FM Curling Club

Last week a group of us embarked on a new adventure... curling! Though none of us had participated in this delightful sport before, we were all hooked within minutes. The girls got off to an early start, but the guys made a dramatic comeback and beat us in the end. It's probably good that they did, since we were beginning to gloat. I can't wait to go again. New motto? "I'd rather be curling". :)

I Saw God Today

The radio in my car is frequently tuned to a local country station, where this afternoon I heard George Strait exclaiming that he saw God today. He sings about being in the hospital with his wife as she delivers their baby. He goes outside for a while and sees a flower bravely poking its head through a crack in the sidewalk. He goes on to ponder that while he "goes to church and reads the Book"... he knows that God is present but isn't actively watching for Him. I am that way sometimes. Miraculous, tiny lives consume my days. It's "work", yet so far from it... God is there and showing Himself, yet I don't take time to marvel and praise Him often enough. A few days ago I planted some herbs in five little pots and placed them on my windowsill. I have been eagerly watering them and hoping that they will grow. How does that happen? God creates such amazing stuff!! My idea of "creation" is putting a lasagna together and being happy about how delicious it is:). So with a little encouragement from Mr. Strait, tomorrow I am going to actively LOOK for God. Who would ever have expected to be challenged by tuning in Froggy 99.9?!

The Way of Jesus

I am fully engrossed with this year's election. Why? Perhaps it is because the race is close and the candidates intriguing. Or perhaps it is because this is the first election in which I have thought more deeply about why I should vote this way or that. By glancing at where I live and go to church one could easily assume that I fall into the category of conservative evangelical voter. There are basically two issues which stereotypically concern such voters, but things are changing and I welcome the change. I no longer want to vote immediately for the "obvious" candidate without prayerfully considering which candidate walks most closely in line with the way of Jesus. As Americans and believers in Christ it is often difficult to tell which is a higher priority in our lives. Are we first followers of Christ? Often I think we claim that because it sounds better, but the reality is that our status as "Americans" is truly on top of the list.

If we want to follow Christ first, we must look at the things HE valued and the issues with which HE was concerned. If we look in the Bible we see that poverty and oppression of the weak tops the list. What are we doing to combat these things? Do we care about orphans? Do we care about the sick and the widow? We must. Even if the country in which we reside cares little, WE must care. Jesus also cared about peace. Certainly in the Scriptures we find God destroying nations that didn't fear Him. But can we take it upon ourselves to decide who those nations are and what we want to do to them. Can America safely play God and get away with it?

This morning while getting ready for work I had CNN Sunday morning on in the background. I was delighted to see the face of Brian Maclaren bringing a fresh (and I felt, quite accurate) perspective to the "Faith and Politics" section. The anchor was more than a little surprised to hear Maclaren's view on what issues matter most in this election to the evangelical community. I was very exciting to see. Maclaren, along with Jim Wallis, Sojourners, and several good friends have been influential in encouraging me to really think about my political views. My head hurts from thinking too much, but it feels amazing.

I have yet to decide how I will vote in November. There is so much more I want to learn about the candidates! However, I do know with full confidence that there is NO candidate who can fix everything. If we are placing our hope in any man or woman, we will only be sorely disappointed time and time again. Our hope is in Christ! So while I very much enjoy the debates and varied viewpoints surrounding this election I find great joy in knowing that... The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it." Psalm 24:1

Never Forgets...

Isn't it interesting how in a simple moment that is often not distinguishable even in hindsight, something happens and life changes forever? The more I stop to think about it the more it is clear that life is full of these moments. I'm not sure I like that! Yet another big one came for me a few weeks ago with a simple phone call. Suddenly I find myself applying for grad school, considering a move to the opposite end of the country where I am aquainted with absolutely no one, and shifting my gaze to a very unfamiliar part of the world. Just when I started getting comfortable, God had other ideas. Often the 'new things' on the horizon fill me with excitement, almost always I start getting weary when trying to work out the details (which I could never do to perfection anyway... God seems to make it 'impossible' so that He can show me once again how amazing He is), but there are also regular bouts of fear and even anger which bring me back to a place where I find myself so many times. That place is wondering if God really knows what He is doing or if He has finally gone off the deep end this time... wondering why He asks such strange things of me and if I really have to say yes, all the while knowing that I WILL say yes because there is no other way. I want things that it seems I can't have... some sort of stability, familiarity (God, can I PLEASE just go back to Africa?), maybe even love. Time after time He leads me in another direction, deeply though I long to hold on to what I already love with passion. I want to say, "Lord I am weary. Go one without me, please." But He never forgets one He loves. Never.

No One Else Knows
Building 429

My world is closing in on the inside, but I'm not showing it
When all I am is crying out I hold it in and fake a smile still I'm broken, I'm broken
Only One can understand and only one can hold the hand of the broken, of the broken

When no one else knows how I feel
Your love for me is proven real
When no one else cares where I've been
You run to me with outstretched hands
And You hold me in Your arms...
Again

I need no explanation of "Why Me?"
I just need confirmation
When only You could understand the emptiness inside my head
I am falling, I'm falling
I'm falling down upon my knees to find the one that gives me peace
I am flying, I'm flying

When no one else knows how I feel
Your love for me is proven real
When no one else cares where I've been
You run to me with outstretched hands
And You hold me in Your arms...
Again

I have come to You in search of faith
'Cuz I can't see beyond this place
Oh You are God and I am man
So I leave it in Your hands

When no one else knows how I feel
Your love for me is proven real
When no one else cares where I've been
You run to me with outstretched hands...

When no one else knows how I feel
Your love for me is proven real
When no one else cares where I've been
You run to me with outstreched hands
And You hold me in Your arms
Oh You hold me in Your arms
I know that You hold me in Your arms...
Again

Matthew 8

Stained, wounded, bitter and beaten, the man sat with head bowed and heart numb. There was no hope for him! No hope for healing, no hope of freedom, no chance to ever be clean. Life had no meaning. Why had he even been born? Hope came one day in the most unexpected form of a simple man. Simple, but recognized by the unclean one as the Lord. Did he dare approach the Messiah in his filth? There was no other way. Scarcely breathing he limped toward Jesus, suddenly unaware of the angry shouts and panicked gasps of those around him. Everyone fled, except Jesus, and He was the only one that mattered anyway. The leprous man thought about the long years through which he had lived in utter loneliness. Not since the priest had declared him "UNCLEAN" had anyone so much as looked him in the eye. He felt no longer a man but more like a ghost, walking through life as though nothing were actually real. But then, as faith in the man standing before with love in his piercing look led him to declare his trust, something happened. Jesus wasn't afraid to touch the ugly places which completely covered him. Jesus wasn't afraid to love someone fully unclean. Jesus touched the leper, and his stains were gone. His old identity... "LEPER", was gone. What other identity could he take but that of the One who had cared enough to reach out and touch the ugly and the forbidden? He wanted no other name but Christ's.