tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73525711441329226392024-03-14T03:25:37.730-07:00Eastside LivingEastsider Mariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347287850306859456noreply@blogger.comBlogger179125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7352571144132922639.post-53202938632154925212018-06-27T08:26:00.000-07:002018-06-27T08:26:05.088-07:00my shame<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">
I share this because I know I am not the only one who experiences the deep pain of brokenness. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">I want you to know you are not alone. I want you to know there is no shame in your pain and brokenness, that you can open up, be honest about the darkness that threatens your life. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">This is not about telling you everything will be OK, or even that there is hope in the end. Maybe that's not where you're at. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">This is a call to be honest about where you are at. To be honest first with yourself, and then when you have the courage, with others. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New;">"Shame can't survive being spoken." - Brene Brown</span><br />
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<strong><span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Confessions of broken human in a broken world.<o:p></o:p></span></strong><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">The truth is I’ll never be good enough.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Never. No matter how hard I try, I will fail. I will miss
the mark.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">The pain of failure, of not being good enough, is sharp and persistent.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">At times the busyness, achievements, beers dull the pain,
but it is ever present, a low hum waiting to return, to remind me of who I am,
who I am not.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Sinking in to the darkness, letting go of hope, embracing the
self-hatred; like an old friend who never disappoints, never far off, always
showing up.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">That’s the end. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">I want it to be. I want to wallow. I want to rage and hate
and hurt. I don’t want to hope or to smile or pray.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">I want to hold onto my pain, hating myself, hating you,
hating the world, hating God.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">But I can’t. I can’t deny the small quite voice that is beckoning
me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">He is calling me, into His love, into His peace, into His
way of life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Jesus is calling me out of the darkness into His light.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Darkness will not win, not today.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">I will breath. I will live. I will hope for a better day.</span></div>
Eastsider Mariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347287850306859456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7352571144132922639.post-66013918890648256602018-01-10T15:21:00.003-08:002018-01-10T15:41:25.191-08:00Angry God <div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: 0.2pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">How does God feel (not think) but how does God feel about us after we’ve sinned?</span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: 0.2pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">This is not a salvation question, that is to say, this not a question whether one is saved or not.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: 0.2pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">This is a deeply relational question.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: 0.2pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">I think many of us, I know I have, developed a sense that we are disappointing God, letting him down. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: 0.2pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">I think many of us believe that when we sin God becomes angry at us and pulls away from us.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;"><span style="color: black;">I read this article</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftnref1" title=""><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;"><span style="color: #0066cc;">[1]</span></span></a><span style="color: black;"> that has blown me away – or rather God’s great love for me has blown me away!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;"><span style="color: black;">The argument in this article is that </span></span><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: 0.2pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">in all our fickleness and failures, through all our cold and callous days, in all our wandering and waywardness, <em>the heart of God in Christ is drawn out all the more warmly to us</em>. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: 0.2pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">The article argues that God is not angry at us when we sin, but rather all his anger is against sin. Rather like a parent of a child with cancer would never be angry at the child for having cancer, but rather is angry at the cancer and wants to rid the child of the cancer, not get rid of the child! Likewise God is angry at sin in our lives and wants to rid our lives of sin but not be rid of us!</span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: 0.2pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">Of all the “diseases,” sin is the greatest! Jesus loves us, and hates our sin, because he loves us and wants us to be free of the destruction and death that sin brings! </span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: 0.2pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">I think some of us believe (even if we don’t realize we believe this) that God has to “muster up” love for us, because we are such wretched creatures that keep screwing it up!</span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: 0.2pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">This is not true. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;"><span style="color: black;">As we read in both the Old Testament:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;"><span style="color: black;">“Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth.” (Exodus 34:6)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;"><span style="color: black;">And the New Testament:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;"><span style="color: black;">“God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,</span></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;"><span style="color: black;"> even when we were dead in our transgressions.” (</span><span style="color: black;">Ephesians 2:4)</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: 0.2pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">The father of the lost (or prodigal) son is a great illustration of God’s heart towards us when we have sinned … the Father comes running to the son, yes the son came towards the father but the father went running to him before the son could even make it to the father. So it is with God he comes running to us. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: 0.2pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">All we have to do is turn towards God, and God will come running! </span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: 0.2pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">Actually I think we will discover God is running after us before we even turned, like we read in the parables about the lost sheep and the lost coin found in The Gospel According to Luke chapter 15, just before the parable of the lost son.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: 0.2pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">So you see our sins do not push God away from us, but rather they pull him closer, like a father who wants to embrace his hurting child.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: 0.2pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: 0.2pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">I can already hear the accusations of this being a “cheap grace” message. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: 0.2pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: 0.2pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">Let me finish by quoting the Apostle from Romans chapter 6 “</span><span class="text Rom-6-1" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">What shall we say, then?<span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-28070A" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NIV-28070A" title="See cross-reference A">A</a>)" style="font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; vertical-align: top;"></span> Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?<span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-28070B" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NIV-28070B" title="See cross-reference B">B</a>)" style="font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; vertical-align: top;"></span></span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="text Rom-6-2" id="en-NIV-28071" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">By no means!” (Romans 6:1-2) And later in chapter 7 “</span><span class="text Rom-7-24" id="en-NASB-28116" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this <span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NASB-28116AQ" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NASB-28116AQ" title="See cross-reference AQ">AQ</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span>death? </span><span class="text Rom-7-25" id="en-NASB-28117" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! ... </span><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Therefore there is now no </span><span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NASB-28118A" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NASB-28118A" title="See cross-reference A">A</a>)" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">condemnation for those who are </span><span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NASB-28118B" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NASB-28118B" title="See cross-reference B">B</a>)" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">in </span><span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NASB-28118C" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NASB-28118C" title="See cross-reference C">C</a>)" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Christ Jesus.” (Romans 7:24-25; 8:1).</span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_ftn1" title=""><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.333332061767578px;"><span style="color: #0066cc;">[1]</span></span></a><span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri";"> “Does God Like Me? Thomas Goodwin on Our Deep Insecurity” by Dane Ortlund; <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/does-god-like-me">https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/does-god-like-me</a></span></div>
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Eastsider Mariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347287850306859456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7352571144132922639.post-73465398904326366012018-01-05T11:48:00.002-08:002018-01-05T11:48:42.530-08:00Little Miss Perfect <div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="color: black;">I was asked to prepare chapel very last minute, so as I walked to the bus this morning I was thinking about what God had been teaching me lately… </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="color: black;">I started to think about <i>why</i></span><span style="color: black;"> we make New Year resolutions. I think it largely has to do with our desire to improve ourselves, to be better people, to </span><i><span style="color: black;">perfect</span></i><span style="color: black;"> ourselves … </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="color: black;">The verse where Jesus says “[t]herefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48) popped in to my head.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="color: black;">Whoa! Whaaat!? That’s a tall order! </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="color: black;">Is it even possible? I mean to be perfect? Is it even possible to be <i>perfect</i></span><span style="color: black;">? I don’t know about you but I haven’t managed it yet.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="color: black;">Whenever I read something in the Bible that doesn’t seem to make sense I take a <i>wider</i></span><span style="color: black;"> and </span><i><span style="color: black;">deeper</span></i><span style="color: black;"> look.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="color: black;">First we go wider, that is we read the verse in its context:</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><sup><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">43 </span></sup><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">“You have heard that it was said, ‘</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">You shall love your neighbor</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"> and hate your enemy.’</span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="color: black;"> <sup><span id="en-NASB-23279">44 </span></sup></span><span style="color: black;">But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,</span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: black; font-size: small;"> </span><sup><span id="en-NASB-23280"><span style="color: black; font-size: x-small;">45 </span></span></sup><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on </span><i><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">the</span></i><span style="color: black; font-size: small;"> evil and </span><i><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">the</span></i><span style="color: black; font-size: small;"> good, and sends rain on </span><i><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">the</span></i><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">righteous and </span><i><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">the</span></i><span style="color: black; font-size: small;"> unrighteous.</span><span style="color: black; font-size: small;"> </span><sup><span id="en-NASB-23281"><span style="color: black; font-size: x-small;">46 </span></span></sup><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?</span><span style="color: black; font-size: small;"> </span><sup><span id="en-NASB-23282"><span style="color: black; font-size: x-small;">47 </span></span></sup><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing </span><i><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">than others</span></i><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?</span><span style="color: black; font-size: small;"></span><sup><span id="en-NASB-23283"><span style="color: black; font-size: x-small;">48 </span></span></sup><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="color: black;">So the context is love. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="color: black;">More specifically Jesus is clarifying <i>who</i></span><span style="color: black;"> we are called to love – our enemies, those who don’t like us, those who we don’t like, those who hurt us, those who we hurt or at the very least want to hurt, those who are cruel, those who do terrible things – Jesus is calling us to love them. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="color: black;">He gives us the <i>reason</i></span><span style="color: black;"> we are to love are enemies, those people who do terrible things – because if we call ourselves children of God then we will love like our Father loves, and God loves his enemies, those who do terrible things. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="color: black;">Jesus takes it a step further and basically says “you love those who love you, so what!? You treat those who treat you with kindness and respect with kindness and respect, so what!? You help out those who help you out, so what!? Even the tax collectors (to the original audience they are the enemy, those people who do terrible things) and Gentiles (non-believers or pagans) do that!”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="color: black;">Jesus is basically saying “If you only love those who love you – you are no better than your enemy, those who do terrible things.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="color: black;">Ouch! That hurts! </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="color: black;">Yup. That’s how Jesus’ rolls – he tells it like it is, even or maybe especially, when it hurts because he loves us and wants us to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="color: black;">That brings us to the verse in question “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.</span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="color: black;">Now we go deeper, what does Jesus mean by <i>perfect</i></span><span style="color: black;">?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="color: black;">The word <i>perfect</i></span><span style="color: black;">, in the Bible, can and does mean </span><i><span style="color: black;">complete</span></i><span style="color: black;"> or </span><i><span style="color: black;">finished</span></i><span style="color: black;">.</span><span style="color: black;"> </span><span style="color: black;">In Hebrews it says that Jesus was made </span><i><span style="color: black;">perfect</span></i><span style="color: black;"> through suffering (Heb. <a dir="ltr" href="x-apple-data-detectors://2" style="-webkit-text-decoration-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.258824); color: black;" x-apple-data-detectors-result="2" x-apple-data-detectors-type="calendar-event" x-apple-data-detectors="true">2:10</a>; 5:8–9). That is to say he </span><i><span style="color: black;">completed</span></i><span style="color: black;"> or </span><i><span style="color: black;">fulfilled</span></i><span style="color: black;"> God’s plan for Him as our Savior by suffering for us.</span></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="color: black;">Perfect</span></span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="color: black;"> can also have the meaning of <i>mature</i></span><span style="color: black;"> or </span><i><span style="color: black;">grown up</span></i><span style="color: black;">. </span><span style="color: black;"> </span><span style="color: black;">In Philippians 3:15, the apostle Paul speaks to "as many as are </span><i><span style="color: black;">perfect</span></i><span style="color: black;">" - the word </span><i><span style="color: black;">perfect</span></i><span style="color: black;">here can also be translated as </span><i><span style="color: black;">mature </span></i><span style="color: black;">- "as many as are </span><i><span style="color: black;">mature</span></i><span style="color: black;">."</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="color: black;">We now have a wider and deeper understand of what Jesus means when he says, “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="color: black;">I think he is meaning, "love completely as your heavenly Father loves completely." </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="color: black;">As God loves all people, even his enemies, even those who do terrible things – we are also to love all people, even our enemies, even those who do terrible things. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="color: black;">This is how we can be <i>perfect</i></span><span style="color: black;"> as our heavenly Father is </span><i><span style="color: black;">perfect</span></i><span style="color: black;"> – to love as he loves.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="color: black;">Now the question: </span><span style="color: black;">“</span><i><span style="color: black;">how</span></i><span style="color: black;"> do we love our enemies? What does that even look like? Where do I even get the ability to love my enemies from?”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="color: black;">This is a huge question. And I don’t have an answer.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="color: black;">But I think the process of wrestling with this question <i>is</i></span><span style="color: black;"> the answer. What I mean is that as we wrestle with the question of “how do I love my enemies?” and as we make attempt to love our enemies - we grow, we mature - and as we </span><i><span style="color: black;">mature</span></i><span style="color: black;">we are able to love our enemies more and more </span><i><span style="color: black;">completely</span></i><span style="color: black;">. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="color: black;">This is a lifelong process. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="color: black;">Some really good news is that this is a process we do not do alone. We have been given the Holy Spirit and the fruit that the Holy Spirit produces in and through us includes <i>love</i></span><span style="color: black;"> as well as joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control (Gal. <a dir="ltr" href="x-apple-data-detectors://5" style="-webkit-text-decoration-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.258824); color: black;" x-apple-data-detectors-result="5" x-apple-data-detectors-type="calendar-event" x-apple-data-detectors="true">5:22-23</a>) </span><span style="color: black;"> </span><span style="color: black;">– everything that we need to be </span><i><span style="color: black;">perfect</span></i><span style="color: black;"> as our heavenly Father is </span><i><span style="color: black;">perfect</span></i><span style="color: black;">.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="color: black;">As the Apostle Paul prays over the Philippian Christians I also pray over you:</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">For I am</span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="color: black;"> confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will <i>perfect</i></span><span><span style="color: black;"> it until the day of Christ Jesus…</span><sup><span style="color: black;"> </span></sup><span style="color: black;">And this I pray, that your </span><i><span style="color: black;">love</span></i></span><span style="color: black;"> may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment,</span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="color: black;"> <span id="en-NASB-29372">so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ;</span></span><span style="color: black;"> </span><span id="en-NASB-29373"><span><span style="color: black;">having been filled with the <i>fruit</i></span><span style="color: black;"> of righteousness which </span><span><span style="color: black;">comes</span></span></span><span style="color: black;"> through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.</span></span><span><span style="color: black;"> (</span></span><span style="color: black;">Philippians 1:6, 9-11)</span></span></div>
Eastsider Mariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347287850306859456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7352571144132922639.post-89662832012483303032016-11-21T09:39:00.000-08:002016-11-21T09:39:40.924-08:00Brokenness <div class="p1">
“Brokenness” has been a theme in my life this past week. Coming up in conversations, referred to in the reading for morning prayer, and the title of the chapter i read from Henri Nouwen’s book “Life of the Beloved”. </div>
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First a friend made the argument that “brokenness” was not a “Biblical” word (or at least not in the sense that we often use it), in an excerpt from Ronald Rolheiser in the book of “Common Prayer a Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals” an author declares that we need a theology of brokenness. And then finally Nouwen counsels the reader to embrace our brokeness and to hold it up to the light of our belovedness. </div>
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After brief conversation with my friend who argued that “brokenness” was not a Biblical word I did some research, and came across a blog written by Dr. Bob Kellemen that I found to be helpful in defining “brokenness” (<a href="http://www.rpmministries.org/2014/09/4-reflections-are-we-using-the-word-brokenness-biblically/"><span class="s1">http://www.rpmministries.org/2014/09/4-reflections-are-we-using-the-word-brokenness-biblically/</span></a>). To sum is up the Bible refers to brokenness in regards to our pain and suffering and brokenness in regards to being broken hearted over our sin. In the Bible brokenness and sin are not synonymous. I think that is the argument my friend was making, that today often people refer to their “brokenness” as their sin, as if some how it is not their fault that they sin, because they are after all “broken.” I would agree with her that this understanding of “brokenness” is not represented in the Bible. I would also agree with the Ronald Rolheiser as quoted in the book of “Common Prayer” that we need a theology of brokenness, that is we need to understand how our brokenness in regards to suffering and being broken hearted over our sin relates to God and who He is. Again from that blog Bob argues that our brokenness whether related to suffering or sin, should lead us to God. In our suffering we turn to God as our source of hope, in our brokenness over our sin we turn to God in repentance and to receive forgiveness. Our brokenness should lead us to God.</div>
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I think that Nouwen is referring to brokenness in regards to our pain and suffering. So when he counsels us to embrace, he even goes as far as to say befriend, our brokenness I think he is calling us to acknowledge our pain and suffering, not to try and run from it, or numb it or ignore it, but to face the pain as a reality. Then when he counsels us to bring it into the light, I think he is saying take the reality of your pain and suffering and hold it up into the truth of God’s perfect and unfailing love. And it is not that this will instantaneous take your pain and suffering away, because it will not, but I do believe that with the continued and persistent practice of this what I might call a spiritual discipline, the truth of God’s love will dull the pain, take off the edge, not erase it completely but make it bearable. But the thing is we need to work at this, this is a struggle, a battle, Jesus has freely given us abundant life, but we still live in a fallen world, and there is an enemy working against us who does not want us to live into the abundant life Jesus has given us. Earlier in his book Nouwen explains that this is a spiritual struggle, there is joy in the struggle, but it is a struggle none the less. And I would add that there will be break throughs, but it is a struggle that we will be engaged in our entire lives on this side of eternity, because we live in-between times, there will be a day that Christ returns and sets all things right, and there will be no more pain, or tears, or death, but until that day we must continue to struggle, knowing that he has already won the victory, and that even as we suffer and struggle we know that he has not left us alone but has sent us the Holy Spirit, who is our Counsellor, and help us in our suffering and struggles if we allow him to. </div>
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A side note: You might be thinking, that’s it!? But I don’t want the pain at all. I would say I’m the same way, I don’t want the pain at all, so I’ve tried other methods to get ride of the pain, by drinking, partying, and what not, and maybe this has numbed me from the pain for a little while, but the pain is always there, and when the numbing wheres off the pain is worse then before. Some people try to get ride of the pain by working, and accomplishing, even by doing “good” things, but from what I have experienced and what I have learned from other peoples lives who are wiser than I none of it works! </div>
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How are you suffering? Is it cancer? It is a failed relationship? For me it is that life has not turned out the way I though it would, I have deep disappointment and an aching heart. This morning I am sitting before my Father holding this pain, not ignoring, not trying to numb it, holding it up to the truth that I am perfectly loved by my Father in Heaven. It does not take the deep ache and longing away, or even dull it, at this point I only have the hope that by persistent and continually practising this embracing and holding up of my brokenness before my Father God’s perfect love eventually the pain will be dulled, my perspective will be shifted, and I will be able to live more and more into the abundant life Jesus has given me, until the day he returns and there will be no more disappointment, longing or heart ache. </div>
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Another side note: When I say I am “holding up my pain to the light of God’s perfect love” what I mean is that I am spending time reading Scripture out loud, the Psalms are a great place to start, because so much of them are prayers of struggle, crying out to God for help, and then declaring the truth of God’s love. I am also simply sitting still and in silence with God, try starting with 15 minutes, I started by listing to music, or by repeating a simple phrase such as “I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth” (Ps. 121:1-2). I have also found journaling, they are more like written out prayers, to be very helpful. The most important things are: First, to be completely honest with yourself, and with God about your suffering and pain, do not hold anything back. Second, to make this embracing and holding up a part of your daily life, to practice it continually and persistently. because break throughs, shifting of perspectives, and taking the edge of the pain, will not happen over night, and it’s not like you can just do this for a month or two, “deal with it,” and then you’re good to go for life, remember we live in-between the times of Jesus having come, but he is still coming back, and therefore we will continue face suffering and pain, so we need to continue to embrace our pain and holding it up to the light of God’s perfect love for us so that we might live into the abundant life Jesus has given us!</div>
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Amen</div>
Eastsider Mariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347287850306859456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7352571144132922639.post-89625259670440417222016-09-15T09:54:00.003-07:002016-09-15T09:56:41.146-07:00Running <div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This morning as I eat my standard two eggs, two pieces of toast, a bunch of veggies, and a double shot coffee (yeah I know I eat a lot! but haven't you heard breakfast is the most important meal of the day?) … </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;">what was I saying? Oh yeah so as I was chowing down I was listening to my daily Bible reading (I had to listen rather then read it, because my hands were busy eating!), and I thought to myself "what does it mean to be a Christian?"</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Not only was this question unrelated to the Bible reading, its one I probably should have figured out by now, after being born and raised in a Christian family, attending a Christian school, being part of one church or another my entire life, going to countless youth groups and Christian Summer camps, being a Christian for ten years now, having done a DTS with YWAM, being a leader in a number of Christian ministries, and having just finished a four year degree in theology at Regent College! </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Come now Maria get it together! You should have this one in the bag! And I do, I could give you an answer or two, I could write a paper, give a sermon, and even draw a picture explaining to you that it means to be a Christian. </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;">But for whatever reason this morning the question came to my mind, and so instead of ignoring the question or quickly answering it away, I let it tumble around in my head as I continued to listen to Psalm 2 being read to me by a man with a very pleasant voice (I was also thinking to myself "I wonder how one gets into that line of work, and I wonder if he is happy doing it, and I wonder if he’s a Christian, and I wonder if he become a Christian after he got this gig and spent hours upon hours reading the Bible out loud?"). </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;">At the end of Psalm 2 in the Message version (I know I know some of you out there really don’t like the Message, but I do! It breaths fresh insight into passages that have become tired and familiar to me) it says “But if you make a run for God—you won’t regret it!” </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;">That stuck with me even as the pleasant sounding man launched into the second reading of the day: Proverbs 2, so much so that I had to stop the man and go back to Psalm 2. </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I read it over a several times “if you make a run for God—you won’t regret it!” … “if you make a run for God—you won’t regret it!” … “if you make a run for God—you won’t regret it!” … </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;">then I looked it up in the ESV “Blessed are all who take refuge in him.” </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"Hum?" I thought to myself, "that’s what being a Christian means, one who makes a run for God! Who takes refuge in Him."</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And right away the thought came to me “that’s to simplified …” but I said “shhhh” to that thought, and instead ran with the thought that being a Christian is one who runs towards God (not that I don’t think that maybe it is a little over simplified, but because I wanted to explore what it means to be a Christian from a different angle then I often do). </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As chewed on “being a Christian means running for God, taking refuge in Him” (and the last of my breakfast), I wondered what the context of Psalm 2 was (because I went to Regent and I after four years it is second nature to ask question like what is the context). So after a quick Google search (because I am not still at Regent and I don’t have to create a Bibliography, PTL!) I discovered explanation (from <a href="http://bible.org/"><span class="s2">bible.org</span></a>) That I found rather helpful: </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Psalm is a dramatic presentation in three acts: 1. the nations have rebelled against God (2:1-3), 2. God is sovereign (2:4-9), 3. We must submit to God and His Anointed while there is time (2:10-12). </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As the verse I was reflecting on is found in act 3, I zoomed in on that one (but if you feel so inclined please check out the whole thing at <a href="https://bible.org/seriespage/psalm-2-world-out-control">https://bible.org/seriespage/psalm-2-world-out-control</a>). </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;">So what does Psalm 2 (more specifically Psalm 2:12, the phrase “But if you make a run for God—you won’t regret it!”) teach us about what it means to be a Christian? For one thing “Jesus didn’t come to save us so that we could get a free ticket to heaven and then go our own way. The issue is one of lordship.” </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;">To be a Christian means to submit to Jesus Christ as Lord over all! That means our entire lives, every little bit, every crock and cranny! And everything else, from the dirt under our feet to the farest most distant planet, and everything in-between! </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In the conclusion <a href="http://bible.org/"><span class="s2">bible.org</span></a> says “You can’t find peace and safety anywhere in the world, but only in Christ.” And I thought yup, that’s what it means to be a Christian!</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;">How does this all plays out in real time? Here I sit, graduated from Regent collage after four long changeling years, ten years of post-secondary education in total, single as single gets, 30 years of age, jobs less, and wondering “what the F is going on!? or rather <i>not</i> going on!" I have been feeling disappointed and frustrated with how my life has turned out at 30, and after struggling through Regent for four years, I had thought I would have changed the world by now! (but that’s a topic for another blog). </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;">So again here I sit—a Christian—someone who is running towards God, who finds her refuge in Him, who is submitting to Jesus’ Lordship in every crock and cranny of her life (even the disappointment or maybe especially the disappointment and frustration) banking on the truth that I can’t find peace and safety anywhere in the world, but only in Christ—well at least I am today, yesterday it was a little more touch and go and tomorrow I might crumble once again and try to gain control of my life—but today I am submitting to Christ, trusting in Him, running towards Him and taking refuge in Him—because I am a Christian.</span></span></div>
Eastsider Mariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347287850306859456noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7352571144132922639.post-2965623930973276742015-11-19T10:06:00.002-08:002015-11-19T10:07:44.787-08:00Didn't see this coming ....<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Do you ever think there might be something wrong with you?</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">No?</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Oh than there really is something wrong with you.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">For real.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">All “normal” people have those times when they think to themselves “what’s wrong with me? am I crazy? am I losing my mind? this can’t be normal, can it?</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">for all you “normal” people, I have good news: nothing is wrong with you, well nothing that’s not wrong with a couple billion other humans; no you are not crazy, well most of you, some of you are legitimately insane, you should get that checked out; yeah probably, but don’t be to worried about it I have found that it has a way of coming home to you, sooner or later; yes yes yes it can be, that’s what i’ve been trying to tell you: you are totally normal, well relatively, because who gets to decide what’s normal anyways?</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">its like those magazine blurbs that label what’s “hot and not,” who are these people, that they have the audacity to decide for the 7 billion people on the plant what’s “hot and not”?</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I quite frankly think it’s kinda rude. Like who the f- do you think you are? God!?</span></span><br />
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Oh nooo, you do, you think you are God!</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">That’s a problem.</span></span><br />
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Actually I think that’s like a Western twenty-first century world problem, we all think we are gods.</span></span><br />
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Never mind the fact that we have never actually done anything really truly “god-like”…</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">when’s the last time you created a universe? or how about just a tree? I’m not talking about the time you planted an avocado pit and after months of watering it and singing to it it sprouted. I’m talking about from scratch, like Jamie Oliver style, but even more hardcore than that because you don’t even get to start with all the fresh organic ingredients to make you pasta, you have to make the fresh organic ingredients from nothing, nada, out of thin air, actually there might not even be air!</span></span><br />
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Or what about this one, when’s the last time you controlled the weather? The weather person’s inability to even consistently and accurately predict the weather is ample evidence for me that we have no control over the weather. Yeah I know what you’re thinking, what about Storm? OK stupid, Storm is not a real person, neither are any of the X people or the superheroes. But this obsession with superhero and genetically altered super humans makes a my next point for me…</span></span><br />
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">we are obsessed with being gods, we create fairy tales about humans being "god-like," even if we know they are not real, we thrive on the maybe just maybe …</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">no.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">never.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">you will never be God.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">never.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">But Maria …</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We are independent people!</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">See this world we live in</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">we made it</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">see this life we’re rockin'</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">we made it</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">we depend on us</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">All the people who are independent</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Throw your hands up at me</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">All the peps who makin' money</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Throw your hands up at me</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">All the homies who profit dollas</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Throw your hands up at me</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">All ya’ll who truly feel me</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Throw your hands up at me!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">nope. not true.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Then God spoke:</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Why do you confuse the issue?</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Why do you talk without knowing what you’re talking about?</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Pull yourself together!</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Up on your feet! Stand tall!</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I have some questions for you,</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> and I want some straight answers.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Where were you when I created the earth?</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Tell me, since you know so much!</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Who decided on its size? Certainly you’ll know that!</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Who came up with the blueprints and measurements?</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">How was its foundation poured,</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> and who set the cornerstone,</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">While the morning stars sang in chorus</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> and all the angels shouted praise?</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And who took charge of the ocean</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> when it gushed forth like a baby from the womb?</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">That was me! I wrapped it in soft clouds,</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> and tucked it in safely at night.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Then I made a playpen for it,</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> a strong playpen so it couldn’t run loose,</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And said, ‘Stay here, this is your place.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Your wild tantrums are confined to this place.’</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">“And have you ever ordered Morning, ‘Get up!’</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> told Dawn, ‘Get to work!’</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">So you could seize Earth like a blanket</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> and shake out the wicked like cockroaches?</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">As the sun brings everything to light,</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> brings out all the colors and shapes,</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The cover of darkness is snatched from the wicked—</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> they’re caught in the very act!</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Have you ever gotten to the true bottom of things,</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> explored the labyrinthine caves of deep ocean?</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Do you know the first thing about death?</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Do you have one clue regarding death’s dark mysteries?</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And do you have any idea how large this earth is?</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Speak up if you have even the beginning of an answer.</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Do you know where Light comes from</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> and where Darkness lives</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">So you can take them by the hand</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> and lead them home when they get lost?</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Why, of course you know that.</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> You’ve known them all your life,</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> grown up in the same neighborhood with them!</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Have you ever traveled to where snow is made,</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> seen the vault where hail is stockpiled,</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The arsenals of hail and snow that I keep in readiness</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> for times of trouble and battle and war?</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Can you find your way to where lightning is launched,</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> or to the place from which the wind blows?</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Who do you suppose carves canyons</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> for the downpours of rain, and charts</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> the route of thunderstorms</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">That bring water to unvisited fields,</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> deserts no one ever lays eyes on,</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Drenching the useless wastelands</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> so they’re carpeted with wildflowers and grass?</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And who do you think is the father of rain and dew,</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> the mother of ice and frost?</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">You don’t for a minute imagine</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> these marvels of weather just happen, do you?</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Can you catch the eye of the beautiful Pleiades sisters,</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> or distract Orion from his hunt?</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Can you get Venus to look your way,</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> or get the Great Bear and her cubs to come out and play?</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Do you know the first thing about the sky’s constellations</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> and how they affect things on Earth?</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Can you get the attention of the clouds,</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> and commission a shower of rain?</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Can you take charge of the lightning bolts</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> and have them report to you for orders?</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Who do you think gave weather-wisdom to the ibis,</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> and storm-savvy to the rooster?</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Does anyone know enough to number all the clouds</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> or tip over the rain barrels of heaven</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">When the earth is cracked and dry,</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> the ground baked hard as a brick?</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Can you teach the lioness to stalk her prey</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> and satisfy the appetite of her cubs</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">As they crouch in their den,</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> waiting hungrily in their cave?</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And who sets out food for the ravens</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> when their young cry to God,</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> fluttering about because they have no food?”</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Do you know the month when mountain goats give birth?</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Have you ever watched a doe bear her fawn?</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Do you know how many months she is pregnant?</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Do you know the season of her delivery,</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> when she crouches down and drops her offspring?</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Her young ones flourish and are soon on their own;</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> they leave and don’t come back.</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Who do you think set the wild donkey free,</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> opened the corral gates and let him go?</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I gave him the whole wilderness to roam in,</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> the rolling plains and wide-open places.</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">He laughs at his city cousins, who are harnessed and harried.</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> He’s oblivious to the cries of teamsters.</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">He grazes freely through the hills,</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> nibbling anything that’s green.</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Will the wild buffalo condescend to serve you,</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> volunteer to spend the night in your barn?</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Can you imagine hitching your plow to a buffalo</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> and getting him to till your fields?</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">He’s hugely strong, yes, but could you trust him,</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> would you dare turn the job over to him?</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">You wouldn’t for a minute depend on him, would you,</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> to do what you said when you said it?</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">“The ostrich flaps her wings futilely—</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> all those beautiful feathers, but useless!</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">She lays her eggs on the hard ground,</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> leaves them there in the dirt, exposed to the weather,</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Not caring that they might get stepped on and cracked</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> or trampled by some wild animal.</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">She’s negligent with her young, as if they weren’t even hers.</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> She cares nothing about anything.</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">She wasn’t created very smart, that’s for sure,</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> wasn’t given her share of good sense.</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">But when she runs, oh, how she runs,</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> laughing, leaving horse and rider in the dust.</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Are you the one who gave the horse his prowess</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> and adorned him with a shimmering mane?</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Did you create him to prance proudly</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> and strike terror with his royal snorts?</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">He paws the ground fiercely, eager and spirited,</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> then charges into the fray.</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">He laughs at danger, fearless,</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> doesn’t shy away from the sword.</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The banging and clanging</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> of quiver and lance don’t faze him.</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">He quivers with excitement, and at the trumpet blast</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> races off at a gallop.</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">At the sound of the trumpet he neighs mightily,</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> smelling the excitement of battle from a long way off,</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> catching the rolling thunder of the war cries.</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Was it through your know-how that the hawk learned to fly,</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> soaring effortlessly on thermal updrafts?</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Did you command the eagle’s flight,</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> and teach her to build her nest in the heights,</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Perfectly at home on the high cliff face,</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> invulnerable on pinnacle and crag?</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">From her perch she searches for prey,</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> spies it at a great distance.</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Her young gorge themselves on carrion;</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> wherever there’s a roadkill, you’ll see her circling.”</span></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Now what do you have to say for yourself?</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Are you going to haul me, the Mighty One, into court and press charges?”</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">“I have some more questions for you,</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> and I want straight answers.</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Do you presume to tell me what I’m doing wrong?</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Are you calling me a sinner so you can be a saint?</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Do you have an arm like my arm?</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Can you shout in thunder the way I can?</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Go ahead, show your stuff.</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Let’s see what you’re made of, what you can do.</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Unleash your outrage.</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Target the arrogant and lay them flat.</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Target the arrogant and bring them to their knees.</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Stop the wicked in their tracks—make mincemeat of them!</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Dig a mass grave and dump them in it—</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> faceless corpses in an unmarked grave.</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I’ll gladly step aside and hand things over to you—</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> you can surely save yourself with no help from me!</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Look at the land beast, Behemoth. I created him as well as you.</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Grazing on grass, docile as a cow—</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Just look at the strength of his back,</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> the powerful muscles of his belly.</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">His tail sways like a cedar in the wind;</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> his huge legs are like beech trees.</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">His skeleton is made of steel,</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> every bone in his body hard as steel.</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Most magnificent of all my creatures,</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> but I still lead him around like a lamb!</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The grass-covered hills serve him meals,</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> while field mice frolic in his shadow.</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">He takes afternoon naps under shade trees,</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> cools himself in the reedy swamps,</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Lazily cool in the leafy shadows</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> as the breeze moves through the willows.</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And when the river rages he doesn’t budge,</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> stolid and unperturbed even when the Jordan goes wild.</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">But you’d never want him for a pet—</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> you’d never be able to housebreak him!”</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Or can you pull in the sea beast, Leviathan, with a fly rod</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> and stuff him in your creel?</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Can you lasso him with a rope,</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> or snag him with an anchor?</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Will he beg you over and over for mercy,</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> or flatter you with flowery speech?</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Will he apply for a job with you</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> to run errands and serve you the rest of your life?</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Will you play with him as if he were a pet goldfish?</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Will you make him the mascot of the neighborhood children?</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Will you put him on display in the market</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> and have shoppers haggle over the price?</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Could you shoot him full of arrows like a pin cushion,</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> or drive harpoons into his huge head?</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">If you so much as lay a hand on him,</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> you won’t live to tell the story.</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">What hope would you have with such a creature?</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Why, one look at him would do you in!</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">If you can’t hold your own against his glowering visage,</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> how, then, do you expect to stand up to me?</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Who could confront me and get by with it?</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> I’m in charge of all this—I run this universe!</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">“But I’ve more to say about Leviathan, the sea beast,</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> his enormous bulk, his beautiful shape.</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Who would even dream of piercing that tough skin</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> or putting those jaws into bit and bridle?</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And who would dare knock at the door of his mouth</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> filled with row upon row of fierce teeth?</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">His pride is invincible;</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> nothing can make a dent in that pride.</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Nothing can get through that proud skin—</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> impervious to weapons and weather,</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The thickest and toughest of hides,</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> impenetrable!</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">“He snorts and the world lights up with fire,</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> he blinks and the dawn breaks.</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Comets pour out of his mouth,</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> fireworks arc and branch.</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Smoke erupts from his nostrils</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> like steam from a boiling pot.</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">He blows and fires blaze;</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> flames of fire stream from his mouth.</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">All muscle he is—sheer and seamless muscle.</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> To meet him is to dance with death.</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Sinewy and lithe,</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> there’s not a soft spot in his entire body—</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">As tough inside as out,</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> rock-hard, invulnerable.</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Even angels run for cover when he surfaces,</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> cowering before his tail-thrashing turbulence.</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Javelins bounce harmlessly off his hide,</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> harpoons ricochet wildly.</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Iron bars are so much straw to him,</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> bronze weapons beneath notice.</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Arrows don’t even make him blink;</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> bullets make no more impression than raindrops.</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">A battle ax is nothing but a splinter of kindling;</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> he treats a brandished harpoon as a joke.</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">His belly is armor-plated, inexorable—</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> unstoppable as a barge.</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">He roils deep ocean the way you’d boil water,</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> he whips the sea like you’d whip an egg into batter.</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">With a luminous trail stretching out behind him,</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> you might think Ocean had grown a gray beard!</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">There’s nothing on this earth quite like him,</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> not an ounce of fear in that creature!</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">He surveys all the high and mighty—</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> king of the ocean, king of the deep!”</span></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Then Job spoke:</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">“I’m speechless, in awe—words fail me.</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> I should never have opened my mouth!</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I’ve talked too much, way too much.</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> I’m ready to shut up and listen.”</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">“I’m convinced: You can do anything and everything.</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Nothing and no one can upset your plans.</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">You asked, ‘Who is this muddying the water,</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> ignorantly confusing the issue, second-guessing my purposes?’</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I admit it. I was the one. I babbled on about things far beyond me,</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> made small talk about wonders way over my head.</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">You told me, ‘Listen, and let me do the talking.</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Let me ask the questions. You give the answers.’</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I admit I once lived by rumors of you;</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> now I have it all firsthand—from my own eyes and ears!</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I’m sorry—forgive me. I’ll never do that again, I promise!</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> I’ll never again live on crusts of hearsay, crumbs of rumor.”</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">(Job 38-42)</span></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We should all take a page out of the book of Job and repeat after him:</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">“I’m speechless, in awe—words fail me.</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> I should never have opened my mouth!</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I’ve talked too much, way too much.</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> I’m ready to shut up and listen.”</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">“I’m convinced: You can do anything and everything.</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Nothing and no one can upset your plans.</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">You asked, ‘Who is this muddying the water,</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> ignorantly confusing the issue, second-guessing my purposes?’</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I admit it. I was the one. I babbled on about things far beyond me,</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> made small talk about wonders way over my head.</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">You told me, ‘Listen, and let me do the talking.</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Let me ask the questions. You give the answers.’</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I admit I once lived by rumors of you;</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> now I have it all firsthand—from my own eyes and ears!</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I’m sorry—forgive me. I’ll never do that again, I promise!</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> I’ll never again live on crusts of hearsay, crumbs of rumor.”</span></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Bet you didn’t see this rant ending this way!? Well me neither actually …</span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
Eastsider Mariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347287850306859456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7352571144132922639.post-39381661493624510952015-09-01T08:53:00.005-07:002015-09-01T08:54:46.435-07:00No thoughts <span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Good morning,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I have no thoughts to offer you this morning, only the path that the Spirit led me on this morning...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few. (Ecclesiastes 5:2)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Abraham answered and said,</span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-ESV-452A" data-link="(<a href="#cen-ESV-452A" title="See cross-reference A">A</a>)" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes. (</span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Genesis 18:27)</span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span class="text Isa-55-9" id="en-ESV-18750" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; position: relative;"><span class="versenum" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: block; font-weight: bold; left: -4.4em; position: absolute; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;">9 </span></span></span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span class="text Isa-55-9" id="en-ESV-18750" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; position: relative;">For as the heavens are higher than the earth,</span><span class="indent-1" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="indent-1-breaks" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;"> </span><span class="text Isa-55-9" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; position: relative;">so are my ways higher than your ways </span></span><span class="indent-1" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="text Isa-55-9" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; position: relative;">and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:9)</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span class="indent-1" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="text Isa-55-9" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; position: relative;"><br /></span></span></span></span>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span class="text Matt-6-7" id="en-ESV-23290" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="line-height: 22px;"><b>"</b></span><span style="line-height: 24px;">And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as </span><span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-ESV-23290K" data-link="(<a href="#cen-ESV-23290K" title="See cross-reference K">K</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span><span style="line-height: 24px;">the Gentiles do, for </span><span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-ESV-23290L" data-link="(<a href="#cen-ESV-23290L" title="See cross-reference L">L</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span><span style="line-height: 24px;">they think that they will be heard </span><span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-ESV-23290M" data-link="(<a href="#cen-ESV-23290M" title="See cross-reference M">M</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span><span style="line-height: 24px;">for their many words.</span></span><span style="line-height: 24px;"> </span><span class="text Matt-6-8" id="en-ESV-23291" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 24px;">Do not be like them, <span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-ESV-23291N" data-link="(<a href="#cen-ESV-23291N" title="See cross-reference N">N</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span>for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.</span><span style="line-height: 24px;"> </span><span class="text Matt-6-9" id="en-ESV-23292" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 24px;">Pray then like this:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span class="text Matt-6-9" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 24px; position: relative;"><span class="woj" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-ESV-23292P" data-link="(<a href="#cen-ESV-23292P" title="See cross-reference P">P</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span>“Our Father in heaven,</span></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><span class="text Matt-6-9" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 24px; position: relative;"><span class="woj" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-ESV-23292Q" data-link="(<a href="#cen-ESV-23292Q" title="See cross-reference Q">Q</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span>hallowed be <span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-ESV-23292R" data-link="(<a href="#cen-ESV-23292R" title="See cross-reference R">R</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span>your name.</span></span><span class="text Matt-6-10" id="en-ESV-23293" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 24px; position: relative;"><span class="woj" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;"><br />Your kingdom come,</span></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><span class="text Matt-6-10" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 24px; position: relative;"><span class="woj" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-ESV-23293T" data-link="(<a href="#cen-ESV-23293T" title="See cross-reference T">T</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span>your will be done,</span></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><span class="indent-1" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 24px;"><span class="indent-1-breaks" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 0;"> </span><span class="text Matt-6-10" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; position: relative;"><span class="woj" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-ESV-23293U" data-link="(<a href="#cen-ESV-23293U" title="See cross-reference U">U</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span>on earth as it is in heaven.</span></span></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><span class="text Matt-6-11" id="en-ESV-23294" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 24px; position: relative;"><span class="woj" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="versenum" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: block; font-weight: bold; left: -4.4em; line-height: 22px; position: absolute; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"> </span><span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-ESV-23294V" data-link="(<a href="#cen-ESV-23294V" title="See cross-reference V">V</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span>Give us <span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-ESV-23294W" data-link="(<a href="#cen-ESV-23294W" title="See cross-reference W">W</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span>this day our daily bread,</span></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><span class="text Matt-6-12" id="en-ESV-23295" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 24px; position: relative;"><span class="woj" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="versenum" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: block; font-weight: bold; left: -4.4em; line-height: 22px; position: absolute; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"> </span>and forgive us our debts,</span></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><span class="indent-1" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 24px;"><span class="indent-1-breaks" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 0;"> </span><span class="text Matt-6-12" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; position: relative;"><span class="woj" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;">as we also have forgiven our debtors.</span></span></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><span class="text Matt-6-13" id="en-ESV-23296" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 24px; position: relative;"><span class="woj" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="versenum" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: block; font-weight: bold; left: -4.4em; line-height: 22px; position: absolute; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"> </span>And <span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-ESV-23296X" data-link="(<a href="#cen-ESV-23296X" title="See cross-reference X">X</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span>lead us not into temptation,</span></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><span class="indent-1" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="indent-1-breaks" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 0;"> </span><span class="text Matt-6-13" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; position: relative;"><span class="woj" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="line-height: 24px;">but </span><span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-ESV-23296Y" data-link="(<a href="#cen-ESV-23296Y" title="See cross-reference Y">Y</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span><span style="line-height: 24px;">deliver us from </span><span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-ESV-23296Z" data-link="(<a href="#cen-ESV-23296Z" title="See cross-reference Z">Z</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span><span style="line-height: 24px;">evil.</span><span style="line-height: 22px;"> (Matthew 6:7-14)</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span class="indent-1" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="text Matt-6-13" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; position: relative;"><span class="woj" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="line-height: 22px;">Amen</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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Eastsider Mariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347287850306859456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7352571144132922639.post-909481328249479782015-08-28T09:06:00.001-07:002015-08-28T09:06:37.593-07:00What the!?<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">This morning as I was going through my morning routine, well more like stumbling though it as I had yet to have coffee, when out of no where (well likely not no where, more likely it came from the deep recesses of my heart, or God, or both, anyway where it came from isn't whats important but what came…) “I need to journal.” And since it had been over 2 months since I have even looked at my journal (it use to be the best part of my morning, well that and coffee, praise the good Lord in Heaven for coffee!) I thought back “yeah OK, I think i can fit in some journaling.” </span>That is a long explanation, I don’t know about you, but for me sometimes it just feels good to ramble …</div>
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<span class="s1">OK focus Maria!</span></div>
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<span class="s1">First line (after the date and Dear Father God,) …</span></div>
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<span class="s1">I hurt. I’m sad. Please send help.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">That’s dramatic! (if you know me at all you’ll know I am prone to the dramatic.)</span></div>
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<span class="s1">So I made a list of all the beautiful people in my life, who fill my life with meaning and joy, I made a list of the things I am passionate about… </span></div>
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<span class="s1">And that got me thinking…</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Do you ever feel discouraged and disappointed, because you look around at your life and you think “what the!!!?? This isn't how things were suppose to turn out!”?</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Sure you have, we all have (I bet you even Beyonce at one point or another has thought to her self “OK this isn’t going the way I had hoped.”).</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Although we all experience times of disappointment, some of more then others due to life circumstances and personality (and i’m sure other things that I don’t even know about).</span></div>
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<span class="s1">As I was bewailing my disappointment two thoughts came to mind…</span></div>
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<span class="s1">“Who made you the boss?”</span></div>
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<span class="s1">And “How do you know how things were suppose to turn out?”</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Aaahh, good point.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">This might be the point were you check out (if you didn’t earlier as I rambled…) but just wait encouragement is coming, I promise, just stick with me for a few more moments…</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><b>Step One</b> (I need clear instructions, so I like steps, they simplify things for me): </span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">"… pour out your heart before God, for God cares …" (paraphrased Psalm 62:8)</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><b>Step Two:</b> Take a step back, shut up, listen and get some perspective…</span></div>
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<span class="s1">"Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?..." (Job 38: 4-7, but if you have time read 38-41)</span></div>
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<span class="s1">OK that’s sobering. Yet the next passages that came to mind reminded me that …</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1"><b>Step Three:</b> Be reminded that God is for us!</span></div>
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<span class="s1">“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” (Jer 29:11)</span></div>
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<span class="s1">I know that this verse is not <i>to</i> us, but I believe it is <i>for</i> us, and it is theme of Scripture, again…</span></div>
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<span class="s1">“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good…” (Romans 8:28)</span></div>
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<span class="s1">So there you have it folks! </span></div>
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<span class="s1">Aaahh what do we have exactly?</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">Well... a three step program to get over yourself…</span></div>
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<span class="s1">I think. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">Hey I found it fairly helpful, maybe give it a try, and let the Lord lead you, I’m sure God has other ways that will encourage you, you just need to take some time to pay attention…</span></div>
Eastsider Mariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347287850306859456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7352571144132922639.post-54055669758401508872015-05-29T09:04:00.005-07:002015-05-29T09:04:46.070-07:00Torment <div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This morning I sat down to journal with the Lord for the first time in a little while and the first words that came to the page were:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Me: Father God, I need you</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">God: I AM right here daughter.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Me: Amen, may that be the truth.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">God: Why do you need Me right here?</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Me: Because my life doesn’t make sense without you.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">God: Bur you know I AM always with you right?</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Me: Yeah, but there is a difference from knowing in my head and knowing in my being, in my heart, in the way I breath, speak, spend, laugh, play, work…</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Then the next thoughts that came seem somewhat unrelated, but bear with me and I will attempt to make a connection…</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Do not be anxious about anything, what you will eat or wear or where you will sleep! Instead with thanksgiving, praise and supplication offer up all your requests and a peace that surpasses all understanding will fall upon you! </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">That is my version of Jesus’ words from Matthew 6, combined with Paul’s words from Philippians 4.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. (Matthew 6: 25-34)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4: 4-7)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As you can see my version is a little off, but it has the same spirit behind it. DO NOT WORRY, DO NOT BE ANXIOUS ABOUT ANYTHING!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">You may be asking, what really anything!? But I have this huge paper due, i have bills that I can’t pay, my mother has cancer, how can you tell me not be anxious, not to worry? That is not fair, it’s not possible.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My worries and anxieties are fairly light but never the less I am being disobedient by worry6ing, I am saying to God you are not good or big enough to take care of me, you don’t love me enough to take care of me…</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Worrying and being anxious is a problem because it is being disobedient, but this morning I was reflecting not that maybe that’s not the most important thing, that its being disobedient, rather maybe we need to think about the promise that comes with not being anxious, not worrying…</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">What!? I can give away my worries and anxieties, hand them over to my Father God with rejoicing, thanksgiving, prayer and supplication (earnestly and humbly) and receive peace that will protect my emotions and thoughts from the torment of worries and anxieties! </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This is HUGE people! HUGE! </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">OK so I promised you a connection…</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I have been feeling a distance from God in my emotions and in my thoughts, because I have not been giving over to Him on a daily, regular bases in rejoicing, thanksgiving, prayer and supplication (earnestly and humbly) my worries and anxieties … I have been allowing my worries and anxieties torment me, rather than receiving the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Amen!</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">What about you? Are you being tormented? Do you stay up late at night worrying? Do you feel sick to stomach with anxiety and dread? This is not a magical formal, it is about having a relationship, a two way communication with your Heavenly Father who loves you dearly and wants to guard you with his peace.</span></span></div>
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Eastsider Mariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347287850306859456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7352571144132922639.post-39268525237880231282015-04-28T10:09:00.003-07:002015-04-28T10:10:27.045-07:00The Harsh, Ugly, Painful Truth<div class="p1">
<span class="s1" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“And do you seek great things for yourself? Seek them not, for behold, I am bringing disaster upon all flesh, declares the Lord. But I will give you your life as a prize of war in all places to which you may go.” (Jeremiah 45:5 (ESV))</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Don’t seek great things? I am bringing disaster upon all flesh!? What!? That’s a little harsh don't you think? But then he says “I will give you your life…” OK what is this all about?</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now of course there is a greater context to this verse, but I am not going to explore it at this point. Instead I am going to share with you my mediation on it…</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I read this verse this morning two New Testament passages came to my mind:</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven […] Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life […] But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Matthew 6:19-33)</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?” (Matthew 16:24-26)</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What do these three passages have in common? Well, the link I made this morning was: </span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Seeking not the things of this world, that in the end will be destroyed, and instead first seek the Kingdom, give up what I want for and in my life, instead go full-on for what God has placed in my life, trusting not only that he will give me life but that in this abandonment of my life is where I will find true life, life to the fullest! As Jesus said, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10)</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I asked myself, and I ask you “What am I seeking? caught up in? holding on to? not trusting God for?”</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The first thought that came to my mind made my cringe a little, because I thought, “Oh gosh, really is everything about this!?” But alas if I am striving to be an honest and vulnerable writer I must share the somewhat embarrassing truth that yes the first thing that came to my mind when I asked “What am I seeking? caught up in? holding on to? not trusting God for?” was: </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A husband and a family. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Not that these are negative things to want, by no means! They are beautiful and I think God given desires… but never the less in the passage related to the above Matthew passage Jesus says </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Matthew 10: 37-38)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This can be a somewhat complicated passage to understand, but how I understood it this morning in relation to my desire for a husband and a family, is that I am loving and desiring for a husband more than I am for Jesus, sure I love Jesus and I want to follow him with my whole life, but I want a husband and a family to be a part of that life, and the fact that they aren't makes me angry towards God as I feel that he is withholding something from me, I feel that he is in that regard withholding the fullness of life from me, I do not trust that without a husband and a family I can have a full life following Jesus…</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That is the harsh, ugly, painful truth.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As I briefly explored my desire for a husband and a family I discovered that my underlining desires are to be loved, seen and heard, valued and appreciated, supported and cared for, and my fear is that I will be alone. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I believe these are all totally legitimate desires and fears, in fact I think this is how we are hardwired, to be in relation not only with God but also with other people, as “the Lord God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone’” (Genesis 2:18). I think that we are created to have some of these desires meet in relation with others…</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Though “others” might not necessarily mean a husband and children. Maybe it means a rich and full community life. But that is a bigger conversation than I want to get into at the moment.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I will end with the question I asked of the Lord:</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Lord, how do I give up my desire for a husband?”</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I felt him say to me:</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“You don’t Maria, you give up the need to fulfill it…”</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Me: “Huh?”</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Him: “You stop trying to fill yourself and trust, as you seek first my Kingdom I will fulfill you, I will give you a full and abundant life.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Me: “OK, makes sense, take my eyes off the wrong ‘prize’ and instead focus on the Way, the Truth, and the Life (aka Jesus, see John 14:6).”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do you have anything you’re caught up in? Not trusting God for? Do you have anything you want more then Jesus? That you are seeking before the Kingdom?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">No? I am the only one? Come on be honest, I am not even asking you to share it with the cyber world, just be honest with yourself before God, he already knows anyhow, and being honest, confession is the first step towards the full and abundant life Jesus came to offer you and me! Amen!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><span class="s1"></span></span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So let us “press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14).</span></div>
Eastsider Mariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347287850306859456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7352571144132922639.post-52482101492632072262015-04-22T09:15:00.004-07:002015-04-23T08:33:21.567-07:00A King?<div class="p1">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Before you start reading this please take heed that these are just some preliminary musings, so please read them with a grain of salt, that being said come let us muse together…</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The other day my dear friend was praying with me and she shared with me Isaiah 54 focusing on verses 11 and 12:</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Afflicted city, lashed by storms and not comforted,</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> I will rebuild you with stones of turquoise,</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> your foundations with lapis lazuli.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I will make your battlements of rubies,</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> your gates of sparkling jewels,</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> and all your walls of precious stones. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Considering I have described my current situation like being on a roller coaster ride that I can’t get off of, and how much I love sparkles! These verses were encouraging and I made a mental note to read the whole chapter. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Before I had a chance to read it, a couple days later Connally Gilliam (she is one of my new most favourite people, check out her book: <i>Revelations of a Single Woman: Loving the Life I Didn't Expect</i>) was speaking on singleness. I have to confess I was dreading it, as being single is one of those storms that are lashing me at the moment, and the prospect of being single for life haunts me, so I thought here we go again someone going on about what a great blessing it is to be single, that’s great for them but I don't want to hear it, I don’t want to be single for life, did you hear that God!? Not me choose someone else, I don’t want it! Please… </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Connally was a breath of fresh honest air! She spoke from the heart with truths that she has had to wrestle out herself over the years of being single. She did not paint some idealistic picture of singleness but she gave a honest and realistic portrayal of how one women has come to a place of peace, and believe it or not, thriving in singleness. You might be wondering what does this have to do with Isaiah 54, oh right sorry I got side tracked. Connally read part of Isaiah 54, a different part then my friend had read:</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sing, barren woman,</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> you who never bore a child;</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">burst into song, shout for joy,</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> you who were never in labor;</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">because more are the children of the desolate woman</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> than of her who has a husband,”</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">says the Lord. </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Enlarge the place of your tent,</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> stretch your tent curtains wide,</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> do not hold back;</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">lengthen your cords,</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> strengthen your stakes.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As she read, I thought oh there is Isaiah 54 again, oh I don’t think I like these words as much, I don’t want to be a barren woman who has no husband! God I want a husband and children! </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Despite my resistant, Connelly’s words sunk in deep and I spent the next day or so chewing on them. The next morning I even journaled “OK maybe single would not be the worst thing ever… but I still want to get married and have a family.” Haha progress! Finally a couple days after hearing Connelly speak I read all of Isaiah 54, and to be honest it felt kind of like a slap in the face: “For your Maker is your husband” (vs. 5). What!? No! I am sorry God but I want an earthly husband! I know in my head that you are better than any earthly husband could ever be, but other people get both you and an earthly husband, I want both too! Please?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">OK this is where the musing comes in… promptly after writing that, the question came to my mind “am I being like Israel in wanting an earthly king?”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do you know the story? Read it in 1 Samuel 8, the gist of it is that Israel wants an earthly king just like everyone else, even though they have God the perfect King, and God warns them of the troubles that an earthly king will bring, but they insist and so God concedes and gives them what they want, an earthly king, and although they do have some good kings they have a lot of really bad ones… </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is by no means a perfect comparison, because a husband is not the same as a king, God does not warn us against getting married as he did with having a king, marriage is a beautiful union that is blessed by God ... buuut in 1 Corinthians 7 Paul warns us “those who marry will face many troubles in this life, and I want to spare you this” (vs 28). Again I am not saying getting married is in any way a bad thing (I still want to get married!) </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My musing is that <i>maybe</i> I am pushing for an earthly husband, and God is saying to me (at least for the time being) but Maria I am you Husband, and in marrying you will face many troubles… <i>maybe</i> I need to stop fighting for what I think I need and trust that God knows what I need and that he has my best intentions at heart, and that he is not withholding good from me, as “we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him” (Romans 8:28)… Either way I am single right now, and marriage is not the be all and the end all, I need to chose to focus on who and what I do have in my life, and what and who is the be all and the end all…</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“For from him and through him and for him are all things.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To him be the glory forever! Amen.” (Romans 11:38)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do you have an "earthly king" desire or even demand in your life?</span></div>
Eastsider Mariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347287850306859456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7352571144132922639.post-75794123266445848802015-03-09T09:26:00.000-07:002015-03-09T09:26:30.425-07:00For His Glory<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;">What is your purpose? What is my purpose? What am I doing with my life? What are any of us <i>doing</i> with our lives? Is this all just meaningless? No, it can’t be. Can it? I don’t think so, I have to believe we are all here for a reason. So what is that reason? </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Isaiah 43:7 says, “everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.” </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Oh OK super helpful, I am created for God’s glory, now I understand, right? No! Not at all, so I am created for his glory, but what <i>is</i> God’s glory? Do you know? Yeah, me neither! OK so I guess a good place to start would be to figure out what it means by “my glory” … and what better place to look for all lives tricky questions than Google! </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;">John Piper attempts at a definition:</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>So here is an attempt at a definition. The glory of God is the infinite beauty and <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>greatness of God’s manifold perfections. The infinite beauty—and I am focusing on the <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>manifestation of his character and his worth and his attributes, all of his perfections and <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>greatness are beautiful as they are seen and there are many of them. That is why I use <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>the word manifold. </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>(to read further: <a href="http://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/what-is-god-s-glory"><span class="s2">http://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/what-is-god-s-glory</span></a>)</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And then of course there is the great source of all knowledge, Wikipedia:</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>Glory (from the Latin gloria, "fame, renown") is used to denote the manifestation of God's <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>presence in the Christian religious tradition.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>(again to read more check it out: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glory_%28religion%29"><span class="s2">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glory_%28religion%29</span></a>)</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Alright, so what have we learned? God’s glory is the manifestation, or demonstration, of God’s abounding perfections, greatness, and beauty, that is his character, his worth, and his attributes.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It seems to me that in order to know what God’s glory is, the glory that we have been created for, we need to know <i>who</i> God is, because we need to know his character, his worth, and his attributes. And how do we know who God is? How to we discover his character, his worth, and his attributes? I think the best place to start is, not google this time, but in his written revelation: the Holy Scriptures. Who does the Bible say God is? Well, we can’t cover it all here, as that is a life long discovery, but I think we can start…</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ephesians 2:4-9 tells us that God is rich in mercy, that he has great love, and that he has immeasurable riches of grace and kindness. </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Deuteronomy 32:4 tells us that all God’s ways are just and that he is faithful, perfect, just and upright. </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;">1 John 4:8 tells us that “God is love”… and 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 tells us that:</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>all things, endures all things. Love never ends.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;">We have only just begun scrape the surface, we could spend quite a long time unpacking what these passages mean, and I encourage you to do just that, to pull out your Bibles, or pull them up if you use an online version, and spend some significant time dwelling in and mediating on these words that tell us of who God is. </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;">But for the sake of this blog, and because I need to get to school, I am going wrap this up…</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">We are created for, that is, our purpose is to demonstrate to the world God's glory, who God is...</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;">God is merciful. Therefore we are created to glorify God, and thus we are </span>fulfilling<span style="font-family: inherit;"> our purpose, when we demonstrate mercy.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;">God is graceful and kind. Therefore </span>we are fulfilling our purpose,<span style="font-family: inherit;"> when we demonstrate grace and kindness.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;">God is faithful and just. Therefore </span>we are fulfilling our purpose, <span style="font-family: inherit;">when we demonstrate faithfulness and justice.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;">God is love. Therefore </span>we are fulfilling our purpose,<span style="font-family: inherit;"> when we demonstrate patience and kindness; when we don’t envy or boast; when we are not arrogant or rude. When we don’t insist on its own way; when we are not irritable or resentful; when we don’t rejoice at wrongdoing, but instead when we rejoice with the truth. We glorify God when we bear all things, believes all things, hope all things, and endure all things…</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Whoa man tall order! But thanks be to God i</span>t is him “who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose” (Philippians 2:13)</span></div>
Eastsider Mariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347287850306859456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7352571144132922639.post-8519837909970643282015-02-04T08:06:00.000-08:002015-02-04T08:06:08.121-08:00Take It Over The Top<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Confession: What you are about to read, if you chose to continue reading, is not an exegetical commentary, it is a spiritual interpretation, if you can even call it that, really it’s just something that came to my mind this morning in reflecting on the passage, so take it or leave it, but don’t say I didn’t warn you!</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">A couple days ago I rediscovered my pencil crayons and doodle pad, so I’ve been doing some doodling during my still times in the mornings with Jesus. This morning I asked Jesus to give me an image to draw. What came into my minds eye was a picture of a glass over flowing. As I began to draw, the liquid overflowing was wine, but the liquid being poured into the glass was water. As my good friend Corine often says, “fishy!” As I coloured (oh what a pleasure it is to colour, so relaxing, you should try it!) the obvious Bible story came to my mind, you know the one where Jesus turns water into wine (John 2:1-11)? OK interesting, I continued colouring reflecting on the story, then I put down the blue pencil crayon and picked up a green and started writing…</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">God takes that which is ordinary and makes it extraordinary, and brings it to overflowing! Because it is his good pleasure to bless the world. We just have to be open to his Spirits move in our lives, in the world, and ask! We just have to ask God to move, ask him to take the ordinary, and even the loss then great in out lives and make it extraordinary, and cause it to overflow! And he will, because he wants to! As God cause our lives to overflow with his blessings, we will have the good pleasure of participating in blessing all around us! Because you see this is the thing, we are never blessed for our sake and our sake alone, but we are blessed to be a blessing (Genesis 12:2-3, Luke 12:48, James 1: 17-18, 2 Corinthians 9:8-10, Philippians 2:12-18, 2 Peter 1:3-4, 2 Corinthians 12:9, John 16:7, Luke 11:13, 1 John 5:13-15, John 14:13 ). </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">What ordinary in your life can you ask God to make extraordinary and to overflow for the blessings of all around you? Now this is not just meaning material blessings, though it can, I also mean emotional, mental, spiritual blessings. Do you love to host people? Ask God to take this gift and push it into the radical, the extraordinary! Do you have a gift for science? Ask God to take your mind for science and take it to the next level! Do you have a solid loving family, or a great group of friends? Ask God to take your gift of family and extended it out to welcome those who are lonely and in need of love! You see that which we might take for granted, or overlook, can all be made extraordinary in God’s hands, to reach out into the broken world and bless it, according to His mission to love the world to himself! Amen!</span></span></div>
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Eastsider Mariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347287850306859456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7352571144132922639.post-67504067981499038012015-02-03T09:53:00.001-08:002015-02-03T09:53:17.275-08:00Story<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Yo! This is going to be a real short little thought, for real, I know I've said that before! haha</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">OK so I was reading Psalm 112 this morning (after being encouraged by Eugene Peterson (via reading his book) yesterday on the importance of praying the Psalms, he's got some really great stuff on the Psalms and prayer, really great stuff!). Anyhow, so I was reading/praying Psalm 112, and the verse that stuck to me was: </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 24px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">7 </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 24px;">He is not </span><span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-ESV-15811M" data-link="(<a href="#cen-ESV-15811M" title="See cross-reference M">M</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 24px;">afraid of bad news; </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 24px;">his</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 24px;"> </span><span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-ESV-15811N" data-link="(<a href="#cen-ESV-15811N" title="See cross-reference N">N</a>)" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 24px;">heart is firm,</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 24px;"> </span><span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-ESV-15811O" data-link="(<a href="#cen-ESV-15811O" title="See cross-reference O">O</a>)" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 24px;">trusting in the</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 24px;"> </span><span class="small-caps" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant: small-caps; line-height: 24px;">Lord</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 24px;">.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">When I say it stuck to me, I mean it keep rolling around in my head, even after I had moved on, so I went back to it and chewed on it for a bit.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I already posted this on Facebook so if you are my friend you may have read this already:</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I think of how often when I receive bad news or at least things don't go the way I want to I am troubled and worried, this is a great reminder that I don't not need to be afraid or worried because my Father is the God of the universe and he has my back! Now that's some good news, don't you think?</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">After posting, I asked myself, "self what are you afraid of?" And the answer came quickly and quite expected, "being alone." I know this is a great fear of mine, and I have blogged on it before. God's truth flooded my mind and heart just as quickly as the lie did, "I will never ever be alone, EVER!" </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Then I thought why should we trust the Lord? I mean it says in that he is not afraid because his heart is firm trusting in the Lord, but why? Why should we trust the Psalmist? I don't know the guy, for all I know he is a crazy man who talks to inanimate objects!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The answer that came to my heart was, we trust the Lord because he has proven himself faithful over and over again.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I thought yes, that is true, I don't have to take the Psalmist's word for it, I have my own proof that God is to be firmly trusted. Do you?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">This is why it is so important to remember, to remember how God has been faithful to us. We remember together, we remind each other of God's faithfulness through testimony. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">This got me thinking of my dear friend Sue (not that she necessarily agrees with anything I am saying, it's just that her smiling face and laughter filled my heart), and story, the importance of story, what kind of stories are we sharing, what kind of stories are we listening to? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The stories we fill our lives with matter. They don't have to necessarily be explicit Bible stories, but are they stories that tell of truth? Or are they stories that fill our minds and hearts with lies? This is why it matters what we read, what we watch, and what we listen to, we are being told stories all the time, all around us, we need to be discerning about what stories we let penetrate and take up residence in our hearts and minds, because stories shape us, they impact how we interact with God, with ourselves, and with others. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I would love to continue on but I said this would be short! haha</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">What stories are you listening to? How are they shaping you? Quick example, watching Romcoms tend to fill my heart and mind with falls exceptions of relationships, and what life is all about. A better story for me to fill my heart with is about women and men who have lived lives fighting for social justice. That's just one example. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Go ahead be honest with yourself, ask God to search your heart, to know your ways and to lead you in the way everlasting. (Ps. 139:23)</span>Eastsider Mariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347287850306859456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7352571144132922639.post-41388093781038610712015-01-24T10:00:00.000-08:002015-01-24T10:00:04.565-08:00Maybe?<i>I feel like I'm missing something, like there is an empty hole in my life, in my heart. </i><br />
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These are the first words that came to page as I journaled this morning. The thing is I'm not particularly sad this morning or anything, in fact I feel pretty good! So what's up, why such sad words?<br />
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Is this feeling sometimes maybe "normal" because we are living in-between times, you know the Kingdom here but not yet completely/fully?<br />
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Can I expect to be fully/completely satisfied on this side of eternity?<br />
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Some of you I am sure are going to give a big <i>YES! </i>I can hear you all the way from here! But before you discard my questions, hear me out?<br />
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Maybe because we live in-between times, we will not be fully/completely satisfied because there still is brokenness in the world (Rom 8: 18-25)?<br />
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And maybe we need to learn to trust, to have hope in God, that one day he will set all things right, but in the mean time we have to learn to live with the not-rights in away that is reflective of the sure hope we have in him (Rom 5:5)?<br />
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So then maybe I can give up this desperate grab for something/anything to satisfy me, to fill and complete me? And maybe I can stop and take a deep breath and trust that God is enough for me, and even in the pain, disappointment and dissatisfaction he is at work, and one day he will set all things right (Rev 21)?<br />
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I might just need to be OK with the not-OKs, as I wait on the Lord in anticipation and with a hope that will not disappoint.<br />
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There might always be some empty spaces in my life and heart, at least for as long as we are in-between times? But God is still good and he is working all things for our good (Rom 8:28).<br />
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So rather than focusing on the empty, some of what may not be filled on this side of eternity, I am going to choose to focus on the full, the spaces in my life that God has filled and I am going to participate with him in these full spaces and watch as he continues to fill them up to overflowing (2 Cor 9:7-9)!<br />
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Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honour at the revelation of Jesus Christ. (1 Pet 1:3-7)<br />
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Amen!Eastsider Mariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347287850306859456noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7352571144132922639.post-77938757599824611142015-01-19T09:28:00.002-08:002015-01-19T09:28:58.370-08:00Re-Focus<span style="font-family: inherit;">This blog should be a quick one, I had a bit of a re-revelation this weekend and I thought maybe it would be helpful to share it will ya'll.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">During an extended time of worship, as we sang songs about giving our all to Jesus, and him being all we needed, it dawned on me that I had taken my eyes of the "prize"...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="text 1Cor-9-24" id="en-ESV-28548" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 24px;">Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives <span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-ESV-28548B" data-link="(<a href="#cen-ESV-28548B" title="See cross-reference B">B</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span>the prize? So <span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-ESV-28548C" data-link="(<a href="#cen-ESV-28548C" title="See cross-reference C">C</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span>run that you may obtain it. </span><span class="text 1Cor-9-25" id="en-ESV-28549" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 24px;">Every <span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-ESV-28549D" data-link="(<a href="#cen-ESV-28549D" title="See cross-reference D">D</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span>athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we <span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-ESV-28549E" data-link="(<a href="#cen-ESV-28549E" title="See cross-reference E">E</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span>an imperishable. (1 Cor 9:24-25)</span></span><br />
<span class="text 1Cor-9-25" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 24px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span class="text 1Cor-9-25" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 24px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I press on toward the goal for <span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-ESV-29419AF" data-link="(<a href="#cen-ESV-29419AF" title="See cross-reference AF">AF</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span>the prize of the upward <span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-ESV-29419AG" data-link="(<a href="#cen-ESV-29419AG" title="See cross-reference AG">AG</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span>call of God in Christ Jesus. (Phi 3:14)</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 24px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I believe the prize is a life of abundance, life overflowing in Jesus! </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 24px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Lord gently pressed upon my heart that over the past couple years, I had slowly gone off course. In particular I have fixed my eyes upon the prize or goal of a relationship and a family. And although marriage and a family may be part of the abundant life God has planned for me, by fixing my eyes on them instead of Jesus, I have been living a life less than abundant. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 24px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Even though I have had this realization, I still want to get married and have a family, I really cannot will or mentally convince myself into anything, I need Jesus by the power of his Spirit to transform my mind and heart. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Jesus, I am asking for a re-vision of my heart, soul, and mind, I need you to re-focus me, please. Amen</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I believe he will, help my unbelief, but it will take time, and some effort on my part, I need to be patient and diligent. Through continued prayer, praise and community I believe Jesus by the power of his Spirit can and will transform us! Amen!?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="text Heb-12-1" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 24px;">Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and <span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-ESV-30197A" data-link="(<a href="#cen-ESV-30197A" title="See cross-reference A">A</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span>sin which clings so closely, and <span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-ESV-30197B" data-link="(<a href="#cen-ESV-30197B" title="See cross-reference B">B</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span>let us run <span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-ESV-30197C" data-link="(<a href="#cen-ESV-30197C" title="See cross-reference C">C</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span>with endurance the race that is <span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-ESV-30197D" data-link="(<a href="#cen-ESV-30197D" title="See cross-reference D">D</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span>set before us,</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 24px;"> </span><span class="text Heb-12-2" id="en-ESV-30198" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 24px;"><span class="versenum" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;">2 </span>looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith... (Heb 12:1-3)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Have you lost focus? Do you need Jesus in any way, big or small, to re-vision your heart, soul, and mind?</span><br />
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<br />Eastsider Mariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347287850306859456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7352571144132922639.post-81790398157463989872015-01-15T08:52:00.000-08:002015-01-15T08:52:02.878-08:00No Longer A Wretch<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">This morning I was inspired by a Humans of New York post on Facebook of a man who when asked "what's your greatest struggle right now?” answered "being honest with myself about deep, existential stuff…” </span></div>
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<span class="s1">I asked the Lord to “search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23-24 ESV)</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">Then I just let the words spill out onto the page, without censoring them or trying to understand them. They started off pretty dark:</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">I don’t trust you… </span></div>
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<span class="s1">I’m afraid of being single forever, I’m angry at myself for being to loud, to aggressive, to fat… </span></div>
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<span class="s1">I don’t want to be a pastor because I don’t want to be accountable, I want to do whatever it is that I want to do, when I want to do it… </span></div>
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<span class="s1">I like to be drunk because it gives me the feeling of hope…</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">Then something was checked in my spirit, although the above are true feelings, even if they are rooted in lies, I also have other true feelings, that are rooted in God’s truth:</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">I love you, despite my fears, doubts, and anger, I love you I really do! This is truth, my truth in Christ Jesus my Saviour, this is grace and mercy…</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">This is truly a marvel, it makes no logical sense, how is it that I have so much darkness in me yet at the same time I have the hope of Christ shinning bright?</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">The only answer I have is that by God’s marvellous grace and mercy, He has given me His Spirit by whom I cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with my spirit that I am a child of God! (Romans 8: 15-16) </span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">Oh what a marvel! A miracle! I a wretch have been saved, I am being saved, I have been made, I am, a child of the living God! </span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">Oh wonders upon wonders! Praise be to the Lamb of God, who was slain, Jesus Christ my Lord and Saviour, the Lover of my (far to often wretched) soul. He has made me worthy, I am no longer a wretch, I am a daughter of the King! Amen!</span></div>
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<span class="s1">If this is true for me, it also true for you. Ask the Lord to search you, and to lead you in the way everlasting…</span></div>
Eastsider Mariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347287850306859456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7352571144132922639.post-68224832973497578472015-01-13T07:37:00.001-08:002015-01-13T07:37:12.694-08:00All, Not Just An Average.<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Here we go again… </span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">Oh gosh that sounds awfully ominous, that’s unintended, it’s just the phrase that came to mind, so I wrote it, because that’s kinda what I do, I think a thought and I write it, praying that by God’s grace it will be some kind of blessing to someone out there. That being said I doubt that “here we go again” will be of any particular blessing to anyone, but maybe it echoes some of what you might be feeling or have felt? Whether it is the start of a new term at school or the start of the day, have ever just sorta let out a sigh of “here we go again?” </span></div>
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<span class="s1">That’s how I was feeling this morning. I got up earlier than I would have liked, and after making my coffee, as I sat down to be with the Lord, I didn’t really have anything to say or to even think about, I didn’t really have the energy to read anything, I just sorta was like “ooookkk I’m up, so now what?” The song that was playing keep repeating “you are holy God, holy holy holy, you are worthy God, worthy worthy, worth.” So since i didn’t really know what to do with myself or even what not to do, I started to write:</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">holy holy holy </span></div>
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<span class="s1">worthy worthy worthy </span></div>
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<span class="s1">Worthy, because you are holy, you are worthy because you alone are the living God.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Therefore not myself or a man or a job or a dream or anything else are worthy of all my attention, focus, energy, time and resources. You alone God are worthy of all.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">ALL not an average, not most of it, not just with your “spirit” but ALL our time, all of ourselves, mind, body and soul!</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">The thing that struck me this morning is that this is so important not just because it is a command but because He alone is worthy of ALL and to do any less is to be wasting our time, our lives on less than the best, less then the full and abundant.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">But how?</span></div>
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<span class="s1">I have heard sermons on this, read some chapters in books, and maybe you have too. And often they boil it down to the intention behind what we do. I would agree with this, but I think the point that God is reminding me of today is that we need to be constantly examining our intentions and alining our ways with His, through prayer, reading and studying the Word, fellowship, praise… because as still not yet perfected humans we are prone to wander, to go off track, and we need the spiritual disciplines to keep us focused on He who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Amen!?</span></div>
Eastsider Mariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347287850306859456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7352571144132922639.post-73928837672203338892015-01-10T11:24:00.002-08:002015-01-10T11:25:05.367-08:00The Lie <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">God is for us.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Do you believe it?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Maker of the universe is on your side.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Then whom shall we fear?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If this is really true, if the All Knowing, All Powerful, All Loving Father is for us, on our side, working things for our good, then what or who could we possibly be worried about?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Nothing and no one, if this is all really true then we have nothing and no one to fear or to worry about. (Rom 8:31)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The problem I keep having is that I don’t really truly in my heart of hearts believe that God is for me, that He has my best interest in mind (Rom 8:28). </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As I have said before there is a part of me, a part that is deep and dark, that believes the lie that I can’t really trust God, that He is holding something back from me. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I have believed the lie that Adam and Eve believed in the Garden (Gen 3). That God is not good and that He is withholding something from me, that there is something good that God doesn’t want me to have, and that to get it I have to take it myself. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is an insidious lie, that left unchecked, spreads and infects the rest of my thinking, it damages my mind and heart, making it difficult, if not impossible, for me to trust God, making it difficult for me to receive His life giving love, making it difficult for me to live an abundant life in Him, and making it difficult for me to be His life giving ambassador. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Do you see how serious this is!?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">That’s the thing about lies, they are like cancer, and we need to take them seriously like cancer. We can’t just shrug our shoulders and go on living our lives as the lies spreads throughout our whole lives, killing us and hurting others. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I’ve already written on lies. But as I’ve said before about other topics, I think we all can probably use the reminder. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">That’s the thing about being a broken human on our way to wholeness we need constant reminders of the truth. I mean constant, day by day, hour by hour, and minute by minute! This is why God in His grace has given us His Holy Spirit to dwell in us as a guide, teacher, and councillor (John 14:15-31). Never take this for granted, you are not alone, you have been given the Holy Spirit who is at work in you to give you the power and desire to do what pleases the Father (Phil 2:13). </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And not only the Holy Spirit but God has also given us each other! We where never meant to walk this journey alone, He has been from the very beginning (back to the time of Abraham) been calling to Himself a people (Gen 12). We are designed to live and be in community, as iron sharpens iron, we cannot be sanctified alone, we need each other in fellowship and discipleship (Heb 10:24-25). </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As I struggle with my fears and doubts, the Spirit reminded me that I’m not in this alone.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Father God, I’m having, always have had, a hard time accepting you know best and that you have my best interest in heart… Jesus, I want what I want and I have a really hard time not going after it, and instead trusting you…</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My desires are strangling the life out of me. Not that they are in themselves bad but because instead of focusing on you Jesus, I have fixed my eyes on my wants and desires. I need to lay down, give up my desires, I need to place them into your hands, and instead of trying to control my life, I need to focus on knowing you and being known by you, letting everything else fall into its place (Matt 6:33). Jesus I have made you just another thing to do, I have placed you on my to do list, I’m not even sure you are at the top of my list, please forgive me. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I’m not entirely sure what it looks like to have you not just be a part of my life, but for you to be my very life. But Jesus I believe, or at least a part of me, that you are the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6) and that you are showing me how to be truly human, you are guiding me out of the ways of death and into the ways of life! Help me Jesus to set aside anything and everything that hinders me, pick up my cross and follow you…</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I believe please help my unbelief (Mark 9:24)</span></span></div>
Eastsider Mariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347287850306859456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7352571144132922639.post-64927866149987159572015-01-06T07:41:00.000-08:002015-01-06T07:41:04.752-08:00An Unexpected Message I woke this morning anxious and with only a handful of hours of sleep... As I sat with the Lord I journaled my feelings of anxiety, sadness, hurt, rejection. anger, frustration, and shame.<br />
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<span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 21px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">I asked Jesus to come into my feeling with his Truth, I asked that by the power of His Holy Spirit that I would be able to give up, give over, surrender all of my heart and mind ...</span><div style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 21px;">
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But Jesus I'm scared, scared that you are going to leave me alone, I'm scared to give up control because I'm scared that you are going to hurt me, that your plan for my life isn't actually good...</div>
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I'm angry that this is how I feel, I'm shameful that I don't trust you Jesus, I'm sorry that I screw up over and over again, I'm sorry that I choose my own selfish destructive ways over your life giving ones, even though I "know" better!</div>
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In the chaos of my feelings these words from the song playing caught my attention...</div>
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"I'm restless until I rest in you..."</div>
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OK so how do I rest in you!?</div>
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"Still my heart (yes please Lord) hold me close (yes please Jesus) let me hear your still quiet voice (oh Father God please)"</div>
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As I sat here letting that prayer wash over, the Lord pressed upon me that the primary tactic of the enemy in my life at the moment (and possibly yours too) is to keep me busy busy busy, so that I'm distracted from hearing, seeing, and receiving the Truth of God's love which has the power to transform my life, if only I could receive it! </div>
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The Lord pressed upon me that this is a life or death battle for my heart and mind, that being busy and distracted is a big deal! It's not just the way things are, but that I need to understand that by being busy busy busy I'm not receiving his life giving love, I'm not living the full and abundant life that Jesus came, died, and rose from the grave to give us. When I don't take this seriously I'm letting the enemy come and rob, steal, and destroy my life! </div>
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This isn't OK! I'm not OK with this! Are you!? For real! I encourage you to ask the Lord to reveal to you how the enemy is at work in your life. Because this is war! </div>
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But have hope and be filled with courage for He has already won the war and He has made you and I more than conquers! Praise be to the King of kings the Lord Jesus Christ for He is truly mighty to save! Amen!</div>
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Eastsider Mariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347287850306859456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7352571144132922639.post-84106582847829987542015-01-02T10:16:00.002-08:002015-01-02T10:16:20.458-08:00How About Instead?<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Do you ever loss sight of who you are? Do you forget where your value and worth comes from?</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">During this time of year a lot of us are making New Years Resolution, thinking of ways to self-improve, to better ourselves, to make ourselves more worthy and of greater value. OK maybe it’s not quite all that cynical… buuut maybe underneath all the good intentions there lies a heart of pride and legalism?</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I’ve already written a blog on New Years resolutions, I make them, I love self-help books… I’ll loss weight and think look at me! I’m in control of my own body, then I’ll gain all the weight back, and some, and I’ll think I’m crap! This is kind of how it goes, a continual loop of high peaks and low valleys of self-confidence, up and down, backwards and forwards, over and over again… </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I’ve also already written on self-confidence verses God-confidence, and our desperate need to have God-confidence (finding our confidence in Him rather then ourselves). This blog is not about New Years resolutions nor self-confidence, well at least not mainly…</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">OK then get to the point! </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This morning as I was journaling to the Lord, I was reflecting on how it hurts when someone has gotten to know me, yet they still don’t seem to find me worthy of friendship, this is one of my greatest hurts, someone not seeing me as worthy. </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Before I had time to wallow in self-pity the Lord asked me “Maria where is your value found?”</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This is a question He has asked me many times before, so His Truth quickly flooded my heart…</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“My value comes from the fact that I am loved by the Living God, the Creator of heaven and earth, the same God as Abraham, Isaac and Jacob…”</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Even as I tried to let His truth wash over me, I couldn't shake the feelings of rejection, feelings of being just plain crap! </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I asked my Father, “Why can’t I seem to shake this?” </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“Because Maria you are desperate. Desperate to be loved, to be liked, to be wanted. You are hungry for attention, for affection…”</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">OK I know this already, I’ve also written numerous blogs on the topic…</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So what!? What do I do with this? Where do I go from here?</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Then he whispered “I am your Healer.”</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">That’s it, that’s where we go from here. To Him!</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I’ve quoted this before and I’ll say it again (because I need to hear it over and over) </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“Let’s us fix our eyes upon Jesus the Author and Perfector of our faith” (Heb. 12:2)</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Put down the self-help book, go ahead make those New Years resolutions but just don’t put to much faith in them, don’t bother trying to find you worth or value in yourself because you will fail yourself over and over again…</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">INSTEAD turn to Him who loves you, who created you, who knows you better then you know yourself, and let Him heal you, let Him just hold you, let His truth wash over you, renewing and transforming you. </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Take your eyes off yourself, stop dwelling on the lies!</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">INSTEAD open the Word of God and read it, mediate on it, pray it, lift your voice up to Him in praises and thanksgiving, being reminded of who He is, and therefore who we are in Him!</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Father God, this is my prayer for 2015, may you heal us of the many lies of who we are that we are believing, please by the power of your Spirit, renew our minds and hearts, transforming us so that we can walk with your Spirit, living the full and abundant life that Jesus came to give us! Amen!</span></span></div>
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Eastsider Mariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347287850306859456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7352571144132922639.post-27651917181907159062014-12-23T10:01:00.003-08:002014-12-23T10:01:28.583-08:00BOOM!<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Before reading this can you do me a favour? Ask the Holy Spirit to speak to you. My prayer is always that he would speak through my words, because or you and I are just wasting our time. But for some reason this morning I think it is particularly important. Something is brewing in my mind and heart, it is bubbling up, something that makes me want to shout from the roof tops! But I know that I can shout all I want, if the Holy Spirit is not in my words they will be empty, useless noise… </span></div>
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<span class="s1">As I sit next to my Christmas tree in the quite and peacefulness of the morning I can’t stop thinking about what I read and reflected on yesterday, so despite wanting to write on something new…</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>away our sins and the damage they’ve done to our relationship with God. (1 John <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>4:7-10)</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Yesterday morning I was struck with the significance that God loves us so much that he sent his son to die!!! So that he could repair the damage we have done! This is incredible! This is the GOOD news, actually it's way better then good, it's GREAT, it's FANTASTIC, INCREDIBLE... This is what Christmas is all about, God sending his son to die, so that through his death and resurrection he would defeat sin and death, inaugurating the kingdom of God, the reconciliation of all of creation to our Maker... GUYS THIS IS BIG NEWS! Don't let the Christmas season get swept away in the flurry of buying presents, baking cookies, cooking turkeys, drinking eggnog, and having Christmas parties, without taking sometime to seriously reflect on the marvel of this GREAT news, then with these treasures stored in our hearts we can truly celebrate knowing the King of kings and the Lord of lords has arrived to save us from our own self-destruction! Praise be to my King for you alone Jesus are worthy of all that think, speak, and breath! Amen</span></div>
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<span class="s1">I posted this reflection on Facebook, so you may have read this already, but I think it’s important enough for a repeat… don’t you think? </span></div>
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<span class="s1">Have you lost sight of the MIND BLOWING significance of Christmas? I know I have. And it’s not just about understanding the true meaning during this season, this GREAT news should shake up our entire lives, every season needs to be shaped and transformed by the MIND BLOWING news that God is with us, that he has sent his son to die so that he would repair all the brokenness in the world, everything from our own personal hurts to the social injustice to the damages in creation. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">Christmas has cosmic all year round significance…</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Do you believe that? Are we living out of this truth?</span></div>
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<span class="s1">My challenge to us this morning is not settle for the warm fuzzies and sparkles that to often dominate Christmas (not that I don’t love sparkles, because I do, I love sparkles! But Christmas is so much more, something far greater, actually Christmas has a warm fussies and sparkles that if we allow them to will completely transform our world!). </span></div>
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<span class="s1">That’s what I’m talking about TRANSFORMATION, the total transformation of the entire world, of all of creation! To us a child is born… yes a child, who is the SAVIOUR, the King of Kings, the One who sets all things right, the Healer of the nations… We were, we are on a path of complete destruction, but at just the right time God sent his Son… This is what Christmas is all about God coming to save his broken, hurting world, to set all of creation free from sin and death, reconciling all of creation to himself! </span></div>
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<span class="s1">Drink your eggnog, open your presents, and wear lots of sparkles, but let’s not settle, let’s not be robbed of the transformational power of Christmas…</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Maybe you are like me and you have grown up hearing the Christmas story, singing the songs, going to a candle light service, so that the significance of the MIND BLOWING truth of Christmas has been diminished?</span></div>
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<span class="s1">My prayer is that as we sing the warm fuzzy Christmas songs this year, hear the Christmas story, and light our candles that the Holy Spirit would open our minds and hearts to the miraculous truth and significance of Christmas, lets ask him to take the significance and truth of Christmas deeper then it has ever gone before, sinking into the very depths of our souls, messing us up for the entire year, may the truth set us all ablaze, transforming not only ourselves but the entire world, may the significance that God is with us bring us to our knees as we come and worship the child that has been born, the King of kings, the Lord Jesus Christ, Emmanuel …</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Let this shake you up, I mean really mess with you… likely we each have our things that God wants to shake up in us, so ask him to show you what it is that he is wanting to mess you up for. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">This Christmas I am praying for revival, in me, in you, in the church, in Vancouver, in the world, in creation! God sent his Son to reconcile the world to himself, now I’m not going to settle for anything less than a full on revival! How about you? What are you asking for this Christmas?</span></div>
Eastsider Mariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347287850306859456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7352571144132922639.post-84171206720319740572014-12-19T11:27:00.001-08:002014-12-19T11:27:16.632-08:00Just Chill Out<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">As I sit here waiting, rather impatiently, on the Lord, I hear his gentle voice whispering to me over and over again, “I love you Maria, I love you Maria, I love you…”</span></div>
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<span class="s1">He loves me. God loves me. I am loved by the Maker of heaven and earth.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">You’d think that be enough? Apparently it’s not, because I keep crying out for something more… more than God’s love!? Really, Maria!? What is wrong with me!?</span></div>
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<span class="s1">God’s love is enough for me, it must be, it has to be. The Maker of the universe must be enough for me. Right!?</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Then why do I keep desperately seeking love, or something like it, in other places? </span></div>
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<span class="s1">The answer is obvious, we’ve discussed it here before, I am believing a lie. I am believing the enemies first and maybe his greatest lie that God is withholding something from me. I am believing that the “world” has something good to offer me that God can’t or at least won’t. If I’m not full on believing this lie, I am at the very least settling for something that will give me temporary satisfaction, because waiting on the Lord is to hard, I need something right now! Oh what a product of my own culture I am. I can understand intellectually, even experientially, that the ways of the world will not give me long term satisfaction, yet I still give myself over to the passions of the “flesh” because it’s easier and quicker than the slow diligent process of God’s life giving way. Oh help me God!</span></div>
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<span class="s1">I know I’m not the only one who is stumbling her way along in this journey we call sanctification. Fess up! Don’t lie to yourself, it’s not going to get you anywhere…</span></div>
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<span class="s1">So where do we go from here? I'm “to do list” kind of women, so my temptation is to make us all a “how to get spiritually fit” list, in 10 easy steps or less… but no that’s not what we need. I’m not dismissing the spiritual disciplines, or our human moral effort, no matter how feeble it may be, they have a place, a role in our journey, forsure, without a doubt. But as I sat here this morning, wrestling with God, I kept asking him “what do you want from me!?” and he would gently answer “nothing Maria, I want nothing from you, I only want to be with you.” I thought OK right, great OK so now what? “What do you want me to do? What should I read or write or pray? Come on there’s gotta be something I can dooo!”</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Nope. Nothing. There is nothing you or I can do or not do to receive God’s love. He loves us because he made us, because he chose to love us. That’s it.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">So God said to me “Maria just sit, be still, and receive my love.”</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Ah! Man oh man… so there I sat, squirming in the love of my Father in heaven, he who knows me by name, he who has chosen to love us, that’s right he loves you too, and I think he is probably calling many of us—as I’m confident I’m not the only one who struggles with being still, with receiving his love, with earning and achieving, with to do lists, with resting in him—to come and sit in his presences, to be still with him, to “hear” him whispering in his quiet gentle voice “I love you, I love you, I love you…”</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Maybe you could take sometime today, or tomorrow, and sit in the presences of your Father who loves you, he who knows you by name and he who has chosen you to be his beloved child… maybe?</span></div>
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<span class="s1">This song was playing as a I started this morning, and it played as I finish writing this…</span></div>
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<span class="s1">“Better is One Day”</span></div>
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<span class="s1">How lovely is Your dwelling place,</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Oh Lord Almighty</span></div>
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<span class="s1">My soul longs and even faints for You</span></div>
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<span class="s1">For here my heart is satisfied,</span></div>
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<span class="s1">within Your presence</span></div>
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<span class="s1">I sing beneath the shadow of Your wings</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Better is one day in Your courts</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Better is one day in Your house</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Better is one day in Your courts</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Than thousands elsewhere</span></div>
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<span class="s1">to see Your beauty</span></div>
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<span class="s1">To find You in the place Your glory dwells</span></div>
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<span class="s1">My heart and flesh cry out,</span></div>
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<span class="s1">For You the living God</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Your spirit's water for my soul</span></div>
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<span class="s1">I've tasted and I've seen,</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Come once again to me</span></div>
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<span class="s1">I will draw near to You</span></div>
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<span class="s1">I will draw near to You</span></div>
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Eastsider Mariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347287850306859456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7352571144132922639.post-21308704829829075062014-12-13T08:09:00.001-08:002014-12-13T08:10:08.562-08:00I am a Junkie <div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Bear with me for these are not yet fully formed thoughts...</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I have been reflecting on self identity recently… now that’s not just a fancy way to say I’ve been thinking about myself a lot lately, although that is probably true as well!</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;">What I’ve been thinking about is, how does one come to know self? </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I am a little bit of a personality test junkie, I love them! Anything that will tell me more about myself! </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Now I do recognize that personality tests can't actually tell me who I am, and that they need to be nuanced, but I do think they can be a valuable tool for "self-work" ... </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;">OK Maria where are you going with this? Don't worry this is not going to be a promo for the latest and greatest personality test...</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I am a number 8... if you don't know what that means that’s OK, but if you do then great, you'll know that by being a number 8 I am a challenger, a fighter ... at least that is what the test told me. The test also let me know that my greatest fear is to be controlled... I actually can get onboard with most of, if not all, of what the test has told me about myself (despite the fact when I first took the test and was told "Maria you are a number 8, the challenger..." the first words that came out of my mouth were "No, I'm not! No really guys I don't think that I am..." Haha! But I have come to accept my true identity!). </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In the past month or so I have been reading more about my personality, and spending time in prayer asking the Lord to speak into what the test says about me, and who He says I am, which I think is probably a pretty legit thing to do, right? </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I still think personality tests can be a helpful tool, I still think of myself as a number 8, but a couple days ago as I was sitting with the Lord thinking about myself, I was reading <i>My Utmost for His Highest</i>, and this is what Oswald Chambers had to say...</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"Personality is like an island, we know nothing about the great depths underneath, consequently we cannot estimate ourselves. We begin to think we can, but come to realize that there is only one Being Who understands us, and that is our Creator.” (347)</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;">That's when I first started to question the validity of my self-work methods, maybe instead of sitting around thinking about myself, even if it's with the Lord in prayer and reflection on the Truth of who He says I am, I should try sitting around thinking about Him, praying and praising Him for who He is. And as I get to know Him more and more intimately I will start to discover who I am in Him…</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Further on Chambers argues that, “if you give up your right to yourself to God, the real true nature of your personality answers to God straight away.” (347)</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Maybe Chambers is onto something? What do you think? Could maybe the key to who we are actually not be in ourselves but be in the One Who created us?</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Over the past couple days I’ve been trying to think of myself less often, and instead focus my energies on Jesus, or as the author of Hebrews beckons us to do, “Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith” (Heb 12:2).</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Then this morning I read in the Message “ … If your first concern is to look after yourself, you’ll never find yourself. But if you forget about yourself and look to me, you’ll find both yourself and me…” (Matt 10:38-39)</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hum… there it is again, the idea of forgetting about myself and instead looking to Jesus! </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I think there is something to this. </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Again I am not saying throw out the personalty tests! </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;">But what I am saying is maybe instead spending so much time trying to figure myself out, trying to figure out what’s wrong with me and how I can fix it, I could instead spend that time looking to Jesus, reading the Word, praying and praising Him, not with the aim of figuring myself out, but with the soul goal of knowing Him, loving Him, praising Him, because He is worthy, in fact He alone is worthy, I am not worthy, you are not worthy of all the time and energy that we spend on ourselves. </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Please hear me I’m not suggesting any kind of asceticism or self-deprecation, rather I am just think that most of us could probably think about ourselves less often, and think of Him more often, and that this would do us a lot of good, in fact I’m suggesting that with this reorientation we will not only, ironically, find ourselves, but it is the right and true perspective, for:</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;">““Worthy [is He], our Lord and God,</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> to receive glory and honor and power,</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;">for [He] created all things,</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> and by [His] will they existed and were created.” (Rev 4:11)</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Amen.</span></span></div>
Eastsider Mariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347287850306859456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7352571144132922639.post-10223461563309317722014-12-08T09:36:00.002-08:002014-12-08T09:36:27.482-08:00No Pretty BowsThis morning as I spent some time still (well as still as I can be ;) before the LORD, I was struck with the imagery of myself standing on a rock, swaying in the wind...<br />
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I felt the Lord saying to me "Maria you are standing on the Rock, that is Jesus Christ, but you are being tossed and turned by the winds."<br />
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I thought, yes, that is exactly, what is going on... I am weak, weak to and in my flesh, I am venerable to my own self-destructive ways...<br />
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I am swaying in the wind, on the Rock, but unstable, I feel as if I am about to topple over into the crashing waves!<br />
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I am unstable. How do I become stable?<br />
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Duh! I know this answer, because I have been here so many times before ...<br />
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I will become stable through active participation in the Word, prayer, the Sacraments, and in fellowship with Christian community...<br />
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OK so if the answer is so simple, than why can't I seem to stay stable!? Because though the answer may be simple, but it is not easy. Not only do we have forces in us working against us, but there are also the dark principalities in the world that are working against us!<br />
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But please do not be dismayed, for Christ has been VICTORIOUS over all of sin and death, He has set us free from the power of the flesh, so that NO LONGER are we slaves to sin but now we are slaves to RIGHTEOUSNESS!<br />
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This is the truth! Do you believe it? No? Yeah me neither, well that's not entirely true, I do believe it, sometimes, but I have a really difficult time living in this reality.<br />
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This brings us right back around to our deep NEED to actively participating in the Word, prayer, the Sacraments, and in fellowship with Christian community...<br />
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I have not pretty bow to wrap this up with, because for right now (one day when Jesus returns, he'll wrap us up in a pretty bow) we are on a journey, its a process, it's messy and at times ugly, but there is HOPE and his name is Jesus Christ of Nazareth!</div>
Eastsider Mariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347287850306859456noreply@blogger.com0