Friday, December 12, 2008

Come and listen

As my grandfather clock chimes and painfully brings me aware of the hour, and the aroma of freshly brewed coffee fills the air...I am reminded that I'm officially "back in school." And I'm sadly reminded that the 20-something procrastinating girl pursing a computer science degree is the same almost 30-something procrastinating girl pursing an urban youth ministry certificate, at least in the procrastination department. This is precisely why I'm pausing long enough to write this post. But in my defense...when God gives you something worth sharing...share...

God ministers to me through music. He'll lay a song on my heart...and I'll find myself compelled to play that single song on repeat during a particular phase/issue of my life. This might last a few days, it might last a few weeks. For whatever reason, when I sat down last night to dive into my schoolwork, Come and Listen by the David Crowder Band became the solitaire song that would march me through this round of studies. iTunes...repeat...the song faintly serenades me in the background.

"Come and listen...come to the water's edge all you who know and fear the Lord...come and listen...come to the water's edge all you who are thirsty...come....let me tell you what He has done for me...let me tell you what He has done for me...He has done for you...He has done for us."

I have heard those lyrics 100 times by now.

But in the midst of my studies...as I'm reading the assigned book, Deep Justice in a Broken World, I learn the common mistake youth ministries make as they try to inspire service among their youth. Often times they error on the side of guilt, by trying to inspire service through our responsibility to God. Other times they error on the side of grace...which has led youth to maintain status quo, feeling good about themselves, but taking little action to seek justice for others.

As I read a little further...I paused..."As kingdom followers, we don't right wrongs out of duty, or out of our destined-to-fail attempts to earn our salvation. We right wrongs because of all God has done for us."

Immediately the lyrics of the song playing in the background infiltrated the room..."He has done for me...He has done for you...He has done for us." In that moment it clicked. Why am I so in love with Jesus Christ? Why have I laid down my life to serve him...joyfully? Why do I want to right every wrong he places before me?

It's simple...because I know what He did for me...what He did for you...what He did for us. I know what He's still doing in me.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Fearing God

"The remarkable thing about fearing God is that when you fear God, you fear nothing else; whereas if you do not fear God, you fear everything else." Oswald Chambers, The Highest Good

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Power of our testimony

A friend once told me the importance of capturing our faith walks and testimonies in written journals, for reading God's presence and answered prayers in our own lives could sometimes speak just as loudly as the Bible. But do I dare compare my own ramblings to the very word of God? Perhaps the better question is whether or not I dare to see the affect of God actually living in us?

I penned the ending to a very painful chapter of my life tonight. I imagine closing the cover of the book and placing it on a bookshelf. Here it will undoubtedly affect how the rest of the books will be written, but this book in particular no longer needs to be edited. For it will rest on the shelf, in its rightful place, and fulfill its obligation in the story.

That one hurt Lord. It really hurt.

To make sense of how all the pieces fell together, I pulled out my old journals and let them re-tell the story...I now had the ending for. But the girl in those journals, she didn't know how it would end. She didn't know one day it would be ok. I read as she struggled and questioned and cried, yet pursued a faith she didn't quite understand. HOPE I read as she surrendered. I read as she was healed. I read as she found unexpected purpose. FAITH

I wonder what she would think today, if she could read her own words, and understand they served a greater purpose. If she could see her own pain and bad choices, and the good which came from them. And then I wonder if she would understand how marvelously God planned to use her all along.

for in perfect faithfulness you have done marvelous things, things planned long ago. Isaiah 25:1

Finally, I wonder if she would know the power of the words of her testimony. It's God's story after all...she's just supposed to tell it.