My road, as I travel it

Explanation...

2011-07-06T09:38:00.000+10:00

This will explain why I haven't really been posting much. ;)

It's okay to Stumble...God has your hand

You and I will stumble in our walk with the Lord but one thing we can rest assure about and that is He will never let us fall. How many times have you started out doing one thing for God and you start out pretty good but somehow after a day or two you stop doing it? Did you know that is known as a stumble?

So often in our walk we are brought to our knees for a brief moment in a season but we don't stay there for God's hand comes and lift us up. God cares and loves each one of us so much that He sustains us. But aren't you so glad that God knows the hearts of every man women and child? That though you start out doing good you make a mistake and He's right there to guide you right back to the place where you left off? I am so reminded of this verse in Psalm 37:24, though he stumble, he will not fall, for the LORD upholds him with his hand.

Family that is assurance that you and I can rest in. Nothing in life itself can give us this type of assurance. When we mess up and stumble with man they aren't so willing to hold our hand to see us through. But when we stumble with God He is right there to hold your hand so you don't fall. Many times as I look back over my walk with the Lord I don't have to go back to the day it begin I can go back and look at yesterday and I can see had not God held my hand I would of fallen.

I challenge you today, to be aware of the Lord holding your hand. I know it may sound weird or strange but we can get so use to our daily routine that we miss taking a hold of God's hands before we start the day. We know He holds our hands but this morning before you do anything or go out your door first take a hold of His hand and let His hand guide you today.

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The Past has a Purpose

2011-05-31T18:18:00.000+10:00

This is SO appropriate for me.

The Past has a Purpose | Internet Cafe Devotions

Chills

2011-04-27T09:38:00.001+10:00

Turn it up if you can where you are. I got chills. Amazing voice. Amazing.

Q

2011-04-26T17:54:00.001+10:00

I love how simple this blog entry from Michael Perkins is.

The Letter “Q”

I like the letter “Q”.

I know what you are thinking.

You’re thinking I’m an idiot, but let me explain.

See, the letter “Q” needs help. It can’ do it on it’s own. It needs a “U”. Sure there are exceptions to this, but the majority of the time “Q” is paired with “U”.

It almost always has help. It knows that two is better than one. It knows that in order for it to be strong, it needs others.

It needs a “U”.

1 Thessalonians 5:11 says, “Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.”

There are so many “Q’s” out there.

They are hurting.

They are lost.

They are confused.

They feel abandoned.

We have the opportunity to encourage them. We have the opportunity to lift them up. We have the opportunity to help comfort them. We have the opportunity to love them.

We have the opportunity to become their “U”.

Who is your “U”?

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It's a great blog, I hope you click through the links and enjoy more there. :)

On the bandwagon?

2011-04-23T15:13:00.002+10:00

I read this article today and it was exactly how I feel so often. I hope you enjoy reading it. After the article I'll post my comment on the entry.

(Note: I'm not talking so much about the video or Lady Gaga in particular but the Christian bandwagon phenomenon)

Riding the Bandwagon: Have We Gone Gaga?

This evening one of my Facebook friends posted a status that bothered me. This doesn't happen often -- if my mind were any more open about a lot of stuff, my brain would fall out. I tend to walk the line with a lot of subjects, until I've exhausted all of the roads of information to gather an informed opinion about something. Even then my life is tricky, because I believe in the first amendment to the extreme, and this can be difficult to do as a pastor's wife.

This friend on Facebook posted about Lady Gaga's new video for her song, "Judas." She had said the video was extremely offensive to Christians, and that we shouldn't allow our teens and kids to watch such filth. She said she'd found the leaked Judas video but decided not to link it because the thumbnail for the video itself was "too disturbing."

Now, I know Christians can get uppity about people being offensive to Christianity and God. When your husband works for a church, you hear it a lot about it. I'm used to people getting extremely upset about things that matter and things that don't matter. I'm also used to the bandwagon effect.

My immediate wonder about this new Gaga video is what could be that horrible? Okay, so she wears meat dresses for gay rights and wears clothes that look like Liberace and Elton John had a baby for "shock value." She's one of the most open-minded people out there, so much so that I think her brain actually did fall out sometimes.

But for her to attack Christianity so terribly doesn't seem logical. You don't simultaneously fight for equality and shut out a major group of people, do you? Lady Gaga did go to Catholic school for 13 years, so it's not surprising that this topic will come up from time to time in her performances.

So I went on a search for this video and came up empty-handed. I couldn't find it -- anywhere. At this point I had to see it. I just had to. I asked my friend if she could just post a link in comment to the video so I could watch it. That's when I realized that she had jumped on the bandwagon. All aboard. No, this time it's okay, because her preacher had said it.

This is when I get upset. Did she see the video personally? Did she formulate her own opinion based on anything other than copying her preacher's status update? How many other mindless copy-pasters did this preacher create?

I questioned my friend and she promptly posted a link to another Gaga video -- "Telephone," in my opinion one of the most irrelevant wannabe "Thriller" videos ever made. And my friend said it was filth, and that she had copied her status update from her preacher because she figured he had done his homework.

I'm not interested in the other video. She posted a very strong and very stern opinion about the "Judas" video -- that she hadn't even seen yet.

Sure, her preacher had an opinion about the video and he's entitled to it. I do wonder though how he got hold of this elusive video that no one else has seen. He apparently got to see it and must be the only one in the world who has. Now I'm not saying all preachers are wrong or liars. Some of them are, some aren't. I don't know her preacher personally, and I don't have an opinion about him.

I also don't have an opinion on the Lady Gaga video.

Because I haven't seen it.

Curious, I listened to the audio of it with the help of finding the lyrics to the song. The song, if taken metaphorically, is about loving someone who has done wrong, being torn between choosing someone you feel more connected to as a person because they're dirty like you, or choosing the person you know is better for you. Then there's the release of information by Gaga herself that she'll be portraying a Mary Magdalene character in the video who is torn between her devotion to Jesus and her love for the "bad boy," Judas.

I mean, we are tempted to sin, to choose the darker path. The song can get quite confusing. It almost speaks in different stances as if from three separate points of view: Jesus', Mary Magdalene's and even Judas'. There's also one line that talks about betrayal three times -- in reference to Peter, perhaps? The song, in my opinion, isn't offensive. It's either a metaphor for being with a man who is just no good to you, or an interesting take on the possible struggle Gaga is having between choosing God or turning away from Him -- and if that's offensive, I think maybe Christianity doesn't want any more members, now does it?

The video is a different story. It could be offensive, it could just be another bandwagon of hate based on ignorance. But I'm not about to have an opinion on something I haven't seen for myself yet. That bandwagon can just drive by; I'll walk, thanks.

And this, folks, is what's wrong with the internet -- Facebook, blogs, etc. Many people have given up on finding their own opinions about things and have jumped on the bandwagon of click-highlight-copy-paste. This is a plight among the Christian community especially, because we're loud and opinionated. It's okay to have opinions and it's okay to share opinions, but when did we stop thinking for ourselves and start regurgitating Facebook status updates? When did we start copying and pasting things about something we haven't seen/heard/read about yet, and think it's okay to do that?

Now I know we've been doing this since the dawn of time, but the internet has made it much easier to start a global bandwagon of ignorance, fueled by hate. I'm not upset that my friend trusted her preacher; I'm upset that she put her complete and utter, 100% faith in her preacher and flew on complete ignorance, spreading information without checking for herself.

If preachers were the absolute truth-holders, Bibles would be printed for clergy only.

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This was my comment over there:

I LOVE LOVE LOVE your post. LOVE it.

All my life I have tried so hard to stay off the bandwagon. Sometimes a little too much, where it is just "a point" I'm making. I'll admit that.

But I refuse to believe something just because someone told me they do.

It has to sit right with me, it has to resonate with me. And it has to sit right with my relationship with God.

I firmly believe that there are a lot of "greys" in God's world, that the black and white, wrong and right, that so many preach, is not always the case.

As you say, you can take this song a couple of ways. Who's to say which is right? Only Lady Gaga.

Same goes for the Bible. You can take it many ways. Who's to say which is right? Only God. A lot, we'll only know when we reach Him in Heaven. By then, we'll have realised that for so much of what we argued against and judged... it's not important to Him anyway.

Our relationship with Him is what's important, not what other people are doing.

I know many people won't agree with me. I don't mind. As I've said before, if I know I'm sitting right with God then I don't mind if others disagree.

Easter posts

2011-04-22T23:38:00.000+10:00

It's Good Friday. I should be posting of my love for Jesus for dying on the cross.

But I'm not. :(

To tell you the honest truth it's as if a wall has been put up to stop me feeling any emotions towards God. My faith is still true and honest, but I'm finding it so hard to "feel" anything.

I hate that.

Sexual Assault, Cold Nights and God’s Plan

2011-04-21T17:17:00.000+10:00

As a Christian don't you often get asked what God's plan is? Why He would let people go through horrible things? This article might give you a new perspective on what God's plan really is, and why some things don't always go according to His plan. ;)

Red Letter Christians » Sexual Assault, Cold Nights and God’s Plan

Well played God, well played

2011-04-19T07:28:00.000+10:00

I went from posting the last article to reading the next I have in Google Reader and realised there was God, talking to me, and reassuring me that how I was feeling last night when trying to represent Him to some non-Christian friends, was right. I am so blessed that He steps in to reassure me when I need it. He knows when I could do with some confirmation that I'm on the right track, and He knows where to find me and how to speak to me.

So this is the next article I read, this one from ReveLife. This is the exact topic I was talking about - that I'm a fan of Jesus but not "Religion" (with a capital R).

Burned by Legalism

This may come off as a rant, but I think it's an important issue, because this issue causes so many people to lose their faith and be turned off by Christianity.

Legalism. Judgmental. Hypocritical. Harsh words that sadly are usually associated with the church.

Jesus is our example as Christians. He reached out with love, understanding and forgiveness to the tax collector, the dirty, the poor, the unwanted, the sinner, the prostitute, the demon possessed, the outcast and the adulteress. He offered grace freely, not loving people conditionally, but unconditionally no matter what they'd done.

The Pharisees and even His disciples couldn't understand this. They were angry, even, at Jesus for the way He treated these people. They cast judgements and considered themselves better than those around them.

Mark 2:15-17 is one example of this. While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

God doesn't choose the "righteous". He chooses the weak and broken, the messed-up and sin-stained.

Another example of this is out of Matthew 26, when a woman came to where Jesus was eating and broke a jar of expensive perfume, probably her dowry, and wiped His feet with her hair, weeping. The men around whispered about the kind of woman she was and how it was a waste of the perfume. But Jesus excepted her broken sacrifice and loved her, not judging her.

Yet another story is about Jesus and the adulteress, in John 8.

At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?”

They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”“No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

Jesus didn't come to judge sinners. He came to save sinners.

When a person says that a Christian who's in sin isn't saved, they're denying the saving power of Jesus Christ. Jesus is able to save even the worst of sinners. God is bigger than mistakes and sins. It's never too late for someone to repent and for Jesus to forgive them.

Yes, the Bible contains many rules and guidelines in the old testament -- but Jesus came to do away with the burden of the law. We are no longer under sin's curse; we are free!
So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don't get tied up again in slavery to the law.
Galatians 5:1

There are principles which Christians should live by, but we must discern between personal convictions and Biblical truths. Way too often people force their personal opinions on others. The Bible addresses this, too. Romans 14 deals with this issue of Christian liberties and the "weaker" brother.

Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters. One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them.

Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand. One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.

You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. It is written:

“‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord,
‘every knee will bow before me;
every tongue will acknowledge God.’”

So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.

Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister. I am convinced, being fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for that person it is unclean. If your brother or sister is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy someone for whom Christ died. Therefore do not let what you know is good be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and receives human approval.

Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a person to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother or sister to fall.
So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves. But whoever has doubts is condemned if they eat, because their eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.

God doesn't study the outward appearances of a person. He looks at the heart, at the motives of a person. He's not concerned with our hair color, if we have tattoos, if we have piercings, what colours we wear, what we dress like, our race, the kind of music we listen to, etc. That's not the point. He looks at why we do the things we do, instead. He sees so much deeper than the stuff, which at the end of it all doesn't matter!

We're supposed to discern what is right and wrong by the Holy Spirit of God and His word, not by our opinions and biases. Yes, there are black and white rights and wrongs, but they're set by a Holy God, not by you or me. Next time you judge me, realize you don't have the whole picture, you will never know my whole story, you can't see my heart, and that I will answer to the Holy God -- not to you!

Stop judging, start loving!

Do you feel that the Christian church has become too judgmental? In what ways have you been burned by legalism? What can we do to be more welcoming and less judgmental?

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Who do people see?

2011-04-19T07:21:00.001+10:00

This is a timely article from Red Letter Christians because just last night I had a brief chat to a non-Christian on Facebook about how God is seen, and since we are representations of God, it's important to know how we, as Christians, are seen.

UnChristian: Who Do I Emulate?
by Colin McCartney

I have been doing some thinking about the book UnChristian in which non – Christians had the opportunity to share their views of Evangelical Christians. Not surprisingly they are not too impressed by us. In fact the huge majority of them see us in a very negative light. Specifically, they see us a being homo – phobic, pro – war, insensitive and extremely judgmental.

When I read these accusations towards us I could not help but think of what would happen if we were able to go back in time and do a similar research project on people’s views of Jesus. What would the “sinners” in Jesus’ day say about him? I think that they would be very positive about Jesus after all they were always hanging around him (see Luke 15: 1 - 2).

I believe that they would see him as being the opposite of how non – Christians view us Evangelicals today. They would see Jesus as being sympathetic and forgiving (not homo – phobic), merciful (not pro – war), empathetic (not insensitive) and very gracious (not judgmental).

Then I got thinking of what would happen if we surveyed these same people, the sinners, tax collectors, prostitutes and other so called “unclean” types found in the Gospels who hung out with Jesus and who loved him so much. What would they say if we asked them what they thought of the Pharisee’s? I think you know what they would say. They would probably use the exact same words that non – Christians today used in describing us – insensitive and extremely judgmental!

So my question now is this – who do we Evangelicals really emulate the most – Jesus or the Pharisees? Who do we best represent when it comes to what we say and how we behave towards the homosexual community – Pharisee’s or Jesus? Who do we most look like when we take a stand on issues like war, torture of suspected terrorists and tax cuts (that will negatively affect social programs to help the poor) – Pharisee’s or Jesus?

These are tough questions, questions that shine a spotlight right onto our hearts. It is our response to issues like these (and there are others) that the world watches and judges us on. Pharisee or Jesus? Take your pick. I hope I choose Jesus.

—-
Rev. Colin McCartney is the founder of UrbanPromise Toronto and author of two best selling books: The Beautiful Disappointment and Red Letter Revolution (Castle Quay Publishers). He is also a mentor to pastors and business people and is in high demand as a speaker. Colin is married to Judith McCartney and has two children – Colin Junior and Victoria McCartney.

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Whilst the opinion of others is not the most important part of measuring our life with Jesus, I do think it is a factor to consider. It's a bit like being the mirror that reflects God's light. We need people to see our loving God for them to feel comfortable meeting Him.

Faith quote

2011-04-19T06:55:00.002+10:00

'We are not saved by the quality of our faith but the object of our faith.' ~ Tim Keller.

Giving

2011-04-13T08:41:00.000+10:00

What Would You See Through Generous Eyes?

God's Word gives us a simple but awesome promise: "He who has a generous eye will be blessed" (Prov. 22:9 NKJV) ... What would you see if you looked at the world through generous eyes? Going through your daily life, you might notice needs that escape other people, or identify places where you alone are capable of giving what's needed. Seeing with generous eyes would color your thinking beyond yourself:

"God, who can I bless in this present situation?"
"What do I have that I could use to make a difference?"
"What is the need here - and what can I do to meet it?"

Weirdly enough, the more we give away, the richer we become. We're promised a blessing when we have a generous eye. But what exactly does this mean? ... I'm not suggesting that when you give a hundred dollars somewhere, you're going to get back a hundred dollars (or more) somewhere else. Certainly, this can happen, but it's not the point. This truth is not an investment strategy for manipulating God like you'd play the stock market. We're promised a blessing if we give generously, not a big payback. Not all the blessings of God have to do with money; instead, they may be riches of the Spirit - peace, joy, patience - or gifts that money can't buy (a spouse, kids, forgiveness, respect, a job you love). In God's economy, you may even harvest a crop in places where you didn't plant seed ... Giving generously changes you. It frees you up, undermines the power that money and possessions can have over you, and it makes you more like him.

-Weird: Because Normal Isn't Working, by Craig Groeschel

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Enemies?

2011-04-03T11:55:00.000+10:00

Who is Our Enemy?

Atheists. Agnostics. Secular. Humanists. Buddhists. Hindus. Muslims. Taoists. Jews. Mormons. Jehovah's Witnesses. Scientologists. Satanists. Luciferians. Pagans. Baha'i. Spiritualists. Shinto. Rastafarians. Soldiers. Pacifists. Democrats. Republicans. Liberals. Conservatives. Capitalists. Socialists. Communists. Anarchists. Libertarians. Homosexuals. Bisexuals. Transexuals. Fornicators. Drunks. Pedophiles. Murderers. Gamblers. Adulterers. Idolaters. Thieves. Liars. The Rich. The Poor. Everything and anything in between that I haven't mentioned.

None of these are our enemies. These are all our friends. They are our neighbors. They are our family. It is not only our duty, but our joy to minister to these people, and love them whether they "deserve" it or not. We are all loved and served by One who's love we do not deserve. We are called to show this same unconditional love to everyone. Chances are, if you are a human being, you are or have been one of the labels listed above. And Christ loves you no less because of. Now that you've become a Christian, he loves you no more either. He can't. That's the beauty of agape. Our God loves us, even when we are Godless -- and we are Godless often.

We are Christians. We love. We bless. We forgive. We serve. We shine bright. We show Christ. And if some people don't want to know our God, that's ok, because it isn't us who brings someone to know God. God does that work within a person's heart. He is revealing himself to others constantly, wooing them with his unfathomable love, calling them home.

But -- don't we sometimes have the tendency to brush some of these people off? Sweep them off to the side? Neglect them? Judge them? Persecute them? Show them no mercy? No forgiveness? No compassion?

Weren't we once sinners?
Haven't we been Godless?
Aren't we Godless at times?

These are not our enemies. They're casualties. They are POW's. And God is doing a work within them -- and the best way he can do that, is through you, Christian. You are put here to bless others, no matter how much they curse you. You are here to help others, no matter how much they harm you. You are here to forgive others, no matter what wrong they did to you. Because the one we follow did this for us -- because we are guilty, and he still loves us.

Is it easier to cast people off as our enemies and hopeless than it is to accept them and love them regardless of who they are? How do you reach out to those who some might consider your enemies?

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Let us ALL work towards this.

Fantastic article

2011-04-02T10:08:00.000+11:00

I REALLY love this article. I mean it PERFECTLY articulates how I feel, what I believe.

Why Christians Don’t Like Jesus
by Tony Campolo

As the Red Letter Christian movement came to be known, I realized it would never be accepted. This is because many Christians don’t really like the God that is revealed in Jesus Christ. They want the God that is in the black letters. He is the God that legitimated war and many Christians feel more comfortable with war than they do with a God who tells them to love their enemies and to overcome evil with good.

Many Christians believe in retribution. They want a God who tells them that there should be an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, and they become furious when anyone suggests another kind of God who asks them to be merciful and forgiving. The God of grace is not to their liking. Instead, they want a God who punishes people tit for tat, and even beyond that, they want a God who will provide infinite punishment for limited sin.

The God revealed in Jesus Christ is far too generous. He gives His all in love for others, and expects us to do the same. Such a God is too demanding for most Christians. They want one that only requires a tithe. They sing about total self-giving, but in the end they would like to sing, “One-tenth to Jesus I surrender, one-tenth to Him I gladly give—I surrender one-tenth, I surrender one-tenth.” Ultimately, they want a God who declares as an abomination all of those who offend their social mores. They don’t like the God who touches lepers, embraces Samaritans, declares women equals, and has the audacity to say to gays, lesbians, transsexuals, and bisexuals, “Whosoever will may come.” They don’t like the God that is revealed in those red letters of the Bible because Him embraces those whom they want to reject. They prefer the God of the black letters so evident in the Hebrew Bible, the God who declares certain races unclean and would render women who are menstruating as unacceptable in the house of worship.

They want a God who, when they march off to war, will be on their side and they reject the God revealed in the red letters who warns that those who live by the sword will die by the sword.

When we stumbled upon calling ourselves Red Letter Christians, we should have expected the reaction that we got because most Christians feel more comfortable with a God that is like most of us—vengeful, judgmental, and ready to mete out torture to those who do not conform to expectations—torture that goes on forever and ever. The God revealed in fullness in the Jesus we find in the red letters is not to their liking at all.

The Bible says that God created us in His own image. Unfortunately, George Bernard Shaw was correct when he said, “We have decided to return the favor.” There is no doubt that most Christians want a God in their own image, but that’s not the God who is revealed in Jesus Christ. He is not an American who would carry within his psyche all the traits of judgment and prejudices so evident among those who want nothing to do with the God who breaks loose in the Sermon on the Mount. He is not the God of Jonathan Edwards, who preached “Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God.” Instead, the God of the red letters is the God that we find in the Beatitudes.

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Perfection

2011-03-26T09:18:00.000+11:00

Please go read this post over at Getting Down With Jesus. Fantastic post and there is plenty over there that I'm sure you'd learn from and be blessed by.

Needs no words

2011-03-21T22:10:00.000+11:00

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Stopovers on the journey

2011-03-18T22:09:00.000+11:00

This is good. REALLY good. I think I might read it over and over. I hope you enjoy and that it helps you out too.

Hubs–from Pastor Steven Furtick

For all of you who wonder why in the world, you are where in the world you are….the following comes from the blog of Pastor Steven Furtick of Elevation Church in Charlotte, NC. I hope it gives you the same comfort that it gave me. He loves us! –Geoffrey

When you’re flying through airports, you often have to fly through one city to get to another city. They’re called hubs. Transfer points to get passengers to their intended destination.

So if you want to get to Philly, sometimes you have to go to Atlanta. Even if Atlanta is in the exact opposite direction from Philly and it makes no sense to go there first. It sounds weird and counterintuitive, but it’s just the way it works.

The same is true with God’s will.

I think most people assume that when God reveals to you what He wants you to do with your life, like a genie He quickly and immediately transports you to it. Yet that’s rarely the case. There are very few non-stop flights to God’s will.

I was 16 when I received a vision from God to one day pastor a church. It wasn’t until ten years later that we planted Elevation. In-between those two points were multiple hubs, most of which I would never have scripted out as transfer points to my intended destination. But each was absolutely essential.

For example, I never thought I’d come to plant Elevation by going to Shelby, NC. Don’t feel bad, most people have never heard of it either. But if I hadn’t gone to Shelby, I wouldn’t have met many of the key leaders that got Elevation off the ground and have been so instrumental to its success.

Or even before that, I never thought I’d come to pastor Elevation by going to Tigerville, SC for college. But if I hadn’t gone to Tigerville, I never would have met Holly. And without her, Elevation wouldn’t exist.

I’ve concluded that you can’t script out what God wants to do through your life. You just have to follow it step by step. Everybody wants the ten-year plan. Everybody wants to know the full alphabet of God’s plan for them.

But we don’t like living in each letter.
We love A and B. And we love Y and Z.
But we hate L, M, N, O, P.

We hate the hubs that get us from the place where we first got a hint at God’s will for our lives to the place where it actually comes to fruition. Yet those are some of the most important places we’ll ever go. It’s there that God is preparing us for what He has for us. What we see as an unnecessary detour, God sees as a necessary transfer point to get us to our final destination.

God knows how to get you to where He wants you. Even if it doesn’t seem like the most direct route that you’d prefer. And He’s not just wasting your time or playing games with you. There’s a purpose to every hub He takes you to. To the hub you may be in right now.

That includes the school you can’t wait to graduate from.
The relationship you thought would lead to marriage, but then didn’t.
The city you’re living in that you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy.
The job you know you don’t want to be at forever, but where you feel stuck at for now.

Don’t be afraid to go to Atlanta to go to Philly.
God’s going to get you to Philly. And He’s got something for you in Atlanta in the meantime.

via

Would I Friend Him?

2011-03-15T16:17:00.000+11:00

Hmmm, nice one!

Would I Friend Him?

fragility. chins up.

2011-03-12T07:47:00.000+11:00

After you finish reading this post over by BibleDude, please take a moment to pray for everyone effected. :(

fragility. chins up. : BibleDude.net

Lent Is Good Religion

2011-03-10T12:27:00.000+11:00

Hmm, some really good points in this article.

RELEVANT Magazine - Lent Is Good Religion

Looking through

2011-03-08T07:02:00.000+11:00

The Bible is like a telescope. If a man looks through his telescope, then he sees the worlds beyond; but if he looks at his telescope, then he does not see anything but that. The Bible is a thing to be looked through, to see that which is beyond; but most people only look at it; and so they see only the dead letter. ~Phillips Brooks

Friend request

2011-02-26T22:27:00.002+11:00

Do your letters define you?

2011-02-19T14:43:00.000+11:00

For some reason today the thought popped into my head "do our letters define us?".

There are a number of letters I could put after my name.

B.A. - I have a Bachelor of Arts

LBP - I am a Lap Band Patient

MO2 - Mother Of 2

W - Wife

SDA - Sufferer of Depression and Anxiety

We are so frequently defined by these things, things of the world. But what really defines us?

There is really only one set of initials that we should concentrate on, and proudly display after our name, to show the world who we truly are.

COG.

Child Of God.

Romans 8:16 For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God's children.

1 John 5:1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has become a child of God. And everyone who loves the Father loves his children, too.

Just as I'm not always using or showing the other "worldly" letters after my name, I'm not always so good at being a COG.

But luckily for me it's not something that I've had to earn, or do, in this life, that gives me those letters.

It just is. I just am.

A Child Of God. And a loved one at that.

And guess what - you are too.

SOMETIMES LIFE IS HELL

2011-02-19T13:31:00.000+11:00

JUST BE REAL: SOMETIMES LIFE IS HELL

God’s True Hierarchy

2011-02-11T22:01:00.001+11:00

God’s True Hierarchy – the role of the pastor and church leadership « Promised Grace

For pondering or discussion

2011-02-11T16:43:00.000+11:00

Here is an article I found fascinating. I thought I'd post it here for you to either think over or discuss in the comments section, either way.

My Take: The Bible’s surprisingly mixed messages on sexuality

Editor's Note: Jennifer Wright Knust is author of Unprotected Texts: The Bible’s Surprising Contradictions about Sex and Desire.

By Jennifer Wright Knust, Special to CNN

We often hears that Christians have no choice but to regard homosexuality as a sin - that Scripture simply demands it.

As a Bible scholar and pastor myself, I say that Scripture does no such thing.

"I love gay people, but the Bible forces me to condemn them" is a poor excuse that attempts to avoid accountability by wrapping a very particular and narrow interpretation of a few biblical passages in a cloak of divinely inspired respectability.

Truth is, Scripture can be interpreted in any number of ways. And biblical writers held a much more complicated view of human sexuality than contemporary debates have acknowledged.

In Genesis, for example, it would seem that God’s original intention for humanity was androgyny, not sexual differentiation and heterosexuality.

Genesis includes two versions of the story of God’s creation of the human person. First, God creates humanity male and female and then God forms the human person again, this time in the Garden of Eden. The second human person is given the name Adam and the female is formed from his rib.

Ancient Christians and Jews explained this two-step creation by imagining that the first human person possessed the genitalia of both sexes. Then, when the androgynous, dually-sexed person was placed in the garden, s/he was divided in two.

According to this account, the man “clings to the woman” in an attempt to regain half his flesh, which God took from him once he was placed in Eden. As third century Rabbi Samuel bar Nahman explained, when God created the first man, God created him with two faces. “Then he split the androgyne and made two bodies, one on each side, and turned them about.”

When the apostle Paul envisioned the bodies that would be given to humanity at the end of time, he imagined that they would be androgynous, “not male and female.” The third-century non-canonical Gospel of Philip, meanwhile, lamented that sexual difference had been created at all: “If the female had not separated from the male, she and the male would not die. That being’s separation became the source of death.”

From these perspectives, God’s original plan was sexual unity in one body, not two. The Genesis creation stories can support the notion that sexual intercourse is designed to reunite male and female into one body, but they can also suggest that God’s blessing was first placed on an undifferentiated body that didn’t have sex at all.

Heterosexual sex was therefore an afterthought designed to give back the man what he had lost.

Despite common misperceptions, biblical writers could also imagine same-sex intimacy as a source of blessing. For example, the seemingly intimate relationship between the Old Testament's David and Jonathan, in which Jonathan loved David more than he loved women, may have been intended to justify David’s rise as king.

Jonathan, not David, was a king’s son. David was only a shepherd. Yet by becoming David’s “woman,” Jonathan voluntarily gave up his place for his beloved friend.

Thus, Jonathan “took great delight in David,” foiling King Saul’s attempts to arrange for David’s death (1 Samuel 19:1). Choosing David over his father, Jonathan makes a formal covenant with his friend, asking David to remain faithful to him and his descendants.

Sealing the covenant, David swears his devotion to Jonathan, “for he loved him as he loved his own life” (1 Samuel 20:17). When Jonathan is killed, King David composes a eulogy for him, praising his devotion: “greatly beloved were you to me; your love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women” (2 Samuel 1:26).

Confident claims about the forms of sex rejected by God are also called into question by early Christian interpretations of the story of Sodom. From the perspective of the New Testament, it was the near rape of angels - not sex between men - that led to the demise of the city.

Linking a strange story in Genesis about “sons of God” who lust after “daughters of men” to the story of the angels who visit Abraham’s nephew Lot, New Testament writers concluded that the mingling of human and divine flesh is an intolerable sin.

As the New Testament letter Jude puts it:

And the angels who did not keep their own position, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains in deepest darkness for the judgment of the great day. Likewise, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities which, in the same manner as they, indulged in sexual immorality and went after strange flesh, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire (Jude 6-7).

The first time angels dared to mix with humans, God flooded the earth, saving only Noah, his family, and the animals. In the case of Sodom, as soon as men attempted to engage in sexual activity with angels, God obliterated the city with fire, delivering only Lot and his family. Sex with angels was regarded as the most dangerous and offensive sex of all.

It’s true that same-sex intimacy is condemned in a few biblical passages. But these passages, which I can count on one hand, are addressed to specific sex acts and specific persons, not to all humanity forever, and they can be interpreted in any number of ways.

The book of Leviticus, for example, is directed at Israelite men, offering instructions regarding legitimate sexual partners so long as they are living in Israel. Biblical patriarchs and kings violate nearly every one of these commandments.

Paul’s letters urge followers of Christ to remain celibate and blame all Gentiles in general for their poor sexual standards. Jesus, meanwhile, says nothing at all about same-sex pairing, and when he discusses marriage, he discourages it.

So why are we pretending that the Bible is dictating our sexual morals? It isn’t.

Moreover, as Americans we should have learned by now that such a simplistic approach to the Bible will lead us astray.

Only a little more than a century ago, many of the very same passages now being invoked to argue that the scriptures label homosexuality a sin or that God cannot countenance gay marriage were used to justify not “biblical marriage” but slavery.

Yes, the apostle Paul selected same-sex pairings as one among many possible examples of human sin, but he also assumed that slavery was acceptable and then did nothing to protect slaves from sexual use by their masters, a common practice at the time. Letters attributed to him go so far as to command slaves to obey their masters and women to obey their husbands as if they were obeying Christ.

These passages served as fundamental proof texts to those who were arguing that slavery was God’s will and accusing abolitionists of failing to obey biblical mandates.

It is therefore disturbing to hear some Christian leaders today claim that they have no choice but to regard homosexuality as a sin. They do have a choice and should be held accountable for the ones they are making.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Jennifer Wright Knust.

I can't say I wholly understand it, but I can certainly agree with some parts of it.

I'll quote what I wrote on Facebook where I originally saw the article:

Fascinating. Some of the historical stuff I don't know or understand well enough to comment on but I can absolutely see where the Bible can be interpreted in many ways.

One of the comments below the article said this, and it is EXACTLY how I feel:

"Where do people get their Bibles again? Oh yeah! They generally buy them...at the store. For a moment I almost thought that God himself knocks on the front door and hands over his journal collection. I don't want to miss it! I love God. I trust God. I believe in Gods word. I don't however trust the interpretation of Gods word as provided to us by any human. Makes me no difference whether they lived in that time period or if they're making a profit selling the Book, or if they were hired to translate a past language, or update the words for todays youth. They're are too many variables for me to wholly believe those are the exact words, in the exact order with the exact implications that God intended. If you trust God and you have developed a personal relationship with him...then do you really need anyone elses interpretation?"

I trust my relationship with God IN CONJUNCTION WITH the Bible. People wrote it, people are not infallable. People interpret it, even today. Verses cannot be ripped out of the Bible, popped together, out of context, to say "this is right" or "this is wrong". Read the Bible WITH GOD then you will have understanding.

And, I also believe, some things JUST.DON'T.MATTER. Is Christianity's concern whether man and man are allowed to get married or is it our own behaviour first and foremost? Save lives through Jesus, not condemn them. My new motto. I just made it up. I'm trademarking it, don't steal it. LOL!