I counter your culture with a clash!

This blog hasn't been the most consistant one, and I do hope that I will continue to find my style and give people a desire to read more of what I have to say. Not for any reason other than that I have something worth listening to. What is on my mind is not in my series on the line of Jesus, which I am still interested in, and am still reading and waiting for something to smack me in the face with inspiration.

What is on my mind is a lot of thoughts which may actually be a bit discombobulated,  but they feel important enough to be said, even if they aren't in the proper order.

What's amazing to me is the limits people put on life. Work is what you do between hobbies. Passion is what you save for the last moments of the night. I love you is said and felt what times are tough. Good is what you do to get something you want. Good enough is the standard for work. Feeling good is what happens when the work is heaved off of the shoulders and freedom and relaxation starts in. Purpose and calling are odd concepts. A “call” is often convenient Christianese for doing or not doing something that would be hard to explain otherwise. That call is generally doing something you really want or don't want to do. A sense of a call is a terrifying thing that doesn't promise enough of what is considered valid and important by the worlds standards.

Why can't a job be a hobby, a passion, and (bad word alert)....fun? Why can't a calling be a real thing that is known and confirmed by the Lord? Why are people so unable to bring themselves to learn about ministries that may be perfect for them? Why is everyone so scared of actually asking God what their call is?

Imagine if there were a place to work, where no one was considered, by the management, or themselves as marginal? What if there was a calling where everyone worked with as much passion for what they did for their living as a lot of other people put into their hobbies? What if these people were so united in their love and concern for one another as the early church was? Distributing what they had between each other so that no one had an unmet need? What if people could be saved from the boring, listless lackluster promise of two happy days in the week? What if the Lord had a home for you across the world? Best friends saved for you to discover them? What if the pleasure of what you got to do got you out of bed each morning?

Listen. If you have ever considered yourself someone that likes learning, performing, traveling, people, serving, healing, worshiping, comforting, caring, administrating, dreaming, planning, and growing, think about looking into ministries that excite you towards those ends. There are probably a million words ending in “ing” that can glorify the Lord and bring joy in the process. 

And don't say you don't feel “called.” Not yet. Not until you have actually learned more about what these ministries teams are about. Don't take the easy way out in saying that. You might miss out and never get another chance.  

I'd love to hear about different ministries that exist out there, and to hear about how people use their passions and creative talents to serve one another and honor the Lord by not hiding what he has given them. Please, share with me! Write or comment and spread the word about your goals and prayer needs. Let's be aware of our brothers and sisters out there. Share about a ministry you think should exist. Share about the needs you see around you in your sphere of influence. Share about how you plan on being part of the change. If you don't want to share it here, share it with someone else who sees those same needs and wants just as much to help. 

We really have no right to be bored or lazy. Let's go above and beyond! It's so much more exciting that way!

Tired of Waiting

I wish I knew when things would start happenind the way I'd like them too. Abram kept getting these big, beautiful promises from God. But it sure looked like God was taking his sweet time delivering them.

Genesis, outlines the bare facts of his story, (From Chapter 15) Abraham had to wait 25 years to get the son he was waiting for.  The son of the promise, by which his desendants would be like the stars in the sky, by which all the families of the earth would be blessed.
He was 100 years old when this son was born. And then the Lord tested him, the way that God the Father would be so many years later.
He was told to sacrifice his one and only son. The boy didn't know what was going to happen. He understood about sacrifice, and wondered where the lamb was. Abraham (as his name was finally changed by this point) said that the Lord would provide it. Isaac was carrying the wood, just like Jesus would carry his wooden beam. Abraham was carrying a burning torch and a knife. He was ready to be obediant. He had always listened to this point. But how did it feel? It took so long to finally have his own son. His wife was 90 years old when she gave birth. His miracle, his pride and his answer to prayer was going to die. How was it when he laid his boy out on that alter. How did the look in his son's eyes peirce his soul?
"Papa! What are you doing? Is this what the Lord wants?" Did he try to stop him? Did he willingly sit still and wait if he understood that this was His Father's act of obediance?
How was it holding that knife in his hand, heavy, painful, disgusting? How was it restraining his son and placing him up there on the wood? How was it reaching with that knife?
God stopped him. He wouldn't let it happen. He was just seeing if Abraham was willing to put obediance first, even when it didn't make sense. To see if his faith was stronger than his own will.
The Lord spoke from heaven and told him not to do it. I wonder if Isaac heard the voice? I wonder if he had any idea how close he was? I wonder how long and crushingly hard Abraham hugged his son afterwards.

We all love to read the promises God pours out, but its not easy to think of the sacrifice he might ask of us. To give up what we love? What we want? What we think we need to fulfill the plan he has for us.

A ram was left to take Isaax's place. And he lifted his son off of the rock, and maybe together they finished the ritual. The place was named, "The-Lord-will-provide."

I haven't had to wait 25 years to recieve the things I'm sure God has promised me. I haven't had to give up or be willing to give up anything ridiculously difficult. To truly follow God means obediance whether we agree or not. Whether we consider the Lord God of the universe to have thought things through adequately or not. Giving up and letting Him have His way is the only option.

It isn't enough to thank Jesus for being the lamb that was provided to take away our sins, but to not acknowledge Him as King and to live under His standards of holiness and purity.