Cool Quote Friday - A Day Early and Six Days Late!

I'm sorry to everyone who waited so anxiously last Friday for a quote and didn't get one. Good Friday would've been the perfect opportunity but it simply got away from me.
I'm posting two today to make up for it. One for last Friday and one for tomorrow since I won't have the chance tomorrow. I've found some pretty fantastic and challenging things out of the book Devotional Classics. So, here they are.

"It ought to be tremendously helpful to be able to acquire the habit of reaching out strongly after God's thoughts, and to ask, 'God, what have you to put into my mind now if only I can be large enough?' That waiting, eager attitude ought to give God the chance he needs." ~Frank Laubach

I want to be brave enough to ask God that question.

"In 'thanksgiving' we recount blessings received and thus strengthen our confidence and enable ourselves to wait trustingly for what we pray." ~Martin Luther

It's true you know. When you remember what he's done for you and what he's given you - what he's brought you through, it's not too hard to wait for what you know He wants to give you.

I hope your weekend will be tremendous. Marty and I will be in Hagerstown, Maryland for their Youth Councils. I'm actually speaking tomorrow night for their young adult meeting. Please keep me in your prayers. Speaking always makes me nervous but I'm excited as well.

Grace and Justice,
Joy

The beginning of an addiction...

Since college I've always loved Mountain Dew. It's one of those things that just makes me want to sit back, kick off my shoes and enjoy a nice warm day. Every once in a while, however, the NEED for a Mountain Dew kicks in - mostly because I had little to no sleep the night before and I'm feeling it the next day. The funny thing is I usually guage my intake of caffiene - make sure I don't have it too close to bedtime, don't have too much in one week, make sure I drink all 64 oz. of water every day. Yes, I'm that anal about my liquids - if only I were that way concerning my consumption of food.

Anyway, about two weeks ago, Marty and I stopped at Taco Bell (by the way, ranked number 2 in cleanliness out of Fast Food restaurants for the city)and I ordered my dinner and because it was a combo (see what I mean about my food consumption?) I got one of the HUGE cups to put anything I like in it and of course, I chose Mountain Dew. Well, at first I chose that Mountain Dew Baja Blast junk - gross, don't ever put that stuff in your mouth. So, anyway, I drank the vat of Mt. Dew and savored every minute. It had been a hard day and I needed a pick me up. What I didn't realize was how far it would pick me up and for how long.

Fast forward a couple of hours. It is now about 10 o'clock, maybe 10:30 and I'm lying in a dark room, eyes wide open. I hear the front door open and I just lay there - waiting. Waiting for my chance. What chance you ask?

MY CHANCE TO TALK MARTY'S HEAD OFF FOR THE NEXT HALF HOUR!! Poor guy. He came in the room, tired from a hard days work and I start blabbing. "I'm wide awake. Are you? I don't think I'll ever go to sleep. What was I thinking drinking that much Mt. Dew so close to bedtime? Did you have a good day? What did you do? Where did you go? How were classes?" (please note I'm not waiting for a response)

AND THEN...it hits me like a bolt of lightening.

"Oh no! Marty! This Mt. Dew is going to keep me up all night! Then tomorrow morning I'll be so tired that I won't be able to stay awake at work and I'll need another Mt. Dew just to make it through the day. Then I won't be able to sleep again tomorrow night.....(insert huge gasp here) This is the beginning of an addiction!

I know...quite possibly not that funny in the blog world as it was at 10:30 at night as Marty was trying to fall asleep. Needless to say, it hasn't become an addiction for those of you who were worried. I'm still drinking my water although I do believe that my caffeine consumption has increased quite a bit since that evening.

Oh well!

Working mission into life

Please read the link above - particularly the post called "you must be very lucky to have her in your church" before reading on.

Gordon wrote at the end of his blog, "I do feel proud that she should feel at home with us and that she has worked out a life of mission which comes as natural to her as breathing!"

Man! I want a life like that. I'm learning lately that I'm a lot more lukewarm than I'd like to admit. I can't decide which side of the fence I'm on in many decisions - politically and personally. That's pretty sad. I know now why God said he would rather us be hot or cold than lukewarm. Lukewarm moves you to indecision and ultimately inaction - that's pretty sad.

I live a life that desires mission - my heart beats for it and I long for it - overseas and yet I can't seem to get it into my daily life. I can't seem to make it across the street to meet and get to know my neighbors. Gordon's blog was about a lady who doesn't seem to dress all that well but people know her by her love and compassion - they know her by her good deeds. He said that she has worked out a life of mission that comes as natural to her as breathing.

Oh how I long for a life like that - a life of mission that comes as natural to me in my neighborhood, in my hometown, in my country as breathing does. I've got to get it right. Jesus called me to it. Be my witness - in Samaria, Judea and to the ends of the world. He didn't leave any place out so why should I?

Lord, keep me from being lukewarm. Keep me from waiting for a voice from heaven to do what I know would please you. Help me to integrate mission into my life now - not later, not someday but today, this week.

Happy Friday - Quote Time!

"God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him." ~John Piper

I was reading through Let the Nations Be Glad this past week. I've never made it all the way through but I am determined to finish it - someday. Every time I am amazed by that quote. In the book Piper explains that man's ultimate goal should be God's glory and that this is also God's goal. When he first says that I think every reader's hair stands on end. It makes God sound selfish. However, Piper explains that if God had any other goal, he would be untrue to the Truth which is that God is above all and deserves the supreme glory of every creature in HEAVEN and on earth. Therefore, the chief end of God is to glorify himself just as that is the chief end of man - to give God glory.

And I still think I had a hard time with that - even though I understood it. Then I got to the quote above. "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him." So, now it makes his glory a relationship. It makes worship so much easier to get into and give to the Lord because I know that He wants me to be satisfied in worship. He wants our worship. He wants to be glorified and He is most glorified when we are satisfied with giving Him worship. He'll do anything to get us there. That's why he woes us to Him. That's why He lavishes His love upon us. Not because we deserve it but because He deserves the praise and the honor and the glory.

We had prayer time at my house this past Sunday night and I found all of this to be true. What's amazing about the Lord is that when you seek to give him praise and when you seek to worship him, coming before him without your own agenda - what He gives back to you is 10 times more than we could ever lavish upon him.

"God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him." That quote also teaches me that it doesn't have to be hard - this relationship. It's not about how you're supposed to read your Bible (which I think most of us have been confused about at one point in time or another) or how long you pray or even how you pray just as long as you're giving him glory (usually that comes through reading the Bible and praying though as he teaches you how to do it). Perhaps all of this is elementary and everyone else has gotten it but this lesson I just keep returning to over and over again. I don't think I ever want to get past how good he is and has been and will be - no matter the circumstances I am in. I want the chief end of me to be to give him glory and I absolutely love the fact that my God, my Father, the Creator of Heaven and Earth wants me to be satisfied in him - that's more than I would've ever known to ask for.

"To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?" says the HOly One. Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.

Why do you say, O Jacob, and complain, O Israel, "My way is hidden from the Lord; my cause is disregarded by my God?" Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

Isaiah 40: 26 - 31

You know, if he brings out the starry host and calls each one by name and if not one of them is missing - how much more must He understand and know our path, our plight, our love for Him, our life. He calls us out by name. You know this and I know this but I think it comes with a greater impact after you read how great He is. Who can you compare Him to? Who counsels God? Who gives Him wisdom? Who can you compare Him to? Can you understand the mind of God? No. Yet He chooses me. He gives me strength. What for? He doesn't need me yet He....

you fill in the blank. He is.
He is and that's all I know. and He deserves my glory. Who else can hold the waters in the hollows of his hand? That's my God.

Cool Quote Friday - On Time!

"It is so easy to think that the church has a lot of different objects - education, buildings, missions, holding services. Just as it is easy to think the State has a lot of different objects - military, political, economic, and what not.

But in a way thinkgs are much simpler than that. The State exists to promote and protect the ordinary happiness of human beings in this life. A husband and wife chatting over a fire, a couple of friends having a game of darts in a pub, a man reading a book in his own room or digging in his own garden - that is what the State is there for. And unless they are helping to increase and prolong and protect such moments, all the laws, parlaiments, armies, courts, police, economics, etc., are simply a waste of time.

In the same way the church exists for nothing else but to draw men to Christ, to make them little Christs. If they are not doing that, then all the cathedrals, all the clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time. God became Man for no other purpose. It is even doubtful, you know, whether the whole universe was created for any other purpose. It says in the Bible that the whole universe was made for Christ and that everything in it is to be gathered together in Him."
~C.S. Lewis

Lots of thoughts running through my head today. They've piled up since last week and I just need to let them out.

Last November I was able to attend a conference held by Ian and Allison Campbell on integrated mission. It was absolutely incredible but really quite overwhelming at the same time. They talked about how the old method of people coming to church isn't working anymore and how the method should now be for people to leave the buildings and organizations and enter the neighborhood - as people. They talked about learning about a neighborhood's concerns and hopes - not their needs because people thrive on their needs and then maintain that mentality instead of working to make it better. The goal is to go into a neighborhood and affirm people. To see what they do well and let them know it - find out what their concerns are for the neighborhood, what their hopes are for the neighborhood and if they think there are any other people who feel the same way they do. It's an absolutely beautiful method of building community - going into people's homes and learning about them without an agenda, without pushing anything on them and then encouraging them to meet their own need. For example, you find out that they need a meal or their rent paid for the month. Well, in The Salvation Army we're quick to meet that need. We give them a food basket or cut a check that will pay for their rent and I'm not saying that that's bad in anyway but then when you hand it to them, you turn the question back to them and ask, "Now, how are you going to find a way to feed your family next week or pay next month's rent?" That doesn't automatically solve the problem but it's the beginning, isn't it? It's about stopping the perpetuation by inviting people into community and helping them overcome their needs by encouraging them to meet them on their own. I'm processing this all as I go.

So, that was November. It was all talk - planning, powerpoint, diagrams, circles, squares, big sheets of paper all over the wall. Last week they did a follow up session which was more hands on - putting it all into practice. While it all seemed pretty foreboding and a little bit too much to ask with just one visit, I absolutely loved it and thoroughly believe in this system now. It's a team-based system. We were out at the Training College (for those of you who read these that aren't Salvationists, that's where pastors for The Salvation Army get become pastors) and there is now a group of eight or nine missionaries living there and engaging in the community. Those of us who were just there to learn were teamed up with those living in the community to actually do this type of visitation. I went with D.J. and Teddy to Mr. Bill's house. Mr. Bill was quite interesting but he obviously loved the Lord and opened his home up to anyone. While we were there, about four or five people wandered in and out of his house. He feeds people on Saturdays. He told us his vision to help convicts who were into the drug business before they went to prison come out of prison and become leaders in the community by actually having dependable jobs with groups of men underneath them. He told us about how he came to the Lord. He told us about his hippie days (this man loved to talk). He told us about his concern for the children.

What I learned that day was that Mr. Bill was not the only one in that community who wanted to make a difference but at that time he was working alone to make that difference as were all of the other people who want to make a difference. When the entire group of people came back together, we all talked about our experience and there are plenty of men and women in that community doing feeding programs and who long to see their neighborhood return to the safe place it used to be. Now, the missionaries who live there can see the vision and can see the hope. They understand the concerns and they can help be a link. They can help foster community and relationships - just by visiting people in their homes and encouraging them. It was so easy.

One of the huge things I learned that day comes from an acronym Ian and Allison use for the teams they develop worldwide. They call them S.A.L.T teams. It stands for Support, Appreciate, Learn, Transfer. The thing that hit me so hard that day was the transferability of it all. I may not be an organization that needs to get out of the church but I do live in a neighborhood and know very little about my neighbors. The Acts 2 Christians were a community of believers. I can build community right where I live. I don't know if I need a team or not but just to hear my neighbors hopes would be nice.

Now all I need is courage.

Have a good day. I'll write more later about the rest of my weeks thoughts - this one kind of got away from me.

Joy

Cool Quote Friday (3 Days Late)

We were out of town on Friday and I couldn't get to my computer or an internet connection to post my quote but here I am and here's the quote for the week.

Enjoy!

"You speak of signs and wonders
but I need something other
I would believe if I was able
but I'm waiting on the
crumbs from your table."
~U2

Huh...I wonder how many times someone just wanted a hug or a coat or some food rather than my theology.