Apr 24, 2010 | In the Name of Love
It’s an old saying I mentioned yesterday. It has more and more meaning to me all the time.
Every Person Has a Story.
Here’s a bit of one.
I had the privilege of washing this guy’s feet the other day.
He shared with me a little bit about his home life. His Dad gets angry with him sometimes. I have a feeling he was playing it down when he talked about it.
As I prayed for him, I was in tears. You don’t know a person’s story until you ask, and I was really glad I did.
I prayed that the plans God has for his life would come to pass. That he would be able to endure the challenges of this season of his life, that the Lord would be his refuge.
How incredibly fortunate and privileged I have been my entire life — in moments like these I see it most clearly. And yet, I forget thankfulness again and again.
O, to grace, how great a debtor, daily I’m constrained to be.
So many stories are taking place all around us.
Seize the opportunity to take a moment and hear someone’s story today. You have no idea how much it might mean to them.
Or to you.
xCC
Apr 23, 2010 | Stories, The Good Word
There is a special quote that has a special place in my heart for lots of reasons, and every time it comes to mind it seems that I gain some new insight from it:
Earth is crammed with heaven, And every common bush afire with God;
But only he who sees, takes off his shoes —
The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.
{Elizabeth Barrett Browning}
I was thinking about this quote just last night in reference to a friend of mine who is very dear to me. She would be utterly and completely embarrassed if I told you her name, so I will instead just refer to her as a dear friend, and leave it at that.
My dear friend has these really special qualities. She is incredibly humble, incredibly gentle. She is thoughtful and very careful with her words. She is very tender, too, and because of that, she bruises easily, so to speak.
I realised in a way, when I was speaking with her recently, that she is a lot like the bush spoken of in the Elizabeth Barrett Browning quote above. People miss out on the deepness, the specialness, and the unique godliness that is in her, because she carries herself so humbly you won’t see it unless you take the time to look for it. She hungers and thirsts for righteousness like few people I have ever had the privilege of knowing. But if you don’t get to know her, you’re just going to miss it. If you don’t look, you just won’t see the beauty that is in this special woman after God’s own heart.
In Exodus 3, Moses turned aside to see the burning bush, perhaps to understand why it was burning but didn’t burn up. He responded to the holiness of God, as God directed him, by taking off his shoes. His respect for God’s holiness made way for him to receive the words and revelation God had for him.
The thing is, I think a lot of people are like my dear friend. There is something special worth celebrating. Now don’t be afraid that I might be going New Age on you — the thing that there is that is inherently good in each of us is the thing that has to do with us being created in the image of a good and loving God. And I believe there is something of our loving and good God built into who we are, because created things bear the mark of their creators. Van Goghs are different from Monets and Picassos. Apples are different from Toshibas and Dells. There is something of the creator in the created thing, but sometimes we have to look for it.
If we aren’t looking for the Imago Dei (as this theological concept is often referred to in Latin) in the people around us, if we aren’t looking for the things that are worth celebrating, then we are likely to just sit around and pluck blackberries. We’ll miss opportunities to praise the things that are praiseworthy. We aren’t gonna take off our shoes and witness the holiness — let me reiterate it’s not our own holiness, but the holiness of the God in whose image we are created. If only we could remember that every person who comes across our path is someone for whom Christ gave His life on the cross.
It is a worthwhile old saying, that every person has a story. There are lots of stories I’m hoping to tell you in the days ahead, because I think they will be good for you and me both to hear and remember and take off our shoes and receive. But I think we’ll also be changed for the better if we receive each other, and look for and celebrate the Imago Dei — that beautiful part of us that is somewhere in there, because of Whose we are.
Have you seen any reasons to take off your shoes lately?
xCC
Apr 22, 2010 | The Good Word, The Parenthood
We went up Table Mountain Tuesday. Our visitors ended up staying an extra day and a half thanks to the issues with air travel in Europe, and the weather cleared up, so the timing was perfect. And one of our co-workers offered to pay for our tickets to the top, so we were there! Thanks, Courtney!
Table Mountain is a beautiful flat-topped mountain in the middle of Cape Town. Here’s a view from the top, looking towards Cape Town City Bowl. Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela spent some of his 27 years of imprisonment, is the little island you see in the background.
I had a good Mountain-Top laugh Tuesday. If I manage to pull a Biblical lesson out of this one, I think you should consider me a magician. It’s really just a funny story, and I thought you might enjoy laughing at with me.
At the top of Table Mountain, they have some special toilets. When you have a toddler with a soggy diaper on your hands, you might not have an extra moment to read the special sign on the way in that explains that the toilets are similar to the ones designed for use on airplanes. Such was the case for me. I saw something about a Boeing 747 and that the toilet paper was “green” even though it was brown, but I didn’t care. I was just looking for the Baby Changing station.
After the Bear had some clean duds, I decided to take the opportunity to use the potty myself, since I didn’t know where we were headed next or how long it would be before I had another opportunity.
The toilets were strange to say the least. They reminded me of a porta-potty. Once you opened the stall door, there were two big steps UP to get to the toilet. I hung the diaper bag on the door, stood the Bear on the middle step and then stepped up to quickly tinkle. The Bear often comes to the loo with me in public and stands there politely while I use the potty. He usually appreciates it when he gets to be the one to flush.
However, on this particular occasion, he seemed a little uneasy. Maybe it was because the ginormous airplane-like toilet was five feet up in the air and just plain weird.
So.
There I am going for a tinkle, when the Bear decides he’s totally not cool with this ginormous mountain-top toilet scenario. He decides to step down from the middle step where he was standing. Now did I mention that each of these steps is like a foot and a half high? As you might guess, when you are about two feet high, a one foot drop might as well be a jump off the high dive. Clearly the Bear hadn’t thought this through.
He takes his leap of faith and falls forward, and his head hits the door, causing it to swing w  i  d  e open. And he is lodged between the foot and a half high step and the wall of the bathroom stall. Crying, and as it appeared from my view four feet above, pretty darn uncomfortable.
So I do what any Mom would do in such a situation.
I stand up, reach down to grab him, and pull him up to sit on my lap.
Meaning.
I am sitting on this big old potty five feet in the air with my trousers around my ankles, a wailing baby in my lap, and the stall door wide open for anyone who would care to venture a look in my direction plenty of time to snap a shot with their iPhone. I console the Bear, and I can only smile and giggle, because
#1 This is motherhood at its finest. And #2 No one is around to enjoy the moment with me. Praise the Lord.
I’m really quite thankful the restroom attendant had stepped out at that point. I wondered if the men outside the loo trying to use the pay phone heard a thud, a wail and a big squeal. I was too busy giggling my way back to Hero Hubs to tell if they stared at me when I walked past.
I suppose sometimes, when you find yourself in a situation where it would be easy to freak out or get flustered, it’s a good idea to decide to laugh. The Bear survived without a bruise, and I didn’t end up flashing anyone. And if that’s not a good reason to be of good cheer, I don’t know what is. You know, a cheerful heart is good medicine, but a downcast spirit dries up the bones. (Proverbs 17:22)
Perhaps we should all take a moment to have a good laugh today. Even if you have to have a laugh at my expense, it’ll do your heart some good. 🙂
xCC
Here’s another mountain-top shot, with a Bear who was none too keen on being photographed. I’ll share some more soon.
Apr 20, 2010 | Travel..ling Tuesdays
Once again this Travelling Tuesday is filled with a gift I’ve been eager to unwrap. The gift of giving, and finding again and again, that you cannot out-give God. Even in giving, you find that you receive more in return — and my cup is overflowing.
As I shared last week, we visited an area called Overcome Heights on Thursday. We had the awesome privilege of teaming up with a ministry there called Living Hope, and we put shoes on the feet of close to 70 children. Many of those children arrived with bare feet and left with perhaps their first pair of shoes.
I’ll try not to wax on too long about this special moment since Travelling Tuesdays are about photos, but I have to say that it was just such a wonderful gift to give away shoes in Overcome Heights. When you come face to face with the reality of poverty, you find yourself newly aware of how very, very much you have to be thankful for. How very, very little cause you have for complaint. How very, very privileged you are if you have a roof over your head… a few changes of clothes… more than one or two pairs of shoes for your feet.
It is a gift to come face to face with the reality of poverty, to let it become more than just pictures on TV and in magazines, to let it become the faces of children that you pick up, touch, hold, talk to — it becomes more than just an idea. It becomes real. And if you let it, it will change you for the better. You can’t have the same outlook you had yesterday. Contentment, and joy, should be easier to grasp.
I hope that as I take a moment to share these realities with you, that you’ll receive this gift, too. That you’ll unwrap it, think about it, hold it in your heart for a while, and maybe even let it change the way you look at life.
As always, saving my favourites for last, check out this awesome wagon!!! These boys were having a blast.
The little one going for a ride received a new pair of shoes, but I think he took them home and kept wearing his old worn-through ones because he didn’t want to mess up his new shoes.
These boys were looking at each others’ shoes for ages. So sweet.
My prayer is that Overcome Heights will be a prophetic name. That these children, who are being ministered to by the awesome volunteers at Living Hope, will overcome heights, and will grow up to change the world for the better.
This is what it’s all about.
I hope you were encouraged this Travelling Tuesday! May you enjoy your journey today, and out of all that you’ve received, find ways to give!
xCC
Would you like to join in the Travelling Tuesday fun? Just create your own Travelling Tuesday post on your blog or site, and enter the link to your Travelling Tuesday Post below. Your photos can be from a trip around the world a year ago, or from your backyard yesterday. Just be sure to put a link back here on your site, so others can join in the adventure!
This post was linked up to Tuesdays Unwrapped at Chatting at the Sky.
Apr 19, 2010 | The Good Word
Here’s what I’m trying to say. Don’t worry about your life — what you’re gonna eat and drink, what you’re gonna wear. Isn’t there more to life than food? More to having a body than wearing clothes? Think about it. Birds don’t plant seeds or drive thru McDonalds, but God feeds them.
Aren’t you more important than birds?
And think about how flowers grow. They don’t shop on Rodeo Drive or spend time at a sewing machine, but they’re so much more beautiful than any of the dresses on the red carpet. If God provides clothing for flowers which won’t last but a few days, won’t He take care of you?
So stop repeating over and over again, “Where should we eat tonight?” or “I don’t have anything to wear.” This is what people who don’t believe in God are worried about. But God knows what you need. So make Him and His kingdom your number one priority, and you’ll have everything you need.
And don’t worry about tomorrow. There’s enough happening today to keep you occupied.”
(Matthew 6:25-34, my paraphrase)
Lord, help us get this in our hearts.
xCC
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