Today at church Pastor Clark was speaking directly to the men in the church about the way they are called to treat their wives, or future wives. As a girl it was easy for me to sit back and "Amen" every single thing he said - He talked about multiple issues that Men are called to take care of, issues that any of us women could talk about for days...
Towards the end of the sermon, He looked into the eyes of the Men in the congregation and said "Be her biggest fan." This struck a cord with me. It is a small idea that transforms relationships and ultimately lives. You could say that it's important to me because words of affirmation are important to me, but I refuse to believe thats it...
His main point was to be her biggest fan - but the subdivisions of this one point blew my mind and stirred my heart. The Holy Spirit was flowing out of him as he spoke about the way husbands should always call forth the potential in their wives. Here are some of the things he said that are worthy of note taking:
"Be her biggest fan. Your words should always bring more healing to her than hurt. We are all visionaries, and I know this because God is a visionary and we were created in His image - Ask Him to give you a glimpse of His vision for your wife's life. Tap into the presence and the power of God and catch a glimpse of the things God is doing in Her life. Listen to her. When we are fully being lead by God, we are leading our wives and our children to follow in the way of the Lord. He has plans for her the same way he has plans for you. It is our job and our duty as men to speak life into her and to encourage her, reminding her that she is dazzling and beauitful and worthy and flawless. When she is discouraged and battling insecurity and we say, "oh that's just how she is..." we are settling for what Satan has to say about her. God created her to wake up, ever single morning, in all humility and say, "I am the result of God's creation and I will walk with confidence in Christ praising Him for all He is, regardless of what comes at me today." As husbands, we must breathe life into her, into her dreams, into her potential."
What if, with every person we come in contact with, we looked them in the eyes and truly believed in their potential? Not just the people who have college degrees; not just the CEOs; not just the ones dressed in fancy labels; not just the ones who seem to be going somewhere in life; and especially not just the ones who might better us and help us out in return. What if we spent our lives encouraging and pouring ourselves into people?
When will we realize that life is not all about the things this world has to offer?! When will we acknowledge the truth that our lives come and go in a flash? we are here today and gone tomorrow... When will we stop carrying on comfortable casual conversation, and begin to rip off the masks and tear down the walls? When will our achievements and our trophies stop getting the best of us?!
I am so tired of the world getting the best of our generation. It's draining. Yes, school is so important and yes our resumes looks better when it has lots of pretty things on it... but man, how dangerous is it that Satan has such a hold on us that those earthly desires of being so successful and rich and achieved can consume us. When we will drop the rich, beautiful, materialistic lifestyle that we hold onto for dear life, and fall on our face before the Lord?
I don't just mean physically, I mean spiritually - we have to wake up. it's time we start doing what we are here to do. What are you investing your heart in? which kingdom are you so desperately clinging to? what are you putting your time into? What is defining you? What consumes your thoughts when you close your eyes at night? What consumes your thoughts when you're practicing piano, or football, or physics? What consumes your thoughts when you walk through the double doors of your dream job? Where is your life headed? Who are you speaking life into? Does it stop with your wife?
What will it take for you to exchange the medals of worldy success for a bucket of water, some soap and a wash rag?
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:21
You were created for victory. It may not look the way you draw it out in your head, but that doesn't mean you've failed. You are an overcomer, and you are victorious.
For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 1 John 5:4
How cool would it be to see Jesus and be able to look at Him, hand him the baton, and say, "Finally, after 2000 years, we got it done for you."
Do something about it.
2.20.2011
2.09.2011
My Adventure Book.
Have you taken the time to sit down and think about the adventures you want to experience in your life? Ya know how the world seems to be getting smaller? It seems that within the past decade or so, we have become a whole lot more familiar with the world around us... There aren't many mysteries anymore. It seems that everything has been seen; discovered.
In the movie UP the little girl, Ellie, has a book called "My Adventure Book" - even more, she has a dream. Her book is a tangible illustration of what she wants her life to become... an idea of the things she dreams about experiencing. She doesn't want her life to be mediocre. She has big expectations.
A couple weeks ago I was at a women's conference at Journey Church and my heart was overwhelmed while I stood with hundreds of women in the presence of God. It was as if we were all living the way we were called to. As women, we have all experienced the chaos and drama that comes along with girl friends... and as I grow up, I learn more and more the importance of us women sticking together. I've said it before, we have to stick together. As I stood in that sanctuary with those women, I knew God was there in the room with us. We sang with one voice. When I heard the band play the chords of How He Loves my heart melted. How powerful for a room full of women to be claiming the truth that We are His portion, and He is our prize. Even though we all struggle with the things of the world - insecurity, heartbreak, self destruction, bitterness, regret... We were confessing, as a body, that when we thought about the way that God loves us, we could no longer contain those things.
We are loved beyond any measure we can fathom.
My heart keeps going back to a sermon I heard about a week ago about how unique each of us are. We talked about big names like Martin Luthar King Jr. and Abraham Lincoln... people who painted masterpieces with their lives. Courageous leaders who were bold enough to go into broken places. People who recognized their calling, even more their duty, and pursued it because not pursuing it would be too dangerous. People who knew their lives were temporary - and refused to let it go to waste.
I think we were all created to be artists. I think God longs for us to use what He has given us to paint something beautiful; something breath taking. I think he intended for it to be a whole world full of masterpieces. Different paintings, due to different ideas and creativity. I refuse to believe that he intended the world to be full of mass-produced 'color the number' paintings...
We were created to live in the brightest hughes
He delights in our beauty. He loves us more than we can fathom. He gifted us with unique creativity. He creates things for us to discover.
dream big. experience life. discover. be bold. paint a masterpiece. you have nothing to lose.
In the movie UP the little girl, Ellie, has a book called "My Adventure Book" - even more, she has a dream. Her book is a tangible illustration of what she wants her life to become... an idea of the things she dreams about experiencing. She doesn't want her life to be mediocre. She has big expectations.
A couple weeks ago I was at a women's conference at Journey Church and my heart was overwhelmed while I stood with hundreds of women in the presence of God. It was as if we were all living the way we were called to. As women, we have all experienced the chaos and drama that comes along with girl friends... and as I grow up, I learn more and more the importance of us women sticking together. I've said it before, we have to stick together. As I stood in that sanctuary with those women, I knew God was there in the room with us. We sang with one voice. When I heard the band play the chords of How He Loves my heart melted. How powerful for a room full of women to be claiming the truth that We are His portion, and He is our prize. Even though we all struggle with the things of the world - insecurity, heartbreak, self destruction, bitterness, regret... We were confessing, as a body, that when we thought about the way that God loves us, we could no longer contain those things.
We are loved beyond any measure we can fathom.
My heart keeps going back to a sermon I heard about a week ago about how unique each of us are. We talked about big names like Martin Luthar King Jr. and Abraham Lincoln... people who painted masterpieces with their lives. Courageous leaders who were bold enough to go into broken places. People who recognized their calling, even more their duty, and pursued it because not pursuing it would be too dangerous. People who knew their lives were temporary - and refused to let it go to waste.
I think we were all created to be artists. I think God longs for us to use what He has given us to paint something beautiful; something breath taking. I think he intended for it to be a whole world full of masterpieces. Different paintings, due to different ideas and creativity. I refuse to believe that he intended the world to be full of mass-produced 'color the number' paintings...
We were created to live in the brightest hughes
He delights in our beauty. He loves us more than we can fathom. He gifted us with unique creativity. He creates things for us to discover.
dream big. experience life. discover. be bold. paint a masterpiece. you have nothing to lose.
1.17.2011
Sprinkles of Grace
January 17th. A new day. A new opportunity. It has never happened before. It is perfect. Flawless. New.
As I think about the things that I want 2011 to be about, my mind wonders to all the possibilities that this new year could bring. Anything could happen - it's kind of like a blank canvas. Endless possibilites with challenges and friends behind every door. Every thing I encounter throughout the next twelve months are choices of blessings or curses. Of course I will come face to face with heartbreak and obstacles, but I rest assured that every single circumstance and situtation will be beneficial. God is cool in that way - He uses all things to teach me.
2011 is a going to be a year of expecting a lot more from God. I talk a lot about spare change... spare change is worthless.
2010 taught me that when given the opportunity, people love to give. It taught me the importance of relationships. 2010 was the year I graduated from highschool and started college. It represents a great change in my life. The end of one chapter, and the beginning of a new one.
It started with bringing in the new year with my very best friends - banging pots and pans and yelling at the top of our lungs... Shortly after that Valentines Day rolled around - my dad was my valentine... I was the luckiest. Then my birthday snuck up on me and my seventeenth year of life was coming to an end.
Sidenote: Seventeen was my favorite year because I discovered my passion against human sex-trafficking and recognized the call on my life to reach the broken women of the world and to offer hope. To remind them that they were created to dance in white dresses. That there is more to life than darkness. That they were created to sing and dance and praise Jesus. That they are beautiful and perfect and flawless. That they are the daughters of the Most High King... and that they are forgiven. I think we all need that reminder. We all need to be saved by grace.
Anyway, I was excited for a new age because I was ready to put those passions to work. It was the best birthday - the celebration started the night before as my friend took me to Norman to worship with Hillsong United. The next morning was saturday, so I was blessed to spend the whole day on the back patio with my family and my best girlfriends, cooking out and laughing at each other. It was a preview of the year for me... I knew the Lord had already provided for me and He would continue to as the year progressed. May 14th was a day I'll always remember, as it was the day I graduated from the best highschool in the nation. I walked that stage proud as I'll ever be to call myself a Union Redskin. I got to listen to and vicariously live through my best friend as she gave the "Redskins for Life" speech - and she rocked it. After that day began my last summer before College. It was a summer of celebrating people. I was a nanny, so I exercised my love for children ;) and ended up falling in love with those kids. There is something about the faith of child... they taught me a lot about life. Whether it was "make-believe" tea parties or dancing to Hannah Montana - they found joy in the smallest things. In August I started my first semester of college! I went through Rush and found some of the best friends I could ever ask for. I acknowledged the fact that I had the free will of picking where I wanted to be - but discovered the plans of the Lord and watched them unfold as I began to connect with all new friends. He knew just what he was doing, and continues to pour blessings upon me. My cup overflows. I was given the opportunity to be a part of a musical with all of my new pledge sisters, and a whole new group of boys, whom I had never met. Little did I know they would become some of my best friends as well. Singing was never a talent that I was blessed with, but I had the time of my life pretending :) It seemed as if I was meeting new friends every time I turned around. As I look back on my Spanish class, a few people come to mind and I laugh. I'll never forget the new friends who loved to make jokes about "PTL"ing all the time."PTL for scrunchies. PTL for big curly hair. PTL for PTL" they would say. Whether they realize it or not, they weren't only speading the PTL, but they were Praising the Lord :) Nevertheless, we were instant friends! The year was wrapping up, and I spent the majority of the last few weeks of the semester in the Library. I've never been one for silence, so it was a challenge... but when you're not allowed to laugh it makes everything that much funnier. The night I got home I bathed in the peace of knowing I would be home for an entire month with no class or tests or studying to worry about, and soaked in the blessing of being amongst my parents, my sister, and one of my very best friends. The next night we made our way to Cains Ballroom to hang out with our friends Needtobreathe - and we sang our lungs out, exclaiming "this is my favorite one!" to just about every song they played. I loved spending Christmas with our family friends, who have become a whole lot more like family than friends... and just as it began, 2010 ended with the greatest friends laughing and bringin' in the new year. It was a year of joy and renewal. It was jam packed with creating new life-long friendships. I look back and smile on all the things God must have orchestrated for me, because I could have never created them on my own. I learned that I was a daughter of the King. That's all I am, and all I need to be. I was broken, softened, and refurbished. Sprinkles of grace scattered throughout the journey.
2011 is a new year. A new opportunity. It has never happened before. It is perfect. It is flawless. It is a year of expecting more from God. It is a year of asking, expecting, recieving, giving, planting, watering, reaping. It is a year of being spontaneous, of loving without having an agenda and of rocking out like my life depended on it. It's a year of seeing Jesus in everyone, and watching as the promises of God unfold in my life and in the lives around me. It's a year of freedom and liberty. 2011 is a year of growth; a year of stretching.
Here is your challenge:
May you be uncomfortable this year. May the Lord stretch you in big ways. May you find yourself on the edge of your seat, watching in awe at the wonders of our King. May you touch heaven with one hand, and earth with the other. May you always stand in the gap for people. May you extend grace to those who do not deserve it. May you experience the grace Jesus died for you to recieve. May you have the time of your life with the people you love. May you live the highest extreme of abundance. May you always be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer (Romans 12). May you live vulnerably, giving all that you are to be the living body of Christ.
2011 can be anything we want it to be. We have choices of blessings and curses before us. There are no limits. Choose blessings. Walk in abundance. Declare liberty over your days. Ask. Laugh. Be childlike in your faith. Wear love. Pray without ceasing. Look at every person as if they were Jesus. Sing. Run. Persevere.
May you encounter Jesus, and may you look back and see His sprinkles of grace.
As I think about the things that I want 2011 to be about, my mind wonders to all the possibilities that this new year could bring. Anything could happen - it's kind of like a blank canvas. Endless possibilites with challenges and friends behind every door. Every thing I encounter throughout the next twelve months are choices of blessings or curses. Of course I will come face to face with heartbreak and obstacles, but I rest assured that every single circumstance and situtation will be beneficial. God is cool in that way - He uses all things to teach me.
2011 is a going to be a year of expecting a lot more from God. I talk a lot about spare change... spare change is worthless.
2010 taught me that when given the opportunity, people love to give. It taught me the importance of relationships. 2010 was the year I graduated from highschool and started college. It represents a great change in my life. The end of one chapter, and the beginning of a new one.
It started with bringing in the new year with my very best friends - banging pots and pans and yelling at the top of our lungs... Shortly after that Valentines Day rolled around - my dad was my valentine... I was the luckiest. Then my birthday snuck up on me and my seventeenth year of life was coming to an end.
Sidenote: Seventeen was my favorite year because I discovered my passion against human sex-trafficking and recognized the call on my life to reach the broken women of the world and to offer hope. To remind them that they were created to dance in white dresses. That there is more to life than darkness. That they were created to sing and dance and praise Jesus. That they are beautiful and perfect and flawless. That they are the daughters of the Most High King... and that they are forgiven. I think we all need that reminder. We all need to be saved by grace.
Anyway, I was excited for a new age because I was ready to put those passions to work. It was the best birthday - the celebration started the night before as my friend took me to Norman to worship with Hillsong United. The next morning was saturday, so I was blessed to spend the whole day on the back patio with my family and my best girlfriends, cooking out and laughing at each other. It was a preview of the year for me... I knew the Lord had already provided for me and He would continue to as the year progressed. May 14th was a day I'll always remember, as it was the day I graduated from the best highschool in the nation. I walked that stage proud as I'll ever be to call myself a Union Redskin. I got to listen to and vicariously live through my best friend as she gave the "Redskins for Life" speech - and she rocked it. After that day began my last summer before College. It was a summer of celebrating people. I was a nanny, so I exercised my love for children ;) and ended up falling in love with those kids. There is something about the faith of child... they taught me a lot about life. Whether it was "make-believe" tea parties or dancing to Hannah Montana - they found joy in the smallest things. In August I started my first semester of college! I went through Rush and found some of the best friends I could ever ask for. I acknowledged the fact that I had the free will of picking where I wanted to be - but discovered the plans of the Lord and watched them unfold as I began to connect with all new friends. He knew just what he was doing, and continues to pour blessings upon me. My cup overflows. I was given the opportunity to be a part of a musical with all of my new pledge sisters, and a whole new group of boys, whom I had never met. Little did I know they would become some of my best friends as well. Singing was never a talent that I was blessed with, but I had the time of my life pretending :) It seemed as if I was meeting new friends every time I turned around. As I look back on my Spanish class, a few people come to mind and I laugh. I'll never forget the new friends who loved to make jokes about "PTL"ing all the time."PTL for scrunchies. PTL for big curly hair. PTL for PTL" they would say. Whether they realize it or not, they weren't only speading the PTL, but they were Praising the Lord :) Nevertheless, we were instant friends! The year was wrapping up, and I spent the majority of the last few weeks of the semester in the Library. I've never been one for silence, so it was a challenge... but when you're not allowed to laugh it makes everything that much funnier. The night I got home I bathed in the peace of knowing I would be home for an entire month with no class or tests or studying to worry about, and soaked in the blessing of being amongst my parents, my sister, and one of my very best friends. The next night we made our way to Cains Ballroom to hang out with our friends Needtobreathe - and we sang our lungs out, exclaiming "this is my favorite one!" to just about every song they played. I loved spending Christmas with our family friends, who have become a whole lot more like family than friends... and just as it began, 2010 ended with the greatest friends laughing and bringin' in the new year. It was a year of joy and renewal. It was jam packed with creating new life-long friendships. I look back and smile on all the things God must have orchestrated for me, because I could have never created them on my own. I learned that I was a daughter of the King. That's all I am, and all I need to be. I was broken, softened, and refurbished. Sprinkles of grace scattered throughout the journey.
2011 is a new year. A new opportunity. It has never happened before. It is perfect. It is flawless. It is a year of expecting more from God. It is a year of asking, expecting, recieving, giving, planting, watering, reaping. It is a year of being spontaneous, of loving without having an agenda and of rocking out like my life depended on it. It's a year of seeing Jesus in everyone, and watching as the promises of God unfold in my life and in the lives around me. It's a year of freedom and liberty. 2011 is a year of growth; a year of stretching.
Here is your challenge:
May you be uncomfortable this year. May the Lord stretch you in big ways. May you find yourself on the edge of your seat, watching in awe at the wonders of our King. May you touch heaven with one hand, and earth with the other. May you always stand in the gap for people. May you extend grace to those who do not deserve it. May you experience the grace Jesus died for you to recieve. May you have the time of your life with the people you love. May you live the highest extreme of abundance. May you always be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer (Romans 12). May you live vulnerably, giving all that you are to be the living body of Christ.
2011 can be anything we want it to be. We have choices of blessings and curses before us. There are no limits. Choose blessings. Walk in abundance. Declare liberty over your days. Ask. Laugh. Be childlike in your faith. Wear love. Pray without ceasing. Look at every person as if they were Jesus. Sing. Run. Persevere.
May you encounter Jesus, and may you look back and see His sprinkles of grace.
12.24.2010
Underwear and Sandwhiches
Merry Christams Eve !
I hope that Merry is a perfect word to describe your Christmas... lets be honest - the holidays are a tough times for a lot of us. We spend a lot of time thinking about the things and the people that are no longer in our lives. Maybe they passed away, maybe they are in the army, maybe its our first christmas without them... maybe its our twentieth and it isn't any easier. Or maybe we got a diagnosis that wasnt what we were hoping for, or maybe we are still waiting for the results... The holidays represent a season of family for most of us - we travel for hours and over seas to be with the people we consider our family. Our memories are consumed with our dads jokes or our moms gentle spirit. We look back and remember it being perfect when those certain people were still around...
Tonight at church our pastor's wife read a story about a little girl who was longing for the sense of hope to be renewed in her community. The cold and foggy atmosphere was becoming too much for her... she had to take matters into her own hands. Something needed to happen and she was determined to see that it did.
She was sick and tired of life being bland. She was hungry for some spice - some hope. She knew there had to be more to life than materialistic necessities... There had to be more to life than underwear and sandwhiches. She was convinced that there was something they were all missing out on... something big that would spice everything up, given the chance.
Mark my words, there is more to life than underwear and sandwiches. You can experience the fullness of God amidst adversity. In fact, hope stands firm when it seems that all else has fallen.
Jesus himself says this : "You will face difficult times. You will experience hardship because you live in a fallen world. You will have troubles. The road is not smoothe. You will fall and bleed and cry. Your heart will get broken. but...
take heart. I have overcome it all."
We have been redeemed - we have been restored. No matter our losses, no matter the schemes and plots of satan... Jesus has the final word. He came to show us his redeeming love, so that we would encounter Him and hold tight to the hope that he has given us.
Where ever you find yourself this Christmas season, remember that Jesus was born so that You would know his outrageous, unconditional, furious, overpowering love he has for you. He is gentle, and strong - He makes up for what is lost, and he understands where your heart is.
When you expereince his abundance amidst adversity, you wont be able to contain your joy. Your cup will overflow, and your peace will surpass all understanding.
May your Christmas be Merry, May you see the joy through the fog, and May you know that there is more to life than underwear and sandwiches.
I hope that Merry is a perfect word to describe your Christmas... lets be honest - the holidays are a tough times for a lot of us. We spend a lot of time thinking about the things and the people that are no longer in our lives. Maybe they passed away, maybe they are in the army, maybe its our first christmas without them... maybe its our twentieth and it isn't any easier. Or maybe we got a diagnosis that wasnt what we were hoping for, or maybe we are still waiting for the results... The holidays represent a season of family for most of us - we travel for hours and over seas to be with the people we consider our family. Our memories are consumed with our dads jokes or our moms gentle spirit. We look back and remember it being perfect when those certain people were still around...
Tonight at church our pastor's wife read a story about a little girl who was longing for the sense of hope to be renewed in her community. The cold and foggy atmosphere was becoming too much for her... she had to take matters into her own hands. Something needed to happen and she was determined to see that it did.
She was sick and tired of life being bland. She was hungry for some spice - some hope. She knew there had to be more to life than materialistic necessities... There had to be more to life than underwear and sandwhiches. She was convinced that there was something they were all missing out on... something big that would spice everything up, given the chance.
Mark my words, there is more to life than underwear and sandwiches. You can experience the fullness of God amidst adversity. In fact, hope stands firm when it seems that all else has fallen.
Jesus himself says this : "You will face difficult times. You will experience hardship because you live in a fallen world. You will have troubles. The road is not smoothe. You will fall and bleed and cry. Your heart will get broken. but...
take heart. I have overcome it all."
We have been redeemed - we have been restored. No matter our losses, no matter the schemes and plots of satan... Jesus has the final word. He came to show us his redeeming love, so that we would encounter Him and hold tight to the hope that he has given us.
Where ever you find yourself this Christmas season, remember that Jesus was born so that You would know his outrageous, unconditional, furious, overpowering love he has for you. He is gentle, and strong - He makes up for what is lost, and he understands where your heart is.
When you expereince his abundance amidst adversity, you wont be able to contain your joy. Your cup will overflow, and your peace will surpass all understanding.
May your Christmas be Merry, May you see the joy through the fog, and May you know that there is more to life than underwear and sandwiches.
12.06.2010
Doubting Thomas & Slow Down, Quinton.
Today at church we talked about all the names of Jesus. The Son, The Father, the Holy Spirit, Messiah, I Am, Abba, Healer, Protector, King of the Jews, and the list goes on... throughout the bible, Jesus was known and proven to be worthy of many different names. Today we talked about one in particular: Jesus as God. He was fully man, and fully God while he walked the earth. The sermon was about all kinds of different facts and miracles but there is one thing that struck me:
The resurrection of Jesus is the one thing that leaves the world with no excuse to not believe. It was the way that God said to the world, "There is no way you can deny me now." The evidence is so clear. It is the truth that Jesus was beaten and hung on a cross, was burried in a tomb, and then three days later raised from the dead. It cannot be argued, over five hundred different people saw, spoke and interacted with Jesus after His resurrection.
One man stood out to me the most. Thomas. We refer to him as "doubting thomas" but lets be honest, if one of your best friends and the leader of your pack was murdered and everyone came to you telling you that He was now alive, would you automatically believe? I think a lot of us are more like Thomas than we like to think.
Thomas says, "I won't believe that Jesus has risen unless I touch his wounds with my own hands." He doesn't believe that Jesus is really alive... since Jesus is fully God, he knows where Thomas's heart is, and he understands what is going on through his head. Instead of writing him off because he has no faith, Jesus finds Thomas and says, "Come here Thomas, and put your hands in my wounds." He goes on to say that "those who believe without seeing will be blessed." but he loves Thomas and He knows the desires and the needs of his heart. He meets those needs by showing Himself real.
Growing up my dad has always reminded me that God can speak for himself. When we were faced with tragedy or trial, he would tell us to ask God to reveal himself to us... He told us to ask and to wait and to listen. The Lord speaks. He is just as alive as we are.
I wish the world knew that. I wish the world knew that Jesus cares about where they are. When you are confused and you have a doubting and unsettling feeling in your stomach, Jesus cares and he doesn't only care, but He wants to reveal himself to you. He wants to become real to you. Jesus didn't have to go to Thomas and say come and put your hands in my wounds, but he knew thats what made Himself real to Thomas, so He honored him and did it anyway.
I love that about Jesus.
--------------------------------------------
If you're a pretty regular reader, than you might recognize the name Anis Mojgani. He's my favorite poet, and though some of his work can be vulgar at times, he is an excellent writer... His poetry makes me think, and it inspires me to write.
In his poem "For those who can still ride in airplanes" he address the issue of trying to figure out this thing called a man... He explains that his one desire is to find God everywhere.
He says, "I spend most days making pictures or thinking about making pictures... I dream too much, and I don't write enough, and I'm trying to find God everywhere. I want to find God in the morning and the tired hands of dust. At the mouth of a river and down by its feet."
"Tell me what my fists keep writing. My fingers open up like gates when I write, and the wind is swinging in the wake... I lift bridges with poems."
He finds himself on a bus with a small boy named Quinton, and they take a glance into eachother's worlds... Quinton reads to Anis and he becomes so excited that his hands begin dancing back and forth across the pages, stumbling over words, skipping over lines because his fingers are moving fastser than they're showing his eyes... Anis listens.
"Slow down, Quinton. You don't have to touch and go. You can see it all while your finger whispers on one word. Slow down and hold what you see for just a little longer. For in a world full of fast faces I'm looking for God everywhere..."
We become so caught up in our agendas, and our hectic schedules. We have practices to be at and meetings to attend and classes that we can't miss and tests to study for and jobs to apply for and music to write and books to read and sermons to create and we forget to slow down. We don't have to touch and go. There are things we must observe along the path.
The other day I was talking to Jesus and he said, "Kirby, I go before you each day, so look for the little things that I hide along your path. I put things out for you to observe and to rejoice over." The next day I was walking to class and I saw this big huge colorful pile of freshly raked leaves... I laughed and my cup overflowed with the memories of jumping into those leaves when I was little.
Slow down. Observe the things the Lord puts in your path for you to sing about. They are there. It's a matter of whether or not you'll stop to notice.
Pause. Observe. Rejoice.
11.25.2010
For the Elephants
Happy Thanksgiving! I can not believe that it's already November 25 - the semester has flown by... only one month until Christmas!
It's nice to be home with time to relax. Usually, when I come home, I'm rushing to do all kinds of things before sunday afternoon rolls around, and I make my treck back to Norman. I'd much rather spend the hours that I'm in Tulsa laying in the living room with all 5 members of my family, laughing about random things...
Last night I was laying on the floor with the christmas tree next to me... It was lit up and beautiful with all kinds of white, red and gold ornaments and snow flakes and berries and buttons; For the past couple years, Barb has been in charge of decorating the tree - and if you were here, you'd be able to tell :) But, I was laying there laughing about something, when it struck me that most of the United States never gets to do this.
There are families with broken relationships - there are living rooms with elephants occupying too much space.
Some of us have dads that left when we were young, and moms that sit with Jesus today... Some of us were beaten and abused, some of us maybe still are. Some of us are dealing with self issues, and wonder if we will make it through the holiday, some of us have sisters and brothers across the world fighting for our freedom, and some of us have never known what it is to have a "thanksgiving meal".
The holidays aren't bliss for everyone. For some of us, it's hard to get through. The holidays bring back painful memories, and a sense of lonliness. We wonder what could be different if we had our mom or our dad back. We are angry at the family member who crossed the line of appropriateness when we were young and robbed us of our innocence, some of us have never had enough money to taste the famous pumpkin pie...
This is for the elephants in the room.
Today isn't the easiest day of the year for a lot of us... I hope the intensity in your living rooms are replaced by peace today. I hope that laughter and joy fill your homes. I hope there is something for you to PTL about.
Terrible things happen in this world, and most we will never know why; but rest assured that the Lord knows exactly what we need when we need it - and He takes care of us. Even though you are in immense pain, Jesus has not forgotten.
Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God. Psalm 146:4
Rejoice always, pray continually, and give thanks in all circumstances. For this is God's will for you. 1 Thess 5:16-19
Happy Thanksgiving - I hope that is exactly what it is.
It's nice to be home with time to relax. Usually, when I come home, I'm rushing to do all kinds of things before sunday afternoon rolls around, and I make my treck back to Norman. I'd much rather spend the hours that I'm in Tulsa laying in the living room with all 5 members of my family, laughing about random things...
Last night I was laying on the floor with the christmas tree next to me... It was lit up and beautiful with all kinds of white, red and gold ornaments and snow flakes and berries and buttons; For the past couple years, Barb has been in charge of decorating the tree - and if you were here, you'd be able to tell :) But, I was laying there laughing about something, when it struck me that most of the United States never gets to do this.
There are families with broken relationships - there are living rooms with elephants occupying too much space.
Some of us have dads that left when we were young, and moms that sit with Jesus today... Some of us were beaten and abused, some of us maybe still are. Some of us are dealing with self issues, and wonder if we will make it through the holiday, some of us have sisters and brothers across the world fighting for our freedom, and some of us have never known what it is to have a "thanksgiving meal".
The holidays aren't bliss for everyone. For some of us, it's hard to get through. The holidays bring back painful memories, and a sense of lonliness. We wonder what could be different if we had our mom or our dad back. We are angry at the family member who crossed the line of appropriateness when we were young and robbed us of our innocence, some of us have never had enough money to taste the famous pumpkin pie...
This is for the elephants in the room.
Today isn't the easiest day of the year for a lot of us... I hope the intensity in your living rooms are replaced by peace today. I hope that laughter and joy fill your homes. I hope there is something for you to PTL about.
Terrible things happen in this world, and most we will never know why; but rest assured that the Lord knows exactly what we need when we need it - and He takes care of us. Even though you are in immense pain, Jesus has not forgotten.
Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God. Psalm 146:4
Rejoice always, pray continually, and give thanks in all circumstances. For this is God's will for you. 1 Thess 5:16-19
Happy Thanksgiving - I hope that is exactly what it is.
11.10.2010
Planes, Trains and Automobiles
One night, The Lord spoke to a man about what He had planned for this man's life. The man was just an average joe, just like the rest of us... No better, no worse. To the eyes of the world, he was a normal man. To God, he was a willing heart - a heart that dared to say "Lord, wherever you want me and whatever you want me to do - I'll do it." the Lord replied...
"Raise up your students to hear My voice, to go where My light is dim, where My voice is heard small, where My healing power is not known, even to the uttermost bounds of the earth. Their work will exceed yours, and in this I am well please."
The man was Oral Roberts - Oral Roberts University is an internationally known school. Great leaders have come off of that campus - all because one ordinary man said "yes" to an extraordinary God.
The other day I was having a conversation with my friend and we were talking about how we want our lives to be worth something - We want to do outrageous things for Jesus... there is one issue that tugs hard on both of our hearts and it's the issue of human trafficking and the growing industry of the sex trade.
Women and children are being sold, beaten, and raped day in and day out. Planes, trains and automobiles are carrying these innocent people who have been stripped of their innocence, their youth and their rights. A young female who has been kidnapped and trafficked lives, on average, for three years after the day she was kidnappped. Her body, her fearfully and wonderfully made body, becomes absolutely mutilated due to the number of times she is raped daily.
We have got to put an end to this.
"...He created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and he deteremined their boundries... for in Him we live and move and have our being." Acts 17: 26-28
God annointed each and every one of our lives for this time period. For this year. For this week. For today. None of us were born in the wrong decade, or the wrong era. He decided beforehand when we would rise and when we would fall. He already determined our boundaries.
Some of us long to travel the world and to bring the message of Jesus to the uttermost bounds of the earth - others of us are terrified of leaving the U.S. The Lord created us and wired us exactly the way he wanted us to be... When we offer our bodies as living sacrifies to God, we are worshiping God in the truest form.
When my friend and I were discussing our plans of how we want to serve God, he began to tell me a story - there was a man and a wife and they were serving as missionaries in the Dominican Republic. She was pregnant and her babies were born deaf - they ended up having to leave the Dominican for one reason or another and the man cried out to God "Lord, why is all of this happening? We are serving you with our lives as missionaries! Why would you take us out of the Dominican... this country that our hearts have grown to love?"
Brace yourself.
The Lord replies to the man, "Are you going to serve me the way you want to, or the way I call you to?"
"We seek selfish ambition far more than we seek the will of God." - Tim Mannan
I want my life to mean something - but I want to serve Him the way He calls me to... not the way that I want to. If He calls me to the uttermost bounds of the earth, I'll leave in a heartbeat; because that is my dream. But what if he calls me to stay in Oklahoma City for the rest of my life? Or what if He calls me to run a children's day care? - This is when you discover your true motives...
Are you going to serve God the way he calls you to, or the way you want to?
"Raise up your students to hear My voice, to go where My light is dim, where My voice is heard small, where My healing power is not known, even to the uttermost bounds of the earth. Their work will exceed yours, and in this I am well please."
The man was Oral Roberts - Oral Roberts University is an internationally known school. Great leaders have come off of that campus - all because one ordinary man said "yes" to an extraordinary God.
The other day I was having a conversation with my friend and we were talking about how we want our lives to be worth something - We want to do outrageous things for Jesus... there is one issue that tugs hard on both of our hearts and it's the issue of human trafficking and the growing industry of the sex trade.
Women and children are being sold, beaten, and raped day in and day out. Planes, trains and automobiles are carrying these innocent people who have been stripped of their innocence, their youth and their rights. A young female who has been kidnapped and trafficked lives, on average, for three years after the day she was kidnappped. Her body, her fearfully and wonderfully made body, becomes absolutely mutilated due to the number of times she is raped daily.
We have got to put an end to this.
"...He created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and he deteremined their boundries... for in Him we live and move and have our being." Acts 17: 26-28
God annointed each and every one of our lives for this time period. For this year. For this week. For today. None of us were born in the wrong decade, or the wrong era. He decided beforehand when we would rise and when we would fall. He already determined our boundaries.
Some of us long to travel the world and to bring the message of Jesus to the uttermost bounds of the earth - others of us are terrified of leaving the U.S. The Lord created us and wired us exactly the way he wanted us to be... When we offer our bodies as living sacrifies to God, we are worshiping God in the truest form.
When my friend and I were discussing our plans of how we want to serve God, he began to tell me a story - there was a man and a wife and they were serving as missionaries in the Dominican Republic. She was pregnant and her babies were born deaf - they ended up having to leave the Dominican for one reason or another and the man cried out to God "Lord, why is all of this happening? We are serving you with our lives as missionaries! Why would you take us out of the Dominican... this country that our hearts have grown to love?"
Brace yourself.
The Lord replies to the man, "Are you going to serve me the way you want to, or the way I call you to?"
"We seek selfish ambition far more than we seek the will of God." - Tim Mannan
I want my life to mean something - but I want to serve Him the way He calls me to... not the way that I want to. If He calls me to the uttermost bounds of the earth, I'll leave in a heartbeat; because that is my dream. But what if he calls me to stay in Oklahoma City for the rest of my life? Or what if He calls me to run a children's day care? - This is when you discover your true motives...
Are you going to serve God the way he calls you to, or the way you want to?
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