This Christmas season, one fact has been severely blowing my mind more than it ever has before. This fact is simple. Christ came. Christ, the God of the Universe, the Alpha and Omega, the Holy One, the Ancient One of Israel, He put aside His right to rule, His authority, His heavenly home, His well-deserved glory so He could be with us. So He could be one of us. So He could be like us.
Now anyone who has spent enough time in church is like, "Yeah. How have you not known that before?" And it's not that I haven't known this fact. It's just at this point, it has a new comfort to me. That Jesus knows what it's like to be me. Psalm 139 tells us how intimately God knows us. He counts how many times we sit and rise, He knows what we're going to say before we say it, He knows every day we're ever going to live. He knows everything! But the fact that Jesus would say, "Dad I want to go and know what it's like to be them" brings a whole new level of understanding to the equation. God doesn't just know me, He gave up His righteousness to understand what it's like to be me.
This is especially comforting to me now. I'm on the edge of big life-changing decisions. I'm in this weird abyss between my life as a college student and my life as an adult. And sometimes it's hard to find someone who knows exactly how I feel and what's going on. But Jesus does. Jesus transitioned from being a carpenter to full-time ministry in His thirties. He understands transitions. He understands stepping out into the abyss and just trusting God in that. He probably understands how scary that can be. And Jesus knew going into that ministry how rejection from some was inevitable, just as I ponder how not all will always agree with my decisions about my life. So when I'm feeling alone, when I'm lonely and fearful, when I need strength and courage to trust God more, I can lean into the fact that Jesus understands.
And it's not just with these things in my life that Christ can relate. For instance, Joseph, the Earthly father of Jesus, doesn't show up much after the whole Christmas nativity stuff which churches and devotional books focus on ferociously at this time of year. So where is Joseph? Scholars theorize that Joseph either died early in Jesus's life or left them. So if you're struggling with the feelings of loss or abandonment, Jesus probably did too. He gets it.
If Jesus really wanted to, He could have came, lived a cozy but still perfect life on earth with few hardships, and still died as an acceptable sacrifice for our sins. But that's not what He chose. He wanted to walk in our shoes, to learn to relate and understand us better.
So Christ came. He was born a baby completely dependent on others to take care of Him. He grew up and went through awkward adolescent years, zits and all. He worked a secular job and glorified God in that. And then He made that tough transition to give up that security for public ministry where He was hated and mocked. But despite that, He still chose to die for our sins. So wherever you're at in life, Jesus has probably been there and He understands. This is one of the reasons this Christmas that I'm so thankful that little baby Jesus would come to the Earth and experience life like I do. Because I know that He gets me, and it's beautiful to be understood by my Savior.
Wednesday, December 24, 2014
Wednesday, November 5, 2014
To die is gain?
The other night, I went night geocaching with some friends. It was rather late and we were walking through a wooded area that was not well lit up. Early in our excursion, we saw a light coming towards us. Yet we couldn't see the source and that as you might imagine was terrifying. It wasn't until this light past us, that we saw it was just a man innocently running by. For the rest of the time however, my friends were especially on edge as the woods had a new eerie feeling and the idea that we weren't alone seemed to lie around every corner.
During this time, I was having a conversation with one of the girls about being a fighter vs. being a flighter. I told her if we met a scary murderer in the woods, the rest of them should just run and I would fight him off for us. Some of this comes from me thinking I'm tougher than I really am, some of it is just the fact in my very core I'm a protector, but as we were talking another interesting realization occurred to me. Part of it is that dying doesn't frighten me. I no longer believe dying is the bad thing that I once thought it to be.
This of course sparked an interesting conversation between my friend and I starting with the question, "So do you want to die?" (I'm sure that some of this question lies behind a concern that maybe me saying that death wasn't so bad meant I was slightly suicidal which I promise I'm not.) And it has taken me a really long time to get to answer like this but it truly is yes and no. But a guy named Paul puts my thoughts on the issue in much better words than I do:
"For me to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body." (Philippians 1:21-24)
When I first ran into these words and gave them serious consideration, I was under the impression that this Paul guy probably just had a sucky life. Because if his life was even remotely good, why in the world would he want to die? And I knew this must be a somewhat godly attitude at least by its mere presence in the Bible, but getting to a place that I thought that death would be a good thing just seemed totally foreign and out of reach to me. And I think that's how most Christians feel about verses like this. But as our love for Christs grows in us my friends that's not how it should be. Let me explain some of my thoughts that led to this transformation of attitude.
One of the most common arguments on why we don't want to die is more of a "not yet" excuse on our parts. Such as "I don't want to die because I want to finish college/get married/have kids/reach my career goal/fill in your own blank first." This is the "there's more to life that I want to experience" philosophy. And you know what, there's more to life that I want to experience as well. But it doesn't actually matter to me if I get to experience it or die first. Because if these experiences are really good things, why would death separate me from them? Would my good and loving God really let me get to heaven and take away from me good things? Or to use the words of Paul again, "He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all-how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?" (Romans 8:32). This promise is surely not just for life, but tenfold more in heaven! God is bringing in a new heaven and a new earth and behold it will be better! "For the creation was subjected to frustration...in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God." (Romans 8:20-21). God's not destroying and taking away the awesome beauty of the things He created that we enjoy on Earth, but He's purifying them and making them better for us! Sunsets? There but better. The tropical islands I've always wanted to go to? There but better. Puppies? Try there but on steroids with their love and playfulness. God gives good things my friends, He doesn't take them away! So why wouldn't death be better?
On top of that though, there is such an advantage to death that we, as Christians, will never have in life. It's the intimacy we will get to have with seeing and walking with Christ face to face. Imagine you were going away on a trip and you're married or have a significant other and they can't go. During this trip, you can talk to them on the phone, you can write letters, but it's just not the same. Your heart longs to be with them face to face, to be held by them, to be able to look into their eyes and see that love they have for you. Shouldn't your heart also long to be in the presence in Your Savior and Love in that way? Mine does. It took a lot of discovering in my heart of hearts of God's intimate love and passion for me to get my heart there, but some days I just find my heart longing to have that face to face time, snuggling with Jesus. I can't wait until I can be with Him like that. To take walks with Him. To be able to make Him dinner and enjoy His company over that meal. To stargaze with Him as He shows me the galaxies and tells me the names of the stars. To just be with Him. My heart longs for this so much, doesn't anyone else's?
Additionally, it will be so good to finally be done with sin. To have that bondage broken once and forever. Because on Earth, I am so aware of how I mess up. Of how I struggle. And I'm so sick of doing things that are displeasing to God but I often can't help myself. And on this side of heaven, we'll all struggle. But Jesus promises to take those who love Him and perfect them. In Revelation 21, Jesus leaves us with the promise "Behold I am making all things new!" and He tells us of a place where "There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." Deep down in my heart of hearts, I long for this place, this perfection and I know that in this world I am incapable of achieving it. But I know in the next world, Jesus is giving that to me as a gift. And I find myself growing impatient some days as I wait to receive it.
One thing does make me sad to die though. It's all the people that I know won't be in heaven with me. It's the friends I hold so dearly, but don't know Christ as their Savior. That's why as Paul said being here needs to be fruitful labor to me. Because while I'm here, I need to do everything I can to change that. And some days, I suck at that but when I think of that last day that will be the only thing I would have wished I had the chance to do in life before I was gone. To reach down and grab more people to take with me on that journey to be with my Lord. And if anyone else feels this way, go do something about it. Today I am and I pray that until death I will.
During this time, I was having a conversation with one of the girls about being a fighter vs. being a flighter. I told her if we met a scary murderer in the woods, the rest of them should just run and I would fight him off for us. Some of this comes from me thinking I'm tougher than I really am, some of it is just the fact in my very core I'm a protector, but as we were talking another interesting realization occurred to me. Part of it is that dying doesn't frighten me. I no longer believe dying is the bad thing that I once thought it to be.
This of course sparked an interesting conversation between my friend and I starting with the question, "So do you want to die?" (I'm sure that some of this question lies behind a concern that maybe me saying that death wasn't so bad meant I was slightly suicidal which I promise I'm not.) And it has taken me a really long time to get to answer like this but it truly is yes and no. But a guy named Paul puts my thoughts on the issue in much better words than I do:
"For me to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body." (Philippians 1:21-24)
When I first ran into these words and gave them serious consideration, I was under the impression that this Paul guy probably just had a sucky life. Because if his life was even remotely good, why in the world would he want to die? And I knew this must be a somewhat godly attitude at least by its mere presence in the Bible, but getting to a place that I thought that death would be a good thing just seemed totally foreign and out of reach to me. And I think that's how most Christians feel about verses like this. But as our love for Christs grows in us my friends that's not how it should be. Let me explain some of my thoughts that led to this transformation of attitude.
One of the most common arguments on why we don't want to die is more of a "not yet" excuse on our parts. Such as "I don't want to die because I want to finish college/get married/have kids/reach my career goal/fill in your own blank first." This is the "there's more to life that I want to experience" philosophy. And you know what, there's more to life that I want to experience as well. But it doesn't actually matter to me if I get to experience it or die first. Because if these experiences are really good things, why would death separate me from them? Would my good and loving God really let me get to heaven and take away from me good things? Or to use the words of Paul again, "He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all-how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?" (Romans 8:32). This promise is surely not just for life, but tenfold more in heaven! God is bringing in a new heaven and a new earth and behold it will be better! "For the creation was subjected to frustration...in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God." (Romans 8:20-21). God's not destroying and taking away the awesome beauty of the things He created that we enjoy on Earth, but He's purifying them and making them better for us! Sunsets? There but better. The tropical islands I've always wanted to go to? There but better. Puppies? Try there but on steroids with their love and playfulness. God gives good things my friends, He doesn't take them away! So why wouldn't death be better?
On top of that though, there is such an advantage to death that we, as Christians, will never have in life. It's the intimacy we will get to have with seeing and walking with Christ face to face. Imagine you were going away on a trip and you're married or have a significant other and they can't go. During this trip, you can talk to them on the phone, you can write letters, but it's just not the same. Your heart longs to be with them face to face, to be held by them, to be able to look into their eyes and see that love they have for you. Shouldn't your heart also long to be in the presence in Your Savior and Love in that way? Mine does. It took a lot of discovering in my heart of hearts of God's intimate love and passion for me to get my heart there, but some days I just find my heart longing to have that face to face time, snuggling with Jesus. I can't wait until I can be with Him like that. To take walks with Him. To be able to make Him dinner and enjoy His company over that meal. To stargaze with Him as He shows me the galaxies and tells me the names of the stars. To just be with Him. My heart longs for this so much, doesn't anyone else's?
Additionally, it will be so good to finally be done with sin. To have that bondage broken once and forever. Because on Earth, I am so aware of how I mess up. Of how I struggle. And I'm so sick of doing things that are displeasing to God but I often can't help myself. And on this side of heaven, we'll all struggle. But Jesus promises to take those who love Him and perfect them. In Revelation 21, Jesus leaves us with the promise "Behold I am making all things new!" and He tells us of a place where "There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." Deep down in my heart of hearts, I long for this place, this perfection and I know that in this world I am incapable of achieving it. But I know in the next world, Jesus is giving that to me as a gift. And I find myself growing impatient some days as I wait to receive it.
One thing does make me sad to die though. It's all the people that I know won't be in heaven with me. It's the friends I hold so dearly, but don't know Christ as their Savior. That's why as Paul said being here needs to be fruitful labor to me. Because while I'm here, I need to do everything I can to change that. And some days, I suck at that but when I think of that last day that will be the only thing I would have wished I had the chance to do in life before I was gone. To reach down and grab more people to take with me on that journey to be with my Lord. And if anyone else feels this way, go do something about it. Today I am and I pray that until death I will.
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
Fall 7 times, Get back up 8
This morning I woke up and gave myself a pep talk. At first I might not have wanted the pep talk but I knew that that precisely was a reason to give myself one. It went a little something like this:
"Leneway, it's a new day. Yesterday, that's in the past. Yesterday does not define you. Yesterday does not have that privilege. Maybe yesterday you didn't live up to Christ's perfect standard. But today is a new day to pick yourself up and have a new shot at living for Him. Because yesterday doesn't define you; Christ defines you."
I know I'm not the only one who needs a pep talk like this. As I talked to a friend yesterday, we were talking about making camp decisions and how if they often don't stick at first people give up defeated. Campers, I know that not all of you went home and lived out the decisions you made for Christ. I know you haven't given up that sin, haven't witnessed to those friends you said you would, haven't stayed in the Bible as much as you said you would....my little friends, I know. And to the rest of my friends/fellow counselors/classmates/whoever, I know that our journey to follow Christ is often laden with the same bumps and barriers. The question is never have we lived up to the standard yesterday, but what are you gonna do with it today?
Romans 8:1-2 became my battle cry this morning: "Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus because through Christ Jesus the law of the spirit of life has set me free from the law of sin and death." My encouragement is for you, my friends, to memorize this verse and make it your battle cry to. So when regret, shame, guilt, feelings of unworthiness based on your past, whatever it might be, comes creeping in from your past you can now defend yourself. I mean God's Word is a sword after all (Ephesians 6:17), so let's start using it to fight the lies. And when the Bible says I'm not condemned, I'm going to chose to believe it. Condemned means to be sentenced to punishment or having been expressed disapproval in. And God does neither for those who are in Christ. Therefore no matter how bad you've messed up yesterday, God's not disappointed in you. Because of what Christ did you have peace with God (Romans 5:1), and there's nothing you can do to change that. God doesn't concern Himself with how you responded to Him in the past, He's set you free from sin and death. It's got no hold on you. What God is concerned with is how are you going to respond to Him today.
Proverbs 24:16 "For though the righteous falls seven times, they get back up again."
God knows we're going to fail. What defines us, what truly matters is if we pick ourselves up after that or just lay there on the ground defeated. I for one will refuse to lie there defeated by sin, by my inadequacies, by all the ways I would consider myself a disappointment. I invite you to do the same.
So where do you need to pick yourself up? Is it praying more, reading the Bible more, stopping that sin or addiction, being a good witness to your friends, or (fill in your own blank)? Don't let the past discourage you, don't let it hold you down. For Christ died so that sin and death could no longer have that kind of hold on you. Today you have the choice and the freedom to pick yourself back up, shake off the dust, and start living the life Christ called you to. This is your invitation to do just that.
"Leneway, it's a new day. Yesterday, that's in the past. Yesterday does not define you. Yesterday does not have that privilege. Maybe yesterday you didn't live up to Christ's perfect standard. But today is a new day to pick yourself up and have a new shot at living for Him. Because yesterday doesn't define you; Christ defines you."
I know I'm not the only one who needs a pep talk like this. As I talked to a friend yesterday, we were talking about making camp decisions and how if they often don't stick at first people give up defeated. Campers, I know that not all of you went home and lived out the decisions you made for Christ. I know you haven't given up that sin, haven't witnessed to those friends you said you would, haven't stayed in the Bible as much as you said you would....my little friends, I know. And to the rest of my friends/fellow counselors/classmates/whoever, I know that our journey to follow Christ is often laden with the same bumps and barriers. The question is never have we lived up to the standard yesterday, but what are you gonna do with it today?
Romans 8:1-2 became my battle cry this morning: "Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus because through Christ Jesus the law of the spirit of life has set me free from the law of sin and death." My encouragement is for you, my friends, to memorize this verse and make it your battle cry to. So when regret, shame, guilt, feelings of unworthiness based on your past, whatever it might be, comes creeping in from your past you can now defend yourself. I mean God's Word is a sword after all (Ephesians 6:17), so let's start using it to fight the lies. And when the Bible says I'm not condemned, I'm going to chose to believe it. Condemned means to be sentenced to punishment or having been expressed disapproval in. And God does neither for those who are in Christ. Therefore no matter how bad you've messed up yesterday, God's not disappointed in you. Because of what Christ did you have peace with God (Romans 5:1), and there's nothing you can do to change that. God doesn't concern Himself with how you responded to Him in the past, He's set you free from sin and death. It's got no hold on you. What God is concerned with is how are you going to respond to Him today.
Proverbs 24:16 "For though the righteous falls seven times, they get back up again."
God knows we're going to fail. What defines us, what truly matters is if we pick ourselves up after that or just lay there on the ground defeated. I for one will refuse to lie there defeated by sin, by my inadequacies, by all the ways I would consider myself a disappointment. I invite you to do the same.
So where do you need to pick yourself up? Is it praying more, reading the Bible more, stopping that sin or addiction, being a good witness to your friends, or (fill in your own blank)? Don't let the past discourage you, don't let it hold you down. For Christ died so that sin and death could no longer have that kind of hold on you. Today you have the choice and the freedom to pick yourself back up, shake off the dust, and start living the life Christ called you to. This is your invitation to do just that.
Monday, August 18, 2014
What I learned this Summer: Not your Average Invitation
Sometimes the Bible describes heaven as a wedding banquet. The party, the dancing, the food, the celebration-this all has been offered to us through Jesus Christ. And according to John 17:3 where Jesus declares that eternal life is simply knowing God, we can draw the conclusion that for Christians that wedding banquet has already started. The table is set. The feast is prepared before us. All we have to do is choose to partake in this great celebration, in this heavenly meal.
During staff training at Lake Ann, our boss always reminds us of this one thing: You can invite people to eat, you can set the table, put on the fancy tablecloth, light some candles, put on some mood music, make the table as appealing as possible, but you can never force someone to eat. The relevance to us was let's make the Gospel look as appealing as possible but we're never going to force someone to accept it because that's not true transformation. And while that was stated as an almost obvious fact in my brain, there was another layer of understanding that until this summer was completely left out of this metaphor until one day when I had a very fateful talk with a camper, in which I walked away learning more and being challenged more than I think she was.
It was Thursday afternoon and I sat down with one of my campers on the grass for a little life chat. This camper had intrigued me all week with the amount of wisdom she kept sharing with our cabin and even just how evidently real it was that Jesus was her friend. But the thing that made this even more intriguing was that she hadn't been a Christian for very long. If I recall right, she had only known Christ as her Savior for 8 months. Eight short months and it had seemed she already knew God in a way that most of the people growing up in church have yet to achieve. So I had to know what was different. So I asked the question that usually gets to the bottom of everything, "What's your story?" She shared much with me but to summarize it in four words: the struggle was real. If there was a God, her life did not look like He loved her. But more than likely He didn't exist. He couldn't. Not the way life was going. Through a series of events she ended up at a church, and to make a long story short she was confronted with this invitation: "Taste and see that the Lord is good." (Psalm 34:8). The challenge: God invites us to come, taste and see that He is good. He invites us to just try it out. If after giving Christianity the kind of all-in try that it necessitates, we don't see that the Lord is good, we're allowed to walk away. What could there possibly be to lose?
So this camper tried it. She committed to living for some period of time as if everything in the Bible were true, as if Jesus were as real as you and me, and as if God loved her and wanted to be an integral part of her life. After a few weeks although her circumstances had not made some drastic change for the better, she had indeed tasted and seen that the Lord is good! Externally life might not have changed, but internally this Jesus fellow was changing everything! She had hope, joy, peace, and knew a love of which she had only heard of before. And just like tasting a fine food that after a bite becomes your new favorite, she was now hooked.
This "taste and see" invitation is the very first invitation that the Lord gives us in our walk with Him. It is not the one that requires of us to "go make disciples", to "pick up our cross and follow him", to "live a life worthy of the calling you've received", but first and foremost to "taste and see that the Lord is good". Because all of these other things are responses of experiencing the goodness of God. Until I know that God has my best interests at heart, He loves me and is a good Father, the idea of committing to His commands is sheer ridiculousness. But once I've seen that He is good, I desire to commit all my ways to Him like a small child who wants at all costs to please their loving parent.
This realization changed everything about how I shared the Gospel this summer and about how I thought of combating unbelief. In my natural state, I'm all about logic. I want to out-think those around me, wow them with facts, and beat their unbelief in some sort of logical game. Instead of curing from the inside-out, I like to put band-aids of knowledge on the wounds of unbelief. As if with enough facts, reasons, and cunning arguments I can win the world to a faith in Christ. But as I sat in the trenches dealing with the unbelief in many of my girls this summer, I was reminded of the cry to "taste and see that the Lord is good". I often ended those conversations with statements along these lines, "Look I can try to persuade you of God's reality with facts, verses, and all kinds of information, but apart from God moving they're useless. So instead take up God's invitation to taste and see that He is good, give Christianity a whole-hearted try holding nothing back from God for the next month and if God hasn't shown you that He is good during that time then walk away. In the meantime, I'll be praying that God reveals to you that He is in fact present and good." Because there really is nothing we as Christians can say that will convince anyone of God's existence on its own. It is only when God shows up and moves that His reality is confirmed in the lives of those in the world.
I just want to emphasize again the importance of this all-in approach to the try. We haven't really tasted food until we've committed to putting it in our mouth. Likewise, although on rare circumstance God may just show up, God wants that commitment to go all in before He shows us He is good. His promise "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." (Jeremiah 29:13). If that's the promise than there will never be a time when we truly taste and find that God's not good. He's always desiring to be found by us, and when we find Him, it's impossible to miss His goodness.
So for my Christian and non-Christian alike: Maybe you have yet to taste and see that God is good. I would encourage you to try this all in living, fully committing yourself to live as if this God and Bible thing were the real deal for the next month. If at the end of this "ALL-IN" approach to Christianity, you have yet to see that God is good, then walk away. What have you got to lose? After all, you'll either see that God is good and be blessed in that or see that God is not good once and for all and be able to walk away. Seems like trying it is the only way you'll really discover either way.
For my Christian friends that have tasted and seen that the Lord is good, I leave you with two calls. First remember that we are not to try to force people into following Jesus but our invitation is to "taste and see that the Lord is good", then trust that the Lord is completely capable to show His goodness to those around Him. After the invitation to "taste and see", our job becomes one of prayer not of trying to force people into Jesus. The second invitation is from Jesus's homie Peter: "Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good." (1st Peter 2:2-3). Peter calls us to "grow up in our salvation" after. So if you know God is good, don't stay spiritual babies but grow up into that!
During staff training at Lake Ann, our boss always reminds us of this one thing: You can invite people to eat, you can set the table, put on the fancy tablecloth, light some candles, put on some mood music, make the table as appealing as possible, but you can never force someone to eat. The relevance to us was let's make the Gospel look as appealing as possible but we're never going to force someone to accept it because that's not true transformation. And while that was stated as an almost obvious fact in my brain, there was another layer of understanding that until this summer was completely left out of this metaphor until one day when I had a very fateful talk with a camper, in which I walked away learning more and being challenged more than I think she was.
It was Thursday afternoon and I sat down with one of my campers on the grass for a little life chat. This camper had intrigued me all week with the amount of wisdom she kept sharing with our cabin and even just how evidently real it was that Jesus was her friend. But the thing that made this even more intriguing was that she hadn't been a Christian for very long. If I recall right, she had only known Christ as her Savior for 8 months. Eight short months and it had seemed she already knew God in a way that most of the people growing up in church have yet to achieve. So I had to know what was different. So I asked the question that usually gets to the bottom of everything, "What's your story?" She shared much with me but to summarize it in four words: the struggle was real. If there was a God, her life did not look like He loved her. But more than likely He didn't exist. He couldn't. Not the way life was going. Through a series of events she ended up at a church, and to make a long story short she was confronted with this invitation: "Taste and see that the Lord is good." (Psalm 34:8). The challenge: God invites us to come, taste and see that He is good. He invites us to just try it out. If after giving Christianity the kind of all-in try that it necessitates, we don't see that the Lord is good, we're allowed to walk away. What could there possibly be to lose?
So this camper tried it. She committed to living for some period of time as if everything in the Bible were true, as if Jesus were as real as you and me, and as if God loved her and wanted to be an integral part of her life. After a few weeks although her circumstances had not made some drastic change for the better, she had indeed tasted and seen that the Lord is good! Externally life might not have changed, but internally this Jesus fellow was changing everything! She had hope, joy, peace, and knew a love of which she had only heard of before. And just like tasting a fine food that after a bite becomes your new favorite, she was now hooked.
This "taste and see" invitation is the very first invitation that the Lord gives us in our walk with Him. It is not the one that requires of us to "go make disciples", to "pick up our cross and follow him", to "live a life worthy of the calling you've received", but first and foremost to "taste and see that the Lord is good". Because all of these other things are responses of experiencing the goodness of God. Until I know that God has my best interests at heart, He loves me and is a good Father, the idea of committing to His commands is sheer ridiculousness. But once I've seen that He is good, I desire to commit all my ways to Him like a small child who wants at all costs to please their loving parent.
This realization changed everything about how I shared the Gospel this summer and about how I thought of combating unbelief. In my natural state, I'm all about logic. I want to out-think those around me, wow them with facts, and beat their unbelief in some sort of logical game. Instead of curing from the inside-out, I like to put band-aids of knowledge on the wounds of unbelief. As if with enough facts, reasons, and cunning arguments I can win the world to a faith in Christ. But as I sat in the trenches dealing with the unbelief in many of my girls this summer, I was reminded of the cry to "taste and see that the Lord is good". I often ended those conversations with statements along these lines, "Look I can try to persuade you of God's reality with facts, verses, and all kinds of information, but apart from God moving they're useless. So instead take up God's invitation to taste and see that He is good, give Christianity a whole-hearted try holding nothing back from God for the next month and if God hasn't shown you that He is good during that time then walk away. In the meantime, I'll be praying that God reveals to you that He is in fact present and good." Because there really is nothing we as Christians can say that will convince anyone of God's existence on its own. It is only when God shows up and moves that His reality is confirmed in the lives of those in the world.
I just want to emphasize again the importance of this all-in approach to the try. We haven't really tasted food until we've committed to putting it in our mouth. Likewise, although on rare circumstance God may just show up, God wants that commitment to go all in before He shows us He is good. His promise "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." (Jeremiah 29:13). If that's the promise than there will never be a time when we truly taste and find that God's not good. He's always desiring to be found by us, and when we find Him, it's impossible to miss His goodness.
So for my Christian and non-Christian alike: Maybe you have yet to taste and see that God is good. I would encourage you to try this all in living, fully committing yourself to live as if this God and Bible thing were the real deal for the next month. If at the end of this "ALL-IN" approach to Christianity, you have yet to see that God is good, then walk away. What have you got to lose? After all, you'll either see that God is good and be blessed in that or see that God is not good once and for all and be able to walk away. Seems like trying it is the only way you'll really discover either way.
For my Christian friends that have tasted and seen that the Lord is good, I leave you with two calls. First remember that we are not to try to force people into following Jesus but our invitation is to "taste and see that the Lord is good", then trust that the Lord is completely capable to show His goodness to those around Him. After the invitation to "taste and see", our job becomes one of prayer not of trying to force people into Jesus. The second invitation is from Jesus's homie Peter: "Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good." (1st Peter 2:2-3). Peter calls us to "grow up in our salvation" after. So if you know God is good, don't stay spiritual babies but grow up into that!
Thursday, August 14, 2014
What I Learned This Summer: Bigger, Better Plans
Yesterday I watched the Tigers play. Watching baseball always reminds me of my softball days. Sometimes I really miss the game. What missing the game is often synonymous with is missing pitching. One of the biggest things I learned while pitching is my love for control. I think it's half the reason I played the position. When I was on the mound, it became my game. Wins became my wins. Losses were clearly my teammates fault because I couldn't control everything. Even when my catcher tried to signal me what pitch to throw, I would shake my head until they gave me the signal I wanted because after all, I did know best. There was a time in my life when I would openly tell others one of the things I loved about pitching was that it was the only time I felt in control of everything.
You might not have ever played softball, but we all love being the one "pitching" in our lives. We love feeling in control and able to put as many of the variables as possible into our own hands. We like being able to make our own plans and then execute them. The funny thing about being a Christian though is we were never called to be the pitchers of our lives. We are called to play the field, and make the best plays we can on what comes our way. But so often we try to bump the true Pitcher right off the mound for our chance to take control.
This last summer of serving at Lake Ann, week after week, I noticed a theme that I first saw as a disappointing one rising up. It was that nothing ever worked out the way I wanted or planned it to. Like nothing. Ever. I couldn't even guide simple conversations where I wanted them to go. And it's not that I had bad plans. I wanted campers to come to know Jesus and see His relevance and power in their lives. What more noble cause could I possibly have! But so often I would get frustrated by the lack of these plans developing the way I thought they should. Until later, when God consistently blow my mind with His plans which ALWAYS beat mine. Like every single time, it was like God came in and said, "Your plans are cute kid, but mere child's play. Watch this.....it's going to be wayyyyyy better." And true to His nature He was always right about that.
The most notable times of this often came up on Fresh Start for me. Fresh Start is Lake Ann's program for students going into 9th grade, where the main event is a 3 day rafting trip. Yup, 3 days of rafting. Over 20 miles. Roughly 8 hours stuck on a raft with the same people. If you're into getting to know others, there is no better opportunity. As a counselor this is the perfect opportunity to promote a culture of openness and really dig into finding out who your campers are. It's glorious.
This rafting trip is broken into 4 different legs. During most of these legs, my campers and I will play games that essentially are made up of us asking each other questions and answering them. Also as a vet counselor, it's easy to know the level of deepness that each leg of the river can cultivate. So when we get to day 2 and a leg when things are supposed to be going deep but my campers spend the next 3 hours singing and there's nothing I can do to pull them away from that I end frustrated. I say, "God I'm trying and trying to move this conversation to a place we can get deep and grow. Why am I failing so badly?" But yet God is at work.
We pull off for a quick lunch and then onto the next leg of the river. Ten minutes later. BOOM! *CRACK* Thunder. And thunderstorms and river rafting are apparently not a good pair. So we pull off. And since we were only ten minutes in luckily we have about half the rafts at the place we pull out at so we're not alone. But this just grew my frustration. See, things weren't going how I wanted it earlier and quite honestly I was so ready to finish rafting for the day, get off the river and start making some diner. And here we were. Stuck on a riverbank for an indefinite amount of time. With probably a good 30 or so 9th graders to entertain. My attitude most definitely did not start out the best. But then we started entertaining them. Singing every verse of "Boom Chicka" known to man. And then making up verses. Until they got so ridiculous you couldn't help but laugh at how desperate we were getting. And I realized that joy and a good attitude were in fact possible in the moment, but that was a choice I had to make. We stayed at that river bank for what I would guess was a little over an hour. After "Boom Chicka", we played some standard camp games except adding more flairs than ever to keep this time exciting. And this time really did become exciting. At the very end of the day, I asked my girls what the best part of their day was. Almost everyone said it was getting pulled off in the thunderstorm. That night the chapel speaker was able to talk about how we respond to the storms of life. Because of the events of the day, it was one of the most powerful messages I have heard. All of this was due to the thunderstorm that I would never have planned. But thankfully God did.
The next day God gave me the deep conversations with my girls that I longed for. It was that reminder that "He makes everything beautiful in its time." (Ecclesiastes 3:11). Not in my time, but in His time. And over and over this last summer He did this. Not with a thunderstorm every time but by rejecting my plans and replacing them with His. And I'm so glad that I have a God who would say no to my dumb plans and replace them with something better. Such a God deserves my admiration as I say "Wow God, I never would have thought of doing it like that. How clever!"
And this wasn't an isolated incident. Every week I'd come up with my own plans for my campers. And then they would get destroyed. At that point, I always came across the choice of being frustrated or trusting in God's plans which looked like patience and hope. Let's just say I really improved on the second option over the summer. And it always paid off. Not one week would end where I said "Wow, I wish my plans came through because things really didn't work out." Instead my God was faithful and blew my mind with how much bigger and better His plans were! Not once did He fail me.
This particular lesson translates well into the place I find myself at now in life. I graduate in May. I'll have a degree in teaching, but am still not confident if that's really what I want to do or not. If that is what I want to do, there are still like 5 million options of what that might look like for me. Literally in 9 months, it feels like my entire life will just be thrown in the air and hopefully land somewhere great. And part of me just screams, "God just show me where you want me! Please just eliminate every option you don't want for me and make things clear!" And God says, "I make everything beautiful in its time. You're not capable of appreciating my plans for what they are yet. Just be patient and trust." So so what if I've got 9 months to figure life out and don't have a clue yet? My God dreams bigger dreams than I do for myself, and His plans are way bigger and better. Every single time. So this chump is willing to get off the mound and let the true Ace take her place. Its not always easy to give up the ball, but its easier when you see the perfect record that God has.
" For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11
You might not have ever played softball, but we all love being the one "pitching" in our lives. We love feeling in control and able to put as many of the variables as possible into our own hands. We like being able to make our own plans and then execute them. The funny thing about being a Christian though is we were never called to be the pitchers of our lives. We are called to play the field, and make the best plays we can on what comes our way. But so often we try to bump the true Pitcher right off the mound for our chance to take control.
This last summer of serving at Lake Ann, week after week, I noticed a theme that I first saw as a disappointing one rising up. It was that nothing ever worked out the way I wanted or planned it to. Like nothing. Ever. I couldn't even guide simple conversations where I wanted them to go. And it's not that I had bad plans. I wanted campers to come to know Jesus and see His relevance and power in their lives. What more noble cause could I possibly have! But so often I would get frustrated by the lack of these plans developing the way I thought they should. Until later, when God consistently blow my mind with His plans which ALWAYS beat mine. Like every single time, it was like God came in and said, "Your plans are cute kid, but mere child's play. Watch this.....it's going to be wayyyyyy better." And true to His nature He was always right about that.
The most notable times of this often came up on Fresh Start for me. Fresh Start is Lake Ann's program for students going into 9th grade, where the main event is a 3 day rafting trip. Yup, 3 days of rafting. Over 20 miles. Roughly 8 hours stuck on a raft with the same people. If you're into getting to know others, there is no better opportunity. As a counselor this is the perfect opportunity to promote a culture of openness and really dig into finding out who your campers are. It's glorious.
This rafting trip is broken into 4 different legs. During most of these legs, my campers and I will play games that essentially are made up of us asking each other questions and answering them. Also as a vet counselor, it's easy to know the level of deepness that each leg of the river can cultivate. So when we get to day 2 and a leg when things are supposed to be going deep but my campers spend the next 3 hours singing and there's nothing I can do to pull them away from that I end frustrated. I say, "God I'm trying and trying to move this conversation to a place we can get deep and grow. Why am I failing so badly?" But yet God is at work.
We pull off for a quick lunch and then onto the next leg of the river. Ten minutes later. BOOM! *CRACK* Thunder. And thunderstorms and river rafting are apparently not a good pair. So we pull off. And since we were only ten minutes in luckily we have about half the rafts at the place we pull out at so we're not alone. But this just grew my frustration. See, things weren't going how I wanted it earlier and quite honestly I was so ready to finish rafting for the day, get off the river and start making some diner. And here we were. Stuck on a riverbank for an indefinite amount of time. With probably a good 30 or so 9th graders to entertain. My attitude most definitely did not start out the best. But then we started entertaining them. Singing every verse of "Boom Chicka" known to man. And then making up verses. Until they got so ridiculous you couldn't help but laugh at how desperate we were getting. And I realized that joy and a good attitude were in fact possible in the moment, but that was a choice I had to make. We stayed at that river bank for what I would guess was a little over an hour. After "Boom Chicka", we played some standard camp games except adding more flairs than ever to keep this time exciting. And this time really did become exciting. At the very end of the day, I asked my girls what the best part of their day was. Almost everyone said it was getting pulled off in the thunderstorm. That night the chapel speaker was able to talk about how we respond to the storms of life. Because of the events of the day, it was one of the most powerful messages I have heard. All of this was due to the thunderstorm that I would never have planned. But thankfully God did.
The next day God gave me the deep conversations with my girls that I longed for. It was that reminder that "He makes everything beautiful in its time." (Ecclesiastes 3:11). Not in my time, but in His time. And over and over this last summer He did this. Not with a thunderstorm every time but by rejecting my plans and replacing them with His. And I'm so glad that I have a God who would say no to my dumb plans and replace them with something better. Such a God deserves my admiration as I say "Wow God, I never would have thought of doing it like that. How clever!"
And this wasn't an isolated incident. Every week I'd come up with my own plans for my campers. And then they would get destroyed. At that point, I always came across the choice of being frustrated or trusting in God's plans which looked like patience and hope. Let's just say I really improved on the second option over the summer. And it always paid off. Not one week would end where I said "Wow, I wish my plans came through because things really didn't work out." Instead my God was faithful and blew my mind with how much bigger and better His plans were! Not once did He fail me.
This particular lesson translates well into the place I find myself at now in life. I graduate in May. I'll have a degree in teaching, but am still not confident if that's really what I want to do or not. If that is what I want to do, there are still like 5 million options of what that might look like for me. Literally in 9 months, it feels like my entire life will just be thrown in the air and hopefully land somewhere great. And part of me just screams, "God just show me where you want me! Please just eliminate every option you don't want for me and make things clear!" And God says, "I make everything beautiful in its time. You're not capable of appreciating my plans for what they are yet. Just be patient and trust." So so what if I've got 9 months to figure life out and don't have a clue yet? My God dreams bigger dreams than I do for myself, and His plans are way bigger and better. Every single time. So this chump is willing to get off the mound and let the true Ace take her place. Its not always easy to give up the ball, but its easier when you see the perfect record that God has.
" For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11
Monday, August 11, 2014
What I learned this Summer: The Depths of Grace
I spent the last summer (and for that matter the two before it) working at Lake Ann Camp. It is at this place that God has changed my life and brought me back time and time again to teach me lessons (and that's without ever being a camper). Over the next few days I hope to produce a series of blogs outlining what God has taught me this summer. This is the first because it seemed to be the general theme and the most important lesson. Besides, any other lesson God could ever teach us is only possible because of His great grace.
Before I even get started on this lesson, I must speak of its relevance in my life. One of my greatest flaws is often my inability to perceive my own weaknesses. It's not that I don't have weaknesses or I try to be arrogant, I just don't naturally see those weaknesses. Usually it takes a lot of awareness which I don't often take the discipline to use so that I can discover and work on those weak areas. But lest, I appear to be rambling....
This summer God was quick to point out my weaknesses. In particular, I often had a checklist of 1st Corinthians 13's definition of love running through my head:
Kacie is patient.....Well I was until that camper took 20 minutes to put their shoes on or asked the same question for the 28th time......sigh, not check.
Kacie is kind.....Well unless it's funny, like stranding other counselors in the middle of the lake....not check.
Kacie does not envy, does not boast, is not proud..... Shoot, I don't think I even have to bring examples in for everyone to know I sometimes fall real short in these areas.
Now I could go on forever with this and much more detailed and with many more examples. I mean aside from just analyzing my life in regards to 1st Corinthians 13, my prayer life is most days scattered and not nearly what it should be. I lack the discipline to pray for the others I should, even my campers and the people I often promise I will pray for them (at least on a very consistent basis).
And when we sum all this together and more, what I was reminded of on almost a daily basis was that I'm not perfect. I'm not as loving as I'd like to think I am, I'm not as patient or selfless as I'd like to think I am, and I'm not the prayer warrior that I'd like to think I am. If I were Jesus and looking for someone to do my work, Kacie Leneway would hardly be a top of the line choice. But Jesus in His great mercy did choose me.
We often are reminded of God's grace that saves us, and we usually limit His grace to that. But this summer He taught me that His grace is so much more. His grace allows me to pick myself up when I fail Him and keep going. His grace sustains me when the pressures around me get to be too much. His grace allows me to give Him the burdens I carry. But the biggest lesson I learned is that it's in grace that a holy God would lay out good works for someone as imperfect as me to do (Ephesians 2:10).
I used to picture service to God as a boss with employees. The boss asks employees to do work and if they don't do it well, the boss just passes it off to another employee or it doesn't get done because the boss is doing other things. However this summer I've realized that it's more like a puppy dog trying to please His owner. As the owner trains the puppy, the owner gives the puppy little tasks to do (like retrieve the newspaper) not because the owner can't do them, but because the owner wants to give the puppy a chance to please him. And the puppy gladly does it because nothing delights the puppy more than pleasing His owner.
Yes, this is a really lame metaphor. But God doesn't need us. He chooses us to do His work. He delights in us doing it. And although our job usually is done sloppily and not at all as well as He would do it, He not only lets us do His work but sets up the opportunities for us to do it. He's behind and before us; and has laid His hand upon us every step of the way (Psalm 139:5).
So the moral of the story is as I perceive these weaknesses more and more, I don't get down about it as I once might have. It just makes me marvel more and more at the depth of grace that God would choose to show me. It brings me to a place where I see nothing more appealing than this Savior whose grace goes deeper than I could ever imagine. So praise be to the God whose grace saves, transforms, and prepares good works for imperfect people!
Before I even get started on this lesson, I must speak of its relevance in my life. One of my greatest flaws is often my inability to perceive my own weaknesses. It's not that I don't have weaknesses or I try to be arrogant, I just don't naturally see those weaknesses. Usually it takes a lot of awareness which I don't often take the discipline to use so that I can discover and work on those weak areas. But lest, I appear to be rambling....
This summer God was quick to point out my weaknesses. In particular, I often had a checklist of 1st Corinthians 13's definition of love running through my head:
Kacie is patient.....Well I was until that camper took 20 minutes to put their shoes on or asked the same question for the 28th time......sigh, not check.
Kacie is kind.....Well unless it's funny, like stranding other counselors in the middle of the lake....not check.
Kacie does not envy, does not boast, is not proud..... Shoot, I don't think I even have to bring examples in for everyone to know I sometimes fall real short in these areas.
Now I could go on forever with this and much more detailed and with many more examples. I mean aside from just analyzing my life in regards to 1st Corinthians 13, my prayer life is most days scattered and not nearly what it should be. I lack the discipline to pray for the others I should, even my campers and the people I often promise I will pray for them (at least on a very consistent basis).
And when we sum all this together and more, what I was reminded of on almost a daily basis was that I'm not perfect. I'm not as loving as I'd like to think I am, I'm not as patient or selfless as I'd like to think I am, and I'm not the prayer warrior that I'd like to think I am. If I were Jesus and looking for someone to do my work, Kacie Leneway would hardly be a top of the line choice. But Jesus in His great mercy did choose me.
We often are reminded of God's grace that saves us, and we usually limit His grace to that. But this summer He taught me that His grace is so much more. His grace allows me to pick myself up when I fail Him and keep going. His grace sustains me when the pressures around me get to be too much. His grace allows me to give Him the burdens I carry. But the biggest lesson I learned is that it's in grace that a holy God would lay out good works for someone as imperfect as me to do (Ephesians 2:10).
I used to picture service to God as a boss with employees. The boss asks employees to do work and if they don't do it well, the boss just passes it off to another employee or it doesn't get done because the boss is doing other things. However this summer I've realized that it's more like a puppy dog trying to please His owner. As the owner trains the puppy, the owner gives the puppy little tasks to do (like retrieve the newspaper) not because the owner can't do them, but because the owner wants to give the puppy a chance to please him. And the puppy gladly does it because nothing delights the puppy more than pleasing His owner.
Yes, this is a really lame metaphor. But God doesn't need us. He chooses us to do His work. He delights in us doing it. And although our job usually is done sloppily and not at all as well as He would do it, He not only lets us do His work but sets up the opportunities for us to do it. He's behind and before us; and has laid His hand upon us every step of the way (Psalm 139:5).
So the moral of the story is as I perceive these weaknesses more and more, I don't get down about it as I once might have. It just makes me marvel more and more at the depth of grace that God would choose to show me. It brings me to a place where I see nothing more appealing than this Savior whose grace goes deeper than I could ever imagine. So praise be to the God whose grace saves, transforms, and prepares good works for imperfect people!
Link to My Old Blog
So I used to use WordPress, but after a class where we used Blogger I realized how much I dislike WordPress in comparison so I'm making a switch. However I want to keep my old thoughts on things available and easy to find so I decided to link my old blog:
http://lifeinthemiddleoftheredsea.wordpress.com/
http://lifeinthemiddleoftheredsea.wordpress.com/
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