Life Journaling: Straight Paths

My life journaling passages for today, May 26th are Proverbs 1-3 and Romans 7. As I was reading, several verses were being illuminated to me.

First was Proverbs 1:7, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, fools despise wisdom and knowledge." -This must be the first step in our relationship with Christ, right? We must have that deep reverence and awe of His greatness and power! He is, after all, the "Great I Am!" I think the fear of the Lord is minimized in the western prosperity gospel that is preached in some places.

Second was Proverbs 1:23, "If you turn at my reproof, behold, I will pour out my spirit to you;  I will make my words known to you." -We must be willing to receive correction from the Lord, knowing that He knows what is best for us. If we are available to be corrected, we can receive outpouring of the spirit, which has often been turned down to a trickle because of our stubbornness. 

Third was Proverbs 2:4-5, "if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God." This says that we must seek to understand the fear of the Lord... 

Fourth was Proverbs 2:7-10, 

"he stores up sound wisdom for the upright;

   he is a shield to those who walk in integrity,
⁸ guarding the paths of justice
    and watching over the way of his saints.
⁹ Then you will understand righteousness and justice
    and equity, every good path;
¹⁰ for wisdom will come into your heart,
    and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul..."

To me this says that when we walk in the path God has for us, we will be seeking justice; our paths will be guarded. It also says that we will understand righteousness and justice and equity, which are called the "good path." So, when we search and seek to understand the fear of God, like searching for something as precious as treasures, we will understand and fear the Lord while finding the knowledge of God. The knowledge of God, which we will understand is righteousness, justice and equity, will help direct our paths of justice and the Lord will be watching over the way of His saints. 

Last, from Proverbs 3:5-6, 

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
    and do not lean on your own understanding.
⁶ In all your ways acknowledge him,

    and he will make straight your paths."

We must have God's understanding, and God's heart then we can pursue paths of justice. Only then will we be in God's will and will have God as our shield.

There are so many more great verses in these first three chapters, but these were the ones that hadn't stood out to me before. It probably looks a lot like proof texting, but, I didn't read these chapters with the intention of proving anything about fear of the Lord and it's link to straight and just paths... I came to the conclusions I came to while reading :)

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BwdHSRZBjaX1dmFnZGRBX2g3bWs

Here is the link for our Christmas Letter! Enjoy!

Urban Mission Dynamic Weekend

this past weekend was amazing...

God was really working on my heart in several different ways

what I have learned is that the DTES zip code is the most impoverished zip code in N.A. 

I went through the weekend asking God to show me what he is doing, and I wanted to see God in the people.

What he showed me was shocking...

I have learned to hate the brokenness.

I hate the circumstances that the people are born into.

I hate that the foster system is a joke and is used like a bad business.

I hate that they have addictions that they most likely they will die with.

I hate that they will most likely never escape the bondage that sin and addiction are in their lives.

I hate that they know their Bible better than me

I hate that they are the most evangelized people in N.A.

I hate that they have been evangelized without love because people don't know how to reach out to them and accept the reality of sin and its separateness from the person.

I hate that people can go give them a cookie, say "Jesus loves you" and then walk away with a clean conscience.

God made me fall in love with his people there. 

I don't see the sin any more, I just see his image born into a life of poverty and choices that had to be made for survival.

people very easily pass judgment on the people down there, they say things like "they made the choices in their life that has put them there..."

A few of them have, but mostly they were given no choices

They didn't have parents who loved them and gave them the affection they needed.

They didn't have someone to tell them that God loves them and created them and cares for them 

They didn't have homes to come home to and feel safe in

All they had was severe pain, pain from many different things, pain that children are never supposed to know

Pain that drives them to either suicide or escape by other means.

Other means usually means heavy addiction to whatever thing can get them away. In their conscious moments they are searching for love, but when they never find it, they search for a way to not feel anything.

The leaders who work down there are amazing people. Many of them are Christians.

They have had to realize that the gospel message that they were most likely raised on, is not the message that will reach out to these people.

they live with the harsh reality that most of what they do down there will never be noticed or appreciated.

The rest of the world tells them that they are wasting their time, not understanding how anyone could possibly see the image of God  in these people.

The world tells them that they are stupid for trying to work there, that they should go some where else if they want to work for God.

Many of them have changed the way they dress, walk and talk, they even let their hair get greasy (things that don't matter to God) just so that the people won't be afraid of them, or hide from them.

They just try to be real.

To do this honestly, they have to be real all the time, not just when they are in the DTES.

What does this look like? 

When they go home, when they go to a restaurant, when they walk the streets of gas town and pass the trendy and expensive shops, they have to be real. They face real shame for the sacrifice they are willing to make for Christ.

8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. Col 2:8

 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. Col 3:2

14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts... Col 3:14

 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

19 For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. 20 To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. 21 To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but nunder the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. 23 I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings. 1 Cor. 9:19

The next time you see a homeless person, don't think "what choices did this person make to end up here?"

think "what severe hurt and trauma has this person been through that has left them in such bondage and hurt?"

People shouldn't be defined by their sin. They should be defined by their creator

As for the workers, they don't get rewarded and honored by the world, they have to make peace with that.

What does this mean for our church?

Are we worried about our image to God? or to the world?

How can we be different, so that the broken and lost in our neighborhood can feel truly, I mean TRULY welcome here?

DO we hand them clean clothes and offer them a shower?

Or does that send the wrong message.

What does it really mean to accept them as Christ would accept them?

Can we be truly unashamed of the gospel, and the Christ that we serve?

The Ten Talents

I wonder sometimes when I hear people say "If it's God's will for my life" what they really mean. Does it mean that they are truly praying for God's desires for them to match their own desires. The Bible does teach us that generally if we pray for our desires, God will grant them. It's not a promise, or a guarantee, but more a guideline for life, as Psalms and Proverbs are.

People who leave major decisions to chance, things like finding a job, leaving a job, accepting responsibility for a position at church, or even family planning I want to ask this question of. "Do you really not care what God wants for you, are you willing to accept what God wants for you, or are you just saying "let it be God's will" to pass responsibility of discernment from yourselves, to God. Sometimes I wonder if people say this really intending to accept what God does plan for them. Sort of like removing your hands from the steering wheel of a car and demanding God to supernaturally prove that He can drive. True, God is omnipotent, but He is also not at our command to satisfy all of our wishes, like a genie in a bottle.

The true task for a Christian is prayer and proper discernment for our own lives. We should pray that God and the Holy Spirit guide us to proper responsibility, right? Doing our best to bring glory to Him, and praying that the Holy Spirit will guide our decisions is key.

Is what we are really saying by "God's will" really a "I really don't know what is best God, but I truly and completely trust that you will give me what is best for me" or is it "I don't want to take the time to talk with you about it, or I don't feel like dealing with the responsibility of making a decision of my own with your help, so you choose and then let me know what you decide. If you choose well, and I am happy, then you did a good job God. But if what you choose for me makes me miserable, then I'm going to throw a fit. I just know that I don't want the responsibility of making the decision, because if it turns out horribly, then I don't want to be the one to blame. You can take it, God. Your bigger than me."

Really??

It's like the "magic Bible" way of reading scriptures for answers to our questions. Sure, I will not discredit that God can't speak to believers in this way, but He wants us to be more mature in our seeking of answers. We are not teenagers with a Magic 8 Ball in our hands. The Bible is not a question and answer book, per see, but rather the story of God and who He is and how He constantly seeks and redeems us. If we read it, we should learn more about Him, and when we understand more about God's character and hopes for our lives, we have added to our understanding of how he hopes we will live our lives. Through learning more about God, we can learn more about who we are and what He created us to be.

This is as much to myself as any one else, but don't play the "You Choose" card with God unless you are honestly prepared to accept what He knows is best for your life. We must remember that Satan is the king of this world, and has authority to run amuck in it for now. Satan would like nothing better than to see you leave a decision open for anyone or thing to decide besides God or yourself. Like leaving a pile of cash out on the counter at a pub, leaving and then saying, "God will keep my money safe!" God has left you responsible for what He has given you authority over, take responsibility for the talents you have been given, and deal respectfully with them. The master will be home in a while to see what you have accomplished.

God wants so much for us to desire to live our lives with His will in our hearts. But he doesn't want us to seek that blindly, without preparation, discernment or understanding of what He is asking. He wants us to love Him! He wants us to ask Him to guide us, or carry us when we need it. Above all, God is Love, triune love, expressed in perfect unity in the trinity. He wants us to come and take part in perfect community with Him; He desires that we develop a deep relationship with him, relationships are not just one way with one person making all the decisions.

Christ gave us the mental picture of the bridegroom and the bride as Himself and the church or body of believers. To be part of this body, we must be maturing, actively participating followers of Christ. Children do not marry, yet people have to accept Christ with faith like a child, and then they must progress to maturity marrying into the body. The Groom has the ultimate authority, but the groom also respects what the bride thinks and feels and He desires to teach her, train her, disciple her, love her, care for her, give her what she wants (even if it goes against what He wants for her), and have a relationship that defies all human understandings of love and intimacy on this earth! If the bride truly wants what is best for the relationship, she will talk through, debate and show passion for the tough conversations that need to be had. She doesn't just stand there and accept that her fate is out of her hands. Our lives are not pre-determined, they are what we make of them. We can either choose to follow Christ, or we can choose to stay behind. We can choose to be God's partner in our lives, or we can follow blindly, never partaking in the necessary discipline of discussing things with God.

For me, He had to discuss A LOT with me about going back to school. I really thought that I understood that God wanted us to "Go!" To me, that meant just going. Not staying! Staying didn't sound nearly as fun. So, God and I had to talk about that for a while, several weeks in fact, before I was ready to hear the rest of His plan. He wouldn't tell me the rest of the plan until I was ready to accept it without fighting back. He had to spoon feed it to me. All I kept praying for was that my will would be the same as His will for my life. I didn't care what that will was, I just wanted my own will to fade away and be replaced with His. Slowly, as I was honestly more and more ready to hear that will, He showed me. If He had dumped it all on me when I asked Him to, I would have rejected it and turned away, or at least would have taken a lot longer to come back around... He knows what is best for me, including what to tell me when. I trust Him completely in that. God's timing is perfect, but only if we are of the mind to wait for it and accept it when it comes.

So now, here I am, one day from finishing up my first year of Bible college! 46 credits down!! We are feeling God's leading to Portugal for a three year internship with Otto and Marjorie Ekk. It will be an amazing ride, but any of this, I know can change at any time. I am prepared to follow, and discerning where that will be is my responsibility.

4 Year anniversary

I have been blogging for four years now, since April 18th, 2008. That's a pretty neat treasure to look back on. I wish that I had done it more consistently, but I will take what I have done, because I know the reasons why I didn't for long periods of time :)

Lisbon, Portugal

Sarah Rose likes this place. It was her favorite picture out of a 128 page book of beautiful Portuguese photographs. It is in Lisbon. Jason and I have decided that we want to do a 3 year Journada to Lisbon, Portugal with Otto and Marjorie Ekk. We had a fabulous meeting with them last night at the Eytzen's house, and really feel that this is where God would have us train. I want to take Sarah Rose to this place for real, and in two more years we will be ready to leave!

We have one year down, and one year to go before we can get ready for our internship. Preparation for a Journada is pretty extensive compared to Trek, which is the shorter 8-9 month mission trip. It will take us about a year to get through the basic training, some language school and fundraising. I am so excited to have something nailed down, now we just need to run it past MBMissions so we are all on the same page.

This makes me sad... 

So many people are willing to admit that Jesus lived, and that he was a "good person" or a good rabbi and prophet. They even admit that there is a spiritual world consisting of good and evil! But admitting that Jesus is the only path to eternal life with God, they refuse. They call that intolerant, or hypocrytical. They say how can a loving God send any of His creations to Hell.

You want to know how I see it? Well, if you don't want to spend time on earth developing a relationship with God, why do you think you will want to when you are dead? Hell is just God granting your request to  be apart from Him. You made the choice, not Him. That is what free will is ALL about! Why would God force you to be with Him eternally when you didn't want to "hang" while you were here? So, yes, there is a HELL! And, there is a heaven. heaven is not for what you might call "goody-too-shoes." It's for people who were willing to die for what they believed. Martyrs and saints and true Followers of Jesus who pledge their souls to Christ because He pledged his life for them first.

We forget, "While we were still sinners, Christ died for us!" Romans 5:8
He died for us even though we had rejected Him! We spat in His face, and crucified Him! Yet He knew that through His death He would speak directly to our hearts.

You have this one life to either accept that Jesus is God's Son, or to reject it. It's easy.
But remember, Satan is the King of this world, and he would like nothing less than to see you wait too long to accept God's gift to you. One minute too long, and you pay for it for eternity.

If you claim to reject Jesus, you are claiming faith in your own reason. So, what if you are wrong? Human intellect has been changing for thousands of years, are you willing to stake your eternal soul on a brain that admits that Jesus was real, and understands that there is a spiritual world, but rejects that a man can be raised from the dead by God? My God is powerful, and completely capable of resurrecting Jesus, performing miracles, healing people, raising them from the dead, exorcising demons, and turning 5 loaves and 2 fishes into a meal for 5000! Is yours?