Thursday's thoughts

This morning I was reading in Matthew when Jesus quoted something the Lord says in Isaiah.

These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men.
-Isaiah 29:13

Where are we taught the rules that make up Christianity? I've had several conversations with a great friend who has the privilege of leading jr. high and high school students in the discovery of Jesus. She has told me the differences in how a relationship with Jesus must be presented at varying ages/maturity levels, and I completely understand that.

I guess my heart just hurts to think that the "dos and don'ts" list sticks after high school. Perhaps because in college, several individuals hibernate their faith (which, let's be honest, isn't really possible). And maybe some of that has to do with the list that's been created. Then when they decide to come out of hibernation, the list still sticks.

There are numerous reasons that could be explored, deconstructed and evaluated. I'm not going to do that. I just want to encourage people to not let their worship of God be made up of ideas and rules taught by man. But rather, seek how Jesus lived and worship like that.

May the Lord grant you faith and courage, put purpose in your day and show you how to serve Him in the most effective way.


P.S.- Everyday Jesus stuff is in the works.

El Roi

El Roi, pronounced el ROY

It means "The God Who Sees Me."

This name of God is used in Psalm 139:7-12:
Where can I go from Your Spirit? Where can I flee from You presence? If I go up to the heavens, You are there; if I make my bed in the depths, You are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there Your hand will guide me, Your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light will become night around me," even the darkness will not be dark to You; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to You.

Though it might seem frightening that the Creator, All-powerful God knows exactly what we're thinking and feeling (the Lord knows there are several things I wish He didn't know), but find comfort in it. There is no temptation or trial that we are going through that Christ Himself hasn't been through. It's like we can talk to someone who's been there before, who understands our feelings and can help us do the next right thing to proceed in life.

He is El Roi, the God who sees us.

Coming soon

I'm starting a blogging project soon. I'm hoping highlight different people I know who are actually taking what Jesus says in the Bible seriously. They're providing shelter for those without it. They're not casting stones when most of the world is. They're seeing what could be when there is currently nothing. Essentially, they're living their lives day-to-day and being obedient to God in everything.

Why am I doing this? Honestly, because I'm trying to figure out what it looks like to live a life of total abandonment and work a job.

It's easy to say, "I'll do that when I'm financially stable" or "I'll serve that way with my spouse whenever I'm married." I believe God wants us to be living in surrender to Him now, in whatever stage of life we're in.

So I guess I'm doing this for me to learn, and my hope is you, gracious reader, will learn something too.

Oh, the project's name is Everyday Jesus.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!....to the five people who read my blog. :) (and I'm an optimist.)

My prayer for you is that throughout this year, you'd experience a new characteristic of God. If you've known Him as El Olam, the Everlasting God, may you also know Him as Jehova-Shalom, the Lord is Peace. If you've known Him as Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord will provide, may you know Him as Jehova-Mekaddishkem, the Lord who sanctifies.

That is my prayer for myself, as well. I do not know all the names of God, but I'm trying to learn some because I believe by learning more about God's names, I'll learn more about who He is.

A great resource a friend told me about is a pamphlet called "Names of God." She, being much older and wiser than myself, advised me to read over the pamphlet every day and said, in doing so, I'd grow closer to God and be able to pray using His specific names. I'm not there yet, but it's something to work toward.

I don't know about you, but I'm ready for a great year. 2010 is going to be incredible; I can just feel it.

Here is a link if anyone is interested in purchasing a pamphlet:
http://www.amazon.com/Names-God-Rose-Publishing/dp/1890947504

Am I a quitter?

I'm doing some massive organizing in my room. Because I'm living at home now, something I haven't done since I graduated high school, I have to fit a lot of stuff into one room. I decided to view this as an opportunity to get very organized with all of my things, instead of just my college things.

As I was going through past journals and old devotionals, I noticed how I never followed through with anything. The earliest diary I found was from July of 1996. My first entry says this:

Sunday, 7-7-96
I got this diary yesterday. I was glad I got a nice diary for my birthday. But my birthday is Wednesday July 10. I will be 10. Well I better go.
Your friend,
Emilee Shake

And that was the only time I wrote in it. That's it. I found about four different teen devotional books that had the first chapter completed and the rest blank.

This is really starting to bother me. Am I a quitter? Do I ever follow through with things?

I never read a book cover to cover. I read about the first 1/3 then put it down or skip around throughout the rest of it. I learned to play the guitar, but just good enough to lead worship. Then I stopped practicing or trying to get better. I decided I wanted to try to sell on eBay some of the photographs I've taken, so I bought the frames and enlarged the pictures. They're sitting in my room pictures in frames, where they have been for a few months. I don't even have an eBay account set up yet.

I am quite troubled by this. I really need to work on seeing things through to completion.

What I live for...

Two weeks ago I went to Terrazas, Mexico.

It wasn't for the first time. I've actually been several times; just not in the last three years. I must say, never again will I let that much time lapse before I return.

There are three churches in Mexico that participate in Christmas party. Individuals from the states go to Terrazas in the fall and take photographs of children in the area who plan to attend the party. They write down the clothing/shoe sizes of the children and an item they wants. The people who do that are typically from a church in the Phoenix area, though my mother has gone in previous years. They then send the photo and information to their church in Phoenix and my church in Plainville, Ind.

That may seem random — Arizona and Indiana, but there is a connection. The mission organization is called Cristo Vive (Christ Lives) and was started by two families in Phoenix, cousins of individuals in Plainville. That's how my church got involved many years ago.

The first time I went to Terrazas was July 2001, a week and a half after returning from a two-week mission trip in Haiti. Strangely, at the time, I thought I'd return to Haiti before Mexico. However, that hasn't been the case. Through several trips to Terrazas, I've built relationships with the individuals at the church there, and they've taught me so much. (I'll talk more about this in later posts: a true, genuine friendship that transcends a language barrier.)

But upon my return, I showed someone in the newsroom this video. Without thinking, I heard myself say,

"I love it. This, this is what I live for."

I paused after that and thought about what I'd just said. I live to worship the Lord. And what was going on was an act of worship, so I didn't find anything wrong about that statement. It just resounded in my heart because, like most people, I'm searching for my place, my calling, my spot in the world.

Christians are called to advance the Kingdom of God. I've had this vision in my head that I must do something huge. Something that would require some radical obedience, making everyone think I'm crazy.

But there I was, a Smalltown, Ind. newspaper journalist in Mexico doing something that I so freely said I live for. It was confirmed at that moment something God had been trying to tell me. My job doesn't have to be my calling. It could be the activities outside of the job that prove the most worthwhile. (Stay posted for more on this thought.)

My ultimate desire is to honor God with my life. That's what I live for, and I won't be mad if Terrazas continues to be a part of that. :)

Random writing

At work tonight, I couldn't concentrate on the story I was writing. For some reason my mind kept wondering. I remembered an exercise a professor in college made the class do once: just type whatever comes to your mind. So that's what I did.

I just started typing every thought, and of course, it was crazy how one thought led to another. First I was typing about how I didn't know what to write about, then I was writing about a three hour long meeting I was in earlier that day, then I overheard someone mention free wifi. Eventually, I ended my 14-inch random writing with writing about the power of words.

All of that led me to thinking about how much I enjoy blogging, but I rarely do. So I injected my blog with some botox — gave it a little color to make it look younger, and I'm now ready to become a faithful blogger.

We'll see what happens.