"Smell my breath, daddy! Haaaaaah." I learn a lot from my kids. Not surprising; after all, Jesus equates child-likeness to godliness, and as the means of understanding God's ways, and experiencing life the way He intended us to experience it.
This is twice-daily ritual that my six-and-eleven-twelfths year old year old son conducts upon completing his morning and night teeth brushing. Running out of the bathroom, he declares, "Smell My Breath, daddy!", gets up in my face, opens his mouth, and proceeds to breathe right onto my nose. (BTW, the "Haaaaah" I wrote in the first sentence is my attempt at arranging letters in such a way as to "spell" the sound of this forceful exhalation.) The aroma that follows this excited and triumphant statement actually is pleasant--a cool, refreshing reminder of the Tom's mint toothpaste Jaden used to polish those pearly whites just moments before.
I've often prayed a prayer at the start of the day: "Lord, teach me to number my days that I would gain a heart of wisdom. Help me to live today like it were the only day--like it were my last." More simply put: "God, help me to live like Jesus today!" Living each day like it were the last isn't about living in dread, and it's not about mechanically preaching the Gospel to every person I meet. Rather, it's about extending God's love (welcome and honor), kindness, and compassion to every person I encounter. It's about living with excited, hopeful expectation that God has very good things in store for me as I follow His lead. (I'll state for the record: though I have prayed the aforementioned prayer, I've fallen far short of the kind of lifestyle I'm describing here.)
The Bible tells us that there is fullness of joy in God's presence. My seven year-old doesn't know this verse...but somehow he understands it, anyway. I know this because I see his joy and his eager anticipation at the start of each day. He gets very excited and is satisfied by the simplest of things. There's a purity and innocence in him that is so winsome and intriguing. Sure, life proves its ability to tarnish and corrupt these childlike qualities as we grow older... but that's not our God-intended destiny. Today I'm reminded that God's power is far greater than any force I experience in life. Today, I'm asking Him to continue His work of transforming my very being through the renewal of my mind. In that process of renewal, I'm believing Him for a increased desire to become more like my son--because I see so much of God's Son in him.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Onward!
The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you... and you will be a blessing to others. (Genesis 12:1, 2b NLT)
After more than 10 years on staff here at The Coastlands, God is transitioning me into a very new season of life. At the end of this June, I will finish my tenure as an employee of our church. This is an exhilarating, wide-open and a wee-bit nervy time. In the midst of it all, I am convinced that God is the One who is ultimately leading me. Because of this, I can be excited and hopeful about the "unknown."
These verses from Genesis strike me in several ways:
The "native country" is my time on staff. This is where I grew up spiritually; I've been raised here, and have spent the vast majority of my believing life here. I don't sense God leading me away from The Coastlands, but into a new context for experiencing Jesus' call on my life. At this time, I have some inklings of thought about what that could look like but nothing concrete in terms of employment direction.
God is asking me to "Go"...but He's not dropping me off in the middle of a deserted island and challenging me to figure things out on my own. I'm not in a Survivor episode! "Go" implies that 1) He has a "destination" in mind for me and 2) I have a critical part to play in getting there: actively partnering with the Lord as He leads me into the future. I can do this with confidence because I take Him at His word when He says that HE is the One who will lead me. I hear Him saying: "Don't look back; don't limit yourself to your 'previous experience'. Let Me define you. Don't rely primarily on what you already know; rely on Me, trust Me and watch for My lead. I'll let you know what you need to know when you need to know it. I am the One who provides for you."
"I will make you a great nation... you will be a blessing to others." This is huge. God intends and desires for all of us to be a blessing wherever we go. I believe this is God's statement to me that He intends to enlarge the territory within which I get to help others, and expand my "boundary" lines to encompass new land.
God's promises are for all who will believe. Pastor or not, paid or not--God designed every one of us to be inheritors of His glorious promises. Even more wonderful, He delights in fulfilling those promises in our lives. I don't know exactly what's coming next but I do know that when God is the One leading me, it's going to be good. Meanwhile, I'm doing what I know to do: pour over His word; talk with Him (and listen!) in times of prayer; and allow myself to be surrounded and counseled by the people who lead and support me. As a result of all of this, I'm standing on His promises, and hanging onto the fresh revelation He's graciously giving me. Occasionally, that revelation comes as a new, mind-blowing understanding; more often, though, it's a faint whisper or some other oh-so-subtle hint of what's to come.
After more than 10 years on staff here at The Coastlands, God is transitioning me into a very new season of life. At the end of this June, I will finish my tenure as an employee of our church. This is an exhilarating, wide-open and a wee-bit nervy time. In the midst of it all, I am convinced that God is the One who is ultimately leading me. Because of this, I can be excited and hopeful about the "unknown."
These verses from Genesis strike me in several ways:
The "native country" is my time on staff. This is where I grew up spiritually; I've been raised here, and have spent the vast majority of my believing life here. I don't sense God leading me away from The Coastlands, but into a new context for experiencing Jesus' call on my life. At this time, I have some inklings of thought about what that could look like but nothing concrete in terms of employment direction.
God is asking me to "Go"...but He's not dropping me off in the middle of a deserted island and challenging me to figure things out on my own. I'm not in a Survivor episode! "Go" implies that 1) He has a "destination" in mind for me and 2) I have a critical part to play in getting there: actively partnering with the Lord as He leads me into the future. I can do this with confidence because I take Him at His word when He says that HE is the One who will lead me. I hear Him saying: "Don't look back; don't limit yourself to your 'previous experience'. Let Me define you. Don't rely primarily on what you already know; rely on Me, trust Me and watch for My lead. I'll let you know what you need to know when you need to know it. I am the One who provides for you."
"I will make you a great nation... you will be a blessing to others." This is huge. God intends and desires for all of us to be a blessing wherever we go. I believe this is God's statement to me that He intends to enlarge the territory within which I get to help others, and expand my "boundary" lines to encompass new land.
God's promises are for all who will believe. Pastor or not, paid or not--God designed every one of us to be inheritors of His glorious promises. Even more wonderful, He delights in fulfilling those promises in our lives. I don't know exactly what's coming next but I do know that when God is the One leading me, it's going to be good. Meanwhile, I'm doing what I know to do: pour over His word; talk with Him (and listen!) in times of prayer; and allow myself to be surrounded and counseled by the people who lead and support me. As a result of all of this, I'm standing on His promises, and hanging onto the fresh revelation He's graciously giving me. Occasionally, that revelation comes as a new, mind-blowing understanding; more often, though, it's a faint whisper or some other oh-so-subtle hint of what's to come.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
