Once upon a time, there was one man and one woman and they walked and talked with God.
And then they sinned. They could no longer walk and talk with God. They would die.
But it was not the end.
There was a man named Noah. He and his family were the only ones who feared the LORD.
The LORD instructed Noah to build an ark so save a few from the judgement that would destroy the world.
But it was not the end.
Joseph, the favorite of his father, was sold into slavery by his brothers. Years later, the brothers were caught in a famine and had to appeal to their brother Joseph for food.
Joseph forgave them and moved the family to Egypt to take care of them. Their children fell into slavery.
But it was not the end.
Moses, equipped by God, lead Israel out of Egypt against great opposition. The Law was given to Moses to give to the people. Sacrifices, the Arc of the Covenant, the tabernacle, a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.
The children of Israel complained, whined, disobeyed, and couldn't keep the Law.
But it was not the end.
Elijah was a prophet and spoke the Word of the LORD that Ahab did not want to hear.
He fled to the desert to avoid being imprisoned or killed. He was thirsty and hungry.
But it was not the end.
Isaiah was also a prophet. He prophesied of a Messiah. Someone who would be the Lamb and the ultimate sacrifice.
The children of Israel continued to fall from God and then return to him to fall away again.
But it was not the end.
A little girl named Mary was told by an angel that she was going to be pregnant with the Messiah.
She gave birth with her husband, Joseph, in a feeding trough to the Son of God.
But it was not the end.
The Son grew up and began teaching. He performed miracles, discipled his followers, was baptized, and changed the lives of countless people.
There were those who hated him, one who betrayed him, and he fulfilled his purpose when he received the wrath of God for sin that was not his own. Prophesy was fulfilled. The price was paid.
He died. A large stone closed the mouth of the tomb where he lay. A stone so large it couldn't be moved by a single man.
But it was not the end.
Friday, March 29, 2013
Friday, March 22, 2013
March Madness. Among Other Things.
I have to admit that although it can be a very long month, I love March. Spring (hopefully) begins, winter storms are less winter-like (sometimes), you're finally over the shock of the new year being new, you have a better idea of what the rest of the year will hold, and (my personal favorite) there's Madness.
Now, I'm sure a number of you reading this blog can understand a love for a particular sport such as football, racing, or baseball. However, Indiana is unique in that it's crazy about basketball. Absolutely crazy in love with ten guys fighting over an orange ball. Space Jam was my favorite movie for awhile.
When I was little, Gene Keady was leading the Purdue Boilermakers to consecutive Big 10 Championships. I remember trying to fall asleep over my mother cheering them on. In Indiana, high school basketball is a big deal. College basketball is a big deal. NBA is a big deal. Yes, there's variation in who prefers each level of basketball, but everyone knows what NCAA stands for and everyone either makes a bracket or thinks about making a bracket for the tournament.
My recent days have been filled with March Madness. Even though my own school didn't make it to the tourney, I'm in on as much action as I can get. I had a two hour break at work yesterday and spent the whole two hours rotating games on my computer.
Yep. I'm a Hoosier. Through and through.
Among Other Things,
I changed the blog title. I was originally going with God being a pursuer of the hearts of His followers, but recently I've been convinced He wants more than our hearts. He wants our dreams, our passions, our talents, our time, our affection. That goes beyond the heart. And so I've renamed it The Great Pursuit. God is pursuing you. All of you. He pursues you every moment of every day. There really is nothing else worth pursuing if you're not first pursuing God. I want to highlight that.
I'm done with part one of my application process for Wycliffe. They're currently processing my application. I need to set up a meeting with my pastor and an elder to talk with them about my plans and get their thoughts. I met with an administrator from Wycliffe last week to talk about questions I have about what being a member means and what I think being in ministry as a single means.
I'm returning to SIL (Summer Institute of Linguistics) this summer. I'm super excited! I'm really hoping to find a lot of healing, form new friendships with like hearted people, and see family again. I'm looking forward to what the Lord will reveal to me about Himself. Until then, I hope to pursue Him as He pursues me.
<3
Now, I'm sure a number of you reading this blog can understand a love for a particular sport such as football, racing, or baseball. However, Indiana is unique in that it's crazy about basketball. Absolutely crazy in love with ten guys fighting over an orange ball. Space Jam was my favorite movie for awhile.
When I was little, Gene Keady was leading the Purdue Boilermakers to consecutive Big 10 Championships. I remember trying to fall asleep over my mother cheering them on. In Indiana, high school basketball is a big deal. College basketball is a big deal. NBA is a big deal. Yes, there's variation in who prefers each level of basketball, but everyone knows what NCAA stands for and everyone either makes a bracket or thinks about making a bracket for the tournament.
My recent days have been filled with March Madness. Even though my own school didn't make it to the tourney, I'm in on as much action as I can get. I had a two hour break at work yesterday and spent the whole two hours rotating games on my computer.
Yep. I'm a Hoosier. Through and through.
Among Other Things,
I changed the blog title. I was originally going with God being a pursuer of the hearts of His followers, but recently I've been convinced He wants more than our hearts. He wants our dreams, our passions, our talents, our time, our affection. That goes beyond the heart. And so I've renamed it The Great Pursuit. God is pursuing you. All of you. He pursues you every moment of every day. There really is nothing else worth pursuing if you're not first pursuing God. I want to highlight that.
I'm done with part one of my application process for Wycliffe. They're currently processing my application. I need to set up a meeting with my pastor and an elder to talk with them about my plans and get their thoughts. I met with an administrator from Wycliffe last week to talk about questions I have about what being a member means and what I think being in ministry as a single means.
I'm returning to SIL (Summer Institute of Linguistics) this summer. I'm super excited! I'm really hoping to find a lot of healing, form new friendships with like hearted people, and see family again. I'm looking forward to what the Lord will reveal to me about Himself. Until then, I hope to pursue Him as He pursues me.
<3
Monday, March 11, 2013
The Land Between
Northview, my church in Lafayette, is going through The Story. This was week/chapter 6 which is about the spies going into Israel, the Israelites sentenced to 40yrs in the desert, and Moses dying. David Choutka was preaching in Steve Poe's absence and began the message something like this (bear in mind that this is purely from my memory):
"My wife is a great packer. I'm banned from packing because she's just so good at it and I've screwed it up so many times. My job is to set up the GPS and do the driving. The first thing I look at is the ETA: Estimated Time of Arrival. My goal on every trip is to beat the ETA. If the GPS tells me I wont get there until 8:05, I do what I can to bring that down to 8:00, then 7:55, then 7:50. Then I hear the dreaded words, 'I gotta go to the bathroom.' After using the restroom or getting gas we get back on the road again and now the ETA is 8:20. AAAHH! It's so frustrating!"
I'm raising my hand in my heart. That's me. I've said or thought all of these things: How much over the speed limit can I go without getting caught? How long can I go without food before I have to stop for something to eat? We ONLY stop for gas!
What's my rush? Well, it's not that I don't love traveling. I love to travel, but I like being there even more. Is it a surprise to you that the primary reason I've actually finished reading a number of books I started reading was purely because I wanted to know how it ended? In my own life I've seen this desire to be at the destination or finish line, as it were, and wanting to skip what's in between the start and the finish.
I felt pretty convicted while I heard the Sunday message continue. "My wife asked me why I was in such a hurry. I said I wanted to just get there. 'And do what?' was her response. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that some of the best times I've had with my own family has been in-transit to the destination... The journey is what's called the Land Between."
The Land Between is where the real growth, the real story, happens. This is Moses' second round of 40yrs in a desert. God did amazing things in his heart the first time. Can you imagine what happened in the hearts of the Israelites in 40yrs?
I began to think about this in other contexts. I tried to imagine Cinderella without the Land Between: "This girl named Cindy met Prince Charming and they lived happily ever after." Lame story. Anything that makes the story of Cinderella unique or interesting happens in the journey. I also had a flashback to English 409: Introduction to Writing Fiction: "Only conflict is interesting. Literature revolves around conflict. The better your conflict, the better your story."
I'm currently in the Land Between. Yes, I'm close to completing my initial application for Wycliffe (woot woot!) and pretty much everything is looking up for me now, I'm nearing the end of it, but this is one of the most difficult Land Betweens I've ever been in. Pretty much all I've wanted from the beginning is to escape it. No joke.
It's not just my Land Betweens either. As a kid, all I've ever wanted was to be a grown-up. I never wanted to go to Neverland or never age with Peter Pan. When I was younger I wished I could fast forward to the part of my life when I would be married and having children. That was really living.
False. I mean, those things are great, I'm sure, but if there's so much more to life.
Being an adult is lame. Unfortunately, looking back, I wished away my childhood. I made myself grow up too fast because I was in a rush to get to the end of my journey. It wasn't until I was nearly graduated from high school that I realized I needed to enjoy where I was. I needed to cherish the time I currently had or I would regret it later.
I had the same realization again today. Yeah, it's the Land Between, but God is there in all seasons of life and in all circumstances. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. This Land Between is another chapter in making me more like Him (even if it doesn't feel that way).
God will provide for me in my 40yrs in the desert. He's put me there to prepare me for inhabiting the Promise Land. How much more I'll appreciate my destination after a long and weary journey. How many memories I can create and lessons I can learn in the Land Between.
~Christina
If you want to watch/listen to the sermon I've mentioned in this post, you can visit the Northview Church website and click "watch messages." This message was from March 10th.
"My wife is a great packer. I'm banned from packing because she's just so good at it and I've screwed it up so many times. My job is to set up the GPS and do the driving. The first thing I look at is the ETA: Estimated Time of Arrival. My goal on every trip is to beat the ETA. If the GPS tells me I wont get there until 8:05, I do what I can to bring that down to 8:00, then 7:55, then 7:50. Then I hear the dreaded words, 'I gotta go to the bathroom.' After using the restroom or getting gas we get back on the road again and now the ETA is 8:20. AAAHH! It's so frustrating!"
I'm raising my hand in my heart. That's me. I've said or thought all of these things: How much over the speed limit can I go without getting caught? How long can I go without food before I have to stop for something to eat? We ONLY stop for gas!
What's my rush? Well, it's not that I don't love traveling. I love to travel, but I like being there even more. Is it a surprise to you that the primary reason I've actually finished reading a number of books I started reading was purely because I wanted to know how it ended? In my own life I've seen this desire to be at the destination or finish line, as it were, and wanting to skip what's in between the start and the finish.
I felt pretty convicted while I heard the Sunday message continue. "My wife asked me why I was in such a hurry. I said I wanted to just get there. 'And do what?' was her response. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that some of the best times I've had with my own family has been in-transit to the destination... The journey is what's called the Land Between."
The Land Between is where the real growth, the real story, happens. This is Moses' second round of 40yrs in a desert. God did amazing things in his heart the first time. Can you imagine what happened in the hearts of the Israelites in 40yrs?
I began to think about this in other contexts. I tried to imagine Cinderella without the Land Between: "This girl named Cindy met Prince Charming and they lived happily ever after." Lame story. Anything that makes the story of Cinderella unique or interesting happens in the journey. I also had a flashback to English 409: Introduction to Writing Fiction: "Only conflict is interesting. Literature revolves around conflict. The better your conflict, the better your story."
I'm currently in the Land Between. Yes, I'm close to completing my initial application for Wycliffe (woot woot!) and pretty much everything is looking up for me now, I'm nearing the end of it, but this is one of the most difficult Land Betweens I've ever been in. Pretty much all I've wanted from the beginning is to escape it. No joke.
It's not just my Land Betweens either. As a kid, all I've ever wanted was to be a grown-up. I never wanted to go to Neverland or never age with Peter Pan. When I was younger I wished I could fast forward to the part of my life when I would be married and having children. That was really living.
False. I mean, those things are great, I'm sure, but if there's so much more to life.
Being an adult is lame. Unfortunately, looking back, I wished away my childhood. I made myself grow up too fast because I was in a rush to get to the end of my journey. It wasn't until I was nearly graduated from high school that I realized I needed to enjoy where I was. I needed to cherish the time I currently had or I would regret it later.
I had the same realization again today. Yeah, it's the Land Between, but God is there in all seasons of life and in all circumstances. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. This Land Between is another chapter in making me more like Him (even if it doesn't feel that way).
God will provide for me in my 40yrs in the desert. He's put me there to prepare me for inhabiting the Promise Land. How much more I'll appreciate my destination after a long and weary journey. How many memories I can create and lessons I can learn in the Land Between.
~Christina
If you want to watch/listen to the sermon I've mentioned in this post, you can visit the Northview Church website and click "watch messages." This message was from March 10th.
Monday, March 4, 2013
Hosea 2
Before reading this post, please read Hosea 2 [found here]
Particularly pay attention to 2:14-20
“Therefore, behold, I will allure her,
and bring her into the wilderness,
and speak tenderly to her.
15 And there I will give her her vineyards
and make the Valley of Achor [trouble] a door of hope.
And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth,
as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.
Particularly pay attention to 2:14-20
“Therefore, behold, I will allure her,
and bring her into the wilderness,
and speak tenderly to her.
15 And there I will give her her vineyards
and make the Valley of Achor [trouble] a door of hope.
And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth,
as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.
16 “And in that day, declares the Lord, you will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.’ 17 For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more. 18 And I
will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field,
the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety. 19 And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. 20 I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord.
I've been chewing on this passage for awhile. I've read Hosea before, but I don't remember the deep message or the power of the words in it. Maybe it was a little advanced for a 15ish-year-old girl with no life experience. Now that I'm older, I can't believe how profound it is. Until verse 14, the whole chapter talks about her. The truth about her is displayed for us: sin, adultery, whoring, and complete disregard for her Husband [God].
Conviction struck my heart as I read it. I am her. The detestable, the unlovable, the ugly, the stupid girl. God was angry with me. Righteously angry and hurt. Astounding. Mercy, grace, and love are more frequently associated with God in our every day lives. In our worship, in our talk about Him, in our Bible time, and in most times generally. But before He showed me that, He was angry. Furious. He was hurt. Why? Because I hated Him.
But God, even though I hurt Him, reached out to me. When I had gotten myself into a mess and landed in a desert with absolutely nothing, He wooed me. He gave me an understanding of Him I didn't have before. Verse 14 and 15 remind me of what Steve Poe said in a message recently about Moses living in the desert for 40yrs: "Sometimes God puts us in the backside of a desert to change and grow us." He shows us who He really is. He is a jealous God (Exodus 20:5). He wants my devotion, my affection, my time, my heart, my praise, my life, my everything. He wants all of me and He wants me to want all of Him. He wants you to want all of Him too.
Why do we get bent out of shape when something doesn't go right? We don't deserve anything He's given us. It's all Him. He should smite us, leave us, divorce us, never forgive us for what we've done to Him. But He doesn't. When our foundations crumble, He humbles us and reveals Himself.
"And you shall know the Lord."
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