Month: October 2015

Boundless Borderless God

Posted on by Wendy
The God who created the universe is not bound by human understanding.
The God who created the universe, is not bound by human understanding.

I was recently having a conversation with a friend of mine about a book study she is doing at her church. It’s supposed to be about, “Experiencing God.” She was super excited about the class because she’s fairly new to the faith and she’s found that a lot of the, “studies” that she has participated in are fluff.

She was hoping to get down to some serious discussion about actually experiencing God, which involves way more than getting dressed up and attending church for a couple of hours on Sunday. She was quite disheartened to find that her new study began with a video that basically listed all of the ways that you can’t experience God.

Now I’m sure that the guy who wrote the book and created the video are way more educated than I am. Perhaps that’s the problem.

I’m really not sure how anyone can tell you how you can and can’t experience God. When I pointed out to her that God made a donkey talk, and showed up in a bush, and sent ravens to feed Elijah and that I felt like He could communicate with us in any way He sees fit, she said that the group’s answer to that was, that was in the Old Testament.

Um, hold the phone. If we believe that God never changes and that He’s all powerful, do we honestly believe that He is bound by any constructs that humanity can come up with? My friend said her group said, since we now have the Holy Spirit, that God no longer communicates in the same way as He did in the Old Testament.

But, didn’t the Holy Spirit come to help us and counsel us? He didn’t come to bind God in any way.

I told her that I felt like that one of the most dangerous pitfalls of modern day Christianity is that we have become like the Pharisees. We know all of the rules and can recite many of the verses, but we miss the majesty of God, the mystery of God.

We can’t explain it; so we don’t talk about it. There was a book that came out several years ago called, “Heaven is for Real.” Do we discount that boy’s story because we don’t understand it? What about all of those people with near death experiences who see a light? We can’t explain that either. Are all of those people making it up?

God is boundless and borderless. We couldn’t possibly fathom all that He is capable of with our small human minds. We can and should read the Bible to learn about His character and how He has acted in the past. We have to know that He would never instruct us to do something that is contrary to scripture. We also have to keep in mind that we have an enemy who would.

But, other than that, the Creator of the earth and sky, the One who calls the stars by name, the One who created me and you and numbers the hair on our heads, well His powers are limitless. I think we should always remember that.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Appreciating the Valleys

Posted on by Wendy
We get to see all of the beautiful details at the bottom and on the journey.
We get to see all of the beautiful details in the valleys and on the journey.

“Humility is the mother of giants. One sees great things from the valley; only small things from the peak.” GK Chesterton

I read this quote for the first time the other day and I was so struck by its truth, that I wrote it down. Humility is not something that we value in our culture. We like the biggest, and the fastest, and the best. We worship the winners. We strive to be on top at all times.

We want to be first in the race, the boss, the president of the organization. Don’t get me wrong; those are all fine aspirations. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with attaining something that we’ve worked really hard to get.

The journey to get where we want to go, often begins at the bottom and is filled with humility. When we first start to run, we often finish close to last. It’s humbling. When we lose more games than we win, it’s humbling. When we first begin to apply for jobs and don’t get chosen, the rejection is humbling.

When we find ourselves in the valley, we often find ourselves drawing very close to God. When we have very little, every little gift means a lot. When we are humbled by our lack, or by our failures, or simply by the unknown future, we know in our hearts that we need God. Prayer sometimes becomes our constant companion.

Then prayers get answered and our situations change and we are so thankful and grateful for a time. We notice all of the scenery on our way to the top. No detail escapes us.

We’re gearing up for another election cycle soon. Think about how humble candidates are during a campaign. Think about how grateful they are. Think about how their attitudes seem to change after the election. The humility often evaporates.

I’ve witnessed the same phenomenon happen when someone gets a big job promotion as well. Humility gets lost. Pride steps in and when pride steps in, it gets bigger and bigger and the need or rather the acknowledged need, for God gets smaller and smaller.

Pride brought down a certain angel named Lucifer.

It seems when we reach the top of whatever it is we so desperately strive for, we tend to let everything else get small except for our achievement.

Of course we have a choice. We always have a choice. We can choose to keep God close no matter where we are in our journey. We can choose to be thankful in the valleys and the peaks. We can pray for humility once we reach the top. We can choose to know that we need God wherever we are, and that can make all of the difference.

But, if you find yourself in a valley today, take heart, the beauty is in all of the details of the journey and the perseverance comes from the One who always walks with you. You never travel alone.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

 

Surviving the Switchbacks

Posted on by Wendy
Don't get discouraged. The view from the top is stunning.
Don’t get discouraged. The view from the top is stunning.

I love to hike and this is my favorite time of year for it. There air is cooler and the leaves are turning. One thing I’ve learned over the years is that some of the most beautiful views require a fair amount of effort to enjoy. Some of the most beautiful scenery God ever created is on the top of a mountain or looking over the top of a waterfall.

But, there’s a catch. To really appreciate all of the glory that nature has to offer, you have to start at the bottom and hike to the top. Sometimes the trail is a gentle walk with very few obstacles. Sometimes you can reach the top in no time.

Sometimes, however, the trail is covered with exposed roots and you have to watch your footing or you will fall. Then there are the trails with the dreaded switchbacks. There are some trails that are way too steep to go straight up, so someone along the way, created a more even system to reach the top. Unfortunately, they are quite tedious.

You walk awhile going in one direction then you get to the end and you are pointed back in the direction you just came from, but a little bit closer to the top than before. I have walked a series of switchbacks before where I felt like I had very close kinship with those hamsters in their little mazes. I wondered if I would ever each the top.

But, I had to keep walking. At some point, I realized I had come way too far to turn back. I was ever so sure that the summit was just around the corner and I resolved to keep going. I did stop for a water break at times. Sometimes you just have to rest and catch your breath.

But, when I reached the top, well, the sheer beauty made me feel closer to God. But, isn’t that always the case when we travel towards some kind of destination that seems out of our reach?

We begin with some kind of game plan or map and we get started. Sometimes we get to where we are going quickly. But, sometimes the road is long and the path is twisted. Sometimes we only take what feels like the tiniest of baby steps and we truly believe we are getting nowhere.

But, if we are following God, we may just be in a series of switchbacks, which means we are getting there, but at a slower, safer pace. Sometimes we need to take a break on our journey and take a little rest. We can pray for continued strength and guidance.

Wherever you are today in your journey, rest if you need to, but then, get up and keep going, even if you feel very weary or even discouraged, because in the end, if you are following Him, you will reach the top and the view is stunning.

 

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Removing the Obstacles

Posted on by Wendy
Sometimes we need to consider what keeps us from following Jesus. What separates us from God?
Sometimes we need to consider what keeps us from following Jesus. What separates us from God?

Our sermon on Sunday was about the, “Rich Young Ruler.” The story is found in all three Synoptic Gospels, but Sunday’s focus was in Mark, Chapter 10. It’s a story that makes many of us squirm. There are those that skip the story altogether, thinking that if this is what it means to follow Jesus, then they aren’t interested.

A young fellow walks up to Jesus and asks Him what to do to have eternal life. Jesus tells him to follow the commandments. The young man assures Jesus that he’s done that since he was a kid. I picture him feeling pretty squared away at this point.

I think he represents a perfect example of how many of us who have grown up in church and spent all of our lives there feel. We know the rules. We obey the rules. Check and check! Whew! That’s all we have to do. Right?

Verse 21, really grabs me when it says, “Jesus looked at him and loved him.”

Do you sense a, “but,” coming up? Now notice, Jesus doesn’t tell him not to follow the rules or keep the commandments. He told him those were important in the earlier verses. However, the “but,” that has many Westerners screaming for the hills, is the second half of the verse, “One thing you lack, he said. Go sell everything you have and give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come follow me.”

Did Jesus just say to go to Heaven that we have to sell everything we have and give it to the poor?

Nope, He said that young man needed to. Why would He say that?

The next verse tells us that his face fell and he went away sad because he had great wealth. Ahhh, there’s the heart of it. To get to Heaven, the man needed to follow Jesus. What would keep this particular man from following Jesus? Jesus knew what it was. It was his wealth.

His wealth was his idol. It came first. It came between him and Jesus, so it came between him and Heaven. Jesus knew this and He shared it. But, the young man wasn’t willing to hear it and walked away.

But, the wealth was just an example of many barriers that keep us from following Jesus. It’s a common one, so much so that the camel and they eye of the needle verse follows. Jesus knew that people who had all of their worldly needs provided for often didn’t feel a need for God.

But, we have plenty of other idols. Don’t we? They can range from watching sports, to playing golf, to time on our boat at the lake, to being in a relationship with someone who doesn’t believe. When those things become more important than Jesus, we are called to let them go.

We can’t worship Jesus and put other things on the same level with Him. It doesn’t work. To truly follow Him and become more like Him, we are called to put other things that interfere, aside.

But, the good news is, Jesus promises that it will all be worth it in the end. What keeps you from following Jesus?

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Prayers for Chubb

Posted on by Wendy
Heartfelt prayers are always heard.
Heartfelt prayers are always heard.

On the very first play of the Georgia versus Tennessee football game, Georgia’s star running back, Nick Chubb, suffered a serious injury to his left leg. When I say serious, I mean I saw the up close replay several times, thanks to CBS, and I was just sick for him. I mean, I seriously thought his bone would come through the skin. It was horrible to watch.

He was obviously in excruciating pain, which CBS was all too happy to capture from every angle, but the network also captured something else. Almost every time the camera zoomed back in on the injured player, there was someone else from the team, praying with him. There were coaches, trainers as well as his teammates, bowing their heads to pray for him.

It was truly inspirational to see. This is SEC college football. It’s a rough sport. These kids playing are giants with big NFL plans in many of their futures and they had a full four quarters to play, yet they took the time to pray with their teammate.

The trainers and medical staff could have focused solely on his physical injuries. They were certainly severe. But, they too, seemed to have understood at the moment, that the spiritual was just as important.

Of equal interest were the prayers that appeared on Twitter. Almost as soon as Chubb went down, the Twitterverse got busy with prayers. Todd Gurley, a former UGA player and current NFL player, who tore his ACL in college, tweeted that he was praying for Chubb and his tweet was retweeted 7,957 times.

I find it interesting that parents have lamented for years about the poor role models that sports figures play for kids. I haven’t seen too much attention given to NFL players praying, unless it was to ridicule Tim Tebow as much as possible, for his strong faith.

There were Tweeted prayers from Aaron Murray, Marcus Lattimore, Tim Tebow, and Carl Lawson to name a few. A couple of those guys had knee injuries in college too and went on to do great things. Each young man allowed God to use him to publicly reach out to a fellow athlete, a fellow Christian.

Early Sunday evening, Chubb’s mother posted a heartfelt prayer and thanks of her own. “I thank God for being an awesome God and what an awesome God he is;” she began. She went on to say he had torn three ligaments, (not the dreaded ACL,), and would have surgery in a couple of weeks. She thanked everyone for their prayers. Then she said, “I do not doubt God or his plans…. We are going to increase our time with God and continue watching him work. Stay tuned….”

I guess we now know why Nick Chubb is said by all who meet him, to be a remarkable young man. His mama has clearly taught him to love the Lord.

You can Google the video and watch the injury play. While he is out for the season, he will be up and running again sooner than later. It could have been so much worse. Do prayers work? I suspect Chubb and his mama both, would say a resounding, “yes.” I’m sure they would also appreciate it if we would continue to pray for Nick.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Back in His Arms

Posted on by Wendy
Jesus always welcomes us back with open arms.
Jesus always welcomes us back with open arms.

Yesterday, when I mistimed going to run a few errands, I ended up behind a school bus. There are few things that I dislike more than riding for a mile, or less, then stopping, for what seems like forever. I know I’m not alone here. But, alas, that was my lot yesterday.

As I was sending a mental telepathy message to the driver to, “Please turn! Please turn,” he stopped again. Sigh. I drummed my fingers on the steering wheel, as I waited.

Then I watched a little girl get off the bus. She was tiny and couldn’t have been older than kindergarten or first grade. She had a light blue, “Frozen,” backpack on her back that was as almost as big as she was. I found myself smiling at how cute she was and remembered my own daughter carrying a pink, Barbie backpack when she was that age. I remember hers being too big for her too. Where had the time gone?

As the bus waited, I watched the little girl break out into a run right into the arms of her mother. It was so ordinary, but so sweet. She probably saw her mom just that morning, but missed her so much that just walking wasn’t fast enough.

Again, I remembered my own children being that excited to see me at the end of a long day. I also remember that I took as much comfort from them being safely back in my arms as they did.

I think Jesus probably feels the same way when we’ve wandered away, whether it’s a long work day without contact or many years. I think he stands like that mama in the driveway, with his arms outstretched, beckoning us back. It doesn’t really matter where we have been. He just wants us back, safely in his arms, and if we’re wise, we will run, just like that little girl did, because we really can’t get back in his arms fast enough.

I carried that thought around for the rest of the day and I thanked God for the sweet reminder. Maybe you needed one too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

 

Ordinary Blessings

Posted on by Wendy
Ever notice how brilliant the light is after you have weathered a storm?
Ever notice how brilliant the light is after you have weathered a storm?

Yesterday was the first time this school year that I have been in a school car rider line. My daughter started driving this year, so I have been relieved of my afternoon driving duties. But, yesterday she had something to do after school, so I had to go pick up my son.

It was a gorgeous fall day. It has rained here for the past couple of weeks. The day before was pretty too, but I worked that day, so I was indoors. Yesterday, I found myself cleaning house all day, so I was again indoors all day, until pick up time.

I’ll have to admit that I found myself slightly annoyed at having to go back to the car rider line. I spent an hour a day for eleven years, waiting for my kids to get out of school. Not being in that line has added a couple of hours to my day to get things done before my teens get home from school.

But, when I got in the car, the brilliant blue cloudless sky, was almost breathtaking. I don’t take time to notice the sky when it’s sunny everyday. But, after two weeks of rain? I found it stunning. I found myself giving a prayer of thanks for that beautiful sky.

I was reminded that our lives are full of everyday blessings like that sky, that we often take for granted until something unfortunate happens. We are blessed with health, and family, and friends, and plenty to eat, and pets that make us smile, houses to live in, people who love us and, well, if you took the time to make a list, you would probably run out of paper.

Sadly, we sometimes forget all of those ordinary blessings are in fact, blessings. We take them for granted. We focus on what we don’t have or what we want and not all of the bounty that we have, until the storms hit.

When the rains come and we scramble for peace and refuge, we remember. We remember what is really important and what truthfully, doesn’t matter at all. We gain new perspective for all we have.

And when the rains pass, and they always will, eventually, if we are wise, we give thanks to the One who not only helped us weather the storm, but has given us so much to be thankful for.

Yesterday, I found myself incredibly thankful for the sky and that I had a healthy child to pick up from school. I’ll bet you can think of at least couple of things you are thankful for too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

We Don’t Need a Season to Adore Him

Posted on by Wendy
There's never an incompatible season to adore Him.
There’s never an incompatible season to adore Him.

When I was driving to work yesterday morning, I’ll have to admit I felt kind of down. It had rained here in Georgia for close to two weeks. I had seen dozens of pictures on Facebook of our neighbors in South Carolina, literally washing away. These weren’t Weather Channel hype photos either; they were shared by people I know. I had been praying for the citizens there, but mourning with them as well.

The shootings in Oregon also weighed heavily on my mind. The world felt unusually dark to this normally glass half-full gal. As I scanned the radio for music, every channel featured deejays talking. I gave up and hit the CD button and music from my church’s Christmas Cantata began to play.

Yes, I’m aware that it’s only October, but if you want to learn something like eight songs by the second Sunday in December, you have to practice now. We are supposed to be listening to the cantata music before practice, to help us learn the new songs.

But, the truth is, I haven’t really found myself in the Christmas mood. I wasn’t ready for Christmas so I keep putting it off. But, this morning, I hit play, truthfully because I couldn’t find anything else to listen to.

Isn’t that how many of us end up at the foot of the cross? We simply have nowhere else to go.

The first song on that CD is really powerful. It’s about praising our coming merciful King with, o come let us adore Him. Then it switches to parts of, “Angels We Have Heard on High.”

It’s truly amazing how your heart and outlook can change when you are singing praise music to the top of your lungs for no one, but you and God to hear. When I got to the, “Gloria” part, I had tears running down my cheeks as I felt my spirit ignited by that which is Holy.

I needed to sing praises to Jesus that morning. My downtrodden heart needed the filling and uplifting that can only come from worshiping our Savior.

While it’s true that I’m not ready for Christmas trees and wreathes at retail stores when we haven’t even made it to Halloween, my heart is ready for the true meaning of Christmas.

I needed reminding in my dark moment that Jesus came to bring us all light, a miracle that’s worthy of praise regardless of the season. Yesterday I was reminded because I was desperate. But, then again, God is always faithful like that to those who seek Him.

Sometimes in between all of petitioning for intervention, I need to remember to stop and simply praise God. It’s amazing how it can change my outlook. Maybe it can change yours too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

P.S. If you want to hear an awesome version, I’ve attached one. Enjoy!

The Answer is Jesus

Posted on by Wendy
If we want to stop the violence in America, then our country has to turn back to God.
If we want to stop the violence in America, then our country has to turn back to God.

Last Thursday, in Oregon, a twenty-six year old gunman shot and killed 9 innocent people and wounded 9 more. They were students at a small community college who were simply trying to better themselves. Oh, yeah they were also Christians who openly professed their faith.

The media did its best to keep that crucial part of the story out of the headlines for as long as they could, but at some point, there were too many survivors telling the same story, for them to discount it.

The shooter first had his hostages lie face down on the floor. Then he had them stand up one by one and asked them if they were a Christian, if the answer was, “yes,” he shot them in the head.

Sadly, this isn’t the first time we have heard this narrative. The shooters at Columbine High School back in 1999, asked students to renounce Jesus. When they refused, they too, were shot and killed. There was even a story where one of those shooters pleaded with a girl to renounce Christ, like he didn’t want to shoot her, but had no choice. She refused and he killed her.

Interestingly enough, her father has appeared before Congress to discuss the importance of school prayer. He had the real issue right, way back then.

The families of the Oregon shooting hadn’t even been notified before our President had a press conference to call on new gun control laws and the press and political pundits jumped on board, both sides throwing barbs at the other. The Constitution was of course invoked, and the insults have flown.

And the real culprit, he’s enjoying every minute. Of course, chaos and destruction are on the top of his to-do list. The headline is not about guns or the right to own them or whether they should be controlled. The real headline is not even about the death of these saints who are sitting with Jesus.

The headline is that God has an enemy and therefore, God’s people have an enemy. Our enemy is Satan and he’s clever. He specializes in murder and mayhem. John 8:44 calls him, “a murderer from the beginning.”

1 Peter 5:8, says, “Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.”

Revelation 12:9, calls him, “the deceiver of the whole world.”

Does any of this sound familiar when we think of the killing of Christians? The bottom line is whether the murderer is in the form of ISIS, or two high school kids, or a teen who opens fire in a church, or a twenty-six year old loner, when a person kills another person for being a Christian, they are followers of Satan.

It’s not about mental illness or guns. Satan did a fine job throwing Christians to the lions back in 64 AD. I suppose we would consider Nero mentally ill today. Christians have been killed since Jesus went back to heaven.

Satan doesn’t need guns. All he needs is a populous who doesn’t call Jesus savior and doesn’t read the Bible. If people don’t read the Bible, then he can continue to do all of his evil undercover and we can all debate gun control.

“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” James 4:7

How can we resist the devil if we don’t acknowledge his existence?

To stop the violence, we have to turn back to God. We have to teach our children about Jesus. We have to share truth with our neighbors and with people who seem lost and on the edge.

The Bible says God is light and Jesus taught that the most important thing is love. When we were a nation of faithful Christians, we knew that. We were able to stop evil in the world, like Adolf Hitler, who I suppose now would be considered mentally ill.

The simple answer is Jesus. Any other debate is just a smoke screen.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

God Knew

Posted on by Wendy
We couldn't have possibly known last summer that South Carolina would have catastrophic flooding. But, God knew.
We couldn’t have possibly known last summer that South Carolina would have catastrophic flooding. But, God knew.

I clicked on the Weather Channel yesterday morning to figure out what I should wear to church. It had been raining for days and was unseasonably cool. But, when the page opened up, the headline made me catch my breath. It read, “Catastrophic Flooding in South Carolina.” What to wear to church was completely forgotten.

A Salkehatchie summer mission trip, to South Carolina, has made a lot of people there very dear to me and my daughter. I silently prayed for their safety as I scrolled through pictures of the horrible devastation that had roads that looked like rivers and Interstate Highways closed, due to flooding.

As the morning went on, I began to think about the couple that we were able to help on that trip. When we arrived, their ceiling was caving in from a roof leak in the front of their house. In the back of their house, the roof had leaked so badly that the floor had rotted completely out and was literally being held up by the carpet.

Another group worked on a house that had a tarp and cement blocks on the roof. No one knows how long it had been there. But, when the Two Rivers’ Director and her team, toured all of the homes of the people who had requested assistance, and there were many, one of the team members spotted the house with the tarp and said he felt led to talk to the owner. Upon learning that he was a disabled Vietnam Veteran and had no means to fix his roof, his house was chosen.

Keep in mind that according to Clemson University statistics, South Carolina has been in drought for 8 out of the last 10 years. But, according to a weather report, the Metro Columbia area, which was where we were working, got 5 to 10 inches of rain in just 24 hours and it was still coming down.

I thought of the couple that we helped. They had needed help for a long time. Their church had reached out to members of the community for assistance, and I’ve no doubt that they had prayed about it. But it wasn’t until last summer that help arrived with a brand new roof and new ceilings and floors on the inside and apparently, just in the nick of time.

There’s no way, that their home could have survived ten plus inches of rain. I suspect they would be homeless now. And the veteran with the tarp on his roof? There’s no way a tarp could have held out that kind of rain either. I suspect he too, may have been homeless, without intervention.

We had no way of knowing in the unprecedented heat wave last June, what was coming in October, but God knew. God knew unprecedented rain would be coming. He hand-picked each one of us and each one of those homeowners. God intervened and each one of us who volunteered allowed Him to intervene through us.

As horrible as all of the flooding is, and it’s bad, God reminded me this morning that He is here and working, even when it seems all is lost. Please join me in prayer for all of the residents of South Carolina. May they stay safe and dry and see blue skies soon. And may they all have the blessing of seeing God at work in the aftermath.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂