Oct 24, 2009 | Stories, The Good Word
It is often the case that when I am waiting for something to happen, for example, if we are trusting God for the finances we need, I want to know how it is going to come about. I even pray specifically, let it be that… a gift shows up today, or this happens or that happens. And sometimes I am reminded who I am…and that I am not the great I AM.
When Moses was being called by the Lord to deliver the people from Egypt, he had a lot of fears, and a lot of questions. He didn’t understand how he could be used to deliver the Israelites who were enslaved to the Egyptians, because he wasn’t a very good speaker, in his own opinion. (See the first few chapters of Exodus for more.) But God didn’t answer him by saying, “Okay so first I’m gonna sort out your speech impediment. Step 2, I’m gonna harden Pharoah’s heart. Step 3, we’ll do some miraculous stuff…†You get the idea.
Instead of giving Moses the play by play, the Lord answered by reminding Moses, “I am the Lord.†Similar to his first encounter at the burning bush, when the Lord told Moses. “I AM WHO I AM.†The possibility of deliverance for the Israelites had nothing to do with Moses’ resume or skill set — it had everything to do with God, being the Lord, Who intended to keep His covenant and redeem His people. And all that is necessary for something to become possible is for the Lord to set His heart to do it.
We are often afraid of stepping out to do something we know we ought to do, even something we sense the Lord telling us to do, because we fear we don’t have the skills and abilities to do it. It is not our skills and abilities, but the work of God in us and through us, that will make anything possible.
I wonder if things would have been different if Moses had been more willing to trust God. The Lord conceded to give Moses a ‘spokesman’ in Aaron, which meant that God would speak His will and words to Moses, Moses would share them with Aaron, and Aaron would speak to Pharaoh and to the Israelites on his behalf. Perhaps Aaron got “too big for his britches†in taking such a role in fulfilling a part of the call that Moses was supposed to answer. Not too much later, the story finds the Israelites delivered from the Egyptians, Moses on the mountaintop with God, and Aaron down with the people, making idols for them. I digress on that point, really.
The Sermon in a Nutshell: Don’t be afraid to step out and do what I AM has called you to do. The Lord is the Lord, and when He is at work, though you may not see how, anything is possible.
Oct 23, 2009 | South Africa, Stories
While Mark and I were back visiting his parents in Bloemfontein, we visited a big church there called CRC (Christian Revival Church). The place was packing out as we arrived for the mid-morning service, and we slotted in sort of to the left of centre in this big building with a huge stage and big TV screens and lights and effects and cameramen. The worship started off similar to what we’re used to in non-denominational churches in most parts of the world – the charismatic, joyful, powerful voices and drums and keys and guitars so on, and then there was a transition, for just a single song, where we were singing in a language which was … I think Ndebele or Tsonga. I obviously had absolutely no clue what the heck we were singing about, other than I was fairly sure we were singing about the Lord.
The Words were on the screen and I just followed along and did my best with:
WA NYAMALALA NGANA
UMTHWALO WAWA SIZE
Or something of that sort. But then the joy broke loose! The rest of the congregation began getting into it, doing dance movements associated with the lyrics, singing with such joy and passion (and an occasionally what I would call a Latino tongue trill, which I had to join in on). I was overjoyed to join in wholeheartedly, although I still had absolutely no clue what we were singing about. Mark and I did our best at our white-folk-can’t-dance version of the dance movements, I was adding in a Latino trill or two, and we were just singing and smiling and joyful to worship God with a couple thousand complete strangers in a language we didn’t understand.
Afterwards I asked Mark if it was perhaps Zulu we were singing in, but his best guess was that it was Sesotho. (Googling the lyrics I remembered didn’t bring about much success. Shame! But we think we’ve concluded it was probably Ndebele or Tsonga.) The guest speaker for the morning was, funny enough, from Seattle, Washington, and we were encouraged by his message. I occasionally felt like I might be one of the only ones there who got the jokes, but everybody laughed. It was altogether such a special and delightful experience, and I hope the next time we’re in Bloemfontein, we can enjoy the fellowship at CRC again. It is a blessing to know that if you are in Christ, wherever you are, if there are believers there, you can feel right at home.
Sing it with me now…
WA NYAMALALA NGANA
UMTHWALO WAWA SIZE!
Oct 22, 2009 | South Africa, Stories, The Good Word
After arriving in the country, Mark and I began the difficult task of trying to find a church to call home. It’s really really strange to suddenly feel like you’re “church-hopping” when two months ago we staff members at a church back in Scotland. During our explorations so far, we had a good experience at one church but weren’t sure if it was the right one. (We were bummed they didn’t have a creche/nursery).
I cried as we left another church because I was overwhelmingly bummed that NO ONE talked to us or welcomed us the whole time. And then we visited a third church this Sunday, and the theology and message being preached was so stinking dodgy Mark wanted to stand up in the middle of the service and say, “You’re wrong! That’s not what the Scripture says!”
That is a long long story that probably deserves its own blog post, but for now, the short of it is, it was not a church that was faithfully preaching the Word of God. I don’t really know what exactly they’re preaching. Something from the Book of Second Opinions I guess. It is funny that one of my recent posts discussed how God’s Word can be misconstrued to say what people want it to say if they come to it with an agenda, and and not with the desire to understand the Truth. Anyway, we left the whole ordeal with a rather yucky taste in our mouths, so to speak. And then we had some realisations.
One simple commandment that is easy to forget is “Seek first the kingdom of God.” As Mark and I left the service and began to talk about the experience we’d just had, we realised we should’ve first asked the Lord… “Where do you want us?” And then listened for His leading. How simple is that? Seek His kingdom first. Seek His will first. Seek His way first.
Instead, we just started floating around visiting churches on the recommendations of others and on personal whims. We were just looking at things based on our own opinions. This church doesn’t have a nursery. Nobody spoke to me at this one and it made me cry. (Mind you guys — moving to a new country might give you a few tough moments here and there!) This one is preaching heresy. Ugh…great.
We probably could’ve saved ourselves a lot of hassle and heartache if instead we’d first said, “Jesus, please direct our steps. By Your Holy Spirit, please lead us to the church where You would have us added.”
While I don’t think the Lord will be leading us to settle in at the church that is preaching heresy, I do think He has a way better idea than we do of the right way, and the best way, which is His will. If we’re not listening to Him, then we’re just choosing based on our own measuring sticks. We might as well be asking, Do I feel comfortable in the seats at this church? Does their carpet match most of my church clothes?
It is GOOD to be reminded that His ways are higher than our ways… So now instead of using our own measuring devices to figure out what we think is best, we have asked God to forgive us for not seeking Him first, and we are going to actively seek Him, and ask Him where He would have us put down our roots. I’ll let you know how it goes. 🙂
Oct 16, 2009 | South Africa, Stories
I went for a jog yesterday afternoon and was surprised by how sometimes doing some of the most simple things in life can teach you profound truth if you’re paying attention. We’ve moved into a big secure complex in Gordon’s Bay with houses and apartment buildings that sit on a beautiful harbour. There are lots of boats and geese and palm trees and the views of the nearby Hottentots Holland mountains are spectacular when the sun sets. There’s a boardwalk and brick path around part of the harbour that makes a great walking or jogging circuit.
On this particular afternoon I went out for a quick jog – I normally do this in the morning but the Bear woke me up during the night the night before and I was too tired at 6:00 am to get out of bed for a jog! The weather was a bit windy, but still nice and mild. There aren’t so many people here at this time of year, because so many people who own property in the complex just use it for a month or two out of the year. So besides a very occasional “Hello†or “enjoy†here and there, it was mostly me, my shoes and my thoughts.
A view from our new place. See the sweet wee harbour?
And one of those funny moments showed up – totally out of the blue – where you just start thinking, “Man life is good. This is so lovely. I’m in such a beautiful place. I am glad to be alive. God is good.†I kind of marvelled at ‘the moment’ showing up and just smiled thinking – wisdom has taught me – these moments never last long!
Then I turned a corner to continue the jog out onto the jetty wall which encloses the outermost section of the harbour and what should meet me but BLINDING GALE FORCE WINDS HOWLING PAST MY EARS AND ATTEMPTING TO STOP ME DEAD IN MY TRACKS… or blow me into the water. And as life often does, so I was presented with the choice, out onto the jetty as intended, or turn around and enjoy the wind on my back for a while. It’s an Irish proverb after all.
I instantly thought about the moment before. When everything seems to be cheesecake and chocolate soup, you will often come across a bump in the road or a fork in the path. There you meet the opportunity to take the path of least resistance, and it is especially tempting when you are afforded opportunities that will require you to work harder than you want to.
This challenge immediately translates to many areas of life – choosing to tell the truth regardless of the consequences, choosing to act according to what you know is right, instead of what everyone expects of you, or what will be easiest. It may mean fighting for a marriage that seems like a losing battle, or standing up to your boss when you know he’s doing something that isn’t right. Earlier in the day, for me it meant dealing with areas where I was holding offences against others, and asking them to forgive me. Especially if you want to live for what is right — you are consistently going to meet obstacles.
These opportunities are defining moments in our lives. The moments when we choose the path of most resistance, because it’s the right path, are the moments when our true character is revealed – the moments when it’s clear what we’re really made of.
I pressed out onto the jetty, all the way to the end, where I could give the fisherman a good afternoon and a wave, then turned around and started heading back. Although my character may not have vastly improved by that simple decision, choosing the path of most resistance will make me a little stronger for the next run, and perhaps even able to stand when the real gale force winds blow through our little housing complex, here in Gordon’s Bay. So my encouragement for you? Choose the path of most resistance today. And let me know what happens.
Oct 14, 2009 | Stories, Top Ten Lists
Top of the week to you! Welcome to the new website! There’s still some work to be done to make it a bit more pretty and tidy, but I hope you will enjoy it as is in the meantime! Here’s a Fresh Top Ten for the Inaugural Post on the New Site. Hope you enjoy!
For the last year of our time in Scotland, Mark and I almost altogether avoided TV, except for downloading episodes of Lost, and buying a season or two of an old show at Cash Converters. To be honest, it was a really life-giving situation, although sometimes I still wanted to ‘veg out’ in front of the TV…I felt like things were just so much better when we weren’t watching so much TV.
I once calculated the amount of time I spent watching a particular show in my childhood – Saved by the Bell. I remember that it came on twice on two different stations, meaning I watched two hours of a show I’d already seen every episode of, pretty much every day after school. I watched that same show for ages and ages – I’m totally confident for at least four, possibly five years straight, two hours a day during the school year. I did the math to discover that I wasted at the very least sixty days of my life – and if you think about it, since you’re not actually awake all the time, it was really a waste of even more time in terms of waking hours. I am certain I wasted an excess of TWO MONTHS of my life…on just one TV show! I want those hours back, Screech!
The list of good things we could probably accomplish – spending time with our children, loving our family, exercising…etc., is probably a few miles long, but for starters, here’s a crack at my Top Ten Reasons to Stop Watching So Much TV.
- 10. Advertising works! Companies spend millions and billions of dollars on advertising every year because it actually works! The less TV you watch, the less commercials you will see that will make you feel like there’s one more thing you can’t live without. (If you do what we do – buy old seasons of shows, or download episodes, you can avoid commercials altogether and still enjoy the show in your own timing).
- 9. It will probably improve your health – if nothing else than just for the simple fact that you might go to bed earlier and get more sleep! Early to bed, early to rise, might remove those dark circles from under your eyes!
- 8. You might dramatically decrease your selfishness, and your flair for the dramatic. I mean, what good role models are you watching on TV. Life imitates art. Do you seriously want to model yourself after the Desperate Housewives?
- 7. It’s very likely to improve your self esteem and self image if you stop letting the TV tell you what you should look like, and what you need to buy to have less frizzy hair, whiter teeth and a six-pack.
- 6. Be more productive with good stuff! You can spend time with people you care about, doing something useful. You can organise your sock drawer…you can play with your kids…the options are unlimited!
- 5. Read a book! There’s a lot to be said for curling up with a classic. You’ll probably learn something, and you probably won’t feel like you need to be a better consumer at the end.
- 4. You could cancel your TV subscription altogether, and save money for a holiday – or just save the money. This is a recession, right?
- 3. You can get outside more. Yeah baby! Start living and stop watching other people live for you!
- 2. Spend some of your former TV time reading a good blog or two! I have a couple of recommendations… 😉
- 1. If you’re a Christian, you can spend the time you would’ve lost watching TV with an awesome and Almighty God. You won’t feel the need to go shopping afterwards…you’ll be reminded of all the things you have to be thankful for…and you will find joy you will never find while hanging out with the crew from Grey’s Anatomy. Yay!
So, that’s your TV-Stopping Top Ten! I hope you enjoyed it, you’ll leave some feedback, and you’ll get out there and do something that makes you feel alive today. But if it’s anything dangerous, don’t hold me responsible or the consequences. xC
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