Peace

Went running tonight. Not too far, but enough to feel warm and good and tired. A liitle while later, as I sat near my open window listening to podcasts, I heard a funny noise. I looked out and it was pouring! So I ran out the front door.. It was cold and wonderful. Maybe I don't hate rain after all :)

I am so glad God gives ways enjoy his creation, and physically relieve stress. Music, rain, running, dancing, animals ... so many ways, and different for everyone. Although stained with sin, God's creation is still wonderful!

"I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart;

I will tell of thy wonders.

I will be glad and exult in Thee;

I will sing praise to thy name O Most High" ~Psalm 9:1,2

He Tore the Veil!!

Knowing something is not always really knowing it. Sometimes a truth I thought I knew strikes me again in a new way, "an aha moment", and then I think "oh I see now." Well, the more of them I have, the more I see there is to learn and understand.

Tonight I was musing on the actual pain of separation and distance between loved ones. It seems like I am always saying goodbye. So many of my loved ones are in so many different places in the world that I can't be with them all. And it makes me sad. Then I thought how at least we'd all be together in eternity and how that's what counts after all.

Wait a minute, we get to be together because of what Someone did for us. He endured the greatest separation of all. How truly painful!!!! The Father looking away from the Son. Perfect Love being severed. What a broken heart! Christ and God the Father demonstrate the greatest love, the greatest sacrifice that could ever be made. To be with the Father is supreme Joy and to be under his wrath, the worst humiliation. Christ's gift is so infinitely greater than we understand.

Jesus took all of our separation upon himself. And then he gives something new and wonderful in its place. he gives us ultimate community. Not only do we get to part of the Body of Christ, we get join in the very community of the Trinity. Jesus before he went on the cross prayed this very thing for us, that we might in Him and He in us even as the Father and the Son are one. His Spirit indwells our heart and brings us to Him and He will never let us go.

Our brokeness is being restored, our separation temporary. Knowing this gives me an excitement and a overflowing sense of being loved. This enables me to go on loving those around me, and those who are with me only in spirit. I am empty, he fills me up. He makes me whole!!

When God Ran

I''ve got another song! This is an old one by Benny Hester called "When God Ran". It is amazing that God actually does run to meet us! We are not coming to him so much as he is coming to us- to pick us up and carry us home. An awesome God :)



And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba!Father!" Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. ~Galatians 4:6,7

And he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him, and felt compassion for him and ran and embraced him, and kissed him. ~Luke 15:20
~New American Standard Bible

A Secret to Shout

Why? Why does what I do matter? Does it? Why should I care? I ask this question again and again. And again the still, quiet voice whispers. And I know there is meaning in life. But how does it apply to me?

Because of the someday, the now is part of the someday. Motivation comes not from within me, but from Him within me. Which makes me part of eternity and the great plan. Now, I need to do and live. Press on. There is meaning in someday, in the other world-the spiritual realm... so logically there is meaning here too. There is a reason to not give up. There is a reason to keep working. It's part of the PLAN. The big picture. But because there is a big picture, there are details! Like a beautiful painting, its each small part that makes the whole what it is. Each small part adds to the meaning. And vice versa! All the little parts (you and me) add up to make that big picture so awesome.

How much does it mean to us that our lives are snatched from the grave? That our souls are saved from a righteous eternnal damnation? Should we not live and breath gratitude? What can anything else mean in the face of this awesome knowledge? One's whole being is utterly transformed. Of course we are different people. We ought to have died and someone else died in our place. And He gives us His righteousness so we CAN live! And He holds us close to his heart. US! Yeah! Shout it out! So we dance, we smile, we cry. We Live. Because He Lives!!

We are joined to meaning Himself. We will someday no longer seek our purpose. We will BE it. We will be free in the ultimate sense. FREE to just be. And just be, perfectly.

Oh, and hey, it starts now!! :D

Ask and it shall be given unto you; seek and you shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it shall be opened. ~Matt. 7:7,8

All of Me

God made the world. It's all His, when He made it, He declared that it was very good. And he made it beautiful and enjoyable. He gave Adam the job to work in it and take care of it. Adam's whole life glorified and enjoyed God even when he was working or playing (I bet he did things for pleasure). Since then sin has corrupted our desires. We seek our own purposes. But Jesus's redemption covers our whole lives, therefore every part of our lives can reflect Him.

God isn't just interested in our Sunday worship service or our set apart quiet times. Those are very important, but He claims our whole lives. This means that anything we do we must do to the glory of God. Our work, our leisure, our family time are all part of our lives and therefore we do them to His glory. We can make art to the glory of God. Or pick up trash cans, or work in an office, or take care of the home. We can glorify God by acknowledging His grace in every area of our lives. Even the parts of us that we might think don't count.

Sometimes its the little things that he calls us to. In my family, one of the kids might have complained, "But I want a more important job", refering to his mundane task of picking up leaves in the yard or sweeping the floor. "Why can't I mow or paint?" Of course, as we all got older, we realized that work =work, whatever chore it is and that the more "fun" chores were usually harder. But I also learned that the little tasks are just as important as the big things. And vice versa of course :) But somebody has to get their hands dirty, so next time you are doing some thing not so fun, remember that this thing too is for the Kingdom of Heaven.

Relationships with those around us are a special part of this. In our daily living, we interact with others. And if we are working hard with a good attitude and praising God, somebody might take notice. And then we would have a reason "to share the hope that is within us"!

This is what the Christian life is all about: LIVING in Christ. He touches every area of our lives. In all we do, we give thanks to God. After all, our lives were bought by His death. Since we are not our own, we belong to Him and every area of our lives already belongs to him.

We owe it all to Him!

Perfect Everlasting Love

1 Peter has really gripped me lately, so I decided to share :)

1 Peter 1:17-25

17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile,

18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold,

19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.

20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you

21 who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart,

23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;

24 for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass.The grass withers,and the flower falls,

25 but the word of the Lord remains forever.”

And THIS word is the good news that was preached to you! ~ESV Study Bible

Isn't that just exciting? Just think: God who is outside of time, eternal and unchangeable, created us, and knows us. He has rescued us with the most precious of all things: the blood of the imperishable Christ who died for us. Because of this perfect love given to us, now we can truly love each other. Because we are born of the WORD everlasting!! He has given us the most perfect gift of all (Himself) and it will last forever!

A Distant Shore

Sometimes I am beset with this sense of restlessness and desire to be somewhere else, anywhere else than I am now. Going there (wherever “there” is) does not fix it. I become discontent and unable to settle down to my work without thinking that I'd rather be playing tennis,... or talking to somebody,....or alone, often I don't even know what it is I am longing for. I am looking for something on a distant shore; I can't stop squinting my eyes at the horizon longing for a glimpse of that ship. What am I wistful for?

The Lord wants us to be content in Him. He wants to be our everything. And since He made us, he gave us a built in desire for Him. His presence is so much greater, so much more rich and fulfilling than anything we try to replace it with. So that is why nothing else will satisfy.

But as a Christian, why do I still experience this restlessness? Well, I am still a sinner with earthly desires until glorification. This causes a twofold effect. One, as a sinner I still fall into making idols of other things, trying to find satisfaction elsewhere. This cannot do anything but but make my impatience grow as these things fail. Second, I am not yet in His presence the way I will be in Heaven. So part of that longing will always remain while I am yet apart from my Father.

There are places I can go where I find quiet from this impatient spirit. Reading Scripture, praying, and often drawing or painting are some of the ways I spend time with my Maker allowing him to restore my soul. God made us specially with souls that want to drink of the deep. We are eternal beings. Sometimes we want this longing. In the words of C.S Lewis:

If a transtemporal, transfinite good is our real destiny, then any other
good on which our desire fixes must be in some degree fallacious, must
bear at best only a symbolic relation to what will truly satisfy. ... We
cannot tell it [the secret] because it is a desire for something that has
never actually appeared in our experience. ... For they [memories, idols]
are not the thing itself ; they are only the scent of a flower we have
not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we
have never yet visited.

I am content with where I am in my life. And I pray that the Lord would give me ability to appreciate each moment he gives me even now. If I focus my desires on growing closer to Him, then not only will my contentment grow, but also my longing to be with Him. And that would be a good thing :)