Close Your Eyes

Many people in our culture make love to be based on appearance. "I will only love you if you are lovable" is the montra of this ideology and it is widely held. But this morning while I was getting three of my babes from the childrens rooms after the gathering today I saw a couple of parents with the most beautiful little curly blond-headed boy. The parents, like all parents, were overjoyed to see their boy after hearing the sermon, but this was different! These parents were blind!! They would not see their boy, not today and judging from their condition, not ever. Yet they adored this son of theirs! A son whose eyes they will never inspect, whose curly ringlets will never know the caress of a mothers eyes. And yet my heart was moved deeply by the love on their faces for this child!

"Liberty" and the American Church

"I wonder if the Americans do not understand us at all because they are people who left Europe so as to be able to live out their faith for themselves in freedom? ie. because they did not stand fast by the last decision in the question of belief? I fancy that they would understand the fugitive better that the one who stays. Hence the American tolerance, or rather indifference in dogmatic questions." --Bonhoeffer

GNU Free Documentation License

Today, many of us look at our contemporary church and we think the brokenness is a newerish development. We look to the conservative resurgence of the 1970's and 80's and say to ourselves that we have seen the star of truth rise once again from the ashes of modern liberalism. We think that the lack of fire and life that has eroded the effectiveness of our evangelical denoms is because of cultural irrelevancy. But I would submit to you (via some thoughts and conversations the hubs and I have engaged in) that the current state of gospel laxity is really traced back to our roots.

Mountain or Valley

I have really been thinking about what many believers call mountain top moments and valley times. I have always heard in spiritual circles that mountain top moments were moments when God's voice was super clear, you felt close to Him, you had a high sense of the nearness of the truth. And conversely a valley was when those things weren't as prevalent; His voice less clear, His leading not as apparent. Somehow I think this is probably a wrong assumption.

My New Foe

Things About Motherhood

Some excerpts from an email sent to a friend in concern to motherhood and dealing with the hardships that job includes.....

Looking Through the Cross

When I say we need to look through the cross at ourselves and others, what exactly do I mean?

I have said this to several people and I wonder if it is a hard statement to understand because it could be pretty ambiguous.

Lets ask this satement in a question.

What did Christ see when he took to the cross?

Or Why did Christ choose the will of the Father?

Or Why did he say "father forgive them for they know not what they do"?

The main thing I mean when I say "Look at ourselves through the cross" is to see ourselves as Christ sees us. See our utter depravity. Feel it clearly. Know it truly. And recognize it rightly. My husband has often likened what Christ did as if we were going to be come a worm to save the worms. Seems rather pathetic, doesn't it? Ridiculous even! But why else would the KING OF THE UNIVERSE come to our world to become a victim of our gross natures?!

Footing #4

The Prophet Jeremiah has been a deep and unending encouragement for me. Not because he was a great success by any measure, but because he was always faithful. When left for days in the mire (picture an outhouse hole) he still spoke the words of truth, when threatened with death a every turn he still preached God's authority above all else, when dragged away to Egypt where he knew God said never to go again lest they be cursed he believed God was enough, when God told him never to marry and that his life would be one of loneliness he didn't pull a Benedict Arnold, when all his work was burned by the king's men (chapters and chapters of parchment(picture ancient scrolls) lost in moments--we are talking a whole lotta work here people) he patiently and carefully rewrote what we know today as the book of Jeremiah(its like 52 chapters and that's in English typed not hand written on parchment), when no one--and I mean NO ONE--believed a word he spoke even as his prophesies came true did he sit down and shut up and lose all hope? No, he kept preaching, kept standing, kept moving, kept trusting. And yes he did have his weaker moments, like when he called God to punish the nations, but he then turns around (like moses) and stood in the gap for his people.