Risen.

This Blog was originally written on Sunday evening. It is just now being posted.

So this morning I woke up way before my alarm. I hate when that happens. Only because I like my sleep. But that's beside the point. I was slightly in a bad mood when I got up this morning, only because I was extremely tired. But as I started getting ready for church, I began to think about things.

 

Halfway through the process of getting ready, I realized that the event that this day symbolizes and represents is exactly why my faith is even possible. I kept that little thought to myself and proceeded to finish getting ready for my day.

 

I arrived at church and I had a truly wonderful time of fellowship. I taught the elementary age Sunday school class and then I went to the main service. Oh what sweet words were said by my pastor. He said exactly what my thought had been! He said that the event that today represents is exactly why our faith is so set apart. He said, "If Christ hasn't raised, Christianity is reduced down to every other religion whose leader is dead." Mmm. Such truth to those words! If Christ had not raised, as Paul tells us in I Corinthians 15, we should be pitied more than anyone else! If Christ had not raised, we would be buying into a bigger lie than any other religion. If Christ had not raised, we would have no hope in anything.

 

A few weeks ago, my friend Anthony preached at our church. He said, "I love the 'buts' of the Bible." In I Corinthians 15, Paul is making a case for how sad it would be and how horrible it would be for Christians if Christ had not raised. Then that wonderful, wonderful verse comes in, I Corinthians 15:20, "But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep."

 

Just think on that verse for a moment before going on.

 

Does it bring relief to your soul? Does it let your heart release a sigh? I know when I read this verse, I feel a sudden burden lifted off of me. I have no need to fear the reality of Christ's resurrection. Paul has confirmed it time and time again. Christ has raised from the dead. My faith is established and authentic and worthwhile. More than worthwhile. Precious.

 

And it is this very faith that drives my heart every time I think of what I am going to do with my life. It is this faith that presses on me again and again that Christ needs to be taken where nobody has heard His name. It is this very faith that allows me to say, "God will provide whether that be through bringing me home safe or allowing my death to be my witness to others." It is this very faith that pushes me to strive my best each day to learn more and more about my faith and my God and my desires. This faith alone.

 

I Corinthians 15:58 says, "Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain." Today in church, we centralized on that verse. My pastor said that this verse is "a direct call for resolve and ambition." This verse should push us to be living constantly with the fact in mind that "Jesus is alive!" And that very fact should drive our decisions whether they be about money, children, family, interaction with people, involvement in church, or anything we encounter, really. If we are not living by this fact, what are we living by? Whatever is the most important thing in our lives drives our decisions. I can speak only for myself when I say I want so desperately for Jesus' conquering over death and His current life to be my driving force.

 

Prayer Requests:

*Team building

*Southeast Asia trip

*Perseverance in classes

 

Southeast Asia

As many of you know, I (as well as 5 other people) am leaving the US this summer for Southeast Asia. Many of you who are reading this have already supported me more than you know through prayer. Which is what this post is about. We could use your prayers for a few things, and I want to let you know what those are. :)

*Team building. We have all met and spent some time with each other but, as everyone knows, we could still grow closer and learn much more about one another and how to support and encourage each other in Christ.

*Fundraising. We are holding a fundraiser dinner in mid-April and we could greatly use prayer for our planning, etc.

*Openness. We each need to be open to what God is trying to show us and teach us through this entire process of preparation (and, of course, the trip itself). That our hearts would be soft and our ears open to hear God's voice is a huge request of mine.

On a more personal note, I could use some prayer in the area of work. I need to find a job (and soon!!) which will hire me even though I only have about 7 weeks available to work. That is one of my biggest requests for myself.

Thank you for your support in each and every way. If you are reading this and want more information on our trip and how you can support us, let me know! I'd love to fill you in. :)

The American Pastime and the American Church

Today I found myself in the center of the American pastime. As I entered the park, I was swallowed up by the sights, the sounds, and the smells. The people swarming around me were as excited about the upcoming event as I am when I see gas prices drop 5 cents or more. (I'm sure you can relate.)


The place: Surprise, AZ. The reason: Spring Training. The pastime: Baseball.

As I entered the stadium, people swarmed all around me looking for their seats, looking for restrooms, and looking for food stands. Not to mention the ever popular gift shop to buy a shirt to support your favorite team.

The teams today were the Seattle Mariners up against the Texas Rangers. The Rangers lost despressingly 5-2 with their only runs due to a Mariners pitcher who was consistenly walking batters. Did that matter? Not a bit. The fans are not there strictly for their team, but for the thrill of the game.

Baseball destroys all barriers. Young, old, black, white, doctors, high school graduates, all gather together for this one space of time - about 3 hours. To all these people, nothing matters except a love of the game. This one single love binds them all together. Fans of both teams. In the end, all that matters is you're a fan of the game itself.

The church is called to be the same. We are called to be one in Christ. Romans 12:4-5 states, "For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another." This means we are one with each other, as well. Of course, this is different than the "one" that a husband and wife are. We are also one with Christ and we are one body. Colossians 3:15 tells us, "And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful." Again, we are reminded that we are called to one body.

I Peter 3:8 says, "Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind." Why can we not put aside our differences? I will be the first to admit that I can be judgmental and biased. But this should not matter. Genuine love, which we are called to as Christians (Romans 12:9), requires that we not be judgmental in any fashion. Any person, male or female, black or white, tall or short, is to be loved genuinely by us, so that they might see God's love through us which is so much bigger than ours.

I could go so many places from here. And maybe I will someday later on. But for now, my point is this: Let us love one another so genuinely there is a marked difference between the church and those who are not followers of Christ. Let us put aside all our differences and serve one another without regard to our personal gain. Let us imitate Christ as the name "Christian" denotes. Philippians 2:5-11 gives a great picture of what I am trying to say. Verse 5 (NIV) says, "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus" while verses 7-8 say (NIV) say, "but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death - even death on a cross!"

Christ put aside all differences. Even the biggest difference there could possibly be. He Himself is God. And we are "insignificant mortals" (Anselm, Proslogion) and yet He put aside that difference and died so that we might have life. Why can we not put aside the small differences that we are faced with daily? I know I can only fairly speak for myself when I say I am going to strive my hardest to no longer be judgmental and to geniunely love others as Christ calls me to love them. I pray the same for all of us who claim to follow Christ.

Prayer requests:
*Southeast Asia
*quiet times
*dedication to school work

Proslogion

"Come now, insignificant mortal. Leave behind your concerns for a little while, and retreat for a short time from your restless thoughts. Cast off your burdens and cares; set aside your labor and toil. Just for a little while make room for God, and rest awhile in him. 'Enter into the chamber' (Matthew 6:6) of your mind, shut out everything but God and whatever helps you to seek him, and seek him 'behind closed doors' (Matthew 6:6) . Speak now, my whole heart: say to God, 'I seek your face; your face, Lord, do I seek' (Psalm 27:8)." (Anselm, Proslogion)

Just some encouragement. This is my goal over break: to really spend some time with the One who created me from nothing. Well, I guess, seeing as I'm woman, I was created from Adam's flesh, but Adam was created from nothing. That was a tangent...anyway, I encourage each of you to be setting aside time for Christ, the One who has rescued us from the pits of utter torture: hell. My concerns mean nothing in light of His glory. He has handled my life perfectly thus far, why should that change?

I am amazed sometimes at how easily I falter and believe God will not take care of me. But here's the truth for each one of us who are His followers: He will. He always has. I look back on my life and see the countless times He has provided in the strangest, and yet best, ways. God truly is faithful, although I do not deserve His faithfulness.

As I set out on Easter break, I want to truly take time for Him and Him alone and trust Him to continue providing for me regardless of the situation. Why should my faith ever falter? There's never a reason it should. My prayer for each of us this week is that we would constantly trust Him to provide and give Him our time.

Prayer requests:
*school work
*Southeast Asia trip
*quiet times

The things we hide so well...

"Are you not entertained?! Are you NOT entertained?!" This line, delivered powerfully by Russell Crowe in "Gladiator," is one which has resounded in my heart over the last few days. As soon as I heard this line, I knew there would be more thoughts to follow. Not only does Russell Crowe give a powerful and touching performance, but "Gladiator" gives a great depiction of the Roman love for bloodshed.


For a quick background on the movie, in case it is foreign to some, Russell Crowe plays the best Roman general of the time (A.D. 180) named Maximus who is ending a three year war and asking his emporer, Marcus Aurelius, if he can go home. Marcus loves Maximus more than his own son and agrees to let him go home. He also asks Maximus to accept the position of emporer after he dies and to help turn Rome back into a Republic. Maximus has not yet accepted the position when Marcus dies. It is diagnosed as a natural death, but his own son, Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix), has actually murdered him so that he can become emporer and keep Rome from becoming a Republic.

Commodus orders Maximus to be killed, but Maximus escapes. He begins the trek home, only to arrive to find that his wife and son have been killed by Commodus' men. He faints and is picked up by a traveling band of men who then sell men they find to become gladiators/slaves. Maximus is picked to be a gladiator and he then begins his training. Once he realizes it could bring him face to face with Commodus, he begins to work his hardest, quickly rising in popularity and rank. But before this happens, Maximus must realize that the citizens of Rome want to be entertained by the bloodshed, not merely see it happen. The film rises in intensity until the very end when Commodus and Maximus have their one chance to fight each other in the arena.

The Roman empire of this time was so famous for its love of bloodshed. The citizens of Rome had a thirst for blood that could never be quenched. During this time in Rome, sin was prevalent in the public and it was performed out in the open for all to see.

In the book of Proverbs, two voices appear in the first chapter. The first voice is of the mother and father of a child. They warn their beloved son to stay away from ill-gotten gain (evil). The second voice is that of the sinner (specifically vs. 11-14). These two voices are constantly in competition. Proverbs was written to all of Israel, and that includes those who are Christians even today. So that means that I, as well as my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, are constantly struggling to discern between the two voices.

Proverbs 1:8-19

Hear, my son, your father's instruction,
and forsake not your mother's teaching,
for they are a graceful garland for your head
and pendants for your neck.
My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent.
If they say, "Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood;
let us ambush the innocent without reason;
like Sheol let us swallow them alive,
and whole, like those who go down to the pit;
we shall find all precious good,
we shall fill our houses with plunder;
throw in your lot among us;
we will all have one purse" -
my son, do not walk in the way with them;
hold back your foot from their paths,
for their feet run to evil
and they make haste to shed blood.
For in vain is a net spread in the sight of any bird,
but these men lie in wait for their own blood;
they set an ambush for their own lives.
Such are the ways of everyone who is greedy for unjust gain;
it takes away the life of its possessors.

The father and mother are warning their son against those who sin. The sinners are enticing others to come with them and "lie in wait for blood." My pastor, Dr. Mooney, often reminds us that today, we will most likely not hear someone say, "Hey Becca, want to come with us and lie in wait for someone to come along so we can shed his blood?" Rather, it will be in a more subtle and hidden form. We, as humans, are so quick to hide our sin because we know it is wrong.

As I said, we are so quick to hide what we know is wrong which is why pride can be such a problem. We are so quick to promote what we know we have done right. And even just promoting our good decisions helps to hide our sins.

Dr. Mooney once said in a sermon on Proverbs 1, "Some sins can look righteous while being vicious." I couldn't quite remember the context so I went to him and asked him some questions. When talking, he made it clear that the same action could be both righteous and acceptable or sinful and unacceptable based on the context of that action. For example, if we are teaching young children, or even adults, about Christ and what the truth is, it can quickly become easy to make much of ourselves through our lecture or sermon. But if we are teaching God's word in humbleness and only to promote Him and His glory, we are not sinning. Also, singing is a great example. If we are singing on a worship team, or in a singing group, we can look at righteous and holy as we want, but our motivations for our actions will change whether we are being righteous or whether we are sinning. Context is everything with these types of sins.

Proverbs talks of lying in wait for blood. The most popular question might be, "How is singing to glorify myself lying in wait for someone's blood?" The answer would be that we are lying in wait for our own blood. Proverbs 1 tells us that those who lie in wait for others' blood will only shed their own. Of course it's not necessarily literal. But one does destroy his own life due to his sin. It says in Proverbs 1:19, "Such are the ways of everyone who is greedy for unjust gain; it takes away the life of its possessors." His life is taken away and ruined through his sinful actions.

Basically, it all comes down to this:

Rome was so open about her sins. There were no apologies made, instead they reveled in the bloodshed and violence of the gladiator games. We're even told in Romans 1 of all the sins that are seen among the people. Some of these sins are idolatry, sexual impurity, unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice, envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness, gossip, slander, hatred of God, insolence, haughtiness, boastfulness, inventing of evil, disobedience to parents, foolishness, faithlessness, heartlessness, and ruthlessness (Romans 1:23, 26, 29-32). This is practically every sin imaginable! And yet they were open about them all! How disgusting is this?

The American population would probably say something like, "That's horrible." ...

But are Americans really any better? No because we are just as disobedient. We simply hide it. We sugar coat it. We even make it seem good and righteous sometimes. No sin is good. No sin is righteous. No sin can truly be sugar coated. They are all horrid and dirty and we need to rid ourselves of them!

Somehow between A.D. 180 and 2008, we as people have become practically experts at hiding our sin and wrongdoing. However this happened, it has been to our detriment. We are no better for knowing how to hide them. In fact, we are worse off. By hiding them, we cannot allow others to help us destroy them. By hiding them, we cannot be seen for who we truly are, which is who we are (or should be) loved for. By hiding them, we allow people to believe we have it all together, which is deception. By hiding them, we cannot truly grow in our Christian walk with Christ and fellowship with other believers. We are urged strongly, in order to avoid following the voice of sinners, to be vigilant and to engage intentionally and methodically in our world which will help us to discern between wisdom and foolishness.

Rome's openness of her sin was disgusting, no argument. She flaunted her sins, which was wrong. We should not flaunt our sins (also see Isaiah 1) but we should be open and honest about them so we can rid ourselves of them. Being open does not mean sharing what our sin is with everyone we know, rather it means being honest with ourselves, God, and someone who will truly hold us accountable. This is the only way to rid ourselves of these horrible practices and addictions.

Thanks be to God for His grace on us. Proverbs is His directions of how to live life with wisdom. He shows us how to avoid these situations of sin and downfall. It is our choice to live them out but He is provident and sovereign and He has told us in Romans 8:1, "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." Of course that doesn't mean I should keep sinning, but it does mean that He has forgiven my sin. And I thank Him for that.

Prayer:

*Southeast Asia

*dedication to school

*quiet times

Prosperity Gospel: Not the Gospel at all

So here it is...Anthony and Holly have also posted it...and for good reason, too! Watch this video by John Piper.




[ht: AC]

words cannot describe

Ever have those days where words just seem to fail? Where you want to say something (or someone) is "amazing" only to realize you overuse that word so MUCH that it feels completely useless...where you want to describe how awesome something was and yet, "awesome" feels so lame for what you're trying to express.

I just witnessed the biggest miracle I can ever remembering seeing/hearing about. God is at work, people, and we need to not forget this. He is fulfilling His promises to those who believe in Him. He is blessing us. He is faithful. He has never left. He has a perfect plan with perfect timing. His love is unfathomable and yet, I believe, so often I think I understand it fully. But I don't. Not when I see things like this. I can't share the story because it is someone else's to share. However, please just keep in mind that God is still working miracles. He is pouring out His love on those who love Him.

Psalm 136 begins with the sentence, "Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever." This same psalm ends with the sentence, "Give thanks to the God of heaven, for his steadfast love endures forever." The psalmist is making very clear how good God is and that His love is steadfast and it endures forever. The word "good" is used to describe God. I personally feel that the English language is far too weak. The original Hebrew word for "good" as used in Psalm 136 is "towb" and is pronounced "tobe." It is an adjective which comes from a verb which means, "to be good, be pleasing, be joyful, be beneficial, be pleasant, be favourable, be happy, be right." (http://cf.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/Lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H2895&t=KJV) I don't know about you, but when I say the word "good" I don't necessarily mean "to be happy" or "to be right." When I say "I'm doing good" sometimes that means "I'm getting by." God is described as good and yet I describe ice cream as good. There's got to be a different word than the same word that describes the creator of the whole universe.

So, in seeing that I have just witnessed a huge work of God in someone's life, how do I describe it? I use the word "amazing" for almost everything good that happens in my life. I use "awesome" to describe my favorite movies. So how do I now describe the King of my life, creator of the entire universe, love of my life, and all-powerful God? Maybe I need to re-think my day to day vocabulary. Maybe the word "amazing" should be reserved for God and God alone. Maybe the things He does should be awesome, not the newest stunt that Matt Damon does in Bourne Ultimatum. Maybe God's work should be good, and my ice cream should be ok. However I look at it, God is:

*amazing
*all-powerful
*awesome
*holy
*wonderful
*faithful
*loving
*merciful
*gracious
*just
*perfect
*sinless
*righteous
*enduring
*Alpha
*Omega
*king
*GOOD

These are all my thoughts. Take them or leave them. No matter what you do with them, they remain, and He remains awesome, amazing, and good.

Prayer:
*Southeast Asia
*quiet times
*dedication to school work