Braun and I will wed in 90 days, but we will be married for a lifetime, Lord willing. This quote by Nouwen has impacted me greatly. I read it in a book last night and I’ve been reflecting on it ever since. This is certainly not a worldly view of marriage!
“Marriage is not a lifelong attraction of two individuals to each other but a call for two people to witness together to God’s love. The basis of marriage is not mutual affection, or feelings, or emotions and passions that we associate with love, but a calling, a vocation. It is to understand that we are elected to build together a house for God in this world. It is to be like the two cherubs whose outstretched wings sheltered the Ark of the Covenant and created a space where Yahweh could be present. Marriage is a relationship where man and woman protect and nurture the inner sanctum within and between them, and they witness to that by the way they love each other……..It is rather that the intimacy of marriage itself is an intimacy that is based on the common participation in a love greater than the love that two people can offer each other. The real mystery of marriage is not that husband and wife love each other so much that they can recognize God in each other’s lives, but more because God loves them so much that they can discover each other more and more as living reminder’s of God’s presence.” – Henri Nouwen
The following are thoughts and sentiments after hearing a “new” Gospel message this morning:
Jesus didn’t die for my worse sins. He died because even when I’m at my best, I deserve hell. Try to get your head around that one. My sins aren’t rated and neither are yours. Sin is sin. It’s whatever you do trying to live independent of God. Every day I do this. And so do you.
And right now, I’m as accepted by him as I’ll ever be. I’m not more accepted when I’m performing better — praying more, spending more time in the Word or being nicer to people. I’m always loved and accepted by Him.
And I didn’t get saved. He rescued me. I never spent time thinking about this. Christians are taught from an early age (a lot of times because conversion happens so young) to use the term “saved” as in, “I got saved…” Well, as Brian pointed out this morning, that puts the emphasis on me. But it’s all Him.
This is cheesy, but the visual I get is from the movie The Guardian. I’m in the ocean and I’m drowning. Waves are peaking at great heights. I’m lost in the white caps and I don’t know which way is up. I am helpless, hopeless and in need of rescue. And then just when I’m slipping into the dark depths of black ocean, He grasps me by the hand and pulls me up. I cough the salty, thick water out of my lungs and breathe in life giving air. He rescued me. I can never be the same…nor do I want to.
Placeholder for a blog about sloth. The sermon today was on this topic and I’m still contemplating how to blog about it. There was so much info…good info that I just don’t know where to start. If you can’t wait, I’m sure the mp3 will be posted to Renassaince Bible Church’s website soon.
I heard an amazing message on Greed yesterday. You know, greed — wanting more than you need.
The Bible gives a lot of instruction on ways to combat this sin. Yep, sin. One of them is in I Thessalonians 5:
16Be joyful always; 17pray continually; 18give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
Joy. It’s a simple word, but the state of being joyful is not always easy to maintain when we face challenges in our daily lives.
But the speaker challenged me: Jesus first, others second and me…(or you) third. And when you feel that joy slipping and the greed creeping in, pray! We have a God who hears every word we utter from our lips and our hearts. We also are called to be thankful — not just on Thanksgiving, but each moment. The fact that we exist is a gift. The fact that we have food, shelter, shoes, water — all gifts.
My desire is to love others and be concerned more for their needs thatn my own wants. I know the Lord is in the business of transforming the hearts of people and so let it begin with mine — especially during this season where it is so easy to be consumed with WANT.
I have so much and so many have so very little. Let me have a spirit of gratitude today and every day.
A friend of mine told me last night that an 18 foot Great White had been spotted off Wrightsville Beach. I have a shark “thing”, by the way. I’m truly fascinated and terrified by sharks. If I start researching sharks (or shark attacks), I can be consumed for a long time. They’re just awesome in the true sense of the word.
Anyway, when I heard Diane tell me this, it sounded somewhat like a fish tale that had mabye gotten blown out of proportion, but alas, it’s true. I googled it. Truth be told, I’m glad I wasn’t doing the Beach 2 Battleship Half this past weekend!
I must be crazy. Tuesday, I mentioned to Kathryn that I was thinking about running a half marathon over the weekend. Now, the crazy part comes in here: the last time I ran “distance” was in September for the Blue Ridge Relay. And, the longest leg of that run was 5.9 miles! I haven’t been running much at all on a regular basis since then. I’m not sure why I wanted to do it — guess to just see if I COULD do it. And it turns out, I did it. My time was fairly slow for me, but at least I ran over the finish line. That’s something! It also made me realize that I am not anxious to do a marathon. I guess it would be different if I actually would have trained for this race! Anyway, I can still run. I’m always amazed by muscle memory. Just like I’m surprised every time I get back in the pool after months and realize, “hey! I can still swim.” Silly me!
This is somewhat hard to write, but I want it to be freeing.
I like knowing people like me. I worry too much about what people think of me. I need affirmation and I do what I can to stay in people’s good graces. I hate disappointing people and my insides get all twisted up and knotted when I feel someone might be unhappy with me or something that I’ve done.
This is my struggle.
In the Old Testament (I Samuel), we read about King Saul. He was more worried about being well received by the people that being obedient to the God who put him in the place of leadership. I don’t want to be a Saul. I mean, the guy convinced Samuel to come worship with him in front of his people AFTER Samuel rebuked him for not following God’s commands to the letter. He still wanted vain glory.
It was a good message for me to hear. It’s caused me to check myself this week. What is my motive in serving, completing a task, sharing something with someone?
But it doesn’t stop there. Romans tells us that Christ died for us while we were in our sin. Through Christ I am forgiven and receive mercy and grace! But I can’t take that grace for granted. Each and every day, I must lay my struggled down and pray for the Lord to transform me. And I know he can.
I was deeply moved by the video that Port City Community Church posted about how God has been transforming lives within their church there. Our God is able to do what we think can’t be accomplished!
