Tag: Jesus

heaven’s my home, anyhow

But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.
(Philippians 3:20-21 ESV)

I used to think heaven was a far-off, mysteriously cloudy place with a full orchestra on loop. I understood my “heavenly citizenship” to mean I had a ticket to get into some gloriously holy, underwhelming theme park where all the rides would be safe and all the fun would be clean.

Man, was I ever wrong.

No, I don’t believe that heaven is full of unholy and unsafe rollercoasters with unruly people. Rather, I realized that my knowledge of heaven was incomplete because I believed an incomplete description. It’s hard work to find out what the Bible says about heaven, true. But, it’s work that allows us to live like the Gospel is invaluable. What we think about heaven and eternity completely informs what we think about today, what we think about life, and what we think about the message of the Gospel.

When we share the Gospel like this, “Believe in Jesus because otherwise you’ll go to hell!” we are not doing justice to the message. If you were a sought-after artist, it would be like telling someone you would paint a masterpiece and then only covering a corner of the canvas with paint. Is it a part of what will be the bigger masterpiece? Yes. But would someone admire that little corner of the masterpiece as he would the whole? No. They would call it incomplete (actually, I wouldn’t be surprised if the art community would seize the unfinished and project meaning anyway). I would call it incomplete.

And this is what I think we do with heaven. It’s that place somewhere that I’ll be someday because I believe that Jesus died for my sins, according to the Scriptures – because I believe that Jesus took on all the messes that ever were and ever will be and stood in the place of their consequence. But, why?

Because of Christ’s work on the cross, we are brought into right relationship. This is what eternity is about. This is what heaven is about: right relationship that I do not deserve. And it’s not as mysterious as we’ve been content to think. A more robust view of heaven and eternity means a life blooming with gratitude and joy. When we have eyes to see God’s plans for heaven, we have a heart to reach out and pull others in to gaze at the wild beauty.

Randy Alcorn says, “If you lack a passion for heaven, I can almost guarantee it’s because you have a deficient and distorted theology of heaven (or you’re making choices that conflict with heaven’s agenda). An accurate and biblically energized view of heaven will bring a new spiritual passion to your life.”

Heaven is not an escape from this earth. It’s not where we will finally run where no evil can find us. Heaven is God’s idea of complete restoration – a peace between God and man and all of creation that hasn’t happened since the Garden of Eden. This gives perspective to our momentary troubles, but it also brings a passion to live absolutely abandoned for God’s purposes.

This song, “Heaven’s My Home” is another among the many that focus on a distant land, another home, a forever refuge. Featured in the film, “Secret Life of Bees,” this song captures some of the reasons why we hope for something beyond right now. The brokenness we see and feel in this world is unsettling. That little piece of eternity set in our hearts (Ecclesiastes 3:11) is uncomfortable thinking this is all there is. But, I hope we are not content with simple descriptions of harps and clouds and mystery. I hope we dive into the Word and trust that the Lord knows best what eternity is made of… and that He might want us to know a thing or two.

Sam & Ruby Live- “Heaven’s My Home” from sammy b on Vimeo.

let LOVE fly like cRaZy

Posted on by Caroline 0

exhausted by joy

(First, I must admit that I’ve only just now recovered from a very colorful verbal exchange with my computer after it lost this entire post into the unknown cybersphere. As I go back and try to remember it, I can’t help but think it’s a little ironic.)

I have so many plausible excuses, really I do!
Chasing after early morning 2-year-old squeals and filling the night with laughter, for starters.

There’s something about Christmas that won’t let me sit down and spell it out, blog style. The rumble of excitement as family exchanges gifts with the lengthy explanations from every giver, the soaking in of silly faces with people who live too far, the together-ness that makes memories on it’s own… This joy can be exhausting!

It’ll park your eyes at a willing, wide-open stance. It will put dances into your toes. It will make you “poke the bear” until the bear revolts with a playful roar.

It will fill the air with delicious, contagious laughter that (I’m sure) seeped out from under the old wooden doors at my parent’s house and warmed the night trees.

Exhausted by joy.

I wonder if C.S. Lewis would say we are as likely to be exhausted by joy as we are surprised by joy. Well, I submit that it is so.

I wonder if Mary and Joseph were exhausted by joy. I wonder if, when Mary finally gave in to sleep, she felt more than just relief that her vagabond pregnancy had ended. I wonder if Mary’s soul was so full of joy at the coming of the Messiah that her heart got tired.

I wonder if receiving blessings and naming them in thanks can bring a good kind of exhaustion – one that wearies your bones into a prayerful posture.

I wonder at this beautiful Gift.
Christ, our Substitute for the debt our flesh owes.
Christ, our Provision for an eternal abundance of joy.
Christ, our Hope.

let LOVE fly like cRaZy

Posted on by Caroline 0

misplaced humility

Maybe we just have things turned around (wouldn’t be the first time for the human race). Maybe we’ve shelved things in the wrong place and now it’s hard to find what we’re looking for.
Maybe it’s like when you are making a recipe and you know you bought cumin, but you’ve torn apart the whole kitchen and still can’t find it. Then… after admitting defeat and cranking a can of Progresso soup open in disgust, you see little Tommy flying a plane around the kitchen with little cumin as its pilot.

Maybe that’s what we’ve done with humility.

“What we suffer from today is humility in the wrong place. Modesty has moved from the organ of ambition. Modesty has settled upon the organ of conviction; where it was never meant to be.
A man was meant to be doubtful about himself, but undoubting about the truth; this has been exactly reversed.

Nowadays the part of a man that a man does assert is exactly the part he ought not to assert–himself. The part he doubts is exactly the part he ought not to doubt – the Divine Reason. . . .

The new skeptic is so humble that he doubts if he can even learn. . . . There is a real humility typical of our time; but it so happens that it’s practically a more poisonous humility than the wildest prostrations of the ascetic. . . .

The old humility made a man doubtful about his efforts, which might make him work harder. But the new humility makes a man doubtful about his aims, which makes him stop working altogether. . . .

We are on the road to producing a race of man too mentally modest to believe in the multiplication table.”

G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy [Garden City, NY: Doubleday and Co., 1957], pp. 31-32

Powerful insight once again from G.K.

Gilbert Keith Chesterton, (b. 29 May 1874 – d....
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we could be…

We could be reveling
forever in the love You bring
and we could be wasted on
You and not count it loss 

Like fools in love
we’re bound to make a scene

Our hearts bleed for you, whoa

What beautiful way to usher in a Monday (fyi – John Mark McMillan comes out with a new album tomorrow).

Especially after such a blessed weekend, I love this.

Like fools in love, we’re bound to make scene. Isn’t that the truth.

Do your days feel like this? Like you can’t HELP but make a scene? If we are reveling in the love of Christ – wasting everything else and not counting a loss, then our lives will speak (maybe even shout) like crazy that there is something greater!

We might be the people that get pointed at or the people that get ignored, but the bottom line is that the scene bound to happen is for an audience of One.

The Lord welcomes His sons and daughters into worship, where our hearts bleed for the Creator of the Universe. I’m so thankful that God also knows, as we endeavor to worship with our very lives, that there are bound to be scenes.

Our love can look near foolish, but if anyone deserves a scene it is certainly our Lord and Savior!

How could you be reveling today in His love?

let LOVE fly like cRaZy!

Posted on by Caroline 0

Thoughts and Links

I don’t know how to talk about these days. I only know God is present and moving and working and I am THRILLED … beyond THRILLED to watch. When I need to kick an attitude or some sadness, I just think about the ONE thing that trumps all other things in order of importance. I think about how everything struggles to pull that ONE thing away from its place of greatest importance.

Basically, I’m diving straight into this last phase with “HOLD NOTHING BACK” mentality. Jesus is too important and I love these kids too much. The results make me ask why I’ve been with any other mentality ever.

While I’m trying to figure these things out, here are some things to read:

This is an interesting series in Q about arts and entertainment and how culture has/is shaping what we make of it.
Veneer of Arts and Entertainment

I think this is a timely and helpful article about loving our enemies after recent events. We are not just called to love our next door neighbors (although we have issues with that, too). We are called to straight up love our enemies. Whew!

I am becoming more and more averse to the Bible used as a moral rulebook and pastors using Jesus as a moral teacher. Check out this article from Desiring God Ministries and think on it with me.

I admit this article grabbed my attention with the words “bikini barista” in the title… but it’s totally worth a read. Wendy Alsup, who writes on this blog and also has several books, talks in the article about the struggle for independence being one of the worst consequences of our sin.

Okay, so I’ll leave you with that. I have things to read and “hold nothing back” messages to send! 🙂

let LOVE fly like cRaZy

here are more senior trip pictures

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Posted on by Caroline 0

true spirituality – Holy Week Reflections

Cover of "True Spirituality"
Cover of True Spirituality

Pollution has become this city’s worst allergy. The smoke and haze hovers over the mountains and seeps down in through our windows and makes my eyes itch. Today a bit of relief came in an afternoon rain. I’m still reveling in the lingering smell of it. Deep breaths are always best in the case of a good afternoon rain, so that’s what I’m doing tonight.

I’m revisiting Francis Schaeffer’s “True Spirituality” and, apart from my previous pencil marks, I could be reading it for the first time. The honesty is so fresh. I don’t mean fresh in a so-hip-and-cool-and-slightly-ambiguous way. I mean fresh like BAM! it hits you in the face. He doesn’t mess around because he truly adores the subject of his honest grappling. I wish I could say I don’t miss a beat of his rhythm, but I definitely have to read whole paragraphs over sometimes to get the full weight of it.

The funny thing is… the words Schaeffer penned in 1971 are desperately needed today in the conversation of theology and doxology and, well, the art of living. Before you even flip the page of the first chapter, you read,

“Our true guilt, that brazen heaven which stands between us and God, can be removed only upon the basis of the finished work of Christ plus nothing on our part. The Bible’s whole emphasis is that there must be no humanistic note added at any point in the accepting of the gospel. It is the infinite value of the finished work of Christ, the second person of the Trinity, upon the cross plus nothing that is the sole basis for the removal of our guilt.”

This whole plus nothing idea has always and forever will be a humbling thing for me. I have tried to make Jesus need something from me. I want to bring something before Him and hear, “Oh, yes! That is what the cross was missing! Thank you so much!” But, it’s not possible. Strange that hearing those words would mean my God is small and helpless and needy.

I wrote about a lesson in dependence while I lived in Austin… and then several months later when I realized dependence isn’t a lesson and God truly desired that I would come to Him empty handed. Salvation is Christ plus nothing. If I present anything else, I present a bold-faced lie.

In my journey of learning to believe Christ as truly sufficient, I discovered a beautiful freedom. When I say freedom, it’s hard to describe just how giddy it makes me feel.

Have you ever felt the random rush to dance? Or uncontrollable laughter bubbling up from your gut? Or maybe you have stretched out your arms as far as they could possibly go and lifted your face toward heaven to take in some crazy rays.

I desperately hope you have a picture of the kinds of things freedom brings to mind. When I truly let the reality of Christ plus nothing sink in, the excitement of freedom all but bursts out of me!

Today, with Songs of Lent as a musical backdrop, I studied the words of Isaiah 53. I wrote out every phrase and let it sink in like the rain. This description of Christ tugs at all the foolish places I hide – the places I believe my salvation is plus something. Then I listened to this message from Mbewe and turned my focus to verse 11, “out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied.” After enduring the suffering of the cross, even anguishing in His sinless soul, Christ saw and was satisfied in what He accomplished. The glorious work of the cross is truly finished and I am numbered among the many whose iniquities he bore.

It’s starting to rain again.

Let LOVE fly like cRaZy, folks,
but remember the LOVE of Christ needs no addition of our own making.

Posted on by Caroline 1

thank you, for giving to the Lord

There was a Ray Boltz song that my dad really liked called, “Thank you.” Actually, I think I might have sung it with him once or twice. Today, I thought of that song as I made this video with my students who are going on the mission trip on March 6-13. Each of these students have stories of lives changed by someone’s willingness to share the message of the Gospel. Now, they are taking that hope and boldly walking in faith to share the message with communities around them. We are so thankful for sponsors and support from our teaching staff and community here, but we couldn’t figure out how to express our gratitude for the ones far away. This specific video is a thank you to the church in little Atlantic, Iowa… where the people have hearts WAY bigger than the town!

I hope your heart is as warm as mine after hearing their grateful hearts! These kids are such a beautiful reminder that God is forever moving and working in our hearts to bless others. Each time I hear their testimonies or witness their crazy lives in motion, I praise God for his faithfulness. There are other sponsors as well, from both the States and here and we continue to be so thankful for God’s provision through them!!

Posted on by Caroline 3

cinnamon smells and salvation sounds

 

CUSTOM pumpkin cake with chocolate chips and cinnamon cream cheese frosting

I’ve been baking a lot lately, but that’s an understatement… I think I basically wear cinnamon as a new fragrance! In order to raise money for our mission trip, I’ve been taking orders and keeping really busy with the three items on my menu: pumpkin cake with cinnamon cream cheese frosting, peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, and cinnamon oatmeal cookies. I had to go with a large glass of orange juice tonight over the usual cup of tea to wind down – there’s just too much sweet and hot going on around here!

I am praising the Lord with every batch I make because I know it is HIS provision for these kids to walk under the banner of His name and serve this community. This weekend, I have students assisting me in the kitchen, though (as always) I am most grateful for their company.

Tonight, I snuck away to work out between bakings and this wonderful song popped up on shuffle in my ipod.

I pushed through my treadmill moves with vigor I usually reserve for much more upbeat music. As I pounded out that unforgiving conveyer belt beneath my feet, I sang along with Emily DeLoach. It made me think about a conversation I was having the other day with a wise friend of mine. (Don’t worry, if I’m ever inspired while on the treadmill, I usually just try to store it away and think about it later. If I tried the cardio/philosophy combo I’m sure something bad would happen!)

We were talking about loneliness… and how the closer we get to the heart of God the more lonely it seems. These days have been like that for me. I won’t pretend I spend hours a day in deep sorrow or that death surrounds me, but this deep loneliness seems to be a lot about a heavy, oppressive grief.

Sometimes I’m surprised at how close I feel to the Father while in the same moment feeling flung out of orbit from whatever was anchoring me. I think in those moments (sadly there are just moments) I may be opening my heart completely to the Lord’s love and experiencing it pour out just as quickly. Even as I am being filled, I am feeling it rush out of me and into all the parched places, desperate for a drink.

Maybe that’s where the loneliness comes from – well, the feeling of loneliness. I’ve come to Jesus asking for more love and He’s given it, but not for me to keep. As I feel His love rushing through me, I recognize at once my need for more of Him and my eyes are opened to the needs of others.

I could post the whole song, but these are the last two verses. Be encouraged tonight, my friends, as you journey in joy to be more like the Lord!

Thou the hated and forsaken,
Thou the bearer of the cross
Crowned of thorns and mocked and smitten,
Counting earthly gain but loss
When scorned are we, We joy to be the more like Thee
When scorned are we, We joy to be the more like Thee

Thou the Father’s best beloved,
Thou the throned and sceptered King
Who but Thee should we adoring,
All our prayers and praises bring?
So blessed are we, Savior Lord in loving Thee
So blessed are we, Savior Lord in loving Thee

let LOVE fly like cRaZy!

Posted on by Caroline 0

Jesus, Savior, Pilot Me

sophia means wisdom

I wrote this for the past newsletter and thought now was an appropriate time to post as a blog entry. This past week has been hard. Hard and good. It feels like this piece is just as appropriate today as it was a month ago. Not surprising, I suppose.

 

Maybe it’s the early darkness in the evening or the brisk whip of the breeze… Maybe it’s my imagination of ocean in the air or maybe it is because at this time of year we are all looking for a safe harbor. For whatever reason, my soul’s compass is scanning the shoreline. Whether I’m careening across placid waters in the early morning or waging war against waves in the middle night, my heart is heavy with need.

At times, it feels like I’m bailing out water in the middle of a downpour with a colander. Other times, I rush the bow to flail my arms wide, trying to take in all the beauty at once. What fails to change with emotions or season or temperament, is need.

If I’ve learned anything in my (just recently celebrated) twenty-six years and in my two and a half years here in Honduras, I have certainly learned life is unpredictable. In so many ways, the unpredictability thrills me, like what a ship’s captain must have felt at the start of a journey. This uncertainty also leads me, sometimes gasping for air, straight to the One who holds all things together, singing my favorite song of this season, “Jesus, Savior, Pilot me.”

Reading through 1 Samuel has trained my eyes once again to see God’s faithfulness illuminated against whatever treachery the high seas might heave my way. What I find so beautiful about both the song and the story of King David is very simple: history.

Every single day David crept about in the wilderness, hiding in caves and seeking refuge in foreign cities, God hemmed him in with history. From the intimate times in the mountains as a shepherd to the lop-sided duel with a giant, God’s character remained perfect and unchanged. As David feared for his life and spears flew just shy of his ears, he was keenly aware of his need to depend on God and trust He would be faithful.

My favorite lines in the hymn are several verses down,

“Though the sea be smooth and bright,
Sparkling with the stars of night,
And my ship’s path be ablaze
With the light of halcyon days,
Still I know my need of Thee;
Jesus, Savior, pilot me.”

What David learned in his desperate days he brought with him into the calmer, halcyon hours. In the same way that our need of a Savior never changes, God’s place as Savior is forever.

God is ever behind and before us, not contained by time or our understanding or physical place. God is altogether outside of the evil crashing up against the sides of our vessel, yet intentionally and intimately involved in our safe passage and final destination.

It is history that reminds us of God’s gift of our beginning breaths, of our failure and God’s faithfulness, of our rebellion and God’s invitation to repentance. It is history that boasts the best and only hope in view of our ever-pressing need… a Savior.

I love these stories we carry around like mental felt boards, ready at any moment to reassure us of both our heritage and our inheritance. When we are caught unaware amid boisterous waves or settled back on our haunches, it is history that assures us that no captain ever possessed more power to truly say, “Fear not, I will pilot thee.”

please, let’s

let LOVE fly like cRaZy

Posted on by Caroline 0

faith that FREES

Biting one's lip can be a physical manifestati...
Image via Wikipedia

Sometimes we can easily identify what is holding us back or caging us in. You know, the kinds of things that press in on every side, with no chance of escape? Sometimes, though, the cause of our caging is a little more illusive.

You might be thinking of your stressful job or dreadful deadlines or the incorrigible nature of your sister. If you are thinking these things, then you might be surprised at my suggestion that worry is one of worst cages in which we willingly confine ourselves.

In a recent conversation with a good friend, we marveled at how worry can so quickly steal our freedom. When you graduate from high school and then college, worry often imposes a rude rhythm where “the future” looms like a thundercloud. Questions start flying, “what if” scenarios plague your sleep, and the most dreadful start to a conversation begins with the words, “So, what are your plans… for the future?”

Worry is an uncomfortable and crafty little cage, but there is a way out. Yes, there absolutely is a way out.

The lovely and liberating “flip side” lies in one very familiar word: faith. You may well have memorized the definition from Hebrews 11, “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things yet unseen.”

What do your assurance and convictions have to do with worry?

Well, actually, a whole lot.

If you truly believe nothing happens outside God’s control, then you can live the way God intended – with confidence that the God who holds all things together will hold you together, too. You can greet the day with a joyful bounce in your step because you have faith in the Creator of the universe and He is always faithful.

As my friend and I reveled in the possibilities of this faith-freedom connection, I pictured a young girl climbing up a tree (in oversized dress-up clothes) to enter the imaginary world of Gumdrop-larkenwood, where she would conspire with her closest friend and warrior-king. Why did this strange scene interrupt the near-intellectual banter? Because this young girl is not caged by worries over provision. She is completely free to wander about enjoying every minute because she (whether she knows it or not) has faith that she will be provided for. It’s a simple, child-like faith and sometimes it doesn’t make sense. But, oh the sweet freedom!

Maybe the “sin that so easily entangles” (Hebrews 12) in your life today is worry. Maybe you are locked up in worry over your family or your future plans or your incorrigible sister. If these words find you huddled in the corner of the uncomfortable cage of worry, remember who is in charge.

Your faith will be your freedom!

A slightly different version of this appeared in our guidance newsletter this month.

Posted on by Caroline 0