Wow! My God Did That.

I believe that God is always showing us (His kids) more of who He is. Sometimes it is through His creation, sometimes it is through the Bible, sometimes it is something someone says. While there is a ton of mystery about God, I love learning more about exactly who He is.

This week is a huge week in the life of our church. This Sunday is Commitment Sunday which is the culmination of a several month fundraising campaign for a new church building. Right now we have a long way to go to reach our goal of 1.8 million in pledges. In fact, some consultants have said that that mark is too high for our church to reach based on our current numbers and giving. I am guessing that they have a lot of experience in this area and can pretty accurately predict what is going to happen.

But. BUT. But, like I said, God wants to show us more of Himself. If we had a safe goal and we just did what we needed to do, we could hit the goal, celebrate, and stick the shovel in the ground and build a building. But this is a CLEAR case of “we are only going to achieve this if God steps in.” Yes, people are going to have to make the sacrifices, but I think the size of the personal sacrifices they are going to have to make, will only happen if God is working in their lives (and corporately, in our church).

When we have the pledges that we need to have, it will be abundantly clear that Grace Fellowship didn’t do this. GOD DID THIS. This stirs my soul to pray earnestly for this Sunday! I am SO excited and totally believing that God is going to do something amazing!!

BUT....what if....it doesn’t happen? Well, my God is no less amazing! He will continue to build his church, but it might not be through us at this very time. God is going to do what He is going to do. But I would so much rather be a part of it! So next week, when all the cards are counted and the numbers are crunched....our response needs to be pure worship! Regardless of the outcome.

My church is awesome. I love my job there...I love Sunday mornings there....I love the community I experience there. But all of that is NOTHING compared to how amazing Jesus is! If we keep that in our minds and hearts, our church will naturally grow and spread and build and plant and become more and more like the church that God intended.

When I grow up....

I have a friend at our church who lives at an Assisted Living facility. I have visited her a handful of times over the past 5 years or so. Each time I visit her, I am so incredibly blessed! Ruth is an amazing woman of God and she is exactly who I want to be when I grow up. Crazy, huh?

You probably wonder how I can aspire to be an 80-something year old woman who lives “alone” in a facility. Well, I don’t know so much about the facility or alone part, but I just love how Ruth is still serving God in very real ways. Ruth gives financially to a church that she has not been able to physically attend in years because she believes in its mission. She receives our church Grace Mail and prayer chain e-mails each week and faithfully prays for each request. Ruth has real kingdom impact on the other residents and staff in her facility.

But perhaps her most important feature and the one that I hope I have someday is her faithful spirit and God-centered focus. She is in a stage of life when she could easily be self-absorbed with her failing physical health like so many other people I have known her age. She could be sad and depressed because so many friends and family members have passed away before her. She could be resigned to no longer having a purpose or mission in this world and therefore given up. However, you can spend just a few minutes with Ruth and you will not find any of these things happening.

Every conversation I have had with her has been full of optimism and enthusiasm and celebration. She gets SO excited when we share with her how God is working in our church and she loves to share stories with us of how she has experienced God moving in her past and present. You will always see a well-used Bible next to her chair along with other Christian books she is reading. At 80+, she is still a student and knows she has things to learn! I love that!

Then I get sad. I think of people who sit in our church most every Sunday. Their lives are FULL of opportunities to serve people and influence others towards God. But those opportunities go completely unfulfilled.

I want to view my life as a series of opportunities...placed in front of me by God. I totally have a choice how I will respond to each one, every minute of every day. Do I want to be like Ruth and run the race with everything I’ve got until the finish line? Or do I want to live like most and just enjoy the scenery along the way, but miss the real purpose and opportunities and blessings?

It's as simple as that.

I have been thinking lately about something that is so extremely simple. The very core of the Bible, the very reason we have a church, the ONLY purpose we are even here on this earth. The Gospel.

I know people (my self included!) who spend hours, and ultimately days and weeks and months of their lives reading the Bible, learning from Christian books, sitting in study groups, listening to eloquent speakers. None of these things are bad and I have been challenged to grow by all of them. But sometimes I think we spend way too much time absorbing knowledge and marinating in good Christian “stuff”, that we lose sight of how simple one little nugget of truth is.

Here is the nugget in my less-than-eloquent words. We are all sinners: filthy, disgusting and totally undeserving of being in relationship with a holy, perfect God. But God loves us so much and wants us back in relationship with Him. And the only way that is possible is through a sacrifice. So God, in the form of a man named Jesus, came to earth and lived a sinless life and died in my place so that I can be in relationship with my Father, God. My only real purpose here on earth is to bring Him glory in all that I do and to tell as many people as possible about Him.

That’s it. As big and amazing as it is, it is beautifully simple.

I have to wonder what God thinks when he sees so many of His kids caught up in the pursuit of more knowledge. A well-written book on evangelism or a captivating speaker on serving the poor are only worthwhile if the reader or hearer is going to get out and do something afterwards!

Please don’t hear me saying to stop reading your Bible or reading other good books or even meeting in study groups. But I think we should all take a good look at our lives and see if these things are really changing who we are and pushing us to live for God and reach people and make disciples. Remember, the nugget is really simple. And if what I am doing is not totally wrapped around that little nugget, than doing those “good” things is really no different than sitting on my couch watching a sitcom or reading a totally secular novel.

I don’t want to even begin to claim to be getting this right. I have a really long way to grow. But my prayer right now is that I will begin to cling to the simple, amazing nugget of truth; and begin to let it shape not so much what I learn, but how I live.

“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.” (James 1:22-24)

Random Stuff in My Head

Lately I have had lots of random thoughts in my head and none of them really inspire me to write extensively about them. So for now, I am going to just vomit them out there and see if any of them lead anywhere....

I think I am getting old. I take naps more often. I am having the darned-est time memorizing scripture!

Sarah being in college has gotten me thinking a bunch about my college days. Those were really great times. Tons of freedom and new-found independence, and minimal responsibilities. I didn’t appreciate those concepts enough at the time.

I have a level of restlessness and boredom in my life right now that seem unusual. I am starting to feel like there is something new for me to do. I just haven’t figured out what it is yet. I am going to start praying and listening.

While I have no basis for comparison, I am more and more convinced that dieting is just as hard as breaking a bad habit like smoking or alcohol.

I miss Africa. And I really hope I get to return there someday.

Too often I think I “exist” for God and don’t passionately pursue God.

I have relatives and friends who are going to hell. No doubt about it. Why don’t I do something?

Recently a couple at our church lost a baby at the 38^th week of pregnancy. It made me realize how much I took my pregnancies for granted. I didn’t marvel at the amazing miracle that they were.

Going from being a family of 5 to a family of 4 in our house is a real adjustment. It still feels like Sarah is off at a camp or something.

I think so many people, myself included at times, have a REALLY unhealthy relationship with money.

Praying for someone who I don’t really like very much really DOES change my attitude towards them.