a portrait of Christ

A Portrait of Christ from Jeremy Cowart on Vimeo.

LIKE. Big time. This is really neat.

I AM

Saw this movie last week. Go see it. Let's change the world.

One line that really stuck out to me, that has been playing in my head ever since..

God says, "I need you. You're all I've got."

He needs me. He needs to use me. He needs me to do His work. I think so often we just focus on us needing God, and yes, obviously we do. I don't want to discount that. But how often do we turn it around and think about how He needs us?

As I've been thinking about it it's really empowered me. It's challenging me to step up to the plate and assume the position within the Body of Christ where He is calling me to be and to live out the life that He has given me. He needs me. I need Him. We depend on each other.

He needs to use people on this earth to bring about His love and His mission. That's why we're here. And how amazing is it that I get to be a part of that.

choosy

Seriously. God puts exactly what I need to hear right in front of me.

My Utmost For His Highest today:
Many of us suffer from the unbalanced tendency to "be ready" only out of season. The season does not refer to time; it refers to us. This verse [2 Timothy 4:2] says, "Preach the Words! Be ready in season and out of season." In other words, we should "be ready" whether we feel like it or not. If we do only what we feeling inclined to do, some of us would never do anything...The proof that our relationship is right with God is that we do our best whether we feel inspired or not.

I've been feeling choosy lately. Like, sure God, You can use me, but only when I feel like it. Or only when I really feel like it's something I'm good at. Or I really feel Your anointing on it.

Umm, as if there was any doubt, He works in ways I do not see. That means that I might not feel prepared, but I am. Human feelings cannot detect all the things that God is doing. We can't comprehend it.

Then in 1 Corinthians 1:5-9...
In this grace, God is enriching every aspect of your lives by gifting you with the right words to say and everything you need to know. In this way, your life story confirms that life story of the Liberating King, so you are not ill-equipped or slighted on any necessary gifts as you patiently anticipate the day when our Liberator, the Lord Jesus, is revealed. Until that final day, He will preserve you, and on that day, He will consider you faultless. Count on this: God is faithful and in His faithfulness called you into an intimate relationship with His Son, our Lord Jesus, the Liberating King. 

How often to we feel ill-equipped. I've found myself saying "Yeah.. God.. about that, I don't know.." and not huge things, but little ones.

I think it comes back to trust. I need to trust in His faithfulness. I need to relinquish my desire to understand and know ahead of time what He wants me to be doing or how He's going to be using me.

remade

Woke up with this song in my head. I've thought of it a lot lately. I've felt a bit unengaged with life again in the last few weeks. Sleeping a lot.. just kind of dragging. But I got a kick in my butt early this week that has shown me [again] that life goes on, with or without me participating in it. And I have some fantastically beautiful things in my life, and they deserve to have my all. And I deserve to experience all that God has placed in my life.

Final thought: Everything happens for a reason. Sometimes you see why later, sometimes never. But I thank God that He has His plan figured out for me and is piecing it together. Pain and all. I couldn't have planned it the way He has.

life

"In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: It goes on."
- Robert Frost

Love Wins

Finished Love Wins last night. Whoa. So good.

Here are my thoughts from the top of my head after finishing it. (I sent this to the pastor who wanted to discuss it with me as well).

I loved it. I found it insightful, thought-provoking, freeing, hopeful, and more.

I think open discussion is key and putting people in boxes gets us nowhere.

I think that people are threatened because what he posits challenges the religious dogma that many have come to embrace and force on others for fear of hell, when we're called to embrace life.

He believes in heaven and hell, here and later.

He believes in choice and is not universalist.

The reality is, hell could be empty. God could win everyone over. We don't know a person's heart in this life, at their dying breath, or in the next life. Rob raises the question of post-mortem decisions. That's where his ultimate statement comes from is that in the end love wins people over. That God could reconcile everyone to Himself post-mortally. And really, the God I love and trust is big enough to do ANYTHING, including that.

He doesn't go against what I've learned in the Bible, but challenges statements that have been made that are culturally-bound and are not necessarily from the Bible or have been taken out of context.

That all being said, we all have biases. I went into this biased because I very much enjoy his books and I have learned and come to see God in an expanded and wonderful way. And I know in my heart and my relationship with God that what I've come to believe is not misleading.

There are things that he said that challenged me to think and pray about what I believe. I'm learning as I go, which I think anyone is, and I trust God to lead my heart to the right conclusions or leave it open to possibilities where there are no conclusions. Reading this book has inspired me to dig deeper into the Bible and look at the context of what was taking place when it was written and to look deep at my faith, which has been a wonderful experience.

As I've been reading a lot lately, I've learned that the key to reading Christian or faith-based books etc is discernment. Knowing that no book outside of the Bible is God's Word and that humans write imperfectly. Obviously not every book out there is truth. I pray and trust God to give me discernment as I am reading books so as to know what I accept as truth and what to question instead.

Rob's theology doesn't need to be anyone else's. I still sleep at night knowing that I don't agree with some writers who tens of thousands of people revere. I think this life is full of questions that we won't get answers to until we see God in Heaven. But for now we should be able to discuss them without symbolically excommunicating each other.

That's my 2 cents. He's coming to town on Monday and I'm excited to hear him speak.

One Day Without Shoes

Today's the day. Thank God there is almost no snow on the ground. And it's sunny. Here are my thoughts and observations throughout the day.

Leaving the house barefoot felt odd from the beginning, but a little exciting. I brought my TOMS along because I know we have a footwear policy at work and even though we're fairly grassroots, no shoes wouldn't fly. The sidewalks outside my house were freezing! But honestly it felt kind of good. I was scared walking around my car parked on the street though, since there's all kinds of debris around there.. glass and such. Driving without shoes is great, I frequently do that so that wasn't new. Walking into work was brutal. Our parking lot is full of junk and it's not the nice, small grain cement like a sidewalk, it's big chunks.. it was freezing! All the while I'm telling myself, hey, you're exfoliating your feet.. for free even! Made me feel a little better, but just a little.

Had to wear my shoes at work, but since they're TOMS I feel like I'm still supporting the cause. ;) I'm wearing my shoes as little as possible. It was Takeout Tuesday at work so we had to go pick up food so rather than get kicked out of the restaurant, I caved and wore my shoes. It kind of bugged me but I get the point, food safety, blah blah blah. ;)

So far it hasn't been too bad. The worst was the parking lot and thinking about the little shards of glass that are probably embedded in my feet now. But it's really making me think about what other counties endure without shoes, especially children.

Overall, the day wasn't so bad. I was a little disappointed that I didn't have more conversations with people about it. If I had worked from home I probably would have ran errands and whatnot..

But the huge thing that kept that from happening is all the rules about no shirt - no shoes - no service. Makes a day without shoes, well, impossible.

Either way, it did some work in my heart to think about the fact that I wear shoes every day. And not only that, I have A LOT of shoes. Too many? Probably. I'm a girl, what can I say. Shoes and purses. But they're all from the thrift store or garage sales so I'm recycling and reusing.. and paying about $3 a piece. Can't shake a stick at that.

Let's all think about what it means to have what we do. We are privileged. Really. When I usually think of being "privileged" I think of people who live in mansions and drive Ferraris. But that's not really true. It's a privilege to have clean drinking water, shoes, a bed to sleep in at night. Clothes! To think of all the times I stand in front my of closet and think "Ugh I have nothing to wear." Umm, no. Not true. What a burden to have so many options.

Join me in thinking about what it means to want less.