Month: March 2011

Love, live, life?

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I’m not quite sure what direction I want to go with this post but I’ll try to explain something that has been going on in my heart for a while now. It’s about how christian (maybe just Americans?) people handle decisions, how we make choices, and the things we weigh and use to justify our decisions.

If God is sovereign, if he’s our protector, and if he’s all loving…. then why do we let so many other items influence our decisions? I’m not talking about deciding what to eat for breakfast, I’m talking about decisions that have an impact on our relationships. Things that require commitment… many times instead of hearing “I think God is calling me to…. a new church, job, ministry”, whatever the case may be I hear things like… it’s safer for our family, it’s just more relaxing, the people seem more real, and my “favorite” God shows up more….. (myself included!).

That’s certainly not an exhaustive list, and at the same time God can certainly call us to do something or go somewhere and these other “good” things be true. But if our decisions and the way we communicate them are not about a work of God in your life… then are we living the Gospel? Jesus has some pretty straight ideas on what it takes to follow him… and a safe, clean, no risk life isn’t what I read. Leave your family, leave your possessions, sell everything for the common good of our brothers and sisters… share all. Those are just some of the things I read.

Now of course we don’t want to go off the deep end, because our decisions should never violate our Kingdom commitments, God, family, the Church community… of course living all of that out is a lot of work and discernment. Love first, love second, then make a decision. Let God’s voice lead our decisions, not the external issues. This doesn’t mean ignoring those issues, just don’t let them lead.

Basically, are our decisions putting trust into our LORD? Or into something else? Trust me when I say this… the enemy will devour and hijack you unless you take full responsibility to trust God AND be in active warfare with your LORD.

Tweets for the past week

  • Dentist appointment – check. Pack for one nightdress to Richmond, VA – next. #
  • Dentist appt done & packed for trip. Catching up on email then off to PDX. Complete some docs on the way and big presentation tomorrow morn. #
  • From I-5 to I-95 in one day 🙂 #
  • @JordanRPDX hope everyone is having fun without me!! #
  • Ready to go… off to ORD. #
  • Wah wah… delayed by 2 hrs in ORD, I guess after all the flying in my life it had to happen at some point. (Never been delayed before). #
  • I am sooo bored and far worse is that every possible electric outlet in this place is being used. 🙁 #
  • Well, on the plane finally! PDX here I come…. finally. #
  • It's Friday at the office…. http://pi.pe/-ti0yib #
  • Brandon and Emma http://pi.pe/-637jfr #
  • Brandon and Emma http://pi.pe/-hy5cvk #
  • A little house cleaning, visiting, family, catching up, online remodeling & @reachpolska mission work! Busy today but tomorrow brings rest #

The ups and downs – Thank God for grace.

According to Wikipedia:

The sine wave or sinusoid is a mathematical function that describes a smooth repetitive oscillation. It occurs often in puremathematics, as well as physics, signal processing, electrical engineering and many other fields

If only all life could be described as “a smooth repetitive oscillation” – it seems life is more haphazard rather than smooth, you never know when the down is about to happen, but on the flip side you don’t know when the ups will begin either.  There are always three “powers” at play, the human, the Godly, and the satanic. With God being fully sovereign and all-knowing, it leaves the other two parties in a bit of a tug-o-war – until one surrenders to the Godly power (of which only the human power has that ability). However, this tug-o-war is not easily surrendered, since with all observation it appears we need to desperately fight it, we can’t give up, otherwise we’ll “lose our life” – but this is exactly what the enemy wants us to think.

I’m writing about this because the beauty in the surrender of our lives to God is that we receive grace for all our transgressions and all our fighting. We receive a life, that forever goes beyond this earthly life. In 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 Paul writes:

24 Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! 25 All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. 26 So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. 27 I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.

I pray that I may discipline myself to continue in the race God has called me (us, my bride, and my daughter and children to come) to run, to be the voice and servant to all man kind as Christ is, and be disciplined enough to surrender it all, each morning, day, and night. It is in this surrender that rest comes, and it is in rest that we encounter God. With His grace I will walk through the ups and downs, and in discipline I will love on and live on.

Tweets for the past week

  • This is perfect for Church Small/home! Groups – http://buswk.co/fzoOR1 #
  • Umm just now leaving Seattle… family loves to delay us 🙂 #
  • I read into my own words more than anyone else… and I usually read into far beyond my intentions, often causing silence. #
  • Help, I've lost my energy and I don't know where to look for it…. #
  • Me = brain dead tired #
  • Testing my pipes 😉 http://pi.pe/-euq86q #
  • Testing my pipes again http://pi.pe/-2p8mqc #
  • Last test of the pipes?? http://pi.pe/-j91ofo #
  • I think this is it! Pipe integration complete 🙂 http://pi.pe/-lezm6s #
  • Gotta stop clenching my teeth – my jaw hurts 🙁 #
  • Having the sun out in the morning makes the morning far awesome! And tonight, if the clouds stay away, we'll see the "supermoon"! #
  • Gresham we have a problem… Emma: "I'm playing a game" Me: "how do you win?" Emma: "You win when I go to Starbucks" #
  • Testing the pipes again http://pi.pe/-f0io31 #
  • And another mobile pipe test… hopefully the last! http://pi.pe/-3t2j4j #
  • @sparkey_7 250 mail.Sparky_7.com Hello local.domain.name [loc.al.i.p], pleased to meet you #

Tweets for the past week

  • Many passions & ways to affect those around us: Choose to be selfish or to serve & love others. Serve & be fulfilled. Self-serve & be empty. #
  • Favorite question of the day: What are your procedures for monitoring global Pandemic events? #
  • Love. To. Travel. And. Experience. New. Cities! NYC is great even in torrential rain and wind 🙂 #
  • Yay technology – we're not paying any stinking Internet fees on this trip thanks to WiFi sharing on my Android 🙂 #
  • Hmmm… I'd probably hate the job… but for 67k I'd consider it! #trimet http://portlandafoot.org/w/Fare_jumping# #
  • Next stop SEA #
  • And today we drive back to Portland – we missed Emma so much! Thankfully she had lots of fun with grandparents, aunts, & uncles! 🙂 #

Tweets for the past week

  • Taking in the sun… it's 80 here in Austin… sorry to my PDX & SEA peeps 🙂 #
  • Our last day in Austin 🙁 plane takes off just after 4pm. #
  • @jaelyrae Austin was fantastic a few rainy dys bt they were far wrmr than PDX! U shld ck it out 😉 they cld prolly use a Journey church 2.0! #
  • Ready for takeoff to PDX! Bye bye vacation. #
  • Yesterday I was wearing flip flops and t-shirt, today I'm wearing a scarf and wool coat. Hello PacNW! #
  • @TriMet a lot of the glass panels at ) Civic DR shelter are shattered looks like vandalism 🙁 & when will TransitTracker monitors b online? #
  • Then Job replied to the Lord :

    "I know that you can do anything,
    and no one can stop you.
    You asked, `Who… http://bible.us/Job42.1.NLT #

  • @Pastor_Jas Nice pic! Good chat – lookin' forward to the weekend! #
  • What do I want for lunch on my birthday?? Decisions, decisions… #
  • Kinda got up late… it happens :/ #
  • If we all treated our relationships with the same passion as we treat social awareness campaigns might your world be a better place? #