Consider Jesus

April 18, 2014 by Leave a Comment

For the hurting, for the suffering, for those in pain today: consider Jesus.

Consider Him who was by His nature exempt from all suffering, who entered into flesh and pain and death so that He could look at you today and say ‘I know.’  Consider Him who had access to any means of deliverance, (which you and I would gladly take in our pain), and yet He walked steadily into a pain beyond any we will ever experience.  Consider your great High priest who has born your sorrows.

For the failures and the flawed, for those who feel the burden and weight of shame today: consider Jesus.

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Filed Under: Fighting apathy, God as Savior, God's bigness, Hard days

Worship God by sleeping

February 10, 2014 by 4 Comments

Thursday night was one of those nights.

You know the kind.  Racing pulse and mind snowballing at a terrifying speed: replaying past events and planning for future ones.Screen Shot 2014-02-09 at 6.17.01 PM

I texted a friend in a panic:

Everything feels so out of control.

And the response came:

Get some sleep.

My first instinct was to push back.  How could I sleep right now?  Do you even know what hangs in the balance?  I have to DO something! 

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Filed Under: Fighting anxiety, God's bigness

Places I cannot take you

January 8, 2014 by 2 Comments

I wish I could take you back there with me: kneeling on the floor in that studio as I listened to my friend defend the Gospel with a fierceness that I have rarely seen in her soft sweet spirit.

I wish I could explain to you how laughter blended with tears bubbled up as I spoke the deepest, most authentic words of my days, laying on the floor of a hotel and begging God to save the world.

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Filed Under: Fighting apathy, God's bigness, Hard days

I can’t go back

December 24, 2013 by 11 Comments

It’s hard to know what will come out as I start typing these words.  My spirit is a mess of emotions.

I only know this: I can’t go back.  photo

I can’t go back to talking about the baby Jesus in the manager as if He’s safe and cute and cuddly, instead of the King of everything.  I can’t go back to talking about the Church like she’s a product to be evaluated instead of a family full of broken but blood-bought creations, treasured by the living God.  I can’t go back to using the word forgiveness to describe a lack of hatred instead of a glorious love and unity.

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Filed Under: God's bigness

Being Remade

October 3, 2013 by 3 Comments

Around 11 years ago, I sat down cross-legged in the middle of a room filled with thousands and thousands of college students at Soul Survivor in England.  I sat there - like a rock among their trees, their arms swaying like branches to the sounds of songs about a Man I had never met.

I faced a question in that moment: can I believe this?  The question was not ‘do I’?  It was ‘can I’?  Am I able? Is it possible for a rational thinking creature to submit to the belief that their mind is a faulty source of authority?

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Filed Under: God as friend, God's bigness
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