It really is a race.

This morning one of my girls and I went for a run. We layered up, stretched, went outside and mapped out our route. Half of the run is downhill and half of the run is uphill. The hills are awful because they last forever and zap your endurance. 

When your on the hill you want to stop. The higher it gets, the harder it is. The harder it is the more you want to stop. 

This is life. 

It really is like a race. 

When the Bible says "let us run with endurance the race that is set before us" (Hebrews 12:1).. it's talking about these days. This life that God has mapped out for us with all of its twists, turns, hills, valleys, and bumps, is our race to run. 

But, here's the thing. If you STOP when you are going up a hill, which we all want to do at times, because we are tired and feel we have nothing left to give, then we never grow strong enough to get to the top. It's the push that gives you the strength to face tomorrow. 

Because at the top of every hill there is the other side. The side that you get to run down. And the downhill is where you steady your pace, regulate your breathing and let gravity help you along. 

That's true in running and in life. Allow the "good" times to be an opportunity to prepare for the next hill. Regulate your breathing. By prayer and thanksgiving, steady your pace. 

Isaiah 40:31 says "But those who trust in the LORD will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint."

Trusting the God of the path helps us to be renewed in our spirit and not grow weary in the run. 

This lesson was for me today. 

Make the bed

Life is so chaotic. Everyone experiences different seasons at different times, but I think that it's safe to say: life is so chaotic. Sometimes it's good chaos, sometimes it's a beautiful mess and other times it's nearly impossible to navigate.

I've started making the bed. I'm sure that I am a terrible woman for not making it regularly before, but I didn't see the point as a single person. Now, I rarely have time for something as simple as making the bed. But I do it. Every single day. Having the bed made makes me feel better. It's like a good hair day in the midst of 100 bad ones. It brings a tiny bit of peace to my life. The made-up bed doesn't hide the laundry that still needs to be put away. It doesn't make the toys strewn from one end of the house to the other any less messy, but it does remind me that the chaos is never going to destroy me.

It's a simple act that reminds me of two things.

1.) Peace often comes by active choice.

The Bible tells us repeatedly not to fear. Yet our lives are crippled by it.

We know that comparison is the thief of joy but we absent-mindedly do it anyway.

Striving only brings stress and anxiety but we continue to bring forth our best efforts of busy schedules to prove ourselves worthy... to ourselves.

We must choose peace. Just as I choose to make the bed regardless of the time I don't have.  The act of laying down all fear, striving, comparison and anxiety and putting on peace is exactly what God instructs us to do. His yoke is light and our burdens are heavy. He offers to trade.

2.) It's not all bad.

I love my children with an amazing amount of love. More than I dreamed I could love. I love my husband, I love my job, I like the puppy, and I enjoy school. BUT, boy is it hard. Life is chaotic, remember?

It is easy to become bogged down by the work of each day and forget the joy that's available in the little moments.

I look at the laundry, toys, dishes and paperwork and can become overwhelmed. Especially when crying toddlers are desperate for my attention. The made-up bed reminds me that I may not be able to do it all, but I can do one thing at a time.

I start with the bed. Some days I don't get much more than that done, but that's okay.

The small act of making the bed in the morning reminds me that God made me and despite all of the chaos inside, there is peace and joy available to me when I choose it.

I should mention, my husband could care less if the bed is made. This may not be true for everyone else. This is a great reminder to me that it isn't his job to bring me peace and joy. That's a burden that wouldn't be fair for him to carry. Yes, he does make me joyful, and yes, he does help with the chaos. But the big picture peace and joy can only be found in Jesus. I'm so glad that He makes me to lie down in green pastures and leads me beside quiet waters (Psalm 23:2).

Lord, teach us to pray...

It is interesting, that after years with Jesus in ministry, the disciples had one request of Him. They could have asked Him anything, for He had the power to do anything. However, they had one request.
“Lord, teach us how to pray” (Luke 11:1).

His disciples had witnessed that the power of God was rooted in this time that Jesus spent in prayer. They had seen Him take time away, to Himself to pray. He had fasted and spent time with God, and was changed because of it. Jesus is our example, and He perfectly displays to us the power and importance of prayer.

While prayer is something that we can do, it is also a gift that we have been given. Jesus recognized this gift and often made space in His life for prayer. I have no understanding of what the communication between Jesus and God would have been like, but I do know that it was important to Jesus to spend time with the Father in prayer. Because of the time they spent together, Jesus knew His Father’s heart and constantly had compassion on His people.

How do we implement this kind of prayer in our daily lives? Obviously we face schedules that differ from the ministry schedule of Jesus. Our needs are much different and we usually struggle to find time to pray.

We are called to move beyond. Move beyond what everyone else is doing… move beyond the chains that are holding us back from past struggles and hurts, move beyond what is normal in the world that we live in. Simply put, we cannot live a “normal” life and also love the Father and honor Jesus the way that we should. Our lives have to be set apart (Romans 12:2). God has called us to make a sacrifice that is difficult to comprehend. The sacrifice isn’t for our very lives, like Jesus’ sacrifice.

But it is for our lives in a difference sense. When we lay down our own lives and offer it as a living sacrifice, Holy and pleasing to God (Romans 12:1), we give up living a life that looks like everyone else’s. The sacrifice is that we choose to give our time, our devotion, our heart, and our motivations to God. The first step in this is simply prayer.

Prayer is an incredible opportunity that we have to communicate with God. All relationships thrive with open communication. It is easy to think, “God knows what I am thinking, why should I tell Him?”… But all relationships require communication to stay healthy, and to stay connected. Prayer is a receptive attitude… waiting on God. It is an openness to hear from God. If we don’t spend time communicating with, and listening to God, how can we stay connected to Him? The very goal, and ultimate desire of our lives is to know God and be known by God. It is a gift that we can serve Him, but it’s even more important that we KNOW Him.

Prayer is moving beyond focusing on ourselves to focusing on who God is and what He wants for us and from us.

Prayer is proof that we believe that God is real, that we believe He is here, and He is working. This proof isn’t for others to know what we believe, but to reveal to ourselves where we stand in our relationship with God.

1 Thess. 5:17 says to pray continuously. This isn’t a command, that we should feel guilty when we fail to do us, because then we would all carry around that shame. However, it is an invitation and a gift to stay connected with God in all things. He cares for you.

Drive-thru faith

1948 brought us the first drive-thru restaurant, where you could be "IN-n-OUT" in no time flat. This concept is a picture of how individuals want to live their lives. We want what we are craving and we want it quickly and easily. Immediate gratification. This is true for Internet speed, education, meals and more.

But it has been said, "nothing worth having comes easy".

It seems as though faith has become a drive-thru concept for our society. We want church made easy.. online sermons or churches we can get in and out of without being noticed. "We", as a people group, not necessarily individuals, look for authored Bible plans and scripted studies (yes, me too!). But faith is so much more than that. It's worth having and it's worth investing in.

I was an hour into homework that I did not want to do when I was instructed to complete word studies on a passage of my choosing. I chose words I thought could be important and once I got into the Greek I found the most incredible truth to the passage. Truth I would have missed entirely without this intense study.

I sincerely feel that God is calling us, calling me, to a more intentional kind of faith.

The difference between a restaurant and a drive-thru is the experience. So, we have to ask ourselves, do we want something quick, convenient and, possibly disingenuine? Or do we want to experience God?

Experiencing God means getting out of the car.

We have to be willing to commit our time, attention, energy, patience, emotions and resources to the experience. But the only way we will do this is if we really want it.

Rest

Sundays are crazy. Like, having a blender with no lid kind of crazy. At our house we have the “joy” of getting two toddlers fed, cleaned, dressed and ready in an hour. Less if we are lucky enough for them to sleep while we get ready. Most weeks we are also overseeing 6 other children getting up, fed, dressed and ready during this chaos. About ten minutes prior to leaving the house I usually start getting dressed and trying to make some sense of my hair.

This past Sunday was no different than the rest. Equally crazy, caffeinated and rushed. During church my sweet friend’s baby was fussy and tired. She brought him into the service with us and my husband and I quickly fought over who got to hold him (because he is the sweetest little thing). I held him during the music portion of worship and while I swayed him back and forth he laid his little head on my shoulder and got incredibly still.

Two things happened in that moment. First, I wondered about why it is so incredibly sweet to hold a baby and rock him to sleep. Second, I thought about how much trust these little ones must have in us to be able to fall asleep while we hold them.

Both of these realizations brought me to a place of worship within that moment of worship itself.

This is a picture, I believe, of what God offers us.

He says to us, “come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

I don’t know any person who doesn’t feel weary and burdened at times. Or all of the time. This verse is for us! He is offering us an invitation to rest in Him.

There are so many more Scriptures with this same sentiment. He gives us green pastures to lay in, despite the fact that we feel the scorching sun and lack of rain at times.

… and when we don’t take Him up on the offer of rest, we have this reminder from David, “Return to your rest, my soul, for the Lord has been good to you” (Psalm 116:7). We sometimes have to tell our own souls to be at rest. We have every reason to be confident in the fact that God is good and He takes good care of those He loves.

“God gives rest to His loved ones” (Psalm 127:2B NLT).

We can trust Him enough to find rest in His arms. Just like this sweet little one found rest in mine on Sunday. We can relax our bodies, our striving, our worry and our minds and just rest in Him and in His presence.

Imagine the joy is brings Him when we do. It is the sweetest thing. 

We went on a hike.

We went on a hike.

Now, you may be thinking “oh, that sounds so nice”… but that is simply not the case. Kyle and decided to go on a hike together to Tallulah Gorge. This has always been on my list of things I would like to do, so I was very excited. However, I had no idea what was in store for me.

First, they give out 100 permits to hike the floor of the gorge every day. This should have been a clear indication to me of what was to come. It was not until after the hike was over that I read the sign in the lobby, which listed the floor of the gorge as an “extremely strenuous” hike.

To begin, we walk around and look at some of the views from the overlooks. These will take your breath away. We are simply in awe of God and nature. Then you walk down a few steps, and by a few I mean something like seven thousand three hundred and eighty-six. You think that walking DOWN steps is easy… but, you are wrong. My knees are broken.

At this point we come to a beautiful platform overlooking a crashing river with a waterfall just behind us. This is where we see the sign “permit required to cross”. That’s us. The permitted ones. How lucky.

As we open the gate to cross the raging river we see a young girl crying on a rock. We ask her what is wrong and she explains to us that she has dropped her phone and it is lodged between a rock and… a snake. I am asking for a description of pattern and wondering how we can cross the river without actually using these rocks when Kyle steps up to the rescue. Now, my husband is wonderful. He is funny, smart, determined and absolutely loves to help people. He will be the first to serve others in their time of need. However, up until this day I had never seen him as much of an outdoors-man. He will occasionally hike, bike, walk, or on a good day – run with me. However, this is simply because he knows that I have a love and need in my heart for it. THIS DAY, he was Mr. Trail Guide. That girl must have thought God had sent her an angel. He grabbed a stick, moved the snake and picked up her phone like he was Crocodile Dundee. So, we are starting out well.

We then attempt to cross the river. You should know that we are crossing on what looks like boulders, twice my size and sometimes several feet apart. I am wondering if maybe we took a wrong turn on the stairs, but here we go…

We get across approximately three rocks and I start praying, “God send me an angel!” At this point a nice young man, who described himself later as a TRAIL GUIDE! Goes ahead of us and tells us where to place our feet in the water so we don’t… you know, fall and die.

We get across and our trail guide is in the far distance with nothing but one footprint showing us the way that he went. At this point I feel like we have definitely gone wrong. Not only are there no paths, signs, or worn walkways – there are rocks. HUGE ROCKS. Everywhere. The only way to get anywhere is to climb.

Now would be a good time to tell you that I am not much of a climber. I once went to a rock climbing facility with high hopes of enjoying the views from a much more elevated state in the future. HOWEVER, about three step holes up I felt like I was going to faint and I decided that it wasn’t for me.

Kyle is gone. Up and over like he was born for this. I begin to feel a little weepy and get going.

I am not afraid of heights.

Or, let me put it this way… I have never really had a fear of heights before Tuesday morning. NOW... I think it is safe to say that I am afraid of heights.

We have climbed down the gorge, and down and down. Over rocks, using trees to pull ourselves up, over more rocks and then.

I would like to pause here to gather the thoughts that surrounded my COMPLETELY PETRIFIED disposition as we pull ourselves over a rock to see the scariest rock face known to man (or at least THIS wo-man). I would liken the angle to… the pits of hell. That is what it was like. Seriously, my shoes are SO slippery from the water and this rock points straight to the river, which runs to a WATERFALL four feet away. My entire body is shaking.

About that time three college-aged girls come racing through as if they were headed to a party. THEY WERE SMILING.

But did I also mention that they were barefoot?

Just as soon as they appeared, they were off. Kyle seems to have no trepidation whatsoever, although I recall him telling me a few times before that he was afraid of heights. I am shaking and wondering how I can crawl across the rock on my knees and elbows when he lovingly tells me to suck it up.

I took my shoes off (what? College girls are smart). And I crossed. It was terrible.

We continue on our path and Kyle is taking pictures and enjoying the scenery and beauty of the moment. I am still shaking and wondering if I am going to die out there.

We get to the end of the hike, which cumulates to a GIANT rock with a waterfall running over it, aptly named “Slippery Rock” which you can slide down into a pool of water to swim.

Kyle wants to do it.

I think he is crazy.

Then he convinces me by saying that I would regret not going down after we had been through all we had been through to get there.

We slide down and the water is so cold I cannot breathe or think or swim... apparently. As I am grabbing Kyles arm and trying to pull him down stream with me. He pushes me towards the rock to CLIMB OUT. Of “SLIPPER ROCK”, might I add? Not fun.

The trail guide is there swimming with his gal. He looks at my distress and just as he starts to come towards me to lend a hand, I manage to make my way out. At this point Kyle slips and slides BACK into the water, only to climb out again.

There are leaches on me.

We rest, relax and dry out.

We now have two options.

Go back the way that we came (which was awful), or cross the slippery rock and go up the other side (70 degree angle for half of a mile). I decide that there is no way on earth that I will attempt anything more difficult than what we have just been through. Simply because, I know we got through the path once and I almost didn’t make it.

So we (I) decide we should go back the way that we came.

I am still barefoot because, turns out, those girls knew a thing or two about hiking the gorge floor, and I didn’t die.

We go back, cross the rocks, turn around a few times, climb, jump, pull ourselves over and then reach the rock face again. I cannot move other than the trembling that has taken over my entire body. I had no idea I would react this way to fear, but low and behold, there I was.

I’ve been praying this entire time, but at this point I begin to think about the Proverbs that speak of God keeping our feet on the right path.

In all of your ways acknowledge Him and He will make straight your paths (Prov 3:6).

Your Word is a light unto my path and a lamp unto my feet…

My favorite… “The Lord will be at your right side and will keep your foot from being caught” (Prov 3:26).

I am asking God to direct us and protect us. Kyle is slightly impatient with me as I tell him I just don’t feel ready to cross yet.

He turns around, holds my hand and walks with me.

These are the lessons from our day.

First, we got a great picture of the importance of having a husband as a leader and being a wife who trusts and follows.

Without Kyle I would still be sitting in the gorge crying.

Also, it reminded me of how danger is ON EVERY SIDE of the righteous path. If we considered the dangers of our thoughts and actions as we would if there were a waterfall underfoot, it might be more serious. The danger IS that serious. God desires for us to stay on the right path. He leads, directs and guides us in the ways that we should go. In love, He provides helpers to us. Even one foot that goes astray can land you in deep water.

In the end I crossed the rocks... all of them. Got to the river crossing and held on for dear life to the rock ledge right where the snake once laid. I didn’t care. I just wanted to be done.

I thanked God for bringing us out safely… and then climbed 7,386 steps back to the top.

So, that was our experience. The take away is this… I am glad we did it. I WONT EVER DO IT AGAIN. However, I am grateful God gave us these lessons while surrounded by beautiful scenery. 

And I am grateful for my rugged, outdoors-man of a husband who literally kept me alive out there!

PS. I could barely walk for two days afterward. 

Truth

God is the ultimate Being of beings, self-existent, eternal and unchangeable. He spans from before the beginning of time and after the end of all that is known. It is impossible for us to understand who God is, simply because His existence goes so far beyond what we can comprehend. Our comprehension was created by God, and we can understand so much about Him but still only know so little. Our understanding of who God is will completely change who we are. As one brilliant thinker put it, “what comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us” (Tozer).

God came to us in three complete parts. He is the Father. The Father of life, the Father of Jesus and the Father of us. He is the source and originator of everything that we know, as well as of all that we do not know. “God is love” (1 John 4:8). The outward expression of this love, that is His very being, is Jesus. Jesus is how God chose to enter into our lives on a personal level. He is both the Son of God as well as God Himself. God, through Jesus, displayed just how much He loves man through His sacrifice and self-sacrifice. The death and resurrection of Jesus is what allows there to be direct access between God and man (Ephesians 2:18). Jesus is how God chose for us to understand who He and the Spirit are. The Holy Spirit, the third person of God, might be the most difficult to understand. “As Jesus ascended into heaven, He promised to send the Holy Spirit—the Helper—so that we could be true and living witnesses for Christ” (Forgotten God). The Holy Spirit is the power of God living inside of us. The Spirit is our teacher and also our access to God’s Words over us (John 14:26). The Spirit of God is a gift to believers. The Spirit is our Helper in hard times as well as our Intercessor to God (Romans 8:26). Without the Holy Spirit in our lives we are simply people, created by God, with the influence of the past works of Jesus. The Spirit is what creates relationship between God and man. Relationship is not possible without communication. Communication is not possible without the Holy Spirit. A relationship with God is the only hope for mankind.  

Man is created by God with an overwhelming need to be reunited to God. “God created mankind in His own image” (Genesis 1:27). A likeness to God in mere personality… comes far short of answering the demands of the scriptures.

Men are creators. God sent man with the mission to be fruitful and multiply (Genesis 1:28). This God-given mission made man, through God, fellow creators of life. The purpose of man was for relationship with God. That relationship was broken when Adam and Eve first partook in sin. Without that relationship there was no purpose for man. There was no hope for restitution or reconciliation with God. Then Jesus stepped into the picture. Man was then given the opportunity to reunite with God. The purpose of man is now to bring other people into that unity with God. Believers have been called to “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). Man has been given the mission to pursue God in Christ-likeness in both actions and in relationship with God.

Sin is the cause of the separation of God and man. Sin includes a failure to do what is right. But sin also offends people; it is violence and lovelessness toward other people, and ultimately, rebellion against God. The problem with defining sin is that it originates in the heart, and cannot always be seen or even known by other men. We know from the Word that sin is in the heart of men. In fact, it even says “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it” (Jer 17:9)? In the beginning, God’s plan was for man to dwell in relationship with Him. However, man was not able to abide in this love relationship without allowing free will to bring death. Since the fall of Adam and Eve, sin is at the heart of all men. Every child of Adam enters a race marked by sin, condemnation, and death. God’s Word tells us that “When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam's sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned” (Romans 5:12 NLT). This message is not always easy to teach. People don’t find that messages about how bad they are make them feel very good. Nevertheless, “the message of human sinfulness is integral to the apostolic message… leaving out that message or ignoring it is not an option if we wish to be faithful to Scripture” (Robbins 269). Without the knowledge and understanding of sin man cannot understand the forgiveness of Christ. Therefore, the message of love is lost without the message of sin.

The knowledge of God, man and sin leads to a deep-seeded need for the knowledge of salvation. Salvation is hope. It is the only hope that mankind has. The word salvation is first used to describe the deliverance of God’s people, the Israelites, out of their captivity in Egypt. The most common Hebrew word used for this action can be defined as “to save, help in distress, rescue, deliver, set free” (Bakers). This Hebrew translation helps to define what salvation means for mankind. Jesus literally rescued us from our own path towards death and destruction. He set us free from our sin so that we could be reconciled to God. In the Old Testament we learn about how only the high priest had the ability to enter the Holy of Holies and be in the presence of God. Even this was done with washing and great ceremony. “But only the high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance” (Hebrews 9:7). At the very moment that Jesus breathed his last breath on the cross, the veil that separated the people of God from the Holy of Holies was ripped in two pieces, from top to bottom (Matthew 27:51). His death meant that man would no longer be separated from God. For man is one with God. His plan from the beginning remains intact. He made man for Himself, and we are still for Him. Salvation is the restoration He hopes of for us. “The total work of God by which He seeks to rescue man from the ruin, doom, and power of sin and bestows upon him the wealth of His grace encompassing eternal life, provision for abundant life now, and eternal glory” (Keathley III).

Scripture is God-breathed. As the Word tells us, “in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). Scripture is the written representation of God Himself, and has been from the beginning. To love the Lord is to love His Word. The Word of God is a gift given to us as a guiding light to our path. Prior to the Bible, man only had verbal stories of what Jesus did. The scrolls of the Old Testament were often only read by those who grew up in religious faith. The Bible we know today gives each person the opportunity to read for himself what God did throughout the history of mankind. It is an account of the works of God throughout the days prior to Jesus, and prophecies of the coming Messiah. It is also our account of Jesus’ time here on Earth and the impact He began to make then. Finally, it is a documentation of His crucifixion and resurrection. The aftermath of His sacrifice also lead to letters that we have at our disposal to read for assurance, encouragement, instruction, structure, and discipline. The Word of God is living and active (Hebrews 4:12). It gives us what we need when we need it. It offers peace, comfort and the knowledge to the Way of salvation. It can be difficult to stress the importance of the Word of God. However, the practical application is a habit that will bring us into a place of peace and immense growth in life. It is imperative in a Christian walk that the Bible be studied, followed and respected. People sometimes find it difficult to put stock in anything other than what other people think about them. Francis Chan describes why the Bible is needed like this, “it is where we find truth. It is what God say about Himself. Everyone has an opinion about what is right and what is wrong… we all think differently… what scripture says, is the grass is going to wither and the flowers fade but the Word of our God will stand forever. At the end of the day we are not going to be judged by people we are going to be judged by God Himself ... when this is all over it is going to be about God’s word and His authority is the only authority” (Chan). This is the truth about the Scriptures.

God’s love for mankind is breathtaking. His plan for relationship and the reconciliation of that broken relationship is displayed to us in the person of Jesus, the work of Salvation, and the very Words of God. Sin separates man from God. However, the most important thing for each and every person to know is that love always wins. God created a Way to bridge the divide that Man made between himself and God. That Way is Jesus. The understanding of who God is and what He did for us is what leads people from death to life.