Friday, November 9, 2012
Hating Your Mom and Dad
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
From the Inside Out
I remember getting ready to graduate from high school. It was a crazy time. It was a hectic time. I was scared. I was nervous. I was excited. And if I had only known what God had in store for me, I would have been even more scared, nervous and excited than I already was!
On Wednesday evenings we have been discussing what it means to live a life transformed. Romans 12:1-2 says:
College is a place to be different. A place to start over or a place to re-establish. It is a place to try new things and gain new hobbies and interests. It is a place to meet new people who will help you to grow into the person you have always wanted to be, or the person you never wanted to be. My caution and my encouragement to you is this: don’t become so well-adjusted to the culture around you that you fit into it without even thinking. Regardless of what culture that may be.
God gave you a brain, and it is an incredible muscle, and the great thing about muscles is that they can either get bigger and stronger or they can get weak and atrophy. So regardless of what group of friends you find, never just assume they are making all the right decisions. Paul says that we need to test and approve God’s perfect will. We need to dig deep and see what God has in store for us. And I can tell you from personal experience that what God has in store is always, always, always more rewarding and amazing than anything we could’ve planned for ourselves.
Remember that you are called to be a living sacrifice for God. You are called to be an ambassador for His cause. And He has an incredible plan for you as you move forward into this next phase of your life. And remember, that He loves you and wants to be a part of your ordinary everyday life…your sleeping, eating, walking around, going to work life. And if you do, you will be changed from the inside out.
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Lingering Jesus
In those moments, we must remember: "There is only one Being Who can satisfy the last aching abyss of the human heart, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ."
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Therefore.....
Monday, December 5, 2011
Everything I Wish I Could Be...
Sunday, February 13, 2011
"Falling." "Fall on!"
Hebrews 11 says that "faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." Oh man...those words....grrrrr to those stinkin' words (fist waving in the air)! Anyone else in this world want to actually KNOW what is going on their lives and why it is happening instead of just trying to have "faith" that things are gonna work out? If there was ever a time in my life when this was true, it is now. I have listened to people all my life tell me that I just have to trust God and that all will be great. In fact, there is even a song that says that trusting will bring me happiness in Jesus. Trust. Ugh. What a word, right?"
Trust and obey for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus, than to trust and obey."
I love rules. Rules make the world go 'round. The people that drive me the most nuts are the people that think that rules don't apply to them and that they can do whatever they want regardless of what the rules say. I have always thought that I was really good at following rules. What frustrates me sometimes about my walk with Christ is that I don't know the plan. And I most definitely want to know the plan. I want to know what is happening now and why. I want to know what will happen tomorrow and why. I want to know what will happen in fifty years...and why. I want the plan because with the plan comes rules and with rules...comes happiness. Right? That's what the song says, right? Oh. Crud. No, it doesn't.
Trust.
Obey.
Sigh...
When I was in college, I was a part of a team that traveled around mainly to youth groups and did team building activities. At some point during most of our weekends, we would begin the "trust" initiatives. We had been trained to use certain commands to keep everyone in the know and to make sure that no one got hurt. The commands went as follows:
Faller: "(Catcher's name) are you ready?"
Catcher: "Yes (faller's name), I'm ready."
Faller: "Falling."
Catcher: "Fall on."
Most kids took this stuff seriously enough, but every once in awhile there were a few students that thought it would be funny to joke around during this portion of the initiative. This was always frustrating for me as a leader. The commands were meant to keep the kids safe while showing them the power of trust and the exhilarating reward that comes with obeying. If the kids goofed off, someone was bound to get hurt because they hadn't heard all of the rules that went along with the commands. That meant that things could get confusing. It meant that the student had to ask what was going on, and if the other students took it upon themselves to share the commands instead of asking us, then it was just a bunch of voices trying to relay things they had heard instead of simply listening to the voice that had said it originally. When the student chose to go to the original source (us), the confusion was cleared up.
It is the same with us. God's commands are intended to keep us safe while showing us the power of trust and the reward of obeying. When we only listen to the people around us who merely think they know what the Original Source said, we can get confused. But when those voices say what think followed up by pointing us to the Real Deal, the confusion is cleared up. Trusting and Obeying is not about blindly going through life. It is about following the commands that have been set up for us so that we can see the power of Trusting and the reward of Obeying.
What I am realizing more and more as I grow older...ish..., is that it is not just about the blind trust. It is not just about the falling and "hoping" that someone will be there to catch me. It's about obeying. God says over and over again that He is faithful. He says that He will make good on His promises. He says that all things will work out for the good. He may not tell me how every finite detail is going to pan out, or what the consequence will be for each choice I make. However, He has given me an entire book full of words that are meant to teach and to train me. Words that I am meant to obey. God has given me the commands to use so that I can know that it is safe to fall. He is letting me know that He is back there ready to catch me. He isn't messing around. He isn't joking. He knows that this is serious stuff. He wants me to trust Him, and He expects me to obey the commands.
"God are You ready?"
"Yes, Jess, I'm ready."
"Falling."
"Fall on."
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Chazown: Part Two
The answer to the second question is tricky…as many things seem to be when it comes to figuring out what God has in store. However, this time, I believe I am actually approaching my decision from the right angle. See, all of my life, I have made decisions based on specific situations or short-term goals that I saw in my very near future. I would look at a situation, and I would say, “I could either do this, or I could do that.” It was always a decision based on the “thing” or option that was placed in front of me. Could I perform those tasks? Would that make me enough money to live on? Would I like doing most or all of the “things” that would be required of me?
For those of you who read my previous blog, you know that I had the privilege of taking a mini retreat where I was able to spend some much needed time with Jesus and do some soul searching with the help of a book titled Chazown. As I read, I was struck by the idea that there are many tasks, jobs, careers, etc that I could and would do, but that there is one overall vision of purpose for my life. In other words, it is not simply about the tasks, specific situations or short-term goals; it is about how those things fit into the bigger, broader, more long-term vision for my life. Now, understand, this is not my first time at the rodeo. I have heard this kind of thing said who knows how many times, but for some reason, it just really clicked with me during this particular retreat. What I have discovered, or more accurately, rediscovered, is that I have a huge passion for family & friends (aka relationships), worship (as a lifestyle not just music), and teens. Those were the three things that really stuck out to me. And those are the three things that shaped my decision as to where I need to be. Because of my connections to Iowa, I will be making the move at the end of January to live in the Cedar Falls area for a short time while I figure out how best to accomplish God’s long-term vision for my life.
I am not sure exactly what God has in store for me, but I believe that He has a plan and that that plan will be good. I know that I want to work with teens again. And I know that I want to be near my family again. I want to be influencing minds and lives, young and old alike, to live lives of worship that are holy and pleasing to God. Like I said, I am not sure exactly what this will look like, but I believe that it will include more writing of songs, more time with family & friends, and more time with teens.
So here I am again, packing, loading, squishing, shoving and finagling my belongings into a trailer (this time we planned for two trips!) to take on another adventure that I hope to never forget.