This last week has truly been something else. It has been smothered with newness, lessons and the unexpected: from births to deaths and accidents and failing health. It’s hard to see Jesus in the chaos, or to even remember that he exists; but this week was so different. Each phone call I received, each text message about the happenings in my friends’ lives drove me to intense prayer. Each prayer was so much more than words, something shifted in me every single time that I uttered words or groans to the Lord. I remember praying for a friend last week and just dropping to the floor in tears. I prayed until I felt something shift – maybe 20 or so minutes. It was almost like I felt the pain that He feels for these situations. It’s hard to put to words. But after multiple sets of bad news over a few days my heart ached and yet I had joy. I know that’s weird but I did. But I always felt the Spirit with me, whispering to me, and holding me.
God provided an opportunity for me to carry another’s burdens without my world crashing down. Sure it was hard, and sure I took on a few extra responsibilities to try and help; but for the first time in a LONG time I can say that I didn’t do any of it out of my own strength. I can’t believe how Christianese this might sound, but I did nothing without prayer. There were a few times that I tried, and I allowed worry and guilt to try and guide my actions and all the doors immediately closed.
A week has passed and not every situation is better, not everyone is back to 100%. There’s a million variables, the most important being the matters of a person’s heart, but I have a new sense of hope. I have a new connection with Jesus, one that was not built on knowledge, strategy, or a set of rules; rather it was built from acknowledging the still small voice, yielding to it, and spending time with him as I lifted the burdens of my life up to him.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Loving From A Distance
This past week has presented me with a bit of a perplexing issue; at least in regards to love and the misconceptions that we have created about what it means to love. At a societal level, I think we have convinced ourselves that loving is not strong, that to love everyone makes a person a doormat to be continuously used, or that the person has no discernment.
If we look at the life of Jesus, because, well that is the life that we are given as an example to live by, we see love. We see a man who gave up his heavenly position to come down to earth to serve a people who were going to reject him anyway. We also see Jesus executing discernment on where he spoke and who he hung out with. There are very few accounts of Jesus actually spending time in synagogues (only twice I believe) or of him spending time with the Pharisees. Now, don’t get a head of me. However, Jesus still does have a handful of conversations with the Pharisees, when they approach him with questions. Also, when Jesus was in those places or having conversations with the Pharisees, he was acting and speaking out of love. Now, I am going to make an assumption here, based on my own thoughts and insights. I believe that Jesus did not spend all of his time in those situations for a few reasons: he was counter cultural, he was not worried about legalism/rules, and because he knew those situations would not be healthy or beneficial to his life and his ministry.
Now, of course I cannot enter into Jesus’ mind and verify his thoughts BUT it seems to make sense. Jesus knew that the Pharisees wanted an argument, they wanted to try and ruffle his feathers, they wanted to disgrace him, and Jesus knew that they eventually wanted to kill him. So, why in the world would he have wanted to spend time with people who had those types of intentions? Yet, Jesus still loved them, still taught them, still spoke to them with the same tone and intensity which he spoke to his disciples. To me, this is Jesus exercising discernment by acknowledging that there were situations that were not beneficial for him to be involved in, in order for Him to expand his life and teachings.
If Jesus, the son of God had situations/people in his life that were not healthy for him to be a part of, how much more do we have those situations in our life? There will inevitably be people whose intention is to harm us – mentally, physically or emotionally – and once we have felt their intention it is unwise of us to be a part of that situation. That does not mean we need to slander that person’s name, seek revenge, or do anything else that would dishonor that person; but it might mean that physical distance needs to be placed between you and that person. And the great thing about prayer is that we don’t have to be with that person to be able to pray for them.
It can seem like a tricky line but it is not a weak decision. It takes a lot of strength to love in this manner. I think it is super important for us to identify situations that are unhealthy in our lives and listen to what your “gut” feeling is about them. So often that feeling is the Holy Spirit guiding you, take it to God and don’t be surprised if He asks you to love someone from a distance.
If we look at the life of Jesus, because, well that is the life that we are given as an example to live by, we see love. We see a man who gave up his heavenly position to come down to earth to serve a people who were going to reject him anyway. We also see Jesus executing discernment on where he spoke and who he hung out with. There are very few accounts of Jesus actually spending time in synagogues (only twice I believe) or of him spending time with the Pharisees. Now, don’t get a head of me. However, Jesus still does have a handful of conversations with the Pharisees, when they approach him with questions. Also, when Jesus was in those places or having conversations with the Pharisees, he was acting and speaking out of love. Now, I am going to make an assumption here, based on my own thoughts and insights. I believe that Jesus did not spend all of his time in those situations for a few reasons: he was counter cultural, he was not worried about legalism/rules, and because he knew those situations would not be healthy or beneficial to his life and his ministry.
Now, of course I cannot enter into Jesus’ mind and verify his thoughts BUT it seems to make sense. Jesus knew that the Pharisees wanted an argument, they wanted to try and ruffle his feathers, they wanted to disgrace him, and Jesus knew that they eventually wanted to kill him. So, why in the world would he have wanted to spend time with people who had those types of intentions? Yet, Jesus still loved them, still taught them, still spoke to them with the same tone and intensity which he spoke to his disciples. To me, this is Jesus exercising discernment by acknowledging that there were situations that were not beneficial for him to be involved in, in order for Him to expand his life and teachings.
If Jesus, the son of God had situations/people in his life that were not healthy for him to be a part of, how much more do we have those situations in our life? There will inevitably be people whose intention is to harm us – mentally, physically or emotionally – and once we have felt their intention it is unwise of us to be a part of that situation. That does not mean we need to slander that person’s name, seek revenge, or do anything else that would dishonor that person; but it might mean that physical distance needs to be placed between you and that person. And the great thing about prayer is that we don’t have to be with that person to be able to pray for them.
It can seem like a tricky line but it is not a weak decision. It takes a lot of strength to love in this manner. I think it is super important for us to identify situations that are unhealthy in our lives and listen to what your “gut” feeling is about them. So often that feeling is the Holy Spirit guiding you, take it to God and don’t be surprised if He asks you to love someone from a distance.
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Catch up :-)
So this last month I have heard a lot of really awesome messages and I have been meaning to write about them, but just ya. So I thought I would just put little tidbits here :-)
The Orchard- all words of Scott Hodge
-Getting stuck is the easy part; getting unstuck is the hard part
-No problem can be caused by the same consciousness that caused the problem in the first place – Albert Einstein
-TO get something you have never had you need to do something you have never done.
-There is cumulative value in investing small amounts of time in something over a long period of time.
-Neglect has a cumulative effect
-There is NO cumulative value to the urgent things that we allow to interfere with the important things
-Am I giving the best part of my day/week/month to the things that are the most important in my life?
-Good things VS great things
-Gossip: when a person who is involved is neither a part of the problem or the solution
-In light of my past experiences, what is the wise thing to do?
-In light of my current circumstances, what is the wise thing to do?
-In light of my future hopes and dreams, what is the wise thing to do?
-What am I doing RIGHT now that has the potential to rob me of my future hopes and dreams?
River Valley - Andy
-Discouragement breeds impatience and self discrimination
-Real love is doing whatever you can to help another person grow to their true potential
-If you aren’t willing ot obey what you hear, why bother asking?
-Often times God’s plans don’t look the way we would like them to, but we have to ride the storm- we aren’t always pulled out – Bob Crane
-The time is always right to do what is right – Bob Crane
-Creation is an overflow of God’s glory: look at a person’s house/decorations and you can an idea of who they are: we live in God’s house
-Created us IN His image
-Don’t make the created your identity or let created things define you
-Man was NOT created to be a puppet, he was designed to have free will and make choices. The only way to have that choice is to be given an opportunity to exercise it
Chicago I-HOP
-Good is Best’s worse enemy
-When confessed God can use our mistakes for our biggest promotions
-Encounter with the Lord brings change
-Live FROM out identity, not for it
-Jesus’ assignment was to reveal God – To be a father in an orphaned world
The Orchard- all words of Scott Hodge
-Getting stuck is the easy part; getting unstuck is the hard part
-No problem can be caused by the same consciousness that caused the problem in the first place – Albert Einstein
-TO get something you have never had you need to do something you have never done.
-There is cumulative value in investing small amounts of time in something over a long period of time.
-Neglect has a cumulative effect
-There is NO cumulative value to the urgent things that we allow to interfere with the important things
-Am I giving the best part of my day/week/month to the things that are the most important in my life?
-Good things VS great things
-Gossip: when a person who is involved is neither a part of the problem or the solution
-In light of my past experiences, what is the wise thing to do?
-In light of my current circumstances, what is the wise thing to do?
-In light of my future hopes and dreams, what is the wise thing to do?
-What am I doing RIGHT now that has the potential to rob me of my future hopes and dreams?
River Valley - Andy
-Discouragement breeds impatience and self discrimination
-Real love is doing whatever you can to help another person grow to their true potential
-If you aren’t willing ot obey what you hear, why bother asking?
-Often times God’s plans don’t look the way we would like them to, but we have to ride the storm- we aren’t always pulled out – Bob Crane
-The time is always right to do what is right – Bob Crane
-Creation is an overflow of God’s glory: look at a person’s house/decorations and you can an idea of who they are: we live in God’s house
-Created us IN His image
-Don’t make the created your identity or let created things define you
-Man was NOT created to be a puppet, he was designed to have free will and make choices. The only way to have that choice is to be given an opportunity to exercise it
Chicago I-HOP
-Good is Best’s worse enemy
-When confessed God can use our mistakes for our biggest promotions
-Encounter with the Lord brings change
-Live FROM out identity, not for it
-Jesus’ assignment was to reveal God – To be a father in an orphaned world
Monday, February 6, 2012
A Doosey of a Night
A Doosey of a Night
It was finally Friday night and after a wonderful birthday dinner for my mom it was time to hang out with some friends. Plans had already changed about 5 times about where I was going and which group of friends I was going out with; it was eventually decided that I would pick Rob up and go have a birthday drink or two with Roy. If only I had known then. As we were about to pull into the bar where they were suppose to be, we get a call that they had relocated to downtown Naperville – ain’t no thing just a little drive. Though both Rob and I are taken back as Features on a Friday night is not really this crowd’s atmosphere. Nonetheless we go. We have a shot downstairs and then the group wants to go upstairs. The whole night had an eerie undertone that I could not possibly explain. I stand facing the majority of the crowd in Frankies and after a few minutes this random swell happens. Something had just shifted, the air felt different, people were kind of moving away from dancing but not really. I figured someone was throwing up or passing out because the bouncers weren’t acting like it was a fight. Another song played and then the lights went on, bouncers were trying to get people out of the way, and all I hear is “someone was stabbed”. I look at the people I was with and decide it is time to leave.
The next couple of days unfold more parts of the story, one guy stabbed three people that night. One of the men who was stabbed died at the hospital, another needed surgery, and the third was in serious condition but was released by mid day Saturday. Someone died. I was in the room, lots of people were, and someone died. There was still no release of a motive for the stabbing, the rumor is that it was a fight about beer or hats; hard to believe that’s a reason to stab someone over. They arrested the guy who did the stabbings, and he confessed.
My first feeling was to be angry at this man who stabbed three people. I mean how dare he. Then while at work I was stocking the shelves I thought “holy cow, this guy needs just as much love”. Now don’t jump to conclusion, every action has consequences, and he needs to be prepared to face that. However, that doesn’t change the fact that this guy needs love just as much as anyone else. And no, I am not trying to make excuses for his actions, or make assumptions about his life; we all need love. No one deserves to have their life taken from them by another person. And no one who is okay and stable in life attempts to take the life of another.
P.S. It was also a reminder about the Domino effect of a single action. You never expect that insulting someone is going to lead to you getting stabbed. You never think that trying to help a friend is going to get you killed. And I bet the guy who did the stabbing didn’t realize that he was about to impact 2 school districts and hundreds of lives. Almost no action ever effects only one person.
It was finally Friday night and after a wonderful birthday dinner for my mom it was time to hang out with some friends. Plans had already changed about 5 times about where I was going and which group of friends I was going out with; it was eventually decided that I would pick Rob up and go have a birthday drink or two with Roy. If only I had known then. As we were about to pull into the bar where they were suppose to be, we get a call that they had relocated to downtown Naperville – ain’t no thing just a little drive. Though both Rob and I are taken back as Features on a Friday night is not really this crowd’s atmosphere. Nonetheless we go. We have a shot downstairs and then the group wants to go upstairs. The whole night had an eerie undertone that I could not possibly explain. I stand facing the majority of the crowd in Frankies and after a few minutes this random swell happens. Something had just shifted, the air felt different, people were kind of moving away from dancing but not really. I figured someone was throwing up or passing out because the bouncers weren’t acting like it was a fight. Another song played and then the lights went on, bouncers were trying to get people out of the way, and all I hear is “someone was stabbed”. I look at the people I was with and decide it is time to leave.
The next couple of days unfold more parts of the story, one guy stabbed three people that night. One of the men who was stabbed died at the hospital, another needed surgery, and the third was in serious condition but was released by mid day Saturday. Someone died. I was in the room, lots of people were, and someone died. There was still no release of a motive for the stabbing, the rumor is that it was a fight about beer or hats; hard to believe that’s a reason to stab someone over. They arrested the guy who did the stabbings, and he confessed.
My first feeling was to be angry at this man who stabbed three people. I mean how dare he. Then while at work I was stocking the shelves I thought “holy cow, this guy needs just as much love”. Now don’t jump to conclusion, every action has consequences, and he needs to be prepared to face that. However, that doesn’t change the fact that this guy needs love just as much as anyone else. And no, I am not trying to make excuses for his actions, or make assumptions about his life; we all need love. No one deserves to have their life taken from them by another person. And no one who is okay and stable in life attempts to take the life of another.
P.S. It was also a reminder about the Domino effect of a single action. You never expect that insulting someone is going to lead to you getting stabbed. You never think that trying to help a friend is going to get you killed. And I bet the guy who did the stabbing didn’t realize that he was about to impact 2 school districts and hundreds of lives. Almost no action ever effects only one person.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
The First Love
As this idea of making the love which is defined in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 my DNA has been rattling around in my brain, I have begun to think more about the first love. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:36-40). This was Jesus’ response when he was asked “what is the greatest commandment?”. In a way that only Jesus could do, he gave a two fold answer to what was intended to be a single answer. What this tells me is that these two ideas/commandments are intended to work together.
It is easy to look around at society and point fingers at “Christians” who are not loving people in this way because it is tangible. However, as we focus on an outward love, if you will, it is easy to loose sight of the first love: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.” Jesus did not leave much room for interpretation or wiggle room about what is more important: loving God with everything we have. Time and time again it has been talked about what this looks like- give your body as a living sacrifice, surrender your thoughts, seek God for advice in daily decisions, etc, etc, etc. And by no means am I hear to say I disagree with any of those practical acts. However, I don’t want to forget that God gave us a definition, multiple times, about what love is.
1 Corinthians 13: 4-7 “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”
So, should this not be the same way that we approach our love of God? To be patient with Him, to be kind, to not envy the choices he might give others, to not boast about the things He has given you that others may not yet have, to not be prideful and think you know how to do it better. To honor Him with our words and actions, to not look at what He can do for us, to not be instantly angry when we do not like the way things are, to remember He keeps no records of wrongs. To not delight in doing what we know breaks His heart. To protect His name and His people, to trust what He tells us, to put our hope in Him, and to not give up on Him despite what the world around us says.
After all, that is the way that He loves ALL of us. What makes this most difficult is that we cannot always see God, at least not in the same way that we can see a person. Of course, one of the ways we show our love for Him is in the way that we treat other people; and that is something God is concerned with. However, what He is most concerned with are the matters of our heart. As you serve those around you, are you doing it with a heart of love? With a heart that is first full of love for God and then serving out of that love? Do you really seek to love God or are you too busy covering up the first love with all the actions of the second love?
It is easy to look around at society and point fingers at “Christians” who are not loving people in this way because it is tangible. However, as we focus on an outward love, if you will, it is easy to loose sight of the first love: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.” Jesus did not leave much room for interpretation or wiggle room about what is more important: loving God with everything we have. Time and time again it has been talked about what this looks like- give your body as a living sacrifice, surrender your thoughts, seek God for advice in daily decisions, etc, etc, etc. And by no means am I hear to say I disagree with any of those practical acts. However, I don’t want to forget that God gave us a definition, multiple times, about what love is.
1 Corinthians 13: 4-7 “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”
So, should this not be the same way that we approach our love of God? To be patient with Him, to be kind, to not envy the choices he might give others, to not boast about the things He has given you that others may not yet have, to not be prideful and think you know how to do it better. To honor Him with our words and actions, to not look at what He can do for us, to not be instantly angry when we do not like the way things are, to remember He keeps no records of wrongs. To not delight in doing what we know breaks His heart. To protect His name and His people, to trust what He tells us, to put our hope in Him, and to not give up on Him despite what the world around us says.
After all, that is the way that He loves ALL of us. What makes this most difficult is that we cannot always see God, at least not in the same way that we can see a person. Of course, one of the ways we show our love for Him is in the way that we treat other people; and that is something God is concerned with. However, what He is most concerned with are the matters of our heart. As you serve those around you, are you doing it with a heart of love? With a heart that is first full of love for God and then serving out of that love? Do you really seek to love God or are you too busy covering up the first love with all the actions of the second love?
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