On passion

Wanna hear something really cool?  My alma mater, Crest High, is back in the softball state championship final four this weekend in Raleigh!  I was part of the team that made it last year.  We fought all the way to the championship game, and came up short.  Man, some of the best memories of my entire life come from the ball field with that team.

If you are not a sports fan, do not stop reading!  This is going somewhere, I promise. (hopefully)

Wanna hear something even cooler?  This totally correlates with an aspect of my spiritual life as a Christ follower.  God has really used this exciting time for Crest Softball, and the community of Shelby in general, to make me think a lot.  And for some reason everything I have been reading in my quiet times and discussing with fellow brothers and sisters has to do with this one little correlation.  Well, it's not very little.  I feel like God goes by the "go big or go home" rule.

Now that I am not playing, I am watching.  I am watching about seven or so of my favorite girls on this earth play their hearts out for a state championship.  I am seeing pure joy, devotion, endurance, and support.  I am seeing it all laid out on the field.  That was me last year.  And now, I get to see it from a totally different perspective.  I get to watch my little sisters fight their hearts out, because I know they will.

You know, the Lord has placed us, the body of Christ, in all different places at all different times.  He just wants us to share the power of the gospel--wherever we may be.  He wants us to go big or go home.  He wants to see pure joy, devotion, endurance, and support in the lives of His followers.  We are the body.  And even when one of us is on the bleachers, and the other is on the actual field, we are still the body.  And so, let the bleachers be the new field, if that's where He leads us.

On Saturday, the girls played the game to make it to Raleigh, and they won with an 8-inning comeback against a very talented team (I am now a softball enthusiast/analyst.  If I cannot play, I might as well do everything with it that I am capable.)  Let me just tell you, it is a lot different watching.  I was so nervous at this game.  I'm talking can't talk to anyone around me, chew the chicle out of my gum nervous.  I could not do anything in my power on that field.  I was not there.  That is not where I was placed.  My field was somewhere else.  But my goodness!  Did I want those girls to win.  My passion for them to win was intriguing me, or almost convicting me.  And so I did the only thing I knew to do--I prayed.

I prayed for every girl as she came up to bat.  I prayed for peace and limited nervousness and teamwork within and between the girls.  I know it sounds silly, and so be it, but I prayed.

When I thought back to that instance and how it portrayed God's sense of humor in what He compels the follower to do, I thought about my passion.  Why is it that my passion for winning a simple softball game, whether I am actually playing or someone else is, is at a glance so much greater than my passion for the kingdom.  Imagine what could happen if I had enough passion for the kingdom of God as I did for winning a ball game that will never matter in eternity.  All of us.  We all stand and cheer and get angry when the officials make terrible calls and laugh together and work hard together and buy each other hotdogs and high five each other and share so much joy--and pain--together.

^The above are metaphors, in case you didn't catch that.
^And that was a pun, in case you didn't catch that either.

But seriously!  If we used that energy to go out together as the body of Christ to share the gospel, to beat Satan and his dark forces, to listen to our Coach and do whatever he calls us to do, there is no telling what He could accomplish through us.

If I prayed for my brothers and sisters, a lot of whom are all over the world this summer, like I did on those bleachers, the results are unsearchable.  I may not be on their field, but I should be passionate for them with a Godly passion.  Where is our passion?  Where is my passion?

That is what I love so much about Paul.  His passion for the people is astounding (and convicting).  Every one of his books talks about how much he prays for and genuinely loves certain people groups.  He may not be on their field, but sure is passionate for them to win.

9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, 10 so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. -1 Colossians 1:9-12

I encourage you to start praying for that passion, that burning that causes you to do unlikely things, pray unlikely prayers, and befriend unlikely people.  Without passion, we are just going through motions.  We have no substance, no motivation, no reason.  Without passion we have no... anything.  He is our passion.  And without Him, we easily have nothing.

LMB

On fullness

Here lately, I have been intrigued by the contrast of emptiness and fullness.  Both words are extremes in my mind, and to me, their comparison is more like a war.  Now, please note that this post is not about the fullness, or sometimes known as "spiritual obesity," of the stagnant Christian.  My words are aimed at pondering over the fullness of Christ and its effects on us, not the fullness of us and its effects on our fruit.  I know I am starting this post out strong, without a witty and inevitably hilarious (and humble) introduction.  But this topic is just too full of things to cover.

Okay, I did have room for one small pun...

Back to seriousness.  God has really been showing me the difference between what it means to be full and, less desirably, what it means to be empty.  It's a feeling thing, really.  And when I say that God has been showing me this lately, I now look back and realize that He has spent pretty much the past five years of my life showing me this.  I can specifically look back on certain circumstances in my life where I felt so empty.  But, praise to the Lord Almighty, I can also look back and feel the fullness of God; I can feel it when I just think about it.  It's like my blood thickens as my memory churns.  It's like my pores are seeping the mist of the Spirit, because it cannot be contained in such a small enclosure as one tiny human body.

I like those memories. Why do we forget!

When I think about the fullness of God, I cannot help but get caught up over the word fullness itself.  The word fullness means that there are no pieces missing, there are no hollow spaces, no air bubbles, no elbow room.  The fullness of God means that there is absolutely no way anything else can appropriately fit anywhere in God's place.  There is no room in that inn.

There is a quote by Blaise Pascal that I have heard many times, and it is always a favorite of mine:

“There is a God shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God, the Creator, made known through Jesus.”

I have worked with children at the YMCA for the past three years, so when I read this quote, I always think about those little plastic boxes with holes of different shapes--circles, rectangles, stars, ovals, etc.--and the accompanying plastic shapes that you put inside of the box.  Only the correct shape will fit in the hole.  You cannot put a rectangle in a circular hole.

You cannot put a best friend in the vacuum of your heart where only God fits.  You cannot put a boyfriend/girlfriend in the vacuum of your heart where only God fits.  You cannot put a church activity in the vacuum of your heart where only God fits.  You cannot put a sport in the vacuum of your heart where only God fits.  You can only put God where God fits.

I have never done well with transition periods.  Coming back home it has taken me until probably today to become adjusted to being in Shelby for the summer.  It has taken many prayers and many smacks on the head (metaphorically speaking) for me to become content with my current stage of life.  I keep hearing God say,

Your days can never be empty when they are full of Me.

That is one of the most comforting things God has ever told me, and I don't even deserve to hear it.  Prayers for emptiness concerning the world and the desires it brings and prayers for dependency and humility before God the Father are a necessity.  Even the best thing God has given me on this earth is not enough, it's never enough.  Even the people I love the most can never bring me satisfaction. When I try to shove them into the God-shaped hole in my heart, they don't fit; they only leave me empty.

For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. -Colossians 2:9-10

and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. -Ephesians 3:19

"If I find in myself desires nothing in this world can satisfy, I can only conclude that I was not made for here." -C.S. Lewis

Let His fullness fill your emptiness.

LMB

Why do we forget

I have been wanting to write about this question for quite some time now, but the shift of events in my life has been keeping my mind occupied.  I have been home from school for about a week, and let me tell you, this is not easy.  I mean, who knew having free time was so difficult?

Before I start to talk about me (I can already feel it coming) let me change the subject to discuss who this post should be about.

He has blessed me beyond words.  Part of the reason that I have not been able to write is because my mind cannot contain all that He has done for me.  He has changed me so much this past year.  He has carried out His plan.  He has successfully placed me exactly where I am supposed to be.  As if I should have expected anything less.

God has been so good to me.  I look around now at all of these seniors about to graduate from high school and I remember where I was then just one year ago.  I remember how I felt and where I stood with God.  I remember it being the most inwardly-fighting emotions that I had ever experienced up to that point.  I was so excited about graduating high school and even going to college, but nervousness was always pinching my skin--sometimes just enough for me to feel it, sometimes overcoming my ability to think straight.  I was not going to put on a front.  I was nervous.

And now, here I am.  I could never be more joyful in the Lord.  I have finished my freshman year and the crazy thing about it is that when I look back on my year (besides the fact that I am overwhelmed) I do not really think about my grades, my accomplishments, or even my friends.  I think about how I could have never expected to be in the place with God that I am now.

And I said I wasn't going to talk about me...

The thing about my freshman year is that it is over.  And now I am here at home, after months of praying for my summer, somewhere to go, some ministry organization under which to serve, here I am.  Home.

I believe that there should be PTPSD...Post-Triumphal-Procession-Stress-Disorder  (coming from my favorite verse 2 Corinthians 2:14, of course).  I have been sent from a city on a hill to the foot of it (seriously, I live in the foothills), left only to gaze at where I came from with wishful thinking of returning.  I know in my head that this is where God wants me to be.  I know that He has great things planned for me.  I know that I can experience God here just like I did this past year in Raleigh.  But sometimes, it seems like I... forget.

I forget the broken people walking beside me.  I forget that His love has never left me.  I forget that I am nothing.  I forget that I do not have the strength to do things on my own.  I forget that I have felt God here before.  I forget that He has a plan.  I forget that even the prettiest flowers grow in the blackest soil.  I forget that this world means nothing.  I forget that He holds me in His hands.

I forget how joyful He makes me.  I forget how He turns my sadness into happiness.  I forget how free He has made me feel.  I forget how I laugh with Him.  I forget how sorrow never lasts.  I forget how I long to worship Him, how I thirst for Him.  I forget how much love I feel from Him.

I forget about my family.  I forget about the roof under which I live. I forget about the food I eat, the clothes I wear.  I forget about the water I drink, oh, how clean it is.  I forget about the keyboard each forgotten finger is currently stroking.  I forget about the things in life I do not need, but have.  I forget about the One I have, how He is all I need.

I forget about the cross.  I forget about the grace.  I forget about the blood, the tears, the plan, oh, the perfect plan.  I forget about the life I was given through His death.  I forget about the resurrection.  I forget that He is coming back.  I forget about Him.

The instance I am placed into a different atmosphere, I forget that He is stable.  The minute I am uncertain about my future, I forget that He already knows it.  The moment even one little thing shows the slightest hint of falling out of place, I forget.

And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” Luke 22:19

Jesus commands us to remember.  The relationship we can have with Him is so much more powerful than even the worst thing that could ever happen.  Why let emotions overtake us when we have a God who can overwhelm us?

How differently we would live if we woke up every morning, awestruck to our knees at the fact that we woke up.

And here we are now.

Imagine how life would be if we remembered.

LMB