Here's a picture of Shana and Mommy from Shana's first birthday...
She's already a year old!!! I can't believe my baby is so big. So much fun, and everyday she is doing more stuff. Today she said "ma-na-na" about a banana.
Enjoy!
Thursday, July 26, 2007
John 13 (continued)
At this same worship service, I marveled at Christ's wisdom. This chapter is the one that governs DuPont Villages Community Church's vision! (http://www.dvcc2002.org/)
So as I was struggling in church that one day, I also reflected that Christ has the same message for the church, which is "serving one person at a time." We serve as we have been served.
One of the beautiful things about DVCC is how people serve each other with love and humility. Whatever needs to be done gets done. People also check on each other to see how they're doing.
When we are served, we can go out and serve powerfully by the Holy Spirit with the love of Christ. So it is not for our own good that we serve each other; it is for the sake of the world that we serve each other.
Every kind word, every phone call, every prayer, and every meal serves to advance the cause of Christ in our world today. So the way to "serve one person at a time" is to continue to serve our body and to continue to let yourself be served.
So as I was struggling in church that one day, I also reflected that Christ has the same message for the church, which is "serving one person at a time." We serve as we have been served.
One of the beautiful things about DVCC is how people serve each other with love and humility. Whatever needs to be done gets done. People also check on each other to see how they're doing.
When we are served, we can go out and serve powerfully by the Holy Spirit with the love of Christ. So it is not for our own good that we serve each other; it is for the sake of the world that we serve each other.
Every kind word, every phone call, every prayer, and every meal serves to advance the cause of Christ in our world today. So the way to "serve one person at a time" is to continue to serve our body and to continue to let yourself be served.
"Unless you let me wash you..."
"You have no part with me." - John 13:8b
These chilling words from Jesus to Peter on the day He washed His disciples' feet have resonated in the back of my head since the first weekend women from my church (www.dvcc2002.org) started their 2-week care program for me and Shana after my foot surgery.
I really struggled with having women over at my house doing things for me until the Lord used this entire chapter to minister to me that morning at church. I knew that I had to humble myself and invite people into my home to serve me to love me as Christ loves me. That is really hard!
What's hard about it? Not only does our culture breed independence, but we are born with it because of our sin nature. The first sin Adam and Eve committed was a blatant example of their headstrong nature. I inherited that directly from them. Wheeew.
So to have people in my home, mopping my floor, taking out my trash, entertaining and diapering Shana, doing crazy stuff like wash diapers (thanks, May), and driving me to the licensing office to find I got my pass when I got home (thanks, Julie) was a spiritual exercise.
I had to remember that Jesus wanted to serve me, that He knows our needs and wants to meet them. It is in being served by Christ (and sometimes that is through the Church, His Body) that I am served, rejuvenated, healed, ministered to, loved on, and washed by His grace. I am also reminded of my place in His church.
Unless I let Him take care of me, I have no place in him!? God knows how I work, so to move me on in the journey, I had to do the tough work of letting the Body of Christ take care of me. This decisive move happened in the middle of the prayer over me at the service.
Unless we let God love us, unless we spend time with Him intimately, unless we let Him grow us up in His love, we have no part with him. We cannot minister apart from His grace. This makes me think of John 15:5, the fact that Jesus is the vine and we are the branches. Of course, branches separate from the vine wither.
Thank you, God, for drawing me closer through this spiritual lesson. And thank you, women of DVCC, for loving me with Christ's love.
These chilling words from Jesus to Peter on the day He washed His disciples' feet have resonated in the back of my head since the first weekend women from my church (www.dvcc2002.org) started their 2-week care program for me and Shana after my foot surgery.
I really struggled with having women over at my house doing things for me until the Lord used this entire chapter to minister to me that morning at church. I knew that I had to humble myself and invite people into my home to serve me to love me as Christ loves me. That is really hard!
What's hard about it? Not only does our culture breed independence, but we are born with it because of our sin nature. The first sin Adam and Eve committed was a blatant example of their headstrong nature. I inherited that directly from them. Wheeew.
So to have people in my home, mopping my floor, taking out my trash, entertaining and diapering Shana, doing crazy stuff like wash diapers (thanks, May), and driving me to the licensing office to find I got my pass when I got home (thanks, Julie) was a spiritual exercise.
I had to remember that Jesus wanted to serve me, that He knows our needs and wants to meet them. It is in being served by Christ (and sometimes that is through the Church, His Body) that I am served, rejuvenated, healed, ministered to, loved on, and washed by His grace. I am also reminded of my place in His church.
Unless I let Him take care of me, I have no place in him!? God knows how I work, so to move me on in the journey, I had to do the tough work of letting the Body of Christ take care of me. This decisive move happened in the middle of the prayer over me at the service.
Unless we let God love us, unless we spend time with Him intimately, unless we let Him grow us up in His love, we have no part with him. We cannot minister apart from His grace. This makes me think of John 15:5, the fact that Jesus is the vine and we are the branches. Of course, branches separate from the vine wither.
Thank you, God, for drawing me closer through this spiritual lesson. And thank you, women of DVCC, for loving me with Christ's love.
God wants you to live!
Ezekiel 18, The Message, has these verses in it:
At the beginning of the chapter: "Every soul—man, woman, child—belongs to me, parent and child alike. You die for your own sin, not another's."
Then at the end: "The upshot is this, Israel: I'll judge each of you according to the way you live. So turn around! Turn your backs on your rebellious living so that sin won't drag you down. Clean house. No more rebellions, please. Get a new heart! Get a new spirit! Why would you choose to die, Israel? I take no pleasure in anyone's death. Decree of God, the Master.
"Make a clean break! Live!"
This passage really spoke to me yesterday morning. If you read all of Ezekiel 18, it seems that the Israelites were whining and cursing God for their lot. However, if you read into ancient Israelite history at that time, through the books of the Bible, you will quickly notice that God gave them commandments which would lead to life and declared that disobedience would lead to death and destruction.
One thing I notice is that the Israelites were quick to blame others for their misery, rather than understanding that God had made it really clear to them. Obedience, life. Disobedience, death, misery, and destruction. It was that easy, but of course it couldn't be THEIR fault they were miserable!
How does this apply to us today! Many people will quickly say that we live under a new covenant that says that life in Jesus will do the same as obedience so that if we accept Jesus we will live. They are right, to an extent.
What is wrong with this is that it is not complete. Accepting Jesus as Savior means claiming Jesus as Lord. We have to let Jesus's life change us. He wants us to still obey God. There is certainly not any part of our salvation we can earn, but if we stop at salvation and don't go on to obedience, we also lose out not only on the life God promises, but on any change occurring in our lives.
We must allow the salvation we accepted in Jesus to permeate our lives so that we are different. We must allow the Trinity (God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) to have access to the deep resources of our lives so that God sees our obedience.
I think that what God said to the Israelites through Ezekiel is true for us today. In Christian circles, there is a lot of murmuring and heartache and I believe that God does still NOT take pleasure in our death (or anyone's who is not a believer). We can love Jesus but live miserably.
How do our current states of mind lend themselves to change by the Holy Spirit? Do you know that God desires LIFE for you, and not death, destruction, and misery?
At the beginning of the chapter: "Every soul—man, woman, child—belongs to me, parent and child alike. You die for your own sin, not another's."
Then at the end: "The upshot is this, Israel: I'll judge each of you according to the way you live. So turn around! Turn your backs on your rebellious living so that sin won't drag you down. Clean house. No more rebellions, please. Get a new heart! Get a new spirit! Why would you choose to die, Israel? I take no pleasure in anyone's death. Decree of God, the Master.
"Make a clean break! Live!"
This passage really spoke to me yesterday morning. If you read all of Ezekiel 18, it seems that the Israelites were whining and cursing God for their lot. However, if you read into ancient Israelite history at that time, through the books of the Bible, you will quickly notice that God gave them commandments which would lead to life and declared that disobedience would lead to death and destruction.
One thing I notice is that the Israelites were quick to blame others for their misery, rather than understanding that God had made it really clear to them. Obedience, life. Disobedience, death, misery, and destruction. It was that easy, but of course it couldn't be THEIR fault they were miserable!
How does this apply to us today! Many people will quickly say that we live under a new covenant that says that life in Jesus will do the same as obedience so that if we accept Jesus we will live. They are right, to an extent.
What is wrong with this is that it is not complete. Accepting Jesus as Savior means claiming Jesus as Lord. We have to let Jesus's life change us. He wants us to still obey God. There is certainly not any part of our salvation we can earn, but if we stop at salvation and don't go on to obedience, we also lose out not only on the life God promises, but on any change occurring in our lives.
We must allow the salvation we accepted in Jesus to permeate our lives so that we are different. We must allow the Trinity (God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) to have access to the deep resources of our lives so that God sees our obedience.
I think that what God said to the Israelites through Ezekiel is true for us today. In Christian circles, there is a lot of murmuring and heartache and I believe that God does still NOT take pleasure in our death (or anyone's who is not a believer). We can love Jesus but live miserably.
How do our current states of mind lend themselves to change by the Holy Spirit? Do you know that God desires LIFE for you, and not death, destruction, and misery?
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
On Sabbatical...
It is truly hard to be on sabbatical. I find that it is remarkably tempting to find things to do that make me feel productive, or just sit around and waste away, doing nothing with the time that I have that is really precious.
The ideal situation would be to be methodical in my planning and execution of tasks, whether it be reading, playing with Shana (which is hard with one foot in the air), and prayerfully considering where I am in my spiritual journey.
As I consider how Christ pursued such times as his 40 days wandering in the desert, I realize we have no recollection of what He did during His times except for "pray." Mark 1:35 says He ran off to the woods where no one was and prayed to His father.
Would my time on sabbatical net such results. I would love to go and be poured into, but I seem to find myself wrestling with being separated from the rest of humanity...I wonder what that is all about...
The ideal situation would be to be methodical in my planning and execution of tasks, whether it be reading, playing with Shana (which is hard with one foot in the air), and prayerfully considering where I am in my spiritual journey.
As I consider how Christ pursued such times as his 40 days wandering in the desert, I realize we have no recollection of what He did during His times except for "pray." Mark 1:35 says He ran off to the woods where no one was and prayed to His father.
Would my time on sabbatical net such results. I would love to go and be poured into, but I seem to find myself wrestling with being separated from the rest of humanity...I wonder what that is all about...
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