be intentional

I will walk in my house with blameless heart. I will set before my eyes no vile thing.
(Part of Psalm 101)

Olive Tree

Psalm 52: 8+

But I am like an olive tree, flourishing in the house of God. I trust in God's unfailing love for ever and ever. I will praise you forever for what you have done; in your name I will hope, for your name is good. I will praise you in the presence of your saints.

Here's and idea!

Psalm 4:5:

Offer right sacrifices and trust in the Lord.

We make it complicated, but really life is very simple. Let's keep our eyes on Him, not other people. Serve as He leads us to serve, not as other people tell us it "aught" to be done. Let's thankfully ask Him every day, "Lord, thank You for this day I'm living, what would You have me do with it?"

Offer right sacrifices, and trust in the Lord.

be careful little heart what you seek

Lately I've been reading about all the old kings of Judah and Israel. All the Uzza's and Ahaz's...once you read the stories of these great (and not so great) kings, you start to see some trends. One trend is about seeking God. It becomes quite clear that with power and blessing often comes pride and odd choices.

In Deuteronomy Moses shared that "the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God." But if "from there you seek the Lord your God you will find Him if you look for Him with all your heart and with all your soul." Simple instructions, except for that word ALL.

In 2Chronicles 25 King Amaziah made some 'amazing' choices. (couldn't resist!)
"He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, but not wholeheartedly." Wow, how many times can that be said of me?!

Amaziah got so off-track that a man of God came to him to help him understand that "Even if you go and fight courageously in battle. God will overthrow you before the enemy, for God has the power to help or to overthrow."

After some time, battles and raids, Amaziah went on to conquer a certain people, bring back their false gods and set them up to worship them himself. The prophet asked,"Why do you consult this people's gods, which could not save their own people from your hand?"

We're a lot like Amaziah sometimes. We seek God, but not with ALL our heart. We charge ahead, do things our own way, consult other people before talking to God about it, ignore His guidance, etc, etc...

We serve a great and mighty, living God. We can't get any more current and relevant than when we ask Him what to do - then do it! When we seek Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength we are able to do great things -- Not because we are great, but because He is!

Mother's Day Fun!

Hiding from the Valley

Pastor George shared a great message last weekend on the 23rd Psalm. He shared about how in verse 4 the "valley" is unavoidable, unpredictable, how no one is exempt, it is temporary, and purposeful. Pastor George shared a lot of great verses and encouraging words, but as soon as he said "purposeful" my memory flashed to Paul and Silas in Acts 16 (I've copied the verses below) Specifically the part about Paul and Silas were

...stripped and beaten with rods. After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison...

Not THAT'S what I call a valley! I always catch myself thinking, hey, when it's my turn to go through the something like this, can we just avoid the painful part? It's like I want to hide from the valley. Oh, don't get me wrong, I see the value in the valley, I see how in Acts 16 God got the glory and many people came to know Him...but would I avoid the valley altogether if I could? Sure! I hate pain.

I appreciate how Pastor George shared, "God's more concerned about your character than your comfort. He's more concerned about your holiness than your happiness." Sigh... At the same time I found it so encouraging when Pastor George encouraged us to remember that God is with me! He is "Jehovah Shammah" the God who is THERE! (Isaiah 42:2) Along with all that character building, He promises His power, His protection and His presence!


Biblegateway.com:

Paul and Silas in Prison Acts 16: v.16 Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. 17 She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” 18 She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her. 19 When her owners realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. 20 They brought them before the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar 21 by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.”

22 The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods. 23 After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. 24 When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.

25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose. 27 The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”

29 The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

31 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” 32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. 33 At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized. 34 The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole household.

35 When it was daylight, the magistrates sent their officers to the jailer with the order: “Release those men.” 36 The jailer told Paul, “The magistrates have ordered that you and Silas be released. Now you can leave. Go in peace.”

37 But Paul said to the officers: “They beat us publicly without a trial, even though we are Roman citizens, and threw us into prison. And now do they want to get rid of us quietly? No! Let them come themselves and escort us out.”

38 The officers reported this to the magistrates, and when they heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens, they were alarmed. 39 They came to appease them and escorted them from the prison, requesting them to leave the city. 40 After Paul and Silas came out of the prison, they went to Lydia’s house, where they met with the brothers and sisters and encouraged them. Then they left.

Shipwrecked

In Acts 27 Paul shares the most amazing account of ONE of the times he was shipwrecked. Paul was a prisoner on a ship - and there was this terrible storm:

"when neither the sun stars appeared for many days and the storm continued raging, we finally gave up all hope of being saved. After the men had gone a long time without food..." (you really should read it, the details are fascinating!)

Paul stood up before them and said:

"Men, you should have taken my advice not to sail from Crete; then you would have spared yourselves this damage and loss. But now I urge you to keep up your courage, because not one of you will be lost; only the ship will be destroyed. Last night an angel of the God whose I am and whom I serve stood beside me and said, 'Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar; and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.' So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me. Nevertheless, we must run aground on some island."

So I'm thinking, that's great that they are spared and all, but why the storm, why did Paul (why do I) have to go through the shipwreck?!! There are so many aspects of this account that fascinate me! For example, Paul was praying for all the people on the ship to be spared, even his captors. Also, it's apparent that enduring captivity, and a long, ferocious, storm wasn't a coincidence or mistake.

Incidentally, this is the kind of thing I think Peter is referring to when he says in 1 Peter 3:14: "But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened. But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord..." In my Bible, I have written next to this passage: PRESS ON!

As a person who hates pain and cold waves, I think to myself things like: How 'bout if we avoid waves altogether? Waves are scary - they are salty, wet giants and usually freezing cold! But it's through the storms we cry out to God. Its in the midst of darkness we seek Him and cling to Him. In waves we see God's glory and power and feel His hugs of reassurance.

I still don't want to be shipwrecked, ever! But when I'm tossed in the waves of the storms of my life, I know I need to set my heart on Christ and PRESS ON!

He sets the lonely in families

Interesting thing about the God I serve. He understands lonely. He gets it. He is purposeful about "being part of the solution" as we like to say. Some would accuse God of causing loneliness, but I firmly believe that every lonely moment is a result of a "relationship problem." Ours, not His.

He created us with this hugely needy heart, that beats best when fully loved. I've noticed that our hearts aren't so choosy, they can beat with even just a little bit of love. The God of the bible is Creator. He created us to need relationship with Him and with each other. We all need connection - even us introverts! The following words were written "for the director of music. Of David. A psalm. A song."

"Sing to God, sing in praise of his name,
extol him who rides on the clouds;
rejoice before him—his name is the LORD.
A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows,
is God in his holy dwelling.
God sets the lonely in families,
he leads out the prisoners with singing;
but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land."

I can't speak for God, but at the very least I can say God doesn't tolerate loneliness. Loneliness can feel like wallowing in a place of looking ahead and seeing no chance for change or relief. The ultimate loneliness is being separated from hope. God showed us His intolerance for loneliness by providing a way out of it! Yes, I'm talking about that 'John 14:6 Way' - God's solution, God's cure, God's gift.

When people ask me, "What is God saying to you?" or, "What do you learn in your quiet-time?" I feel redundant, but I have the same answer for the past several years now: To keep my eyes on Him. He is my anchor, my compass, my true north.

I was reading yesterday's My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers, and it pointed me to Psalm 123:

I lift up my eyes to You, to You whose throne is in heaven. As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maid look to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God, till He shows us His mercy. Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us, for we haven endured much ridicule from the proud, much contempt from the arrogant.

1Peter4:7&8: The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.

'Without grumbling' eh? My Pastor, George Powell, shared in a sermon, "Hospitality is making others feel at home...when you wish they were!" So true!

We have so many great examples of hospitable people (who never act like they really wish their guests were 'really at home!')

Ron & Jill Shaddy are always having groups of people over (even when their house was much smaller!) - from a few little kids to huge YWAM groups! They are great at refreshing others.

Pastor Greg Strannigan & beautiful wife Shawn host so many out of town friends of their kids as well as travelling mission & music groups that I overheard one of their friends joke, "Yeah, the Strannigans forgot to spray for rock bands again!" (And we all knew that meant their house would be full of awesome young people for awhile!)

All for One!

Things in this life can be so hard. For me, the most difficult things has to do with "people stuff." At one point this summer I thought, "Church would be so great if it was only about God, and there weren't people involved!" Of course I didn't mean that literally, it was just an expression of frustration over recent events.

So then how do we press on, follow after Christ, live for Him in the midst of all the junk?

Simple (not easy, just simple): Keep our eyes on Him! We are for Him. We are His people, and He is our God! We keep our eyes on the Prize. He is our finish line, and our plumb-line along the way. We must take our eyes off ourselves, definitely off others, and put them back where our focus belongs - HIM only!

All for One! HE is the One!

1Peter4:7-11

the experiment

This morning T.Michael was playing outside - suddenly he ran into the house, sped off to the bathroom, slammed the door & I could hear the sink water running at full blast.

"What are you doing, T.Michael?" I asked in my concerned-Mommy voice.

"Oh nothing, just experimenting!" he answered enthusiastically.

"Be brave," I tell myself as I pressed him for more information.

"Well, you know those orange and red flowers out there (pointing to the front yard, where the top flower of the tiger lillies had just opened up) I was just experimenting to see if you crush those flowers, can you make paint out of it."

It's OK, I tell myself, there are lots of buds waiting to bloom on the stem, so what if the first beautiful flowers got pulled off. It's not like that time when he was in T-ball and knocked all the bulbs off the iris stems.

We had a little chuckle together about the 'ole iris story when suddenly he got quiet and asked, "...you mean those balls on the stem were more flowers about to bloom?"

Big sigh...

What is God saying?

Every once in awhile people ask me, "What is God saying?"

His Word is right there to look at, everyone can know what He is saying. But I know what they are talking about - they are checking in with me about my personal quiet times, about my personal walk with Him & what He is teaching me right now.

Years ago one of my friends asked me that question, and I could see a hint of disappointment as I shared what 'God is saying to me.' I think it might have been a little too simple for her, too basic. But I answer the same today as I did back then. God is saying to me:

Keep your eyes on Me

Today I read this verse and it confirmed His Word to me once again:

...My eyes are ever on the Lord, for only He will release my feet from the snare. Psalm 25:15

Come on, let's go!

So I have 8 seatbelts in my van, including mine. Who are the 7 others I can go pick up? We have to make this fast to beat the crowd!

Right away my life-long best friend Kelley comes to mind - we met in pre-school. I was 3yrs, she was 4. Kelley has CP among some other conditions that make it hard to get in the van, so she gets the front seat...

Then, of course, I run to pick up Dave's sister LeeAnn, also a front-seater (for the same reasons)...

Let's go on out to Newberg & grab Blake for the day -- he's probably busy leading students on campus, but he's gonna love being part of this...

We need to zip out to Sherwood to pick up Amy, 'cuz my goodness, she's had enough of getting slammed by ailment after ailment!...

We'd better throw in a carseat, so I can pick up little baby Lydia who was recently diagnosed with cancer. I can't forget to bring her new little cap her Aunt knit for her since her soft, new baby hair is about to fall out due to chemo...

Let's squeeze in a Hurley girl (or two) 'cuz I'm gonna need help watching baby Lydia!...

And last but not least, in THIS round anyway (I've already decided I have to go back for more until the gas runs out!) I have to get Gramma Connnie Bubbles! She will love being part of this trip & and we all know she will keep us entertained on the way there!...

JEN, WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!!

You see, I was reading this morning in Matthew 4 about how as soon as Jesus hit the town of Galilee, He was teaching, preaching the good news, and healing "every disease and sickness among the people." As you can imagine, news about Him spread like wildfire and "people brought to Him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed, and He healed them."

I would be all over that! As I pictured who I would load up in my mini-van and take to see Him, immediately this list grew longer than imaginable! Maybe I can't take you to 'see Him' in this same way as I read here, but together we can go get others & take them to see Him now! Come on, let's go!

set your heart

On Thursday a.m. I was reading in Malachi 2:

And now this admonition is for you, O priests. If you do not listen, and if you do not set your heart to honor my name, says the Lord Almighty, I will send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have already cursed them, because you have not set your heart to honor me.

Some people might focus on the curse, the punishment, but what really stood out to me was the term 'set your heart!'

Immediately I was struck by the question, "On what have I set my heart today?" On work? On a list of tasks? On Facebook? On what's going on at church? On the latest at school? On a problem? On a TV show?

We are all capable of this idea, we do it all the time without thinking about it. Last night I set my alarm and the coffee to go off at 6am. We already set the DVR to record America's Got Talent...about six months ago I set a dentist appointment for 9am this morning -- now that's intentional!

I was reminded that in this walk with Jesus, there are things I must do to keep Him at the center of my life, and one of them is to be intentional about setting my heart to honor Him.

Some might think it presumptuous of me to consider myself a priest. Well, I'm more looking at this whole 'setting your heart' concept of this verse as something that applies to all who call themselves Christ-followers. 1 Peter 2:9 says,

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of the darkness into His wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

That's you and me, baby!

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day
Whew! What a day of pressure for some. Being the Mom, I'm off the hook for once! And it's no wonder there's pressure -- how can a person really thank their Mother? As soon you try, it's as if this giant awareness descends on you and you start to realize that thanking and honoring Mom "in the way she deserves" is too big a job for words alone. So, you venture out to get a card and "say it with Hallmark." But even that doesn't seem enough, so you buy Mom a gift or make her breakfast, and suddenly you're hit with this guilt that maybe you should have been doing this sort of thing all along!

It's not easy for us Mom's either! I had a great Instructor at Chemeketa Community College, Linda Craven, who explained to future teachers why they should have patience/compassion for parents: "As a parent you can expect to spend the first three years of your child's life 'in the fog' and then you spend the rest of your life fighting guilt -- you feel tried and convicted!"

So you see how it is, you feel a little guilt over one day. We feel guilt about everything -- clearly us Moms carry the greater burden! All is not lost though, because of the love. Sappy, I know, but love covers all! We can all just chill, and be grateful, and enjoy the day knowing that love is what it's really all about.

Happy Mother's Day

life

Someone once said life is like a box of chocolates...I think his name was Forest...but my life reminds me of a lizard -- any guesses why? If you have the right answer you win a prize!

falling behind

I'm not doing so well at keeping up with technology...which is a shame really because I'm married to the Pastor of Technology! I try, and I try, but I feel like it's an uphill battle! Just when I think I've checked all my phone messages and emails, I realize I've missed an important FaceBook dinner invite (which would have totally been fun!) If I somehow keep up with all that, I realize I haven't blogged for a few weeks. Then, if by some miracle, I actually keep up on all the phone msgs, emails, FaceBook msgs, and blog entries -- I realize I forgot to make the kids dinner!!

How He Loves Us by Kim Walker & Jesus Culture

This is how I first heard this song -- this version of the song greatly affects me! (If you haven't yet, click on the Title:-)

May God bless and help Haiti

Dave is in Haiti with Delta Ministries right now,connecting with Doctors, Pastors, and other community leaders to stratagize the best way to support the people. Please check out their trip blog: www.Haiti4Him.com