I linked this on Facebook, but it's worth reposting here! This brings tears to my eyes every time I watch it...what a message!
That's My King! - S.M. Lockridge
The grave couldn't hold Him!!!
He is risen!
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Three Years
Somehow, it seems like it's been more than three years since I Stepped Out into writing at Beer Lahai Roi. So much has happened...notably, I went from being an at-home mom to being a very part-time office odd-job person to being in charge of maintaining the data for the church data base and struggling to keep to no more than a 20 hour work week. Not to mention the two Girls' Ministries classes I teach on a weekly basis.
I can go back now and read some of those early posts and feel like I'm reading someone else's writing. Weird. But, I suppose in a way I am.
Still. I read the first year's postings and realize that I am not writing on that level now. That bothers me. Not so much that I want to write great posts...of course, I do, but I'm missing the revelation that leads to great posts. That pretty much comes from thinking and pondering and studying and praying and THEN writing...usually first in the journal and then, after more processing, in a blog post. I'm missing the writing step. If I don't write it down, I feel like I lose something.
In several recent posts, I've seen something like I've got some things to write about that I learned during [the fast, the conference, my study time, whatever] I'll write about that later.
Only later didn't happen. And now I'm not sure what I had in my spirit to say. I lost it. And that's not good.
So...I need to be more aware of what I'm hearing and more intentional about recording it. Not just for the blog, you know. For me. For growth.
And, having said all of that, I have to say how incredibly grateful I am for those of you who have stuck with me here for the last 3 years. You bless me more than you know when Sitemeter tells me folks have been by. Some I know by the location...some of you I really don't know. But I see some of the same places repeating so I know you're there. I'm humbled that folks would come by here; from the innermost part of my heart...thank you.
I can go back now and read some of those early posts and feel like I'm reading someone else's writing. Weird. But, I suppose in a way I am.
Still. I read the first year's postings and realize that I am not writing on that level now. That bothers me. Not so much that I want to write great posts...of course, I do, but I'm missing the revelation that leads to great posts. That pretty much comes from thinking and pondering and studying and praying and THEN writing...usually first in the journal and then, after more processing, in a blog post. I'm missing the writing step. If I don't write it down, I feel like I lose something.
In several recent posts, I've seen something like I've got some things to write about that I learned during [the fast, the conference, my study time, whatever] I'll write about that later.
Only later didn't happen. And now I'm not sure what I had in my spirit to say. I lost it. And that's not good.
So...I need to be more aware of what I'm hearing and more intentional about recording it. Not just for the blog, you know. For me. For growth.
And, having said all of that, I have to say how incredibly grateful I am for those of you who have stuck with me here for the last 3 years. You bless me more than you know when Sitemeter tells me folks have been by. Some I know by the location...some of you I really don't know. But I see some of the same places repeating so I know you're there. I'm humbled that folks would come by here; from the innermost part of my heart...thank you.
Friday, April 22, 2011
Faithful Friday Faves: Hosea
Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi
Hosea. The faithful husband of an unfaithful wife and the power of redemptive love.
As has happened so many times in this little journey, I had a verse in mind to post when I began skimming through, but another one caught my eye. Probably because of my current season of reprioritizing and reoganizing:
Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the LORD, until he comes and showers righteousness on you. - Hos. 10:12
It's hard work, breaking fallow ground. Things that have been ignored for season after season that have become weedy and overgrown and rocky. As a friend said in a prayer luncheon yesterday, not even knowing that I have pulled things out of closets and corners and wrecked my house in the process of trying to improve things, 'We get tempted to just shove everything back, just to get it out of sight again, but it's time to take care of it and do it right.'
So I'll live with the upturned and uprooted for a while longer. I'm determined to not quit in the process...but to really seek God and His direction through it.
And try not to panic because we have a high school graduation in four weeks... ;)
Hosea. The faithful husband of an unfaithful wife and the power of redemptive love.
As has happened so many times in this little journey, I had a verse in mind to post when I began skimming through, but another one caught my eye. Probably because of my current season of reprioritizing and reoganizing:
Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the LORD, until he comes and showers righteousness on you. - Hos. 10:12
It's hard work, breaking fallow ground. Things that have been ignored for season after season that have become weedy and overgrown and rocky. As a friend said in a prayer luncheon yesterday, not even knowing that I have pulled things out of closets and corners and wrecked my house in the process of trying to improve things, 'We get tempted to just shove everything back, just to get it out of sight again, but it's time to take care of it and do it right.'
So I'll live with the upturned and uprooted for a while longer. I'm determined to not quit in the process...but to really seek God and His direction through it.
And try not to panic because we have a high school graduation in four weeks... ;)
Friday, April 15, 2011
Faithful Friday Faves: Daniel
Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi
Can I just say that, in my most HUMBLE opinion, Daniel is one of the coolest dudes in the Bible? There is so much in the book that bears his name that is encouraging to believers in an unbelieving society.
We just happened to have had 'The Second Annual Very Veggie Pickle Party' in our Friends Club (Middle School Girls) class Wednesday night; festivities include a costumed cucumber contest, Pin the Tooth on the Cucumber, eating veggie pizza and drinking V8 and watching an episode of Veggie Tales. Since the unit we're currently studying is Peer Pressure, I took in the classic Rack, Shack and Benny.
Mr. Lunt: Hey, Boss, how many guys did we throw into the furnace?
Mr Nezzer: Uh...three?
Mr. Lunt: Well, there's FOUR guys walking around in there now! And one of 'em is REAL SHINEY! And, Boss,...they ain't burnin' up!
Of course, the veggie version did not show the true picture of the furnace, heated to seven times its usual temperature, killing the soldiers who threw Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah (their actual Hebrew given names, by the way) into the fire. Given that little detail, those Hebrew fellows should've been dead before they even hit the flames. But...they weren't.
Nebuchadnezzar then approached the opening of the blazing furnace and shouted, "Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out! Come here!"
So Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego came out of the fire, and the satraps, prefects, governors and royal advisers crowded around them. They saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads singed; their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them. -- Dan. 3:26 - 27
The ropes that had bound them, however, were gone.
Hmmm....
Can I just say that, in my most HUMBLE opinion, Daniel is one of the coolest dudes in the Bible? There is so much in the book that bears his name that is encouraging to believers in an unbelieving society.
We just happened to have had 'The Second Annual Very Veggie Pickle Party' in our Friends Club (Middle School Girls) class Wednesday night; festivities include a costumed cucumber contest, Pin the Tooth on the Cucumber, eating veggie pizza and drinking V8 and watching an episode of Veggie Tales. Since the unit we're currently studying is Peer Pressure, I took in the classic Rack, Shack and Benny.
Mr. Lunt: Hey, Boss, how many guys did we throw into the furnace?
Mr Nezzer: Uh...three?
Mr. Lunt: Well, there's FOUR guys walking around in there now! And one of 'em is REAL SHINEY! And, Boss,...they ain't burnin' up!
Of course, the veggie version did not show the true picture of the furnace, heated to seven times its usual temperature, killing the soldiers who threw Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah (their actual Hebrew given names, by the way) into the fire. Given that little detail, those Hebrew fellows should've been dead before they even hit the flames. But...they weren't.
Nebuchadnezzar then approached the opening of the blazing furnace and shouted, "Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out! Come here!"
So Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego came out of the fire, and the satraps, prefects, governors and royal advisers crowded around them. They saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads singed; their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them. -- Dan. 3:26 - 27
The ropes that had bound them, however, were gone.
Hmmm....
Friday, April 8, 2011
Faithful Friday Faves: Ezekiel
Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi
In the vernacular of my youth, my first reaction to skimming through Ezekiel is, "Man, that's heavy!"
A wide range of passages caught my eye; from sure and swift coming judgment to promises of deliverance and restoration. Not to mention the special effects. I've always felt Ezekiel (and John, too, writing Revelation) had a huge challenge, since he was recording things that he saw that he had no language to describe.
...the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God. -Ez. 1:1b
I talk about this sometimes in the classes that I teach teenagers. We are so limited by our three-dimensional existence that we tend to assume heaven...the throne of God...is just another 3 dimensional place. Someplace.
But...God made the heavens and the earth. That pretty much covers the universe. The union of contiguous 3-dimensional space.
And God created it. From outside of it.
So it stands to reason that God is a being of more than three dimensions, and the space in which He dwells in His glory would be more than a three dimensional space.
So, imagine being given, for just a moment, the ability to see outside of our three dimensions. And then having the task of recording what you saw.
I've heard various secular explanations of the visions Ezekiel saw, ranging from alien spaceships to drug-induced hallucinations. But I, for one, believe he saw something real that surpasses human experience.
Someday, we'll all see what he saw, and then no doubt we'll find that, while the mental pictures his words constructed did not match the reality, his words were nonetheless accurate descriptions of his visions.
Or at least as accurate as a human being's vocabulary could manage.
Heavy, man.
In the vernacular of my youth, my first reaction to skimming through Ezekiel is, "Man, that's heavy!"
A wide range of passages caught my eye; from sure and swift coming judgment to promises of deliverance and restoration. Not to mention the special effects. I've always felt Ezekiel (and John, too, writing Revelation) had a huge challenge, since he was recording things that he saw that he had no language to describe.
...the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God. -Ez. 1:1b
I talk about this sometimes in the classes that I teach teenagers. We are so limited by our three-dimensional existence that we tend to assume heaven...the throne of God...is just another 3 dimensional place. Someplace.
But...God made the heavens and the earth. That pretty much covers the universe. The union of contiguous 3-dimensional space.
And God created it. From outside of it.
So it stands to reason that God is a being of more than three dimensions, and the space in which He dwells in His glory would be more than a three dimensional space.
So, imagine being given, for just a moment, the ability to see outside of our three dimensions. And then having the task of recording what you saw.
I've heard various secular explanations of the visions Ezekiel saw, ranging from alien spaceships to drug-induced hallucinations. But I, for one, believe he saw something real that surpasses human experience.
Someday, we'll all see what he saw, and then no doubt we'll find that, while the mental pictures his words constructed did not match the reality, his words were nonetheless accurate descriptions of his visions.
Or at least as accurate as a human being's vocabulary could manage.
Heavy, man.
Friday, April 1, 2011
Faithful Friday Faves: Lamentations
Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi
One-two punch...Jeremiah and then Lamentations. It is not so hard these days to imagine a society declining from prosperous and peaceful to shattered and broken. Folks who had amenities in their society finding themselves without the resources to which they were accustomed.
Natural disasters, warfare, terrorist attacks...they've all proven to us over the years that the veneer of civilization is very thin. Lamentations is a powerful and sobering look at a post apocalyptic society.
And yet.
Just about right slap in the middle is a ray of sunshine in a dreary landscape:
Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the LORD's great love, we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself,"The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him." The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD. -- Lam. 3:21 - 26
One-two punch...Jeremiah and then Lamentations. It is not so hard these days to imagine a society declining from prosperous and peaceful to shattered and broken. Folks who had amenities in their society finding themselves without the resources to which they were accustomed.
Natural disasters, warfare, terrorist attacks...they've all proven to us over the years that the veneer of civilization is very thin. Lamentations is a powerful and sobering look at a post apocalyptic society.
And yet.
Just about right slap in the middle is a ray of sunshine in a dreary landscape:
Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the LORD's great love, we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself,"The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him." The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD. -- Lam. 3:21 - 26
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Deconstruction
We have a new pastor at church who will be over our discipleship/education areas, and he wanted to see material from past programs. So I've dug out my binder from what we called 'RELEASE' school of ministry...7 12-week courses all geared to training folks in areas needed for doing any kind of service. The courses were:
Responsibility
Excellence
Leadership
Experience
Authority
Spirit
Execution
This was in the 2002- 2004 time frame; on Wednesday nights before I got involved in the Girls' Ministry program. However, the church grew so fast that we literally ran out of places to put the classes and the 7th session never was (or, maybe, hasn't yet been) offered.
The basic structure for each course was that we had a book to read, we were given a specific portion of the Bible to read so that we read the entire Book over the course of the 7 - class schedule, pertinent Scripture to memorize, and classes to attend. At the end of each course, we were to turn in a one-page book report on the book and do a small written test on the memory work.
The book report was a very interesting thing. It was to be 3 paragraphs; the first was a summary of the book, the second was noting what was personally significant and the third was to be action point or points to be taken as a result of what was learned.
I actually thought it would be good to apply that process to any book I read...and I did it once.
Now, when I pulled the binder with all my accumulated material (the one class I'm missing just happens to be the 7th one) to take in to our new pastor, I read over some of it. I was dismayed to find that lack of follow through on my intention to summarize the books I'd read was pretty much the picture in a nutshell of my staying power on what I'd learned in general.
I have failed to implement even one of my action points...and they were good, important points, all geared to deepening my relationship with my Lord. What happened?
My friends, I got busy. And I got distracted.
I looked over my history for the past 6 - 7 years, and I found that 1)My ministry involvement at church increased tremendously 2) My volunteer sewing increased tremendously and 3) My time on the internet, in online sewing communities, blogging, and now Facebook increased tremendously.
Now, there's nothing *wrong* with any of that, and some of it is even commendable, but if my personal spiritual growth has stagnated then it is Not Good.
But it's all part of Who I Am Now.
And I'm reminded that, at the start of the year, I asked God to take me apart and put me back together again and I realize that all of this is part of that process. I do not want just fall back into the old patterns once I'm 100% healthy and back to Doing again.
It's a submission issue, of course, and I actually summed it up in my book report for the Responsibility class (the book was The Glad Surrender, by Elisabeth Elliot):
...discipline is not so much an act of my will forcing my behavior, but of my will submitting to the Father and letting Him mold my behavior...to do what I have repeatedly proven I cannot do in my own strength and determination.
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