This is a continuation of my "thankful" series started several months ago based on a bible study I went to. But this post will focus solely on my niece, SavannahLauren.
She will be turning two this week and that’s a pretty big deal to me. You see we found out that Savannah was joining our family in a very surprising way. My brother was stationed overseas with the Army Special Forces and we didn’t really get to talk to him during his deployments unless it was an emergency. One night we got a surprise call from him to let us know that Savannah was on her way. The weeks raced by and all too quickly we were receiving phone calls that Julie was in the hospital, and Savannah was being born (a full 8 weeks early). Over the next two weeks things were very cautious but with all of the spirit of both her mother and father little Savannah came home quickly and grew stronger and stronger and has continued to ever since.
I am thankful for - Savannah and for her beautiful SMILE. I have never been one of those people who looked at a baby and was able to see their parents in them, but for some reason with Savannah things have been different. When I look at her I see so much of my brother. She is like a little mirror image of him, with just enough of her beautiful mother mixed in to make her the perfect little girl. But her smile and her facial expressions are all Tim. The odd part about it is that I am only like 15 months older then him so it's not like I actually remember him as a child enough to see him in her, but there is just something about it that clicks.
The distance between us makes it hard, but that means that every picture and every visit makes all the difference. So happy birthday little Savvy. Aunt B loves you very much.
Another quote from my reading "eat, pray, love"..... "People think a soul mate is your perfect fit, and that's what everyone wants. But a true soul mate is a mirror, the person who shows you everything that's holding you back, the person who brings you to your own attention so you can change your life. A true soul mate is probably the most important person you will ever meet because they will tear down your walls and smack you awake."
When I read those words it really did kind of shake me for a second because it is so contrary to what we are taught and shown to believe. I have only had one person that I have ever come across in my life that I ever thought of as my soul mate. Thinking about it now it's kind of funny because it wasn't a serious relationship or anything, it was just a person that I connected with more then I ever have before and nothing ever felt like the right way to describe it other then a soul mate. Now the question is, does that mean that he was/is the only person I would be happy marrying? I certainly hope not as I haven't actually seen him in about 10 years and I think that his wife would probably have an issue with it as well.
So where does that leave us on the theory? I don't know and didn't really expect to share an answer but thought I would share the theory and at least get you thinking.
So I have quite a lot of time on my hands over the past two weeks and I have wanted to get caught up on my list of blog ideas. I keep this running note pad of things that I want to write about and so I tackle them one at a time as I get a chance. (There is your peek behind the curtain of the Oz that is my blogging life.) So an ironic thing is that for the past 8 1/2 years I had a steady stream of free Christian music given to me by the armful. More then I could listen to and more then I frankly cared to listen to. Mind you, that is not a slam on Christian music as much as a commentary on the volume of music that I was being given and my non-adventurous nature so I would find something that I liked and stick with it until I became sick of it. Needless to say a good amount of music slipped by me during those years without so much as a listen. Now I am in a musical desert where my source of new music, Christian or mainstream, is my Pandora playlists. It's funny the way things change.
One of the funniest things has been the discovery of the group Starfield (Christian band). I vividly remember their cd's passing through my hands as I gave them away. Now I have purchased their songs for .99 each contributing to the economy and boosting their mainstream SoundScan numbers. One song in particular that has really stuck with me and I find myself singing as I go throughout my day almost more then any other song in the past 6 months is their song Remain. So I thought I would share it with the world as my own way of making up for the fact that it was previously passed over.
Enjoy...
Defender of this heart You loved me from the start You never change
Through the highs and lows As seasons come and go You never fail
Day after day Your love will remain Faithful and true You are good
CHORUS: You are God with us You're victorious You are strong and mighty to save For Your word stands true There is none like You And when all else fades You remain
When troubles come my way You guide and You sustain Lead me, I pray
Forever You will be The great eternal King Now and always
Day after day Your love will remain Faithful and true You are good
I have been wondering lately where the line is between asking God for more in your life and being ungrateful for all you have been given. I have been overwhelmed over the last few months by a mixture of torn emotions, a wrestling if you will, between God and I as I have spent quiet moments thinking about my life. Over the past 8 months, heck the past 2 years, there have been many things that have been taken away from my life and yet there have been a surprising number of things that have been added to my life, which leaves me with the question I began with. Where is the line between gratitude and dissatisfaction?
About ten years ago The Prayer of Jabez was all the rage. Everyone was reading the book, quoting the passage and it was taped up on mirrors and cars everywhere. Not since the Revolutionary War has God heard more people praying for more territory and with few of them understanding what the implications would be. What was God thinking during that time? Did he think we were a land full of greedy Americans, as usual, or did he say "finally they have realized that they don't have to be satisfied with this earthly version of life"? Did he give a sigh of relief that we were finally getting how much more there was that he wanted to give us and that he wanted us to do for him?
Jacob wrestled with an angel and didn't let go until he received a blessing. Now if you follow this story out you see that he walks away crippled for the rest of his life. Again it begs the question did the injury occur because he wouldn't let go without needing the blessing or because when you have an encounter with someone or something so holy you will always walk away changed.
So I guess I am wrestling thought. What happens when we are dissatisfied with things in your life, in your relationship with God, in the lives of those you love. What do you do with the question “Is this answer to their prayer, forever?” I am not a person who ever settles for things, which is a double-edged sword. I am not given over completely to the Pollyanna mindset to think that tomorrow is another day and everyone and everything will be better if you just think positive thoughts and smile, but as I see these situations in my life and that of my friends and family I am forced to challenge the notion that things will remain the same forever. And here I sit, on a muggy day in May still wrestling and still praying.
Okay, for some of you this will be new insight in to me and my world and for anyone who has helped me moved or lived in the same place with me, you know this all too much. But alas, I must confess.......I Love LOveLOVe LOVE Books. I love just the thought of books. Old books are the best, and hard backs are my favorite. When my family would force to go antique shopping I would see all of these books that I desperately wanted so I could fill a library with them. I didn't care what the books were about at 7 years old, all I knew is that they would have looked perfect on a bookshelf . So I have collected quite a few books, and even though I did scale it back before the trip from Nashville to Dallas, there still seems to be quite a number here and they continue to grow.
A couple months ago I shared about my experience at the Downtown Dallas Library and the wonder that awaits in the 8 floors of books and research materials there. It was wonderful.One of my selections was an amazing book by Elizabeth Gilbert "eat, pray, love". While a secular author and with some non-traditional views she writes some of the beautiful things that I have ever read. I encourage everyone to read it and especially women since it is about her personal and spiritual journey through different situations.
Over the next few blogs I am going to pull out gems to share and talk about them a little and get your thoughts as well......hopefully you will enjoy it.
There is an old Italian joke told about a poor man who goes to church every day and prays before the statue of a great saint. The man sits begging, "Dear saint-please, please,please...give me the grace to win the lottery. " This lament goes on for months. Finally the exasperated statue comes to life, looks down at the begging man and says in weary disgust, "My son - please, please, please....buy a lottery ticket."
How many times have I sat in this very room or in rooms all over this country listing off prayers, with complete sincerity and deepest yearning for an answer just to feel like in the end I was as effective as talking to a frozen statue. The years pass, locations may change and yet a good number of the desires and requests stay the same. What is the reason for that. Do those questions, problems, desires not matter to God?
No, they matter just as much as anything else to him but there are times when we need to "stand up and buy a lottery ticket." Not that God needs our help but we have to keep walking forward and take every opportunity that he gives us not standing aside waiting for him to magically bring everything directly to us. Our desires and dreams don't just fall in to our lap. Sometimes we have to get out of our normal comfort zone, take the chance and see what happens next.
James 2:14-17 - Dear friends, do you think you'll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved and say, "Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!" and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup—where does that get you? Isn't it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense? (MSG)
“Great Commission” Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:47; Acts 1:8
John 20:21 - Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you."
We have been given the same calling as Jesus had to reach out and serve the world.(NIV)
We are no longer in the world but have now become of the world. It is impossible to change a world that you are not in. We have to be living out our life in front of them before they will follow us.
But too often the church and ministry community has become homo-sectual: we only like people who are just like us, or those who live inside the same community that we do.
Psalm 96:4 - Great is the Lord! He is most worthy of praise! He is to be feared above all gods.
Our ultimate motivation for everything we do is exactly that, Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised! He is why we reach out to others, not because of their need, but because of his greatness.
All too often when we talk about VOLunteering or about missions the topic seems really heavy because it feels like there is a lot of work or more things being added to your schedule. But if you are really focusing on the reason that you are serving it doesn’t become a chore or duty. Think about how it is at the beginning of a romantic relationship. All you can think about it being with that person and it really doesn't matter how late you stay up when you are together, how many miles you have to drive to make it happen.
Most of the time we see God as a means rather then the end.We serve God day after day looking for some sort of reward for our efforts.The truth is that the reward is that we were allowed to be a part of it at all.God lowered himself to our level to honor us with his presence.It is an honor and not a burden.
Have you ever had a young child help you with a project? Maybe it was making dinner or cleaning up. We all know that we could do it so much better on our own and probably ten times faster, but we love that child and it sweet to have them help. It also helps them grow to have them help. So we struggle through the process. It is the same with God. He comes down to our level and has us help us accomplish his work. Whether it is ministering to the person next door to us who doesn't believe or helping out in an area that has been hit by a natural disaster or going to the other side of the world to care for people that are the polar opposite from us.
The thing is God is going to accomplish his work with or without us (Rev. 22), but he honors us by allowing us to be a part of it.
If you truly want to know if you love God, and you want to see him reigning in your life you will see it reflected when you engage the world around you, not how well you can sing in praise and worship or can talk about him. You will see what happens when you serve.
We need to find ways to engage in what’s going on around the city and around the world.Not only is a good discipline for us as a staff but it is also a good lesson and example for the coaches and students we are leading.We need to find groups and individual organizations for us to contribute our time and treasure to.
We should wake up every day not going through our list of agenda items for the day, but asking God what he has for us to do with the day.
John 17:4 - I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.
That should be our goal at the end of everything, to be able to say those worlds to God. We usually focus on what we want to hear God say to us. That he is proud of us and that we have been faithful. But Jesus faced the end of his time earth with confidence. He knew that each day he had responsibilities given to him by God and in those last moments he felt a sense of release.
From a personal level, If this week was all there was, do you believe you have a race you should be running?Do you have things God has called you to that you have yet to complete? If this YEAR was all there was?
References from: Christine Caine, Francis Chan and Jeff Lewis
