tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14226972300173936222024-03-09T18:46:57.282-08:00In the Meantime...Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger103125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1422697230017393622.post-27711709846055229382019-09-22T15:14:00.000-07:002019-09-22T16:44:24.935-07:00rewriting Sundays.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8Bjz0ex3tCeDq7PGVW2G_XK0dPrXMqApxYarw-UEbw4blaqZlxH50GK6sny9PRyz60hbkW0QW65oKl6bwuAWAdRD0nEuLHf5aqKr6tnk_Ap3NAZfTAc4V1yHFR8WXtmjYKhtWqSainfO4/s1600/IMG_0786.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1512" data-original-width="1512" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8Bjz0ex3tCeDq7PGVW2G_XK0dPrXMqApxYarw-UEbw4blaqZlxH50GK6sny9PRyz60hbkW0QW65oKl6bwuAWAdRD0nEuLHf5aqKr6tnk_Ap3NAZfTAc4V1yHFR8WXtmjYKhtWqSainfO4/s200/IMG_0786.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I can’t stand editing. There’s a whole part of writing
dedicated to how I didn’t get it right the first time. Just the worst. I don’t
think I’m unique in that dislike among writers, but it’s an unfortunate
sentiment when editing is so crucial to good writing.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The biggest lesson I had to learn when I started a Master’s
in Creative Writing, was that my first drafts wouldn’t be the finished product.
It was defeating to me that I couldn’t say well what I wanted on the first go
and, spoiler alert: no good writer ever has. Anne Lamott’s encouragement about subpar first attempts has set me free from the paralyzing need to get it right on the first cut.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I know my master's grew me as a writer (you'd hope, right?), but even more so as a person.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 17.12px;">How do I embrace/reject/apply feedback? How do I adjust what I had in mind originally for the sake of creating a better story? How do I let go that the first draft will be the final one?</span><span style="line-height: 17.12px;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 17.12px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 17.12px;">Editing the story is a struggle. Rewriting is uncomfortable, crucial work for a story to unfold with greater clarity in theme and strength in character. Editing is holy sanctification.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 17.12px;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 17.12px;">Change has been abundant in my life lately, but especially for my Sundays.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 17.12px;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 17.12px;">This summer was the first time I went to church as an adult without a role. Since high school, I’ve been leading, teaching, singing, directing something on Sundays.<br /><br />When I left what I thought would be my career-long Call just over five years ago, there was a contrast in size and setting of worship, but I didn’t go longer than a couple weeks before I jumped in at the WHEREhouse Church. I didn’t have time to miss leading. (I probably also didn’t have time rest and heal, but that’s another blog post..or 10).</span><span style="line-height: 17.12px;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 17.12px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 17.12px;">In May, the WHEREhouse, our sweet family church, closed.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 17.12px;">My summer was consumed with a move, research and thesis work, and a youth gathering.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Just as I was looking forward to post-thesis free time to spend with them, some of my best friends took a new Call in Texas.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 17.12px;">As the new school year kicked back in, it's hit me that I’ve not taken time in the running to jump stop and get my footing amidst the dizzying change. To hold up what was and what is like the "find what's different" pictures. The "then and now" of Sundays seem like starkly different pictures.</span><span style="line-height: 17.12px;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 17.12px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 17.12px;">When I left my last Call, I no longer had to wake up at ungodly hours to be at church. For weeks, I woke up startled I overslept. The WHEREhouse met in the afternoon, so I don’t have that problem. ;-) But the rhythm I’ve known is broken. It’s different. It will never be that community in that place at that time again. It's good to just name and know that no church, no Sunday, will ever be that.</span><span style="line-height: 17.12px;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 17.12px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 17.12px;">The same is true for evolving friend group(s) over the past few years where I've got to cheer several to new cities, jobs, and marriages, while experiencing really painful goodbyes of sweet seasons I knew were over and never coming back.</span><span style="line-height: 17.12px;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 17.12px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 17.12px;">When the WHEREhouse closed, two dear friends gave me unsolicited encouragement that the next role I needed to serve in the church was “backrow pew sitter.” I am grateful for friends who boldly love me like that; wisely seeing what I need in disorientating change and giving me permission to stop to get my bearings. It’s foreign and risky to not have a role when that’s been the only identity I’ve known for almost two decades.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">While I acknowledge there is a list of losses to grieve on this Sunday—and you should know that I haven’t made it through many Sunday services since May without tears...these edits are painful and overwhelming at times—I find myself asking the question that has drawn me through a myriad of relational and vocational changes:</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><b>God, what are you making room for?</b></i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><i><br /></i>And then I plead with Him to help me not miss it, to miss <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">hope</i>, as I loathe this season of editing and new changes in the story line I became accustomed to.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><br />A pastor friend stopped by my office a few weeks ago to ask how I was doing, as he dropped his shoulders in commiseration of our wonderful friends moving out of state. I thanked him for thinking of me.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><br /></span><span style="line-height: 107%;">
“Ya know,” I said, “the Lord and I have had a lot of chats lately about how it
seems like everything is changing. But the more I’ve prayed and thought about
it, I think this is just the way life is now. Just lots of changes and we have
to ask for help in coping with it.”</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">He nodded and chuckled in understanding. It’s probably true.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 17.12px;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 17.12px;">Perpetual change. Recurring loss. Endless editing.</span><span style="line-height: 17.12px;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 17.12px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 17.12px;">I smile thinking of our theme of the year at Concordia that just so happens to be, “In Christ, A New Creation,” from 2 Corinthians 5:17 which says, “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!</span>”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 17.12px;">What a gift to have this reminder all year long – a reflection of Isaiah 43:19: “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”</span><span style="line-height: 17.12px;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 17.12px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 17.12px;">I can struggle at this pivot, thinking the old way was just fine, thank-you-very-much, and I had found something that resembled control in that old order that I feel like I've lost.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">
It’s easy for me to cling to familiar stagnation or even dysfunction over the unknown and potentially painful new growth, health, and opportunity.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><br /></span><span style="line-height: 107%;"><b>
So on a day like today, instead of wishing for what isn’t, I ask God to help me
wonder instead.</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><b><br /></b></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 107%;">I wonder what God has in mind for what’s ahead--trusting His editing is a good and kind idea--and giving thanks for what I see Him
doing now.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 107%;">
I see His provision in the present and it helps me trust that He hasn’t
forgotten me.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 107%;">
Like this new home I was hesitant to consider (having a roommate in my 30s was
not in the first draft, but a holy edit, no doubt).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">
Like the friend who invited me to an understated church that I probably wouldn’t
have attended otherwise which has become an unexpected safe haven for pew-sitting,
to simply rest in receiving communion and great teaching.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><br /></span><span style="line-height: 107%;">After the way-earlier-than-I-would-choose worship service
today, my friend asked, “so what are you going to do with the rest of your Sunday?” </span><span style="line-height: 107%;"><br />I shrugged smiling. “I don’t know! Maybe read a book…for fun?”</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><br />This Sunday of no obligation has had room for laundry and football and baseball and
reading and now even some space for writing.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">God has made room. Jesus is the best there is at holy,
redemptive, editing. Though letting go and being open to edits can be painful,
He is writing and rewriting more and more glimpses of Eden into our stories with
every draft. With every reading of His Word. Every taste of the bread and wine.
Every word confessed and absolved. He is editing Eden into our stories.</span><span style="line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">God has made room. He’s doing something new and it’s unnerving
to not know how to fill the space. Or, better yet, to be content in resting and
working faithfully right where I am, while waiting to see what He wants to add
as I seek His Kingdom.</span><span style="line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 107%;">Editing can be grueling. Slow. Disorienting. Painful. Ever
battling the temptation to just give up. <br />But in the edits, I am slowly learning
acceptance, contentment, and even gratitude--singing to myself "Oh, Thou who changest not abide with me"--as He is rewriting Sundays.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1422697230017393622.post-72329394483120291042018-03-31T18:51:00.000-07:002018-03-31T19:47:31.507-07:00Saturday is for flowers.<div class="MsoNormal">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2H1S_-MC6dcGENnGITsdQ1XfjYJAX0OOmHY3rzharfHlYei2oJJbieckMrUxLqMzdoT7qQk53uGKQTk1aqpxT4F1dJR7Tv0DXCixV2zP8cGr59WcxxW6Mayy5uIhHqcU1qyINQ1G3fRp3/s1600/IMG_1298.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2H1S_-MC6dcGENnGITsdQ1XfjYJAX0OOmHY3rzharfHlYei2oJJbieckMrUxLqMzdoT7qQk53uGKQTk1aqpxT4F1dJR7Tv0DXCixV2zP8cGr59WcxxW6Mayy5uIhHqcU1qyINQ1G3fRp3/s320/IMG_1298.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
Nearly three years ago, I remember a dear friend bringing
bright red gerber daisies to my office when a beloved student of ours passed
away.<br />
<br />
Sometime in the past few years, fresh flowers became a ritual of grieving in my life, as loss has seemed prevalent.<br />
<br />
A bunch of stems or a bright potted flower are as essential as vitamins and
vegetables when grief has struck. Blossoms and leaves make their way into my
grocery basket, playing their healing roles.<br />
<br />
When my uncle passed away on Ash Wednesday, it was almost a Pavlovian response.
My home needed living color. The sweet plant with happy little yellow flowers
is still gracing my bar in the kitchen.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Not just plants, but flowers.<br />
Petals with radiant shades.<br />
A sign of life and joy to brighten the room.<br />
Blossoming, visual proof there life is persisting.<br />
Pushing back and reminding death it’s not the
only one in the house.<br />
Blooms of hope talking smack.<br />
Flowers showing dirt who's boss.<br />
Sweet, hopeful salve to the fresh sting of loss.<br />
Leaves reassuring us life is still here even when death insists we believe it isn't.<br />
<br />
Flowers simply make me smile. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Bright, grinning daisies, muted and lovely, white
hydrangeas, yellow Billy Balls, all kinds and colors of chrysanthemums, roses,
and tulips. Some leaves tiny and round, others large and pointed; colors and
sizes as numerous as the flowers themselves. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
God’s creativity shows off in petals and pollen and I need
reminders of it in the shadow of death.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sitting on the counter, the sunny petals on my Kalanchoe flower
are flopped open proving the opposite of where they’ve come from.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They aren’t just beautiful and cheery. They speak a better,
hopeful word. Dirt doesn’t get the final say. Seeds teach us that those gone
into the ground aren’t sentenced there forever. Dirt can't keep them from dazzling; it only helps them do so.<br />
<br />
Life can’t be constrained by dust. God’s endless creativity can’t help itself. <br />
<br />
Resurrection finds itself popping up in more places and ways more vast, unique,
and beautiful than flowers. All sizes, shapes, and flavors of resurrection. Blooms tell resurrection's story.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And we, my friends, are so much more to our Heavenly Father than flowers.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So today, on this day we remember Jesus dead in the tomb, I
bought and cut and arranged flowers. <br />
To commemorate and honor death.<br />
To smell life while loss lingers.<br />
To be reminded that life doesn’t disappear in dirt.<br />
That this, too, shall pass.<br />
Burial is the first step to blooming.<br />
For Jesus in Holy Week.<br />
For Jesus followers into perfect, eternal life and relationship.<br />
<br />
Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the
soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels—a
plentiful harvest of new lives.<span style="background: #fdfeff; color: #001320; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">” </span>John 12:24<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There will be a day when Eden overflows with a perfect
garden of leaves radiant, lives resurrected, and love renovated. All things restored
and whole; back to shalom, life as it ought to be.<br />
A more redeemed version than we could ever even imagine or recognize as
possible life.<br />
It’s on the way.<br />
The stone was rolled away, opening the door to all resurrection and
restoration.<br />
But before the tomb could open on Easter, it had to close. <br />
<br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sunday is coming. Easter and Eden are on the way.<br />
And while I wait, my house smelling of flowers helps me not to forget.<br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1422697230017393622.post-8727853319067895272017-02-19T11:52:00.002-08:002017-02-19T13:33:08.643-08:00I took myself out, even on Valentine’s Day, and think you should, too.<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></span>
Yes, I took myself out to dinner on Valentine’s Day this year.<br />
<br />
I know that sounds weird. And honestly, most of the time when people write a little too much about “rocking the solo life,” I think they’re <b>a) </b>not
being truthful and<b> b) </b>trying to make it look like they’re really okay when they're not so sure. Maybe
I’ve made it to a deeper level of delusion that I’m not writing from that place,
but I don’t think that’s the case this time.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;">After all, I am pro-together, pro-relationship,
pro-community, pro-love. I deeply believe faith and life are team sports. Life
is better lived together. This post is not at all an ode to being “Miss
Independent.” </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<span style="line-height: 107%;">And yet, today, I’m going to say something seemingly contrary. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;">I take myself out for dinner (or lunch or coffee) sometimes
and I think you should too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;">I’ll let you in on a little secret: as great as my life is, I
have an ongoing struggle with not feeling picked or being wanted. It’s my most familiar
wound and my favorite lie to battle. My history is riddled with supposed proofs
that affirm this wound when the battle rages on a given day. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<span style="line-height: 107%;">I know I’m not alone in this wound. Many people, regardless
of relationship status, experience this ache. I would even say that sometimes
it feels bigger when dating or married because it’s not expected. This is one
of the devil’s favorite tactics for us. He can trick us into a plethora
of different sins when we feel the need to prove our value or numb the feeling
of being unwanted.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;">Because of this particular wound, my heart and mind can get a
bit wonky during a time of the year made for pairs. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;">My BFF, Katy, knows this about me very well. I was woken on Tuesday
with a text from her to help affirm my heart. </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><i>
“Happy Valentine’s Day, girl! You are so loved!!”</i></span><br />
<br />
I loved hearing from her and starting my day that way. It helps. We should speak these reminders to each other.<br />
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<span style="line-height: 107%;">
But here’s the thing: this year, I knew it already. </span><br />
Not just knew it, but believed it.<br />
<span style="line-height: 107%;">
Not just believed it, but was living in it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;">Perhaps it’s from more consistent time in Scripture in my
recent weeks and months. Maybe it’s from taking time to work through my worth
issues with a counselor who faithfully speaks back to me my identity as a
daughter of the Father, whenever I speak a need for validation from
another place. Maybe it’s learning to stop freaking out about being alone, and
realize I’ve never been because of God’s incredible promise to be with me until
the very end of the age. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;">Maybe it’s that I’ve begun seeing times by myself not as a
last resort and proof that nobody wants me, but a divine appointment that Jesus
has arranged to just be with me. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;">I actually considered my regular strategy of inviting a bunch
of people to do something for Valentine’s, so we’re all busy being awesome instead
of alone. I knew, though, at this particular time, that would’ve been proof of
my need to prove my “okay-ness” with activity and people. And honestly, had it
been a week earlier when I was feeling rattled with rejection, this may not
have been the case. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;">Whatever the reason, Valentine’s Day was SO different this
year.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;">I went to sleep the night before, prepping my heart for
newsfeeds full of gushy posts and pictures of perfect dates and thoughtful
gifts. <i>Comparison is the thief of joy, ya know, Shel.</i> Then this peace settled
in over me and I thought with a smile:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><i>“Jesus, I’m so excited to get up and spend Valentine’s Day
with you. You’re just the best at love. I can’t wait to see what you have
planned for us.”</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;">Guys. I know that sounds so cheesy and fluffy, maybe a little
disingenuous, and all kinds of #Jesusismyboyfriend ish. I’m totally aware. But
I’m serious. It was real.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;">I texted Katy back with my delight to just be loved perfectly
by the Lord for the day. I’m praying that this would be an everyday thing. To
get up and be loved by Jesus, inviting him into every moment and step of this
day’s adventure; that rejection and fear and loneliness would be defeated. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;">Because here’s the thing: I’ve woken up way too many days
desperately wanting to be wanted while feeling the exact opposite. I've had so many days where I've straight up told Jesus in my thoughts and actions that He and His love are not enough for me and I demand more. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;">When we
don’t believe that we are fully loved to the brim in Jesus and that He's what our heart truly needs, we beg, borrow,
steal, coerce, guilt, manipulate, pressure, and burn ourselves out to be loved.
When we don’t believe that we’re enough—that God deeply wants us just where we
are, how we are--we begin a path of proving and demanding. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;">We expect others to fill a place of love and identity that
they simply cannot.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;">We live in a place of fragility, looking to the incomplete
efforts of others to tell us who we are and what we’re worth. They feel beat up
and we feel devastated.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;">Friends, this is dangerous for us, no matter our romantic situation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;">No person should be in charge of giving us our worth. Jesus
has already done it. Even in our most ragged and hot mess days, our worth
remains because the cross was accomplished.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;">Time spent solo, (not device-dependent time, mind you)
teaches us we’re okay. We get to talk to the One who made us, who never tires
of hearing about our day, who delights in creating moments, appointments, and surprises
for us to experience together, who will never waiver or be fickle, who will
only speak truth and life and freedom to us. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;">So I took myself to dinner and sat by the window with a book
at one of my favorite cafes. I watched as couples rushed past, others with gym
bags, and men with bundles of flowers. I got some curious glances and I fought the
urge to just sit there hidden in my phone, but I was okay. I was great, really.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;">Because I knew I wasn’t alone. Though it may not have looked
like it from the outside, I was fully wanted in that moment. A moment for time
with the One who called me “beloved” first and always. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;">When we can just simply be loved in the times that feel like
the exact opposite, it strengthens our heart with truth. It creates space in us
for grace. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;">If I trust I’m loved and can be content in it here, as one
sitting at a table with two chairs, it will be easier for me to be loved and
content in relationships with fallible people. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;">I will be better in relationships for having been alone with
Jesus. I will be set free more and more from needing to be completed by someone
else, and therefore be freed to love and enjoy them well. I will be less
inclined to stress and overwork if I know that who I am doesn’t depend on what
I’ve accomplished. I will be less weird and manipulative, if I trust I’m worthy
of being loved regardless of who wants to be with me on a given day. I will be less likely to hold relational hostages by withholding the love I feel I haven't received because of what I have already received in Christ.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;">Time spent away with Jesus fills and anchors me, so I’m less
rocked by the fickle. I’m more able to set people free with how I love them,
instead of trying to trick them into loving me back. I’m able to persist
through the sting of rejection because I know I’m fully and deeply chosen by
the Best of the best.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;">This isn’t a recipe or invitation for one-way relationships
or being insulated from hurts. However, when we find security in the One who
can offer it perfectly, we’re set free to love well, whether or not it’s
reciprocated. Since I’m not longer a slave to winning people over, I am no
longer roping myself into unhealthy relationships and I can give life and grace
to those who do choose me.</span><br />
<br />
Life and love are so beautiful, y’all.<br />
<br />
Dating, single, married, divorced, or otherwise, spend some time
away with the One who made it and made you. Be reminded of and solidified in
your place as His beloved. Let that fill and steady you. Let it heal you. Let
it set you free as you love others well.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1422697230017393622.post-91244041238324194962016-12-25T08:26:00.002-08:002018-05-26T21:51:13.296-07:00He came close.<div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGZLB8acqXT4YdVuHsXF7JLFk9h_an2AO7RogLpheMED7p-x8x3a2kF58kNUxc4NS3FfiiliJ-aMjmgLdTRWHjKbxfek4bRMvsPVSC_Xu1YiPWnhnDSI4UzHLBzSITE3q6ysnU8zPvGPqI/s1600/FullSizeRender+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: white; clear: right; color: #454545; float: right; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="305" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGZLB8acqXT4YdVuHsXF7JLFk9h_an2AO7RogLpheMED7p-x8x3a2kF58kNUxc4NS3FfiiliJ-aMjmgLdTRWHjKbxfek4bRMvsPVSC_Xu1YiPWnhnDSI4UzHLBzSITE3q6ysnU8zPvGPqI/s320/FullSizeRender+%25281%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">He comes close.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />To the least likely.<br /><br />To odd balls, unaccepted because of holy obedience.<br /><br />To smelly, messy, unapproachable and untouchable, He makes his bed right in the very makings of the mess.<br /><br />To ones who no longer fit in their families or towns, He chose them.<br /><br />To ones everyone is talking about. Ones who have "ruined their bright futures." Ones relegated to the fields. Ones spurred on by an interesting hunch and committed to following it.<br /><br />Even to ones with no room for him, He still comes.<br /><br />To empty-handed ones. To nobodies.<br /><br />To ones less than, disappointed, plagued with waiting, desperate, dreams crushed, oppressed, heavy, heartbroken.<br /><br />No descriptor or circumstance could convince Emmanuel that one wasn't worth His presence.<br /><br />His first chosen company was the likes of these.<br /><br />He came close. Womb close. Mama's arms close. Hay-filled trough close. To get to an unwed mother and shepherds whose stench begged people to keep their distance.<br /><br />You deem your home, your life, yourself unqualified?<br /><br />He sees an incredible party for which he's planned a remarkable entrance. Not a quick stop by, but moving in. Simply to remind you, moment by moment, who you are.<br /><br />And for you to know who you are, for your soul to feel its worth, He needs to be close.<br /><br />So He is. He shows up. Tonight. Everyday.<br /><br />Emmanuel comes close.<br /><br />And the ragamuffins are honored with the presence of the Holy of Holies.<br /><br />And suddenly, we find that closeness makes the hardship bearable, the outcasting less tragic, the inconvenient inconsequential, the humility beautiful.<br /><br />Closeness helps.<br /><br />It embraces the frayed and ruined. The exhausted, the rejected, those with absolutely nothing to offer. Loves the loveless.<br /><br />Because we need to be close to be loved.<br /><br />Because that's the only way that we're changed.<br /><br />Closeness doesn't require change in advance, but inevitably sets it into motion.<br /><br />Diapers can't be changed from a distance.<br /><br />Diapers demand contact.<br /><br />So He put on one, to clean up yours.<br /><br />His goal here wasn't being great, but coming close.<br /><br />When your goal is greatness, it's probably not closeness. Being close leads to being known, and being known means revealing one's not-so-greatness.<br /><br />But still, even knowing that, he came close.<br /><br />He came close and called you worth it.<br /><br />He made nobodies somebodies.<br /><br />Because you were worthy of showing up for.<br /><br />Your arms and your heart have been entrusted with the Savior.<br /><br />Deemed an appropriate dwelling.<br /><br />Let it happen. Even if you wonder why He'd come near, stop asking questions and soak up His closeness. Stop doubting if He could possibly even like you, ponder his evidenced love.<br /><br />Being close changes us.<br /><br />He has changed us.<br /><br />But first and most, he's just with us.<br /><br />He wants to always be with us.<br /><br />So he came close.</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1422697230017393622.post-87886212033690043652016-08-12T15:34:00.000-07:002016-08-13T08:51:15.888-07:00That one time when I spoke at NYG about being single…<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHmP3RsWSjdlEK5ZXf8IFefZJsSEc9PlnFInamvrCMIc6pmloXAqelK3z15W5ObuEsxHWe_sxTH4HCvoeSzz-6rE5-dOoavjHoVLnaAkGJcpMqlYAAYf33nMasVojz0PWeHPVUSOIph1S6/s1600/2016-07-17+11.30.41.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="144" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHmP3RsWSjdlEK5ZXf8IFefZJsSEc9PlnFInamvrCMIc6pmloXAqelK3z15W5ObuEsxHWe_sxTH4HCvoeSzz-6rE5-dOoavjHoVLnaAkGJcpMqlYAAYf33nMasVojz0PWeHPVUSOIph1S6/s320/2016-07-17+11.30.41.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Single and Almost 30. This could be you.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
Kids in the crowd go “awwww.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
“What?! Guys! It’s not THAT bad!”<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We all giggled and had some fun as I shared several of the
runner up titles for the session I led at the LCMS National Youth Gathering that was deemed, “In the Meantime: Singleness
isn’t just Cat Ladies and Basement Dudes.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s good to laugh. Especially about such a potentially
sensitive topic, knowing that for high schoolers (and some adult leaders trying
to keep a low profile), even choosing this session was risking awkwardness.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Several months ago, I thought “will anyone even come
to a session on being single?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A shocking response of “yes” from those attending, as well
as <i><b>so many</b></i> people who have sent me emails, texts, and messages, saying they’re
so glad the Church is talking about those among us who are not married. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This may come as a surprise to you, but just-about-30 year old women don’t dream of speaking at a
national conference about being single. It took me some time, good community,
and God convincing me with the following reasons:</div>
<ol>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">I am so passionate about living a good, full
story. Everyone is always waiting for something. I am committed to not wasting
the gift of the meantime. Jesus’ promise to us for a life abundant, doesn’t
come only in a velvet box attached to a ring. It’s for you and for me today.
Right now.</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">There is a lot of shame and awkwardness
surrounding unmarried people in the church. The church doesn’t know what to
do with us. Proof is in my hesitancy to want to have my face connected to this
topic at NYG. But if putting myself out there and saying, “hey, life is good
and I’m not even married!” Then maybe others will feel a bit more freedom, too.
Jesus was single. We’re gonna be okay, people.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Unmarried people in the church, especially
youth, cannot have “How I Met Your Mother” and “New Girl” as their only
references for single life. Everyone will be unmarried for at least part of
their life. We, as the church, must equip them to do that well.</span></li>
</ol>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We talked about a whole heap of things in those hour long
sessions, but I’ve received some requests from folks asking for the jist. I’ll
hit some highlights, with possible room for future unpacking. (If something
resonates you want to hear more about, let me know.)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<ol>
<li><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Genesis 2:18 says, “it is not good for man
to be alone.”</b><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><br />1 Corinthians 7:1 says, “it is good for man not to marry.”</b><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><br />Both are written, both are true.</b><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><br />In a world designed for couples and families, from rides to phone plans,
being uncoupled can feel like you’re wrong; not how and who you should be. Paul
is responding to the inquiries of the unmarried and married people in Corinth
who were trying to figure out how to navigate this very dynamic. Corinth being
a success-driven society, where marriage and family was a pre-requisite for
status, left the unmarried believers there lacking position or respect. On the other
side of the spectrum, it was not uncommon for those married and unmarried alike
to have unbridled sexual practices with numerous partners. The Christians in Corinth were seeking wisdom on how to approach such dynamics. Some tempted to abstain
from physical intimacy, even in marriage, to not be tarnished by what was
sometimes seen as a less than spiritual, carnal act. Paul brings clarity and
lifts a burden of expectation for these people. You are okay. It’s good not to marry. It’s
good to marry. It might even be better to not marry.<br /><br /></span></li>
<li><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Seek first his kingdom and His righteousness
and all these things will be added unto you. (Matthew 6:33)</b><b><i> </i></b><br />This has been a pivotal passage in my life.
I believe that God has made you and me on purpose, for a purpose. That purpose
may be supported by, but isn’t defined by, whether or not you are married. Whether
single for a season or your whole story, are you willing to seek God’s kingdom
first, before even a spouse, and trust him to fill in the rest of the picture?<br /><br />This verse captures so well the heart of Paul’s message to the Corinthians and
to all of us.<br /><br /><b style="font-style: italic;">And
don’t be wishing you were someplace else or with someone else. Where you are
right now is God’s place for you. Live and obey and love and believe right
there. God, not your marital status, defines your life. Don’t think I’m being
harder on you than on the others. I give this same counsel in all the churches.
(1 Corinthians 7:17, the Message)</b><br /><br />Singleness is a vocation or a calling, so is marriage. Paul’s
encouragement is to be at peace wherever you find yourself, seek and serve the
Lord in that place, and know that it is God who defines you, not your
relationship status.<br /><br /></li>
<li><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;">There should be no singles in the Church. </b><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><br />The term “single” is the most commonly used to describe those who are unmarried.
But there should never be anyone, married or not, living singly in the Church. <i>(Dr. Paul Eddy has written and spoken so well on this.)</i> We are all called to be part of this family, walking together in community.
Faith is a team sport. Jesus wasn’t married, but never did he live singly. As
it should be for each of us in the Body of Christ.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><br /><b><br />Church:</b> We have to be better about loving our unmarried friends. Please don’t
try to pity us as if we are broken or assume we want to be fixed with your set
ups. Don’t let “are you married” be the first question to ask new people. I
truly believe that a big portion of the Church’s millennial problem is actual a
single problem. We don’t know what to do with these generations that are not
running to marriage as quickly as we expect. Women’s ministries that are
completely geared toward being a mom and wife are of no appeal to me. I know it
will come up because those are big pieces of many peoples’ lives that are
important, but I think we also do these women a disservice solely talking in
terms of these roles because their first identity is Jesus, too. We all need to
be reminded of that, </span><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;">especially</b><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> when
the wife and mama or dad/husband days are in shambles.<br /><br />And seriously, the unmarried folks in the house can get down with the occasional sermon on marriage or parenting, but it should be complimented by, at least a portion, that addresses unmarried life. We can all stand to consider how to love people in these situations better, but going unacknowledged for a whole sermon series on marriage can be so invalidating. Paul says both are good. Let's get better at equipping folks to do both well.<br /><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><br />Church, here’s an easy idea to bless unmarried folks (or marrieds, too, for that
matter): invite them over. Don’t feel weird that they might think your kids are
crazy or that your life is lame. Ask about how life is. You’ll probably find it’s
more similar to yours than you think. Help us not live singly, as people, not
just as “singles.”<br /><br /></span></span></li>
<li><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Don’t wish away the vocation of time being
unmarried. </b><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><br />I obviously understand the struggle, but I think it’s so funny sometimes that
we profess, follow, and strive to be more like Jesus, except in his
relationship status. I know it’s tough some days, but each day is a gift given
to us by God, not to be wasted nor wished away. What unique ministry or
blessing might he have prepared for you just where you are, as you are? I
cannot believe that the “life abundantly” that Jesus promised in John 10:10 was
only set apart for people with rings. Unmarried friends, please. Live good
stories. Don’t wish away what you have right now. Serve your friends and family
well. Serve your church. Be a loving adult to other peoples’ kids. Do cool
stuff that matters. Have adventures. Don’t wish away where you are.<br /><br /></span></li>
<li><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Learn what good single living is from the One
who made you. </b><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><br />I think about all the loud messages to unmarried folks these days. Either
you’re lame and broken, destined for cats and video games, or you are an
untamed party animal, free to drink up and hook up as much and as often as
you’re able. Family and marriage is portrayed as a ball and chain to be
avoided.<br /><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><br />All those things are so lacking in truth.</span><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;">
</b><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">We must first strive to seek Jesus and His Word, to understand further our
relationship with him, that helps inform relationships with others. Understanding
His design of the covenant of marriage and that sex is meant for that
relationship. Understanding that He is the only perfect pursuer of our hearts
and all others, even a spouse will fail in comparison.<br /><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><br />Unmarried friends, being unmarried isn’t an excuse to be unhealthy, immature,
or irresponsible—physically, emotionally, spiritually, relationally. It’s an
opportunity to focus more on health and healing in Jesus. We have space for
more divine appointments with the Creator and pursuer of our hearts. This is a
season to take advantage of that. Even as unmarried people, we are part of
families and communities; called to invest well in people and not be lazy or
selfish with our time and resources.<br /><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><br />Who do you have in your life that is encouraging you to live an abundant,
God-honoring life, whether married or unmarried? How are you encouraging each
other to trust what God says is best about living out your specific
relationship vocation?<br /><br /></span></span></span></span></li>
<li><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Singleness or marriage is neither your
name, nor your solution. JESUS IS.</b><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><br />Repeat after me: a spouse is not a savior.<br /></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">One more time for good measure: </span><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;">a spouse
is not a savior.<br /></b><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">There are hard things about being single. There are hard things about being
married.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Some of my married friends are more lonely now that I am. It is vital that we
not idolize a relationship or singleness as our solution, but finding peace and
value in Christ alone.<br />The solution to our loneliness, our aches, our insecurities, isn't a spouse nor being single. It's Jesus.<br /><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><br /></span></span></li>
<li><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;">God doesn’t owe you anything. He already
gave you Jesus.</b><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><br />These words used to really sting me.<br /><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><br />“Are you sure you don’t owe me a husband, God? Because I kind of thought that
was written in the deal somewhere…”<br /><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><br />Well, I’m hopeful that it could be part of my story, but I had to seriously ask
myself, “when did Jesus stop being enough for you, Shelly, that you’re so
desperately waiting for a husband?”</span></span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">And I had to stop and repent. Apologizing to a God who’s given me everything,
including His Son and I’m still crabby that I don’t have more.<br /><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><br />It goes back to seeking Him and His Kingdom first, and really trusting that He
will not withhold any good thing, but fill in the rest of the picture for me.</span></span></li>
</ol>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
I could write a book just on the opportunities and
conversations He’s given me to tell people they are loved by their Good Father
through this speaking experience. Something that seemed so daunting became such
a blessing.<br />
<span style="font-family: "symbol"; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "symbol"; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">I am not saying marriage is bad or you shouldn’t
pray for a spouse or date.</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">I am saying don’t wish away the season. Whether
you’re single for a season or your story, life is a gift. God hasn’t forgotten
you and his promise for life abundantly is yours in Jesus. You are not less
whole or someone needing to be fixed. You are okay. We are okay.</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">I am saying you have a purpose regardless of
your relationship status. You are enough and chosen by God long before you took
your first breath. You were made on purpose, for a purpose. It is not a purpose
that only matters if you have a ring. Don’t let the enemy tell you otherwise.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "symbol"; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">I am saying don’t idolize relationship status.
We do it too much—in the world and in the Church. J</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">esus doesn’t want to be in
second place behind a significant other or your quest for freedom in singleness.
He wants you. HE is the solution.</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
I believe that God writes the best stories. It’s one of the
things I love about Him most. He’s writing yours and writing it well. Whether
or not marriage is part of the narrative, it’s going to be an adventure and it’s
going to be good, because Jesus offers nothing less.<o:p></o:p></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1422697230017393622.post-80149929245326634442016-07-04T08:36:00.000-07:002016-07-04T08:36:00.900-07:00ministry in the meantime: the honor of loving other peoples' kids<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRAF2bnuFBHXRUrGuxXcpbxiNZ1SZU7d3D7ZA9u_MOEMLrLj-tYRJlgN-8lp4JMqQFVASwFM3nNObaqplQTPFt2pA4cgYTQN00eSXbs5se8fdmMyCoLgz9fcSVH9omrdxRG2FiB8RF_poL/s1600/adventure+dev.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRAF2bnuFBHXRUrGuxXcpbxiNZ1SZU7d3D7ZA9u_MOEMLrLj-tYRJlgN-8lp4JMqQFVASwFM3nNObaqplQTPFt2pA4cgYTQN00eSXbs5se8fdmMyCoLgz9fcSVH9omrdxRG2FiB8RF_poL/s320/adventure+dev.jpg" width="240" /></a>Today is an odd day. The 4th of July, yes, but today "meantime" takes on a whole different meaning. A year has already passed since our friend, Devin, went to be with Jesus; celebrating ultimate freedom.<br /><br />In so many ways, we all live in a meantime. A meantime until reuniting with loved ones in heaven. A meantime before Jesus comes back, heals every possible break and sickness the world suffers, and breathes eternal resurrection for us.<br /><br />But until that day, the meantime is also full of ache and loss. The longer we live, the more we experience death and devastation. Heartbreak abounds.<br /><br />As I think about a life in professional ministry, in so many ways it's a life of walking through peoples' greatest joys and pains with them, reassuring them that the anchor holds steady regardless. In ministry to college students, this is highly concentrated. High highs, low lows, enthusiastic and excited hellos, and fearful, excited, and sad good-byes. Life is beautifully and richly intense in college and college ministry.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Today I'm grateful for that, because it means I got to know Devin well in just a year--as our student worker, one of our Nicaragua team leaders, a regular chapel musician, and a student I knew would always be up for taking someone else under his wing (his tutelage, as he might say). I'm grateful for these touch points that allowed me to walk with Devin, see God's incredible workmanship in him, and be able to give thanks for him with others on days like today.<br /><br />Ministry and just life in general is full of heartbreak. Sometimes overwhelmingly so. We don't go through deep water alone, though. And I find it to be true that heartbreak only happens after love has already showed up. We ache because we've known something good, someone who mattered. It doesn't make the ache less, but it's given worth and honor as proof of love.<br /><br />A few weeks after Devin had passed away, I got to go to a cookout at his mom's house. I was grateful to see Devin's home, all the photos she had, and the stories shared from family and friends through smiles and tears. Before I left, I told her how much of a gift her son was to me, to our Nica team, and to our campus community and that she would've been proud to see how he walked his daily life. I thanked her for welcoming us into her home and sharing her heart and her hospitality with us.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b>She simply responded, "thank you for loving my son."</b></div>
<br />My meantime is full of college relationship drama, tanking classes, mental health struggles, spiritual wandering, so much processing through fear, discussing career choices and poor choices, and so much showing up just to do life together, praying they see Jesus and how crazy about them He is. Most days are life giving as I escort students through transformation, and some days are just plain heavy.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<b><i><br /></i></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<b>However, I see all the meantime ache becomes worthwhile, when I am reminded what a privilege it is to walk with and love peoples' kids as they are trying out being adults. </b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
It's a life that truly is an adventure. Whatever your meantime adventure is, I pray you make it worth it and show up with love for people. People are the biggest and best adventures. I'm grateful our adventures crossed, Devin.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1422697230017393622.post-90288507243113870032016-05-29T13:23:00.002-07:002016-05-29T13:25:14.614-07:00rhythm, rest, & lessons from my brita pitcher.<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmb9oL2bX1zKDFsJ4ahyphenhyphenZE5bUfL4ZsUIeR1nR8cmMacldvIAubEuCcP7yoe2PKn4NknLFYEd-jWkXWwtOFy2wR1j2MAo6H07uygDtq8LWrKb_Ttk-n7XtsTk3g2hOz-AJ2-jBPpSU-EtRu/s1600/2016-05-29+12.43.32+HDR-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmb9oL2bX1zKDFsJ4ahyphenhyphenZE5bUfL4ZsUIeR1nR8cmMacldvIAubEuCcP7yoe2PKn4NknLFYEd-jWkXWwtOFy2wR1j2MAo6H07uygDtq8LWrKb_Ttk-n7XtsTk3g2hOz-AJ2-jBPpSU-EtRu/s320/2016-05-29+12.43.32+HDR-3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I’ve been leading worship for some time now and of all the
different aspects of playing and leading a song, tempo and rhythm can be one of
the more difficult pieces for me.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Every worship leader has had those times where you’re either
struggling to speed the band up or keep them from running away with a song. It’s
frustrating and even if everything else is right, if the tempo and rhythm are
off, it. Is. Off.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Rhythm is a major theme in my life, and I would argue all
lives. Rhythm is in our design and it’s not just for musicians. Yes, friends
who can’t clap along with songs, even you, were built with a rhythm.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The rhythm got set at the creation of the world. The Creation story in Genesis
is a Hebrew poem. Even the story of God making everything carries a cadence. On
the ____ day, God made _____ and it was good. Until day six, when the cadence is
similar but hits a climax when people are made and get a “very good.” Then
something remarkable happens.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">There’s a break in the rhythm. The Trinity rests. God of all
time and space who doesn’t need rest, does, to enjoy what They have made and to
model the rhythm of rest They designed in us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="border-bottom: dotted windowtext 3.0pt; border: none; mso-element: para-border-div; padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: dotted windowtext 3.0pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 0in 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Have you ever thought of it that
way? Even before the fall, God decided he should model rest and enjoyment
because, even then, it would be easy to continue working. He was showing us how
it was done and teaching us the value of enjoyment and the importance of rest.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: dotted windowtext 3.0pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 0in 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">In Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus is
making a point about pace and rhythm.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: dotted windowtext 3.0pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 0in 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Perhaps you’ve heard the verse, “Come
to me all you who are weary and heavy-laden and I will give you rest. … My yoke
is easy and my burden is light.”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: dotted windowtext 3.0pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 0in 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I appreciate the paraphrase of “The
Message” with this passage. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: dotted windowtext 3.0pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 0in 0in; padding: 0in;">
<i><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned
out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life.
I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how
I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or
ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and
lightly.”</span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: dotted windowtext 3.0pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 0in 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Jesus is using livestock imagery
here. When a farmer would get a new work animal like an ox or donkey, he would
pair the new, inexperienced animal with a more experienced one. Together, they
would share a yoke, pulling the plow together and the older would teach the
newer. Without the older animal, the young one would go too fast and burn out
quickly, or they might get distracted and never get going. The experienced
animal set a good pace and taught the younger a healthy rhythm that made the
yoke easy and manageable.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: dotted windowtext 3.0pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 0in 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">This is what Jesus is talking
about in this passage. We don’t have to carry heavy yokes, sprinting or
struggling through life. He invites us into an unforced rhythm of grace; a
steady, healthy cadence. (I’d recommend <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Up6vptmlNyg">Judah Smith’s teaching</a> on this, by the
way.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: dotted windowtext 3.0pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 0in 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">***</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p><br /></span>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: dotted windowtext 3.0pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 0in 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">In recent months, I have
discovered how very exhausted I am, frustrated at my inability to keep what I
was failing to see as an incredibly high pace paired with even higher
expectations. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: dotted windowtext 3.0pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 0in 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I was leading a women’s retreat,
out for a walk through some camp trails, talking to God. I told him how
frustrating it was that I was trying to speak, teach, create worship
experiences, walk alongside students, and it felt like I had nothing to give.
It was like trying to squeeze water from a rock. And frankly, it made me really
mad. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: dotted windowtext 3.0pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 0in 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">“God, you’ve given me all this to
do for your Kingdom. Can ya help a sister out?!”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: dotted windowtext 3.0pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 0in 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I got home that evening, thirsty
from the day’s traveling. I open the fridge to find the Brita pitcher empty. As
I filled it up in the sink and stood there waiting for it to filter down, anger
welled up in me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: dotted windowtext 3.0pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 0in 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">“This takes FOREVER. I don’t have
TIME for this stupid pitcher. I’m thirsty and just WANT A DRINK OF WATER.”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: dotted windowtext 3.0pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 0in 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Truth hit my heart like a 2x4.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">“Yeah, it does take time to refill. You’re more empty than normal, so it takes
even longer. But if you don’t wait and allow me time to fill you up, you’ll
have nothing to pour out. Or you’ll try to rush before you’re filled and make a
huge mess. Just. Be. Still. I’ll fill you up.”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: dotted windowtext 3.0pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 0in 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">In that moment, I realized how
many lies I had been believing about my life, who I am, and who God is.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: dotted windowtext 3.0pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 0in 0in; padding: 0in;">
<i><span style="font-family: inherit;">-That He’s asked me to keep this pace.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: dotted windowtext 3.0pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 0in 0in; padding: 0in;">
<i><span style="font-family: inherit;">-That He’s expecting me to figure it all out on my own and I better not
screw it up.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: dotted windowtext 3.0pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 0in 0in; padding: 0in;">
<i><span style="font-family: inherit;">-That spending time with Him and in His Word was just another thing He
wanted from me, instead of healing, watering, and provision for me; time spent with my Good Father.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: dotted windowtext 3.0pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 0in 0in; padding: 0in;">
<i><span style="font-family: inherit;">-That I couldn’t stop my high speed living because if I did, my worth would
decrease and I wouldn’t be wanted anymore.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: dotted windowtext 3.0pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 0in 0in; padding: 0in;">
<i><span style="font-family: inherit;">-That my wounds and aches and exhaustion were just my cross to bear, so
I better suck it up.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: dotted windowtext 3.0pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 0in 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">It became very clear that my rhythm needed a reset. I needed some spiritual shock
paddles to jolt me back into the rhythm God had written in me.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: dotted windowtext 3.0pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 0in 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">So often, I see myself and others
being victims of our own chaos. We all too easily accept that this
is “just the way life is.” Well, it doesn’t have to be.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: dotted windowtext 3.0pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 0in 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: dotted windowtext 3.0pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 0in 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://vimeo.com/101761387">3DM’s Learning Circle</a> has been a
gift to me this past year. It’s an invitation to process what God is saying and
it how might change our trajectory into further Gospel freedom and ministry.
The circle gave me new eyes to see God’s invitation for me to rest and be
filled up, to be intentional about living a healthy rhythm instead of just
accepting an unhealthy pace.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: dotted windowtext 3.0pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 0in 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">In this process, I’ve realized I’ve
walked through a lot of big things in the last few years, life transitions, some
major ministry challenges, grief, and high life demands, without any real down
time to breathe, process, heal, even figure out what’s hurt and what the next
new step is. I have been in constant motion for so long trying to stay on top
of work life, family and friend commitments, and still do some things that
energize and fill me.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: dotted windowtext 3.0pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 0in 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">So for the past few weeks and the
next few, the pace looks different. I’m taking more time and space to rest even
more than normal, to actually both survey the damage and celebrate the journey
been on, to schedule some doctors’ appointments and write some music. The learning circle has given me the gift of space to listen, reflect, and make a new better choice.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: dotted windowtext 3.0pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 0in 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">To zoom out and look at my
calendar going forward, being intentional about what a healthy weekly and
monthly rhythm look like, so I can make informed decisions that don’t empty my
pitcher without adequate time to refill it. I desire to live in an unforced
rhythm of grace, where my pitcher is regularly refilled and never scraping the
bottom to fill someone else’s cup.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;"><br />It’s time to listen to the rhythm and tempo God
has set and follow his lead in keeping the song together.</span></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1422697230017393622.post-71231283573447836032016-03-04T19:11:00.000-08:002016-03-04T19:11:54.573-08:00encouragement. the word that sustains the weary.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh75C8vAudB-sdvqorYIrdG5WIjOWnQIfgDz52dtFPUFnYINWJvmu95M4v2eb34j6u48JLHlDn1OmEG9wgup3gfuazBnUTke_oc-mhecu33L29UBTiwpIiTOwwqHXVkJ-EE1umzpEvQWjv-/s1600/2016-03-02+12.07.28.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh75C8vAudB-sdvqorYIrdG5WIjOWnQIfgDz52dtFPUFnYINWJvmu95M4v2eb34j6u48JLHlDn1OmEG9wgup3gfuazBnUTke_oc-mhecu33L29UBTiwpIiTOwwqHXVkJ-EE1umzpEvQWjv-/s320/2016-03-02+12.07.28.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>“The Sovereign Lord has given me a well-instructed tongue,
to know the word that sustains the weary.” Isaiah 50:4</b><br /><br /><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This word has been rocking my world this week. Impressing on
my heart that as person who follows Jesus, especially one who gets to do
ministry professionally, this is my calling and prayer: to have a
well-instructed tongue that speaks words to sustain the weary.<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What a beautiful thought. And I think quickly, then, how
often my tongue is a poor student, inattentive and careless. Heckling and
heaping onto the weary more than sustaining them. How quickly we take the role
of world critic and our words follow suit.<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Encouragement has been heavy on my heart recently. Scripture
has a lot to say about encouragement and names it as a significant purpose for our words. One
of the main themes of Paul's letter to the Ephesians is urging the Body to encourage one another. To
give others the strength to carry on for another day in a world that wears and
beats down. To rebuild one another with love and truth that we wouldn’t wither
under the hailstorm of lies, hits, and disappointments the world rains on us. I can think of a few people in my life whose conversations feel like a storm shelter. I leave lighter and more rested than before; a little more whole and bold to face the stuff of life. What a gift.<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I think this is what Paul is writing about in Ephesians 4:29, <i>“Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and
helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.” </i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Or Proverbs 16:24, <i><span style="font-family: inherit;">"<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.5454540252686px;">Gracious </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.5454540252686px;">words</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.5454540252686px;"> are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.5454540252686px;">healing to the bones</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.5454540252686px;">."</span></span></i><br /><br /><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
These verses can be equal parts of convicting and empowering for me. Is my tongue being
well-instructed and tamed? Is what I’m saying helpful, necessary, healing? Am I
adding to someone’s insecurity or assuring them they are enough and loved despite their weaknesses?<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Ultimately, am I
person that’s created a place safe enough for people to share their
insecurities because they trust I’ll join them in the battle of protecting what’s
vulnerable?<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Or do I tell people through what I say and how I say it that
I will be eager to put on my critic hat at the first sign of messiness, mistakes,
weird quirks, or totally uncool dance moves?<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I truly believe one of the most important parts of my job of
working with college students is helping them believe they’re awesome. Speaking
it as often as possible to a weary, uncertain, awkward, shaky, powerful, and
inspiring group of people. Fearfully and wonderfully made. Knit together well
and on purpose. Not made to be afraid or insecure, but open, brave, and secure; dorky
hobbies, weird dance moves, and all. You’re incredible and endearing. You
should know it. I should tell you. We should tell each other.<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At the end of the day, when I reflect on what the past hours
have held, I’ve lately asked, “<b>have you
done more building or demo today?</b>” Have you found more flaw than art in
those who bear God’s image around you? Or have you simply left a masterpiece ignored
and unaddressed? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m not suggesting you just run up and down the sidewalks
screaming compliments or telling strangers you think they’re awesome, but I
mean, that could probably be pretty powerful, too. I’m merely asking this: <b>do those around you get more beat up or
built up by the hammer that is your words?</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<ul>
<li>If that’s a convicting question, know you are forgiven and invited into a life to the full by a
Savior who believed you were worth it at your most weary and worn place. I believe there's a reason God gave us a means of grace that is a meal which must physically touch and go through our mouth; a part of us in constant and desperate need of healing and redemption. God spoke you into creation with his words and saved you in the saying of, "it is finished" and "he is risen."</li>
<li>If you answer as one whose been neutral, neither tearing
down or building, that’s alright. Sometimes silence is a great idea.
“Shut-mouth grace,” as a friend of mine would call it, keeps us from saying
things that are less than helpful. But sometimes we withhold the encouragement
we hold in our hearts and minds for others. As if brilliant colored paints were
meant to stay tucked in a drawer instead of adding life and courage to an
on-going work. And other times, encouragement and truth with love isn’t
comfortable, but still begs to be spoken, lest we let a masterpiece be ruined
by cuts of lies or sin. Don't leave those around you guessing. You affect those who surround you. I pray you choose to engage, care enough to speak, and do so with words that build.</li>
<li>And finally, if you answer as one who encourages and builds up, (which I
believe all of us to some degree or another) thank you. Your words sustain
weary souls like mine. Your words remind us that the devil
isn’t winning, that we’re not alone, that God and love and hope are alive and
more true than the hardest things we face. This is the power of encouragement.
Cheering each other into the purposes that God has laid out for us. Hammering
away at the chains of insecurity and lies that keep us from being free and
brave to live the beautiful, meaningful stuff that God has planned for us. It drives us to pick up a hammer and aid other captives.</li>
</ul>
<br />It starts, though, with you and I believing encouragement about us
first. Say it with me: <i>I am fearfully, wonderfully made, a masterpiece created for purposes God
laid out in advance.</i><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The more we believe this and stand in it in confidence, the
more others go from competition in a
zero-sum game to ones made to be delighted in. Comparison dies and celebration rises when we know we are
created well, redeemed fully, and chosen constantly in Christ. And suddenly, it
becomes this beautiful thing, an incredible privilege, to look into the eyes of another weary traveler,
smile as you see divine reflection in them, and say, “you too.”<o:p></o:p></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1422697230017393622.post-91205039278298033162016-02-13T15:17:00.001-08:002016-02-14T08:05:58.782-08:00Ralphie, valentines, and thoughts on being chosen.<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4vdyHfhhaYjMx7l0Ed_o0a1njYswYpwQwHA54uxqPJfOum4cRoPY_FG6GpMJCHEwuzP81_Sn4Ald1QBpLIb3x2FtXd2aBr4_gXxnGGXGmW2DuVpH7n-G90BagXe-4CHxrAQOrjIOU1b-t/s320/i_choo-choo-choose_you-748156.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4vdyHfhhaYjMx7l0Ed_o0a1njYswYpwQwHA54uxqPJfOum4cRoPY_FG6GpMJCHEwuzP81_Sn4Ald1QBpLIb3x2FtXd2aBr4_gXxnGGXGmW2DuVpH7n-G90BagXe-4CHxrAQOrjIOU1b-t/s320/i_choo-choo-choose_you-748156.gif" /></a>I went through a season of watching the Simpsons early in
college. There was one Valentine’s Day episode where Lisa brings valentines to
school for all of the kids in her class. She gives Ralphie one with a train on
it that reads “I choo-choo-choose you!” As it turned out, the valentine from
Lisa was the only one Ralphie received and he spends the rest of the episode
doting over her, convinced they were meant to be.<br />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s ridiculous and humorous, but I think there’s something
going on there.<br />
<br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Like maybe to make sure if you don’t <i>like</i> like someone to be sure you’re not the only valentine they
get. Am I right? <br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
But seriously, one simple locomotive card made little
Ralphie believe someone picked him and it completely changed how he was living
his life. Living believing the opposite, though, can have just as powerful of
an effect. I know I get all kinds of weird when I’m not feeling chosen.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I remember working super hard in sports in
elementary and high school, so I would be among the first called when it
came to picking teams. Early in elementary school, I was tiny and clumsy, but I
worked hard and spent hours training and practicing sports. I loved the return
of being picked at the beginning for teams; having people see something
worthwhile in me that they wanted to be connected to.<br />
<br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In a season where I find myself single in my late 20’s [<i>gulp</i>], and no amount of practicing
catching dodgeballs or shooting free throws can help my chances, I battle
feelings of not being chosen. Typically, I find it fairly easy to see the
blessings singleness offers (though, I wouldn’t be opposed to experiencing the
blessings of another kind of season). But there are days, when doubts creep in
and the enemy whispers:<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i><b>“You know, if everyone in the world had to choose only one person, you wouldn’t
be anyone’s first pick. You would be alone.”</b></i></div>
</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ouch. <br />
<br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s probably one of the most devastating thoughts I’ve had
in my adult life. And, for me, among the hardest things of singleness.<br />
<br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I think that’s what makes marriage so incredible. You are
committing to choosing this one person every single day for the rest of your
lives. In difficulty, in jerkiness, in delightfulness, in adventure, in offers
of something or someone that could be better, they are <i>the one</i> you pick.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But what I've come to realize is there is often a gap between our feelings and the truth. Even in marriage, as my friends have shared with me,
there are days they don’t always feel picked even when they know they are. And
the same is true for me.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If you’re like me and battle those “not chosen” feelings, we
can hang on to these two things:<br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<ol>
<li><b>You were picked long
before anyone on earth could pick you.</b> Out of eternity, the Trinity had a
conversation about you and you were an idea so good they couldn’t shake you.
You HAD to be made. If that’s not chosen, I don’t know what is.</li>
<li><b>I believe it’s
incredibly important to let people know you pick them.</b> We are designed for
community; being known and loved and not just out of obligation, but because
someone chooses us. However, we were made to be fully known and completely
loved. No amount of people choosing you or me can attain that. That’s a Jesus
kind of love – one that lays down his life for his friends.</li>
</ol>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And that’s enough, whether or not it feels like it some
days.<br />
<br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>And to those who have
your person picked and they pick you back, I know there are days that being
picked by him or her doesn’t feel like enough.</b> I hope you also feel so
picked by your community. We can’t be filled by only one person.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But could I give us all a suggestion?<br />
<br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Show your people you
pick them this week.</b> Heck, pick someone you don’t normally pick this week
for awhile. But especially for your single people, take a moment to let them
know they are picked. Sometimes, on days of doubt or holidays that leave us
uncertain we have reason to celebrate, we need a little bit of an extra
reminder. A dinner invite, a cup of coffee, a text, just to let us know we’re
thought of and worthy of your time and energy.<br />
<br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It reminds us we’re not alone. It reminds us that even solo,
wondering what things might be keeping us that way, that we can be picked. It
gives us a glimpse of the massive choice Jesus made about us, so embarrassingly
and vulnerably choosing those who weren’t remotely interested. In any and every
season, that’s you.<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You are chosen, my friend. I am, too. Let’s agree to remind
each other, okay?<o:p></o:p></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1422697230017393622.post-39700550636117123882015-09-10T20:57:00.004-07:002015-09-11T08:49:17.449-07:00you'll see me tomorrow.<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Today is World Suicide Prevention Day. The incredible organization <i><a href="http://www.twloha.com/">To Write Love on Her Arms</a></i> encouraged people to fight suicide with a message of "We'll see you tomorrow." They invited people to share why you'll see them tomorrow, to share hope, to spur each other on, to encourage those battling struggles. I gave a short answer this morning, but it didn't seem to do the question justice. Life is full of reasons to keep going. I hope you can find some encouragement in mine.</span><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">You'll see me tomorrow because...</span></b><br />
<br />
Because being auntie to my niece, nephew, godchildren, and
other adopted little ones in my life is one of my most important and favorite jobs.<br />
<o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because cuddles, giggles, stories, tickles, and roars are the love language of toddlers and fill my heart to bursting, and watching little people learn gives me hope that I still can too.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because texts from my people remind me I am an important piece
of their lives and they are pieces in mine that aren’t scared off by
my mess.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because college is awesome and hard and I know it’s my calling to
listen, laugh, dance, binge on late night apps, and love students through that
season. <o:p></o:p><br />
Because young people need someone to tell them the truth and set boundaries. And someone who will welcome them when they learn those lessons the hard way.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because students, and all of us, need someone to be so okay
with being embarrassingly silly and unashamedly themselves, and by doing so,
gives permission to those around to do the same.<br />
Because my students are awesome and I often find they make incredible teachers.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because there are always good books that need to be read and
songs that need to be written.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because there are so many amazing restaurants, coffee shops,
and adventure spots in the Twin Cities that need to be shared with good
company.<br />
Because it's awesome to watch someone else delight in something you love.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because life is a gift and one that is lost by some too soon.
We must live fully while we are able.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because I told people I’d see them next year in Nicaragua and one of my sweet friends isn’t able to return like we thought he would.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because I’m cool if I think I’m cool. And there are so many cool
people who teach me cool things like that.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because I am unique and am the only time the world will have
this specific glimpse of God’s image put in me.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because you can always “dance it out.” And because I never
want dance parties to end.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because the world is full of amazing puns and those
opportunities should not be missed.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because there are new funny youtube videos being created every day and I should probably watch them.<br />
Because singing what I’m doing was my thing way before Marshall on HIMYM or Jess from <i>The New Girl</i> and it always gets a giggle when someone catches me and I totally didn't realize I was doing it.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because I really like food.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because eating outside makes food taste better and bonfires turn strangers into friends and friends into your people.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because my kitchen is a place where mouths and souls are fed
and my dinner table needs to hear more stories and collect more spills.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because my parents, teachers, mentors, and friends have lavishly
poured themselves into me and that gold is not meant to be thrown out, but used fully.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because there are moments I am blown away with how well people
know me and how exciting it is to discover new layers of people I know well.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because there are way too many people across the country and around the world that I love and want to share laughter, stories, and how we see Jesus in each other, with one another again and again.<br />
<br />
Because my world is full of brilliant people doing incredible things in their stories to love people, create things, and change the world through day to day love and I have a front row seat to watch in awe and applaud when they just keep getting better season after season. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because DMB is still making new music and the Gorge beckons me to come away again and bring my friends.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because antiques and old things are my jam. They teach me
that old, rusty things are awesome and to be treasured and restored, and that’s
the way God sees us, too.<o:p></o:p><br />
Because Jesus shows up at Nina’s Café in the fall, and on faces wrapped in hijabs, and in lightning bolts that streak the sky, and in sweet songs sung on street corners, in late night convos over pints, and in his Word day after day and I don’t want to miss an opportunity to rendezvous.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because I was made in the image of the Creator, made to create and not to destroy. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because I will never run out of creative projects to capture and reflect life, beauty, and hope.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because people need to be reminded that they matter and I
can do that.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because God sees me, and you. My way is not hidden from him. He’s not shocked or scared of who or where I am and is going before and at my side.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because hard days and seasons happen and I am so affected at times,
but the love of God is unaffected and constant—a sure and steady anchor for our
souls.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because Jesus is the lifter of heads. That's good news.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because summer is for beach days and Conny’s Creamy Cone. Fall is for football, apples, bonfires, and leaves. Winter is for sledding, skiing, and being cozy. And spring is for watching living proof of resurrection. And these four remind us that no season, whether excruciating or wonderful, is forever.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because there’s cool stuff still to be done that matters; stuff to be done with people; stuff that will change the world and how we live in it.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because it’s never too late to try again, to make a new choice, or to have a new adventure.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because trails are meant to be hiked. Lakes are meant be swam. And rivers are meant to be rafted.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because I’ve still not been to Duluth, or to a game in the new Busch stadium, or to Schwalmstadt, Germany to see the Schwalm River.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because I have dreams. Of conquering the Grand Canyon. Of
recording an album. Of caring for the fatherless. Of falling in love. Of
choosing the same man every day for the rest of my story and accepting him
choosing me. And those are worthy pursuits.<br />
Because I have friends that invite me on adventures and that feels a lot like Jesus.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because there’s lots of accusing, black and white viewpoints on politics, values, brand names, and salsa preference. Division abounds and I believe God has gifted me for gray areas and has called me to
peacemaking.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because days aren’t perfect, but lots are really good. And the bad ones draw us closer to Jesus and each other.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because the devil and the world are a loud, constant buzz of
lies and discouragement and I am a voice that can speak truth, both for me and
you.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because we both need to be reminded who we are and that we
are okay and that we can overcome and thrive. Even when it seems everyone is a
critic, I have to be reminded that I have a cheering section and I choose to be a cheerleader in yours.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because I’ve known how hard ministry can be and want to be a
safe, loving place for others who are there. And because I know there’s light
on the other side of it and want to be proof for them that God's faithfulness can bring them
through.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because I believe the enemy wants to cripple my gifts and contributions, and yours, with fear and I literally say <i>to hell with that</i>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
Because there are always options; there is always hope. God is bigger. God is deeper.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because I believe Jesus when he said he has life to the full
for us and I look for it expectantly.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because I have been through hard stuff and I believe getting
bitter or better is my choice. And when I’ve walked a hard road, I better know
the way to walk with someone else down it.</div>
<br />
Because Jesus wasn’t content with dealing with us at a distance, but couldn’t help but come close. Close enough to get messy. And asked us to do likewise.<br />
<div>
Because I believe love is worth fighting for. It’s worth the
struggle and the mess and the risk.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because there’s no wound too deep to be healed, no fear too
big to be overcome, no heartbreak too large for restoration, no brokenness too
intense to be restored, no hardship or hurt too dark not to be used to shine
the light of life and redemption through Christ.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because redeeming stories is God’s jam. And I’m a sucker
for a good comeback story.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because I delight in the creative power of Jesus and the
fact that he can make a masterpiece out of my muck every time. That is a sight to
behold and a gift to relish in its unfolding.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because I have no idea what tomorrow, next week, next month,
year, or decade holds and that is beginning to excite me again more than it scares me.<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because I know the plans God has for me, plans to prosper and not to harm; plans for hope and a future. And I know there are still lots of people who need to hear about the hope he has for them. I have work to do and so do you.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because if I am still breathing, God has a purpose for me
and he knows better than I do. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because I could sing a new song every moment for the
blessings God has slathered me with, even when there are moments I forget that’s
true.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because I believe Sonny from “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” when
he says that “everything will be alright in the end and if it’s not alright,
then it’s not the end.” That sounds like something Jesus would say, so I like
it.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because even the meantime is so beautiful. So worth it. The waiting is worthy all on its own.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because I believe all that’s been dead reblooms in the light
of Him.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because I want to see you tomorrow and that means I’ll be
there too. It’ll be fun. We can drink coffee.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But really, you’ll see me tomorrow because there are chats to be had with my mom and, even though they got trampled tonight, the Cardinals play again and my dad and I need to watch it. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
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<br /></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1422697230017393622.post-42463875972746596232015-08-25T18:23:00.000-07:002015-08-25T18:33:20.023-07:00we weren't made for it: why I hate death and so does Jesus.<div class="MsoNormal">
Words are kind of my thing. Speaking, singing, writing--those make up most of my life.
This summer, however, words have come so slowly. It has been difficult to put language to the experience of losing a beloved student, Devin. I struggle to wrap my head and heart around the "new normal." And it hit me today walking across the park, as I became frustrated with my lack of words to share. We weren't made for this. We
weren’t made to deal with death.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We just weren’t. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’ve never really thought about it that way before. I’ve had
the realization that we were not made to die. My friend, Jim, said so insightfully
once that when God handed out the consequence of death after
the fall, it's possible that Adam and Eve had no clue what death even was. It wasn't how they were designed. It wasn't what we were meant for.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We were meant for life; for everlasting perfection, in relationship
with God, others, and the world around us. But temptation won the moment. Sin
exploded into the world, covering creation with uncontainable death. And ever since,
there are times that we just feel like <i>it’s
not supposed to be this way.</i> And that’s because it isn’t.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We were not only created as eternal souls, but also to love
those who are constant; God and others in the garden. Our hearts were designed
for deep love and connection, to be won over by the beauty of others, and
feeling more full because they are in our midst. Death is the opposite of the
exact thing you were designed for. Deep love and connection is traded for deep
separation and loss, the beauty of others is relegated to memories, and
emptiness sets in where the fullness of the lost one’s presence used to reside.
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We ache. Jesus ached for his friend, Lazarus.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Scripture even says that all the earth aches.<span class="reftext"><span style="background: #FDFEFF; color: #0092f2; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>“For we know that the
whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.”
Romans 8:22<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s so easy to get stuck in the ache. I get stuck some days. Ticked that things
aren’t the way they were meant to be and that the pain of death is more than we
were ever made to handle. Refusing to let go to the life that has ended because
it shouldn’t have. Overwhelmed by the thought that in our lifetime, that death, this thing we weren't designed to handle, will
occur again and again. It’s easy to get stuck. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In times like those, the stuck times, I go back to the one
thing that helps.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
God hated death. God hates death. <b>Even more than I do, God
hates death. </b>God was so outraged by death twisting, maligning, torturing, slaughtering his beloved workmanship that he did something about it. Love moved him to action. He could let it go no longer. And at just the right time, he sent Jesus to
live fully, die completely, and win life back again; only the first work of his restoring
all creation back to its original “garden” state. It's a tough meantime we must endure, friends--sharing life with death until Jesus returns to say "no more." There's hope in that promise, though, that brings us to a new day. It motivates us to speak that hope to others, that they, too, may trust the complete life found only in Christ and that death doesn't get the last word.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There are days that I say, “Jesus, I’m not cut out for this.”
And I imagine his half smile, saying, “I know you aren’t. Nobody is. But I’ve
put life in your heart and soon it will be all you know once again. The life you were made for.”<o:p></o:p></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1422697230017393622.post-62116056799699003892015-03-07T15:36:00.002-08:002015-03-09T09:16:50.935-07:00a story about life points and why it helps that Jesus wouldn’t have many.<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I got into a conversation last week about life points.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">We were at a conference for ministry leaders – an incredibly
encouraging environment, but one that can often foster insecurity.</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">I heard many passing comments comparing one’s
ministry to that of the host congregation.</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">It’s hard to not think grass is greener or covet someone else’s calling.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">That’s not where I found this infrequent, but unkind streak of insecurity bubble up. I feel unequivocally called to where I am
serving. It’s unique with little opportunity
for comparison. It’s challenging and not
where I would like to see it be in the long term, but I’m good with it making steady progress. God is at work and I’m truly grateful he’s
invited me along in what he’s doing at the university. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">But there was something else – an unexpected undercurrent
that swept out my feet.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The conversation was silly.
A few of us were standing in awe of my friend, Dave, who has a house, a
car, and a limo he has for fun. We joked
about how he had racked up some major “life points” with these big ticket items
reflecting what it means to be accomplished in the USA. A few other friends there are in their last
year of seminary. They shared dreams of
having a house and steady income with benefits.
I pointed out that their marriages and children carried high value in life points.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">And before I could put it in check or even realize it, there
it was. My insecurity on display.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I am not a homeowner, nor do I have a husband. I am not a mom, nor a master’s
degree recipient. Where many of my friends have already
had two children, I have already had two different ministry Calls. As a girl in her late 20’s, my life points
felt so far off par. Dave offered
encouragement. Places I’ve been and connections made most certainly
hold some point value, he suggested.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">As much as I know my life is
richly blessed, in that moment, it didn’t seem like enough to balance
the scale. For exception of my career, my
deficit in “what really matters” seemed so insurmountable. I wondered if one could ever file for life
point bankruptcy and get a pass to start over. Or perhaps there was a club I could join with others below the curve of life points in the event that my high scoring friends got wise and drew a cut off line. Insecurity is ugly and unholy--making it difficult to love ourselves and others--and I was wearing it like my favorite sweater.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">God’s perfect timing lined up the next conference speaker. He
shared his story of a near death experience and how it caused him to ask, “would
I be satisfied if this would’ve been it?”
He spoke on value, worth, and perspective. He challenged us to be part of big, awesome,
creative schemes for the Kingdom that bring us joy, but reminding us that we
only ever have value because our names are written on the hands of the
crucified and risen Christ. I was taken back as that very verse from Isaiah 49 had made its way onto my dresser mirror months ago. I’m grateful
for God’s powerful reply of truth to my overwhelming sense of inadequacy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">As I drove home that day, I began to think about Jesus. That’s always a good thing, right? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">He wasn’t a home owner.
He didn’t have a spouse or kids or a booming business or the highest
accolades. If Jesus were measured by our
American Dream life point standards, he would earn a failing grade. And that deeply comforted me. Not that any of the big ticket life point
items are bad at all—most are incredibly good and worthy of pursuit.
But Jesus came with one Kingdom job to do. The value of his life was marked by obedience
and love. He invites us to have our life reflect the same. In Matthew 22, when asked about the greatest
commandment, Jesus responded, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart with
all your soul and with all your mind.
And the second is like it: love your neighbor as yourself.” In John 14, he explained, “If you love me,
you will keep my commands.” Whether or
not God’s plans for my story include a mortgage or a wedding or another
diploma, they include opportunities for obedience and love.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I chided myself for my fixation on life points. After all, even if I did reach a point goal, that amount would no longer suffice. Insecurity is a prison made of doubt in our identity as God's children. It's a prison that keeps us from celebrating others' points, keeps us from freedom and peace, keeps us chained to the approval of others, keeps us from walking confidently in our calling. I decided instead of judging myself and others based on
a ring on the left hand and a set of keys to a door that’s theirs, I needed to start celebrating a new scale.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Nobody could ever earn enough points to be more than filthy
rags in God’s sight when it comes to achieving our own way to righteousness. Sin accompanies every point gained. However, I think about what holds value in the economy
of God’s Kingdom of love and obedience—the moments where the Kingdom comes among
us and heaven rejoices.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Thinking of someone else over myself would get some
celebration. Asking someone about their
story and choosing to listen with care before launching into my own would get a
few points. A high five for being kind
to someone who is rude and without tact.
A fist bump for being humble and asking for help. A smile for dinner invites that feed bodies and souls. Applause for not spending money on that unnecessary
something I can’t seem to leave behind. An
“atta kid” for not just slopping through things last minute and at minimum, but
giving my best to honor God and serve others in my work. Hands in the air for choosing not to share a
word of unhelpful criticism, complaint, or gossip. Joy for speaking honesty and truthfulness,
deep love and encouragement. Celebration
for making thoughts captive to Christ. Cheers
from heaven for releasing a grudge and letting go of anger. A happy dance for beautifully bold and loving
proclamation of the Gospel to one who’s yet to call Jesus “Savior.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I think of the sweet moments of redemption throughout Jesus’
life. The moments of seeing,
acknowledging, touching, and healing the lowly – women, Gentiles, prostitutes,
tax collectors. Great acts of love that
heaven rejoiced in. And the moments of
obedience – overcoming temptation, fulfilling prophecy, submitting to the will
of the Father in the garden. Seemingly
insignificant happenings – love and obedience – become the most important. This is exactly how God works.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Each day I am challenged to cast life points
aside and cheer on others in the great race of faith and life. Because by simply being in the race, the runner holds of
immeasurable value. I am challenged to
praise God where I see the victory of Jesus overcome in the ordinary of life. It’s not that I don’t strive for the life points,
but I'm learning the importance of looking at life through the eyes of Kingdom economy and
celebrating the victories won. I see Jesus
bringing about restoration in me and others, one small moment at a time. And by that truth, I am overwhelmed by the
love and affection of Christ – that he would choose me and give me worth
because he said it was so. Never a number, but
my name is written on his scarred hands.
Everything else, even the most incredible, pales in comparison.</span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1422697230017393622.post-11198071665450365332015-02-07T12:54:00.000-08:002015-02-07T13:00:13.027-08:00snow, reflection, and a Nicaraguan new year.<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m not a big New Year’s celebrator, per say, but I appreciate
the “new” part of it. It’s been a built
in part of my yearly rhythm to end the year in some reflection. “What happened this year?” “Where did I grow?” Where did I struggle?” “What did I accomplish?” “What do I need to focus or refocus on?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m a firm believer that only when experience is combined with honest
reflection, is it the best teacher. We
can experience much without learning much if the time and space to reflect and
learn is forsaken.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I missed that this year.
I was in Nicaragua for the last day of 2014 and celebrated “Año Nuevo”
in a whole different culture. The
celebration included lots of fireworks and the burning of 2014 scarecrow dolls that
marked the passing of the old year. However,
because the trip went well into 2015, shortly followed by the start of the
spring semester, and some work travel mixed in, I only recently realized that I
missed my new year reflection and refocus.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXYTv2_WcUlLifz_fT1GYmRZqQrXIxcpVApCZ08cqnviHAG7JJSYCEYXA7n-KKuS3ubLtlQkwBHIHbAko_1oacR1l4XVGyupM2r58A-HnDJU5YTP1v-UlJn2GRF_7yrG6XT4eEahld_fJs/s1600/photo+(3).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXYTv2_WcUlLifz_fT1GYmRZqQrXIxcpVApCZ08cqnviHAG7JJSYCEYXA7n-KKuS3ubLtlQkwBHIHbAko_1oacR1l4XVGyupM2r58A-HnDJU5YTP1v-UlJn2GRF_7yrG6XT4eEahld_fJs/s1600/photo+(3).JPG" height="320" width="320" /></a>I’ve loved being back in Minnesota this winter. Sometimes the cold literally makes me cry,
but the snow is so entrancing and magical.
I walk to work each morning and the journey takes me across a small
park. My adventurous side likes off-roading
a little bit through the deeper snow, where a path hasn’t been cleared and
tracks have not yet tattled on the recent passers through.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The second day after a good snow, I started out in my walk
to work, thinking about my overlooked new year.
I was once again captured by the snow, but this time it wasn’t the
sparkle or the purity that grabbed me.
It was the tracks; my footprints from the day before. The snowy tracks taught me that morning about
how a life of health and growth demands reflection.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We can walk the same path day after day, year after year,
with little mind to where, why, and how we walk. We can bid the past “good riddance” and burn
last year’s scarecrow, but without intention, how can we be sure that this year’s
scarecrow won’t be a carbon copy of the last?
As I walked that morning, seeing yesterday’s steps, I remembered the
places where my boot sank a bit too deep and my sock was surprised by a puff of
wet flakes. To my amusement, I observed
that my steps didn’t go in the most direct path, but wandered a few feet this
way and that. In the snow, yesterday’s
journey was recorded and it presented me with a choice. “Will you go the same way and simply follow
the tracks in front of you? Or will you read
the tracks, learn, and do something different?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That’s the richness of the new year, new month, new week, or
new day to me. This is the value of
reflection and the health of being intentional with the time we’ve been
given. Will I step in deep again? Will I forge a completely new path? If I simply keep doing the same things, I
cannot expect something different to occur.
If I don’t make intentional changes in my spiritual practices, growth
will not be seen. If I don’t challenge
myself relationally and emotionally, 2015 will end up looking regrettably
familiar.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This year, for me, it’s about walking generally the same
path, but doing so with intention; more than just "getting to work each day." This year it's continuing to include the best parts of the walk, but cutting out steps that lack purpose, trying a couple of variations in the route, and learning from danger
spots. Life is too short to walk unquestioningly
in the tracks of yesterday. I observe the prints of others and they inspire me to sojourn better. One different step can begin to alter the
whole journey. It doesn’t take a new
year to take a new step. It does
take honesty, courage, and grace, though, to ask “are my steps being
transformed as my mind is renewed?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Today, I wrestle with the fear of failure. “What if the new steps I take this year are
worse than the last?” Oh, well. At least
I tried something and will inevitably learn something new from that
experience. And then I say back to my cautious,
skeptical self: “But what if it’s way better?”
Life is too short not to be better if it can be.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So I put on my boots and take a deep breath through the
scarf around my face. And with goals in my
hand and heart, I take a new step into the snow.<o:p></o:p></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1422697230017393622.post-28599147231325264042014-10-31T11:25:00.002-07:002014-10-31T14:25:05.829-07:00a Reformation post: why I think Martin was missional.<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-izvqs-Q85eM/UnKTmFuWpYI/AAAAAAAARaQ/qWxoUDVQDZQ/w301-h310/Martin%2BLuther%2BReformation_humor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-izvqs-Q85eM/UnKTmFuWpYI/AAAAAAAARaQ/qWxoUDVQDZQ/w301-h310/Martin%2BLuther%2BReformation_humor.jpg" height="200" width="193" /></a><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’ve had an interesting relationship toward Martin
Luther. From being brought up in a
family that is half Roman Catholic, to going to a university that seemed to over-elevate Martin at times, I’ve wrestled with how to healthily appreciate Luther as a contributor to our Church and also just another dude in need of saving.
Only in recent years has my affinity for Luther grown, as I’ve seen the
richness of what he stood for and how I think it translates to where we are
today. Dare I say it…I think Luther
would be considered missional <i>(actively engaged in God’s mission of seeking and
saving the lost)</i> and here’s why.</span><br />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
</div>
<ol>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;">He rediscovered the Gospel in Scripture.</b><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Luther rediscovered and refocused the eyes of
the Church to the pure Gospel that we are saved by grace through faith, not by
anything we could or could not do.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">
</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Congregations and movements that are run by and filled with humans can often
unintentionally add practices or expectations to what it means to be saved or
part of God’s Church.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Luther gets to the
heart of things.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">It’s not about anything
we could or could not contribute.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">The
Gospel is Christ.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Salvation is a
gift.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> The rest falls into place from there. </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">It’s found in the Scriptures and
he could not be moved from it.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Nor
should we.<br /></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-size: 7pt; font-weight: normal;"> </span></b><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;">He started hard conversations with honest
intentions. </b><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">I shared with our campus
community this week that the Wittenberg Door was one of the original and most
powerful forms of social media.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Luther
had questions and insights and wanted to start a conversation, so he nailed his 95 theses to the door of the church. It was not for the sake
of stirring the pot, but for the sake of further understanding and
correction.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Are we willing to ask
questions even when we’re not sure how our audience will respond?</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Are we willing to give ear to the hard
questions of others and wrestle along with them as Philip did with the Ethiopian?</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Are our intentions pure in the conversations
we seek to have or is it motivated by pride or shaming someone else?<br /></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;">He was about putting Scripture in the language of the
people. </b><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Luther saw the power of God’s
Word. He experienced the peace and confidence
it brought in his own life. He saw that
it held the truth and wanted to be sure everyone had that gift. Faith comes by hearing. How do we hear (or read) the Good News if it’s
in a different language? Luther was
passionate. We can’t expect all of
Germany, from princes to peasants, to suddenly know and read Latin. We must give them God’s Word in their
language. We must ask ourselves, is our ministry more apt to organize Latin classes in our
building or start translating German to take to the streets?<span style="font-size: 9px;"><br /></span></span><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><br /></b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><b><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;">He was about p</b>utting worship in the language of the
people.</b> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">What a powerful statement
and gift to our Church, that many would be able to hear God’s Word and worship
with meaning in their own tongue. This challenges me to think in a mighty way. What’s
the language of the people today? It’s
not the same everywhere, but we have the freedom and the challenge to put Scriptural worship in the language and context of the people we are among. In the Epitome of the Formula of Concord, <i>(X. Church Rites, Affirmative
Thesis 2)</i>, our own doctrine gives and embraces huge freedom to bless our people
with worship that is useful and edifying as we gather around Scripture, prayer, and Sacrament.<div style="text-indent: -24px;">
<br />
<b style="font-style: italic;"> We believe, teach, and confess that the
congregation of God of every place and every time has the power, according to
its circumstances, to change such ceremonies in such manner as may be most
useful and edifying to the congregation of God.</b><br />
<br />
What does it mean for us to stand strong in
the Word of God and faithful teaching, while putting worship in the language of
the people?<br />
<br /></div>
</span></span></li>
<li><div style="text-indent: -24px;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> <b>He loved the Church enough to wrestle.</b> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Luther could have easily left the
ministry, left the Church, and said “forget it.” He was not looking to start his own church,
but loved her so much, he sought to work within her, realign her, and hold her accountable. My generation is especially notorious for
just tossing broken things aside, especially institutions. I confess that I am guilty of that as
well. There are many times I have
considered throwing in the towel because of the brokenness on display in the
Church. But then we see in Scripture,
this incredible love Christ has for his broken Bride. It’s the goofy relative, that we all would like
to disown, but we love deeply because they’re family. I am called to be part of this Bride--warts and all. And it is because I, too, am
among the broken, in need of a Savior. We walk together justified, being sanctified, and sharpening one another by the truth of God's Word.<br /></span></span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="text-indent: -24px;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> <b>He accepted that there will be consequences
to standing boldly.</b> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">I’ve always
thought it to be incredible that Luther never intended to start a movement,
split the Church, or start a new denomination.
He only wished to refocus the Church he loved so dearly. It is a powerful reminder to us that as we
stand boldly for God’s Word in a subjective culture, there will be push
back. As we ask hard questions of a
church we love, there will be push back and possible consequences. Luther is widely revered now, but lived a terribly
difficult life. There are consequences to stepping out of line, even when it comes to standing in the truth, both in a culture that attacks and a church that may not appreciate challenge. We should not be shocked
by this, but be willing to say “I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for is the
power of salvation for all who believe.” <i>(Romans 1:16)</i> I love that Luther was open to rebuke, but
demanded it be from Scripture. May we be
so open to being challenged, but confident in the foundation of God’s Word. May we be slow to attack when others take a bold stance.</span></span></div>
</li>
</ol>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So much of what Luther was about in 1517 resonates so loudly
for us in the world's culture and Church's experience of 2014. We can point to Luther as we wrestle with being missional today, because he unapologetically points to Jesus. May we rediscover what it means for us to say,
for the sake of the Gospel of Christ, “Here we stand. We can do no else.”</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1422697230017393622.post-34105108953796313902014-10-05T11:42:00.004-07:002014-10-05T15:12:49.893-07:00some things take time.<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m a slow mover.
More and more I’m becoming aware of how long it takes me to do
things. I read slowly. I write slowly.
I don’t like feeling rushed, especially in the morning. Even though my life seems to be a flurry of activity, I am often slow to do and create. <br />
<br />
My mom loves to tell the story of her long
labor with me. My sisters still bring up the fact that their evening bath was interrupted when my mom's water broke and they didn't even get to wash the shampoo out of their hair. My family rushed to the hospital, and yet, I didn’t make my
grand entrance until the next afternoon.
My mom smiles as she says, “you’ve been taking your time ever since.”<br />
<br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I used to get frustrated with myself about this, but am
growing in the acceptance and embracing of my life’s pace. Truly, I wouldn’t dare wish that away about my story. Slow is not void of meaning or activity, but
often allows space for a richness and breath. Most
days, I might even say I like the easy moving pace of slow. I'm usually pretty okay with the fact that, for me especially, some things just take time.<br />
<br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Some of my favorite projects I’ve ever made – crafts,
sewing, music, worship experiences—seemed like they would never be done. Some came in danger of being tossed aside
multiple times. But I can look at them
with joy, and delight in them even more so, because they not only hold beauty,
but effort, process, redemption of mistakes, and persistence.<br />
<br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg70PRtHLG2FrpIBsG7mL1X0uiLaatdjGj2zuu9khQmfi6aX3kqOK1hgqLlIuKmM4di_oVAZKzunmEi5mFB3HsUUrE7m3vrM_6a3mD1Fjg65hq98dbcm-xe7unTTGw9QOoW3YIfcw2aBoQ5/s1600/Photo+Oct+05,+12+16+26+PM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg70PRtHLG2FrpIBsG7mL1X0uiLaatdjGj2zuu9khQmfi6aX3kqOK1hgqLlIuKmM4di_oVAZKzunmEi5mFB3HsUUrE7m3vrM_6a3mD1Fjg65hq98dbcm-xe7unTTGw9QOoW3YIfcw2aBoQ5/s1600/Photo+Oct+05,+12+16+26+PM.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When you move like I did a few months ago, people love to ask “so, are you all settled
in yet?” I often laugh and mention the
month delay on the arrival of my belongings and how much I’ve been traveling
lately. “These past few weekends have been
too gorgeous to stay inside!” I exclaim.
All of those things are true. But
it’s also true that especially in things I care about—this being creating a
homey, welcoming place that reflects me and is soaked in Jesus—I move
slowly. I realized that this week as I made some significant progress in my living space. I soak up decorating each wall
or corner and make sure everything looks and feels just right. Look at the wall on the right. Pieces from thrift stores or yard sales. Craft projects and upcycling. I love that it's really old wood frames and a well loved cutting board that bring beauty to my kitchen wall. The rich character held in those pieces didn't come quickly. The time it took to create this wall was great. But the feeling that came when I stood back to look at its completion this morning, was awesome. I became okay with the time it took, when I saw how it came together. But yes, it took time.<br />
<br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I know that I was made in the image of the Creator to
create. He was way more efficient than
me. Creating the universe in 6
days?! Shoot. I've spent longer planning an outfit.<br />
<br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
God is a big and mighty capable master Creator. Not just a one time Artist in the beginning, but
continuously. His favorite medium is
people. We’re stubborn. We make mistakes. We’re impatient. Sometimes he has to take us apart a bit to get
us to be what He’s designed. And that
takes time. I want to jump to hanging
the finished piece on wall, but the Artist is says gently, “you haven’t seen the best part take shape
yet.” So for further unfolding in my
story, I wait.<br />
<br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
While acknowledging that many areas of my life are beyond my dreams and I couldn’t ask for more, today is just one of those days that I’m feeling the rub of
what seems to be little or no movement in some areas of life. God, I’m eager for the man you have in store for me, for ministry to be mature, for community to be rich and deepening, for bucket list items to be checked, but until then, help
me dig into you and allow you to work and guide.<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I tend to lean into being proactive and believe strongly in
its value. There is much God has given us to work with in the meantime. Today, though, I’m simply reminded of
the Artist at work and that I’m the medium.
Some things, and often the really great things, take time.<o:p></o:p></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1422697230017393622.post-44063554023395080072014-09-28T10:06:00.000-07:002014-09-28T21:44:23.773-07:00sour insides: dealing with what I can't fix.<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m
a “fixer.” I consider it one of
my strengths and also among my greatest down falls. When I see things hurt, broken, or could just use improving, I want to jump in.
God has gifted me to be an encourager and to walk along side of people and
I am so overwhelmed to say that he’s allowed me to watch how he’s healed and
shaped people as I’ve joined them on journeys.
StrengthsFinders says I have the “restorative” strength.<br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But I have to confess something to you this morning. Part of my motivation to fix or restore comes
out of my desire for control, as well as often thinking I know what is
best. When I see gaps or conflicts in
the lives of students I work with, friends, organizations, churches,
governments, etc, I see the
potential there is to be healthier, to grow, to take a risk. There are times when I am able to have a
conversation or give insight that encourages a person to consider what they might do to grow in wholeness. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But the times where there’s really nothing I can do, when I'm completely out of control, I
struggle so greatly with sour insides.
You know that feeling when your gut turns because something is broken beyond
fixing, or so it seems. A physical reaction to things not being the way they ought. That’s sour
insides. The grief in your gut, the sad
in your stomach.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<ul>
<li>There’s nothing I can do about health issues that rattle my
family and my friends’ families. There’s
no way I can fix it. I try to offer up
articles I’ve read for new food choices or exercise options (yeah, guys…I’m a
fixer). I have to come to admit that I
don’t have healing powers or a cure for cancer, but a spot in my insides began
to turn sour.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<ul>
<li>Wars raging in our world and global conflicts are heartbreaking, terrifying, and seemingly endless. People offer simplistic, flippant solutions
from their safe American living rooms not seeing the layers of political
narratives, instilled beliefs, and utter terror that reign in people that look
just like us and just like the ones we see as the enemy. Abuse and hurt continues year after year, even within the places and people that have claimed to be the presence of Christ on earth. I get overwhelmed and angry. I get sour insides.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<ul>
<li>I grieve in helplessness about the day burned in my mind and
heart when we visited people who lived in a dump in Managua, Nicaragua. We handed out snacks and juice to children
through our van windows, as it wasn’t safe to even get out of our vehicle. In minutes, our van was swarmed with
desperately hungry people who lived among garbage that even contained visible
bio-hazard boxes and sharps containers.
Our time was short there, as police insisted we leave the area to limit
the exposure the Americans had to such an incredible blind spot in the poorest
country in Latin America. A van full of
energetic and playful students was silenced for the afternoon, as the weight of
an issue crushed them. Handing out juice
did little to contribute. The issue is
so huge and multi-layered. We are powerless to save. And a part of my
insides has never unsoured from that day because that’s not the way life is supposed
to be.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<ul>
<li>I grieve broken places in my story and the stories of those
I love. I grieve sometimes that life isn’t
what I thought it would be. Finances,
struggles with children, broken relationships, lack of career direction,
unfulfilled dreams, tragedy, thinking we'd be "ahead" of where we are in life by now (whatever that even means). Circumstances that
persist despite proactivity. People that decide they don't respect, value, or even like you just because. I find myself
and others utterly out of control and at the mercy of so many factors. And my insides sour for a moment more.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<ul>
<li>I don’t have any ability to change the minds or soften the
words of people that vehemently and brutally disagree in hurtful ugliness
within politics, race issues, community issues, and even in my very own church
body. And this morning I ached from sour
insides and gut grief.</li>
</ul>
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Like so many other days, I’m forced to see my inability to
be the savior and stop to plead with the One who is. There’s some days where I’m so overwhelmed by
what I can’t control. Jesus speaks
gently: <br />
<br />
“Take heart, I have overcome the world.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
”Come to me, weary one.
You’re carrying such heavy burdens.
I’ll give you rest.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Take my yoke upon you.
Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find
rest for your souls.” <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Gut healing words.
Everything isn’t magically better, but in that time, to remember once
again that Christ is King and he is the hope that will never disappoint, is enough
(Rom. 5:5). As songwriter, JJ Heller, put so eloquently, "sometimes I don't know what you're doing, but I know who you are." (Check out the amazing song <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8jilr8qsYU">here</a>.)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The truth is, if we could fix the world, if we could even fix ourselves, we wouldn’t need Jesus'--his saving death and resurrection--and we would quickly forget him. I know I
would be in great danger of doing so.
But we desperately see the need.
Our sour insides plead for a Savior and his “shalom” – that everything
would be as it ought, whole and full of peace.
I was reminded once again this week of the power of praying “shalom”
over people, situations, and seemingly hopeless conflicts. Because I believe that there will be a day when the shalom of Christ will reign in fullness and all will be as it ought. We pray for glimpses of it now.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So I pray once again.
Turning over my sour insides to my Savior. Confessing my need for control and my
inability to save. Pleading for shalom
where my efforts fall short. And resting
in the love of the One who overcame the world.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Christ, grant us your shalom and give us good bellies.<o:p></o:p></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1422697230017393622.post-5686494497062567782014-09-16T22:43:00.000-07:002014-09-16T22:53:08.141-07:00Intentional.<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
I recently did a mental inventory of
the people I most look up to, respect, and want to be like when I grow up. Among the qualities of being great
encouragers, faithful missionaries, loving parents and spouses, truth speakers, adventurers, secure in their
own skin, self-aware, and super funny, the common trait I noticed was “intentional.”</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
What does that mean? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
I have a couple of friends who spent the
last several months organizing a trip for a bunch of us to camp at a weekend
music festival outside of Seattle. They
went to great lengths to create space for friends to connect, have an
adventure, and listen to some great music.
Another couple of friends who live out of state sent me flowers and
cookies on my birthday to let me know I was remembered and loved, even from
afar. For another birthday, a friend
planned an entire day of thoughtful adventures and activities that we could
enjoy together. A couple of weeks ago, people
traveled from near and far and changed around work schedules to attend my
installation service. Nothing could’ve
been more affirming to me than people intentionally choosing to be part of my
life, and even better, inviting me into theirs. I think especially for a single
person, who doesn’t yet have a spouse that has chosen her or him every day for
life, it can be among the most valuable gifts in the world to know that someone
has gone out of their way to choose you.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
Intentional people do things—do life—with a
purpose, on purpose. The relationships I
have with people who are intentional about choosing me are the most encouraging
and flourishing and I am so grateful.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
I think of Jesus. He was so incredibly intentional. He knew why he was on earth. To speak good news, to set captives free, to
heal the sick, to be one with the Father, to live perfectly, and to redeem the
world. He did it all so beautifully. He made time for people. He also made time for rest and prayer. He kept the point, the point. He spoke truth and showed great love. Intentional didn’t seem calculated or with ulterior
motive, but simply purposeful in being grace and truth.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
In my not so distant past, I found myself in
a less than thriving season where I was in survival mode. The only goal I had was getting through the
day. Even though insight and
encouragement from a counselor gave me new tools and perspective, I couldn’t
shake the funk. I couldn’t see beyond
the dark cloud I was under. Complaints
ruled my thoughts and conversations. I
replayed days and conversations in my head and knew I didn’t like who I had
become or how I felt, but wasn’t sure I knew how to do anything else. Through some encouragement of Shauna Niequist’s
book, “Bittersweet,” I was challenged to find gratitude. So I made a choice. One small decision to find one thing at the
end of each day that I was grateful for, write it down, and put it in a jar on
my nightstand. It was a very small
thing. To be honest, those first few
days, I resented the exercise and told myself I didn’t have the energy for
it, but I did it anyway. After awhile, I found myself writing
a whole list each night. I’ve watched
this one small decision I made one day turn into a progression that has altered
my attitude and heart. One small choice
to be intentional added some sense of stability to my world and set me on a
path of increased health and joy.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
When we live without some sort of
intention, we can easily wind up in a place we never wanted to be without even
realizing we were heading there. Even if
it’s making one choice per day to be intentional, that can be the choice that
takes life in a new direction. And not
just any direction, but one that you have decided is beneficial and where you
want to go.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
There can’t be too
many intentions at once, otherwise we set ourselves up to fail and be overwhelmed,
but I’ve come up with a few for this season of my journey of living life to the full as a Jesus follower.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->1.)<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]--><b>To be an awesome friend and family member.</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto;">
I am an auntie, a godmama, a sister, a daughter, and a friend to folks in
a variety of ages and stages. More than
most anything in life, I want to kick butt at being those. I want to be present for important days and
times. Because many are far away, I want to make a point to reach
out from a distance when I can’t be present.
I want to follow up on what loved ones share with me. I want to remember them in prayer and
celebrate the gift of those God has placed in my story. I want to be intentional about making it a
priority to have time with them. I want
to be intentional in how I affirm our relationships and who God made them to be with my words and
actions. I want to risk my cool points
and relational control to ensure that my family and friends know I love them,
see Jesus at work through them, and that I have their back. The relationships that I feel most validated by
are the ones who have been intentional in valuing me. I love being chosen, especially by a perfect,
loving Heavenly Father. I want to give
my people a glimpse of that promise of God’s choosing, by letting them know I
choose them.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->2.)<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]--><b>To be an encourager.</b><br />
I have high expectations. I can be a
critic and even cynical at times. I
believe, though, that God has called me in my roles with work, church, family, and
friends, to be an intentional encourager.
Proverbs 16:24 says, <i>“Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.”</i><span style="background: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span>Paul talks multiple times in his
letters about the importance of encouragement.
We, simply by speaking life and truth to each other, give each other
courage to face whatever it is coming our way.
We have the power to strengthen and empower others with choosing to speak
words that build up and not tear down.
In a world where sarcasm is celebrated all too often, I want to be an
encourager who is intentional about her words and that they be used to affirm
and encourage.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->3.)<span style="font-size: 7pt;"> <b>
</b></span><!--[endif]--><b>To write.</b><br />
It’s been set aside for far too long. I’ve
wanted to write, but haven’t made it a priority. It’s one of my “hobby activities” that has
taken a back seat to a summer of transition, travel, and "too much going on". But it’s time to be
intentional. Writing allows me to discover
how God has placed blessings and love throughout my story, much like a child
finds Easter eggs that have been carefully placed for their finding. Hobbies are important—they add health and
balance to life that can easily be consumed by career and activity. More and more, I believe that some of our
greatest vocation points are found in our hobbies—they space we have to do what
we love with freedom and allow for our God-given gifts to produce something free
from pressure or for compensation. I
think some of the most powerful movements, beautiful works of art, and dynamic
communities have begun that way. It’s
time to be intentional – acknowledge this is something I want to be good at, a
gift I want to steward well, and do it.
That and I have a “before I’m 30” bucket list item to achieve. ;-)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
I always hated goals because I was afraid of what would happen if I didn’t
reach them. The pressure that
accompanied them would weigh me down and sometimes even leave me paralyzed. Now I’ve realized being intentional isn’t
about arriving. It’s simply taking one
step in the right direction and celebrating the progress found in the
journey. I’m not yet where I want to be,
but I’m not where I was before. Or as
Paul said in Philippians 3:12, <i>“Not that
I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I
press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.”</i> One thing is for sure, when you’re intentional
about something, even if you miss the mark, you’re going to be much closer to the
bulls eye than if you didn’t aim to hit it.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
For
the sake of your vocations and obligations, those you interact with, and your
own wellbeing, I challenge you to make one intentional choice today. Choose where you want to go and do it on
purpose.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1422697230017393622.post-40667183151250320522014-03-18T01:15:00.000-07:002014-03-18T14:24:05.024-07:00This One's for the Girls (who lead in the Church)<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A few weeks ago, I was at a conference for churches in the
LCMS to come together and share their best practices for doing ministry. One evening, we went back into the gym to
hear a solid team of college students leading a time of worship from the stage. It only took me a few moments to realize that
the two leaders of this band were young women.
Something gripped me about that.
It made me smile, but I also began to just pray for them from my
seat. <br /><br />When worship was done, I felt so compelled that evening
to connect with these girls—it seemed as if we had an automatic bond as worship
leading women in the synod. It’s not a
large group. We chatted for a few
moments and I heard about their college paths and plans. My lovely friend, Mia, also a worship leader happen to walk by. For the next little while, she and I spent time praying over these young
ladies. For their hearts, for their callings, for their protection and humility, for their boldness as women in worship. I don't remember their names and maybe never even heard them, but since that day, I’ve continued
to pray for these girls and others like them. God has continued to stir in my
heart the passion for raising up and releasing women to lead in his
Church. We need to be doing so with men and women alike, but in our church body, must acknowledge that women have a larger hill to climb and are often discouraged by fear or shamed out of even considering what God might do with them.</span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I want to encourage you today
to consider joining me in encouraging the next generation of worship leaders
and leaders in ministry, both men <i>and </i>women. </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">This is what we prayed over those girls on that day.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"> And this is my prayer for all of you women
who are out there serving the Church or preparing to do so.</span></div>
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<ul>
<li><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Be willing. </span></span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;">Sister, you can lead worship.</span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;">You can lead others in their walk with Jesus.</span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;"> You can proclaim God's promises to the masses and invite them to join in the proclamation. </span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;">If God is calling you to do that, do it!</span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;">Yes, there are hurdles.</span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;">If you’re in my church body, you will be an anomaly.</span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;">But you can be a huge blessing.</span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;">If God has gifted you and is calling you to
lead his people to worship, don’t deny the Church the gift he’s granted
you.</span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;">It’s time to step into your
calling.</span></span></li>
<li><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Be prepared. </span></span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;">People will challenge whether or not you should be in
the role you are in as a worship leader or faith leader.</span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;">Learn the stories.</span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;">Study up.</span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;">
</span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;">I get the passages a lot from the letters of Timothy about women not speaking
in church.</span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;">Don’t forget, though, Philip
the evangelist, (Acts 21) had four daughters who were prophetesses.</span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;">Prophets spoke and taught the Word of God
just as worship leaders now lead the speaking and singing of God’s Word for the
Church each time we gather.</span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;">I adore the
story of the prophetess, Anna.</span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;">After she
was widowed, she never left the temple, but was there constantly worshiping,
praying, and serving; eager to see the face of God, until Jesus arrived.</span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;">That’s you, sister.</span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;">Keep worshiping, praying, serving, and
waiting for God to show up.</span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;">Trust that
what you are doing is Scriptural and continue to test it.</span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;">Test your actions and your intentions.</span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;">Invite others into that process with you.</span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;">Honor the leadership of the pastor(s) God has
placed you under.</span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;">Be steeped in the Word
so that it flows from you as you lead the Church, but also that you may stand
when others condemn you.</span></span></li>
<li><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Be bold. </span></span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;">Sister, sometimes it’s challenging for us who are
stepping out of the norm, but it’s time to get bold.</span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;">You will often be the sole woman in meetings
of men.</span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;">You will be outnumbered and
sometimes overlooked.</span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;">You must remember,
if God has given you that position, he wants you to be a good steward of
it.</span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;">You have been gifted with creativity
and a feminine perspective.</span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;">Don’t be
afraid or ashamed to share it.</span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;">You have
experiences and insights that are valuable.</span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;">
</span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;">Even if you are not feeling honored, know that you were placed in that
role for “such a time as this” like some other girl I know named Esther.</span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;">One of my favorite Scriptures is from 2
Timothy 1:7.</span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;">I speak it to myself
often.</span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;"> </span><i style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;">“For God
has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and
self-discipline.” </i><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;">Fear isn’t of
Jesus.</span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;">It’s the enemy trying to keep you
docile.</span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;">Possess the power, love, and
self-discipline of Christ in you.</span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;">Pray
for his boldness.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"><b><span style="line-height: 115%;">Be tough. </span></b></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">In college, I learned quickly that being an outspoken female in theology
classes or leader in chapel was going to not only earn me some funny looks, but,
at times, some very harsh words.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">I spent
many tearful times wondering if this whole worship and ministry thing was worth
it.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">I would cry with friends, wondering
why God would gift me to speak and lead when it seemed like it was so
taboo.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">The truth is people can be
brutal.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">A high school teachers told me a
“smart girl shouldn’t waste her time with such things.”</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Other church work students/leaders insisted I
needed to “get back in line or find a new church body” as if I had been running
amuck outside of God’s commands.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">People
both inside and outside of the Church will say things to you, about you, even
against you.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">It will hurt.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> Hear people out with gentleness, but o</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">nly accept Scriptural rebukes and put some Teflon
on your armor to let the arrows slide right off.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Just remember, Jesus said that would happen
when we follow him.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">The enemy wants you
to get discouraged and quit.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Offer the
ugly up to Jesus in thanksgiving, shake the dust from your sandals, and walk
on.</span></li>
<li><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Be gentle. </span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">This one has taken me awhile to appreciate.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">My college self was a bit more fiery than I
am now.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">I loved to engage in “discussions”
about such topics that were really more about me winning and showing up the
jerks on campus.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Let’s face it.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">That does nothing.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">I was on a crusade for awhile to understand and
free women’s roles in our church body as Scripture would describe.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">I pushed and got angry.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">I became defensive and ultimately lost sight
of the cause of Christ for the sake of the role I thought I was entitled to and
needed to defend.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Sister, when ministry
becomes more about taking a stand as a female leader, then we’ve lost sight of
the most important thing: the Gospel.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Don’t be afraid to step into your calling as a woman of God in
leadership.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Don’t forget that Godly
leadership keeps the Gospel as the thing, not to be overshadowed by any cause
other than Christ.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"><br />I eventually came to the realization that the people who thought I was wrong
for being a female worship leader and faith leader would not change their minds
by my arguments, anger, or witty remarks.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">My venting about them to everyone I know wouldn’t be the magic solution
to swaying their opinion.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">I came to
realize that those people would being serving the Church, and God-willing,
growing the Church in a way and to a demographic that I would not.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">May we each be a little less distracted with
the internal arguments, and instead serve well and reach many lost for Jesus.</span></li>
<li><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Be humble. </span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">You are not a rock star.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">You are
not a diva.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">You are just a girl that God
gave gifts.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">He could take them away if
he chose.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">This is not about you.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> As Christine Caine once said, "If the light shining on you is brighter than the one shining in you, the light on you will destroy you." Let God ground you and develop you. Don't think of yourself more highly than you ought. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Be honored to serve.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Be humble.</span></li>
<li><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Be awesome. </span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Yes.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">That is what I meant.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Work your butt off.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Earn your right to be there.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Don’t act entitled or play the victim church
chica.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Get in there and kick some
tail.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">There are a lot of great worship
leaders in the world and even in the LCMS.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Most all the well-known ones are men.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Ladies, this isn’t about making us famous, but God deserves for us to do the best with what he’s given us.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Don’t
coast on your sweet spirit and ability to work it off the fly.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Practice.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Expect excellence.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Make a
ministry more quality than when you got there (understanding that it takes
time, elbow grease, and a lot of walking and working with people).</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Do ministry and life with integrity.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Seek to honor Jesus in how you live and
lead.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">People will grow to respect and
honor your leadership.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Make much of
Jesus.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Show people he’s worthy by how
you do everything for his glory.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Be
awesome.</span></li>
<li><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Don’t be
bitter. </span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Look.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Ministry can be rough.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">For men and women alike, this life isn’t an
easy one.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">But sister, you have a bit
bigger target on your back.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Don’t make a
scene carrying it.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">You don’t do this for
others or even for yourself.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">This is for
the Kingdom of God.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Jesus’ bride is so
full of brokenness.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">You will be pressed,
persecuted, and struck down, but there’s treasure in you, Miss Jar of
Clay.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Don’t lose sight of the fact that
God is sovereign and faithful.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">The
brokenness of the Church is the very reason it needs you.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Resist the temptation to get ugly at people
even when people are ugly.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Pray
regularly against a bitter root, especially as women who can tend to take things more personally.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">When we’re
bitter followers, it gets a bit more difficult to know we’re Christians by our
love.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Make peace with the brokenness,
seek out and strive for wholeness, and ask God to keep your heart joyful.</span></li>
<li><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Be
encouraging. </span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">There are gifted women in our churches that God might be preparing to be
leaders in his Church.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Encourage
them.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Draw them out.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Take special attention to mentor and disciple
them.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Pray with and for them.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Give them opportunities to trying things and
fail and try again.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;"><br />If you want to really encourage women to lead,
specifically in worship, get women up front leading so that others might be
emboldened and given permission to even entertain the dream of leading.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;"><br />One of the most touching moments of my worship leading
tenure was a mom of a little blonde girl that came up to me one Sunday.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;">She shared with me how I was the first female
at their church to ever hold a guitar and lead the band.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;">Before that, girls had only ever sang backup
vocals.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;">It wasn’t intentional by the
leader.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;">It was just the way things were.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;">So here I was, leading the band, playing
guitar, singing, praying, and leading the gathered in an encounter with
Jesus.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;">This teary-eyed mom thanked me
for allowing her musically-gifted, Jesus-loving little girl the opportunity to
dream that she could grow up to play a guitar and point people to Jesus.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;">Sister, as you lead, you give others
permission to do the same.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;">Raise up this
next generation of women (and men) in the Church.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;">Point out their gifts and take the time to
teach them what it means to lead others by following Jesus.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;">After all, it’s not about being rocker chicks
or girls ruling the world.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -23.999998092651367px;">It’s about
Jesus, following him and raising up disciples to make disciples, both men and
women.</span></li>
</ul>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1422697230017393622.post-35158066762965442962013-12-24T01:40:00.000-08:002013-12-24T01:52:03.179-08:00“This isn’t how I thought it would be.” : a Mary story.<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">As I sit here in the glow of my Christmas tree, soaking up
the scent of my holiday candle, I see the packages under the tree that my
parents sent from Kansas.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">There are a
couple of open boxes in the corner that haven’t been mailed.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">An unfinished Christmas project has overtaken
the coffee table, which also holds a box of cards that won’t get sent.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">I’m so bad at Christmas.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ya know, I’m just not really what you would call a “Christmas
person.” I know, I know. How can I love Jesus, be in church work, and NOT be excited about
His birth?! Well, perhaps the Grinch and
myself have something in common, but I think it has more to do with the crazy
of the season and my tendency for ridiculous expectations.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I love giving thoughtful gifts. I secretly dream of getting THE PERFECT THING
that each person on my list has always secretly hoped and dreamed to receive. If I fall short, I’m disappointed. I get bummed when I don’t hear from loved
ones I’m thinking of during this season.
It’s hard to spend the days leading up to Christmas, knowing that the
Schwalm girls are filling the kitchen with goodies and sneaking gifts under the
tree. I sit and wonder who will wrap my
Dad’s gifts for him and why I didn’t take time to adopt a Christmas angel this
year. I didn’t get to go to the
Holidazzle parade or make it back for my alma mater’s Christmas concert. I miss snow and I can’t make desserts like my
mom. My apartment is empty and my work
load is full. And I can’t help but think
to myself: “This isn’t how I thought it would be.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I heard someone say once, “This craziness of Christmas is
ridiculous! Do you think the first
Christmas was like that?! No!” I can’t argue about the over-the-top nature
the holiday has taken, but I’m pretty sure Christmas has always been crazy.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">God blessed me with new eyes for Jesus’ mother, Mary, this Advent—a
glimpse into her story. Picture
her. Sweet teenage Mary. Engaged to a lovely man. Dreaming of the festivities they would have with
the whole village to celebrate their nuptials.
Enter Gabriel the game changer. Mary
takes her assignment of birthing the Messiah with obedience, grace, and faith
and in a flash, the holy baby bump is the talk of the village. Hurtful words and whispers abound, dreams of
a joyous and honorable wedding are dashed, and her man is having doubts. Thankfully Elizabeth gave her some
encouragement and Joseph jumps aboard after a little visit from the Lord while
he was sleeping. The wedding is still
on, but not the large, honorable festivities, I’m sure. She would never have a wedding like the one
where her Son turned water into wine. They
would always be under scandal. People are
wondering about Joseph, too. Just like
that, this couples’ obedience to God has earned them scarlet letters. And I
have to wonder if at the thought of her crushed bridal dreams, she said, “This </span><span style="line-height: 17.77777862548828px;">isn't</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> how I thought it would be.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">But moving on, there’s a baby on the way. Of course, they didn’t have a baby registry
or a nursery to decorate, but there were still plans to be made. I’m sure Mary had spoken with Nazareth’s
midwife. I'm sure <i>those </i>were interesting conversations. I'm thinking she had delivered enough babies to question the whole virgin birth thing. There are certain to have been
conversations with Mary’s mom about what to expect and tricks to handle the
pain. They probably prepared a place for
the birth and a few items for the baby soon to come. After all, it could be any day now. But wait, word arrives to Nazareth that there
is a census being enforced by the Roman occupation. All must register. No exceptions. (Note God's creative use of political oppression here as a tool to get Mary and Joseph 80 miles down the road to Bethlehem so the prophecy would be fulfilled. Well played.) </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">I can only imagine the tears rolling down
Mary’s face as Joseph broke the news. “I’m sorry, Mary, but we have to go to Bethlehem right
away. It’s a long journey, but we have
no choice.” She rushes to gather a few
things together—a few loaves of bread, a wine skin, and some strips of cloth for
swaddling for the baby’s arrival—while her mother repeats delivery instructions
over and over again to the young, first time parents. Mary wouldn’t have her midwife there, or her
mama, or anyone who had been a parent before.
And as they left Nazareth all their plans for the birth of their child
fading behind them, I’m sure Mary had to have thought at least once, “This isn’</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 17.77777862548828px;">t</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"> how I thought it would be.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yes, I know she was obedient in this calling, but she was still
human. And any human riding nine months
pregnant on a donkey for four days is sure to have some unholy thoughts. As they come into this humble village of Bethlehem,
the place is packed. So packed that they
can’t even get a room to sleep in. The
kind innkeeper offers a livestock cave out back so they can at least get out of
the wind. And Mary goes into labor. In a place with sheep dung all over the
ground, reeking of animals, chilly, and rocky.
I could image her desperation in that moment. “Okay…I didn’t get the wedding, my first
child is shamed, not celebrated by my village, the Romans force us to come to
Bethlehem with a baby bouncing on a donkey ride, and I’ve been a good sport. But…this?!?!
This. Is. Ridiculous!” She has
nothing to welcome her little one with, except for a few strips of cloth she
brought and a new dad to help with the delivery. This was so not how she thought it would be.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jesus is born and Mary is exhausted. She needs to rest, but can’t put Jesus down
on the sheep poop floor. I have to
believe Joseph improvised with the whole manger idea and was so proud of his
problem-solving dad moment. He knew it
wasn’t what she’d imagined, but the best they could do.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But wait. There’s
more. God is so excited about the
arrival of His Son to earth that He has to tell someone! Why not some shepherds? They’re close and still awake…bring ‘em
over! And poor post-labor Mary welcomes
a bunch of filthy shepherds to the cave, probably accompanied by some sheep, to
see the Christ lying in a feeding trough.
It really had to be nothing like she’d expected. But that was the moment that it all hit her.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://dl.creationswap.com/17243.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="240" src="http://dl.creationswap.com/17243.jpg" title="" width="320" /></a><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was as if she relived all the moments that led up to that
point, starting from Gabriel’s visit.
The pregnancy scandal, the talking neighbors, the almost divorce, the
census, the journey, the donkey..oh, the donkey, the crowded inn, the sheep
cave, the broken birth plans, and shepherds being the first to visit the
newborn. But she smiled and pondered all
of these moments in her heart because through all of that, a stringing together
of one crazy event after another, the Messiah was born just as she’d been told.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It didn’t get easier from there. They had to flee to Egypt for awhile. Their families wouldn’t have met Jesus until they
returned to Nazareth when he was a young child.
Perhaps she’d thrown her expectations out the window by then.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So I stop and look around at my Christmas crazy. My packages and projects. Or just my regular crazy. My unattained goals and unreached landmarks. Are my expectations getting in the way? Am I willing to give up my dreams and
expectations for what God might have in mind?
Do I trust that when difficult arises that God’s provision and
protection is bigger than my fear and discomfort? Am I taking time to ponder in my heart what
God has done this year to bring me to this point? Am I missing the Savior for being focused on
the manger?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There have been SO many times in my life that I’ve uttered
those words, “this is not what I thought it would be.” But one thing remains true every Christmas
since the first, and it’s true for this one.
Jesus is here. God has kept His
promise and in a way no one expected.
Christmas has always been crazy.
This year is no exception. Take a
cue from Mary. Roll with it. Do some pondering. And join in worshiping with the shepherds.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sometimes I wonder if she really knew what it all meant. I mean, she knew Jesus was the Messiah, but
what did that mean to her? Did she expect
Him to reign as King of Israel? Lead a
mighty military? Overthrow the Roman
oppressors? Did she really expect him to…be
a carpenter like His dad? Well, both of
His dad’s did like to make things…so I guess it works. Did she expect him to have a posse and travel
around speaking and healing? I don’t
know.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There was a moment where Mary stood next to John, the one
Jesus loved, and looked up at her first born.
A baby once wrapped in cloths was now a beaten, bloody mess hanging with
His hands and feet nailed to a cross. As
His mother stood there in John’s arms, overcome by sadness, I believe she was grieving
dreams of who she thought Jesus would be both as her son and her Messiah. Perhaps saying for a final time, “This…this is
not how I thought it would be.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But on that Good Friday at the cross and that night in
Bethlehem, heaven replied, “For you, for the world, for hope, life, and
salvation, <i>this</i> is how it had to be
in to accomplish what’s meant to be.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You having life for hear and eternity is what’s meant to
be. Jesus brought that for you. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Merry Christmas. </span><span style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1422697230017393622.post-58924970913377561942013-10-26T12:27:00.000-07:002013-10-26T12:43:38.119-07:00fall: God's lesson about the beauty of death.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoY-KldCvJ6bPJnkHbTJHjxAWmXEAGAL3juwQ5F0nNU0Pd5VgxuSriLqdLF0IjkqqVqiLFy1ECuGflYMatnXRla61354dd7FF-IgCPWkXkdvMPKhkm-DRGWuj0YUzxm5X6hs950OredO2y/s1600/fall+leaves.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoY-KldCvJ6bPJnkHbTJHjxAWmXEAGAL3juwQ5F0nNU0Pd5VgxuSriLqdLF0IjkqqVqiLFy1ECuGflYMatnXRla61354dd7FF-IgCPWkXkdvMPKhkm-DRGWuj0YUzxm5X6hs950OredO2y/s1600/fall+leaves.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Since I can remember, I’ve been the little girl that loved to
soak up every moment of summer. No school, bikes, pools. But something in me has shifted in the last few
years. After years of summer confidently
standing in the number one spot, fall has wiggled its way in to gain the gold. Maybe it was my first Phoenix summer a few
years ago that began a wedge between summer and me. At just that time, I returned to Minnesota
for the most magical season of color and crispness. Some of my favorite moments with the Lord
have been spent running or sitting along a lovely walking path that parallels
the Mississippi River that splits Minneapolis from St. Paul. The path is best in fall with massive deciduous
trees shedding color combinations only God himself could create. The crisp air on this girl’s face inspired
and empowered me with new energy; perhaps a necessary jolt before the
winter hibernation set in.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">It’s the perfect time of year for a walk with a sweater and
scarf. Just when it gets a little too
chilly, you can find your way into a cozy coffee shop that smells of sweet
cider drinks and warm conversation.
There’s just something about this season. Fall makes me feel alive and romanced. I grieved missing the leaves, the orchards,
and the sweatshirt weather this year as I sit by the pool in capris and a
t-shirt. The desert doesn’t do fall quite
like Minnesota or New England, but there are echoes of the same refreshing
sentiment. I love the smell of fire pits
in the evening and the ability to be outside again after our season of summer
hibernation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">This season just resonates in me. Its beauty and romance are just captivating to me and I wanted to figure out why. Why is a
season of death so stunning? That’s
really what it is. The trees shedding
their dead and burying them into expired lawns. It’s a gorgeous death. I got a little concerned for a bit that maybe
at my core, I was enamored with a season of dying and my future will be
resigned to reading Poe and wear black jackets and eyeliner.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">But I don’t think that’s the case. What if God, at the fall of humanity, weaved
His redemption narrative into creation?
I mean, that sounds pretty simple, right? We see dead things making soil rich to bring
new life. New growth emerges from out of
the snowy winter. We see parallel stories
to Christ everywhere. Maybe it’s been
obvious to everyone else all along, but I have been captured these past few weeks
by this notion: God weaved a season of
beautiful death into creation’s rhythm so it would already be familiar to our
souls.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Think about it. Death
is the most ugly thing in existence. It
can be gory, gross, the most destructive and permanent part of life. It goes against everything we are as created
beings to find death beautiful. So
perhaps God did some foreshadowing in nature to prepare us and familiarize our
beings with this seemingly oxymoronic concept that is essential to the
Gospel. Jesus took the most horrid death
imaginable and redefined love and beauty where a curse once lived. It’s a stretch for us to believe that God not
only makes beautiful things out of the dust and dead, but He made death itself beautiful. God shedding and killing our old selves to make us look more like him is beautiful death. In a very literal way, letting go of life here to enter into eternity will be the most beautiful and true moment our souls will ever know. I struggle to grasp it all, but Fall helps me to
trust it’s possible. I’m grateful today
that God helps us see images of His truth in what He’s created because He knows
our lack of faith and understanding. What
a good Dad.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDdR63L4ok_VXgy3Wh4wbL5Z50B6TJHLhmInC4YYp6jfOsQl-wMyPNAK7E8K_UV_cQijpoLfF0y_G1_qyGdn82X7JBRAJGsrcaLRmEbZEC4UMuXmvhHQCFli5kp2vI5mbfgI0hGlMlzYLn/s1600/fall+looking.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDdR63L4ok_VXgy3Wh4wbL5Z50B6TJHLhmInC4YYp6jfOsQl-wMyPNAK7E8K_UV_cQijpoLfF0y_G1_qyGdn82X7JBRAJGsrcaLRmEbZEC4UMuXmvhHQCFli5kp2vI5mbfgI0hGlMlzYLn/s1600/fall+looking.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Some of the most wonderful glory I’ve witnessed has been
through this season of death. It’s
taught me to pay attention in other life seasons where death seems to
prevail. In relationships, in jobs, in health, in tragedy. The promise stands that God is
making it beautiful. If we don’t stop and take a walk among what is dying,
we may miss the beauty He’s painting into death to woo us, comfort us, and draw us further into His romantic
story of redemption. May we never miss
it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1422697230017393622.post-36053790702601704092013-10-02T15:13:00.000-07:002013-10-02T15:13:48.948-07:00Word for the Worship Leaders: impractical, extravagant worship<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<i><b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">1</span></b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Six days before
the Passover,<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1422697230017393622" name="1414e237daac0309_1"></a> Jesus arrived at Bethany,<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1422697230017393622" name="1414e237daac0309_2"></a> where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised
from the dead. <b>2</b> Here a dinner was given in Jesus' honor.
Martha served,<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1422697230017393622" name="1414e237daac0309_3"></a> while Lazarus was among
those reclining at the table with him. <b>3</b> Then Mary took about
a pint<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1422697230017393622" name="1414e237daac0309_a"></a> of pure nard, an expensive
perfume; <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1422697230017393622" name="1414e237daac0309_4"></a>she poured it on Jesus' feet and wiped
his feet with her hair.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1422697230017393622" name="1414e237daac0309_5"></a> And the house was
filled with the fragrance of the perfume. <b>4</b> But one of his
disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him,<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1422697230017393622" name="1414e237daac0309_6"></a> objected, <b>5</b> "Why
wasn't this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year's
wages.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1422697230017393622" name="1414e237daac0309_b"></a> " <b>6</b> He did
not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as
keeper of the money bag,<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1422697230017393622" name="1414e237daac0309_7"></a> he used to help
himself to what was put into it. <b>7</b> "Leave her
alone," Jesus replied. "[It was intended] that she should
save this perfume for the day of my burial.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1422697230017393622" name="1414e237daac0309_8"></a> <b>8</b> You
will always have the poor among you,<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1422697230017393622" name="1414e237daac0309_9"></a> but
you will not always have me."</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">John
12:1-8</span></b></i><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Each fall our
congregation does a series focusing on stewardship. Often when I think about
stewardship, I perceive it conservatively. I immediately ask myself “where can
I trim the fat and be more frugal so I that I can give more?” There's always room for simplification and to
really think carefully about how we are spending what God has blessed us with.
This story from John beats the concept of frugality to a pulp and throws
it out in the street with its brother practicality. There is nothing conservative, or stingy
about Mary here. The disciples are appalled at her wastefulness with
using a bottle of expensive perfume to worship and honor Jesus. They don’t understand. Jesus was so simple in living. Mary was being extravagant. When they gave her a hard time about it,
expecting that what Jesus would do, He defends her actions. I’m sure they
were confused and frustrated, but Jesus was delighted. The power of love and forgiveness has
transformed Mary’s broken life and story.
It had over taken her to the point of extravagant, over-the-top,
impractical worship. When we are called
and claimed as Christ’s, we are set apart and transformed. Life looks different when we see that no
expense was spared for our salvation.
Without realizing it, we’re moved to spare no expense, not even our
pride, to bring honor and praise to a relentless, loving Father. In the
Old Testament, when Solomon's temple was being built, there was no expense
spared to honor God in that place. There was no budget on the beauty,
time, or expense given to honor the King of kings. It pushes us to think about that seriously.
How can I worship and honor God extravagantly with what He has given me?
Am I so changed and in awe of God’s love for me to give up much for his
honor? How do we be good stewards of our resources and still worship extravagantly as a body? This week and in the weeks to
come, what does it look like to give up something valuable -- time, money,
attention, looking cool -- to fall at the feet of Jesus in worship for how
great His grace is toward us?<span style="font-size: 16pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1422697230017393622.post-45083722675523763332013-09-18T10:35:00.000-07:002013-09-18T10:36:14.404-07:00Word for the Worship Leaders: the power in praise.<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">
<b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">[<i>Word for the Worship Leaders</i> is a new type of post that has come out of creating devotional moments to feed and encourage the worship leaders and teams of our ministry.]<br /><br /><i>1</i></span></b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><i> O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1422697230017393622" name="1412910148da1afe_1" style="color: #222222;"></a> in all the earth! You have set your glory<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1422697230017393622" name="1412910148da1afe_2" style="color: #222222;"></a> above the heavens.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1422697230017393622" name="1412910148da1afe_3" style="color: #222222;"></a> <b>2</b> From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1422697230017393622" name="1412910148da1afe_a" style="color: #222222;"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1422697230017393622" name="1412910148da1afe_4" style="color: #222222;"></a> because of your enemies, to silence the foe<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1422697230017393622" name="1412910148da1afe_5" style="color: #222222;"></a> and the avenger. <b>3</b> When I consider your heavens,<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1422697230017393622" name="1412910148da1afe_6" style="color: #222222;"></a> the work of your fingers,<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1422697230017393622" name="1412910148da1afe_7" style="color: #222222;"></a> the moon and the stars,<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1422697230017393622" name="1412910148da1afe_8" style="color: #222222;"></a> which you have set in place, <b>4</b> what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1422697230017393622" name="1412910148da1afe_9" style="color: #222222;"></a> <b>5</b> You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1422697230017393622" name="1412910148da1afe_b" style="color: #222222;"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1422697230017393622" name="1412910148da1afe_10" style="color: #222222;"></a> and crowned him with glory and honor.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1422697230017393622" name="1412910148da1afe_11" style="color: #222222;"></a> <b>6</b> You made him ruler<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1422697230017393622" name="1412910148da1afe_12" style="color: #222222;"></a> over the works of your hands;<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1422697230017393622" name="1412910148da1afe_13" style="color: #222222;"></a> you put everything under his feet:<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1422697230017393622" name="1412910148da1afe_14" style="color: #222222;"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1422697230017393622" name="1412910148da1afe_15" style="color: #222222;"></a> <b>7</b> all flocks and herds,<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1422697230017393622" name="1412910148da1afe_16" style="color: #222222;"></a> and the beasts of the field,<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1422697230017393622" name="1412910148da1afe_17" style="color: #222222;"></a> <b>8</b> the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea,<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1422697230017393622" name="1412910148da1afe_18" style="color: #222222;"></a> all that swim the paths of the seas. <b>9</b> O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! <b>Psalm 8</b></i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">This coming week, we're focusing on children in our "All in the Family" worship series. God has created us to praise Him -- even as children and infants we are filled with breath and song to give our God glory. And why? Verse 2 says that praise silences the foes.<br /><br />Nothing delights me like singing Bible songs to my godchildren and nephew as they fall asleep in peacefulness. I have this powerful memory of my two week old nephew on the night of his baptism. He was almost humming along with his baby noises as I rocked him and sang "I am Jesus' Little Lamb" over him. Even so small, he was singing the praise of Jesus.<br /><br />Much like the lullabies for children, singing praise calms us and puts our hearts to rest. God is once again sitting on the throne of our hearts in our worship. When I am afraid or worried or just spinning with thoughts, I often sing worship songs or hymns </span><i style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">outloud </i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">to proclaim the truth of God's power in and among me and that situation. It's a deep breath that reminds my heart of what is true. Praise lets the enemy know that I'm not believing his lies or afraid of his work, but claiming the power of Christ crucified and risen. The power grows as we proclaim praise collectively, as we speak God's promises to each other and go forth collectively in the power and purpose of God.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">To my fellow worship leaders, we must remember that we are blessed with that opportunity every week -- to proclaim the praise of Jesus and speak the truth that silences the foes. We get to lead the song of victory and proclamation for our gathered family of faith. Whatever lie the foe is whispering or tactic he is trying to turn, when we praise with our heart, the lie loses ground. The tactic weakens. Our worship is so much more than a cool song with a sweet melody. It's proclaiming the praise of Christ that silences every foe. May this be our goal as worship leaders and people of faith -- to proclaim foe-silencing praise in our lives and for all those gathered.</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1422697230017393622.post-39286518315909255992013-09-07T15:18:00.001-07:002013-09-07T18:06:40.950-07:00perfect isn't real (PART 2): protecting an honest house.<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: #777777; font-family: inherit, serif;">So I received a lot of feedback from last’s
week’s post “<a href="http://www.shellyschwalm.com/2013/08/perfect-isnt-real-foolish-art-of-hiding.html">perfect isn't real: the foolish art of hiding your crazy</a>.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: #777777; font-family: inherit, serif;">I must say that I am proud and a bit
relieved to know that so many people I’m connected to are resonating and
considering the same things of being authentic.
My friend, Lindsey, who has been a wonderful and lovely mutual sharer of crazy for a long
time, asked a great question that I’ve been chewing on.<br />
</span><br />
<b style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="color: #777777;">How do we go about being as honest
as we can with strangers or others who aren't yet "safe”?</span></i></b><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #777777;">She went on to profoundly capture
the struggle we find ourselves in:</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i><span style="color: #777777;">Some of our crazy is only safe
with those who won't turn that knowledge into a weapon...but if we never get to
a place of feeling fully or at least mostly seen by others, then the devil's
lies of "they don't really know you..." gain strength. </span><u1:p></u1:p></i></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #777777;">Knowing my friend speaks great
wisdom, I’ve continued to wrestle. Not everyone has earned the right to
know all of our stories. The truth is our crazy is not safe with everyone
we meet. People who over share their life stories and wounds too quickly
may not be guarding their heart as they should be. Scripture encourages us to
guard our hearts, but also to not be a dish only clean on the outside.
So how are we honest, but not completely compromised?</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #777777;">I’ve spent a lot of time on the
"closed off" side of this spectrum, to the point where it kept people
from getting to know me. The summer I worked at camp, a fellow counselor
said to me in frustration, “you’re like Fort Knox..everybody knows there’s gold
inside but nobody can get in.” I don’t think I was being dishonest in
that season, but just very guarded.<br />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--></span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #777777;">In effort to better connect with
others and build relationships, I’ve dabbled on the “too open” side. I’ve
been so excited about building relationships, being affirming and pursuant, and
letting people get to know me, while making them completely overwhelmed. </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #777777;">There are people who didn’t
protect my heart, my feelings, or my crazy and I got really hurt because of
it. There are others I was so distant from that they gave up trying to
know me.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #777777;">I admit that I’m still trying to
figure this stuff out, especially as experiences continue to shape how much I
swing back and forth on this social pendulum. Awhile back, though, I was
given an image that has helped me immensely to figure out how I’m honest and
also protecting myself.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #777777;">Picture yourself as a house.
Imagine away: the yard, the paint color. How many rooms? Is there a
porch or a fence around the outside? My house is a cozy small home with a
grayish paint and white trim. It has a big front window and a porch with
white furniture. A small white fence runs around the yard with grass and
flowers. What’s yours look like? Can you picture it? <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
<br />
Now, someone new is coming over. Will you go out to meet them at the gate
and chat with them across the fence? Will you invite them to sit on the
porch with a glass of iced tea? Are they welcome to step inside to the
foyer right away or even have a seat in the living room?</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #777777;">Some people are completely
comfortable having new faces come right in and sit on their couch. Some
might want to meet on the porch a few times first. You may decide to only
chat over the fence with some. Others may get to skip ahead to the foyer.
There may be months before anyone gets to see your kitchen and years
before someone is invited into your room or your back closet full of the craziest
crazy. You know...the closet with the random junk you don’t know what do
with. It exists in our real homes and in our persons. So here’s the
deal. This piece that gave me freedom and encouragement in all of this.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span style="color: #777777;">You get to decide.</span></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #777777;">You’re the one who gets to decide
who is allowed in the yard, but not in the kitchen. You get to decide how
quickly someone gets to progress or not progress into your home. You get
to decide if someone is never allowed within the fence again. You choose
who stays in the yard and who is always welcome to sit on the couch. You
get to decide.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #777777;">BUT...here’s the twist. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b>No matter the level you allow
another into, let it be honest.</b> Don’t try to convince someone that
the big mansion down the street is you. Don't spend your life savings
paying a gardener for a perfectly manicured front lawn and leaving your home
inside in shambles. When you invite people into your home, leave your
Rock and Roll posters on the walls of your office. Leave the encouragement
you wrote to yourself on the bathroom mirrors. If you're blaring N'Sync
in the house, listen to it on the porch, too. If someone is allowed all
the way to the kitchen, offer them a Capri-Sun from your stash in the fridge.
Ask them to take off their shoes before entering an area that requires
extra gentleness or leave their shoes on where there's broken glass or lost
Legos in the carpet. People who make it to your kitchen and don't
like what they see, will either make themselves at home in the
mess, roll up their sleeves and help you do the dishes, or find themselves
uninvited. That's how it works. You need people in your kitchen,
but not everyone in your kitchen. People mocking, destroying, or stealing
from your house get asked to leave. People who take the time to love the
process of being welcomed will cherish your house and join you in its
protection and care.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #777777;"><br />
Permit me to be so bold here for a moment with some real talk for my single
friends. Until that future spouse of yours has bought the keys to the
whole house, the bedroom should stay locked. It’s really tough to catch
up on the bonding of the porch stage and regain the boundary of the living
room, if someone has been given free reign of every part of the house.
Single or married, set that room aside for the most intimate relationship you
will ever have—a place where no other relationship will go. Guard that
room from any other relationship. Be selective. This is where your
biggest crazy is shared and protected by someone else and you share and protect
theirs. This is not a room for just anyone.<br />
<br />
So choose your safe and healthy pace for building depth in any relationship,
but be authentic at every level that you invite someone to see. And
remember to be patient and gracious as the other person is doing the same with
you.<br />
<br />
Relationships of all kinds aren't about who hides their crazy the best, but who
is managing it, protecting it, bettering it, and sharing it with trusted
someones. Because we all need that friend or two who will help us open the
door to that scary back closet.</span></span></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1422697230017393622.post-43542058641799372022013-08-30T16:00:00.000-07:002013-08-30T18:07:32.190-07:00perfect isn't real: the foolish art of hiding your crazy.<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I think I’ve always been pretty good at hiding my “crazy.” I’m sure, like most people, I <b>think</b> I’m better at it than I actually
am. You know what I mean by your “crazy”…those
parts of yourself that are less than becoming; your quirks, personality flaws,
major turn offs even. Despite your best
efforts, I know you’re not perfect, because I know I’m not. Some may not even know what theirs is, but everyone
has their own set of crazy.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">Our culture rewards people based on their ability to hide
their crazy. All you have to do is
observe candidates running for office to witness this in action. Slick suits, smooth rhetoric, a sweet smile,
and charming, winsome words. We run
toward people who seem to say and do all of the right things…at least while
people are watching.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">They who have mastered hiding their crazy get the most
(first) dates, followers, job offers, and birthday wishes on Facebook. <o:p></o:p></span><span style="line-height: 17.77777862548828px;">In a world of photoshop, tummy tucks and auto-tune, we begin to believe our goal is an unreal and unattainable something. It breaks my heart. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">Sometimes I can’t help but think that so little has changed
since Jesus walked the earth. The
religious teachers looked the part, spoke the law perfectly, followed every
regulation, and were highly revered because of it. No wonder John the Baptist didn’t make much
of a splash with this crowd! This
unkempt, bug-eating, wilderness dude’s presence didn’t quite compel the masses
into preparing for the Messiah. The
average folks didn’t have ears for someone who wasn’t bright and shiny on the
outside. The dude was out there. Jesus pointed out to his disciples in Matthew
17 that an Elijah had come back to prepare for the Messiah. It was John the Baptist and people didn’t
recognize him in camel hair cloak.<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">I’ll admit, I can often struggle to see beyond the crazy of
others. 1 Samuel 16:7 always gets me. <i>“Man looks at the outward
appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." </i> I
am guilty of this. I have been drawn to
those who hide their crazy well and have lived most of my life wanting to fool
others into thinking mine doesn’t exist.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">As I’m maturing, I’m realizing the truth of 1 John 1. <i>“If we
say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” </i>I’m over mastering this “crazy hiding”
art. It makes me tired. It makes me wonder if people would really
love me if they knew my quirks and shortcomings. I don’t want to blindside someone with “who I
really am” and I don’t want to be blindsided by someone else. I've never felt so loved as when I've been in a community that is totally aware of my crazy, I of theirs, and we walk together growing in faith and wholeness. Community is most beautiful when messy. When you can be you and know y</span><span style="line-height: 17.77777862548828px;">ou are loved. Crazy and all. That's what Jesus is about. Loving us in the midst of our crazy and asking us to be honest about it.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgujv-ABtlwxxht_pFSTebCSuOl76QnjyMj4321DIBreR3gFZRbW7IcLqK8PNNuamh58ZQZVaboft6Ax3grebqQg_FjZd5MOhT-CJXvpa-PuFiy9ZgUil3bYCZ1CuUr_UMF4nFuZHcIuAha/s1600/smore+face.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgujv-ABtlwxxht_pFSTebCSuOl76QnjyMj4321DIBreR3gFZRbW7IcLqK8PNNuamh58ZQZVaboft6Ax3grebqQg_FjZd5MOhT-CJXvpa-PuFiy9ZgUil3bYCZ1CuUr_UMF4nFuZHcIuAha/s320/smore+face.jpg" width="240" /></span></a><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">I’m learning that lesson--to be drawn to people who are honest, healthy and working toward health. Healthy
people know they have crazy and are working on it. They are honest and self-aware; understanding
that people may take or leave them because of their crazy, but refusing to live
any other way.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">So I will tell you, if you want to prove to me that you’re
perfect, our friendship won’t go far. I
am leery of perfection. It only makes me
more nervous about the crazy that bubbles beneath the surface. If bits of my crazy are showing and I feel
cast down, our connection will also be limited.
I’m tired of trying for “perfect.”
I’m working on “better,” while resting in “honest.” Take me or leave me... glasses and s'mores on my face and all.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">So how do we navigate the road between hiding our crazy and scaring
people off with our freak flag (especially if you're someone who would like to find a spouse or some friends)? Stay
tuned for part 2…</span><span style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1422697230017393622.post-86376609933453513952013-06-05T03:00:00.000-07:002013-06-05T10:41:10.734-07:00one sure step: how a marathon begins.When I go hiking with people who are new to it, I often say to them, "every step a sure step." Meaning take your time, get your foot set in a good place, and then take the next step in the same way. It prevents many unnecessary falls, hurts, and backsliding. It ensures healthy, solid forward motion, one step at a time.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
This sentiment has been echoing throughout blogs and books I've read, Bible studies I've attended, and guidance I've sought out in the past week. I'm beginning to get a clear picture of my newest goal--simply taking one intentional step.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I'm a big change kind of gal. I want to do something major. Funky colors in my hair. Write an album's worth of songs. Make banners for every week of Lent and each Holy Week service (but seriously..what was I thinking?). Become an expert at all that I scratch on the surface. When asked how I can work on myself, I give a list of 10 things I'm starting immediately. This is me. I won't always jump, but when I do, I run, leap, twist in the air, and cannonball into whatever it is, expecting to make the tidal wave splash.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I want to win the marathon as soon as I cross the starting line. I struggle with the single steps.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
If you're anything like me, you can get hung up on the fact that life isn't perfect. When things are hard, out of sync, or even feel broken for me, I follow one of two tendencies (usually one, then the other).</div>
<div>
<br />
<b>1.) I wallow thinking all is lost.</b><br />
<br />
<i>"This thing sucks. He hurt me. She is so difficult to deal with. This isn't working. I'm not where I want to be. I don't know what to do." </i>Sound familiar? Maybe it's just me. I struggle to turn off the reruns of my life's worst clips. I have to put up mental stop signs and not allow myself to go there anymore. I have to ask God to show me all the blessings He's given me and to fill me with gratitude. Choosing not to wallow is difficult sometimes, but choosing to continuing wallowing is, by no means, what Jesus had in mind for our "life to the full."<br />
<br />
<b>2.) Scrap it all and start over!</b></div>
<div>
<b><br /></b></div>
<div>
Then, I pendulum swing. I make some bold proclamation followed by a bold step. Usually it doesn't last for too long, but actually, usually shifts me just enough to accomplish jarring me out of my wallowing funk. I try to be super intentional and make a big change, but that's the problem. Gym memberships go half used. Books are left read a quarter of the way through. Healthy food spoils. The scope has been way too broad for me to be successful. I wind up feeling frustrated with a diminished sense of self-efficacy. <i>"Welp...guess I can't fix it, so I'll just ignore it or go back to being bummed about it."</i></div>
<div>
<br />
But God is teaching me about small steps. Well, even a singular "step." One step taken with purpose. One step to grow in my relationship with the Lord. Then one change to be more healthy. Then one action toward better boundaries. Then one step to grow in community. Being intentional one step at a time not only keeps us from ending up somewhere we didn't want to be without us realizing it, but it takes us somewhere better than where we are. Bit by bit. Because small steps are sure steps, that encourage forward motion without fear of backsliding or failure. Not many have energy to overhaul their life every time something feels off. Small steps are manageable and grace filled. We can win at them and victory spurs us on to take another.<br />
<br />
<b>I adore St. Francis of Assisi who said this: "Start by doing what is necessary, then what is possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible."</b><br />
<br />
That resonates with my "go big or go home" attitude. :-) That's the power of taking a hike full of sure steps. Asking God to shape us one small adjustment at a time, takes us to a totally different world that we never thought we could actually reach.<br />
<br />
Small steps have revitalized me and given me hope to believe I can make positive change in my story. To feel more focused, more healthy, more free with each drop of my heel is invigorating. I know I will require much grace for this less than expedited process, but I trust and believe that everything God grows takes time. Growth is slow, but somehow so riveting. Even though you never see the exact moments of movement, growth is measured over time and the beauty that unfolds is well worth the wait.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I know that I'm just starting the marathon of intentional steps I want to take in my story, but I'm learning that I can't finish a marathon without taking that first sure step.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0