I imagine that the day I arrive Home and see my Jesus' face, I will realize that a lot of my life was spent just guessing. Maybe the things I think are so important, actually won't be. I bet most of the things we spend so much time doubting and debating over won't matter near as much; because when we arrive Home, Jesus will have answered everything and maybe we will see all that really mattered was Love. Yes, I believe theology is important and knowing what the Bible says, but I think it would do us good to remember, as Rich Mullins put it, "that God is right and the rest of us are just guessing." Mary didn't recognize Jesus the first time at the tomb; she took him to be a gardener. But Jesus didn't embarrass her or give her a lecture. He just said her name, "Mary." Jesus did somethings similar with the Samaritan woman. Yes, he did tell her all she had done, but to say he knew her and he wanted to be her living water. The kindness of Jesu...
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~Friendships Be careful with your expectations. Remember Jesus calls you friend. Hold your friends loosely, but hold them. People go. friends change. I change. You change. We're suppose to. Paths may not cross. Some friends we are called to fight for, and some we are called to release. Jealousy and envy are death to a friendship. Remember, Proverbs 18:21, "The tongue has the power of life and death." A good part of our transformation takes place in the satisfying work of relationships. There isn't anything on earth like relationships to make us holy. Forgive offenses. Jesus was deserted by all his disciples when a friend is most needed. After he told them to love one another as he had loved them. I wonder if they really knew what he was doing for them. That he was going to be torn apart for them. He died for them anyway, and entrusted them afterwards with discipling hearts. Relationships are gifts from God. Another one of those good ...
Joni and Friends disability ministry, China July 11- August 1 Our team all met in Beijing for the first time all from different states and many different backgrounds. It’s was a beautiful thing to see and remember what Love can do to bring people together. Not just our team, but also us with the staff at Shepherd's Field. Cultural and doctrinal differences are put aside. Walls fall down. Suddenly some things don't seem as important when the unconditional love of the Father unites us and drives us to the world. With eternity in view, personal preference is silly. Jesus is always calling us deeper into His love...And when we keep responding with a yes, sometimes He takes us to places out of routine like China, so we can see how colorful and crazy His love is. This trip was just another step of going "further up and further in", as C.S. Lewis put it. ...
Most of the time I don't get an audible plan for my life from God. Bob Goff said in his book Love Does, "God is not limited. He can communicate to us any way He wants to anytime He wants to. Through flowers, other people, an uncomfortable sense, a feeling of joy, goose bumps, a new found talent, or an appreciation we acquire over time." It doesn't need to be a big mystical thing like some make it out to be. In John 10 Jesus says his sheep head his voice and follow him. That is a statement. His children will hear his voice. We may choose to be selective in what we want to hear; we may persist in our own way, because we think it's the best and it's what we want. But maybe when we do that God allows us to have our way even though it hurts Him, so when we mess up and cause ourselves and other people pain, we can know that He is the best for us; He wants us to want Him and maybe that's the way he makes it happen.
John 10: 9~ I am the door; whoever enters by me will be saved; and it will enter, and it will go out, and it will find pastures. Love this: When we belong to Jesus, he not only takes us to a safe place and ends there ... he gives us life ... he takes us in and out to the pastures to know fully; Jesus leads us to places where we can know Him best and completely. Jesus doesn't wants us to be fearful leaving the pastures. I think he means it to be more like an invitation to a dance ... an invitation to wonder. The thief wants to steal that experience often through fear and the lies that say that our Father is against us and not for us. John 14:1 ~Do not let your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in me.
Just wanted to send you an update on my trip status. Joni and Friends purchased our team's ticket this week so we are officially going! We leave July 11 and our flight from the US to Beijing will be 13 hrs long. So far I have reached 16% of my goal within two weeks. I am very thankful for those gifts. I just completed my third week working with an Allergist in his family practice that began in January. I knew the allergist and his family from a church small group I attended last year. The Lord unexpectedly and timely put the job offer in my lap three weeks. Now between that job and care-giving two days of the weeks, I have a little extra income to put towards this internship. Jesus takes care of his birds. God isn't like a watering bucket; buckets run dry needing to be filled before they can be useful. Jesus is a spring, because springs are self replenishing, they constantly overflow and supply others. And h ow do you serve a spring? How do you magnify a ...
“Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, a nd delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David," Isaiah 55:1-3 I am excited to be participating in the Joni and Friends internship to China from July 11-August 1. Joni and Friends is a ministry dedicated to extending the love and message of Christ to people affected by disability around the world. After a diving accident at age 17 that left her a quadriplegic, Joni Earekson Tada devoted her life to serving people affected by disability and equipping the Church to do so. T...