[“…there will also be some who are the visionaries, who can see new possibilities and who call for change.” --- Martin Luther King Jr.]
Yesterday, my business lunch date, an editor from a nearby city newspaper and author of several books, excused himself to go to the restroom. I watched him walk from the table and when I turned back to my soup bowl, I was shocked to find a young lady kneeling beside my chair.
“Excuse me, I’m sorry, I don’t mean to interrupt,” she stammered. “But I couldn’t help but overhear the words you were saying, ‘writing, God, India, orphans.’ Who are you and what do you do? These are not words I usually hear around here.”
We talked fast as I tried to give a brief explanation of what she had heard: who I am and what I do. She was totally overwhelmed because her God had been leading her to believe she is to go to India for at least a year and work in an orphanage.
“We have so much here and they have nothing. I can afford to go. I want my life to count for something. But my friends don’t understand and they think I’m crazy. I really don’t know anyone in India and I’m just starting my search for connections.”
I was more than happy to give her my business card, along with a few serious warnings about being very careful as to whom she goes to work for. There are plenty of horror stories of USA college-age girls being taken advantage of when they go to work for some of the orphan businesses (unfortunately many are in it for the money you can bring them).
I could hear the wistfulness in her voice. I saw the excitement and yearning in her body language. I felt her heart motivation to help the poorest of the poor. I am looking forward to getting together with Tracey soon and learning more about her heart-call to India.
As Charles Ringma said in “Let My People Go With Martin Luther King Jr.”: “Discontent may be the first glimmer of light. It may lead to a growing hope that things could be different. And hope may lead to an emerging vision of what is possible. To say to the oppressed that they should not be discontent is to condemn them to the dark night of subexistence. Rather, discontent is the harbinger of hope.”
I also heard clearly that still, small voice saying, “Elaine, this is what I mean by being salt and light. How can I use you in my harvest field right here in your hometown if you are always stuck in your office at your computer? I need you to be a witness here on your island. I need you to bloom right where I’ve placed you – and then I can bless you in all the traveling you want to do.”
“Seek good, not evil, that you may live. Then the Lord God Almighty will be with you, just as you say he is. Hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts” (Amos 5:14-15 NIV).
Showing posts with label God's voice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label God's voice. Show all posts
Friday, March 25, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
Don't Look Back
DON’T LOOK BACK
By all means, Jesus cautions us: Don’t look back. It will only make the journey harder.
If we are going to follow him, our lives are going to keep moving and things and people keep changing around on us. Why?
Why must we keep saying good-bye to people we love?
Why must we keep growing and changing and maturing?
Why do we have to keep losing things along the way—our health, our families, and our dreams?
One of the greatest temptations to look back comes from all the hurt we have left behind, hurt that still screams for our attention. Maybe it is hurt we caused; perhaps it is hurt someone else caused. Or it may be a hurt caused simply by the volatility of life.
No one ever continues to learn without recalling the past to some extent. Jesus is not taking the past away from us—but he is making it painfully clear that LIFE always takes us down the road. We must keep moving in order to get there, and allow him to hold the past for us in his loving hands.
There is a reason why we bury our dead. It is, after all, a way of placing them into the arms of God so he can carry them and we can move on. It can be hard to leave behind the life we have enjoyed and to keep moving—unless we really can see Jesus along the way.
The New Jerusalem comes at the end of the story. So, for now, we will always be clearer about what Jesus is asking us to give up than about where he is taking us. Along the way to Jerusalem, Jesus may take us places where we would rather not go. He may bring gifts into our lives we would rather not have.
Each year of our lives, he will invite us to drop some of the things we are carrying, because these things are becoming too heavy. They weigh us down, and we’re holding them too tightly. Jesus does all of this simply to get us into the new holy Jerusalem, where our salvation becomes clear and perfect.
This is why we put our hands to the plow and do the work we’ve been given to do today. It’s all a way of seeing Jesus. And we’ve got to keep our eyes on him, or we’ll never make it to the Holy City.
Christians equipped for right living are prepared for losses, crosses, changes, and conflicts. They bow low, walk tall, and fight hard all the time. No matter how dark the days we face, we must make it our continual practice to acknowledge God’s sovereignty over our world.
Let’s tell Him regularly how grateful we are that He has the final word.
“Look straight ahead, and fix your eyes on what lies before you. Mark out a straight path for your feet; stay on the safe path. Don’t get sidetracked; keep your feet from following evil” (Proverbs 4:25-27 NLT).
(Some of these thoughts are adapted from M. Craig Barnes in Sacred Thirst: Meeting God in the Desert of Our Longings)
By all means, Jesus cautions us: Don’t look back. It will only make the journey harder.
If we are going to follow him, our lives are going to keep moving and things and people keep changing around on us. Why?
Why must we keep saying good-bye to people we love?
Why must we keep growing and changing and maturing?
Why do we have to keep losing things along the way—our health, our families, and our dreams?
One of the greatest temptations to look back comes from all the hurt we have left behind, hurt that still screams for our attention. Maybe it is hurt we caused; perhaps it is hurt someone else caused. Or it may be a hurt caused simply by the volatility of life.
No one ever continues to learn without recalling the past to some extent. Jesus is not taking the past away from us—but he is making it painfully clear that LIFE always takes us down the road. We must keep moving in order to get there, and allow him to hold the past for us in his loving hands.
There is a reason why we bury our dead. It is, after all, a way of placing them into the arms of God so he can carry them and we can move on. It can be hard to leave behind the life we have enjoyed and to keep moving—unless we really can see Jesus along the way.
The New Jerusalem comes at the end of the story. So, for now, we will always be clearer about what Jesus is asking us to give up than about where he is taking us. Along the way to Jerusalem, Jesus may take us places where we would rather not go. He may bring gifts into our lives we would rather not have.
Each year of our lives, he will invite us to drop some of the things we are carrying, because these things are becoming too heavy. They weigh us down, and we’re holding them too tightly. Jesus does all of this simply to get us into the new holy Jerusalem, where our salvation becomes clear and perfect.
This is why we put our hands to the plow and do the work we’ve been given to do today. It’s all a way of seeing Jesus. And we’ve got to keep our eyes on him, or we’ll never make it to the Holy City.
Christians equipped for right living are prepared for losses, crosses, changes, and conflicts. They bow low, walk tall, and fight hard all the time. No matter how dark the days we face, we must make it our continual practice to acknowledge God’s sovereignty over our world.
Let’s tell Him regularly how grateful we are that He has the final word.
“Look straight ahead, and fix your eyes on what lies before you. Mark out a straight path for your feet; stay on the safe path. Don’t get sidetracked; keep your feet from following evil” (Proverbs 4:25-27 NLT).
(Some of these thoughts are adapted from M. Craig Barnes in Sacred Thirst: Meeting God in the Desert of Our Longings)
Friday, January 7, 2011
God is Preparing You for the New!
"God is preparing YOU for a prepared place, a prepared ministry, and for a prepared people that He wants to reach. He knows how to perfectly prepare you for what He has ahead." -- Roy Lessin
In the economy of God, nothing He allows to touch our life is ever wasted. Sometimes God has to slow us down and remove us from our busy world in order to give us the time to gain new direction and inner renewal.
Henri Nouwen said, "to reach the inner sanctum where God's voice and direction can be heard and obeyed is not easy if you are always called outward [to be and do with lots of people]." (The Road to Daybreak)
We must stop repeating the same mistakes and establish new priorities that lead to our spiritual growth and Kingdom service.
Let us begin the New Year by putting first things first in our life. And what are these first things?
"Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things [what to eat and what to wear] will be given to you as well" (Matthew 6:33 TNIV).
It is good to remember that the "tough stuff" of preparation is for the greater end result: That we may love and serve more purposefully.
In the economy of God, nothing He allows to touch our life is ever wasted. Sometimes God has to slow us down and remove us from our busy world in order to give us the time to gain new direction and inner renewal.
Henri Nouwen said, "to reach the inner sanctum where God's voice and direction can be heard and obeyed is not easy if you are always called outward [to be and do with lots of people]." (The Road to Daybreak)
We must stop repeating the same mistakes and establish new priorities that lead to our spiritual growth and Kingdom service.
Let us begin the New Year by putting first things first in our life. And what are these first things?
"Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things [what to eat and what to wear] will be given to you as well" (Matthew 6:33 TNIV).
It is good to remember that the "tough stuff" of preparation is for the greater end result: That we may love and serve more purposefully.
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