The sweet smell of fallen leaves
The sound they make as they crunch under your feet
The brisk cool air as it blows against your face
The beauty of the colors
Browns, yellows, oranges, reds, purples
Creation works through its cycle
Of re-creation
rhythms
Nature’s one last display before dying
With the promise of new life a winter away
I have been reflecting on this. About a year ago, God birthed an idea within me and it has been amazing to see how it has developed from there. It started as just a spark. An idea that captured my curiosity and attention. As it grew, it took over more and more of my thoughts and attention. There became a practical side of it. This was not just a great idea, it was something that could –no– MUST happen. I was extremely overprotective of this idea in its first months and did not feel comfortable sharing it with anyone for fear of rejection or being laughed away. Yet as it grew, it became more and more a part of me. We became inseparable. Then came the point where I pitched it to a few close friends and mentors. After receiving their support, I continued to analyze it, test it, stretch it, explore it. I met with others who had similar ideas, who had executed them in similar ways. This was both exhilarating and terrifying.
And then came its birth into community. This is where it dwells now and each day I am amazed at the way it grows, snowballs, with each person whom I share it with. It is no longer mine (though it never was to begin with), but it is part of a growing community, a growing group of supporters. And this is what it will take for execution. Because I do not want this idea to die as an idea; I want it to happen. It MUST happen. For the sake of the community…
The past few weeks have been trying. My grandmother passed away two weeks ago and what ensued was the overwhelming grieving process. Last week my son struggled with side effects of a virus that left him unable to put pressure on his one leg to walk. On one hand these may seem to be routine events that occur throughout our lives. But in the midst of them, while experiencing them, they can seem overwhelming and too much to handle. Yet it is here that I am convinced that we feel fully alive. What do I mean by that? As a follower of Jesus, I believe that his sacrifice on the cross atoned for my sin (past, present and future). With this sacrifice, Jesus atoned for death and sin once and for all. Wrapped up in the message of the Gospel is the counter-cultural news that when we die to ourselves, we are released to fully live in Jesus. We are also released from hopelessly facing troubles and trials. In the midst of these trials, we can actually suffer with Jesus as he comes alongside us. These experiences then, if we are willing, draw us closer to Jesus. At surface value the concept seems strange, unusual, odd and even ridiculous, but once you have experienced this, it is the power of God!
What I have learned in these past two weeks is all things are temporary: health, wealth, possessions. There is one exception. Jesus. He is unchanging and eternal. When I feel like I have been kicked in the gut with emotion, sickness or the weight of a burden to heavy to bear, it is here that I can truly experience the beauty of the Gospel. You see, when I realize that I have nothing left to grasp for in this life, nothing left to hold onto, it is there that I find Jesus waiting with open arms. It is here that Jesus picks me up, dusts the dirt off of me and says, ‘now I can heal you.’ He is willing if we submit. What I am learning is that all too often, we try to make it through life on our own. We feel so empowered by our culture and society believing we can do everything for ourselves. Yet it is in times such as these, we realize that we cannot. I could not fix my grandmother’s health any more than I could fix my son’s health. At times, it seemed my world hung on a doctor’s diagnosis. But then I realized that our sovereign God and King is not surprised at all by any of this. It did not catch him off-guard. In each situation, we choose our response. We can run from Jesus, caught up in the weight of the situation and trying to fix it ourselves or we can run to Jesus, pressing into him and allowing ourselves to be comforted, ministered to, and loved.
These past two weeks I also learned the value of community, particularly Christian community. I was overwhelmed with support, prayers and love from our community. As I experienced this, I realized that this is what true Christian community should look like. I am blessed. We are blessed. We love and serve a loving God. And the more I realize this, the more I am open to receive his love. The more I receive his love, the more I am able to love others. It is a beautiful cycle.
So what I have come to realize even more so after these two weeks is that I am content in Jesus because in all things he is enough.
This is the best description of God’s jealousy I have ever heard. The idea of the jealousy of God has been widely misinterpreted. From “The Forgotten Ways” Alan Hirsch says, “The ‘jealousy’ of God must be understood in this light (Exod. 20:5, 34:14, Deut. 4:24, etc.). It is a refusal in God to share his exclusive claim to rule over the lives of his people. It is not a negative emotional response in God; it is simply the outworking of his claim over us against the claim of the idols. God will simply not share us with false gods. But it is because idolatry will damage and fracture us, not because God ‘feels jealous.’”
Check out his website at http://www.theforgottenways.org/
Well all the Idea Campers are set up for another exciting event beginning today in Portland, Oregon at 11:00 PST. The focus this time around is “Being Present with the City”. This is the description from their site:
This particular Idea Camp will focus on the topics of seeing our cities through the eyes of God and expressing love by being present in practical ways. The umbrella of being present encompasses themes of walking with and serving our neighbors as opposed to doing ministry to them. As primarily a faith-based conference, there will be an on-going focus on the importance of respectfully listening to the communities we live in, collaborating across faith traditions to pray and serve, and embracing our communities’ issues as our own.
Using an interactive platform and collective of leading thinkers and practitioners from the field, participants will be able to learn from leading experts as well as one another, share best practices, and work toward collaborative efforts. In addition, those following online will be able to experience the conference via the latest tools in social media. All of the general sessions and a handful of workshops will be streamed live and recorded to be used as future resources online.
If you are like me and cannot physically attend this event, but want to still check it out, follow their live stream here. It runs today and tomorrow. It’s sure to be a great event. Check out other details at The Idea Camp website.
I know I blogged before on Toms, and this is similar, but this is really cool and they are manufactured in Iraq by hand.
Check it out…
I watched Hotel Rwanda last night and this scene has stuck with me. Joaquin Phoenix’s character’s comment cut me to the core and I’ve been struggling with it ever since. I hate that I have been so desensitized to atrocities such as this. The scariest part is that strangely similar events continue to take place in Africa from Sudan to Darfur to Kenya to the Congo. Africa has been on my heart for sometime through books I have read, movies I have seen and the project I am working on.
My heart goes out to the people of Africa and I continue to pray for peace. This is one spiritual thing that I can do. I struggle with the question of what I can do physically.
In reading a book recently, The Way of a Worshiper, a phrase by the author, Buddy Owens, jumped out at me: “and it is through your body that God reaches out to the world around you.”
I pray that God uses me to reach out to the people of Africa who weigh heavy on my heart.
It’s VERY rare that I plug a product, but Hallmark just recently joined the (PRODUCT) RED team and I love this commercial.
