So last night, it was pretty late, I had this awesome idea for a blog topic. Did I sit down and start something so I would at least not have to try to remember it this morning? Nooooo. I stupidly thought I would remember. Well, I don't. And as I sit here and use up my editing time, I still can't remember. Oh well. I guess you'll just have to put up with my mediocrity in the meantime.
And again I'll just be the passer-on of interesting info. I'm coming to realize that one of my roles in life may be to pass things on to others instead of wowing people with my original ideas. I have had a few people say things like this to me lately: "I watched/listened to that sermon you'd mentioned - it was great!" or "That website had some really good ideas on it - I'm going to try them." So I'm really thinking that maybe I'm supposed to be the ultimate plagiarist (well, maybe not that extreme) or something, because I seem to do better when I pass on other people's ideas versus coming up with my own.
Speaking of....here's a website to inspire you, especially if you keep coming up with excuses for why you can't do something. After taking a look at this man's life, I guarantee you will 1) feel guilty for all the excuses you've ever used and 2) be inspired to try something you've never done.
Nick Vujicic :: Attitude is Altitude :: No Arms, No Legs, No Worries
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Friday, March 26, 2010
Fire: An Empowered Life (Essentials Formation)
For: The Essentials Formation Online Worship Values Course with Dan Wilt
When I think of the element of Fire, I go immediately in my mind to scenes from the movie "Backdraft." I don't have enough of my own experiences with fire except for the occasional extremely safe campfire...well, except for that one time when I was probably 9 or so and tried to start some Kleenex's on fire in my metal Strawberry Shortcake garbage can in my bedroom just to see what would happen. Let's just say it didn't go as well as I'd thought it would - the melted/burned carpet underneath was a permanent witness that needed silencing (by never moving the can from that spot) to keep my brief slip into pyromania a secret.
Anyway, there is a scene in Backdraft when the fire is creeping along the ceiling. I can't remember much else about the movie, or even about the other details of the scene, but I do remember the mystery of how fire works being enlarged for me during that moment. Much like this the mystery of how spiritual 'fire' spreads. Dan spoke in the video of how when we live the empowered life, the fire in us will actually spread and create little fires all around us. How does this happen? I can understand the 'wind' analogy for the Spirit of God...that it will go where it wants, that you can hear it but not tell where it comes from or where it goes. Maybe that's easier to understand because we have quite a bit of wind here in South Dakota. But fire - how does spiritual fire spread? I don't understand fire quite as much! Maybe it's time to dig out the old Strawberry Shortcake garbage can to get a better understanding....or maybe I'll just go to www.crosswalk.com intead. :)
A quick study on fire and Spirit brings up the following:
In Matthew and Luke 3, John the Baptist says (of Jesus), "He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire."
In Acts 2:3-4, "They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them."
In the middle of his short, quick commands in 1 Thessolonians 5, Paul says, "Do not put out the Spirit's fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt."
Some basics we know: the Spirit is placed inside us when we start to follow Jesus and make Him Lord of our life; the Spirit is like a fire burning inside us; God guides us through that Spirit; and God moves in mysterious ways. Okay, so that was easier than I thought. A+B+C=D It's nice when all that Algebra I studied so many years ago proves itself useful. But seriously, I know I'm not going to completely understand "C" in this life and I'm okay with that.
The basic message of this week was that in order to live the empowered life, we need to be receiving our 'gasoline', or power, from God and His Word just as fire receives its power from oxygen (or gas). We need to do what Jesus did in Matthew 4, as Dan mentioned, when he drew His power from the words of the OT to fight against the temptation of the devi - we need to combat the devil's lies and attempts to snuff out our fire with the truths of God and with His mighty power.
Ephesians 6:10-18a
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.
And when we do that, others will catch the fire of truth and be empowered in their walk with the Lord. I do think the song says it best! Here's a video presentation with Kathy Tricolli's version from her Greatest Hits Album.
But the only way we can "hold out our candle for all to see" and "go light our world" is if we let others get close enough to us to catch a spark from our flame!
When I think of the element of Fire, I go immediately in my mind to scenes from the movie "Backdraft." I don't have enough of my own experiences with fire except for the occasional extremely safe campfire...well, except for that one time when I was probably 9 or so and tried to start some Kleenex's on fire in my metal Strawberry Shortcake garbage can in my bedroom just to see what would happen. Let's just say it didn't go as well as I'd thought it would - the melted/burned carpet underneath was a permanent witness that needed silencing (by never moving the can from that spot) to keep my brief slip into pyromania a secret.
Anyway, there is a scene in Backdraft when the fire is creeping along the ceiling. I can't remember much else about the movie, or even about the other details of the scene, but I do remember the mystery of how fire works being enlarged for me during that moment. Much like this the mystery of how spiritual 'fire' spreads. Dan spoke in the video of how when we live the empowered life, the fire in us will actually spread and create little fires all around us. How does this happen? I can understand the 'wind' analogy for the Spirit of God...that it will go where it wants, that you can hear it but not tell where it comes from or where it goes. Maybe that's easier to understand because we have quite a bit of wind here in South Dakota. But fire - how does spiritual fire spread? I don't understand fire quite as much! Maybe it's time to dig out the old Strawberry Shortcake garbage can to get a better understanding....or maybe I'll just go to www.crosswalk.com intead. :)
A quick study on fire and Spirit brings up the following:
In Matthew and Luke 3, John the Baptist says (of Jesus), "He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire."
In Acts 2:3-4, "They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them."
In the middle of his short, quick commands in 1 Thessolonians 5, Paul says, "Do not put out the Spirit's fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt."
Some basics we know: the Spirit is placed inside us when we start to follow Jesus and make Him Lord of our life; the Spirit is like a fire burning inside us; God guides us through that Spirit; and God moves in mysterious ways. Okay, so that was easier than I thought. A+B+C=D It's nice when all that Algebra I studied so many years ago proves itself useful. But seriously, I know I'm not going to completely understand "C" in this life and I'm okay with that.
The basic message of this week was that in order to live the empowered life, we need to be receiving our 'gasoline', or power, from God and His Word just as fire receives its power from oxygen (or gas). We need to do what Jesus did in Matthew 4, as Dan mentioned, when he drew His power from the words of the OT to fight against the temptation of the devi - we need to combat the devil's lies and attempts to snuff out our fire with the truths of God and with His mighty power.
Ephesians 6:10-18a
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.
And when we do that, others will catch the fire of truth and be empowered in their walk with the Lord. I do think the song says it best! Here's a video presentation with Kathy Tricolli's version from her Greatest Hits Album.
But the only way we can "hold out our candle for all to see" and "go light our world" is if we let others get close enough to us to catch a spark from our flame!
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Wind: The Inspired Life 2 (Essentials Formation)
For: The Essentials Formation Online Worship Values Course with Dan Wilt
Yesterday was my grandpa's funeral. He had a very full life, living to be 91 years old, so it was more of a celebration of his life (as some so endearingly call funerals). My grandma, his wife, passed away 17 years ago and since then it seemed as though he was on pause, that he wanted to be with her more than he wanted to be here. I know he often wondered why God had taken her so early and kept him here so long. So, he finally got his wish - to be with Grandma.
With all of my thoughts on life and death this past week, I've had the idea that this post needed to be some great, theological, insightful writing that people would 'oooo' and 'ahhh' over. :) But, I haven't had the brain power (due to lack of sleep) or the time (due to helping my widowed mom with the passing of her widowed dad) to get anything down on my blog, much less have it turn out to be the awesome entry I'd built it up to be! haha
I will say, though, that I can see more clearly the purpose of my life, the purpose of being a child of God. Our pastor has been preaching through Matthew in recent weeks and today we were in 5:13-16; he focused on the idea of us being the 'salt and light' of the world. There was a point yesterday at the funeral when I was trying to juggle 8 people and their needs at once - my mom, my 16 mos old, my husband and older kids (who were watching the 16 mos old) and my brother and his family (who wasn't feeling well and arrived at the church right before the service started). To my amazement, I handled it very well and calmly...which HAD to have been the Spirit working in me because I haven't had a stressful moment like that go smoothly for quite awhile. I had prayed to be a witness to my family during the time of the funeral and other activities that go along with it so I was thankful God provided what I needed to be that witness and to care for the needs of my family (mom and bro included) during the funeral yesterday.
Most of us have heard a lesson on this verse about 'salt and light'...the thing that always jumps out at me when talking about being salt and it's many uses, is that salt is used as a 'flavor booster', to make food taste better. If I would like to be 'salt', I need to make others' lives better; I need to touch them in a way that leaves them better off than they were before they came into contact with me. That may manifest itself in different ways, depending on what is needed and what the person is going through - a friendly face smiling at them, a kind gesture, a helping hand, an instruction or exhortation, a rebuke or hard lesson, or even a discipline or truthful word that is needed for growth.
To apply this idea of being the salt of the earth to this week's lesson about the spiritual element of 'wind'...I not only need to remember to take time to catch my own wind, to inspire myself to continue running the race of faith, but I also need to look for ways, when I am serving others, to be their wind (or salt) of inspiration to continue fighting the good fight. How can I continually balance the taking care of others with the caring for myself without focusing too much on either? Out of the two, I think I get the short end of the stick most of the time - I know I need to keep my own cup full in order to be able to share the overflow with others but it always seems like I'm last on the list and by the time the end of the list gets here, I'm too ___________(fill in the blank).
Let's see...most of us have salt shakers on the table, reminding us at meal time that better tasting food is just a shake away. Why not put something in front of myself to remind me to grab some wind now and then; that an inspired spiritual life is just a 'gust' away? I've found the wind-themed picture of the sailboat to use as a visual cue this week. With it on my desktop and also on my cell phone wallpaper, I have remembered to take a moment each day to inspire myself with God's love/ creation/ word/ song/ etc. Now I'm going to extend that to the other weeks of this course and beyond...I'm going to find a picture for each element discussed in this class and put them in front of myself for 1 week each month (for the next year) to remind myself to keep the spiritual elements in balance. So, off I go to search for some fire, water and earth pics!
Yesterday was my grandpa's funeral. He had a very full life, living to be 91 years old, so it was more of a celebration of his life (as some so endearingly call funerals). My grandma, his wife, passed away 17 years ago and since then it seemed as though he was on pause, that he wanted to be with her more than he wanted to be here. I know he often wondered why God had taken her so early and kept him here so long. So, he finally got his wish - to be with Grandma.
With all of my thoughts on life and death this past week, I've had the idea that this post needed to be some great, theological, insightful writing that people would 'oooo' and 'ahhh' over. :) But, I haven't had the brain power (due to lack of sleep) or the time (due to helping my widowed mom with the passing of her widowed dad) to get anything down on my blog, much less have it turn out to be the awesome entry I'd built it up to be! haha
I will say, though, that I can see more clearly the purpose of my life, the purpose of being a child of God. Our pastor has been preaching through Matthew in recent weeks and today we were in 5:13-16; he focused on the idea of us being the 'salt and light' of the world. There was a point yesterday at the funeral when I was trying to juggle 8 people and their needs at once - my mom, my 16 mos old, my husband and older kids (who were watching the 16 mos old) and my brother and his family (who wasn't feeling well and arrived at the church right before the service started). To my amazement, I handled it very well and calmly...which HAD to have been the Spirit working in me because I haven't had a stressful moment like that go smoothly for quite awhile. I had prayed to be a witness to my family during the time of the funeral and other activities that go along with it so I was thankful God provided what I needed to be that witness and to care for the needs of my family (mom and bro included) during the funeral yesterday.
Most of us have heard a lesson on this verse about 'salt and light'...the thing that always jumps out at me when talking about being salt and it's many uses, is that salt is used as a 'flavor booster', to make food taste better. If I would like to be 'salt', I need to make others' lives better; I need to touch them in a way that leaves them better off than they were before they came into contact with me. That may manifest itself in different ways, depending on what is needed and what the person is going through - a friendly face smiling at them, a kind gesture, a helping hand, an instruction or exhortation, a rebuke or hard lesson, or even a discipline or truthful word that is needed for growth.
To apply this idea of being the salt of the earth to this week's lesson about the spiritual element of 'wind'...I not only need to remember to take time to catch my own wind, to inspire myself to continue running the race of faith, but I also need to look for ways, when I am serving others, to be their wind (or salt) of inspiration to continue fighting the good fight. How can I continually balance the taking care of others with the caring for myself without focusing too much on either? Out of the two, I think I get the short end of the stick most of the time - I know I need to keep my own cup full in order to be able to share the overflow with others but it always seems like I'm last on the list and by the time the end of the list gets here, I'm too ___________(fill in the blank).
Let's see...most of us have salt shakers on the table, reminding us at meal time that better tasting food is just a shake away. Why not put something in front of myself to remind me to grab some wind now and then; that an inspired spiritual life is just a 'gust' away? I've found the wind-themed picture of the sailboat to use as a visual cue this week. With it on my desktop and also on my cell phone wallpaper, I have remembered to take a moment each day to inspire myself with God's love/ creation/ word/ song/ etc. Now I'm going to extend that to the other weeks of this course and beyond...I'm going to find a picture for each element discussed in this class and put them in front of myself for 1 week each month (for the next year) to remind myself to keep the spiritual elements in balance. So, off I go to search for some fire, water and earth pics!
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