Now I see...

This morning we listened to a sermon about turning worries into prayer. The verse given was Philippians 4:6-7:

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

In the original Greek text, this is basically three different ways of saying, "pray, pray and pray". In the sermon, Ken went on to explain that one way to pray, inspired by the Old Testament, is meditation. Where worrying is picturing the future without God, meditating is picturing how God could move and act in the same situation. (I really encourage you to listen to the sermon.)

At the end, we each closed our eyes and took a few minutes to meditate on a situation that had been leading us to worry. I had a few to choose from, being quite the pro at worrying. But one stood out from the others: moving to Senegal in two years. This was my biggest sleep-loser.

But this time, rather than focus on the worrisome details, I pictured what God might do in the situation...

I saw Jonathan using his hands to treat patients in pain... I saw us speaking languages we don't even know yet, becoming friends with our neighbors... I saw us working with Talibe street kids, washing their clothes and cleaning wounds... I saw Jonathan building relationships with people in the medical community and me with American expats who needed help adjusting to their new life... I saw our kids playing with Senegalese kids and translating for health clinics... I saw us returning to the friends we'd left four years ago and them understanding how much we love them... I saw us being used to show God's love to people who don't yet know it...

With each image that came across my mind, more tears flowed. It was a joy that I admit I haven't felt in a long time because I allowed worry and fear to overtake it.

God hasn't brought me to this place in life to abandon me at the next step.

God has great things in store for me.

God can turn every image I saw into reality.

God can fulfill the desires and dreams I didn't even know were in my heart, but He knew because He placed them there.

Now I see.

Voting Like It Matters

It's not only our civic duty — it's a sacred one.
Charles Colson with Anne Morse | posted 10/10/2008 08:12AM

I have been surprised by the number of Christians who have given up on politics this year. "I don't like either candidate, so I'm staying home," some say.

I get fed up with the vain posturing and empty promises, too. But not voting is not an option—it's both our civic and sacred duty. Voting is required of us as good citizens and as God's agents for appointing leaders.

How do we go about choosing the best candidates? Not by pulling a partisan lever—that's knee-jerk ideology. Christians live instead by revealed truth, never captive to any party. Thus, the best place to go for wisdom is not the candidates' websites, but the Bible.

Moses' father-in-law, Jethro, advised him to appoint as rulers "able men" who "fear God, men who are trustworthy and who hate a bribe." The standard is competence and integrity. Later, God ordered Samuel to pick Saul, who "shall save my people from the hand of the Philistines." This passage reminds us of Paul's teaching in Romans: Government's role is to wield the sword to preserve order and restrain evil. So we should seek leaders best able to do that and to pursue justice.

Today, God no longer chooses our leaders directly (although some of us wish he did, if only to spare us the years-long political campaigns). We live in a democracy, so God entrusts to us the job of choosing leaders he will anoint. (Deuteronomy 1:12–13 shows us that democratic principles go directly back to the Old Testament.) Like Samuel, we are commissioned to choose leaders of competence, virtue, and character. That's why not voting or rejecting candidates because they are not perfect on some biblical or political score sheet is a dereliction of our trust.

So is voting for a candidate simply because he is a Christian—startling as this may sound. Rather than checking on the candidates' denomination, we should look for the ablest candidate. Martin Luther famously said he would rather be ruled by a competent Turk—that is, a Muslim—than an incompetent Christian.

In casting a vote, judgment should ultimately be guided by what we perceive to be the common good, a term not often heard in today's special interest–charged political debates. Our founders understood this, which is why they used the term commonweal, or commonwealth. But today's politicians pander to special interests, as we saw last year when congressmen dumped over $13.2 billion into earmarks, paying off special pleaders.

But if we look at politics from God's perspective, we see that he has a deep and abiding interest in all people being treated fairly. If God favors any "special interest group," it is the poor, the hungry, the unborn, the handicapped, the prisoner—those with the least access to political power.

This is why we Christians should never allow ourselves to be, as the press has often characterized us, just another special interest group pleading for our agendas only. But if we were a special interest group, we would be lobbying for the dignity of all, especially those who can't always speak for themselves.

So maybe a particular candidate isn't going to cut your taxes or vote for your favorite program, but the real question is, will he serve all the people, or only the loudest?

After considering these criteria, if you are still tempted to stay home on Election Day, dust off your copy of The City of God, in which Augustine introduces us to the idea that we live in both the City of God and the City of Man. In describing them, he reiterated Jesus' teaching that while Christians live in the City of Man, they do not belong to it. We are like sojourners in a foreign country; our true home is the City of God.

But Augustine also taught that if we are to enjoy the blessings of the City of Man, we must assume the obligations of citizenship. Instead of doing our civic duty out of compulsion, the Christian does it gladly, out of obedience to God and love of neighbor.

Augustine's teaching also helps us to put the coming election into perspective. Some will be jubilant over the outcome, others bitterly disappointed. But regardless of the returns, the City of God endures. When Augustine was informed that his beloved city of Rome was in flames, his response was that the City of Man is built by man and can be destroyed by man, but the City of God is built by God and cannot be destroyed.

On Election Day we should be the best of citizens, voting for the candidate best for all the people.

And then the next day, after indulging in your celebration—or pity party—get busy working to advance God's kingdom in this earthly society.

Copyright © 2008 Christianity Today. This article first appeared in October 2008 issue of Christianity Today. Used by permission of Christianity Today International, Carol Stream, IL 60188.

A place of peace...

As the US presidential election approaches, the weight of my absentee ballot seemed to be getting heavier. I had done my research, prayed for wisdom, talked with people whose opinions I respect...the only thing left to do was fill in a circle and mail it in.

Working my way towards a decision was difficult for me. Living abroad adds a new twist on nearly every facet. I can't look at any issue or candidate without a French filter added. And my priorities are different living here than if we lived in the US. The president affects my day-to-day differently here than if we lived there.

After months of feeling torn, I recently came to a place of peace. The bottom line is that either candidate can do amazing things if their heart is surrendered to God. So my prayers will be for their hearts, for strength, courage, boldness, passion, wisdom and faithful devotion to God.

God chose a shepherd boy to be king and He equipped him. God chose a corrupt tax collector and He changed his heart. God chose a prostitute to help His people.

I have no doubts that He can use either candidate. Pray with me for them.

A reminder...

My faithlessness doesn't change God's faithfulness. He continues to pursue me becomes He loves me and has a plan for my life.

Two loves...

There can only be two basic loves: The love of God unto the forgetfulness of self , or the love of self unto the forgetfulness and denial of God.

- Augustine

Three little words...

Recently we heard our friend Ken talk about the phrase women most want to hear from their husbands. I assumed he was leading up to how women want to hear 'I love you', 'I appreciate you', or 'You are beautiful' or something that reassures them of their husband's affection and devotion. Then Ken dropped the phrase and it was as if my breath had been sucked out of me. He was absolutely right, for this woman anyway.

The phrase I want to hear most from Jonathan is, "Tell me more." Those three words tell me everything I need and they show a genuine concern for what's important to me, what's on my heart and mind - and they convey his intention to listen as I open up to him. What's important to me becomes important to him.

A few days later I was praying, but not doing too well at it. I was more reciting and listing than anything - and of course, wondering why I wasn't hearing much in response. But then I heard it.

GOD said, "Tell me more."

Something in me cracked and the hurts, fears, joys, questions, grief and excitement I'd been burying inside poured out.

"Tell me more."

How beautiful that what's important to me is important to the GOD above all things.

HE really loves me, you know.

My slideshow...

If I made up a cheesy slideshow of my life thus far, this song would be playing as the images faded into each other. I first heard it when a friend burned it onto a CD for me in 2003. Six months later I went through handfuls of AA batteries fueling my little portable player as I listened to the words over and over again, making fantastic use of the 'repeat' setting.

What I love most about the song is that it turns my focus back to the One is so much greater than I am, but loves me more than I can understand. It's easy to melt into its words when I'm surrounded by joy and blessings. But it's even more powerful for mewhen I'm hurt, frustrated, confused or afraid. No matter what my situation is, One is so great loves me more than I can understand. That's my slideshow message.


How Great You Are

A thousand sparkling stars upon a midnight summer sky
The majesty and wonder of the ocean's endless tide
And the more I see, the more I can't explain how the One who sets the world in place could even know my name.
And I'm amazed. I'm so amazed.

How great You are.
How small I am.
How awesome is Your mighty hand.
And I am captured by the wonder of it all.
And I will offer all my praise, with all my heart, for all my days.
How great You are.

A million snow flakes gently fall, yet no two are the same.
For colours fill the canvas of the seasons as the change
And everywhere I look I see Your hand.
Why You would love someone like me?
I'll never understand.
And I'm amazed. I'm so amazed.

How great You are.
How small I am.
How awesome is Your mighty hand.
And I am captured by the wonder of it all.
And I will offer all my praise, with all my heart, for all my days.
How great You are.

Song by Philips, Craig and Dean, from the Let My Words Be Few album

What I want to be...

Humble enough to let GOD lead me.

And brave enough to follow.

Fighting...

I am standing in the center of a battle wearing rusty armor.

But the tears and prayers are making it shine a little brighter.

Nobody but yourself...

"To be nobody but yourself, in a world which is doing its best day and night to make you everybody else, means to fight the hardest battle which any human can fights, and never stop fighting."
- ee cummings

In the preface to his book Abba's Child, Brennan Manning talks about the presence of an 'impostor' in his life who is "...baffling, sly, and seductive. He persuades me to forsake my true self, Abba's beloved child, and, as cummings notes, become 'everyone else'. My greatest difficulty these past years has been bringing the impostor into the presence of Jesus. I am still inclined to flagellate the false-self, to beat him mercilessly for self-centeredness, to get disheartened, discouraged, and decide that my alleged spiritual life is merely self-deception and fantasy."

I probably read that five times for it to sink in. I've felt that way so many times, but never been able to put it into words.

"To be nobody but yourself, in a world which is doing its best day and night to make you everybody else, means to fight the hardest battle which any human can fights, and never stop fighting."

We're never promised a life without battles, pain or loss. But we are promised that if we look with all our hearts, we will find the truth...and only then does fulfillment come.

Dear God...

I was wrong.

What I did hurt You, even moreso because of how much You love me.

Please forgive me.

To-do list...

To do today:

Clear the way for the LORD in the wilderness;
Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.

Fill in the valleys,
level off the hills,
Smooth out the ruts,
clear out the rocks.
Then God's bright glory will shine
and everyone will see it.
Yes. Just as God has said.


Tomorrow:

Clear the way for the LORD in the wilderness;
Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.

Fill in the valleys,
level off the hills,
Smooth out the ruts,
clear out the rocks.
Then God's bright glory will shine
and everyone will see it.
Yes. Just as God has said.


This week:

Clear the way for the LORD in the wilderness;
Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.

Fill in the valleys,
level off the hills,
Smooth out the ruts,
clear out the rocks.
Then God's bright glory will shine
and everyone will see it.
Yes. Just as God has said.


Next month:

Clear the way for the LORD in the wilderness;
Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.

Fill in the valleys,
level off the hills,
Smooth out the ruts,
clear out the rocks.
Then God's bright glory will shine
and everyone will see it.
Yes. Just as God has said.


2008:

Clear the way for the LORD in the wilderness;
Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.

Fill in the valleys,
level off the hills,
Smooth out the ruts,
clear out the rocks.
Then God's bright glory will shine
and everyone will see it.
Yes. Just as God has said.

Give me the courage to ask...

...what I need to do to connect with YOU.