A Lovin' We Will Go

I'm praying still that in my last few days of preparation for the things to come (in India) that I am not missing His will for today. It's easy to lose focus on current needs when we are looking forward to other things. I find that Satan can easily entangle our hearts with the details (things that we can trust the Lord has already taken care of) if we let him.

Woulda', coulda', shoulda' doesn't really have any importance any more. In my fear and nervous belly aches, in my anticipation and my excitement I could be focusing on things that I should have done differently leading up to this point, but instead I find more of a need, in my heart, for building love continually and learning to share that.

This week, I've been learning through Psalms that He is above all, and in all, and through all. The Lord has gone before us in all that we do, preparing the way for us and we are just called to catch up. We can be glad and remain unshaken because we know that He will make known to us the path of life. I take courage in knowing that He accomplishes what concerns us (Ps. 138:8)! He knows best--and He loves us so much that He is willing to care for even the things that we consider insignificant.

Lord, let me learn Your love & a lovin' I will go.

Please continue to lift up our team in prayer as we plan to head out in the next few days!

Deer Park vs. Aquafina

Living in America, things are readily available to us, especially those which matter most... things like food, water, and clothing. The resources essential to our daily living can be found most anywhere and usually with endless options (admit it, most days, our biggest struggle is one of deciding on which restaurant to eat at). It hasn't always been that way for everyone. Sometimes I have to remind myself of that.

Today I was reminded of that. 

John 4. I used to think that maybe the reason that I was so drawn to this story is because the concept is was foreign to me, and the details are more like those from a headlining novel-it's simply something that doesn't have to be grasped, it's just good leisurely reading. It doesn't seem to prod my life and require much movement. Perhaps the fact that it's not something that I have to deal with on a daily basis, makes its fairy tail essence leave a sense of hope that lingers for others' sake. 

This morning I saw something different in the words. This morning I'm even more bewildered at His compassionate love for the human race, bar none. Just by a simple coversation with one woman years and years ago, He was able to show us so many things. He overstepped His boundaries in position, in safety, and in spite of other's jeering snarls just to love.

And the poor girl, she was thought she was just going through another run of the mill day. This was just another chore for her. Little did she know she would find and cling to real hope and love that day.

She knew thirst alright. Walking to a well suggests that she didn't have water readily available to her, and in vs 11 we know that it takes some effort to draw water up from a deep well. Water is heavy, too. I'm sure carrying buckets back to the house took a great deal of strength, and if nothing else it took sheer dedication. Needless to say, she had quite the struggle ahead of her just for a drink of water.

We are familiar with thirst too, despite our complicatedly convenient living conditions. Our thirst, though seemingly different from hers, is in fact exactly the same. We thirst for Him. We need Him. Our thirst and need for Him is great even today, and wether or not we identify that need as a need for Him now or later, it still exists. He should be our first stop on a daily basis; not as an obligating errand, but as to fulfill a desirable need. He desires to meet with us.

He spotted her physical and spiritual needs from miles off, in fact He anticipated them so much that He had already prepared a place on the cross to take care of them.

So when it comes down to it... brand-name bottled water has got nothing on Him.

Iced (having absolutely nothing to do with frosting)

On a cold and icy day such as this some might suggest reading up on the latest world news available via campus' attempts at high speed internet access. Others might even cling to the idea that taking some quiet time for self development would be a charming idea, or curling up in a cozy chair off in a secluded corner of a poetically brick lined building with a cup of something might be the current hippy thing to do And naturally, these things could easily fill up a day's worth of seemingly productive activities. Now, I hold no sincere grudge against any of the previously  described pastimes, but I would suggest quite the opposite on a cold and icy day such as this.

But first, a little history... Throwing myself into a new place, last semester, has begun a series of fortunate happenings. God allowed my life of stagnancy to be gutted and measurably displaced by tearing me out of comfort zones, that I had built fortresses upon, in my life. However, in their place, He has begun to do a new work. He's begun to put people into my life that faithfully love and serve Him, with no if's looming or lurking in the far places of their hearts. With new perspectives from new hearts, and Old Stories being restudied, I find myself falling to an even more loving bond with Him and His people. He ship wrecked my life (in such a good way and in His perfect timing), and I dismiss even the thought of ever going back to my old ways again.

So, on this day of being iced in, I refuse to let my desire for stealth hermit living overcome my ability to serve Him and His. Ciao...