Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Sitting at an Intersection

So i FINALLY broke down and purchased a GPS.  It's pretty much a requirement in a town like this.  I've been enjoying the freedom it has given me.  I never have to fear that I'll get lost or that it won't get me to my destination.  Even if I take a wrong turn, it "recalculates" and get me in the right direction.  Even if I end up taking a different road than the GPS initially had me take, I still get to where I want to go.
I recently read a book that compared God and our Destiny to a GPS (Beautiful Destiny by Lisa Weaver)You can understand now why this particular comparison became rhema to me. And couldn't it be true? Perhaps we have this Destiny we were born for, and if we turn right or left we will still get there.  We might go on completely different roads than initially planned, but we still make it to the destination.

It definitely takes a weight off my shoulders, but I've also learned something else about Destiny.  For the past month, I haven't been actually moving in any direction.  I've been learning that being offered a job doesn't always mean you start work right away.  In a city that is constantly busily moving, I am still.  It feels very unChristian of me to be not contributing to the world at all.  Then God reminded me of the story of Mary and Martha.  For those of you who grew up with the Donut Man, me included, this song is the first thing  that comes to mind:
Mary sits at Jesus’s feet
While Martha makes good food to eat
Mary sits and listens to Jesus
While busy Martha makes things neat

Martha:
I am busily, busily working while Mary is shirking
Why can’t Jesus see, she should help me
I am chopping and cutting a cooking while Mary is looking
Why can’t Jesus see, she should help me

Jesus:
Martha, Martha why do you worry
Mary. Mary chose the best part when she chose Me

Wow!  Have you ever thought of how selfish Mary sounds.  Nothing would ever get done if the world was made up of Marys.  Yes, perhaps Martha worried a little too much, but didn't they still need food?  
Well, I've been  learning what it means to be Mary.  I've struggled with feelings of selfishness, like I'm spending all this time with God, but not really doing anything for Him.  Not really driving towards my Destiny.  But if Jesus is right about Mary, then the Destination isn't really point.  It's slowing down long enough to realize that sitting Jesus' feet is more important than making sure your home is spotless.  And if we are made in His image, perhaps we'll learn a little about ourselves in the process.    

One thing I ask
And I shall seek
To dwell in the house of the Lord
All the days of my life
To gaze upon the beauty of the Lord
And seek Him in His temple.
Ps.  27:4

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Dirty.

Entering the Temple of the LORD, I walk to the basin.  Glancing at my hand I notice they are covered in black oil,  I begin to scrub and scrub, but it doesn't take long to realize that I can't get the oil off.  I want to enter the Holy of Holies, dwell with God, but I will never be able to with these hands.
It is then that I notice a young boy walking through the curtains out of the Holy of Holies.  He was wearing simple rags, nothing to make him stand out, but I instantly notice his shiny clean hands.  I approach him and ask him how he got his hands so clean.
"I was an orphan, now I am a son of God."  he replied and walked away.
My mind begins to reel.  That was helpful, Not!  What is he trying to imply?  I'm not an orphan either!  I am a son of God too!
Then it hit me.  If I truly believed that I am a son of God, then why do I believe I cannot enter His presence with dirty hands.  Doesn't the Father accept me into His presence no matter how dirty I have become?  Although I knew I was a son, I was reacting as though I was an orphan.  As though I was left to myself.
So I slowly enter the Holy of Holies still fearful of my Father would say/do once He saw my dirty hands.  I enter looking at my toes. 
"I have been waiting for you." the Father says.
It is then that I look up into His eyes and hold my hands out to show Him.  I see the hurt flash across His eyes soon followed by loving sympathy.
"Well that will not do, you can't continue to look like an orphan when you are now my son."
"I can't get it off."  I say feeling the hopelessness of the situation.
"I sent Jesus so you don't have to."
Jesus walks in like that was His cue.  He carried a porcelain pitcher and pours it into a small basin.  Then He looks up at me and says "Come."
I walk over to Him and He takes my hands in His.  His touch is electrifying and indescribable feelings of warmth pulse through my entire being.
Jesus gently cleans my hands in the basin and to my amazement my hands are easily cleansed.

I was once an orphan. Now I am a son of God.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

I Can't Get No Satisfaction

In a country where satisfaction is never reached what does it mean to satisfied by God?  What does it mean to be satified? 

You see, before today I associated the word satisfy with getting what I needed.  I need a roof over my head, food, water, clothes, and all the rest of my humanly needs.  On top of that I need God, I need a Savior.  Well, I have all that.  So does that mean I am satisfied?  No.

The LORD will guide you always;  He will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorced land and will strengthen your frame.  You will be like a well-watered garden like a spring whose waters never fail.   Isaiah 58:11
satisfy: to be fullfilled, to be filled in excess(surfeited/sated)

God is good.  He has given me my humanly needs.  But doesn't He also promise to satisfy those who don't have a roof over their head or shoes on their feet? They can't possibly say that they have been filled in excess, that their spring has never failed.

So what do I really need? What do we really need to be satisfied? 

I need a Savior who unclenches my fists, holds my hand against His face, looks deep into my eyes and says "You are Mine, forever." 
I am satisfied. 
Are you?

Friday, September 10, 2010

Mango Seeds and Poverty

"For you have been born again not of a corruptible seed, but incorruptible, through the living and enduring word of God" 1 Peter 1:23

A mango seed comes from a mango tree and can only produce mangoes.  An incorruptible seed comes from an incorruptible tree and can only produce incorruptible fruit.  I think I can safely say that the incorruptible tree is God.  So what does it mean to produce incorruptible fruit - the same fruit God produces?
"God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were" Romans 4:17

So a young man by the name of Zeb Mengistu was called by God to go back to his home country of Ethiopia.  He had a dream of helping the poor and reaching the lost.  One day he was scheduled to preach at a certain church where you had to park your car and walk through a slum-like area to get to the church.  As he began walking he became overwhelmed by it all.  Falling to his knees he asks God "Where do you even start?"  God replied "In the beginning was the word."  He knew then, that God starts with putting words, putting dreams in each of us.  We are not called to declare what is not but to declare as though it is.  And I  call this Hope.

My Hope is in You Lord, the only One who can bring life to the dead and call the things that are not as though they were.  The only reason I can produces mangoes...