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Friday, June 19, 2015
Announcement to make!
Monday, June 8, 2015
Will & Soul
"If will would rise up,
so would our souls."
tammy tolås
It's not difficult to meet with Him. Especially in the poshy world most of us live in. Where vacation is a yearly thought, shopping is a fun activity, and being able to fill our cars with fuel is barely a second thought. Yes, we all go through trails and hardships. Yes it may feel more difficult to meet with Him during these times, but it is not unreachable.
"For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven tha tyou should say 'Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?' Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, 'Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it? But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it."
Deut. 30:11-14
Some of the greatest, most powerful hymns that we still sing to this day came from people finding the willpower to praise Him in the midst of difficult situations or difficult decisions. Their hymns were a costly but sweet release.
"I Surrender All" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Surrender_All) came from a man who made the decision to give up his cushy job and career in art in order to become an evangelist.
"Be Thou My Vision" (http://www.hymnary.org/text/be_thou_my_vision_o_lord_of_my_heart) was inspired by a man who risked persecution to light a candle in celebration of Jesus dying on the cross.
"It Is Well" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_Is_Well_with_My_Soul) was written by a man grieving the lost of his four daughters in a shipwreck. (A shipwreck that came after major loss in his finances and business.)
In the midst of serious struggle, discomfort they willed to worship. However we struggle to enter in if there's a hint of discomfort. Even Andreas - my husband - confesses to, at times, struggling with waiting for the "best" circumstances before entering into worship/prayer/seeking the Lord.
I believe we all struggle with this to an extent...We want the AC (or heat) to be just right, the perfect dim lighting, and the most comfortable chair or corner of the room. Or how about how our churches have to be arranged, who we can or cannot be standing beside, or what style the worship is. What would happen if regardless of our settings, our surroundings, our circumstances we willed ourselves to worship? What if while we are all too distracted by getting things set just right...too distracted by our posh lives...distracted by the person behind us singing way off key...or by our "woe as me" difficulties. What if we are all falling into our own self-made traps and maybe - just maybe - missing out on an opportunity to meet God in a greater depth, greater height. What if we would only choose to enter in?
"Seek the Lord while He may be found..."
Isaiah 55:6
Monday, June 1, 2015
Straining Forward
Straining Forward
Today after watching this sermon I was greatly encouraged by, I started writing a facebook status update with the link to the sermon....but the little facebook update quickly morphed into this blog.
In 2006 when YWAM UofN Kona was placing bricks down on a center fountain at campus - if you purchased a brick the money would go to scholarships - I filled out a form to purchase a brick. On the form I put my name down with a of blurb from the verse Philippians 3:13 - something to the effect of: "Forgetting what lies behind and straining ahead". At that time moving by myself from the East Coast all the way to the middle of the Pacific Ocean was a fresh move, but even then I knew it was no short term journey.
Maybe it was with that deeper intuitive knowing through the Holy Spirit that I decided to include a verse about not having arrived but about straining forward to the goal - a goal that I knew would be a life-long commitment. (Ironically my name with the verse never actually arrived into the fountain foundation like it was suppose too. haha. Maybe God has a special brick up in heaven for me one day?)
I very often share with people I know that I have not and will not ever stop learning. I will never stop growing. I will never arrive. If any of us do "arrive" or if any of us think we have "arrived" then God would have already plucked us up like Enoch! Never stop growing.
Every year for the past 10 years, with every major move I make...whether it's from one city to another, one coast to another, one country to another, or even across the hall to a new room...I stare face to face with the fact that I have not arrived. That I am very, very much on the move. In every move I wonder is this the right move? Here we go again, can we get it right this time? I am faced with a desperate need to trust and to lean on the only One who is Worthy. The only One who is Faithful. It is much more often then not that I move with a blind, maybe somewhat foolish faith that I'm walking in step with God. Even in the midst of mentors, strong-christians, fellow friends all kind of wondering what it is we are thinking. Don't worry I am often standing on your side of the street looking at me too wondering what I'm thinking!? By certain standards, I'm not sure if I am making the "right" or "best" move, but I do know that I know that I know that I am straining to make the moves He is calling me to. I don't know if it is making a difference while I'm getting tripped up in the small things and tripped up in my own human struggles against God, but I am looking forward to that final day that I get to see the Big Picture with the One who is orchestrating it.
Here's the facebook status the blog started off as:
Very encouraged after listening/watching this sermon today. #goals #didntknowitwasahomerun
http://elevationchurch.org/sermons/reaching-the-goal/
Today after watching this sermon I was greatly encouraged by, I started writing a facebook status update with the link to the sermon....but the little facebook update quickly morphed into this blog.
In 2006 when YWAM UofN Kona was placing bricks down on a center fountain at campus - if you purchased a brick the money would go to scholarships - I filled out a form to purchase a brick. On the form I put my name down with a of blurb from the verse Philippians 3:13 - something to the effect of: "Forgetting what lies behind and straining ahead". At that time moving by myself from the East Coast all the way to the middle of the Pacific Ocean was a fresh move, but even then I knew it was no short term journey.
Maybe it was with that deeper intuitive knowing through the Holy Spirit that I decided to include a verse about not having arrived but about straining forward to the goal - a goal that I knew would be a life-long commitment. (Ironically my name with the verse never actually arrived into the fountain foundation like it was suppose too. haha. Maybe God has a special brick up in heaven for me one day?)
I very often share with people I know that I have not and will not ever stop learning. I will never stop growing. I will never arrive. If any of us do "arrive" or if any of us think we have "arrived" then God would have already plucked us up like Enoch! Never stop growing.
Every year for the past 10 years, with every major move I make...whether it's from one city to another, one coast to another, one country to another, or even across the hall to a new room...I stare face to face with the fact that I have not arrived. That I am very, very much on the move. In every move I wonder is this the right move? Here we go again, can we get it right this time? I am faced with a desperate need to trust and to lean on the only One who is Worthy. The only One who is Faithful. It is much more often then not that I move with a blind, maybe somewhat foolish faith that I'm walking in step with God. Even in the midst of mentors, strong-christians, fellow friends all kind of wondering what it is we are thinking. Don't worry I am often standing on your side of the street looking at me too wondering what I'm thinking!? By certain standards, I'm not sure if I am making the "right" or "best" move, but I do know that I know that I know that I am straining to make the moves He is calling me to. I don't know if it is making a difference while I'm getting tripped up in the small things and tripped up in my own human struggles against God, but I am looking forward to that final day that I get to see the Big Picture with the One who is orchestrating it.
Here's the facebook status the blog started off as:
Very encouraged after listening/watching this sermon today. #goals #didntknowitwasahomerun
http://elevationchurch.org/sermons/reaching-the-goal/
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