Yellow Light: Time to Slow Down

Reading through the Ragamuffin Gospel last night, I cam upon Psalm 8. After turning the lights off, my music was playing softly and as I listened I heard lyrics that closely resembled this Psalm from Third Day’s “The Offering.” When things like this happen, I cannot help but think God is trying to get my attention…and when I open my heart to his truth and my eyes and ears to the many ways he may chose to speak to me, I find him in things like what happened tonight: scripture and song lyrics colliding. Scripture that was pulled from a book I am reading. It is times like these, where although some may call it coincidence, I like to think of it as God calling our attention to really listen. He grabs at our hearts and steal sour eyes and thoughts from anything that may be consuming or distracting us. And in a quiet still moment like last night, as I lie awake simply breathing, the Lord opened my heart to receive his truth.

Many times I find myself frustrated, thinking I am never hearing or seeing God. Frustrated, feeling my heart is receiving nothing. But then God reminds me, as he humbles me completely, that it is not that he is not speaking to me, moving all around me and through me, or pouring into my heart all the time-but rather I am simply too busy to listen. Too busy to watch and to feel. I am the one too busy for God, not the other way around. Imagine that, ironic isn’t it? We are always so anxious and determined and thirsty to FEEL something. Yet all along we are too busy or distracted to feel the most important thing of all-the only thing that can truly fulfill all of our deepest longings and desires. God is constantly pouring his Holy Spirit into our hearts, just has he says in Titus 3: 5-6 “He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior.” And he constantly is showing us and teaching us his truth. We simply don’t take the time to look around us, to open our eyes and our ears. We get consumed and distracted by this all too busy world.

I believe in the power of calling on Christ to open our hearts, eyes, ears and minds to him. But I also believe that we must be willing to submit ourselves completely to him. For until we do, we will only continue to be too busy to see and hear and feel his truth. I cannot explain the peace that comes over me as I call on Christ, “Come Lord Jesus, Come” on an evening like last night…where I am completely still, letting all thoughts be carried away like the tides of the ocean. And as I call on him to meet me in this place, to quiet my heart and my busy mind, firmly believing that he will answer…well it is times like these where I hear him. I am no longer too busy to notice the connection between a song, a book and scripture. Coincidence though it may seem-I trust that I is God getting through to me and making me listing by ringing something like that in my heart. Coincidence after all is simply God’s way of reminding us he’s present. It is in the simple and quiet moments, when we allow God to speak rather then trying to do all the talking, that God may reveal himself in the most real and radical ways. He is never far away. If we would only take the time to slow down, watch and listen. I think then we would find a taste of serenity being completely filled by his presence in this place-completely aware of his love and the pouring out of this Holy Spirit onto us.

Psalm 8: 1, 3-4 “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all of the earth! When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?”

“Offering” (Third Day): “Magnificent, Holy Father. I stand in awe of all I see. Of all the things you have created, and still you choose to think of me. Who am I that you should suffer your very life to set me free? The only thing that I can give you is the very life you gave to me. This is my offering, dear Lord.”

The Pulse of a Beating Heart

I am blessed. The Lord has blessed me in countless ways through he gift of community, relationships and love in friendship. When I look around I cannot help but notice that my world would be of so much less value and so less meaningful if I didn’t have the ones I love surrounding me. Last night I was reminded of just how precious, important and meaningful relationships and community really is. The joy that comes form love in friendship is unmistakable and irreplaceable. It is unique and rare. And something that should be, and can never be treasured too much. Yes the accountability part is difficult. And yes so is the hard truth. But in any real friendship-if it’s a real friendship at all-must involve both truth and grace. Without accountability, the foundation becomes unfirm. You might as well build your house on quick sand. If you authentically love and genuinely care about one another then you will hold one another accountable-not because it’s easy but because you love and care. Their heart is your heart. If it breaks so too does yours. If it cries out in joy, then yours cries out as well. Sometimes it can be far too easy to lose sight of the meaning and importance behind community with one another. We let our time become consumed by things that are far less important. Suddenly to-do lists and our busy lifestyles get the best of us. Before we know it we have become slaves to our calendars and scheduling books. We being to make less and less time for one another. Sharing life becomes less of a priority as we begin to sadly confuse and seriously mix up our priorities. We being making more time for things we say we value less and less time for things we value more-like community. We do not practice what we preach. We are now caught in a lie and humbled to our core. Our practice fails our theory. My priorities have certainly been pretty screwed up lately. And what I say I value has not been what my actions would prove to justify. Accountability was lost. Hard trust became a less relevant and more foreign term. And what I’ve noticed is this: as distance is created (inevitably as a result of less time being poured into sharing life together), walls are put up. And not just walls-but barricades! We get less vulnerable and put them up around the depths of our inner most beings and hearts. Or at least I can say this is true for me. Suddenly I feel the need to hide the dirty hallways of my heart. I panic that others-those that I love and who love me-will somehow think less of me. It’s a slippery slope and a vicious cycle. And if we don’t catch one another, it is a cycle that can be stayed on for far too long. I don’t know about you, but this is a cycle I want absolutely nothing to do with. Since I’ve come to college and finally learned for the first time in my life about the beauty of community and the real meaning of it, it has become water for me. I thirst for it and when I don’t have it, I don’t feel well at all. We must be poured into before we can ever hope to pour into others. How can we do that without making time for one another? Sharing life together is not and should never be an obligation-but it most certainly is a blessing and a heavenly joy that should be taken full advantage of rather then taken for granted. I have been molded, matured and grown into the person I am today because of these special relationships and strong community that God has blessed me with and used in countless ways. I have been poured into and over flown by love in friendship. Sometimes I consider myself spoiled by it-as if I’m one of the lucky ones who really knows what it feels like to be surrounded by a faithful and grounded community of friends who feel like family. Friends who have come into my life, left footprints on my heart and made me a part of their storybook called life. Friends who deserve a title so much more than “friends” because they are a community that feels like home. Coming home to them is like coming home. I never thought possible to be cared about and discipled and loved the way that I have been since I’ve come to college.

I admit that my priorities have gotten mixed up. Lord knows I have valued by my actions those things which I believe in my heart are of significantly less importance compared to authentic relationships. Last night it hit me that it makes perfect sense as to why life is simply better lately-it’s because the importance ahs begun to be put back on friendship and community. I thank you God for convicting me and opening my eyes to your truth. To this truth. And I thank you for how you have done so through those who love me-who have noticed me slipping away from community and in a loving way have pulled me back. Through these friends you have showed me my wrongs in a truthful yet graceful manner. Thank you for having them reach out to me, hold me accountable, feed me hard truth and love me through it all. And I thank you for reminding me in countless ways recently, the beauty and necessity and joy that is to be found in community with loved ones. Thank you for reminding me that it is water to my lips and a beating pulse to my heart. I have realized just how much this type of rare love is to be treasured and valued. And I’m still realizing it more and more each day as you show it to me in the smallest, yet most wonderful ways. The joy that my heart finds in it has been awaken. And I never want to lose sight of it again. I want the walls down. I want to be completely free. I want to receive truth and grace and to give both as well. I want to put into practice and live out in my daily life what it is I say I value. What Christ values is what my heart desires too-and I want my life to reflect that.

I am 20 years old and I have been shown love in friendship-authentic community. Something that many people may spend their entire lives searching for. I am blessed. I never knew what I was missing until I was given it. It has been found in this life of mine and I thank God for every piece of it. We were meant to live in community with one another after all. Just like the Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Our lives are called to reflect that and I cannot deny that that sort of community is something my heart desires and thirsts for. If our lives are made to reflect the Lords then of course we will desire what he desires: community. I long for it. Thank you God for pulling me back by your power and mercy from where I was losing sight of this truth. Thank you for loving me enough that you would surround me with true community-that I may see your love for me reflected in their lives and the ways they love me. I am overwhelmed by your love for me. I look around at these friendships that have become family-these real pieces of relationship-and I am overwhelmed by your presence here with me. I’m caught up in your goodness and completely aware of your beauty. I am left in wonder and awe at how much you love me. Or at least I’m getting a much better picture of it. That is enough to stop me in my tracks and leave me speechless as I fall down on my knees, wrapped up in your love. I have felt your touch as you have touched me through the lives of others. This is the power of the Holy Spirit that cannot be properly explained in words but simply felt in the quenching joy of our hearts. My life is being changed by community. My life has been changed by your love. Community and true love in friendship-it’s a gift from you and its your Holy Spirit completely present-as we love one another and share life together. It’s Christ Jesus loving us through one another. So dear friend, if I can feel you loving me then I can rest assured that it is the Holy Spirit in you, God working through you to show me his love. And then I have no doubt that I’m feeling him and his love for me. God is present and that in itself is a heavenly present.

Resonate with the Word

This evening, as I sit down to write this, I am truly only going to let the lyrics of the song “Offering” (Third Day) and the words from scripture 1 John 4:18 (There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love) resonate in my heart as I reflect and meditate on them. Whatever comes of it I will write down and trust that it is God putting in on my heart-what he wants me to hear, to learn, think and pray about. So Lord Jesus come. Come Lord Jesus Come. Help me to meditate on these lyrics and scripture, that I may be drawn closer to the heart of who you are and all that you have to show me. Open my heart and my mind to you alone Lord and your truth. And may it all be glorifying in your sight and pleasing to you. I come as your child to hear your truth. Speak to my heart o God…

Lord I want to be drawn closer to you. I want to be so overwhelmed by your love for me and the depth of my sin and the death you suffered on that cross for my sake, that I cannot help but fall down on my knees in sweet surrender to you and your love. Your love that showed me how to love. Showed me what it even meant-because you so loved me first. I want to wake up every morning and go to bed every evening with the desire to lay my life down as an offering. To just give it all to you, though it may seem like little, it is all I have. All I have is yours. But right now Lord, that “feeling” that I so badly want doesn’t seem to be there. I can’t seem to realize the depth of my sin or have the desire to surrender down before you on my knees. And then I fear that because of that ugly truth about myself, I will somehow be punished. Something will happen or be taken away as a form of punishment. And now Lord I am led to scripture where I find my only comfort as you tell me there is no fear in love! Perfect love drives out fear! Fear has to do with punishment and that is exactly what I have just experienced. My fear that that “feeling” will not come back or my desire to surrender is forever lost-it is that very fear that has led me to be fearful of wrath and punishment as I feel the weight of my sinful nature. Lord I want to be at rest in your peace knowing your love is perfect and I need not fear. But I also want to be able to look at that ugly sin of mine and then realize you still love me-to be completely overwhelmed that I fall down before you. So maybe it’s not all about the “feeling.” In fact I trust that it is not. Feelings come and go. I cannot equate the working power of the Holy Spirit for a feeling. You are constant-a never ending presence in my life. Feeling flee but you do not. I do not want my hope to be diminished because I do not “feel” what I want to. I want my hope to rest in the fact that you are always with me though feelings may come and go. It is so much more then feelings-it surpasses them all. God I want to look at the suffering in the world and still believe that you’re in it. And I want to suffer if only to become more faithful in you. And then I want to suffer on your behalf-as my lover and my father and my everything. And lay my life down before you as an offering, just as you came and gave up your own life so that a wretched sinner like me might live. I don’t want to live in fear or sleepless nights that you will forsake me. I don’t want to fear that a fire has not or will not burn within me for you. I want my life to be a reflection of how much I love you. Everything I do I want to follow you in it. I want my heart to be softened and my path made straight. I want to go where you want me to go and not according to my own plan. I want my life to reflect you God and not to spend my days going through the motions-doing things without passion or purpose-buffing up my resume or my pride as my integrity and humility fade. I want to be a light in this world so that others may know you and experience your love for them. And I want to take the time to look around me and see how much you love me. I so crave the desire-I want to have the desire even more-to know you, draw near to you, and completely rely and surrender to you and not this world. I want to be in chains of your love. My life-an offering to you my King.

Lost by the world. Found by Christ.

Right now, although I feel lost, thirsty for community, thirsty for the Lord, and ready to release the sin that has been burdening me for far too long-I can say that what I truly want is exactly what the song lyrics “Holy One” (Rush of Fools) sings about. Because I have hurt so many people. I have become complacent and apathetic in my sin and my life. I have lied. I have run in shame and guilt. I have been a coward. I am beginning to see just how dark my sin is. What am I looking for? What am I longing for? What am I desiring and thirsting for? I’m tired of living like this. I want more. I want freedom. Complete freedom from all my deep dark sin. I want fire in me. Renewal of passion. I want t olive again-and not how the world tells me. I have to start somewhere. Do something. But I don’t know what that is or what that looks like. And for the first time I’m trying not to have it all figured out. Not to have the answers as to what I should do from here. I want to so badly just surrender to God and let him take me upon his wings-that I may soar into sweet freedom with him. Away from trying to figure it all out. And right now I have a pen in my hand and I have a Bible next to me. And all I really want is Jesus. I feel like I am drowning in so much dirt and filth. I want to live again. Be honest. Be faithful. Be on fire for the Lord. Because I am so prone to wander….like that Shawn McDonald song, “Hold On” speaks about. I am a wanderer and I so badly want the Lord to hold on to me. I want to hear him, see him, look for him, feel him and follow him. I want to be consumed by his love-every drip, like honey on my lips. I want him to pour out his water onto me so that I might take a sip. Because right now these are dark and lonely streets. And all I really need is him. I don’t want to be lost, confused and wandering anymore. I don’t want to be too proud to admit the truth. And I don’t want a band-aid to cover the wound. I want renewal. I want this busy mind to be cleared as he pours his mercy out on me. I want a new start. I want these chains of my sin to be broken. I want to live and love like Jesus. What am I looking for? I want to be looking for you, Christ. I have a sinful nature that has led me astray. My heart has given into desires of this world-that are not of you. That are unfulfilling. I want to put on the new self, created to be like you. I want to look for you and listen for you. And when I hear you and when I find you=I want to go with you. And do unto others as I would have done unto me. I want the Holy Spirit to pour down on me, cleanse me, and fill me. I’m sick of being tired, bored, lazy, complacent, impassionate and undriven in my faith and life being lived out for the Lord. I want to live a life completely opposite of all these definitions. I want to be naked in all my sin put before you Lord. Naked and broken I come before you. I want to be filled and on fire for you. I want my innermost being to overflow with joy and love for you. I want my life to be your life and to live today for you alone. I want to look around me in this messy and all too imperfect world and find you in all of it. Because you are good and you are perfect. I don’t want to hide or run. I’m tired of being ashamed when I look deep into myself. The hallways of my heart are messy and filthy. I am prideful. I am proud. I am a liar. I am so selfish. I am living a life where my faith and fire for the Lord and serving others has become lazy, apathetic and complacent. I’ve lied to myself only to make myself feel like this isn’t true. I’ve been in denial. But the brutal honest is this: it’s all true. That is how I’ve been living and how I feel. And lying to myself doesn’t help. The ache only deepens and the longing never ceases. A longing for something more. Something real-that these lies I tell to myself cannot provide, because they’re lies and will never be true. I lie to myself about things I long for. I wan them and so I lie to myself that I have them. But I don’t. I only wish I did. All I want is for them to be real. I long to be trustworthy. I long for my family and community. I long to be real-no lies allowed. I long to not feel ashamed or running in guilt. I long to not be apathetic or complacent. I long to be on fire for the Lord, for serving others and for life. I don’t want to lie to myself that these desires are fulfilled in my life right now because they are not. I have been looking all the wrong places to fulfill them. And lying to myself that I have them has done nothing but dig a deeper, lonelier hole in my heart-it has only made the thirst worse. I’m scared that I’m slipping. So far away that I won’t be able to make it back up-like I’ll be stuck here forever. Lord please save me from this awful state. Bring to be a better place. I want to feel again Lord. I want to be on fire again. I am so fearful that I am lost for good. This feels like a nightmare that I cannot wake up from. I can’t do this on my own anymore. I can’t do this alone. God please hear my cry. Whatever is left for this heart to cry out-let it be real. Let it be from a place so real inside of me, that I cannot mistake it for anything but a truthful cry. Let me know that it is a real cry for help. I want to lay myself at your feet, my bare bones and this bare sole and this thirsty heart. I want to lay myself at the foot of your cross with my dirty feet and my dirty face and my sinful hands. And I want your grace. And your mercy. And your forgiveness. And your love. And I want to change. I want to change Lord. Because I love you. Because you first loved me. You have shown me how much you love me. I do not want to run ashamed at who I am-with these dark pockets of my heart. You see it all and still offer me your loving hand and merciful heart. You welcome me in. And I want my heart to be touched by you. I want my heart, my soul, my everything, to cry out to you . I can’t live complacent, going through the motions anymore-Lord get me out of here! Lord please save me. Show me you, truth, something, anything. You say for me to ask and I will receive. Well I ask for you alone. Nothing else. Just you. Please don’t leave me God. You are all I have and all I want to cling to. Where do I go? God, what do I do? And let me heart’s ache cry out to you a real cry for help. Lord do not leave me hear. Do not forsake me. Open up my eyes and ears and mind-so I can know, and hear and see. Open up my heart so I can love you more. I want to serve you God. I want to give you everything my King. Let the enemy not win but may your love overwhelm me so much that I fall before you, captivated and kidnapped into your arms and into safety. Away from this dark place and into the light.

2 Chronicles 15:2-“And if you seek Him, He will let you find Him.”

John 3:19-21: “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.”

Unpacking Colossians Chapter 2:6-8

When I first read through this, the word ‘rooted’ really stuck out to me for some reason. When i think of roots, I think of being strongly grounded so that nothing can shake or move you. When I take time to reflect on my faith in Jesus and just how ‘rooted’ I am in him….it is a very humbling thing. Why? Because I begin to understand just how easy it can be for the world to try to distract us. There are a million things fighting for our attention, trying to pull our eyes off Jesus, trying to ‘unroot’ us from our faith and trust in Christ. But when I think back to all the times (of course I cant remember all of them….) when I have become distracted by the world and tried to give myself (my heart) to these things instead of Christ, over and over again its the same result: I am left unsatisfied, unfilled, simply longing and thirsting for more. My heart is left thirsty and unquenched by the world. Here’s a perfect example of an area in the world that I like to give myself away to, in hopes of finding something that can really only be found ultimately in Christ: I try to find that love, security, self-confidence and approval about myself from other people. But in the end, people are only people….we are sinners who do not live like Adam and Eve once did in Paradise. Instead, we find ourselves in a broken world that our hearts and our lives were not made for. When I find myself still longing for more, it becomes obvious to me that God made my heart and made me for something more, otherwise I would not be longing for it. In a broken and fallen world, I find myself looking to find these things in the world, when they can truly only be found in Christ. I do this with relationships and friendships with others, and in the end, it is the same result: we can never fulfill for one another what only Christ can fill. When we try to fill our heart’s desire by chosing to try and let the world and other people satisfy it, we are reminded and humbled, about just how much we need Jesus and that he alone can fully quench our hearts. These other things of the world may try to ‘root’ us deeply….but they only root us in the substance and ground of this Earth, and this Earth, this world is broken…..so of course we can not be strongly rooted in a materialistic, broken, fallen, world…..We will be shaken, we will be moved if we try to root ourselves in it. The world offers worthless satisfaction, and the satisfaction lasts only for a little bit. It fails to quench our thirsty hearts. We find substitutes in the world that act to quench our thirst. But these substitutes are simply indulgences we give into….and these indulgences are simply affairs of the heart….they are what we give our hearts to instead of giving our hearts to God. And they never fully satisfy us. They only prove to leave us unfilled and disappointed.

 

This leads on into 2:8 when he speaks of deceptive philosophy: there are countless principles and teachings that the world unveils to us that are abusively deceptive. They wound us. They break us. They leave us longing for more. It is a form of knowledge….but it is worldly knowledge rather than the truth and wisdom that comes from Christ alone. I can’t help but think about how many times I have sat in my philosophy classes listening to the lectures and reading the philosopher teachings…..they are all deceptive, fruitless, and are simply worldly knowledge, created by man….because we are longing for something more. We live in a world that we were not meant for…..and this proves to be extremely true when we find ourselves trying to discover for ourselves and for one another some sort of truth and wisdom. We search, and hunt, and thirst for the truth….but we look to the world for it. Philosophers (many of them) spend their lives searching for some sort of truth that the world offers, only to find that there is no truth that we can rest assure of in this world! So after spending years of searching for some version of the light…..they are still left in complete darkness, realizing that the truth does not exist in a worldly form. But many of us are philosophers….in fact, I think at one point or another we all try to be philosophers. We search for wisdom, truth, light that the world is hiding from us. We search as if on some great expedition, looking for something more. And why do you think we are looking for something more? What does this tell us? It tells us that our heart is thirsty for more! That deep down inside of us, at the core of every person’s heart….we long for something real, something more than what this world has to offer us. Think about it this way: If we are spending so much time looking for something in the world only to find that the world fails and cannot satisfy us, that it cannot provide us any real truth or light…..then why do we continue to look so hard for it? We act as if the world is hiding something so deep in its core and crust, that if we simply search a little bit harder, then maybe we will find what we are looking for. But stop! Listen to your heart! What is it telling you? Your heart is crying out…CRYING out for more! And why? Because when man and woman were first created by the hands and breath of God….we were created for something so much more than this broken world….we were created for Paradise. But because of the fall, we find ourselves in a broken world. The cries of our heart, the desires and deepest longings of our heart for something more are extremely real….they are still there, and they cannot be extinguished. We look to the world to satisfy and answer these cries. Or we try to find a solution to extinguish the deep, deep desires of our hearts. So whether we look to the world to quench our thirst, or we look to the world to extinguish the desires we were created to have….we fail both ways. Sure, the world offers countless remedies to quench or extinguish the thirst and desires we have: Lust, Money/wealth/materialism to fill in as a personal comfort, grades/academics/resume, physical appearance, ect….the list simply goes on and on. All of these substitutes, these little indulgences, these affairs of the heart prove to be a worthless and unreliable remedy. They do not solve the problem. They do not give us what we our crying out for.

What Does It Mean To Seek First The Kingdom Of God?

Matthew 6:33 says “Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and all else will be given to you.”

God began speaking some truth to me that I did not want to hear. What exactly is it that? Simply this: I was beginning to seek his kingdom out of a selfish motive, out of a personal desire to get what I wanted. Perhaps I should be more clear….

 

It was becoming a waiting game for me. I found myself desiring something so badly that I began to seek God’s kingdom in hopes that if I did, he might give me a green signal, the easy answer I wanted to hear, the answer that would satisfy my worldly desire. I was completely unaware that I was seeking his kingdom out of a selfish motive because I was so caught up in what I WANTED! It became a waiting game, where I was thinking to myself that I was seeking his kingdom out of my love for him and desire to be closer to him, when in reality at the back of my heart and mind, I was hoping that if I did this then he would give me what I wanted. Wow….selfish right? Exactly. When God revealed this truth to me, I was completely stopped in my tracks. I felt as if my heart had literally dropped out of my chest. I was so disappointed in myself and completely embarrassed. How prideful and selfish could I be?!?!

 

Since this revelation, I have experienced God’s grace pouring over me like water. He has been working to humble me from the moment I wake up until the moment I fall asleep. How does God not get tired working as hard as he does to do this?!?! But besides the undeserving grace and humility I have received, I have also been learning something I am so thankful to be learning. Something I had never thought about before God revealed this part of my life to me, but nonetheless, the growth that I have experienced from it is truly a blessing. I am not quite sure if I began to ask God this question or if he began asking me. I have a feeling that it was God who began asking me this question and has been showing me the answer to it ever since. What does it mean to seek first the kingdom of God?

 

I think right now I want to leave this question with you to think about before I go on. I know it has taken a lot of meditation, solitude, peace, quiet, and rest, all in God and His word to truly make me stop and listen to what he is saying. It is so easy to get caught up in the busyness of our every day lives, that we sometimes forget to stop and listen. God is speaking to us everyday, but how often do we forget to listen? I am willing to be more often than not. What I want is for my desire, my thirst to be for Christ alone! I want to know him more, love him more, serve him more. But in this fallen world we live in, I find myself getting consumed by other desires that come form the world. Desires of the flesh, success in school, material, building up my name and being known, and the list goes ON AND ON!!!! In the midst of all these other desires that will never fulfill me, that will never satisfy me, that will leave me empty, why is it that I constantly return to them? If I want my desire and thirst to be for Christ alone and above anything else, how do I keep this the motive and purpose of my live when all these other worldly distractions and desires love to show themselves to me? What does it truly mean to seek first the kingdom of God rather than the worldly desires of this world? 

 

So I leave you with this for now and I hope you will take time to stop and be still and listen to God. It is my prayer that you will pray for him to reveal the truth to this question to you, and rely on the power of prayer to know that it is powerful because God is powerful. Take time to meditate on God and his word and allow him to teach things to you and reveal his truth to you.

What Your Friendship Means To Me

God must have known how much I would need you. 
You understand me, not only when my heart is filled with joy but also when the light at the end of the tunnel seems a million miles away.
When things get rough, I can feel God’s kindness in your friendship and can feel His love lift me up when you reach out to me.
Your joy and your caring have been His healing for me more times than I can count.
That’s why, when I think of all that you mean in my life, I thank God for leading me to you…
I thank Him for the miracle that you are!

-M. E. Miro

Encouraging One Another to PRAY

Let us not forget to pray for one another. It is easy to procrastinate prayer, to put it off for a later time, or to doubt that it actually does anything. But the Lord promises us that prayer is powerful, it is the best thing we can do for our brothers and sisters around the world. I encourage you to stop right now, think about what you are blessed to be able to do today, and then think about someone in a completely different part of the world, or simply outside of our Highland Park bubble who does not have it as good as you. Maybe it’s a woman prostitute in South Dallas trying to make her living by selling her body to men at different truck stops, and she lives in fear of cerial killers who will take advantage of her body first and then kill her. Maybe it is a child in Ghana, Africa, or Uganda, Africa who has seen their mother and father killed in front of them. Maybe it is a Muslim woman in Saudi Arabia who is being forced to serve a man she did not choose to marry and is now being physically abused. Maybe it is a family in Russia who is being extremely repressed by their government and live in constant fear of their future; who are simply trying to make it through the day. Maybe it is your classmate sitting next to you who has been diagnosed with an illness that you don’t even know he or she has.

As followers of Jesus Christ, I pray that we can encourage one another to pray for our campus, our city, and our world. And allow the transforming power of Jesus Christ to radically rock, shake, and move. God is good, he promises to never forsake us, to never leave us. We must encourage one another in this journey called life where it is easy to become discouraged and lack in our prayer time or our belief in the power of prayer. I want us to pray for one another that the Lord will allow us and help us to encourage one another to ask, seek, and knock on God’s door. That he will help us to never forget what a simple prayer can do and that we may remind one another what it can do.

The power of prayer is amazing, God listens and God answers. How do I know this? Look around. Look around at the blessings, the good things, the transforming miracles that are taking place every second of every day. Look at what God has done in your life and in the life of those around you. God is working all around us, every minute of every day, on this campus and in this world. We just sometimes forget to look…

 

Please pray for these people that International Justice Mission is asking us to pray for. Remember the power of prayer and the impact you can have on these peoples’ lives. God is a radical God. He understands, and he takes care of his children.
“Thus says the LORD: Do not let the wise boast in their wisdom, do not let the mighty boast in their might, do not let the wealthy boast in their wealth; but let those who boast boast in this, that they understand and know me, that I am the LORD; I act with steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth, for in these things I delight, says the LORD.”

- Jeremiah 9:23-24

Africa

 *   Pray for quality aftercare partners in Rwanda to assist IJM in providing excellent services to our clients.
 *   Pray for wisdom for IJM Rwanda’s aftercare team as they help clients and their families address problems such as health difficulties, school fees for children, domestic violence situations and alcoholism.
 *   Please pray for Veronica’s case in which IJM Uganda is dealing with a very difficult perpetrator. Pray that he will agree to vacate the land he forcefully took from her. Pray that resolution would be attainable through mediation rather than a court order.
 *   Pray that the name of the Lord will be glorified at IJM Zambia Pastors’ Prayer Gathering this month. May client testimonies have a great impact on the pastors so that they may be encouraged to talk about the devastation of property grabbing and sexual assault to their congregations.

The Words That Hurt the Most

I want to share a story with ya’ll about a very sad, concerning email I received from a dear friend of mine a couple days ago. I will leave him nameless, but for the sake of providing a name, I am going to call him Buddy. 

Buddy is a guy I had the honor of meeting and becoming very close friends with after God in his crazy, awesome, mysterious ways paired us up for a program here at SMU called Conversation Buddy Program. Buddy is originally from Saudi Arabia, but he has been living in Dallas for the past year receiving his English language credit at SMU. After completing it and passing way before the date he was required to pass by, he was then enrolled as an official SMU student and just began his first semester undergrad less than two weeks ago. Pretty cool, hu? I know we can all remember how exciting, nervous, and anxious we all were when we first started out here at SMU. Are we going to make friends? Will we like it here? Will we fit in with campus life and social life? How hard will our classes be? Will we succeed in not failing out? These questions, along with countless others ran through our heads weeks before we headed off to SMU, but none of us could have guessed what was ahead of us until we jumped on the first day and began this next chapter of our lives.

As hard as it was for all of us at some point during our first semester here at SMU, imagine how hard it would be coming here as an international student. My dear friend Buddy is experiencing first hand what that feels like. Not only is he faced with the same obstacles, questions, and trials that we all have had to endure, but he also has a few other, very important barriers he must experience. The first one, is the language barrier. Although he has a solid year of English under his belt and can now speak and write the language very well, it still is not second nature to him after only have learning it a year ago! So imagine getting your first intense English paper essay over a 400 page book…..except you had a difficult time reading and comprehending some of the language, and yet now you are required to write in your own words (in English) about a challenging topic. Talk about an extra burden added to your shoulders! However, although the language barrier is a challenging and difficult aspect itself, my friend Buddy wrote me the other day expressing his grief and anger, but most of all sadness, towards the extreme barrier he is facing right now: having to go to class every day with students who don’t care to get to know him because he is from a different country and doesn’t speak English as well as they do, as well as hearing whispers and comments made about how he is a “terrorist” because of his name and the country he comes from. Please just take a moment to reflect about how degrading and hurtful this would be to hear and face every day when you walk into your classrooms…

When I first read his email, tears immediatley began to form. My heart sank, my cheeks burned, my palms began to sweat, and I could feel grief and anger rocking from with in me. How is it, that in today’s world, people think it is okay to talk about another HUMAN BEING like this?!?! I mean, it totally blows my mind! Why the heck to people think that’s okay?!?! Buddy may be from a different culture, yes true. Buddy may not have the same skin color, yes true. Buddy may not speak English as well or be familiar with American culture, yes true, true, true! It’s all very true. But what justifies people’s behavior and attitude towards Buddy? What, because we don’t agree with his country on government affairs? Or is it because we think we have the right to associate him with being a terrorist because in history we have learned of people from his country who have been? What justifies one human degrading and demoralizing another human being? When you start to ask yourself this question, you will come up with the simple answer: nothing justifies it, nothing at all.

I must take the time right now to address this point to you however….

After the emotions I felt inside began to cool down a bit, the Lord immediatley humbled me. And I was face to face with humility and my pride. How often do I stereotype other people every single day I walk down the boulevard? How often do I make comments behind another person’s back about the way they look, speak, act, dress, behave? How often do I just let words slip out of my mouth that do nothing but degrade another human being, be it a classmate, a teacher, a friend, a complete stranger. The answer to all of these is more often than not. So you see, although I may not be calling Buddy a terrorist or poking fun at his English, I sure as heck make up for this by degrading others in various other ways, whether I mean to or not, whether I catch myself doing it or not. And that’s what is most haunting to me….the fact that I unconsciously do so, not even stopping to catch myself do it. I am no better than the person who calls Buddy a terrorist when I decide to call a girl a slut, yet how often I let my pride take the best of me and trick my mind into thinking I am somehow not as “bad” as a sinner. How foolish I am to think that!

The words that hurt the most, more often than not, are the words we let slip out of our mouths and roll off our tongues with out taking a second to realize what we are about to say. The words that hurt the most are not always the more obvious ones like “Buddy is a terrorist,” but rather the ones that our culture and society has adapted into its everyday conventional lifestyle such as: “you’re so gay,” or “you’re a retard,” or “wow, you have serious ADD.” The sad and unfortunate reality is that words like this have such a powerful impact of hurting and tormenting our fellow human beings then we like to realize. The truth is: we are all sinners, and we all fall to the world and what it teaches us. The world doesn’t take a second glance at phrases like these. The world says its just emphasizing your point, or its just getting your point across in a faster more effective way. How long will it take us until we stop listening to the world and start listening to God? When will we begin to take a moment to think about the words we say before we say them? When will the everyday stereotypes and judgments we constantly degrade others by come to a halt? If we’re not willing to be honest with God about the ugly truth that we all hurt one another by the words we use sometimes, then how will we ever be able to experience his grace and move forward changed? If we want to grow, if we want to be able to love others better, then we must get real with God about all the ugly stains of sin that cover our bodies. Although we may not be calling someone a terrorist, we may be making fun of a girl’s short skirt and mid-drift top, and defining her by an ugly stereotype.

Please pray for my friend Buddy and please pray for one another, that the Lord would allow our hearts to be changed and our minds to be renewed about the way we view other people. How often do we find ourselves letting classmates pass by us (like Buddy) with out giving them the time of day to get to know them and see how incredible of a person they probably are. Remember: Your words can hurt or heal. So what did yours do today?

The Ugly Truth About West Dallas Today...

FACTS ABOUT WEST DALLAS TODAY

Residents of West Dallas (Zip 75212) experience a greater rate of potential life loss (78.0 years per 1,000 residents) compared to Dallas County as a whole (42.8 years per 1,000 residents).

Residents of West Dallas suffer in great numbers with more hospital visits than Dallas County residents (153.2 visits per 1,000 residents in West Dallas compared to 115.8 per 1,000 residents in Dallas County) and 60% of West Dallas residents have no health insurance.

An astonishing 70% of the West Dallas district lives below 200% of the Federal Poverty Level. 51% make less than $25,000 annually or less, and 25% earn less than $10,000. Poverty affects 66.6% of Hispanics in Oakley’s West Dallas district and 29.8% of blacks. (Source: Parkland Hospital’s “Our Community Health Checkup, 2005 for Dallas County.” Also see: Research Compilation: West Dallas (Zip Code 75212) FCE-The J. McDonald Williams Institute. December 2006).

The district has seen little or no economic development with only 400 businesses operating with 1/3^rd employing four or fewer people.

The unemployment rate is more than double the city of Dallas (13.8% in West Dallas vs. 6.6% for city of Dallas).

Source: Research Compilation: West Dallas (Zip Code 75212) FCE-The J. McDonald Williams Institute. December 2006. P.7.

Poverty rate for female-headed households with children under 18 years of age was 62%-more than 1.7 times the city of Dallas’ rate of 35%.

West Dallas has suffered with more crime than the city of Dallas. The area bordered by Interstate 30, Singleton, Westmoreland, and Hampton has 8 times the city’s crime rate, while other parts of West Dallas have either 5 times or 2.3 times the amount of crime compared to the city of Dallas.

Source: Research Compilation: West Dallas (Zip Code 75212) FCE-The J. McDonald Williams Institute. December 2006. P.14.

There are currently 65-convicted sex offenders that show their residence in West Dallas zip code 75212. Many have a residence beside the homes of families with school children.

Source: http://www.ci.dallas.tx.us/dpd/sexoffendersrequest.htm. Study on sex offenders adjacent to schoolchildren:

Source: SJI Project Transformation Survey of West Dallas Leaders. 2007.

In 2006, more than 2,057 crimes were committed against West Dallas residents, over 446 of them violent crimes.

Source: Dallas Police Department at http://www.ci.dallas.tx.us/dpd/stat_beat.htm 2006 Crime Stats.

Only 35% of the population in West Dallas over the age of 25 has completed high school, compared to 70 % completion with the rest of the city of Dallas.

In 2005, 2.2% of West Dallas residents had graduated from college compared to 28% for the city of Dallas.

Source: Research Compilation: West Dallas (Zip Code 75212) FCE-The J. McDonald Williams Institute. December 2006. P.11.

Love with Courage: The Perfect Example Demonstrated by Christ

The Meaning Behind Christmas

 

I was visiting a couple of good friends in Virginia last week and had the opportunity to go to a local church there that had just opened. It was the Sunday before Christmas and the sermon that was given was one that was completely necessary, totally eye opening, and very humbling. I would like to take just a few moments to share with you what I learned from the sermon, in hopes that it will open your eyes and your hearts as well to the real meaning behind Christmas.

 

Luke 2: 8-14

‘And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”’

 

The word conspiracy often has a negative connotation. However, when it is referencing what happened between God, Son, and Holy Ghost when Christ was born, this conspiracy was anything but negative. It was a divine conspiracy between God, Son, and Holy Ghost to do something that was desperately needed on Earth. The plan was unveiled in a world that is no different then the world we live in today. (Except for the use of technology of course J)

 

Love With Courage

What does it truly mean to do this?

What does this look like?

It looks like what God did at Christmas…

 

Romans 8:32

‘He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all-how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?’

 

We all have one GREAT NEED: to be released from God’s wrath.

Now think about it. If God covered our greatest need by giving up his one and only Son so that we could be released from his wrath, released from death, and given a life restored, then why would we ever doubt that he will not cover all of our other needs? Many times when we think of love, we associate it with simply feelings or emotions. The truth is, these feelings and emotions are bi products of the love we have. They are bi products of the love we have for Christ, but it is not the purpose behind what God did. It is his personal choice to meet our needs at his own expense. It is not about doing something in order to get us to do more good deeds. He gives because we have a desperate need that can only be met by him and he gives his love freely. Isn’t this a much better picture of love then what our world shows us today?

 

The love Christ gives is SACRIFICIAL. This kind of love takes courage. This kind of love is real love. He courageously came to this fallen and broken world where people didn’t understand him, rebuked him, left him lonely, and persecuted him! Jesus was a foreigner in this world. Those who did look to him usually did it just to get what they wanted and took him for granted…and yet Jesus allowed it! He was constantly ridiculed, he was arrested, and punished innocently and unjustly. It took substantial courage to do what he did. The perfect example of God’s love for us is the courageous love he demonstrated then. I encourage you to stop and think for a moment about this kind of love that God showed you. I know you will find that this kind of love is not just something he showed us then, but it is something he is showing us now.

 

We too, as his sons and daughters, are called to be courageous and love courageously.

Joshua 1:9

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord you God will be with you wherever you go.”

We cannot be courageous alone. It is because of God and by his power that we are made strong and can love courageously as he did. Look back at Romans 8:32 though…what then do we need to live in fear of?!

 Of course then he will make you courageous and allow you to love courageously. You need not doubt that.

 

Here are a few examples that you may be able to relate to of how loving with courage has been demonstrated:

-Choosing a job your family doesn’t agree with that may bring in less income and prestige. Yet you are doing it to serve God, out of a love for him and a desire to obey where and how he is calling you to serve.

-Stepping in as an advocate for someone who has little or no voice.

-Sharing your faith even though you may be made fun of, ridiculed, or persecuted.

-Forgiving someone even when he/she didn’t ask you to.

 

Remember that God is with you wherever you go and that he will continue to be so that others may know his name.

Love With Courage…The Real Meaning of Christmas. The Perfect Example of Love With No Limits.

Christ’s birth shows the absolute grace of God to save us from death in our sin. His Son is born on this earth in order to save us.

Our God who loves us so much demonstrates the perfect love story when he gave up his one and only son to die for us in order that we may have life in him. The perfect love story is demonstrated by Jesus who took on all of our sins that we threw upon him, who suffered death and was buried, and who rose again…to save a wretched sinner like you and me. He made us clean and he made us pure in God’s sight. We are sons and daughters of a God so in love with us. When you love someone like that….of course you want all of him or her, every little bit of him or her! It makes perfect sense why God wants all of you and all of me….he is that much in love with us. How blessed we are by the way God loves us with courage each and every day.

 

Romans 8: 38-39

‘For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.’

Romans 12: 9-12

‘Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.’

Colossians 3: 12-14

‘Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.’