Forget Blackberries!

Earth's crammed with heaven,

And every common bush afire with God;

But only he who sees takes off his shoes;

The rest sit around it and pluck blackberries.

(Elizabeth Barrett Browning)

Wordle...My New Favorite Thing!

So I discovered the most amazing thing online today... Wordle!  You can inset texts or a website and you can create sweet word designs.

Here is a Wordle based on a devotional I wrote on Exodus 34:

This is one based on my interests on Facebook and blogger:

This is what I got when I entered my blog website:

Playing with Light

This is what we set up for youth group last night.  It was a great night of conversation and wrapping up our series on vision: Rooted, Growing, Serving, Sowing.  The environment was warm and inviting.  More and more I am finding that the tone we set before youth group, whether with music, candles, prayer, smiles, and encouragements sets the tone for how the night runs.  I don't attribute it all to the "stuff" we do because God can do anything through anything!  However, I still stand by the fact that environment is important.  If anything, we can create space to allow God to move, not our expectations.  

Thursday Morning Sabbath

Espresso. Bible. Creation. Relevant Magazine. Worship Music. My ideal Sabbath. I began the morning by sleeping in. (Something much needed due to being sick!) While my espresso was brewing, I took a walk around my backyard.

I thanked the Lord for His artistic beauty- the use of color, shape, and texture.

The flowers in bloom are a reminder of Spring's offerings- newness, life, and joy!

Thank you Lord for sharing your beauty with us!

"Flowers appear in the earth; the season of singing has come..." (Song of Sol. 2:12)

After reading an article in Relevant Magazine on "Gorging on Jesus," I sat down to sip on espresso and the Word.  The Lord convicted and encouraged my heart with the following Scripture:

"Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice!

Let your reasonableness be known to everyone.

The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, 

but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving

let your requests be made known to God.

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,

will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."

(Philippians 4:4-7)

The "do not be anxious" part is what is the most convicting.  I find myself anxious with floods of thoughts concerning job security and financial future for Kaitlin and I.  The Lord plainly spoke to my heart as I was asking to see His heart: Josh, do you desire job security, even in ministry, more than you desire ME? Wow!  What a wake up call!  

We also have no reason to be anxious over the circumstances, trials, warfare, and suffering in our lives.  I know this is the hardest thing to understand and incline our hearts towards during difficult times, but we MUST TRUST God's promise in His Word: And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus!

God, give me the peace for all situations. Teach me to incline my heart to Yours.  May my moments be saturated with prayer, ever relying on You!  You give me life to the full, strength for the battle, and words of truth to exhort others.  May I not take lightly life in You! 

Daydreams of Genesis

I daydream of Genesis:

The Creation, Destruction

The Promises, and Lies

And people call on the name of the LORD.

I daydream of Grace:

The Provision, Fulness

Purity, then Pollution

And the LORD covers man's nakedness and shame.

I daydream of Beginning:

The Newness, Life

Assurance, but Barrenness

The LORD making his people a Great Nation

The LORD, the LORD:

Creator of all.

Sustainer of all.

All in All:

Even before the Beginning. 

I’ll stop coveting creativity and start using my hands

My life was like an indie-art-film once. (No twice) in the last week.  First in a (dead silent) car garage. Then while riding a bike.  The lifeless surge of emptiness came over me. Like when you read post-modern poetry. (Or Samuel Beckett.)  Its an erie feeling to be quite honest.  I don’t care too much for it.  Some thrive on it. Others fake it. “Creative” post-modernists think that they do something for the world while elevating this Camus-ology of self-centered meaninglessness.

God save us. 

ancient.dream.of.eden

Sleepless

The nothingness of silence creeps in

right on time

loud and announced

fanfare and fireworks

the life of the party.

I lay here awake--

thinking,

praying,

pleading with God

for a still whisper to creep in,

"It's okay, my son, sleep."

Godspell!

From the 1973 Musical Godspell (Based on the Gospel according to St. Matthew). Rent the movie, its a good laugh and might teach you something!

Okay, so for some reason,  I have been thinking a lot about the Hippie-Musical Godspell for a while now.  I think it is because I am taking two classes on the Gospels this semester.  I hear certain verses in the Bible such as Matthew 3:3 when John the Baptist cries, "Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight paths for him" and my mind automatically turns to the crazy flower-power hippies being baptized in a New York City fountain! Seriously, you have to see the movie to get the full effect!  It really is a cool movie.  It is an interesting take on Jesus and the disciples.  It is also very telling of the "Jesus Movement" that went on during this time period. The only thing that is lame (and heretical) is that Jesus doesn't rise from the dead! (Kind of a big thing to forget, right?!!?) The movie ends with the hippies/disciples dancing and singing through NYC, carrying Jesus.  (Maybe the writers were saving the resurrection account for the 1980s!!)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070121/trailers-screenplay-E13670-310

(watch the movie trailer!!!)

Wise Saying From the Orient

So today my every-so-autumn-tasting Good Earth Tea had a friendly saying on the tea bag. It read,

By much failing the child learns to walk.
- Wise Saying From the Orient

I thought that this is interesting because this is not only true of children who are learning to stroll around their newly discovered world, but this is also true of our spiritual lives. In light of being a child of God and learning to live life according to his standards, By much failing the child learns to walk. We fall down, the Lord picks us up with his gracious hand. We learn our mistakes, and (hopefully) never fall down in that same way, shape, or form. Of course, we are human and tend to fall in trends. Thankfully, we are still learning how to grow up, or mature in Christ. May we be children who step out in faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and learn to walk by failing. His arms are always there to catch us!