I read Jon’s blog on a regular basis. This post caught my attention and it’s worth a read for all of us. Click here to read all about it!
Confronting Sin
Category: Daily Living
Enlarge My Heart
During our prayer night, I read Psalm 119. While everyone around me was praying and Jesus Culture was playing on CD softly in the background, I was engrossed in this psalm. I was so impressed in my spirit over this verse:
32 I will run the course of Your commandments, For You shall enlarge my heart.
In a world where we focused on the prayer of Jabez to enlarge our territory and our prayers lean more towards enlarging our salary and enlarging our shoe collection, here in verse 32 we have a significant request.
What does it mean to enlarge my heart? I would think it would mean my heart would grow in love. That means both good and bad because although love is a good thing, it also means my hearts breaks over the things that break the heart of God. It means I don’t overlook things that are uncomfortable, it means I put my desires aside if there is a greater good to be served. It means I am reaching for people who are negative and frustrating. It means I don’t avoid things I don’t want to deal with but rather I do what is right.
Praying to enlarge my heart is a completely different prayer than enlarging my territory, yet, it encompasses the very same thing. For as I enlarge my heart and begin to reach out I will find myself in places I would never have gone. It’s a pretty powerful prayer. Then there’s the statement just before it that says, I will run the course of your commandments, I wonder if I am ready to pray it with any sincerity at all?
I wonder if I’m ready to love the alcoholic, the AIDS patient, the atheist, the person who hates me, myself, the Lord, you? I wonder if I am willing to put down my agendas and my visions, and this time, not excuse my behavior but really run the course of God’s commandments? Heck, sometimes I don’t want to run on the treadmill and fulfill my promise to myself, can I really run a course of commandments? One sentence can change my whole life. It can turn it upside down. Am I up for it? Are you? Maybe it’s time to try!
A Man’s Perspective
Never having been a fan of sweats with words on the rear I wasn’t surprised that men didn’t like them either. I mean the main focus is to get people to look at your butt in sweats. Yes unattractive and not subtle at all. Then there’s the whole leggins and Ugg debate!
I read this article by Matt Christensen and thought it was great. Enjoy!
Acceptable Loss
John 21:15 After breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Master, you know I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” 16 He then asked a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” “Yes, Master, you know I love you.” Jesus said, “Shepherd my sheep.” 17 Then he said it a third time: “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was upset that he asked for the third time, “Do you love me?” so he answered, “Master, you know everything there is to know. You’ve got to know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.” -The Message
There is estimated over 6 billion people on the planet. Lately, as I watch the news and read reports I see abuses of many kinds, people being gunned down, bombs going off in war-torn countries, babies that have been abandoned, women working in sweat shops to feed their family, men being captured for ransom. In the latest shooting in Arizona, I rationalized and actually thanked God that only six people were killed when a man with an automatic weapon let loose on a crowd over politics. Then I caught myself. Were they saved? If this happened in my city, more than likely I would know one of the six people killed. Did I speak to them about Jesus? Did I do my part to make sure that they didn’t just die to earth but that lived on in eternity?
How many people can we lose in a crisis before it is too many? How many people lose their lives senselessly? And how many people are not dead physically but dead emotionally? Does the 10 year-old girl sold to slavery feel anything anymore? Does she still long for dolls or friends? Has she shut down or does she dream? What is my role in all of this? Is my demand for a $5.00 t-shirt create this environment?
And then the real questions come to mind. Am I doing all that I can do for these causes? Am I informed, am I unafraid to speak out, am I mindful of the orphan, the widow and the stranger? Do I care or do I just say I do?
As I sit here and write this post today, I am sitting under a blanket, as Clash Of The Titans plays on HBO and my dog is snuggled warming my feet. Do I realize the blessing or do I want and expect more?
This year I want to dedicate a part of this blog to speaking out about things going on in the world and how you can help. Today though I would like for you to stop putting off that conversation with that lost soul that the Lord has put on your heart. We have this thought that it’s just one soul in billions of soul but to God it’s the most important soul. Let it be so for us!
2011 Babies
Happy New Year 2011
Psalm 16:1 Keep me safe, O God, I’ve run for dear life to you. 2 I say to God, “Be my Lord!” Without you, nothing makes sense. 3 And these God-chosen lives all around – what splendid friends they make! 4 Don’t just go shopping for a god. Gods are not for sale. I swear I’ll never treat god-names like brand-names. 5 My choice is you, God, first and only. And now I find I’m your choice!6 You set me up with a house and yard. And then you made me your heir! 7 The wise counsel God gives when I’m awake is confirmed by my sleeping heart. 8 Day and night I’ll stick with God; I’ve got a good thing going and I’m not letting go. 9 I’m happy from the inside out, and from the outside in, I’m firmly formed. 10 You canceled my ticket to hell – that’s not my destination! 11 Now you’ve got my feet on the life path, all radiant from the shining of your face. Ever since you took my hand, I’m on the right way. -“The Message”
It’s been crazy busy around the Young house. Friends, family, church, store there are lots of obligations that came on all at once. We’ve had a wonderful season this year and I have to take a second to encourage all the stepfamilies out there. This year, we finally were able to come together and have a really great season. Statistics tell you that it takes 7 years to blend a family and we were no exception.
This year my resolution is really simple. This year, I will breathe in deeply the presence of God, I will not measure my life’s success as a human doing but rather a human being. I don’t know about you but I am my harshest critic. I will turn 46 this year and I think I’ve come to the conclusion that my plate will always be full but I don’t have to eat everything off of it everyday. I’m sure I will one day die with a do-to list left behind and I’m sure someone will come behind me and finish it. This year I want to be focused solely on being.
I hope these first seven days of the year have been great to you. I am continually thinking of all of you and I there is still much to be said!
You Changed My Name
As the New Year approaches I am reminded of who I am going forward. There is song by Travis Cottrell that says it so eloquently that I want to remember it’s the banner over my life.
You Changed My Name– CCLI Song No. 4577373
Verse 1
Who I am is a mystery I can’t explain
‘Cause Your mercy fell like healing rain
And washed away my past
Who I was all my secrets
All my hidden pain
Now Your grace has broken every chain
And set me free at last
And who I was before
Doesn’t matter anymore
Chorus 1
You changed my name when
You called me forgiven
You changed my name when
You called me redeemed
You took my shame and
Wrote a new beginning
To the story I was living
And I’ll never be the same
You saw what I could be
And reaching out for me
You changed my name
You changed my name
Verse 2
Now I live in the light of Your redeeming love
And I bear the marks Your healing touch
Has written on my heart
With each step I take
I’m reminded of the price You paid
And the living sacrifice You made
To set my soul apart
My life is Yours alone
You have marked me as Your own
(BRIDGE)
I’m not the man I once was
Behold all things are new
‘Cause You changed my name
The Real Gift
Helping in the RMA store this week an eldery woman came in. She was grumpy. Have you ever noticed that people either grow old gracefully or grouchy? She talked about how the government was to blame for her financial situation. She complained about how they were trying take her social security and how she lived on so little as it was. She complained about not having gifts to give her grandchildren for Christmas. I stayed quiet for as long as I could.
“You know, I was very close to my grandmother. As a child she was everything to me. She passed away in 1999 and I miss her so terribly much most days. Can I tell you that I don’t remember a single Christmas or birthday gift she gave me? Oh, don’t misunderstand, I was grateful and everything she gave me she gave with love, like you, she had modest means and did the best she could.”
“Can I tell you what I do remember? I remember her stopping her housework to sweep me up in her arms and dance with me in her living room. I remember standing on a chair in her kitchen helping make dinner. I remember baking cookies with her. I remember learning to crochet and sew with her. I remember snuggling up in bed with her when I spent the night and how we would talk and giggle long into the night. I remember running errands with her or advice she gave me. I remember working in the garden with her and learning about herbs and their remedies. I remember sitting at her dining room table playing game after game of Crazy Eights. I remember her massaging my back when I couldn’t sleep. I remember her singing to me and her hugs and her love and the fact that she thought everything I did was special.”
The real meaning of Christmas is relationship with one another. I don’t need a day on the calendar to give a gift or to get one. What I treasure, what stays with me in my heart is the time she spent developing her relationship with me. The memories remain long after any gift did. The gift she gave was more precious than any Christmas memory because it was heartfelt. It was born in love and nurture.
Just as Jesus was born to restore us back to our heavenly Father, no earthly gift is more memorable. What better gift could be given than the gift of our love towards one another? This Christmas I pray you get the real gift of Christmas. The gift of some time with loved ones and the gift of serving one another in love. The same gift the Son of the Most High God came to give us!
Merry Christmas!
Poor In Spirit
I read this quote and it deeply impacted me with its truth. As we near the end of another year and get ready to begin a new one, let’s not make it the same as before, rather let’s be radically transformed and resolve to live it out better and better each year as it passes. Most of us go through our day as if we’ll get another, that’s a big presumption that no one has promised!
Pastor Susan 