Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Mustard Seeds and Ketchup

Is the Bible to be read literally or figuratively? Well that is another "post", as for now let's go with the notion that Jesus meant literally.
So what is the answer to reading the Bible literally? I believe it would "look" something like this.
Two dear friends (and their kids, of course) have taken Jesus at His word from His Word and are "giving it up" in return to "finding it" (Matt. 10:39). Watch below.



Where does the ketchup come in? As you can tell they will be giving away a lot of hot dogs. Which leads me to try to manipulate you into supporting them (it is a lot more fun asking for money for friends & NO they don't know I am doing this).
If you are interested in knowing more and/or financially supporting them (which I think you should :) click here.

Friday, April 18, 2008

Hmmm!

Some good stuff to discuss over coffee.



(caution: scenes from Lord of the Rings shown)

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Jesus is gone!


Asher wanted a band aid for his hurt hand (not a cut), but I told him no. So I prayed for his hand and when I was finished he looked at me.
A few moments later he said, "Jesus is gone papa!"
"He is?"
"Yes!"
"Where did he go?"
"He went to someones house, with mama?"

"So he's not here with us?"
"Nope, He is with mama!"

So if you happen to be looking for Jesus on this beautiful Sunday morning, He is with Emie.

Sunday, April 6, 2008

20 sec. conversations w/ Jesus

What I love most about my heavenly Father is the ability to talk with Him at any time, anywhere and for any length of time. A conversation could be 20 seconds; 20 minutes or all day. He is always available and never short on good solid advice. I had a 20 second conversation with Him today and wow it is amazing what He can cover in a small amount of time.
It went like this.

“I feel lost at sea, floating with nowhere to go.” I said.
“Hmmm” was his reply.
“Do I just need to trust you?”
“No”
“Hmmm” was my reply.
So I asked another question, “Do I need to hang on?" (for a good ride)
“Yes”, was his reply.
“but I feel like I don’t know you!”
“No, you just don’t know this part of me” thus the conversation ended but not the teaching lesson.

I knew what he was getting at, I walked out of the bathroom (yes, where the best conversations happen, #1) and recapped my conversation to Emie.
She said, “Read this.”

“Whenever we move into a new spiritual dimension of our calling and our ministry, we must take the time to upgrade our relationship with God. Our calling comes at different levels at different times; it is a progressive journey of discovery. When God takes us into the next phase of our calling, our relationship with Him must also change.
Throughout our lives, we will enter into many different phases and experiences. It might be a marriage or the birth of a child, a significant work promotion, a new responsibility, a new ministry, or any other type of change. In seasons like that, we must take the time to upgrade our peace and rest in the Lord. If we enter a new situation without fully immersing ourselves in the stillness of God, we will live on our adrenaline and not out of our spirit. This power boost may seem sufficient at the moment, but for every adrenaline high, there is also an adrenaline low. We cannot sustain that needed adrenaline rush over the long term. Eventually, our energy will wither away and the new season will overwhelm us. We must learn to live in a place of rest in the spirit.
Every experience of God, even resting in Him, should enable us to see Him in a different light. Therefore, we need to constantly re-evaluate our relationship with Him and take a deeper look at our walk with Him. We must critically examine our current picture of God and determine whether it is strong enough for the next stage of our life and call. If it’s not, the stress that we will experience will put pressure on us to quit or scale down our involvement in the new seasons of our lives. That same battle fatigue causes us to shrink back from the challenges facing us. Exhausted, we will talk ourselves out of taking the risks necessary to advance the Kingdom of God. God has given us the ability to live under His wing – we must recognize that we exist within the safety of His love and grace, and not on our own.
I cannot emphasize this enough – every time we are led into a new phase of our journey, we must take time to upgrade our image of God. We can travel confidently into any new experience, no matter how challenging or difficult, in our relationship with Him. God wants to build up your confidence right now, taking it to a whole new dimension.
When we enter a new season it is important to ask ourselves relevant questions regarding its likely impact on all of our relationships and current responsibilities. Present levels of stress will need to be adjusted in the light of deeper peace and rest that will be required on the next leg of the journey.
Change is much better if it is gradual rather than a large overwhelming transformation requiring immediate extensive attention. The two questions required of us in a consistent basis are found in Acts 2, verses 12 and 37:
What does this mean?
What must we do?
How will these adjustments affect our relationship with God and one another? How will this new season deepen my love, joy and peace in the Holy Spirit?
We need to gain a fresh and more powerful image of the nature of God. We need to practice our peace and our patience so that we can break through, in harmony with others, into a new dimension of the Spirit.”
(Graham Cooke The Nature Of God: Upgrading Your Image of God and Who He wants to be for You. Pages 11-13)


Jesus loves to move us into deeper realities of our destiny and himself just outside our spectrum of sight. When these two events happen let’s run off rest and peace and not adrenaline. If he truly is upgrading our relationship then we are not lost, we need to hang on. We hang on because he is taking us into uncharted territory and it will be a wild ride (for the good). The rest and peace comes because He knows the rapids, he has taken many others down them before, just not you or I, yet!

If you are feeling lost at sea, hang on and get ready to see a whole new perspective of Jesus. Also, never underestimate a 20 second conversation with a Word who became flesh.

Blessings
He@th

Cabela's w/ grandpa's



Thursday, April 3, 2008