Prayer of Understanding

God,

Grant me correction when I am wrong,

Humility (but courage) when I am right,

And wisdom to know when being right or being wrong

isn't even the point.

Treasure

"For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

Matthew 6:21 (see surrounding verses, as well).

What is my treasure?

Pharisees: Part II

Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, "Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don't wash their hands before they eat!"
Jesus replied, "And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? For God said, 'Honor your father and mother' and 'Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.' But you say that if a man says to his father or mother, 'Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is a gift devoted to God,' he is not to 'honor his father' with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:

" 'These people honor me with their lips,

but their hearts are far from me.

They worship me in vain;

their teachings are but rules taught by men.' "

Jesus called the crowd to him and said, "Listen and understand. What goes into a man's mouth does not make him 'unclean,' but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him 'unclean.' "
Then the disciples came to him and asked, "Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?"
He replied, "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. Leave them; they are blind guides. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit."
Peter said, "Explain the parable to us."
"Are you still so dull?" Jesus asked them. "Don't you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man 'unclean.' For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a man 'unclean'; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him 'unclean.' " Matthew 15:1-20

Hypocrites. Jesus called them hypocrites. In current Christian circles, we have come to equate the term Pharisees with hypocrites. They're synonymous. I know I look at the Pharisees and think, "Boy, they really didn't get it! They're laws weren't based on knowing God. If that were the case, they would have accepted Jesus. They're morals were based on their own pride, their own selves, their own ideas. Their religion was man-made, not God-made. How dense can you get? Jesus was right there in front of them, and they missed Him. They focused on perfection, not on The Perfect--following a set of rules, not the Ruler--being Good, not knowing God. Hypocrites!"
And then I cringe, because I know, though pointing fingers:
I am one of "them."

A good question to always ask myself:

Where is my heart, and what is inside?

Why do we fear "fear"?

I think we have lost in our culture what it is to fear God.
It seems that is something that we often leave out.
When you're reading through the Bible, are you like me, looking at the phrases like,
"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction" (Prov. 1:7),
and thinking, "fear = respect. Got it,"
and then moving on?
How many times in the Bible does it say "fear" the Lord?
(A quick search on BibleGateway.com elicits 130 results.)
If it's in the Bible so much (and one only has to look through Proverbs to run across it...a LOT),
then why do we overlook it?
What is it about fearing God that is so
uncomfortable,
awkward,
or flat-out hard?
Or is it just me?

Just think...

"Sow a thought, reap an action. Sow an action, reap a habit. Sow a habit, reap a character. Sow a character, reap a destiny."
What destiny might your thoughts reap someday, if you continue to think as you do now?
What exactly are your thoughts?
"As a man thinks in his heart, so is he."

Matt. 15:19; Prov. 4:23

We are what we think.

(A side-note: If you're like me, you probably looked at those verse references and thought, "I might look those up someday, but not now." Why not now? Why do we always skim over verses as if they're in parentheses, as if we know them already? Even if we think we do, we're missing the very thing that will make our thoughts holy. I'd like to try to start looking up every verse I see. I must expose myself to the Bible--oh, what might happen if I do, as much as possible!)

...there is no period

to the sentence of Truth

Am I now?

"Beware if in sharing your personal testimony you continually have to look back, saying, 'Once, a number of years ago, I was saved.' If you have put your 'hand to the plow' and are walking in the light, there is no 'looking back'--the past is instilled into the present wonder of fellowship and oneness with God (Luke 9:62; also see I John 1:6-7). If you get out of the light, you become a sentimental Christian, and live only on your memories, and your testimony will have a hard metallic ring to it. Beware of trying to cover up your present refusal to 'walk in the light' by recalling your past experiences when you did 'walk in the light' (I John 1:7)."
--Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest

This is something that hit me square between the eyes the other day. It does not matter what good I have done in the past. What matters to God, and what should matter to me, is where I am in my relationship with Him NOW. A Christian's life isn't gauged by where he's been, and he cannot measure it by where He's going (for that would be an invisible ruler to his eyes). Instead, it is a day by day endeavor. I should not brag about the good I have done, as if I have filled my quota for life. I must be good (a.k.a. be with God) today.

"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day." (II Cor. 4: 16)
Day by day.
Every day anew.

The Child Metaphor

I have discovered what I have come to call "the Child Metaphor." It is a simple exercise of spiritual interest that requires little: Watch children. It is amazing how much one can learn about the relationship between us and God when you watch the relationship of a child with his/her parents. Try it out. Next time you're watching a little child play or cry or whine, ask God to show you how it relates to you and Him. You might be surprised at the truth you discover.
I'll have more to say about children soon.

Who is "good"?

Here is a question to consider:

If a good man falls, is he still good?

I would say it depends on from where he is deriving his sense of goodness.

For a man is not good because the man says so.

A man is good because God says so.

So perhaps a good man is not one who does not fall, but rather is one who gets back up--

--one who knows that walking is not about how long he can stay up on his own, but about how willing he is to let God lift him up...

higher than he could ever be of his own ability.

Pharisees: Part I

I think it's kind of funny how within the word "Pharisee," there's the word "see". The reason I find this funny is because, in Jesus' day, the Pharisees didn't really see. Look at Matthew 9:9-13:

"As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth. 'Follow me,' he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.
While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and 'sinners' came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, 'Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and "sinners"?'
On hearing this, Jesus said, 'It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: "I desire mercy, not sacrifice." For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.'"

Here you have a rather disagreeable character--Matthew. He collected taxes, and everyone knew what vile, dishonest men tax collectors were. But Jesus chose to make him his disciple. In picking His disciples, Jesus verified what he was saying to the pharisees here: He came for sinners. Look at the men He chose: fishermen, tax collectors, Judas...Peter. Not exactly the prestigious and righteous.
I don't think it's because he didn't like the Pharisees, though. I've heard it said that Jesus probably loved the Pharisees. If you look throughout the Gospels, the Pharisees are the people with whom Jesus spends a lot of His time talking to! And following Jesus time here on Earth--well, you have Paul. Jesus chose Paul as His messenger--the new Apostle. And Paul was a Pharisee bent on wiping out those lowly Christians before He came to know Christ.
But that's not my whole point. My point is, there's a lot the Pharisees were missing. Here, Jesus is sharing company with those the Church of that day deemed unholy, unclean, unfit for spending time with. And Jesus answers their question, "Why?" by telling them to go find out the meaning of this phrase: "I desire mercy, not sacrifice."
It comes from Hosea 6:6, and it's God that's speaking. Sacrifice was the most commonly known practice of Jewish custom. It was the act of repentance and homage to God. Unfortunately, as with a lot of religious practices, it had become ritualized. Jesus is basically saying to them here, "It's not your religious practices I'm wanting. It's hearts of compassion and sincere love."
The Pharisees thought they had it all together. Jesus was letting them know that He hadn't come for those who were on top of things. He came for the needy. The irony is that the Pharisees, in their lack of seeing, were likely the neediest of them all.

Hymn 2: O Perfect Love

This is a prayer. For family, for love, for home.

"O perfect Love, all human thought transcending,
Lowly we kneel in prayer before Thy throne,
That theirs may be the love which knows no ending,
Whom Thou forevermore dost join in one.

O perfect Life, be Thou their full assurance
Of tender charity and steadfast faith,
Of patient hope and quiet brave endurance,
With childlike trust that fears no pain nor death.

Grant them the joy which brightens earthly sorrow;
Grant them the peace which calms all earthly strife,
And to life's day the glorious unknown morrow
That dawns upon eternal love and life."

Gurney, Dorothy B.; Joseph Barnby; John Stainer. The Baptist Hymnal. Convention Press, Nashville. © 1991.

Hymn 1: The Servant Song

I love hymns. Songs that have been around awhile have a way of saying things that conveys to us they know something. This is one of my favorites. It's called "The Servant Song"

"We are trav'lers on a journey,
Fellow pilgrims on the road;
We are here to help each other
Walk the mile and bear the load.
I will hold the Christ-light for you
In the night-time of your fear;
I will hold my hand out to you,
Speak the peace you long to hear.

Sister, let me be your servant,
Let me be as Christ to you;
Pray that I may have the grace to
Let you be my servant, too.
Brother, let me be your servant,
Let me be as Christ to you;
Pray that I may have the grace to
Let you be my servant, too.

I will weep when you are weeping,
When you laugh, I'll laugh with you;
I will share your joy and sorrow,
Till we've seen this journey thro'.
When we sing to God in heaven,
We shall find such harmony,
Born of all we've known together
Of Christ's love and agony."

Gillard, Richard; James H. Wood. The Baptist Hymnal. Convention Press, Nashville. © 1991.

Each Shall Resonate.

I think a bell choir is a beautiful picture of The Church. Everybody has a note to play, and if someone doesn't ring, the song doesn't happen.

I was watching a bell choir the other day at church, and it really is quite an apt portrait of the Body of Christ. Now, I'm certain that people's hearts were beating quicker in anticipation of their turn to ring their bell, and perhaps a few people rang their bell at the wrong time. It didn't matter, though. The song was heard anyways, because a song is more than the sum of its parts. And the choir is unified by the song they sing...or ring, as the case may be.

"No man is an island," they say. For that matter, no one should be a lone bell, either. We all have our notes to play, but if you "play the loner," it's not too much of a song on your own (there's only so many songs you can play with one or two notes). See, what happens is every bell has a place. It takes every note to make a song. Some people feel bad that their bell isn't as impressive as another's. But all notes are important--it's the smaller bells that play the higher notes, you see.

"But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired. If they were all one member, where would the body be? But now there are many members, but one body....Now you are Christ's body, and individually members of it."
I Corinthians 12:18-20,27 (NASB)

It's real beautiful when all the notes play together. You see, it's in the variety of bells that the music comes to be.

The funny thing is, we have a tendency to try and make everybody the same note. Now why do we want to go and do that? What's so scary about difference? That's where the music lies--in difference. So, sure, that person next to you may have a different sound than you. But try harmonizing. Try being a part of the bell choir.

Play your note--it's yours alone to play, but to not play alone.

And Jesus' Love is the song we play.

"The Prettiest Picture I've Ever Not Yet Seen"

My life has a way of just happening. I know I always have choices to make, but God has always been there to put the path in front of me. Most people don't believe in luck. Those that do might call me a pretty lucky guy, what with how good I've had it. Personally, I think luck is perhaps just another name for God's blessings and grace. Like a puzzle I'm a part of, God always seems to manage to get the pieces to fit, even when I don't understand the unfinished picture. But if there's one thing I've learned, it's that I'm not the only one who's active in putting it together (it's a good thing, too--I get bewildered so easily). It's funny how often He reminds me that He's the one who's putting the puzzle together. God's a much better picture-maker than me, anyway. I figure it's best just to let Him put the pieces in place. He's good at beauty, and He shows me just how good everytime Life springs up unexpectedly. This is a poem I ran across the other day (I'm not sure who wrote it, but it wasn't me) which I think puts it nicely:

"My life is like a painting
the Lord creates for me.
I cannot choose the colors,
They're only His to see.

Sometimes He paints a rainbow
and my joy is at its height.
My heart sings songs of gratitude
because I can see God's light.

Sometimes He paints a dark cloud,
So dark I want to cry,
and I forget that only He
knows the reason why.

For in this masterpiece called life,
The palette is in God's hand,
and with His brush He paints for us
the picture He has planned."

Beacon

“On Fire”

I am here atop the mountain,
And my Fire burns on high,
A Beacon for the world,
A Pillar of Faith and Light.

“Be on fire!” they told me,
“Let the wind not defeat,”
But a fire only lasts as long
As wood provides it meat.

I have need in the valley
To fetch some kindling sticks,
But my friends bid me stay
Where the Fire squirms and kicks.

“God wants such Fire,” they say,
“Keep it burning long.”
How am I to keep it so
If I’ve no wood to keep it strong?

It has my zeal, my fervor–
Desire is its ration,
But Fire doesn’t last too long,
On twigs and leaves of passion.

The wood lies in the valley,
And the Beacon’s need is dire.
I must go down the mountain,
To find substance for my Fire.

I take a torch in hand,
The Beacon fades and dies,
But the Fire remains with me,
Putting Light into my eyes.

Life is not a mountain,
But has need of valleys, too.
Beacons only last as long
As unfed passions do.

I wrote this poem last summer, as I tried to deal with the phrase, "being on fire for Jesus". I've always had a bit of trouble with the mentality that spirituality is all about emotional highs and feeling good. Life, you see, is not always a mountaintop experience. There are valleys, too. And I'm finding this is most true in the areas of love and zeal--their flames are nothing without the substance of Christ to feed the fire, and He is often found in the valley.

Honestly Speaking

I don’t think I’m a very good Christian. I think one of the best things I ever did was make blogs, because at least that’s some form of sharing. But other than that, I haven’t shared much. I don’t tell people how much Jesus means to me. Well, maybe I do. But only to those who already know.
I think that us Christians have gotten a lot of things wrong. I think the church has become more of religious club than a starting point for outreach. I think we focus too much on bringing people in for them to be a part of us. They don’t come, though. That’s our fault. 'Cause we don’t go to them. We wait for them to come. That never happens. Not much.
It’s been forever since I’ve been on a mission trip to help people who are NOT Christians—and I mean simply help them, not helping them with an agenda to try and save them. The majority of trips I’ve been on have been to other churches, because churches are safe. You don’t have to be afraid at another church. But outside the church, I have little experience. I think that’s sad. I think it's sad because it’s not just my story. It’s the story for a lot of Christians—especially those I know.
I think there’s too much of an “us/them” mentality. We’re all human. We all sin. Somehow, I—a Christian—forget that fact. I sin. I mess up. I don’t have things together. There’s so much of a focus on saving them from their rotten souls. My soul is just as rotten, if not more. I think my soul is most definitely more rotten, because I think I’m special because I go to church and I try to be holy. What makes me any better than a guy in deep need, cold and alone on a street corner? Perhaps he understands more than me.
We speak of “them” as if they’re “out there.” We use the word “heathens,” sometimes, even jokingly. I think there are more heathens inside the church. We’ve forgotten what it means to be human. We think we don’t need forgiveness anymore, having been forgiven “once-and-for-all” before. Oh, God, we need it the most!
I’d like to apologize. I’m sorry for misrepresenting Jesus. I am not Jesus. I am a follower, but I don’t have everything right. I don’t understand it all. I can’t tell you why there’s pain in the world or if suffering is good or bad or why bad things happen to good people.
I’m sorry for being so bitter sometimes. I get angry at people who cut down trees and people who make church into a matter of politics. I choose sides. That only makes the schism between souls even worse. To go against an extreme as hard as possible is only to make another extreme. It’s only to get angry at the opposite. There is no unity in choosing sides. There is no hope for reconciliation in thinking “us-and-them”. I think “us-and-them” a lot. More than I’d like to admit.
I fail. I get scared. I fear. I hold things against people. I harbor grudges inside, and deny that I’m doing it. I’m not perfect. I’m not always good. I think impure thoughts. Too much. I sin—in the dark—when no one is looking.
If anyone needs forgiveness, it’s me. I need forgiveness so much. But I don’t think I know how to get it. Who does? Do we really know what forgiveness is? We—the “Christians”—say we do. But do we really? Have we really experienced forgiveness? Have we really experienced Jesus? I wonder sometimes.
There’s a deep pain inside me from all this guilt and all this horrible dread of messing up and doing it wrong and not getting it right and I just cling to the condemnation and bury it deeper still. God says to let go. I’m too prideful to admit I need to confess, though—and not just to God, but to everyone. I need to confess to those who need to confess. I don’t need to confess to perfect people. Perfect people don’t need forgiveness—they’ve forgotten they need it, at least. That’s why they’re perfect—they think they are. They’re not, though. I’m not perfect—even if I think otherwise.
What is forgiveness, truly? Who knows? And why is it so hard to go after something so necessary…so needed…so liberating? I’m asking.

Stycks II

Stycks I

I make some comic strips every now and again for a small newsletter, using stick men to convey spiritual thoughts. This is one I decided would feel at home here:

Open Question

As I was considering words the other day, I discovered a question which I deemed worth asking. I haven't decided how I would answer it yet, but I thought I'd throw it out to any who would like to think about it as well.
Q: What is the relationship between "faith" and "faithfulness" (or "being faithful")? "Faith," you see, is the root of "faithful". So how are they related? I'm pondering...

Wave-tag

God is not far off. To put God in the heavens, beyond reachability, is frankly impossible. God will not be put anywhere. He will put Himself where He pleases as He pleases.
But what pleases Him?
Wait, you mean God experiences pleasure?!?!
Of course! And not only that, God defines True Pleasure. There is no real pleasure--nothing lasting, nothing deep, nothing of any substance--if God is not in it. God, you see, loves pleasure. How do I know? He invented it--and He showed me.
There was one summer afternoon I will never forget. It was summer vacation, and we were staying on a coastal island. I was hiking on the beach with my family to a point on the island where the waves met each other from two different directions. It's simply called The Point.
As I walked along the shore, our destination still a ways off, I began to notice the waves on my left. In they would come, and out they would go, and there was an invitation behind their happy movement. It was Jesus.
His words were not vocal, but I sensed what He was saying. "Wanna play?" As I walked, He and I began to play what I call wave-tag. I would walk along the beach, very close to where the waves would run up onto the shore. As they rushed in, I would run alongside and try to avoid being touched by the water. It was a game with God--He used the waves, trying to get my feet wet as I walked alongside them. He got me a few times. I laughed. He did too. The wind was strong that day--strong and pure and full of life and spirit. But only because His laughter was behind it.
We finally made it to The Point, and it was then He confirmed that my experience with Him wasn't imagined. In the sand, I found a shell that looked like a foot--a strong yet vulnerable human foot with five toes. There was a hole in the heel. A nail might have gone there.
Then I found the bottlecap, which I have to this day. It had inside the messages of one of those "sweepstakes" that soda companies do. But, around that time, they usually said "please try again".
This bottlecap was for me. Inside of it was written, "Please play again." I smiled and nodded to the waves--or rather, to Jesus beyond them. "I'd love to," I thought.
I don't think we play enough. I think God thinks so too. After that experience I had once upon a time on a windy summer beach, I wonder how often God longs to play with us, but we're too busy, too grown-up, too good to play with Him. I wonder how many of us are missing The Point of life--that God's Pleasure is what everything is pointed towards, and that He longs to share such Pleasure with us.
Wave-tag, you see, was simply a form of tangible intimacy with God--and He longs to play again.

When I gaze and consider...

The cry of creation is that of a lonely heart:
it stretches itself upward to be touched by the Heavens,

yearning for the God of Intimacy
with the reach of worship.

A desolate land knows emptiness, yet desires to be filled. It is only in giving of itself that its desire can be met.

Such is the heart.

I sought truth, O God, and found the truest thing to be Love.

I sought you, O Lord, and found True Love is you.

Power and Light. Brilliance finds its source in glory. It is born in truth and depth.

Light is Love's visible form.

Rainbow Face

Most of the time, when I hear someone talk about their “testimony,” it seems to deal with their salvation. If that were the case here, I wouldn’t have much of a story to tell. I was saved at a young age, having grown up in the church, and to be honest I don’t remember much of the details. But I do know that Jesus is in my heart.
Throughout the years, the relationship I’ve had with Christ and everything He has done in my life has been something worth sharing. The story I’m about to tell you is what I consider my testimony—my story—the story of one instance in which God showed me one of the Simplest yet Greatest Truths there is. It’s a story about a hammer. I had just finished Middle School (with a beginning like that, you know this is going to be an interesting tale). I was young, in love with life, and eager to experience new adventures as the summer of 1999 reached its peak. With my 14th birthday approaching, I was embarking on a mission trip to Prescott, Ontario, Canada—my first mission trip ever.
We stayed at a small church in Prescott, where we conducted a small Vacation Bible School for the children in the community. I was placed in charge of a group of third graders. But about the second or third day we were there, things got a bit out of hand…out of my hands, to be specific.
I finished teaching the lesson for the day 15 minutes early. Not good. It only took half of that time for the kids to get rambunctious. I love kids, mind you. It’s just that, when it comes to being strict, I’m…not. I was desperately trying to keep these rowdy kids occupied (only 10 more minutes until crafts)! Anything—anything—just to keep them busy. Well, then one of them got out some markers and had the bright idea that they all color. It was brilliant! Except that they wanted to color on my face. And then I made one of the most intelligent decisions of my life:
I let them.
First one kid drew a streak across my cheek.
Then a few more scribbled on my forehead.
Then they all started going to town on my face—their very own drawing canvas.
And then it was time for crafts. I took them upstairs, rainbow face and all. I’m surprised there wasn’t a pot of gold at the end of my nose. Yeah, it was that bad!
I was humiliated. All of my friends laughed at me, and the adults on our trip were simply surprised. I laughed too, but underneath I felt horrible. I had failed. I had been trusted with a task, and I had messed up big time! I felt inadequate, insufficient, useless, clumsy, inept, worthless, and just plain stupid. How could I have let this happen!? I thought. The VBS concluded that day, and though I washed the markers off my face, the feelings of inadequacy remained.
In the afternoons, we would go to a nearby campground and do pretty much the same thing we would do in the mornings, just shortened. That day, it was my turn to teach the Bible story. I got up, still feeling miserable about myself, and told the story of Zacchaeus (see Luke 19:1-10 if you need your mind refreshed on what took place). I focused on how Jesus wanted to be Zacchaeus’ friend, and that he wanted the same for all of us. Jesus loves and wants to befriend each and every one of us.
It was a good and true point, but once again I felt I did a very lousy job with the whole thing. I ended up presenting how to become a Christian at the end and botched it up pretty bad—my friends had to hold up construction-paper signs to tell me what to say next. The Bible story was supposed to be a 30 minute lesson. It ended up more along the lines of 5 minutes. I finished, and we moved on to crafts. Disheartened, I moseyed around, helping kids make binoculars out of cardboard tubes or something like that. It had not been my day.
But then a boy raised his hand.
I walked over to him, and he gestured to 5-year-old next to him. “This is my brother, Jacob,” he said, “and he wants Jesus to be his friend, too.”
In a moment, God turns sorrow into joy.
I brought some of my friends over to Jacob, and we led him to Christ. I’m sure I clumsily explained how to be saved, but it didn’t matter anymore. I wasn’t the one that changed Jacob’s life that day. God did.
I said this story was about a hammer. But there wasn’t anything about a hammer in the story, you say.
I’m the hammer. I was—and I am—a tool in God’s hand. You see, what I learned that day was that I am inadequate. I can’t do it on my own. Jesus says this in John 15:5. “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
What I’m able to do isn’t the issue. What God can do through me is. Only in God’s hands am I effective—just like a hammer. If a hammer does not yield itself to the carpenter’s hands, it remains quite useless. But it is in its use that it finds significance—when The Master picks it up and says, “let’s go to work, together, you and I.” See, that’s the amazing thing about being a tool in God’s hand. As God’s tools, we are loved. He doesn’t use us just to take advantage of us. He involves us because He loves us. In John 15:8-16, Jesus tells us we are not slaves to the will of an unfeeling god. We are friends of the Almighty Entity that knows and loves us.
“This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you my friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other.”
You see, when we enter a relationship with Christ, we’re not servants kept on the fringe. Jesus brings us close into himself. He lets us into His inner circle. He gets personal.
Yes, I messed up in Prescott. But God showed me that day it didn’t matter at all. Our inadequacies aren’t the point. His love is. In spite of all the times I’ve messed up, I’ve always been loved. In spite of my failures, God chose me to be His tool! He involved me in His plan!
This includes sin, as well. That’s where it sends chills down my spine: It was my sin that pummeled Jesus on the cross. It was my sin that killed Him. It was because of me...and yet for me...that He died. But the hammer that put the nails in Jesus’ hands is now His instrument of righteousness.
And this is true for all of us.
You see, He loves us so much! He wants to involve us. The least we can do is love Him right back. Check out Deut. 6:5.
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”
Yes, this is a command. But it isn’t a threat. It isn’t, “do this or else.” Love cannot be forced. What this verse shows is that love is wholehearted, or not at all. Let me ask you, when was the last time you told God, “I love you” (and meant it)? To be honest, I don’t like that question, but it’s because I don’t like my answer. I don’t say it enough. More often than not, I don’t say it at all.
But that’s exactly what praise and worship is, you know: It is our expression of our love for God.
I once had a friend who defined worship as “being close enough to kiss.” I like that. Worship is intimacy with Jesus. But so often we miss that. I miss that. That’s very sad, too, because to miss out on worship is to miss out on the very thing we were made for. We were made to love and be loved.
And there is every reason to love Him. Out of all the times I’ve needed God to come through for me, you know how many times He has? All of them! Even the times I think He hasn’t come through—when He’s thwarted something I wanted—are only because He has something so much better in mind. Think about it. Has He ever let you down?
My story is proof of His love and faithfulness. My testimony is not one of great spiritual prestige. But it is one of deep significance. I am here to love God, because He loves me, and to show His Love to others—regardless of inadequacy.I am His Rainbow Face—a hammer painted in Heaven’s colors.

2 share + contempl-8

Yes, I've created a second blog. And I'll tell you why. Along my journey thus far, I've learned a lot about God through my relationship with Him in Christ. I have written, journalled, scribbled, and scripted the things He has taught me here and there--truths, ponderations, and ruminations alike. But they're normally things I've learned...and kept. This is the part where I share them.
I remember once when a group of my friends were gathered in prayer, and one of them prayed for me, that I would share more. She called me a "Light-bearer" saying that God "put a little of the angels in me." My first blog was the beginning of my sharing, and while I will continue on the first, I've decided to shine a little brighter on this blog. This is simply me telling you how God has worked in my life, what He has done, and what He is doing.
Sometimes the best growth we can receive is found in sharing--both for the sharer and the recipient. So I'm sharing more. But this is no soap-box. I've never cared too much for soap-boxes. Think of this as a living-room conversation: a fireside chat about what God has done--and is doing--in my life.

"Praise the Lord.
I will extol the Lord with all my heart in the council of the upright and the assembly.
Great are the works of the Lord; they are pondered by all who delight in them.
Glorious and majestic are his deeds, and his righteousness endures forever.
He has caused his wonders to be remembered; the Lord is gracious and compassionate."
Ps. 111:1-4

"Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all the peoples."
Ps. 96:3

"For you make me glad by your deeds, O Lord; I sing for joy at the works of your hands.
How great are your works, O Lord, how profound your thoughts!"
Ps. 92:4-5

"Come and listen, all you who fear God;
let me tell you what he has done for me."
Ps. 66:16