wow!

The Spirit was alive tonight! Church was absolutely amazing!
Worship alone was a powerful, powerful thing. We started with a song based on 2 Samuel 6:21-22 and then went into a song based on John 10:27. We followed with a rocked out version of Amazing Grace and two more songs (one being You Have Done Great Things). Last week's worship service was music light so my heart was totally blessed this evening. It was an amazing time to rejoice and celebrate before the Lord. And the place was jumping! One of my favorite passages in Isaiah (and there are many favs in Isaiah) came to mind near the end of the singing portion of worship: "How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, 'Your God reigns!'" God rocks!
The opportunity for this was God ordained as the scheduled speaker had flight delays and was not able to arrive until close to 8. Harvey Carey spoke. The man is being used by God! I cannot wait until we have tonight's service available as my note taking wasn't nearly fast enough...and at times i was too engrossed to even take notes - which is how you know it was really good! 'cause i can always take notes. He spoke passionately from Matthew 5:13-16. God has laid on his heart the fact that the church, by and large, has lost its purpose to be salt and light. Powerful stuff! To quote Dave, "it was kick ass". As he was speaking of the purpose salt and light and the fact that we "are" indeed salt and light, not becoming, but already "are", the first few verses of Philippians chapter 2 ran through my head. There is responsibility laid before us. If ANY encouragement, comfort, fellowship, tenderness and compassion are felt THEN make my joy complete in these ways... Being salt and light is not optional. We are....and we must act as such, bringing flavor and preservation while causing the darkness to flee.
He spoke for a time about joy, true joy. Life abundant is what we are called to but rarely does the church have even an iota of the excitement of a stadium. Where is the passion for God?
I pray fervently that I may put into action the words I heard. That I may truly live what I hear and be a doer of the Word.
I walked out with 2 songs running through my head, neither of which we had sung this evening. One was "Give Us Clean Hands" and the other was "Here I am to Worship". I do a lot of my worship, a lot of my connecting with God through song (which is also why i love the book of Psalms). While verses occasionally pop to mind, as the two did this evening, more often it's a song that captures my heart and marks a moment. I now get to meditate on those in relation to what I experienced tonight. I'm looking forward to my God time tonight!

I don't get it

Whether I live here 10 years or 100, I shall never understand how or why precipitation paralyzes this city. Water, in any of it's forms, falls from the sky and the general population can be heard crying "Retreat! Retreat!". I've thought about it over the years and I simply cannot come up with a reason. People have told me it's the hills. This argument may work for the ice, but has no real bearing on the rain portion. Sure, it's slightly more slick, but the breaks still work - i know this full well because when i travel the interstate in this virtual natural disaster, i'm on and off the break the entire way. What is it about rain that makes the same drivers who usually barrel down the road with no regard to speed limits now unwilling to travel more than 35mph? While i understand caution, i do, I just don't get why the highway turns into a parking lot at the sight of a raindrop.
Another thing I don't get related to rain - it has been my understanding through life that one generally avoids mowing the lawn in the rain. At work it seems they ONLY mow in the rain. Is there something i'm missing here?

c-c-c-cold junior!

There was a brief and lovely respite from the oppressive ohio humidity this afternoon. my drive home was wonderful! The clouds had rolled in, the sky was dark and ominous. Sheer beauty! The wind whipped about, dead leaves flying though the air. And in this amazing show of power the temperature dropped and there was a great deal of relief. I was able to keep my windows down the entire drive as the thunder rumbled; the sky threatening to open up and release the weight of the raindrops.
God pretty! I today was struck by the amazement of the precursor to the storm. I've witnessed the calm, I reveled in the bluster. Completely different experiences yet beautiful both. I could not help but grin, my hair blowing around me, as I enjoyed the refreshing blessing of the "breeze" - an amazing display of nature.
Yipeee!
Thanks, Lord!

mustard seeds and ramblings...

Faith astounds me. It is something so simple yet something so complex. I believe that part, but not all, of the complexity exists because we want to complicate the simplicity.
We seem to trust so much in our daily lives with nary a thought, yet the faith that is integral to theology is dissected. I'm not encouraging blind faith, by any means, but it seems that we seek to locate holes, or to rationalize the sometimes incomprehensible to human minds. I live in a second floor apartment but i have never given a thought to questioning the structure of the building. This is curious because I have lived in a second floor apartment where our bathroom was literally falling into the first floor apartment. I am aware that buildings can fail yet I don't think about structural integrity as I fall asleep at night. I get in my car each day knowing that break downs and accidents are a possibility yet this knowledge does not stop me from driving. I surround myself with any of a variety of electronic devices containing circuitry that could overload or short, yet until my television exploded (okay, perhaps the literal exploded isn't accurate, but there were sparks and smoke) I didn't give pause (nor do i even after the event) to the possibly, admittedly unlikely, that dangers may exist. Quite frankly, I spend my day putting my trust in a multitude of things I know very little to nothing about and i do it without blinking an eye.
Scripture tells us that the faith of a mustard seed can move mountains. There is a song by Rich Mullins that says "And the Master says their faith was gonna make them mountains move / But me, I tremble like a hill on a fault line just at the thought of how i lost you. / Oh, we are not as strong as we think we are." The mere thought of such faith is awe-inspiring and humbling. I know, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that such faith is real; such faith is alive.
As I sit on a warm summer's evening (and heartily refrain from bursting into The Gambler - i do so love Kenny!) listening to a sermon on the book of Job, I am struck by the scenario and by the faith of Job. What an amazing illustration of faith!
And what a sorry example my life is. The cost is minimal in the current day and age in the nation of my birth. What should be easy, as there is no opposition, becomes hard precisely because of the lack of opposition. The father of lies is crafty..."freedom" here is often enslaving. My view is muddied by the bright lights, the temptations of this "free" world. I place my trust - my faith - so frequently in the things of this world; the things that shall pass, all the while missing the eternal. Job was a man of faith, "blameless and upright". The depth of his faith is what made him a prime candidate for his ordeal. God knew that Job wouldn't waver. There was nothing that could happen that would cause Job to turn away. This astounds me. And leaves me broken. What is my faith? Could God move mountains through me? Certainly! But do I trust that He would? Oh, I have faith. I believe that God is good....but i've discovered that I don't quite conceptualize "good" in the "abundant life" type of way but rather in an "eat your vegetables" type of way. WOW. I know my time and God's time are often different, but where did my mind come up with my good and God's good being different? I find that I am often afraid to trust the good...i spend time waiting for the other shoe to drop. (not that there's anything in my life that emphasizes this right now, but I made this discovery in the past 6 or so months and sense i'm in a stream of consciousness faith topic, i'm running with it) But the kicker is this the "good" doesn't and shouldn't, impact my faithfulness. I both deeply desire and live in terror of a life that cries "The name of the Lord be praised" in all circumstances. What God could do with a life so surrendered!
All of creation is under the dominion of God. All creation except man. We have been given free will; we must give dominion by daily climbing onto the alter and proclaiming Him Lord.
(At this point I freely admit my lack of main idea)
If I truly believe what I profess, surrender should be easy. For I know God's character. I rest in his love. I am astounded by grace. I can point to time and time again where God has sustained me. Yet amazingly enough I struggle to surrender. Coming like the children, with the simple, trusting faith, seems so foreign.
No, I don't have all the answers, but I know the only answer i need is faith. God is in his heaven and God is in control. I have nothing to fear and great cause to rejoice. That is all it boils down to ultimately. Such simple faith is all i need and all i want.

confessions of a musical nature

Alright, i admit it, i listen to a wealth of what can only be termed bad music (okay, it can be termed something else, but "bad music" is most gracious for polite company). I'd love to claim that I listen to it because of the memories associated with the songs, and to some extent, that's actually true. But, honestly, there is no excuse for half of what I sing along to... oh yes, i sing along. Every verse, every tune. I know it by heart. Lest this further frighten any reader, i do have a disturbing memory, so it isn't as alarming as it seems when i burst into song - at least not in the "dang, she knows every word, she must listen to it a lot" sense, but perhaps in the "dang, somebody make her shut up, she's only making the song worse" sense. That being said, yes, i listen to 80's music, and yes i listen to country music. The country music i simply like, but i figure since it's scorned by a decent amount of the population, i'd throw it in for good measure. The 80s music tends to fit in the nostalgia category. I listen to a lot of contemporary Christian as well. Yes, i know it's generally bad, but i get draw in by the lyrics. i'm a sucker for lyrics.
I'm also very mood related as far as music is concerned. I have certain songs i listen to for certain moods. I'm currently listening to power ballads like they're going out of style...okay, perhaps not quite that much, but they do make it into the rotation on a disturbingly frequent basis. Note, when discussing power ballads, any play in the rotation is disturbing, of this, i'm well aware.
So if you need me, i'll be packing to Foreigner.