Monday, October 26, 2009
Saturday, October 3, 2009
NOLA: Shabat Shalom
Ok! Officially in New Orleans...
Last night was incredible. We got here to NOLA, met up with Jeremy Wicker and Quanah...headed to the temple and experienced a Shabat service.
After the Synagogue, we headed to get some official cajun food... and then...well...cafe du monde...amen? yes...amen...
now we are having a FOLEY DAY!! whoooo!!! :-) pretty much chillin, remembering old times and gettin ready to head to the french quarter later this evening...
more good times to come!!!!
Thursday, October 1, 2009
I wish I was Stupid....
well, friends...here begins the start of an exciting roadtrip...
Hopefully there will be a consistent log of the adventures and good times to come...
at the moment...we are preppin' for a journey to NOLA...tonight is poppyseed chicken and bops custard...GLORY!
be on the lookout for some good video footage!
ignorance is bliss,
roadtrippers
Sunday, May 17, 2009
less inlet, more outlet
Soooo, I'll be honest. Today I feel a little more official than the day before. I GOT A MAC! Yes, I realize it's pathetic to be this excited, but all you other people out there with Macs understand my excitement.
A new outlet...
ooooor is it more of an "inlet"...
But this morning, as I drove to meet my parents for a farewell breakfast at the Pancake Pantry (for the second time in 4 days) I began to think about these "outlets"...are they really outlets? I mean I understand the importance of computers and phones and facebook, etc etc...Don't get me wrong, I LOVE all of them, but I would be lying to you if I said that they weren't a distraction and an area of hindrance in my life, sometimes. More often than not, I feel like I use these distractions for my own benefit instead of the benefit of others. That's disheartening.
I'm so grateful to have a new computer for so many reasons, but maybe all I'm saying is that I hope it's not as much for personal benefit as it is for the good news of Christ being made known to the nations. That's a big statement. :-) But why dream small, right?
Challenge for myself: may these tools and resources be less inlet and more outlet for the good of the Kingdom...
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Obsession
thinking a lot today about obsession...
what a dangerous tool, if misguided...and it seems to be growing more and more common...obsession over people, things, ideas, movements...
i mean i think all of those things have wonderful possibilities...but what happens when it becomes an obsession?...what happens when we can't think, eat, drink, live or react simply because we are being consumed by something contained within this world...
we are an obsessive culture...in need of a gripping freedom...
what would happen if our attention was taken from known and unknown obsessions and addictions and placed wholeheartedly on the Kingdom...
it's a challenge...a goal...a dream...
it's also a command....
what a dangerous tool, if misguided...and it seems to be growing more and more common...obsession over people, things, ideas, movements...
i mean i think all of those things have wonderful possibilities...but what happens when it becomes an obsession?...what happens when we can't think, eat, drink, live or react simply because we are being consumed by something contained within this world...
we are an obsessive culture...in need of a gripping freedom...
what would happen if our attention was taken from known and unknown obsessions and addictions and placed wholeheartedly on the Kingdom...
it's a challenge...a goal...a dream...
it's also a command....
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
The Urgency of the Savior's Message
I wrote this sophomore year of college and just recently came across it...
I was challenged...thought I'd share...
the urgency of the Savior's message: to what lengths will i go?...is it really that vital to me?...life and death?...to understand the King's call over my life is to comprehend life and to understand death...no, not heaven or hell...that's motivation, but it's not reason...my life is not lived to get to heaven and my death is not died to avoid hell...my life begins at the thought of Christ, it is lived at the notion of glory, and it is died with integrity to the King who is over all other kings....have you thought about what that means?...at His fingertips, he holds the power to strike a servant down who disobeys or looses focus....that's me!...and yet, i take for granted His glory...I ignore His great power...i have a tendency to think it's a sweet and tame glory...NO! my God, my King, my Jehovah, my Creator is NOT safe and innocent like a cute stuffed animal...He's not at my fingertips...i'm at HIS! He is bold, He is mighty, He is stern, and chissled, He is AWEsome, breathtaking, overwhelming, He is GOD!
it amazes me how i can type about it now and not fall flat on my face as i even think of His majesty and power...i should...i should be on my knees, but i don't understand that concept it seems...everything here seems so easy...i thank the Lord for food, but i don't really know what it means to be lacking...i thank the Lord for my family, but do i really know family as He knows family?...i praise God for my friends...in reality, should friends come as easy as they do? what about the prophets, paul, the disciples?...they weren't known for their friendships...they were known for their boldness in proclaiming the TRUTH!...if the Scriptures are meant to be immulated, why am i not becoming as they were? is my concern with man, or about man?...do i really love if i don't share the things that the Father has placed so graciously before me?...i'm so worried about finding the "right things" that i fail to worship the "right God"...it's blasphemous...
all i can say is..."forgive me....send me..."
I was challenged...thought I'd share...
the urgency of the Savior's message: to what lengths will i go?...is it really that vital to me?...life and death?...to understand the King's call over my life is to comprehend life and to understand death...no, not heaven or hell...that's motivation, but it's not reason...my life is not lived to get to heaven and my death is not died to avoid hell...my life begins at the thought of Christ, it is lived at the notion of glory, and it is died with integrity to the King who is over all other kings....have you thought about what that means?...at His fingertips, he holds the power to strike a servant down who disobeys or looses focus....that's me!...and yet, i take for granted His glory...I ignore His great power...i have a tendency to think it's a sweet and tame glory...NO! my God, my King, my Jehovah, my Creator is NOT safe and innocent like a cute stuffed animal...He's not at my fingertips...i'm at HIS! He is bold, He is mighty, He is stern, and chissled, He is AWEsome, breathtaking, overwhelming, He is GOD!
it amazes me how i can type about it now and not fall flat on my face as i even think of His majesty and power...i should...i should be on my knees, but i don't understand that concept it seems...everything here seems so easy...i thank the Lord for food, but i don't really know what it means to be lacking...i thank the Lord for my family, but do i really know family as He knows family?...i praise God for my friends...in reality, should friends come as easy as they do? what about the prophets, paul, the disciples?...they weren't known for their friendships...they were known for their boldness in proclaiming the TRUTH!...if the Scriptures are meant to be immulated, why am i not becoming as they were? is my concern with man, or about man?...do i really love if i don't share the things that the Father has placed so graciously before me?...i'm so worried about finding the "right things" that i fail to worship the "right God"...it's blasphemous...
all i can say is..."forgive me....send me..."
Sunday, March 29, 2009
A Harsh Reality
I'm sitting here staring at a computer screen, honestly wondering how in the world I'm going to even begin to communicate what's on my heart...I guess that's normally how these things start. So, coffee in hand...I simply pray that it doesn't land on deaf ears...
It seems the Lord has made painfully obvious the theme for my life over the past year. It also seems painfully selfish to not share and to challenge.
What is it going to take for us to take serious the demand for holiness? When are we going to stop picking and choosing the areas that we would like to practice the immitation of Christ? Where is our self focus and spoiled "Christianity" going to take us if we continue to say our desires are of Christ and yet we don't have the actions to follow? Is a desire truly a desire if we don't act on it?
I'm guilty....
Lately it seems I've caught myself cheapening the grace and mercy of our Lord. It seems that I say I desire to love others, I say I desire to obey Christ, I say I desire to fight struggles, and yet my desire is all to quickly interupted by the wanting of my flesh. Oh, how that must pain and frustrate the heart of the All-Powerful Jehovah.
I'm guilty...
Friends, when are we going to view a desire to LOVE as a holy response directly from Love Himself, as opposed to a tainted response from mankind? I could be terribly wrong, but I feel that once our definition of love involves Christ more than the flesh, THEN and only then will we truly respond with a DESIRE that is HOLY and PURE. Until then, we will only be motivated by a misinterpretation of what love truly is, simply because God, in His perfect consistency, is love, and man, in his steady inconsistency, is not, nor will he ever be, love.
I'm understanding that picking and choosing the attributes of love, is limiting the reality of the Creator. What a dangerous place to be!! Our God canNOT be tamed.
The truth is, it's much more difficult to love as a response to the Father, mainly because it requires holy action, but the consistency brings about a holy attribute born of a holy restraint...peace.
But what happens when the desire that we have chosen is not a holy action. What happens when holy action meets selfish motives, and we have to make a decision on where we are going to rest? What happens when we come face to face with God's steadfast law vs a fleshy impulse? I think the real question that we must ask ourselves is, "Do I truly fear the Lord?"
Do I fear disobedience, or have I cheapened forgiveness and grace so much so that I continue with my selfish desires, knowing that the Lord is displeased? It seems these days, in a world focused on fulfilling our worldly needs, that concept is a harsh reality we rarely like to consider. But here is another harsh reality. We cannot expect success when we reject obedience to the Father's demand for holiness.
Oh, but we do, don't we? We disobey and then question why the Lord allows us to experience pain. We blatantly go against what scripture says and take the easy road, frequently traveled, and then wonder why heartache so quickly approaches.
Friends, dare we consider that maybe that pain and the moments of hurt are the Lord's hand having placed thornbushes along our path, that we might continue on the straight and narrow (Hosea)? Are we so foolish to think that the Lord will not prevail and name Himself "Lord", even in the midst of our disobedience?
Guilty...
What an honor to serve such a powerful God. And I ask you to challenge me with that statement. I pray that I truly act as if it were an honor to serve Creator. I pray that I fear disobedience. I pray that I find my place at His feet with each breath I take.
I want to seek and acknowledge Him in ALL things.
He is gracious. He is forgiving. All honor, glory and praise to Him who loves me with the purest love. But I pray that I always accept those gifts with full knowledge that I'm undeserving, except through Christ Jesus.
What will it take?
Was Christ's death not enough for me to die to self daily, and surrender to a holy lifestyle?
He is enough.
He is in me.
I pray that I would fear disobedience and pursue love so much so that He is the priority in me.
What an honor....
It seems the Lord has made painfully obvious the theme for my life over the past year. It also seems painfully selfish to not share and to challenge.
What is it going to take for us to take serious the demand for holiness? When are we going to stop picking and choosing the areas that we would like to practice the immitation of Christ? Where is our self focus and spoiled "Christianity" going to take us if we continue to say our desires are of Christ and yet we don't have the actions to follow? Is a desire truly a desire if we don't act on it?
I'm guilty....
Lately it seems I've caught myself cheapening the grace and mercy of our Lord. It seems that I say I desire to love others, I say I desire to obey Christ, I say I desire to fight struggles, and yet my desire is all to quickly interupted by the wanting of my flesh. Oh, how that must pain and frustrate the heart of the All-Powerful Jehovah.
I'm guilty...
Friends, when are we going to view a desire to LOVE as a holy response directly from Love Himself, as opposed to a tainted response from mankind? I could be terribly wrong, but I feel that once our definition of love involves Christ more than the flesh, THEN and only then will we truly respond with a DESIRE that is HOLY and PURE. Until then, we will only be motivated by a misinterpretation of what love truly is, simply because God, in His perfect consistency, is love, and man, in his steady inconsistency, is not, nor will he ever be, love.
I'm understanding that picking and choosing the attributes of love, is limiting the reality of the Creator. What a dangerous place to be!! Our God canNOT be tamed.
The truth is, it's much more difficult to love as a response to the Father, mainly because it requires holy action, but the consistency brings about a holy attribute born of a holy restraint...peace.
But what happens when the desire that we have chosen is not a holy action. What happens when holy action meets selfish motives, and we have to make a decision on where we are going to rest? What happens when we come face to face with God's steadfast law vs a fleshy impulse? I think the real question that we must ask ourselves is, "Do I truly fear the Lord?"
Do I fear disobedience, or have I cheapened forgiveness and grace so much so that I continue with my selfish desires, knowing that the Lord is displeased? It seems these days, in a world focused on fulfilling our worldly needs, that concept is a harsh reality we rarely like to consider. But here is another harsh reality. We cannot expect success when we reject obedience to the Father's demand for holiness.
Oh, but we do, don't we? We disobey and then question why the Lord allows us to experience pain. We blatantly go against what scripture says and take the easy road, frequently traveled, and then wonder why heartache so quickly approaches.
Friends, dare we consider that maybe that pain and the moments of hurt are the Lord's hand having placed thornbushes along our path, that we might continue on the straight and narrow (Hosea)? Are we so foolish to think that the Lord will not prevail and name Himself "Lord", even in the midst of our disobedience?
Guilty...
What an honor to serve such a powerful God. And I ask you to challenge me with that statement. I pray that I truly act as if it were an honor to serve Creator. I pray that I fear disobedience. I pray that I find my place at His feet with each breath I take.
I want to seek and acknowledge Him in ALL things.
He is gracious. He is forgiving. All honor, glory and praise to Him who loves me with the purest love. But I pray that I always accept those gifts with full knowledge that I'm undeserving, except through Christ Jesus.
What will it take?
Was Christ's death not enough for me to die to self daily, and surrender to a holy lifestyle?
He is enough.
He is in me.
I pray that I would fear disobedience and pursue love so much so that He is the priority in me.
What an honor....
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