I never cease to be amazed with the fact that so many people cannot live without a cell phone. It makes me chuckle that as soon as the pilot touches down, all these various sounds go off around the plane as people are turning their cell phones back on. I have to admit it would be convenient for curbside pickup to let the person driving you know when you have landed especially with planes being late nowadays. Sitting in a meeting, church or a concert, it is totally annoying when a cell phone rings. At the emergency room where I work, patients and family members have their phones stuck to their ears it seems. I had a mother last night who was arguing about someone who put lemons in lemonade, when lemonade is already made of lemons and why would one want to add lemons!! This in itself was humourous but the sad part is that I was trying to give her the discharge instructions for her child and she wasn't even willing to stop the converstion for the two minutes I needed of her time. This happens all the time. I just don't understand how people cannot just for a short amount of time turn their phones off and pay attention to something else.
While surfing the Internet I found this anonymous reflection:
"Wonder what would happen if we treated our Bible like we treat our cell phones.
What if we carried it around in our purses or pockets
What if we turned back to go get it if we forgot it
What if we flipped through it several times a day
What if we used it to receive messages from the text
What if we treated it like we couldn't live without it
What if we gave it to kids as gifts
What if we used it as we traveled
What if we used it in case of an emergency
I was thinking on my way home, got touched by the spirit, so I wrote this so you can hear it. Its just something to think about
Something to make you say hmmmmmmmmmmmmm, and where is my Bible?"
-Anonymous
It really makes me think and feel how sad about what our world has come to. And by the way - I have a cell phone - but my friends are so frustrated with me because it never is on. It is for "emergencies" only - and my first call is a prayer to God anyways!! And now I have to find my little Bible to carry in my purse!
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Amazing Love
I have been listening to a praise CD as I travel the roads and one song, which I have known for a while, keeps on touching me. It is "Amazing Love" by Billy James Foote. These are the phrases that hit me:
"I'm forgiven because You were forsaken."
"I'm accepted, You were condemned."
"I'm alive and well, Your Spirit is within me because you died and rose again."
As I hear this sung over and over again, I think of the great contrasts - each phrase starts with a real positive thing for me and is opposed by the depth of what happened to Jesus so that I can have that positive thing. I have been singing this song without really taking in the meaning. I have been forgiven - all my sins washed away, I stand clean before God. For me to have this Jesus was forsaken - God turned His back on Him. He bore the sins of the world. I'm accepted by my Most Holy God, my heavenly Father - because Jesus was condemned, His Father couldn't interact with Him while He was covered by our sins. I'm alive and well - I think of the unhappy people who have chosen to turn their backs on God. I have joy, I have freedom in my heart and I am well because Jesus died. I have His Spirit in me because Jesus rose again. How else to write it:
forgiven - forsaken
accepted - condemned
alive and well - died
Think about it. It brings me to my knees - this "amazing love, how can it be - that You, my King would die for me? --- In all I do, I honor You."
"I'm forgiven because You were forsaken."
"I'm accepted, You were condemned."
"I'm alive and well, Your Spirit is within me because you died and rose again."
As I hear this sung over and over again, I think of the great contrasts - each phrase starts with a real positive thing for me and is opposed by the depth of what happened to Jesus so that I can have that positive thing. I have been singing this song without really taking in the meaning. I have been forgiven - all my sins washed away, I stand clean before God. For me to have this Jesus was forsaken - God turned His back on Him. He bore the sins of the world. I'm accepted by my Most Holy God, my heavenly Father - because Jesus was condemned, His Father couldn't interact with Him while He was covered by our sins. I'm alive and well - I think of the unhappy people who have chosen to turn their backs on God. I have joy, I have freedom in my heart and I am well because Jesus died. I have His Spirit in me because Jesus rose again. How else to write it:
forgiven - forsaken
accepted - condemned
alive and well - died
Think about it. It brings me to my knees - this "amazing love, how can it be - that You, my King would die for me? --- In all I do, I honor You."
Sunday, May 6, 2007
Beauty from ashes
Wow. How time flies as I look at the last time I have posted. There are so many thoughts developing in my heart - it's so hard to get them together to write!
Two weeks ago I attended a joint worship service of the Evangelical Covenant Churches of the greater Detroit area. It was held in an old church in downtown Detroit. The transition phase of my past five years has now really come to a close with my move and topped off with this inspiring service which was also the final step in the beginning of this new phase.
The speaker spoke on the calling from God and His promises found in Isaiah 61:1-4. It has been a passage that has meant a lot to me through the years. The message was centered to challenge Christians to come back to the city of Detroit - to "preach the good news to the poor ... to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes ... the oil of gladness instead of mourning ... and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair." I saw the inner city of Detroit with its unique problems - few other major cities in the US have the same. Driving through the streets - seeing burned out hulks of houses and people steeped in such despair with no hope of rising from it turning to drugs, alcohol and violence. A downtown which survives only because of the arts and the sports complexes. As the pastor quipped "Detroit has put its faith in the wrong "Big Three" (Ford, Chrysler and GM and not the Trinity!). I am challenged to be a part of God bringing beauty from the ashes of the inner city.
But the message also struck the depths of my heart. The pastor emphasized that there cannot be beauty without ashes, there cannot be gladness if there hasn't been mourning, there cannot be praise if there hasn't been despair. Now is the time that God is bringing forth the beauty from my ashes of the past years, my mourning is being turned to gladness and praise is coming from my despair. I want to embrace that fully. I am beginning again. Not to say that there won't be more times of ashes, mourning and despair but the promise is there - encouraging to endure - for out of them will come beauty, gladness and praise.
"They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of HIS splendor" (v.3b). Oh God, may I be a display of YOUR splendor.
"They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations" (v.4) Oh God, make Detroit YOUR city.
Two weeks ago I attended a joint worship service of the Evangelical Covenant Churches of the greater Detroit area. It was held in an old church in downtown Detroit. The transition phase of my past five years has now really come to a close with my move and topped off with this inspiring service which was also the final step in the beginning of this new phase.
The speaker spoke on the calling from God and His promises found in Isaiah 61:1-4. It has been a passage that has meant a lot to me through the years. The message was centered to challenge Christians to come back to the city of Detroit - to "preach the good news to the poor ... to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes ... the oil of gladness instead of mourning ... and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair." I saw the inner city of Detroit with its unique problems - few other major cities in the US have the same. Driving through the streets - seeing burned out hulks of houses and people steeped in such despair with no hope of rising from it turning to drugs, alcohol and violence. A downtown which survives only because of the arts and the sports complexes. As the pastor quipped "Detroit has put its faith in the wrong "Big Three" (Ford, Chrysler and GM and not the Trinity!). I am challenged to be a part of God bringing beauty from the ashes of the inner city.
But the message also struck the depths of my heart. The pastor emphasized that there cannot be beauty without ashes, there cannot be gladness if there hasn't been mourning, there cannot be praise if there hasn't been despair. Now is the time that God is bringing forth the beauty from my ashes of the past years, my mourning is being turned to gladness and praise is coming from my despair. I want to embrace that fully. I am beginning again. Not to say that there won't be more times of ashes, mourning and despair but the promise is there - encouraging to endure - for out of them will come beauty, gladness and praise.
"They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of HIS splendor" (v.3b). Oh God, may I be a display of YOUR splendor.
"They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations" (v.4) Oh God, make Detroit YOUR city.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
A New Home
In a few days, I'll be moving to MI and into a new apartment. This move seems different from other moves I made. I recall moving into my first apartment after graduating back in 1990. It was a new beginning - my career and freedom of school - where life was work and play. Then I shared a house with several friends. It was a place of laughter and good friendships, but temporary as I looked to go overseas. Next was the move to Burkina Faso in West Africa. My little duplex, without electricity, with a tin roof and the bare comforts was home. However I lacked privacy as everyone who came to my door knew exactly what I had been doing and even with the door closed, they would knock persistently. When I came home, after living with my parents for a while, I moved into my current apartment. It was filled with garage sale furniture and all my "doodads" from various aspects of my life. Due to my health, coming home to my apartment meant being flooded with the despair and stress of that day. It was not a haven.
Now, entering a new phase of my life, I am moving once again. After much debate where I should live, it was very clear, that this apartment was to finally be my "own." It will have its comforts - a fireplace (something I've always longed for), a dishwasher, laundry in the unit and walk-in closets! But those are the physical things. I have been preparing for this home to be a refuge, the place where I come home after a busy shift at work, to sit down and say "Ah..h..h. Another day done." Or to come home from church and say "Ah..h..h. Lord, You are so good." This is the first time that my home will be a sanctuary, where God will be ever present. It feels so good!
Don't get me wrong. My new home is a roof over my head but I still know very much that my true home will really be in heaven. This Easter weekend, I was struck by the words of my pastor as he spoke of "the empty cross, the empty tomb and the empty sky." I will find pleasure in my new apartment but I will look to the empty sky, waiting for that day when it will be filled with a flash of blinding light, the great voice and the trumpet call as Christ comes back and I will be truly home for eternity, in the mansion He has prepared for me.
Now, entering a new phase of my life, I am moving once again. After much debate where I should live, it was very clear, that this apartment was to finally be my "own." It will have its comforts - a fireplace (something I've always longed for), a dishwasher, laundry in the unit and walk-in closets! But those are the physical things. I have been preparing for this home to be a refuge, the place where I come home after a busy shift at work, to sit down and say "Ah..h..h. Another day done." Or to come home from church and say "Ah..h..h. Lord, You are so good." This is the first time that my home will be a sanctuary, where God will be ever present. It feels so good!
Don't get me wrong. My new home is a roof over my head but I still know very much that my true home will really be in heaven. This Easter weekend, I was struck by the words of my pastor as he spoke of "the empty cross, the empty tomb and the empty sky." I will find pleasure in my new apartment but I will look to the empty sky, waiting for that day when it will be filled with a flash of blinding light, the great voice and the trumpet call as Christ comes back and I will be truly home for eternity, in the mansion He has prepared for me.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Live God Loud
It has been twice now that I have sat behind the same fellow in church who has worn a bright yellow T-shirt with a kind of bald-headed quirky caricature. Below the face, it says "Live God loud." I have tried to catch him at the end of the service to ask him what this shirt says to him but he leaves in a flash. Meanwhile the phrase has stuck with me and I have asked myself, what does it mean to "live God loud?"
I have to admit I am not "up" on newer slang if that is what it is and I have found it difficult to figure this one out. But the phrase seems powerful in a way to me. If I look at the word "live" it means how I carry out my life - it doesn't just mean the words I say. Like the phrase "that actions speaks louder than words." A lot of times at work, I don't feel like I have the time or opportunity to really strike up conversations about God with co-workers or the patients. But I see more and more that the way I live my life is a testimony in itself. The extra care and interest in someone's life makes a big difference even though I may just have a short interaction with them.
The word "God" is pretty self-explanatory - though I wonder if I mirror as much of God's character as I can. Even in references to the events of my life which I share with my co-workers or even Christian friends, I fail to give God credit for the large part He has played in those events. Do I live my life so others can see the aspects of God in it?
The word "loud" is not a new one. I guess I could look at the opposite which is "quiet." Sometimes it is good to quietly go about my business and let God shine through on His own. Sometimes "loud" can be very annoying to me being the quieter type of person that I am. But as I have thought this word through in this phrase, it is a good one. People should be able to very clearly and obviously see God acting on my life and in the way I carry out my daily activities. Yes, "loud" is a good thing. I wish I could let loose and just yell out how good God is and what it means that He is in my life in public. You wait, some day you'll hear this quiet Lydia just shout it out!
So think about it. What does it mean to you to "live God loud?" And maybe some Sunday soon, I'll catch the guy with the T-shirt and let you know what he thinks!!
I have to admit I am not "up" on newer slang if that is what it is and I have found it difficult to figure this one out. But the phrase seems powerful in a way to me. If I look at the word "live" it means how I carry out my life - it doesn't just mean the words I say. Like the phrase "that actions speaks louder than words." A lot of times at work, I don't feel like I have the time or opportunity to really strike up conversations about God with co-workers or the patients. But I see more and more that the way I live my life is a testimony in itself. The extra care and interest in someone's life makes a big difference even though I may just have a short interaction with them.
The word "God" is pretty self-explanatory - though I wonder if I mirror as much of God's character as I can. Even in references to the events of my life which I share with my co-workers or even Christian friends, I fail to give God credit for the large part He has played in those events. Do I live my life so others can see the aspects of God in it?
The word "loud" is not a new one. I guess I could look at the opposite which is "quiet." Sometimes it is good to quietly go about my business and let God shine through on His own. Sometimes "loud" can be very annoying to me being the quieter type of person that I am. But as I have thought this word through in this phrase, it is a good one. People should be able to very clearly and obviously see God acting on my life and in the way I carry out my daily activities. Yes, "loud" is a good thing. I wish I could let loose and just yell out how good God is and what it means that He is in my life in public. You wait, some day you'll hear this quiet Lydia just shout it out!
So think about it. What does it mean to you to "live God loud?" And maybe some Sunday soon, I'll catch the guy with the T-shirt and let you know what he thinks!!
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