Closer Than a Kiss

The Jesus I want to show people isn’t a mass-Jesus. His nature isn’t that of a flyer, or a tract, or even a little green pocket New Testament. His nature is love, and He is so close you can feel Him on your skin, you can smell him in the spring, feel His embrace when you grieve, and hear His cries of joy in your victory.

When we are unsure of ourselves, our faith, or our direction in life, is when He is closest. When I open my Bible and every verse seems to be written just for me, I know it’s not a coincidence.

If I struggle to concede my rights, and insist that justice is in my own hands, God is there. Or if I want something else, or something more because I think I deserve it, He’s there. If I am disappointed, because what I prayed for so long didn’t yeild fruit, He is so near I can feel His breath.

“So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” Galatians 5:16

Wandering down the dark road of new endeavors and sure-disappointment seems unbearable until I realize that it’s only the next mile that I can’t see. My path, where I will take the next step, is alight with day, with clarity, with peace. He is here.

“A man’s heart plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps.” Proverbs 16:9

My heart is to show the world this Jesus, the one that is closer than a kiss, and nearer than your own flesh, more personal than a church service, and deeper than the depths of your own soul. He satisfies because He isn’t a New Testament, He is your everything, whether you know it to be true or not.

A Common Housewife, a Glass of Milk… & the Kill

She was sly, she was cunning, she was… kind?  Jael and her husband Heber lived in Kenite. This young mother is most recognized for her dirty deed, a little something that the Geneva whatchya-macallit would classify as “undiplomatic.” Forgive my lack of reverence for a code that was meant to take the barbarism out of war, but took its backbone instead.

“He will win who has military capacity and is not interfered with by the sovereign.” A little Sun Tzu for you so you can feel smart when you quote it at that cocktail party.

How to be Confident… no really

We all fight against it, struggle with it, push it aside, and sometimes let it win: timidity, uncertainty, doubt, sometimes referred to as “introversion” in order to justify this psychological phenomenon. We stay home instead of going to that party, we avoid talking to the person we most wish was our friend, we keep our great ideas in a box rather than sharing them with our boss (or quitting that job).

As Christ-followers, this seems a little bizarre. We are literally friends with the King of the World (Eph 1:21). Nobody else can claim that title no matter how much shooting-down power they have, yet we seem to feel this need to hold back, keep it down, stay out of the way. 

En-COURAGE

To encourage someone these days, you have to be trusted, you have to be the person that they believe when you tell them that they can do it; when you tell them they can lasso the moon they actually want to give it a try because you told them they could.

 

“And Judas and Silas, who were themselves prophets, encouraged and strengthened the brothers with many words.”

What a Missionary Doesn’t

I had an epiphany the other day. Being a missionary is hard. I mean really hard!! Maybe this comes as a surprise to many who might have thought, “Who wouldn’t want to live in a hotter climate and sing songs?”

I guess those things have some relevance, but my point is, it took me a while to realize that what missionaries do is tough stuff! And I am one!

How the Father’s Day Sermon Can Teach You to be Awesome

In the simplest terms, I learned that since God is our daddy, He is willing to do things for us for the simple and disinterested reason that we are His children, and even if what we ask for is somewhat absured. I have been blessed with an earthly father who embodies this description. He is patient, he is quiet, he is generous, he is goofy, and above all he loves his family deeply. This is without a doubt, the single most valuable part of my childhood – and adulthood.

And I am doubly blessed because my grandfather is equally patient, kind, and loving to his family. For this reason it wasn’t hard for me to learn this piece of wisdom, directed at fathers, to love their family since it will impact the rest of their children’s lives. I urge you, fathers, to leave a legacy that will endure all the way into the lives of your children’s children: love your family.

The Fourth Bullet: a shot to the heart

After I had already reblogged that wonderful piece by Kate Moss, and blogged my own take on love, I was reminded (more than once) just a few hours later of a key ingredient in the message of love. The previous posts remain true, it’s just that there is a prequel. Just like the Lord of the Rings can stand alone but you don’t really get the whole story without the Hobbit.

Our bullets continue. The missing ingredient: 

Bullets of Love

Vanitashray is an organization devoted to justice. Devoted to rescuing girls and women who would otherwise be abused or sold into slavery. Rescued because of the love of Christ.

I am often struck with how difficult a life of service is, and then I am reminded: it has nothing to do with our own strength, our own goodwill, or our own tenacity that we persist. If I were operating on my own strength I’m sure I would have given in a long time ago.

Emotional Reciprocity v. Emotional Generosity

I think this post and this writer have a bit of the same heart and soul of the Gravity Project. Thank you Kate for your honesty!

Seized by Grace

“I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where. I love you simply, without problems or pride: I love you in this way because I do not know any other way of loving but this, in which there is no I or you, so intimate that your hand upon my chest is my hand, so intimate that when I fall asleep your eyes close.” ― Pablo Neruda, 100 Love Sonnets

I’ve been thinking a lot about love this week as part of week one of the FSSP. And I’ve found myself primarily focusing on how I want to be loved. Which, strangely, didn’t occur to me as the worst possible approach until I tried to sit down tonight and put together some thoughts about what I’ve “learned” in the process. Which as of an hour ago had amounted to, umm, nothing.

But, like any good Type A personality…

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Use Your Words

Remember when you were a kid – well maybe not that far back, but if you have one you know the struggle it is to get little boys and girls to “use their words.” It’s not funny when you’re on an elevator and suddenly this tiny person is playing frantic charades and you’re leaning over with that “what?” look on your face, saying, “use your words!” … only to find out the kid had to make dooky and couldn’t wait.

The power of words. Writers understand this power to a certain degree. Not usually because they possess it, but because they have been influenced by it. This supernatural gift of speech is enough to give me pause, but to semi-immortalize it in writing? It’s overwhelming.