Our little ballerina

Comfort amidst the dust

Psalm 103:13-14

As a father shows compassion to his children,
so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him.
For he knows our frame;
he remembers that we are dust.

A while back I was lying in bed trying to sleep and I started thinking about the creation account of human kind (recently I "re" began my Bible read through in Genesis and it has been on my mind and heart). I was captivated by the picture of God reaching into the dirt and molding a sculpture from the earths clay... and then breathing His life into it. In fact, as I continued to think, it slowly turned into a poem (which I wrote about a while back).

When I was in High School I took art for a couple of years and clay was one of my favorite things to work with - so much so that I actually continued to do a bit of sculpting in college. It is a great medium (artistic NOT spirit "communicator") because it feels like you are a kid again messing around in the mud. By the end of a piece you usually have it all over your hands, arms and face. As the clay dries it slowly turns to dust and, inevitably, that dust finds itself all over every other part of your body, desk, room, house...

Clay is messy...
a lot like us.

This week I heard someone quote Psalm 103 and I was struck again with the beauty and power of the creation picture. But, as you read deeper, the Psalm says more than that... it seems to suggest that their can be peace and comfort found in the knowledge of who God is and who we are.

As a society, we seem so bent on becoming
powerful,
strong,
tough...
not very dust like...
yet dust we are.

It is amazing to me... God, the very Lord of lords, the Master sculptor of existence, reaches down into the dirt and forms a fragile clay man and then (in what is one of the most dramatic moments in history) pulls the clay close, like a Father with His child, and breaths the breath of LIFE into its earthen soul...

AND WHOOSH... life is!

And He looks upon His earthen man with an eternal eye and sees Himself nailed to a wooden tree (that He planted)... and has compassion... because He knows we are dust AND He loves us anyways.

a song in my head

You know how you get a song stuck in your head sometimes and you can't get it out. Or you hear a tune and you are not sure who wrote it but you've got the tune and the words from the chorus stuck in your brain...

da, du, da... JESUS IS cool, da, da, You are awesome... yeah...

:)

This fall I had this song in my head that I could not figure out. I had heard it a few times on the radio and had not been able to sit down and just find out who the artist was. It really resonated with my heart and where we as a family have been in this last season.

Well, wouldn't you know it, I got this email from my sister-in-law (thanks Erin) and she sent me to this YouTube link that had "A song for you!". As soon as I heard it I recognized it. This song, in her words, "has helped give me the words on how to pray for you both. Kinda weird I know!"

The song is What Ever You're Doing by Sanctus Real ... the same song I had been thinking about this fall. Hmmm. If you think about it we would appreciate your prayers and this song is a pretty good place to start!

grace and peace friends.

The "Hand of God"

1 Peter 5:5-7

...Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

It is amazing how often I find myself surprised by what God does.

I know, I know... it seems like a subtle (or not so subtle) form of arrogance but so often I think to myself, "huh, I didn't see that coming". Why it should surprise me that I don't understand the plan that God has OR why He chooses to do what He does is beyond me... obviously. Recently a friend of mine (thank you Sophia) shared a picture she had drawn about how God moves in her life. It was actually two pictures that communicate a very powerful idea about God.

The first picture showed her with a mighty hand behind her gentle nudging her forward as she lived her life. I imagine this hand as being half motivator and half comforter... like my hand on my daughters back as she was learning to ride her bike. Firm yet gentle. Guiding yet unleashing. You sense that at any moment it is OK for you to simple allow yourself to rest in it's guidance BUT it is equally OK to simply move forward passionately allowing each nudge to keep you focused.

The next picture is a little different.

In the next picture the mighty hand has a firm grasp on her and is moving as IT chooses. At first I imagine this hand as powerfully controlling my destiny and making me move towards things that I don't necessarily want... like when I make my son eat his broccoli. It feels powerful and, ironically, a bit removed from my reality. At times it might even feel unloving. But as I reflected on this picture further this week in light of current events in my life another picture began to unfold. Maybe this second picture is more like the time I saved my son off the bottom of the pool. My grasp was NOT gentle. My movements were NOT graceful. My response was forceful (almost uncaring)... and yet, in that moment, my heart could not have been filled with more love.

This week, due to circumstances that were WAY beyond my control, my trip to India was pulled out from under me. A trip I have been looking forward to for a year. As much as I want to blame governments, policies and even the enemy... I know the "Hand of God" is more powerful than all of them. I know the "Hand of God" moves as He (in goodness) wills. I know what His hand feels like on my back as He moves me forward and I know what it feels like to be rescued from circumstance or self. I guess the thing I don't understand is why I'm repeatedly surprised when it happens...

Lord, I surrender to Your hand. I surrender to Your plan. Lead as You will... and will as You lead. Our lives are Yours to do with as You will... any time, any place and at any cost. Amen.

hearing from God

reign in us...

Lamentations 5:19

But you, O LORD, reign forever;your throne endures to all generations.

This morning I led our new little team in worship... It felt pretty amazing... It has been a long time. We only sang one song and spent most of the time in prayer over some scripture and our team in this community BUT it was very moving. The song we sang together was by Starfield - Reign In Us. As we worshiped together I was deeply moved by a couple verses of this song:

So, reign, please reign in us... Come purify our hearts, we need Your touch... Come cleanse us like a flood and send us out... So the world may know You reign, you reign in us.

I was struck by the connection between God's authority as He reigns, our obedience in purification/cleansing and being sent out.

Truly, our purity is a sign of God's authority over us... His reigning. And it is that obedience that shines like a light for the world to see. We don't try to be good so people will applaud us for being good. Or repent for our sin so people will know of our piety... No, we do these things for God... obedience to God, His authority in our lives, His reigning of our hearts... and when people ask, it is He who is our answer.

Support a friend AND a church!

Sooo... just before we left Scotland I had the pleasure (and honor) to be involved in the production of a FANTASTIC EP by Andy Ashworth. I would consider it a personal favor if any of you who read this BLOG would click HERE and purchase a copy (or 2) of his EP. Andy is the worship pastor at RE:hope AND a great friend. By buying these great tunes you will not only support him and his music BUT you will also support RE:hope and it's work that it is doing in the West End of Glasgow... not a bad deal!

BTW - I am the hi pitched fella you hear singing in the background...

Funny thing happened...

while I was leading worship tonight!
As I was in the midst of praising our Lord out on the stoop I felt a little (5inch) friend land on my foot.
At first I was ok with it... hey, he (or she) is a praying mantis right... probably just wanted to join us as we worshiped his creator. But, after about a couple minutes I felt my little green friend start making his way up my leg. Now, I was wearing pretty baggy shorts and after a minute or so of his movement up my shin my worshiping friend got me dancing before the Lord in front of all those worshiping with us... King David would have been proud!

spiritual beauty (3)

2 Corinthians 4:5-6

...the glory of God in the face of Jesus...

As an aside to the last couple of posts...

I have often wondered, as a dad, if Jesus' Father in heaven looked down with the same fatherly pride in His eyes as Jesus, a 1 year old (God) child, stumbled across the humble shack of Joesph and Mary?

Did He looked at the boy sitting in the temple asking just the right questions to educated scholars and shake His head in encouraging agreement?

Did He smile as the young man grew in wisdom and stature, turned water to wine, raised the dead, walked on water, with the weary... towards the cross?

I wonder if God the Father, moments before He would turn His eyes away from His beloved Son, gasped at the beauty of the work (of art) that was about to be completed?

And when Jesus arose...

I wonder if the Father stopped all that He was doing...

If He stood with His fiery eyes focused on His only begotten Son...

And clapped His mighty hands in honor, praise and applause at the glory of the masterpiece before Him that was now completed...

And could we hear, if we had been listening, the roars of the oceans and lions saying...

"That's my Son!"

"In HIM I AM is WELL PLEASED!"

so that all creation could hear and see the beauty of the man of sorrows... Jesus... the Son of God.

I know that's what I would do if it were my kids.

Everything (3)

Matthew 13:44

...in his joy...

Which makes me wonder... where does that kind of joy come from?

It must come from a VERY deep place… a place where what I have (really what I am) is eclipsed by something VERY other, VERY extraordinary, VERY wonderful.

It seems like so often we approach passages like this from the wrong angle. All we see is what Christ is asking us to give (as if He needed anything) NOT what He is giving, completing, fulfilling, transforming, redeeming, awakening, confounding, bleeding for, remaking, restoring, beautifying, breathing life into, refocusing, recreating, healing… loving.

There is only one reason Christ calls us to give everything for Him and His Kingdom… so that He can be our everything.

Tim Hughes puts it well in his song:

God in my living
There in my breathing
God in my waking
God in my sleeping
God in my resting
There in my working
God in my thinking
God in my speaking

Be my everything
Be my everything
Be my everything
Be my everything

God in my hoping
There in my dreaming
God in my watching
God in my waiting
God in my laughing
There in my weeping
God in my hurting
God in my healing

Be my everything
Be my everything
Be my everything
Be my everything

Yes Lord, may it be as he has said.

Walking the walk

Genesis 3:8

And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day...

John 1:14

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us...

Ephesians 4:1

...walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called...

One of my favorite places to get work done is the GoMA (Gallery of Modern Art)... not necessarily because I am a huge fan of modern art but because they have comfy couches, Costa Coffee and FREE WiFi! Occasionally though, I do wander the gallery for a few minutes and catch up on the latest exhibits... This week I ran across a simple (but brilliant) realistic work done in glass reinforced plastic. It was crafted by Kenny Hunter and commissioned by the Glasgow City Council (of all people) for the Millennium. It is titled "Man Walks Among Us".

It is a six foot tall realist portrayal of Christ... the man who walked among us. As the Museum describes, "Christ is not on a pedestal or raised higher up as in more traditional sculpture." Or, as the artist said, "Christ is usually depicted frozen and passive. To counter this I portray him active, walking alone." It is a startling image amongst the other pieces (especially the demon-like piece in behind) and yet powerful in it's simplicity. He looks casual yet intent... with purpose.

I have often wondered what "...the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day..." was like. Was it bold and thunderous, quiet and gentle or something completely other? Was it familiar? Is that how they knew it was the Lord? Did it sound similar to His steps as He later walked through the desert, on the water, towards Jerusalem... up Golgotha. Was there a presence about Him that made His steps unmistakable? Indescribable?

And I wonder... do my steps resemble His in anyway?

I hope so.

MANY vs. ONE

1 Corinthians 2:1-5

When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power.

Over the past several months I have had MANY different thoughts on my mind… competing for space, time and energy (and sleep). Between Britany’s health, family issues, our “job” and general life I have had more than my share of competing voices. As time has gone on I have learned MANY things about my own weaknesses and strengths, our family’s weaknesses and strengths, and a few of the purposes behind this journey God has us on. This has led to MANY questions, which have in turn led to MANY more internal conversations, and the “MANY” cycle continues.

Recently a friend of mine (thank you Pastor Andy) introduced me to a song by Jeremy Riddle called Sweetly Broken, from his album Full Attention. The opening lines to the song are:

to the cross I look... and to the cross I cling... of it's suffering I do drink... of it's work I do sing...

I have to confess, I have listened to those lines probably a hundred times… over and over. This is something I have not done since I was in high school or college but alas I am drawn to them and hit the repeat button again. Now, I am not much for “tic-tac” theology, but this ONE idea has been reaching deeply into my soul… filling an emptiness that I have been feeling for a while as I have wrestled over MANY of these important internal conversations… Jesus Christ… crucified.

What do you do when you have no answers to so MANY questions... when you can’t switch your brain off? I think Paul (and Jeremy) might have it. You resolve to know ONE thing… “Jesus Christ and him crucified.” No more fancy words. No more unspoken conversations. In the midst of what feels like a storm of weakness, fear and answerless questions I need a lifeline to save me from drowning in my own head. Right now I need ONE thing to make sense of the many… to add perspective in the struggle… to create peace in the midst of the unknown. It sounds simplistic I know, but nevertheless:

to the cross I look... and to the cross I cling... of it's suffering I do drink... of it's work I do sing...

Thank you Jesus.