Sometimes life just makes me laugh, HAH!
Sometimes it's all you can do. :)
After an ever-so-minor mishap we will be back on the road tomorrow.
We WILL
I repeat:
WE WILL!!!!
make it to california.
:D
Dear Grace-Mobile,
I really don't think I'll ever stop loving you.. which makes absolutely no sense to me.
xo
November 18, 2009
November 17, 2009
Light*
There's nothing else I can imagine doing right now. After three nights being unable to snag more than a few hours of solid rest, I've finally settled into this. The excitement was almost unbearable at first. I feared this might never become normal, that I would be a constant case of restless excitement jitters. Eight days later, it's normal. :)
Things have gone wrong, the journey hasn't been flawless, but this is life! This journey was never meant to be an escape from the day-to-day or a time-out from myself and the world but rather an intentional pursuit of all of these things that make up life, just in different places and around different people. My heart is consistent, but my eyes are seeing: the places, the people. It's been 8 days, but I'm being faithfully filled.
We attended a Hindu celebration of Light's triumph over Darkness. It was absolutely beautiful and for the first time in my life I saw something I've been wondering about and hoping to discover for many years now. When I think about my relationship with God, the thing that holds me to Him is the LIFE I've found in Him, the honest, deep, intimate connection I have with Him that reminds me every single day just how present He is and how committed He is to me. I've often looked at other religions and wondered what it is that holds them together.. what it is that keeps them so committed. I've believed there must be something real in them... at least a little bit of truth hidden somewhere within them. And I've always wanted to find someone from another religion as passionate about their faith as I am about mine. I saw something Saturday night that brought me so much joy. At this Hindu celebration I saw for the first time a people who were connecting intimately with something Divine. This isn't to say that their religion is right, but it's not difficult at all for me to believe now that there's something in this Hindu faith is holy and good. Do they have the whole Truth? No, I don't believe they do. But even now I can picture this one man's face, the way he swayed, the way he disconnected from what was happening around him in order to connect with something ethereal.. I recognized in him something very similar to what I experience when I allow Jesus to sweep me away. This recognition doesn't alter, challenge, or change my faith in Jesus one bit, but rather gives me hope that perhaps parts of the world aren't as far from Him as I once believed they were. Perhaps they're closer than we think, they're just calling it something else right now. That's a huge thing for me to realize. As a Christian, I don't need to look at these other religions and see evil. It's like Keturah said, how can something that believes in and produces so much good in people be altogether evil? Just because it's not THE truth doesn't make it altogether bad. Am I promoting the Hindu faith? No, I'm not.. I hope this can be read and understand as I've experienced it.. simply as a bit of hope that people of other faith's do have a part of something real.. and that one day when they taste of the fullness of Christ, they might be able to recognize the beauty of the culmination of the many elements of Truth in this one man.
Things have gone wrong, the journey hasn't been flawless, but this is life! This journey was never meant to be an escape from the day-to-day or a time-out from myself and the world but rather an intentional pursuit of all of these things that make up life, just in different places and around different people. My heart is consistent, but my eyes are seeing: the places, the people. It's been 8 days, but I'm being faithfully filled.
We attended a Hindu celebration of Light's triumph over Darkness. It was absolutely beautiful and for the first time in my life I saw something I've been wondering about and hoping to discover for many years now. When I think about my relationship with God, the thing that holds me to Him is the LIFE I've found in Him, the honest, deep, intimate connection I have with Him that reminds me every single day just how present He is and how committed He is to me. I've often looked at other religions and wondered what it is that holds them together.. what it is that keeps them so committed. I've believed there must be something real in them... at least a little bit of truth hidden somewhere within them. And I've always wanted to find someone from another religion as passionate about their faith as I am about mine. I saw something Saturday night that brought me so much joy. At this Hindu celebration I saw for the first time a people who were connecting intimately with something Divine. This isn't to say that their religion is right, but it's not difficult at all for me to believe now that there's something in this Hindu faith is holy and good. Do they have the whole Truth? No, I don't believe they do. But even now I can picture this one man's face, the way he swayed, the way he disconnected from what was happening around him in order to connect with something ethereal.. I recognized in him something very similar to what I experience when I allow Jesus to sweep me away. This recognition doesn't alter, challenge, or change my faith in Jesus one bit, but rather gives me hope that perhaps parts of the world aren't as far from Him as I once believed they were. Perhaps they're closer than we think, they're just calling it something else right now. That's a huge thing for me to realize. As a Christian, I don't need to look at these other religions and see evil. It's like Keturah said, how can something that believes in and produces so much good in people be altogether evil? Just because it's not THE truth doesn't make it altogether bad. Am I promoting the Hindu faith? No, I'm not.. I hope this can be read and understand as I've experienced it.. simply as a bit of hope that people of other faith's do have a part of something real.. and that one day when they taste of the fullness of Christ, they might be able to recognize the beauty of the culmination of the many elements of Truth in this one man.
November 14, 2009
Day 6 (Princeton, NJ)
I thought once I started this trip I would transfer the majority of my blogging over to our joint blog (posted below) but alas, I will not. I will be writing on the other blog too, but this one still will hold the majority of the deep things God is doing in me. The other will tell of where we've been and what we've been doing in the natural. There will be some alley-ways to my heart, but most of those will be right here.
So Where to Begin..
I knew this trip was going to be both intense and wonderful, I just didn't know how extreme those two experiences would be when they collided with one other. It is intense. And it is wonderful. There have been moments when I've caught myself asking if I can handle this for three months and moments when I've lost all sense of time and place and been so thoroughly content.
It's been a long time since I haven't been in a place of leadership/serving. I didn't expect to notice the absence of that so much after only 6 days. Suddenly I can really sense where I am in the Spirit, which is something I've been struggling with and fighting through since last December. It's been so difficult for me to figure out where I really am... where my heart is.. where God's heart for me is.. and now I sense I'm in a position where I might be able to receive from Him whatever it is He so desires for me to take away. It's so strange for me to be responsible for no one but myself. It's so unusual.. so odd for me to be able to place myself in a situation and think only of how this particular thing is impacting me, affecting me. It's going to take some getting used to. Without realizing it I became so used to approaching every situation and every person with a "what might they need that I will be able to offer" mentality. I almost think my life became a search for how I could help and support every one around me, no matter what kind of hit my own life would take because of that. (note: i realize this is not a bad thing, but right now in order to get out of this experience everything i need to, i need to lay this mentality to rest for a while).
SO, I'll be writing in here as I open myself up to experiencing life a little differently. Already my eyes have been opened and little areas within my soul have been awakened. In all honesty, my spirit is hungry. Really, really hungry. But I know God looks upon me, I know He sees my earnest hunger, and I know even now He's reaching into the manna of Heaven, fully intending to satisfy this aching spirit.
I intend to receive.
So Where to Begin..
I knew this trip was going to be both intense and wonderful, I just didn't know how extreme those two experiences would be when they collided with one other. It is intense. And it is wonderful. There have been moments when I've caught myself asking if I can handle this for three months and moments when I've lost all sense of time and place and been so thoroughly content.
It's been a long time since I haven't been in a place of leadership/serving. I didn't expect to notice the absence of that so much after only 6 days. Suddenly I can really sense where I am in the Spirit, which is something I've been struggling with and fighting through since last December. It's been so difficult for me to figure out where I really am... where my heart is.. where God's heart for me is.. and now I sense I'm in a position where I might be able to receive from Him whatever it is He so desires for me to take away. It's so strange for me to be responsible for no one but myself. It's so unusual.. so odd for me to be able to place myself in a situation and think only of how this particular thing is impacting me, affecting me. It's going to take some getting used to. Without realizing it I became so used to approaching every situation and every person with a "what might they need that I will be able to offer" mentality. I almost think my life became a search for how I could help and support every one around me, no matter what kind of hit my own life would take because of that. (note: i realize this is not a bad thing, but right now in order to get out of this experience everything i need to, i need to lay this mentality to rest for a while).
SO, I'll be writing in here as I open myself up to experiencing life a little differently. Already my eyes have been opened and little areas within my soul have been awakened. In all honesty, my spirit is hungry. Really, really hungry. But I know God looks upon me, I know He sees my earnest hunger, and I know even now He's reaching into the manna of Heaven, fully intending to satisfy this aching spirit.
I intend to receive.
November 5, 2009
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
