Crazy and Radical

I'm behind on so many fronts that I don't even want to think about it.  This blog is one of them.  But I'm entering a new season...both in this year and in my life.  The last 6 months or so have just been yucky.  Not "I'm homeless with no family and everyone I know is deathly ill that I should even have anything to complain about" yucky but more like "Satan is really attacking me where I live and I can't quite seem to drag myself out from under the bus I'm driving to get myself back to where God wants me" kind of yucky.  But just like His grace is new every morning, the sights and sounds of spring always seem to awaken a new day in me.

Another thing that is waking my lazy behind up is some great reading I've been doing.  I know these two books were so last year's best sellers but those who know me know that I am definitely not that one who will be reading the latest release, if I'm reading anything at all so this is really about par for me.

I just finished reading, "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan.  Great reminder of what the kind of Christ we are trying to be like really looks like.  Such a motivator.  One of my favorite passages:

I wrote this book because much of our talk doesn't match our lives.  We say things like, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me," and "Trust in the Lord with all your hear."  The we live and plan like we don't believe God even exists.  We try to set our lives up so everything will be fine even if God doesn't come through.  But true faith means holding nothing back.  It meas putting every hope in God's fidelity to His promises.

I just started David Platt's, "Radical:  Taking Back Your Faith From the American Dream."  So far it has been great, but I'm only on page 34.

Giving.

It has been a long time and I am delinquent.  I have no excuses.  I've just not felt like I've had any great gifts of wisdom lately nor have I read any anywhere else.  My cup has been pretty dry lately.  And mostly because of me.  But I ran across this great post from a blog I've started following.  Giving has really been on my mind lately.  I'm like everyone else.  I never have extra money.  It seems like every month is a tight struggle and I never get ahead.  But I also feel the overwhelming desire to help others, give what I have, etc.  That is hard to do and feel like you are meeting your responsibilities as well.  I really like this family.  I like their blog.  I love their commitment to serve the Lord and others and I like this recent post on giving.  Enjoy.

http://allthingshendrick.blogspot.com/2011/12/keller.html

Looking up!

Wow! James MacDonald had a good one this week in his Walk in the Word series. He reminds us that when the church began it was about praise. It was about recognizing the greatness of God and the fame of God's Son. He makes a good point that we spend so much time in our churches trying to understand and cater to its followers that we forget why we have come.

Here is the full article. Check out Walkintheword.com for more.

Look Up

...¹⁷ so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, ¹⁸ may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, ¹⁹ and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. ²⁰ Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, ²¹ to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. —Ephesians 3:17-21

The other day I had on my desk 30 recent books written about the church of Jesus Christ. One word describes them all: Horizontal. Pretty covers, catchy titles—one theme. They are filled with practical counsel: How to understand your audience, how to impact the people around you, how to influence them, how to win them, how to assimilate them; what they need, what they want, what we think, what they think. And yet, most of them are based on a fatal flaw: They have reduced the Church of Jesus Christ to a man-centered, human-needs-driven, manipulate-able organization—a horizontal thing.

Here's a word you need to have at the forefront of your thinking: vertical. Somehow we've lost this in the church. We’ve replaced the Biblical idea of the church with the idea that the church is supposed to be about the horizontal—about us.

Before the purpose of the Church was ever soteriological (about salvation), it was doxological (about praise). Ephesians 3:20 says: "To Him be glory in the Church through Jesus Christ now and forever more." Everything we do has to resound with the fame of the name of God's Son. When that happens, everything else falls into place. Evangelism, discipleship, community impact, ministries of compassion, these things are by-products of a church that is passionately consumed with the glory of God. Vertical is a powerful concept that you need to have at the forefront of your thinking about the work of the Church of Jesus Christ.

The best reasons to be fully engaged in your church won’t be found by looking around, but by looking up! We begin obeying Christ by applying the great commandment to love God—the summary of the vertical relationship (see Mark 12:28-31). When we’ve got that clear, we can tackle the loving neighbor, horizontal thing. Let’s keep the two commands clear and in proper sequence! That’s vertical church. Look up!

So far behind...

Well, I've done a terrible job adding thought to this blog this summer. I have a bag of excuses but that doesn't change the fact that I've been neglectful! This really isn't a post from me, but I wanted to share something sent to me by someone else. I usually don't copy/paste from other sites because I want to send you to their site so they can get credit, but I couldn't find this post online anymore. It was sent to me in an email. But if you want to visit their site for future goodies, go to http://www.mydailyinsights.com/

Here is the good lesson for the day (or probably month at the rate I'm going):

DOG LESSONS

By Jo Ann Brown

It is amazing to me how God communicates certain lessons. Apparently, I must not listen in a traditional way because He always seems to use nature, my children, or my dogs to teach me things about myself.

As I was walking my dog, Chelsea, today, I noticed she was worse than usual about pulling. She was practically choking herself. She has a 25-foot leash that allows her 25 feet in just about any direction to enjoy without feeling uncomfortable. However, Chelsea seemed to always want to pull the leash as tightly as possible to get to the next "spot" in the road. Keep in mind that we are walking that direction and will be at that "spot" in just a matter of minutes.

Chelsea was so busy looking at the next place, the next moment that she failed to enjoy the place where she was. With 25 feet in any direction, she could only concentrate on the one foot that she could not reach in front of her. All the while we were moving forward, she wanted to be someplace different, further ahead. Her eyes were always one step further than where we were.

When I thought about how ridiculous she was, I realized how ridiculous I am as well. God has been trying to teach me to enjoy the moment while continuing to move forward. Why do I practically choke myself to get to the next place that I fail to enjoy the beauty of the place where I am. As long as I am moving forward, why can't I enjoy the trip?

I made a decision to enjoy things I usually would take for granted. That day, I found myself enjoying even the small things in my life more. I did not just take a shower that day thinking about what I needed to do during my day. I enjoyed my shower, thought about the warm water and how grateful I was that in our country I could take a shower anytime I want. That was probably the best shower I have had in a long time.

I can honestly tell you that I experienced more pleasure from everyday chores than I can ever remember. What a wonderful lesson I learned from my sweet Chelsea. I pray that I can continue to enjoy the place where I am, while continuing to move forward to the place I want to be.

So much joy can lie in the journey if I can be content with where I am and not continually pull to be where I am not quite ready to be. I wish I could say that Chelsea learned her lesson but that would be a lie. She still kills herself to get to that next place in the pavement when everything she needs is right under her nose.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Jo Ann Brown is an MDI subscriber and the mother of two wonderful teens, Brian and Danny and two dogs, Lucky and Chelsea. She can be reached at blessedwtwoboys@yahoo.com

Oaks of Righteousness

This won't be long but I wanted to share this thought. I was reading the Upper Room today - not the one that always used to sit on the back of my grandmother's toilet - but the one I receive, freely, everyday in my email inbox. It has the same words as the one on the back of the toilet, just in a more "in my face" fashion. I don't read it everyday, but I'm glad I did today.

The scripture selection was from Isaiah 61:1-3 ESV:

The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to grant to those who mourn in Zion— to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD,that he may be glorified.

You can read the companion commentary to this online at http://www.upperroom.org/devotional/default.asp?month=6&day=7&year=2011 It is called "Beauty for Ashes".

As for my commentary on this verse, I'll say I found encouragement. I also found that I can be both things here. Isaiah is saying he has come to bring good news because there are people that are hurting or burdened or worn out that need to hear it. He also says he's doing this so they can have gladness instead of mourning, praise instead of a faint spirit. And the final outcome is, that because of their transformed spirit, they will be oaks of righteousness showing off the glory of God.

I've had lots of times when I needed an Isaiah to come to me and give me liberty and bind up my wounds. I'm so thankful for those in my life who inspire and encourage me. Who lift me up. Sometimes they are friends or family but lots of times it is a Christian artist on the radio or the words of an evangelist in a podcast. These people share what they have to glorify God and restore others.

I'm also reminded here that I'm called to be the "resource" for someone else. Because God has given me gladness instead of mourning and praise instead of a faint spirit, I am called to be an "oak of righteousness" for someone else to look upon and see God glorified. It is my anointing to bring the good news to others who are bound, imprisoned, or wounded. That I could be that to someone else in the same way others have been to me is inspiring - it is a call to action. My prayer - "Lord, let not a day go by that I don't share your good news and proclaim liberty to the captives." AMEN.

Let Excitement Reign!

I totally love this blog post. Not actually this one that I'm writing, but the one I'm going to tell you about and link to. I am so in awe of people who are always excited about God and what He is doing in their lives. You know they have bad days and trials just like everyone else, but they choose every morning to get up and praise God anyway. I'm trying to be more like that. To find that relationship with God that gives peace every day.

This post is going to be my example for the day, month, maybe year. Who knows! Enjoy.

Title: I'm Sorry Your Life/Church is So "Normal"!
http://www.perrynoble.com/2011/05/04/im-sorry-your-lifechurch-is-so-normal/

My Cup Is Full but Not Overflowing

Unlike everything else around me that IS overflowing, somehow my words and thoughts haven't been lately. I'm going through a dry spell. God is definitely working in me and blessing me but in the last two months it has been with a very internal purpose. Things that others wouldn't necessarily understand or receive a blessing from hearing or reading.

God IS good. His love DOES endure forever. I'm having to learn about love, growth, change and lots of other hard stuff recently. We were so bless to have Barry Steed from Little Chapel Church (my home church) come and minister to us last night. My heart is overflowing from what was felt in the house of God last night, but I can't put it into words. It comes out in tears or in a smile wider than I've smiled in a long time. I'm sure that seed will bear fruit soon and I'll have something to say but right now all I can say is for everything there is a season and God's timing is perfect. And I'm perfected in Him. And so are you so just hang in there.

I do want to share something from James McDonald that comes at an appropriate time. As Barry said last night, the earth is shaking. All these disasters and all the hardship is painful to even watch, let alone experience. McDonald's "Weekly Walk" article this week was titled, "Will I Get Through This?" I know so many are asking themselves that question today and so many don't have the faith and hope in a savior to give them the comfort that they will. That is what makes me saddest today. So many are lost just beyond our doorstep and our church parking lot. How do we bring them in? How do we love them enough to get out of our recliners and bring the gospel? I'm still searching for these answers. But in the meantime I want to share this article with you at http://www.jamesmacdonald.com/ministries/walk-in-the-word/broadcast/will-i-get-through-this/#divAudioPlaylist-tab . This happens to be the audio version but you can sign-up on his site to receive the weekly email too. I download his podcast to my phone and often listen when I'm exercising. He has some good teaching. Be blessed.