Monday, June 29, 2009

DECKED - or hemmed in

Our deck is completed and many of you had asked me after my earlier pictures if we were going to put a railing around it. As you can see it is safely enclosed now. It was not safe without a railing and because for many weeks it was un-railed and unsafe, we were very careful about walking on it - staying very far away from the edge in case we accidentally overstepped and fell a nasty 9+ feet to the ground!

Now that the rail is safely installed, we are free to walk, jump, run, dance or any other fun shenanigan we choose to do. It very much reminds me of what the psalmist was trying to explain to us in Psalm 139: 5-6: "Thou hast enclosed me behind and before, and laid Thy hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is too high, I cannot attain to it."

The safety net that God has placed around the believer is meant to give us freedom - not to imprison us. It is where we are free to experience the fullness of life while living in the safety of His love.

It is not only a wonderful place to be but also such a 'high' thought that we have trouble wrapping our minds around it. Sometimes life doesn't feel or look safe. Even for a believer. There is a lot to be worried about and a lot to cause us to want to hang back and to walk cautiously - just like when my railing had not yet been installed.

God wants His word to penetrate our hearts in order that we live with bold abandon believing Him to have us enclosed in His protective right hand. As we begin a new week may we walk, dance, jump and run fully aware that we are safe to proclaim "He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm. And He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God; many will see and fear, and will trust in the Lord." Psalm 40: 2-3

Monday, June 22, 2009

These Shoes are Made for Walking


"Moses My servant is dead; now therefore arise, cross this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them, to the sons of Israel. Every place on which the sole of your foot treads, I have given it to you just as I spoke to Moses." Joshua 1: 2-3

I think there are several things in this passage of scripture to stimulate us to move forward in our walk with the Lord.


1. The past was over. Moses, the great deliverer of Israel was gone. The children of Israel had a time of intense mourning. They probably had some real insecurity about their future but God's word to them was "arise and cross." There is no final chapter in the kingdom of God. There is an ever moving forward march. Yes, there may be a time for mourning...a time for rest....a time to reexamine....but it's not over as long as you're living and breathing.


2. Even though there was still a fight to be fought, a land to be conquered - God's word was PRESENT TENSE. God was giving them this land. Final word. No arguments. No need to fret.


3. God told Joshua that everywhere he set his foot - the land would be his. That's where I want to sit for a spell.

Don't you wish - sitting on this side of history and reading these verses today - that we could go back in time and say, "don't stop walking Joshua! Walk till you drop! Take it all, brother!" That's what I would say. Don't be chintzy. Walk! Walk! Walk!

I know that had I been Joshua, I would have probably gotten tired, wondered how much was enough and perhaps even 'settled' for a smaller portion just to be done. But Oh! looking back, I want to tell Joshua to go for it.

I wonder if that is what the great cloud of witnesses from Hebrews is calling to you and to me. "Go for it. Don't settle. Take it all." Sometimes the older we get the more settled we become. Life has taken on familiarity and a youth-oriented culture moves so much faster that it's easy to take the (s)low road. But somehow reading these passages, I want to go farther and reach higher. I hope you do too.

Life is meant to be relished. Life is meant to be lived fully and freely because we have the promise of Jesus - "In this world you will have tribulation but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."

I believe our lives will be much more honoring to God if we spend them walking further than trying to live safe. My prayer today is that we will all - myself especially - be radically stretched to the glory of God.

Start walking!!!

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Deck Building

Billy and I decided to build a deck onto our house to take advantage of the lake view behind us and add a little outdoor living space to our home. We drew up some plans, hired a carpenter and the deck is now officially 'decked.' We wanted to make sure we made it 'big' enough and so we measured and walked around and yet we didn't quite 'envision' what it would REALLY look like. It's BIG - bigger than we imagined.

I think life is a lot like that. We imagine a lot of things that we think would make our lives better or happier. We think we know what we're doing or pursuing yet our minds cannot really wrap around the scope of what is not presently there. Like my deck. When we walked around on the ground floor trying to measure off how big we wanted it and even after we put feet and inches to it, we still couldn't 'see' it because it wasn't there yet.

God has a plan for our lives according to Jeremiah 29:11. He says that plan is abundantly more than we could imagine according to 1 Cor. 2: 9. In the spirit world our lives have more purpose and more power than we can imagine. We can't see it. We can't see how our circumstances - both the good and the bad - have the potential to reflect God's glory. We have no idea how our seemingly inconsequential choices impact the kingdom. We can't understand how our pain and our suffering can possibly have anything to do with God's purposes when He can do anything.

This past Sunday we were studying the period after the resurrection and shaking our heads at how the disciples did not believe Jesus' resurrection even after He had told them He would be crucified and He would rise from the dead. They said - "not till we see Him for ourselves." And so He obliged but with an admonition - "Greater are those who believe and do not see."

I've always found myself feeling smug when I read that.....because hey, that's me! But the veil lifted for a few minutes in class that morning as I realized how little I believe Him when it comes to living out this life. He has given us immeasurable promises about the life we live and the life to come and yet, I mourn my losses and lament my shortcomings. I trust Him for what I see and hang on with my little faith while never daring to believe the great things He is accomplishing in the world I can't yet see.

I hope you 'get' that. He told them He wouldn't stay dead and it was too farfetched for them to grasp with their limited minds. He told us we are deeply loved, filled with His spirit, have a heavenly home, a glorious inheritance and abundant life and yet we LIVE such mundane lives. Continually comparing ourselves to others, worrying about what hasn't happened, harping on what has and walking down our own Emmaeus roads bemoaning how life has not turned out the way we had envisioned it. Just like those disciples, Jesus is walking along beside us saying, "There is more than you are seeing. There is more than you are experiencing. There is more than what you believe to be your reality." Perhaps He is even saying, "YOU are more than you are seeing. YOU are more than your experiences. YOU are more than your reality."

I now walk on an unfinished deck that is real...and big. I am anticipating many hours of enjoyment with my family on it. But more importantly, I stand on the promises of a God who cannot lie and never fails. I can't see it and even the scriptures say my mind can't grasp it. My life too is unfinished but I know this......I want to go out believing Him for a lot more than I've given Him credit for in the past. "Behold, He is making all things new!" I am anticipating that mindset will bring abundant living.

"I believe. Help my unbelief."