So church this morning was amazing. I mean... AMAZING! I really felt His presence from the first chord. When the band played 'Inside Out' it really brought me to His feet. Tears flowed freely.
Then, during the message, Marty challenged us to DO many things. Open a free clinic... Host an Easter Egg Extravaganza for the city... and other acts of service to LOVE the city of Ottumwa. I have a real feeling that Jesus is being revealed through this group. That HIS Kingdom is coming. This just isn't people PLAYING church. This just isn't a group of people forming a club to feel important. But its a church the way Paul and Silas made church in the 1st Century.
For so long I read and searched out what was the first century church. Then, through the bitter taste in my mouth from the bad experiences, I sorta put those pursuits on hold. Then, out of the blue, I stumble into a group of ardent worshipers who are loving the poor, the alien, the widow.
At the end of the service, a group of ladies appeared that had been given two hundred dollars and were sent to Aldy's to buy groceries for a stranger. What an act of WORSHIP, to bless others... to show God's glory. To proclaim the wonders of the Lord.
YES, Jesus is BEAUTIFUL this day. Yes, we are rippling out the GOOD NEWS.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Thaw
It has snowed a lot of late. A thick blanket of ice and snow covered everything. In that deep cocoon of cold, everything lies dormant, asleep, waiting in limbo.
The other day I was on my way to church and I noted something amazing, something I hadn't seen in over a week. It was the sun. Warm rays flooded the frosty land and began to melt the white. Every, life was coming back. Trees, grass and plants of all types, like magic, emerged from the snow like waking from a long slumber. And then I saw Jesus.
There, coming out of the snow, was a nativity scene, buried in a blizzard and forgot.... but not lost. Just beneath the surface, the Nativity waited for the right time to return.
"Keep your shirts on; keep the lights on! Be like house servants waiting for their master to come back from his honeymoon, awake and ready to open the door when he arrives and knocks. Lucky the servants whom the master finds on watch! He'll put on an apron, sit them at the table, and serve them a meal, sharing his wedding feast with them. It doesn't matter what time of the night he arrives; they're awake—and so blessed!
I'm waiting... and I know its coming. A thaw is coming, not just for my own soul, but for this whole world. The Kingdom come. His Kingdom... its coming. Not just in a far-off, cloudy heaven. His Kingdom is coming HERE... to this earth. The LORD will stretch his loving arms and melt away all that is frozen. Flowers and trees crying out of His majesty.
The Thaw is coming. Be ready.
The other day I was on my way to church and I noted something amazing, something I hadn't seen in over a week. It was the sun. Warm rays flooded the frosty land and began to melt the white. Every, life was coming back. Trees, grass and plants of all types, like magic, emerged from the snow like waking from a long slumber. And then I saw Jesus.
There, coming out of the snow, was a nativity scene, buried in a blizzard and forgot.... but not lost. Just beneath the surface, the Nativity waited for the right time to return.
Luke 12:35-48 (The Message)
"Keep your shirts on; keep the lights on! Be like house servants waiting for their master to come back from his honeymoon, awake and ready to open the door when he arrives and knocks. Lucky the servants whom the master finds on watch! He'll put on an apron, sit them at the table, and serve them a meal, sharing his wedding feast with them. It doesn't matter what time of the night he arrives; they're awake—and so blessed!
I'm waiting... and I know its coming. A thaw is coming, not just for my own soul, but for this whole world. The Kingdom come. His Kingdom... its coming. Not just in a far-off, cloudy heaven. His Kingdom is coming HERE... to this earth. The LORD will stretch his loving arms and melt away all that is frozen. Flowers and trees crying out of His majesty.
The Thaw is coming. Be ready.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Lost and Found
I've lost a few things lately. It really bothers me. I mean it REALLY bothers me. I can't stop looking and looking, checking and rechecking every nook and cranny until the misplaced object turns up. It can become an obsession.
I think the root of this goes back to my childhood. It was hard to hold onto special things in the chaos that was our life. Special toys, special memories, special mementos of happy times slipped away. So now I desperately want to offer my own children something I didn't have. I want them to have special things that make it through time... real things that they can touch, and hold onto. I want them to be able to depend on things being there. I don't want them to know the doubt, the loss, the disorder that I did.
So when things become lost I turn over everything looking. And looking. And looking.
Right now I am looking for my daughter's favorite toy. It is a stuffed deer that her mother got her for Christmas. She hadn't hardly stopped playing with it since she got it. So when it came up missing she was very upset. And that ache in my heart started. And so began my search.
I have looked all night tonight. I have looked under ever couch and chair and in every cupboard and drawers. I have checked every inch of their room twice. I have look in the cars over and over and over again. I have yet to find it. The ache to find this thing is so strong inside of me. Few things are as powerful as the feeling of something be gone... not where you can find it... LOST.
There is one feeling that is stronger, richer and oh so sweeter. It is the feeling of FINDING that item that you have quested for.
Ever lose your wallet? There is a panic that sets in and a frantic search starts accompanied by the ache that it might be gone and all the things you will have to do to replace your ID, your credit cards, your other personal information. And then, like a fresh wave washing over you, there it is... FOUND. You rejoice. Suddenly everything is back to normal all because the item is back in your grasp. All the frantic searching is worthwhile once you have it FOUND.
Do you know the feeling?
Now think about our Lord. We are the item He searches for. HE is the searcher and we are the misplaced keys that he pursues. If we are lost, He stops at nothing. He overturns each couch cushion and checks every cupboard and every drawer until we are FOUND.
And then... HE celebrates. Back in His hands... everything is good again.
How awesome is it to think of GOD having that rejoicing feeling, the feeling of FINDING over us? That blows me away. What a personal and loving God we have... who searches for the lost and rejoices over the FOUND.
I think the root of this goes back to my childhood. It was hard to hold onto special things in the chaos that was our life. Special toys, special memories, special mementos of happy times slipped away. So now I desperately want to offer my own children something I didn't have. I want them to have special things that make it through time... real things that they can touch, and hold onto. I want them to be able to depend on things being there. I don't want them to know the doubt, the loss, the disorder that I did.
So when things become lost I turn over everything looking. And looking. And looking.
Right now I am looking for my daughter's favorite toy. It is a stuffed deer that her mother got her for Christmas. She hadn't hardly stopped playing with it since she got it. So when it came up missing she was very upset. And that ache in my heart started. And so began my search.
I have looked all night tonight. I have looked under ever couch and chair and in every cupboard and drawers. I have checked every inch of their room twice. I have look in the cars over and over and over again. I have yet to find it. The ache to find this thing is so strong inside of me. Few things are as powerful as the feeling of something be gone... not where you can find it... LOST.
There is one feeling that is stronger, richer and oh so sweeter. It is the feeling of FINDING that item that you have quested for.
Ever lose your wallet? There is a panic that sets in and a frantic search starts accompanied by the ache that it might be gone and all the things you will have to do to replace your ID, your credit cards, your other personal information. And then, like a fresh wave washing over you, there it is... FOUND. You rejoice. Suddenly everything is back to normal all because the item is back in your grasp. All the frantic searching is worthwhile once you have it FOUND.
Do you know the feeling?
Now think about our Lord. We are the item He searches for. HE is the searcher and we are the misplaced keys that he pursues. If we are lost, He stops at nothing. He overturns each couch cushion and checks every cupboard and every drawer until we are FOUND.
And then... HE celebrates. Back in His hands... everything is good again.
"Suppose one of you had a hundred sheep and lost one. Wouldn't you leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the lost one until you found it? When found, you can be sure you would put it across your shoulders, rejoicing, and when you got home call in your friends and neighbors, saying, 'Celebrate with me! I've found my lost sheep!' Count on it—there's more joy in heaven over one sinner's rescued life than over ninety-nine good people in no need of rescue.Luke 15:4-7 (The Message)
How awesome is it to think of GOD having that rejoicing feeling, the feeling of FINDING over us? That blows me away. What a personal and loving God we have... who searches for the lost and rejoices over the FOUND.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Friday, September 25, 2009
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
hmmm
Something strange happens every time i get upset at someone at church... I quit praying or reading my Bible. i was just thinking about this. how silly.
I'm not mad at Jesus! I'm mad at a human. but still... My relationship with Him always suffers. besides- there's no better way to fix a problem then to look to God's living Word or to get down on your knees and pray.
From now on, when i get in a push-and-shove with someone, i'm running straight to Jesus.
I'm not mad at Jesus! I'm mad at a human. but still... My relationship with Him always suffers. besides- there's no better way to fix a problem then to look to God's living Word or to get down on your knees and pray.
From now on, when i get in a push-and-shove with someone, i'm running straight to Jesus.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
A tether, a light, an antedote
Listen...
Before you, I was lost and adrift at sea. I was swallowed whole and sinking fast. I was left to my own devices and out-of-control.
Doom, doom...
But then I found you, in the ashes, the dark, the swelling tide. I saw you coming my way and couldn't believe my eyes. Nor comprehend my luck.
A rescue. A rescue.
Before you I was lost. I could not see. I was tumbling, tumbling down, down, spiraling out of sight.
alone. alone.
But then you... then you. A tether, a light, an antidote-
from the fall
from the darkened pit
from the poison of my own despair
You saved me.
I reached out and grabbed a hold of you, another soul on the surf. I clung to you, a tether in the abyss- suddenly not fall. I came up for air.
alive. alive
Do you know that joy of breaking the surface? of making it through the dark? Of living once near death? Do you know the rush of fresh oxygen in your tired lungs? The sweet sting of light to your darkened eye? Do you know what it means to be saved?
Saved? Saved?
Others. The ones who knew me before, they question this love. They scoff. They judge. They shake their heads in shame. But I know what it means to be saved. To receive a sweet, rich gift from GOD.
Grace. Grace.
Nothing can take that away. I am now different. There is no me without you. I am now tethered, alight, cured.
Cured. Cured.
Before you, I was lost and adrift at sea. I was swallowed whole and sinking fast. I was left to my own devices and out-of-control.
Doom, doom...
But then I found you, in the ashes, the dark, the swelling tide. I saw you coming my way and couldn't believe my eyes. Nor comprehend my luck.
A rescue. A rescue.
Before you I was lost. I could not see. I was tumbling, tumbling down, down, spiraling out of sight.
alone. alone.
But then you... then you. A tether, a light, an antidote-
from the fall
from the darkened pit
from the poison of my own despair
You saved me.
I reached out and grabbed a hold of you, another soul on the surf. I clung to you, a tether in the abyss- suddenly not fall. I came up for air.
alive. alive
Do you know that joy of breaking the surface? of making it through the dark? Of living once near death? Do you know the rush of fresh oxygen in your tired lungs? The sweet sting of light to your darkened eye? Do you know what it means to be saved?
Saved? Saved?
Others. The ones who knew me before, they question this love. They scoff. They judge. They shake their heads in shame. But I know what it means to be saved. To receive a sweet, rich gift from GOD.
Grace. Grace.
Nothing can take that away. I am now different. There is no me without you. I am now tethered, alight, cured.
Cured. Cured.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
