A Good Gift

I believe the point of our lives is to be a good gift to others, to use what we have been given in selfless ways that foster community and show us what it's like to lay down our lives so that others may live. 

If we aren't careful, this selfless way of living is all too easy to disregard because we are by nature selfish beings. The irony is that the more of ourselves we give, the more we actually discover who we really are.

Jesus modeled this so perfectly not just in his death but in the way he lived. Scripture tells us that even Jesus did not come to be served, but to serve. How often do I want to be served instead of serving?

Why does our culture celebrate the accumulation of stuff and not the one who gives it all away? Why do we celebrate fame and not the one who is quietly changing lives in their own neighborhood? Why do I fall prey to this selfish way of thinking so often?

Jesus, would you show us how to truly lay down our lives for others. How to not just be for people, but to physically be with them. Would you show us the significance of you becoming human and living among us so that we may become "one of" those we feel called to love.

Ultimately, give us neither poverty nor riches, simply give us our daily bread. In everything we have, may we use it to be the good gift to others that we were made to be.

At His Feet.

I want to give people Jesus in a genuine way.

To share with them everything he has given me and to practice dying to myself so that others may live and God be glorified.

This becomes a near impossible task when the focus narrows, and my vision goes no further than simply accomplishing all I must accomplish in a given day or week.

Rhythms matter in life, and when we are finding ourselves in unhealthy ones on a daily basis, they directly effect what we have to give to people and whether we even do it at all. We get selfish, overly task-oriented, and if we aren't careful can even lose the core vision of why we do what we do to begin with.

You see this occur all the time when father's are choosing career over family, single moms are having to work 40 hours a week just to provide and never see their kids, or in the lives of college students who bury themselves in books or over commit to too many things, just to name a few scenarios.

We even see this situation played out in scripture in Luke 10:38-42:

"As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one.Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

In the last few days I have had multiple people ask me, "What's your dream?" or "What's your goal?".

Truthfully, I didn't know how to answer them because I hadn't thought about it in a while. I got so caught up in the day to day stuff that long-term vision and dreams took a backseat.

Accomplishing things is not bad. Being faithful in what God has given us on a daily basis is key. However if we refuse to sit at the feet of Jesus and find contentment in being with the Lord, we are absolutely missing out.

Obedience to God is not burdensome, God is not a slave driver. He is an Abba, Father. A daddy. A father to the fatherless who loves us and who has hopes and dreams for our lives that would blow our mind. He wants to give us good gifts, he desires for us to take our burdens and give them to him.

Scripture speaks directly against this fearful and anxious living we so often practice.

To be healthy, we must put ourselves at the feet of Jesus. Always listening, allowing him to love us, to challenge us, to speak to us the next steps he has for us. This is not combative to faithfulness in the little things each day, but rather drives it.

In our wounded souls we tell ourselves we are not even worthy of a God who deeply and intimately cares about us and who has hopes and dreams for our future. We treat ourselves as his employees rather than his sons and daughters.

May God deeply and holistically love you today.

Though The Earth Give Way

"God is our refuge and strength,
    an ever-present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
    and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea"

- Psalm 46: 1-2

Have you ever felt like you had the rug pulled out from under you?

Or experienced unforseen pain, heartache, and other chaotic situations that sent your head spinning and your heart down a dark road?

I feel like most of the hurt we undergo in this lifetime comes from stuff we never expected. It's like we start out as children a giant boulder, but we get put under the waterfall of a fallen world that erodes us until we are nothing more than a pebble.

"The Lord Almighty is with us;
    the God of Jacob is our fortress."

- Psalm 46:7

All of the sudden it hits us all at once, giving us a feeling like we are drowning and can barely keep our head above water.

The Earth gives way and we crumble, left as a shell of the person we were before. We call out for rescue, trying desperately to figure out how we ended up in this horrible place.

"He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
    I will be exalted among the nations,
    I will be exalted in the earth.”

- Psalm 46:10

In our heart rages a battle between confusion, hurt, love, joy, etc. It's a endless cycle of emotions.

We struggle to find the foundation under us.

"He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
"The Lord Almighty is with us;
    the God of Jacob is our fortress."

- Psalm 46: 10-11

That's the foundation. That's how we stop from crumbling when our world seems to fall apart. That's how we get through each day and all that it brings. That is the air we breathe, our rock, our fortress.

That's how you thrive in this life filled with chaos. Go ahead, try other stuff. However, take the word of a guy that has been through hell and back in multiple ways and who has experienced the faithfulness of God first hand.

God is our rock, and he never fails.

Stay the course. Don't give up. Don't lose heart.

You Are Anything But Ordinary

Some days I find myself waking up and thinking "Wow, there are so many mundane tasks I have to accomplish today. Life just feels....ordinary." 

I might even sit down for a few minutes and scroll through my news feed on Facebook or Twitter to see what others are up to. Chances are I will read about all kinds of folks who are doing a ton of other things that are really extraordinary. 

Then that thought comes back, but in a different way: "I'm so.....ordinary".

Am I though? Is my existence on this Earth nothing more than a rhythm of work, rest, hang with friends, work again, get a haircut, work, friends....... etc?

Do you ever feel ordinary? Like, what's the point?

You see it's all about perspective. There is this lie out there in this global world, where every second of the day we have an outlet to compare ourselves to others, that what we are doing or who we are is just not good enough or cool enough.

It's a lie that tells us, not only as we not as good as the next person, but our lives carry no weight or influence in the places we go and with the people we see. 

WRONG.

If you are a follower of Christ, then every single day you have a heavenly Father showering fatherly love on you just aching to have your heart become one with his. Not only that, but He also makes us whole in a way where we don't have to compare ourselves to others.

"For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again." - 2 Corinthians 5:14-15

Because Christ died to restore our right relationship with the Father, we too now have a role to play in the way we love others in our everyday lives.

"So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." - 2 Corinthians 16-21

Your life is consequently anything but ordinary. Every single day we live, we have been gifted with the opportunity to receive the love of the Father for ourselves, and then to be that love for others.

Life is a day by day process. There are no big things that don't contain lots of little steps to get there. Anyone who has achieved anything of worth will tell you that it took lots of day to day discipline and hard work.

As Mother Teresa once said: "There are no big things, only small things with great love."

Live today as the loved, reconciled, ambassador of peace that you are. Let God work in and through you to transform those seemingly ordinary places, into places where people experience the love of God.

The Table

You know what's so wonderful about potluck dinners?

Everybody brings something to the table. Nobody comes empty handed with nothing to give. People are empowered to feel a sense of actualization as a contributing member to the meal. They understand that they have something to give, even if its a bag of chips. They have something everyone else can use.

Potlucks are everywhere in today's church culture. They provide context for community and put everyone on an equal playing field. Everyone brought something, so everyone instantly becomes "one of" the community.

That sense of contribution and the subsequent feeling of confidence and pride that comes with it is invaluable to forming a healthy community. 

So why are so many systems of service in America acting in opposition to that sense of "oneness" & "togetherness"? For all of our culture of service, are the people we are coming in contact with feeling like they bring something to the table as well? Are they being allowed to feel like they have something to offer?

I look no further than my own life to relate to the poverty mindset. I grew up in a tough home situation, where much of the time we didn't have much money or resources. There were many people who dropped off groceries on our front doorstep and ran away, or who helped us one time and then never again.

But you know what made the biggest difference? The people in my life who called me friend. They didn't view me as a project, they weren't primarily concerned with "saving me". They simply cared about who I was, who I was becoming, and showing me what I had to bring to the table.

Just read what Jesus says in John 15: 9, 12-17 (emphasis mine):

"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other."

Jesus has called us friends. By his great love and the work of his Holy Spirit, he has revealed to those of us who follow him who we are, how we are gifted, and has empowered us to play a part, to contribute, to his work on this Earth.

This is a glimpse of what Jesus has been saying to me. There are action steps ahead that will come with time.

I want you to consider what this means for you. When you give or serve, are you letting the Holy Spirit guide you and are you focusing on the "who"? Are you seeking to form community and looking for ways to allow people to use their gifts? Are you taking on a spirit of humility and a desire to learn?

How can we stop measuring our service by how it affects us? How can we be people who empower others through the Holy Spirit to take next steps in who they are becoming?

"Nobody is so poor that they have nothing to bring to the table." - Bob Lupton

We all bring something, and we should never be so selfish as to disallow others to bring what they have. We must care for the needs of those we serve above our own. 

Very simply, as Jesus has loved us, so we must love others.

10,000 Reasons

How many times has your heart been broken?

How many times have you trusted someone only to be let down?

How many times have you have experienced something so painful that you doubted your heart would ever recover from it?

Over my lifetime I would estimate I have felt like this 1,000 + times. At least that's how I can perceive it sometimes.

It's no secret that life can be unpredictable & that our hearts can be wounded over and over....and over again. In this lifetime every single one of us will experience great pain and great joy. It is a mixed bag of emotions,circumstances, and our reactions. How we make meaning of this lifetime is everything.

I know a lot of people that as "life happens" allow their hearts to become hardened, and feel themselves getting truly lonely on the inside. Maybe they never show it on the outside, maybe they do, but the one thing they have in common is a feeling of being shrouded in darkness and being on autopilot. To them, God is no more than a bully who wants to judge them, or maybe He doesn't exist at all.

Then there are those ridiculous, insane people who as "life happens" actually get stronger. Not in a way that's pretending to be tough, but I mean they actually become better people for their experiences. They are growing and thriving, learning from each day. Sure they fall, but they get back up. To them, God has compassion on their hearts and a plan/purpose for their lives.

There are 2 foundational truths we need to understand about our existence:

1. We were born into a spiritual battle for our hearts between a God that loves us unconditionally and an enemy seeking to destroy any shred of that love he possibly can.

2. There is a God in heaven who created us to be in perfect relationship with him and who has created a great story of reconciliation, sacrifice, and redemption in which we are being transformed into his likeness and having our original purpose restored. Not only that, we have a part to play in this story.

In my 24 years on this Earth, I have experienced death, homelessness, a public shooting, poverty, depression, abandonment, heartache, failure, car accidents, being in prison, hunger, etc.

The Apostle Paul tells us his experiences with being shipwrecked, tortured, imprisoned, beaten, etc.

In the context of those experiences he writes this in Phillipians 4:11-13.

"I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength."

The "him" he is talking about is Jesus. In spite of all he has lived through, Paul stills trusts with all his heart in Jesus.

For all the 1,000 + times I have felt separated from the love of God, there are 10,000 more when God has been victorious.

He is my rock, the strength of my heart. He is the foundation upon which I rest. He is my refuge and strength, an ever present help in trouble. He is my fortress, He is a mighty God. He is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love.  He is my everything.

Friends, your life has a purpose. God cares deeply about you and your heart. There is more to life than being a victim of a crazy emotional roller coaster. More than being tossed around by circumstances.

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess in Christ our Lord, for he is faithful to heal us. His mercies are new every morning. He is the author and the perfector of our faith. Nothing in all of creation can truly separate us from Him.

Thrive

There are a few lyrics from the Switchfoot song "Thrive" off of their album "Vice Verses" that I absolutely love:

"A steering wheel don't mean you can drive
A warm body don't mean I'm alive
Feel like I travel but I never arrive
I wanna thrive not just survive"

And isn't that just how life feels sometimes? 

Void of a sense of intimacy and real joy, we go from thing to thing, task to task, meeting to meeting almost on autopilot. We are technically alive, but nothing about the way we feel inside or interact with people would give any indication that we are.

Much of the time, we get so used to it that we barely even notice our heart has become a little more hard and our will a little more weak. We remember how we used to feel, who we used to be, and the present just feels so....impossible. overwhelming. frustrating.

Was it meant to be like this? Were we meant to just "get through" each day?

I have to believe there is more. More than the anxiety, the fear, the need for control. There is no way we were given the gift of life just to use it to run the rat race for success and to get there at all costs.

There is no way we were created to only focus on ourselves and our needs, having no awareness of the people around us or the overwhelming love of the Father.

Believe me, I get it. We have to work while going to school while having a significant other while having friends while being involved in church while....etc.

Maybe there are some things in our life that we are investing time in that shouldn't be there, but for most of us it's all good and necessary stuff taking up our time.

                    "Cast all your anxiety on Him because he cares for you" - 1 peter 5:7

                                         If you are reading this and feel anxious. 
               Take a deep breath. Take 5 minutes. Turn off the computer, phone, etc. 
                             Bask in the love and mercy of our Heavenly Father. 
                   Feel His love for you. Breathe it in. Meditate on the above verse, 
                                        and understand 2 things about God:

                                                           He is strong.

                                          He loves you with a deep, deep love.

                                        Be STILL and KNOW that He is God.
            
                                                              Repeat.