I want to Live a Verb

“I love you, Lord; you are my strength. The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my savior; my God is my rock, in whom I find protection.” (Psalm 18:1-2a)

 

I am a nerd. Actually, I am the nerd of my entire family. Being a nerd I like schedules, budgets, numbers, and routines. However, I don’t do so well with commands and rules because I am also defiant and a little mischievous (go figure). For example: I like to wake up in the morning to pray and read my Bible. I don’t read my Bible and pray because God commands it though. I do those things because I love the Lord and I want to know Him better. I love going to service on Sundays. I don’t go because it’s the law but I go because it’s incredible to worship the God of the universe and be surrounded by so many people who are in love with Him as well. I enjoy teaching and serving on Wednesday nights but it’s not because Jesus requires acts of service. I go in to my classroom on Wednesdays because I want to encourage a great group of awesome kids to be excited and in love with Jesus.

 

I want to live the verb of being in love with Jesus. I want my faith to be moving and living. I never want to sit down for a second.

 

+        I want to reach out into the community

+        I want to love the people in my life unconditionally

+        I want to give and then give some more

+        I want to trust and know that I am free

+        I want to be a good wife, mother, daughter, and friend

+        I want to live running and basking and all these things with God in the center of me because I love my Lord….because I love Jesus.

 

I want to bring God with me everywhere I go. Sometimes I leave Him here in this seat after I get done with devotions and for that I feel terrible. He doesn’t want just my mornings. Our Lord wants our everything and I want to give it to Him. I have let go of me and let God in and some days that is hard.  Walk with me, please, as I endure this challenge not because of some rule or ritual but because of  love and devotion to our Father.

 

“Praise the Lord! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns. Let us be glad and rejoice, and let us give honor to him.” (Revelations 19:6a-7a)

In the Wilderness

“See, I am sending an angel before you to protect you on your journey and lead you safely to the place I have prepared for you.” (Exodus 23:20)

 

Have you ever been lost? Have you ever been lost and known the way but couldn’t figure out how to the get there at the same time? Have you ever been lost, known the way, asked God for guidance and help getting there, and still didn’t get to where you knew you needed to be? That is the place I find myself leaving today. Being stuck somewhere of my own direction, knowing which way to go, but then just standing there because I can’t figure out how to put one foot in front of the other.

 

We have failed our finances for 12 years. I would love to say that our finances have failed us but, no, we have failed our finances. As a couple we never took care of our money together and we never set up budgets. Every month it felt like we were falling and any second some big disaster would take everything away. We even reached that point where I looked at my husband and said, “we aren’t going to make it like this any more”. Looking back I am not sure that was true. But everything looks different in hindsight. Regardless, we made extremely serious changes and still we couldn’t seem to make anything make financial sense. I was that person, every morning, begging God to guide us and help us financially.

 

We are taking a course called “Financial Peace University” by Dave Ramsey. I recommend that anyone, regardless of financial position, take this course. For the first time my husband and I are on working our finances together. For the first time our money is starting to feel in control, for the most part (we are still learning). For the first time I feel like although we are still in the wilderness, we are heading to everything that God has promised us, which is peace and hope. I feel like God has placed a big spotlight on our destination, since we were too dumb and blind to see it before, and that as long as we stay focused on God and on that goal we will get there.

 

“No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both love and money.” (Matthew 6:24)

The Big Yes!

“For Jesus the Son of God does not waiver between “Yes” and “No.” He is the one whom Silas, Timothy, and I preached to you, and as God’s ultimate “Yes”, he always does what he says. For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding “Yes!” And through Christ, our “Amen” (which means “yes”) ascends to God for his glory”(2 Corinthians 2:19-20)

 

The big yes! I do not remember ever reading these lines before, which gets me excited because that means God hides certain gems in His Word for me discover at different times of my life. But reading Paul saying that Jesus was the ultimate “Yes!” from God simply amazed me today. With the economy sinking deeper into the pot, people losing their jobs, home owners struggling to save their homes, and people doing that precarious balancing act with their finances it’s hard to see the light. Where is God’s answer in all this? Why does it seem like God may not be listening?

 

We need to remember that God has already given us His answer! He gave us, as Paul said, the ultimate “Yes” when He sent Jesus down to save us. Through the prophet Micah, 700 years before Jesus’ birth, God told everyone what His plans were (Micah 5:2-5a). The people must have thought Micah was crazy, but God had His plan and He followed through by giving us the answer to everything: Jesus.

 

Ann Graham Lotz said that as Jesus hung on that cross He took on any possible sin and burden the human race had ever and will ever carry. He knows what you are going through right at this moment and He can sympathize and meet you right where you are. When everything fades, the situation passes, or Jesus raptures His people there will be one underlying theme that has no end: Jesus. So, in all things, if you break it down to what it is really going to take, all you need is Jesus. Jesus is our ultimate answer everyday and that obviously hasn’t changed for 2000 years.

 

“That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, and our spirits are being renewed everyday. For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now, rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)

Reorganizing

“No one can serve two masters. For you will have one and love the other you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” (Matthew 6:24)

 

Last summer (2007) my econ teacher said that a good depression would probably benefit us more than hurt us and I have to agree with him. Our own personal finances have been hardest by the gas prices but other than that we have always been kind of tight so we have been used to trying to be conservative with our spending. However, as I listen to the news I hear companies readjusting their projected sales for this coming holiday season but I haven’t heard many people I am incredibly close to talking about cutting back their spending habits but that doesn’t mean that isn’t not happening. Money is a tricky thing.

 

Today is a beautiful day in our economy but let me qualify this. Do you know how hard it is to teach your kids that they don’t need every new toy, game, and gadget when all their friends are getting them? I have been forever thankful that we don’t have a lot of extra money because it has forced us to prioritize and teach the kids some good stuff about values. So, now I look around and I am hoping that this crunch on credit and the slight scare of a slippery economy will force more people to be smarter with their money. My econ teacher said, something to the effect, that today’s generation is so free with their money because we had never really gone through the depressions or wars that our parents and grandparents had experienced. Well, I am hopeful that people will start re-evaluating what they do with their money and we start living smarter as a nation because of what we are experiencing today.

 

So, where are you today? Are you cutting back on expenses? Is there a slow down in your business and you are worried you may have to let some employees go? Do you count on that second job during the Christmas season to help pay for Christmas but with the retailers slowing down you are worried that it won’t happen? Or, have you experienced a reduction in income and you don’t know where the money is going to come from week to week? Or, are you just fine? Wherever you are I hope you are willing to meet Jesus or know that He is right there with you. During this time when people are so scared of the markets and of the banks we can rest assured that we can find the peace and satisfaction we need to keep on going from one source and that is our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

“I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart.  And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid. Remember, what I told you: I am going away, but I will come back to you again.” (John 14:27-28)

Safe Haven

“Jesus replied, ‘Friend, who made me a judge over you to decide such things as that?’ Then he said, ‘Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own.’” (Luke 12:14-15)

 

I spent much of last night tossing and turning. I was having a hard time sleeping and so I had a lot of time on my hands to think of the news, economy, up-coming elections, and anything else that came across my brain. However, the big thing on my mind has been the Nebraska Safe Haven Law. The law went into affect in July of this year (2008) and already 23 kids have been abandoned. Of these 23, at least four were teenagers…almost adults.

 

I actually can appreciate a law that protects children so well. I find it equally sad that such a law is needed but if it ends babies being found in trash cans or behind broken down buildings I think we are making progress. It’s the older ‘child’ that I am most sad for today. How does it feel to be 17 and dropped off and abandoned? Weren’t there any other options? Weren’t there family or friends that could have helped? What was the situation at home that his or her parents was protection them from?  Was it financial? Was it homelessness? Did it have anything to do with drugs or abuse? And, then, what happens to this teenager? What is the future like? Is it brighter? Is it safer? My heart pounds as I try to wrap this around my brain.

 

Then, as I have done so often lately, I am able to put my own life in perspective. We may not have a lot “extra” assets lying around but our bills are getting paid and we have food on the table, which is enough for me to feel as I am doing everything I need to do for my children and more. There may be things I want to do or I want the kids to do but it may not be in the cards today. However, our family is healthy, we laugh together, we fight together, we say our prayers together, we are part of a beautiful family of faith, and we are full of hope.  What kind of hope did these parents have that they gave up their kids? What kind of future is in store for someone who knows they were abandoned? What aren’t we doing, and what can we do, to reach out the community and help those who need it so that they don’t have to give up their kids?  

 

We are so blessed beyond measure, now is the time, and economic outlook, for us to reach way down within ourselves and see if we are giving, serving, and loving as much as we can to make this world a better place and to build up the Kingdom for Jesus.

 

“Now all glory to God, who is able, through his might power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.” (Ephesians 3:20)

A Beautiful Sound

“Accept the way God does things, for who can straighten what he has made crooked?” (Ecclesiastes 7:13)

 

This verse caught my eyes this morning. Lots of versus I try to look up, or that I come across, have to do with God’s perfect plan or the beauty and perfection of God’s ways over mine. However, sometimes perfection is hard to see when our lives are so broken at times. So, I like the idea of not trying to see the beauty of something but, instead, admiring the brokenness.

 

You have to admit that it is not our smooth sailing and happy go lucky lives that bring us to our knees before God. Although we can look back and ask God why He would allow something to happen, when it comes down to it would you have changed it? The trials I have gone through, the valleys that Jesus has carried me out of and the mistakes I have made have done more to deepen my lean on God more than anything else in my life. I have slowly discovered that depending on me and relying on the world is not the way I was designed and we all know that when we do not use things the way the manufacturer intended the warrantee does not cover the damage.

 

Geoffrey Moore sings a song called “Beautiful Sound”. In this song he names events that make a beautiful sound: waves crashing down, knees hitting the ground, song of praise, lost being found, a proud man breaking. All these things can bring us closer to God and how much more beautiful is that? Without breaking would we still seek out God or would continue to rely on ourselves? Would we go to our Maker for redemption if we thought we could do it on our own? I thank God for the crooked path my life has taken at times because I am even more thankful for the grace that He has given me because of it.

 

“’In those days when you pray, I will listen.  If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. I will be found by you,’ says the Lord’” (Jeremiah 29:12-14a)

A Time for Everything

“History merely repeats itself.  It has all been done before.  Nothing under the sun is truly new.  Sometimes people say, ‘Here is something new!’ But actually it is old; nothing is ever truly new.  We don’t remember what happened in the past, and in future generations, no one will remember what we are doing now.” (Ecclesiastes 1:9-11)

 

One thing I love about the Bible is that I can read the same versus over and over again and still be struck by the beauty of God’s Word. I am sure I have read Ecclesiastes before but this morning everything struck me very hard. The first three chapters, at least, are dedicated the futility of living a life for ourselves…although Solomon doesn’t come right out and say it. If you read this section you find that Solomon has tried to live for pleasure, wisdom, and work and all of them are like chasing the wind. Life repeats itself over and over again. Do you feel alone in what you have done in your life, or what direction our country is going in, read Ecclesiastes and find that this has all happened before and it may happen again.

 

Solomon said he tried to find satisfaction in everything: money, sex, drinking, knowledge, and possessions and came up with everything being futile and meaningless. If Solomon, in all his God given wisdom, found that life is empty when you live for these things 3,000 years ago what do you think has changed in God’s plan for our lives that we will find any lasting pleasure or satisfaction from them now? If Solomon is right, and everything simply repeats itself, than nothing has changed and that is why we are left searching and seeking when we are turning to worldly things to find our fill.

 

However, when we turn to God and His promises we can never run empty. If we go to God He will constantly fill us with however much we need. Our relationship with God is not a cycle to do over and over again throughout time. Our relationship with God is solid and eternal. As money, knowledge, carnal pleasures, and possessions come and go God is right there the same yesterday as today and the same today as tomorrow. Where are you finding your pleasure? Where are you finding your purpose? Look to your Lord and feel satisfied; open your heart to Him and feel the blessings flow and the joy fill you better than any thing this world could ever offer.

 

“Such things were written in the Scriptures long ago to teach us.  And the Scriptures gives hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God’s promises to be fulfilled.” (Romans 15:4)