are you to say it is the wrong way to do things?!” Now, now. It’s alright. : ) I don’t think you’re sinning because you have the label of boyfriend or girlfriend (unless the two of you are, of course, in a sinful relationship…). And I’m not saying I will never be labeled “girlfriend” again. Like I said earlier, this is just my humble attempt to search out the Truth and to see how God would be pleased with me.
The greatest, most beautiful love any person could give another is pure love, complete devotion, and second place to Jesus Christ. THAT is love.
Purity and devotion to Christ never hurt anyone. It is the opposite that causes pain and brokenness (the bad kind... and there's a good kind, too. But that's for another note).
I don’t know about you, but I want that kind of love. But I’m not going to look for it. Today, I’m called to be single and fall deeper in love with Jesus Christ my Savior. For now, I'll find myself completely content with the Lover of my soul. Now if in the process (and a WAY long time from now), this friend (girl)'s hand is asked for in marriage by her friend(boy) who has centered his entire life around our mutual Love (Jesus Christ), our callings are meshable, and we promise God and each other to love our mutual Love (Jesus Christ) together, then praise God, this friend (girl) will be a fiancée and that friend (boy) will be a fiancé. ...you know the rest of the story. ; *
Who wants to walk the road less traveled with me? Who knows… you might find the second greatest love of your life walking and lovin' Jesus among the few who choose as you do.
“Dare I say it, I am now so completely captivated by the Love of this Heavenly man, I want no earthly man until it will only serve to bring my First Love greater glory on this earth! And I know now that my heavenly love story with Jesus Christ will be the greatest gift I can one day give my future husband as we will both simply keep living full for our King…together” (Annie Wesche).
Hmm... that was long. Sorry, Everybody. Maybe my heart will whisper next time (doubt it). : )
~Stephanie/Stevie/Steph
Thissen (this one), like my other note, will probably be all over the place, too. But, these jumbled thoughts are just an effort to make sense of why the Savior of the entire world decided to let little ole me live again today. After all, He has our days numbered, so why was today included? I think that’s something we all need to question daily as we die to our self, pick up our cross, and choose to follow (or flee) Christ for another day.
This note, I have a feeling, will cause some what of an uproar. A thought worth thinking is a thought that causes halt marks in your brain. If something causes nothing inside of you to move, then it’s not worth thinking. So hear me with open ears and ask yourself why God had you read it. Is that fair? I think so. : )
Alright.
Tell me what the point in dating is. Honestly. I’m just wondering. What does it please? Who does it please?
I have never dated anyone. I have had a boyfriend, but I never considered it dating because we were boyfriend and girlfriend, not causally going on dates here and there or going on dates other than with each other. So we were “together.” Not “dating” or “going out.”
But lets take it even further. What is the point of being “together” with someone? To have a boyfriend or girlfriend? To me, it was a friendship with romance. Am I wrong? You spend time with this person, woo him or her in an effort to capture a living, beating heart, right?
I do not for one second regret the time God allowed blessings to be showered in the relationship my boyfriend had and continue to have as close friends, but for my future, I question the necessity of dating, going out, or considering yourself “together” with someone.
This past week, I have been reading a book called “Set-Apart Feminity” by Leslie Ludy. (Guys, this is a girl book, but you can read the brother book to thissen written by Leslie’s husband, Eric. It is called “God’s Gift to Women: discovering the Lost Greatness of Masculinity.”) In it is a story about a women who devoted all her single years to the romance she shared with her Prince, Jesus Christ. “As an overflow of her devotion to her Prince, she made a decision to live faithfully for her future husband; not to give her heart, emotions, or body away in temporary relationships, but to wait for the man God would one day bring into her life” (Ludy 61-2). This woman spent all her single years serving other people, going to the mission field, teaching children, completely devoted and abandoned to her First and Greatest Lover of her soul, Jesus Christ. The story goes on to tell readers about how this woman was teaching a Bible study and in comes Scott, a man who “had never given his heart to a woman” and had “been holding out for a Christ-like princess and waiting faithfully for her all his life” (Ludy 63). After two years of developing nothing more than a FRIENDSHIP, Scott asked Krissy to marry him. With much prayer, she said she would.
If you sat in a room with every friend you’ve ever known of the opposite sex, you could quite easily separate them into two groups. Be honest, now. There would be a group of friends that you know you could never marry but then there’d probably be that one, or those very few that you could. If it is a real friendship, you probably know as much or even more about this person as you would if the two of you had dated.
I mean, think about it. How often do friends of the opposite sex become sexually impure with each other? The friendship, or foundation in marriage, would be based purely (literally) on connection, shared passions, shared burdens, and the pure (literally) intimacy that friends share.
There isn’t a single need for romance or physical touch in the process of “getting a spouse.” What purpose does it serve? To please our flesh? Yes. To tickle our emotions? Yes. To provide an outlet to sin? Yes. To have fun? Yes. But is any of that necessary outside a marriage? Why toy with something beautiful when you can toy with your spouse and make it that much more beautiful? Why share something with someone when you’re going to share the same thing with your spouse later? The thought makes me cringe… to go on a date with a man I’m not going to marry? For what purpose? To spend his money? Some girls say so. To get a free meal? Some girls say so. To give your heart away? It’s inevitable. When physical intimacy and romance is removed from the picture, there is no goal that can’t be accomplished in a dating-like or boyfriend-girlfriend type relationship that cannot be accomplished in a friendship. All the same knowledge and bonding. All the same laughs and fun. The only thing that is added to a dating relationship is unfaithfulness to Christ (After all, aren’t we Christians the bride of Christ, our Bridegroom? When we love another man or woman greater than Christ, we commit adultery against our Savior.) In the same way, when we hold the hand or kiss the mouth of another, we literally commit adultery against our future spouse, even if we don’t know them at the time.
This is what I consider beautiful: Friend (boy) meets friend (girl). Friend (boy) loves the soul of friend (girl) because Jesus is her life and she’s not living to win the heart of a friend (boy). Friend (girl) appreciates that friend (boy) isn’t chasing after girls to win their favor but that he is seeking to win the heart of his Savior, Jesus Christ. Friend (boy) and friend (girl) do not slip into sexual temptation because they are just friends. Friend (boy) and friend (girl) get to know each other without taking their hearts from their First Love (Jesus Christ) and giving it to the other. In a long time of pursuing their mutual First Love (Jesus Christ) together in a friendship atmosphere, friend (boy) is intrigued and captivated by the soul of friend (girl) and friend (girl) hopes that friend (boy) is praying like she’s praying about their friendship. Both friend (boy) and friend (girl) pray and seek God’s direction. If friend (boy) is in love with the heart and soul of friend (girl), not anything about her physical self, then friend (boy) asks the Owner (God) of friend (girl) if he can have her. If Owner (God) says, “Yes,” then friend (boy) better obey and ask friend (girl) to marry him. If friend (boy) spent his entire single life devoted to his First Love (Jesus Christ) and if friend (girl) spent her entire single life devoted to his First Love (Jesus Christ) and decide to spend their entire married life (if that happens) devoted to Christ, then there is no reason why that marriage wouldn’t be anything but God-scripted amazingness. If you’re friends with a person long enough, you know if the two of you are compatible.
I don’t really know why I wanted to tell you guys this, actually…
Why would you want to “have fun” with and romance another person who is not likely to be your future mate? Why give little pieces of your heart here and there when your future spouse deserves it all? The heart cannot be redeemed. When it is given away, it is there to stay.
I know this sounds really, really radical, but has society twisted true love so much as to say it needs physical touch and romance to be beautiful?
This method of true love many would scoff at. And I’m sure many of those reading this are doing exactly that. But it’s those people who will attract people just like them. Now, that is not to say their love won’t be beautiful or it will be wrong. I am just trying to look at the other side of things, widen the perspective, and search out the Truth.
Now I know this thought is rising in your head: “Hey!! I’m in a relationship! Who are you to say it is the wrong way to do things?!” Now, now. It’s alright. : ) I don’t think you’re sinning because you have the label of boyfriend or girlfriend (unless the two of you are, of course, in a sinful relationship…). And I’m not saying I will never be labeled “girlfriend” again. Like I said earlier, this is just my humble attempt to search out the Truth and to see how God would be pleased with me.
The greatest, most beautiful love any person could give another is pure love, complete devotion, and second place to Jesus Christ. THAT is love.
Purity and devotion to Christ never hurt anyone. It is the opposite that causes pain and brokenness (the bad kind... and there's a good kind, too. But that's for another note).
I don’t know about you, but I want that kind of love. But I’m not going to look for it. Today, I’m called to be single and fall deeper in love with Jesus Christ my Savior. For now, I'll find myself completely content with the Lover of my soul. Now if in the process (and a WAY long time from now), this friend (girl)'s hand is asked for in marriage by her friend(boy) who has centered his entire life around our mutual Love (Jesus Christ), our callings are meshable, and we promise God and each other to love our mutual Love (Jesus Christ) together, then praise God, this friend (girl) will be a fiancée and that friend (boy) will be a fiancé. ...you know the rest of the story. ; *
Who wants to walk the road less traveled with me? Who knows… you might find the second greatest love of your life walking and lovin' Jesus among the few who choose as you do.
“Dare I say it, I am now so completely captivated by the Love of this Heavenly man, I want no earthly man until it will only serve to bring my First Love greater glory on this earth! And I know now that my heavenly love story with Jesus Christ will be the greatest gift I can one day give my future husband as we will both simply keep living full for our King…together” (Annie Wesche).
Hmm... that was long. Sorry, Everybody. Maybe my heart will whisper next time (doubt it). : )
~Stephanie/Stevie/Steph
The Gotta Do List
Hey, Everybody!!! : ) Below is a small list of things that I really hope to do before I head home to be with my glorious King. Post some stuff you really want to do, too. And if there is anything you would like to do with me, then say that, too. Maybe we can do it together!! That would be wonderful!! (I stole this idea from Duncan, by the way...)
Captivate the heart of my Prince, Jesus Christ
Serve as a missionary in my back yard
Serve as an over-seas missionary
Bike across Michigan
Sell everything I own
Be homeless
Hug a lepor
Adopt my very own Golden Retriever and name it Radar or Duncan (lol, sorry...)
Own a very modest, yellow house
Plant a garden
Parisail
Get chased by a wild animal
Have to get a rabies shot
Get tackled in a run hug
Play mud football wearing all white
Eat a wild berry
Get published
Sing in chapel
Shave somebody's head
Die as a martyr
Teach ESL
Deliver someone's baby
Be a foster mom
Have a guy who has captivated the heart of his Prince, Jesus Christ, ask for my hand
Captivate the heart of my Prince, Jesus Christ
Serve as a missionary in my back yard
Serve as an over-seas missionary
Bike across Michigan
Sell everything I own
Be homeless
Hug a lepor
Adopt my very own Golden Retriever and name it Radar or Duncan (lol, sorry...)
Own a very modest, yellow house
Plant a garden
Parisail
Get chased by a wild animal
Have to get a rabies shot
Get tackled in a run hug
Play mud football wearing all white
Eat a wild berry
Get published
Sing in chapel
Shave somebody's head
Die as a martyr
Teach ESL
Deliver someone's baby
Be a foster mom
Have a guy who has captivated the heart of his Prince, Jesus Christ, ask for my hand
Oh, Alright. Go Ahead and Flood the Bathroom...
Alright. So hear me out. This is HUGE news and it will change the entire world if only a FEW people in every generation grasp hold of its truth and let it apply.
We are trash. We are junk. Because of our flesh. We can offer God nothing, and we can offer people nothing.
Then in walks Jesus.
Like in Ezekiel 16, He saw us squirming in our own blood as helpless, dirty creatures. We deserve nothing of Him, but He chooses to claim us as His own despite our filth.
When Christians realize that simple fact that we deserve nothing of God but that He chooses to love us anyway, we can allow movement, a world changing lifestyle:
complete devotion in the richest of unions: a Divine union.
When we are one with Christ, so tight, so close, so unbreakable, our flesh will be removed. We will be walking as a skinless, exposed people. Naked before Christ. So He clothes us.
It should never be our goal to love anyone.
(Stay with me here…)
It should never be our goal to show love in any way to anyone.
(Hear me out…)
It should never be our goal to even BE love to anyone.
(Here comes the explaination...)
Picture a tile floor. This one has a drain. Water is turned on and starts to amount on the floor. It is visible to us, but because of the drain on the floor, it starts to disappear and what accumulation there was seeps into the holes in the floor. The water can’t completely fill. But if there was not a drain, the water would continue to fill and fill up the room and eventually would over-flow.
When we ask God to empty us from ourselves and focus on being filled by Him (He is the Living Water), the overflow of God will saturate everyone we come into contact with with sopping wet God love. Not because of how we loved, but because of how He first loved us. The love would never had been there hif He hadn't loved us first, because we have nothing to offer but what He gives us.
If we don’t have that Divine union with Christ, we will be like that floor with a drain. The love will slip through and disappear into fear, distrust, etc.
When we allow our flesh to love others, we create a small crack in that Divine union and God’s love slips through even more.
When we have that Divine union with the God of everything, He will be a natural overflow through every single thing we do. Walking hand in hand, heart in heart with our Savior, being filled, over-filled, by Him... how beautiful is that? Because God IS love, the natural overflow of HIM in us will be love. There is no way out of it. It is nothing we do. It is because we are so much in a union with God that our actions will be filled with Him.
If it is only for the sake of the people around you, don’t love with your flesh. Fall in love with Christ, allow Him to fuse that Divine union with you, and let Him love you so that the world can get it, too. We may be the only love people get… do you want that love to be a meager expression of flesh or an overflow of the God of more galaxies than all people that were ever in existence?
Clog your drain up, alright?
And to seal the deal, go flood your bathroom!!
Haha.
Isn’t our God great?
“Come riding on a rushing wind
Blow through our hair and touch our skin
I want to feel You now like I felt You then
Strip away my calloused heart
Set Your arrow hit Your mark
Bring me back to where Love starts
Bring me back to where You are
Father, I’m running. Father, I’m coming home
I cannot go on
Your child is running. Father, I’m coming home
Back where I belong
I know You’ve heard this all before
When I’m down and crying on the floor
Saying I want You and nothing more
But I’m breaking in my heart tonight
I’ve tried to stand. I’ve tried to fight
But I cannot see without Your light
No, I cannot breathe without You
When I saw you I was ashamed
You were pure and I was stained
But You ran to me and You called my name
There were tears of joy upon Your face.”
Phil Wickham's "Home"
We are trash. We are junk. Because of our flesh. We can offer God nothing, and we can offer people nothing.
Then in walks Jesus.
Like in Ezekiel 16, He saw us squirming in our own blood as helpless, dirty creatures. We deserve nothing of Him, but He chooses to claim us as His own despite our filth.
When Christians realize that simple fact that we deserve nothing of God but that He chooses to love us anyway, we can allow movement, a world changing lifestyle:
complete devotion in the richest of unions: a Divine union.
When we are one with Christ, so tight, so close, so unbreakable, our flesh will be removed. We will be walking as a skinless, exposed people. Naked before Christ. So He clothes us.
It should never be our goal to love anyone.
(Stay with me here…)
It should never be our goal to show love in any way to anyone.
(Hear me out…)
It should never be our goal to even BE love to anyone.
(Here comes the explaination...)
Picture a tile floor. This one has a drain. Water is turned on and starts to amount on the floor. It is visible to us, but because of the drain on the floor, it starts to disappear and what accumulation there was seeps into the holes in the floor. The water can’t completely fill. But if there was not a drain, the water would continue to fill and fill up the room and eventually would over-flow.
When we ask God to empty us from ourselves and focus on being filled by Him (He is the Living Water), the overflow of God will saturate everyone we come into contact with with sopping wet God love. Not because of how we loved, but because of how He first loved us. The love would never had been there hif He hadn't loved us first, because we have nothing to offer but what He gives us.
If we don’t have that Divine union with Christ, we will be like that floor with a drain. The love will slip through and disappear into fear, distrust, etc.
When we allow our flesh to love others, we create a small crack in that Divine union and God’s love slips through even more.
When we have that Divine union with the God of everything, He will be a natural overflow through every single thing we do. Walking hand in hand, heart in heart with our Savior, being filled, over-filled, by Him... how beautiful is that? Because God IS love, the natural overflow of HIM in us will be love. There is no way out of it. It is nothing we do. It is because we are so much in a union with God that our actions will be filled with Him.
If it is only for the sake of the people around you, don’t love with your flesh. Fall in love with Christ, allow Him to fuse that Divine union with you, and let Him love you so that the world can get it, too. We may be the only love people get… do you want that love to be a meager expression of flesh or an overflow of the God of more galaxies than all people that were ever in existence?
Clog your drain up, alright?
And to seal the deal, go flood your bathroom!!
Haha.
Isn’t our God great?
“Come riding on a rushing wind
Blow through our hair and touch our skin
I want to feel You now like I felt You then
Strip away my calloused heart
Set Your arrow hit Your mark
Bring me back to where Love starts
Bring me back to where You are
Father, I’m running. Father, I’m coming home
I cannot go on
Your child is running. Father, I’m coming home
Back where I belong
I know You’ve heard this all before
When I’m down and crying on the floor
Saying I want You and nothing more
But I’m breaking in my heart tonight
I’ve tried to stand. I’ve tried to fight
But I cannot see without Your light
No, I cannot breathe without You
When I saw you I was ashamed
You were pure and I was stained
But You ran to me and You called my name
There were tears of joy upon Your face.”
Phil Wickham's "Home"
Three
Today, I went to some friends’ sermon criticism thing where ministry students preach and get criticized on it. It seemed as if each of the three messages were written just for me.
I don’t know if I could ever serve God justice to what He spoke to my heart in my explanations, but I’ll try.
Number one: sermon about a monkey and a jar
There is a story about a monkey and a jar. In the jar, there is a little nut. The monkey wants the nut, but he can’t fit his hand in the jar. So he squeezes his thumb in and grabs hold of the nut. When he tries to remove his hand from the jar, it is stuck because his thumb is in the way again. He can’t squeeze his thumb over like before because he’s holding onto the nut.
In our lives, there is always that nut. We want it, so we make it possible by squeezing our way into grabbing it. We take hold and get stuck when we have acquired this thing we want. Maybe we only have this idea of what we want, but we hold onto that anyway, making it impossible to remove our hand from our life (the jar).
God could smash the jar to get our hand out, couldn’t He? Of course He could. But He doesn’t want to take control over our lives when it’s not the right time and He doesn’t want the glass to cut us and make us even more vulnerable to the disease of sin.
When we let go of what we want and allow our hand to be removed from our life, our hand is free, completely free to hold the hand of our Savior and let Him tug us along.
With our free hand, we will hold God’s Word, serve God and others, and grab the hand of the lost to bring them back home. (He used the analogy of the Resucers when there was a witch boat full of little orphans and how we needed to board that boat, grab the hand of an orphan, get off the boat, and take him home to Jesus so He can hold his hand, too.)
I had it all wrong. We shouldn’t cut our hands off from touching or grasping what we want in our lives, but rather, we just need to let go of what we want, let our hand come out of the jar (our life) and hold the hand of our Savior.
It sounds so simple, and it’s a message I’ve heard time and time again and surrendered to over and over. But the whole hand-stuck-in-jar thing was completely new and gave a completely different purpose to me.
It taught me that although I want a lot of things in my relationship with Christ and with other people and with life in general, they are not important as just letting go of them all, letting my hand slip away from my life, and just holding the hand of my Savior. My other hand isn’t to be held, either. Its purpose is TO hold various things. God’s Word, the hand of a hurting person, and the hand of the lost to bring them home.
Somewhere along the way, when my hand has become so calloused by over-use, my hand will meet the free and calloused hand of God’s created for me. Anything sooner than that would be a misuse of my hand.
I even found myself getting caught up in what I wanted my relationship with Christ to look like. No longer was it just about holding His hand but more so of what I wanted it to grow to, where I wanted it to go… I wanted it so bad that my hand was stuck in the jar and not free to just hold my Savior’s hand.
Simply living in the presence of God is far more important than anything your hand might want to hold inside that jar, even if your hand is holding onto what you want with Christ.
Want gets you nowhere. It’s when you let go and hold the hand of the God of everything that gets you somewhere. It gets you into a place where you can TOUCH the presence of God (because you’re holding His hand), not just be IN the presence of God.
And to take it even further, God is much more likely to mold something He is touching (i.e. holding your hand…). If you are IN the presence of God, it can affect you, but when it is TOUCHING you, it molds you.
Wow, see why writing is such a good thing? It allows you to make connections and take things further and let your mind develop ideas…
Isn’t it strange how something good can turn into sin? For me, wanting a certain closeness with God became my idol and with a little help from my preacher friend tonight, my hand is free and rests firmly and warmly in my Savior’s hand.
Number two: sermon about big vs. little
This sermon had less of an impact on me than the first one, but it held a very important point that hit home for me.
So many times, we Christians expect to find God in the big things. Like Elijah, we think we want God to show up in a great wind, an earthquake, or fire from heaven, but He comes quietly. And without knowing it at first, it’s for our good that He comes quietly.
Isn’t it at those times when we are waiting for God to answer that we are most vulnerable? We are easily broken. So what if God really did come in a big, big way like an earthquake or heavenly fire? We would crumble to pieces. He knows that we need His quietness in that time and that that kind of quiet, still touch speaks louder than any rumble of an earthquake ever could.
Lately, I have thought it would be so much easier for God to just scream His answers at me, but that would have only created a bigger mess to clean up. It’s His soft, gentle answers that sooth and heal.
Number three: even a little junk makes the pretty ugly
There are so many things that steal our attention from Christ and make us dirty. It is impossible to balance good and bad, because the outcome is always bad. Take a smoothie for example.
You start off with good things: different kinds of fruits, per say, yogurt maybe… You blend it all up and it tastes good. This is how it was when we first got saved.
Say those fruits were fruits of the spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Some of those might be easy to swallow for us. But others are more of an acquired taste. Still, others may be even unswallowable because it’s just an unnatural taste to us. But, none the less, the fruit is good for us and sweet to the taste when others pick and eat it from your branches.
So back to the smoothie.
It is good tasting and full of all good things. But, as we live, there will be all sorts of things that we are tempted to add into our good tasting, healthy smoothie. Mountain Dew for example. It tastes good. It even looks good, but in reality, it’s just a body wrecker. But because it has “good” qualities in appearance, we add it to our smoothie, thinking, “What’s the harm? It’s just one little addition…”
Our smoothie might have a more exciting, bubbly taste with this new addition, sure. But will it be purely good for us anymore? No. We have tainted something healthy with something unhealthy. That is what sin does to our lives. It makes something good into something bad.
So as we continue living, in comes more yicky things. Add pepper, French fries, and maybe even some BBQ sauce. If the Mountain Dew wasn’t enough, these new additions make our once good smoothing into something disgusting. It doesn’t taste good to us, it is repulsive in every way, and is completely ruined. Even if we tried, we couldn’t separate the good from the bad. Everything is mixed and unable to be separated. Just one bad ingredient threw off all the good. The added bad ingredients just made it worse.
In walks Jesus.
By His grace, He is able to tell us, “I’ll throw away this mess you’ve created away, and we’ll start over again” (summary of 2 Cor. 5:17). He makes our blender empty, adds His own qualities, His own good things and makes us pleasing to Him first, nourshing to ourselves, and nourishing to others, all because of how He threw the yicky us away and gave us a new life in Him.
In the same way this good smoothie had been ruined by just one bad ingredient, I found the same to be true in my own life. And it ties back to sermon number one—I held my life in my hand and that was like adding all sorts of junk to my smoothie. I let my dreams, wants and hopes dirty my tasteful smoothie… before tonight, I was not in the right place to be pleasing to my Savior, have the right ingredients to be nourishment to my soul (Christ’s ingredients), and I wasn’t nourishing to others either. I was just a mess of blended heaven and hell that was unappetizing, repulsive, and worse yet, having a disgusting taste to my Savior.
But, praise God, as I let go of what I want, removed my hand from my jar, my Savior poured a new, good smoothie into my jar, covering up all my wants and dreams with Himself. In time, that little nut that the monkey wanted so bad might float up and resurface. : ) Time will tell.
And, for the sake of wonderful metaphors, consider this cat:
So, let’s say this cat’s name is Burlap (I don’t know…lol). Burlap does not like to be controlled. In this lack of control, he decides he wants to venture out into the vast world of his back yard. Burlap goes outside, is afraid an eagle will come and snatch him out of the grass, and eat him for lunch (dinner, maybe?). So, in fear, Burlap runs under his owner’s massive front porch and hides from what he is really afraid of. His owner, completely aware of his fear and his hiding, crouches down at the opening of the deck, telling him to come out, calling his name sweetly, trying to get his attention, hoping he’ll come out soon. Silly Burlap is still scared, aware that he would be safe in his owner’s arms but afraid of getting in trouble or getting too close to what he’s afraid of. But, in time, the owner grabs Burlap’s little paw and brings him out of hiding. Holding him in his arms, Burlap is now safe. The owner tries to make eye contact with his cat, but the cat makes every effort to not look at his owner. The owner says, “What’s your problem, cat?? I just want you to obey me! I just want you safe.”
Are we not an exact replica of Burlap the cat? I’m pretty sure we are…
Well, I hope you enjoyed these sermons as much as I did.
…and it was even better just being there letting my Savior speak to me through my friends. How beautiful is He, guys? I mean, really… how is our Savior able to use flesh to speak to hearts? He is so beautiful. So fulfilling. So…breathtaking. He’s mine. Aren’t you glad He’s yours, too?
(If He’s not yours, then oh man. It’s worth every amount of fear you may have in you to guts up and ask how Jesus can be yours… oh my goodness. So worth it.)
I don’t know if I could ever serve God justice to what He spoke to my heart in my explanations, but I’ll try.
Number one: sermon about a monkey and a jar
There is a story about a monkey and a jar. In the jar, there is a little nut. The monkey wants the nut, but he can’t fit his hand in the jar. So he squeezes his thumb in and grabs hold of the nut. When he tries to remove his hand from the jar, it is stuck because his thumb is in the way again. He can’t squeeze his thumb over like before because he’s holding onto the nut.
In our lives, there is always that nut. We want it, so we make it possible by squeezing our way into grabbing it. We take hold and get stuck when we have acquired this thing we want. Maybe we only have this idea of what we want, but we hold onto that anyway, making it impossible to remove our hand from our life (the jar).
God could smash the jar to get our hand out, couldn’t He? Of course He could. But He doesn’t want to take control over our lives when it’s not the right time and He doesn’t want the glass to cut us and make us even more vulnerable to the disease of sin.
When we let go of what we want and allow our hand to be removed from our life, our hand is free, completely free to hold the hand of our Savior and let Him tug us along.
With our free hand, we will hold God’s Word, serve God and others, and grab the hand of the lost to bring them back home. (He used the analogy of the Resucers when there was a witch boat full of little orphans and how we needed to board that boat, grab the hand of an orphan, get off the boat, and take him home to Jesus so He can hold his hand, too.)
I had it all wrong. We shouldn’t cut our hands off from touching or grasping what we want in our lives, but rather, we just need to let go of what we want, let our hand come out of the jar (our life) and hold the hand of our Savior.
It sounds so simple, and it’s a message I’ve heard time and time again and surrendered to over and over. But the whole hand-stuck-in-jar thing was completely new and gave a completely different purpose to me.
It taught me that although I want a lot of things in my relationship with Christ and with other people and with life in general, they are not important as just letting go of them all, letting my hand slip away from my life, and just holding the hand of my Savior. My other hand isn’t to be held, either. Its purpose is TO hold various things. God’s Word, the hand of a hurting person, and the hand of the lost to bring them home.
Somewhere along the way, when my hand has become so calloused by over-use, my hand will meet the free and calloused hand of God’s created for me. Anything sooner than that would be a misuse of my hand.
I even found myself getting caught up in what I wanted my relationship with Christ to look like. No longer was it just about holding His hand but more so of what I wanted it to grow to, where I wanted it to go… I wanted it so bad that my hand was stuck in the jar and not free to just hold my Savior’s hand.
Simply living in the presence of God is far more important than anything your hand might want to hold inside that jar, even if your hand is holding onto what you want with Christ.
Want gets you nowhere. It’s when you let go and hold the hand of the God of everything that gets you somewhere. It gets you into a place where you can TOUCH the presence of God (because you’re holding His hand), not just be IN the presence of God.
And to take it even further, God is much more likely to mold something He is touching (i.e. holding your hand…). If you are IN the presence of God, it can affect you, but when it is TOUCHING you, it molds you.
Wow, see why writing is such a good thing? It allows you to make connections and take things further and let your mind develop ideas…
Isn’t it strange how something good can turn into sin? For me, wanting a certain closeness with God became my idol and with a little help from my preacher friend tonight, my hand is free and rests firmly and warmly in my Savior’s hand.
Number two: sermon about big vs. little
This sermon had less of an impact on me than the first one, but it held a very important point that hit home for me.
So many times, we Christians expect to find God in the big things. Like Elijah, we think we want God to show up in a great wind, an earthquake, or fire from heaven, but He comes quietly. And without knowing it at first, it’s for our good that He comes quietly.
Isn’t it at those times when we are waiting for God to answer that we are most vulnerable? We are easily broken. So what if God really did come in a big, big way like an earthquake or heavenly fire? We would crumble to pieces. He knows that we need His quietness in that time and that that kind of quiet, still touch speaks louder than any rumble of an earthquake ever could.
Lately, I have thought it would be so much easier for God to just scream His answers at me, but that would have only created a bigger mess to clean up. It’s His soft, gentle answers that sooth and heal.
Number three: even a little junk makes the pretty ugly
There are so many things that steal our attention from Christ and make us dirty. It is impossible to balance good and bad, because the outcome is always bad. Take a smoothie for example.
You start off with good things: different kinds of fruits, per say, yogurt maybe… You blend it all up and it tastes good. This is how it was when we first got saved.
Say those fruits were fruits of the spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Some of those might be easy to swallow for us. But others are more of an acquired taste. Still, others may be even unswallowable because it’s just an unnatural taste to us. But, none the less, the fruit is good for us and sweet to the taste when others pick and eat it from your branches.
So back to the smoothie.
It is good tasting and full of all good things. But, as we live, there will be all sorts of things that we are tempted to add into our good tasting, healthy smoothie. Mountain Dew for example. It tastes good. It even looks good, but in reality, it’s just a body wrecker. But because it has “good” qualities in appearance, we add it to our smoothie, thinking, “What’s the harm? It’s just one little addition…”
Our smoothie might have a more exciting, bubbly taste with this new addition, sure. But will it be purely good for us anymore? No. We have tainted something healthy with something unhealthy. That is what sin does to our lives. It makes something good into something bad.
So as we continue living, in comes more yicky things. Add pepper, French fries, and maybe even some BBQ sauce. If the Mountain Dew wasn’t enough, these new additions make our once good smoothing into something disgusting. It doesn’t taste good to us, it is repulsive in every way, and is completely ruined. Even if we tried, we couldn’t separate the good from the bad. Everything is mixed and unable to be separated. Just one bad ingredient threw off all the good. The added bad ingredients just made it worse.
In walks Jesus.
By His grace, He is able to tell us, “I’ll throw away this mess you’ve created away, and we’ll start over again” (summary of 2 Cor. 5:17). He makes our blender empty, adds His own qualities, His own good things and makes us pleasing to Him first, nourshing to ourselves, and nourishing to others, all because of how He threw the yicky us away and gave us a new life in Him.
In the same way this good smoothie had been ruined by just one bad ingredient, I found the same to be true in my own life. And it ties back to sermon number one—I held my life in my hand and that was like adding all sorts of junk to my smoothie. I let my dreams, wants and hopes dirty my tasteful smoothie… before tonight, I was not in the right place to be pleasing to my Savior, have the right ingredients to be nourishment to my soul (Christ’s ingredients), and I wasn’t nourishing to others either. I was just a mess of blended heaven and hell that was unappetizing, repulsive, and worse yet, having a disgusting taste to my Savior.
But, praise God, as I let go of what I want, removed my hand from my jar, my Savior poured a new, good smoothie into my jar, covering up all my wants and dreams with Himself. In time, that little nut that the monkey wanted so bad might float up and resurface. : ) Time will tell.
And, for the sake of wonderful metaphors, consider this cat:
So, let’s say this cat’s name is Burlap (I don’t know…lol). Burlap does not like to be controlled. In this lack of control, he decides he wants to venture out into the vast world of his back yard. Burlap goes outside, is afraid an eagle will come and snatch him out of the grass, and eat him for lunch (dinner, maybe?). So, in fear, Burlap runs under his owner’s massive front porch and hides from what he is really afraid of. His owner, completely aware of his fear and his hiding, crouches down at the opening of the deck, telling him to come out, calling his name sweetly, trying to get his attention, hoping he’ll come out soon. Silly Burlap is still scared, aware that he would be safe in his owner’s arms but afraid of getting in trouble or getting too close to what he’s afraid of. But, in time, the owner grabs Burlap’s little paw and brings him out of hiding. Holding him in his arms, Burlap is now safe. The owner tries to make eye contact with his cat, but the cat makes every effort to not look at his owner. The owner says, “What’s your problem, cat?? I just want you to obey me! I just want you safe.”
Are we not an exact replica of Burlap the cat? I’m pretty sure we are…
Well, I hope you enjoyed these sermons as much as I did.
…and it was even better just being there letting my Savior speak to me through my friends. How beautiful is He, guys? I mean, really… how is our Savior able to use flesh to speak to hearts? He is so beautiful. So fulfilling. So…breathtaking. He’s mine. Aren’t you glad He’s yours, too?
(If He’s not yours, then oh man. It’s worth every amount of fear you may have in you to guts up and ask how Jesus can be yours… oh my goodness. So worth it.)
Questionssss, Oh, the Questions
Let me show you what the Bible, God's actual words, has to say about these questions:
Are you a sinner? Romans 3:22-24 says, "This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus."
Did Jesus die on the cross for us? Romans 5:8 says, "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
Do you believe there is only One, True God? Isiaiah 48:6 says,"Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me."
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
- John 16:33
Psalm 74:12
For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.
2 Corinthians 6:2 2For he says, "In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you." I tell you, now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation."
If you are sick of doing it on your own, have tried to fill that hole in yourself with what the world has to offer, then tell Jesus about it. Tell Him about how you need Him to make it better and how you need Him to fill you up. Tell Him about how you believe He died and rose again to save you from Hell and how you want to be with Him when you die.
And then tell somebody about what you prayed. How things are going to be different. How you're that new creation as in 2 Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" You can tell me.. I promise you I'd be more than happy to hear about what you and God talked about.
Romans 10:9-13 says "That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame." For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved"
The One who fills, completes, restores, and heals is standing at our heart, knocking. Will you let Him in?
Are you a sinner? Romans 3:22-24 says, "This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus."
Did Jesus die on the cross for us? Romans 5:8 says, "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
Do you believe there is only One, True God? Isiaiah 48:6 says,"Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me."
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
- John 16:33
Psalm 74:12
For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.
2 Corinthians 6:2 2For he says, "In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you." I tell you, now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation."
If you are sick of doing it on your own, have tried to fill that hole in yourself with what the world has to offer, then tell Jesus about it. Tell Him about how you need Him to make it better and how you need Him to fill you up. Tell Him about how you believe He died and rose again to save you from Hell and how you want to be with Him when you die.
And then tell somebody about what you prayed. How things are going to be different. How you're that new creation as in 2 Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" You can tell me.. I promise you I'd be more than happy to hear about what you and God talked about.
Romans 10:9-13 says "That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame." For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved"
The One who fills, completes, restores, and heals is standing at our heart, knocking. Will you let Him in?
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