Sep 19, 2009 | South Africa, Top Ten Lists
I just enjoyed another birthday yesterday! Mark treated me incredibly well and it was a DELIGHTFUL day, even so far away from the places I’ve been calling home. Thank you, Markus, I love you and I’m so thankful for you! And thank you Richard, Heather, Wendy & Niel for helping me celebrate! It’s great to be in SA!
I still have some time left in my 20s, which I am happy about, but I had a moment to take some inventory and think a bit about my life toward the end of the day, and I have a few thoughts to share. These might ward off the birthday blues for the next anniversary of your arrival in the world, or be an encouragement for you today, even if it’s just your un-birthday.
10. This one’s obvious. Eat whatever you want, guilt free. This should NOT be a habit, and you should not go overboard so that you’ll feel yucky the next day. If you do this once a week, then nevermind. 🙂 But don’t drink too much. You’ll probably make silly decisions, and wake up the next day feeling awful and old, and then you’ll be sorry it was ever your birthday!
9. Count your blessings. Seriously. Think about your life and what you have to be thankful for. Do you have a job? Are you healthy? Is your family healthy? We take so much for granted, taking a moment to take stock and be thankful for your life might make the idea of ‘aging’ a little easier.
8. Take inventory of the past year. Are there some things you think you might like to do differently in the year ahead? Get excited about learning from the mistakes you’ve made. I am so thankful the mischief of my youth, which did NOT bring me JOY, is behind me.
7. Smile at your achievements. Have you been hitting the gym faithfully? Did you get a promotion at work? Did you treat someone nicely even when they weren’t so nice to you? Take a moment to say well done for the good stuff you accomplished this year.
6. Even if you have to organise it yourself, get together with friends and/or family for your birthday. It is good to enjoy your life and to ask others to celebrate it with you.
5. Do something unselfish today — some act of kindness that stretches you a little. It is more blessed to give than to receive, and your soul will reap the benefits of it.
4. Count your blessings again! This time think about the past year: Did someone close to you get married or have a baby this year? Did you have the opportunity to travel somewhere new? Did you get to watch a sporting event or two where the team you were hoping to win did? Find some reasons to smile at the year you’ve just lived, and rejoice in the good.
3. Do something that will help you relax for a while. Sit at a coffee shop and watch the world go by, even if you can only do so for half an hour. Slather on some SPF and take in some rays. Find somewhere comfy to take a nap!  Find a way to press the pause button.
2. Laugh at the days ahead. If you remember that people are still giving birth in their 50s, graduating from college in their 80s and climbing mountains in their 90s, it’s is easier for you to recognise that you can still have plenty of life ahead of you, no matter what year you were born.
1. Be GLAD you’ve been blessed with another year! If you’re perceptive, you may be able to see that your life is getting better with time. If it is not getting better with time, perhaps you need to make some adjustments!
My Lesson From this Birthday: When I was 25 or so, Mark asked me to marry him in the bushveld on a game reserve in South Africa. Less than six months later, we were married. It was a great year. I remember thinking, “how is life going to get better than this? I think I’ve just enjoyed what I’ll look back at as the best year of my life.” And that made me a little sad. But the truth is, the next year was really great, and this past year was absolutely my best yet. I honestly believe that in God, as you learn to walk with Him and in His ways, He can increase your joy, no matter your circumstances. That means that whether you are being abased, or living in abundance, you can learn to enjoy the peace and thankfulness that comes from having a Centre other than yourself. Happy Birthday to you! I hope it is truly good.
xCC
Aug 17, 2009 | Stories, The Good Word
This time of year is often a really tough time for me. Whenever I’m home, it’s usually only for a month or so, and there are a lot of people I really want to see, spread out all over the place. I want to see my friends, and I want to connect with our ministry partners to thank them personally for their support, to see how they’re doing, and this time around, to share about our transition from Scotland to South Africa. Connecting with everyone is not humanly possible. As the days and hours start ticking away and our departure approaches, I get stressed out about our schedule, not wanting to miss out on getting to see everyone. If you’re anything like me, you might struggle a bit with not wanting to disappoint people. It’s a tough place to be!
When I enter into the space where ‘the urgent’ becomes the tyrant dictating my life, a couple of friends often come to join me on the journey. I sometimes start getting ulcers in my mouth, or strange aches and pains in different places. I sometimes get headaches, and I struggle to put one foot in front of the other to get everyday things done. It’s like my body is saying, “Hey Idiot! Stop stressing and running around! I’m not supposed to run on all six cylinders for this amount of time. You’re gonna burn me out!”  My time with the Lord gets pushed aside because of all the other things that need to get done, and THAT is when things really start heading south.
As I was talking to the Lord about this this morning, I was reminded of a few things that I figure a lot of us could probably stand to be reminded of every once in a while. If you’re interested, dear friend, read on…
First, if you live your life trying to please people, you are inevitably going to fall short and be frustrated with yourself.  If you focus on trying to please God every day, you’ll find that pacing yourself, making wise choices, and even getting GOOD rest pleases Him. No one else is going to guard your time and rest. People will take as much as you’ll give them, and encourage you to keep giving out more. If you can rest in the knowledge that the only one you need to please is your heavenly Father, and focus on following His leading, you will do well.
Second, the Lord tells us to rest for a reason. Each day has sufficient trouble of its own. We aren’t supposed to worry about tomorrow. We can rest in the knowledge that God is in control. When we begin stressing that we have to get everything sorted out, voila, we have stomach ulcers, headaches…and even worse health conditions, many that would have been completely prevented had we been willing to change our pace and make rest a priority. There will always be something urgent on the agenda. If you keep running after the urgent, you’ll neglect the important, and suffer the consequences.ÂÂ
Third, the Lord reminded me of the story of Lazarus. (See John 11:1-44) Jesus heard that Lazarus was sick, but He stayed where He was for two more days before heading over to Judea. Lazarus was the brother of Martha, and Mary (who washed Jesus’ feet with fragrant oil and dried them with her hair). This family was very dear to Him. When He (finally) arrived on the scene, Lazarus was already dead, and people were mourning him. The question obviously came from both women — “Ugh, Jesus, where ya been? Cuz if you showed up, om…seeing as how you have healing powers and all…well…it seems pretty apparent if you hadn’t taken your time about getting here, Lazarus wouldn’t be in a tomb right now.”ÂÂ
It isn’t readily apparent why Jesus decided to take His time about getting there, but He does say in response to the news of Lazarus’ illness, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” So for God’s glory, and in God’s timing (we can be sure of that since Jesus never stepped out of God’s will) Jesus traveled to Judea and by the time He arrived, Lazarus had been dead four days. You may or may not know the rest of the story: after conversations with Martha and Mary, and seeing the weeping, Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. In doing so, He demonstrated His power, not just over sickness, but also over death, and many Jews began to believe in Him because of this amazing miracle. (So much so that the Pharisees began plotting to kill Him.)
Jesus could have rushed over to Martha and Mary’s place, and healed Lazarus before He passed away. The urgency of the situation could have forced Him to drop everything and rush over. But He waited for God’s timing, and in doing so, God was glorified, and His will was done. Many believed and the stage was set for even greater works yet to come.
The Sermon in a Nutshell: If you let it, the urgent will always distract you from the important. If instead you purpose yourself to walk in God’s timing, the BEST will become possible. Trust God for tomorrow. Besides Australians, He’s the only one who’s already there. 😉
Jul 1, 2009 | Stories, The Good Word
Have I ever told you about the time I worked as a pawnbroker? God did so much in my life through my experience of working at a Pawn Shop  just inside the beltline in Raleigh, NC for a year before I left for Scotland. If you’re not familiar with what a Pawn Shop is, google it, or perhaps we’ll have a lesson about that another day.
In the meantime…you may have heard this expression before: “Keep Your Eye on the Cross.” On one especially fated day back at the pawn shop, God made this lesson incredibly real for me…seriously. Seriously.
See, someone pawned this ridiculously expensive white gold … or maybe platinum cross. It must’ve been 4 or 5 inches long and 3 or 4 inches wide — like, too big for me to close my hand around it. And it was COVERED, its entire length and width, with diamonds. Big, quality diamonds, and there was one really big diamond in the centre. Iced out, frosted bling bling. I could hardly believe the thing was real. But it was! And someone pawned it and didn’t come back to pick it up, so it was in the jewelry case for sale for ages. This was the kind of bling a baller would be so proud to sport he’d put his life in danger for it. Pricetag: $5,000. I’m not even kidding. Well, it was $10,000 but everything was always 50% off.
So, this one day, this guy comes in and wants to see the gold bracelets in the case where the cross is. I open up the case, and start showing him one after another. He’s trying them on, way different sizes, way different looks, way different prices, and I begin to think, “Hmm, champ…you’re either somehow female, or you just have no clue, or else you’re not really after a bracelet.” And in my mind, I heard the Lord say, “Keep your eye on the cross.” My first thought was, “Okay, Jesus, I know. Thank you for the cross” and then I realised the Lord was literally saying, “Keep your eye on that cross.” “Okay, Lord, okay.”
A moment later, I knocked over one of the watches in the case, and it fell out of the case onto the floor. I very carefully slid the case closed, leaned down to pick up the watch while keeping an eye on the case, and then continued helping this guy. When I put the watch back I double checked — yes, the bling bling cross is still there. Sweet. So two minutes later, this guy is still saying “Okay let me see this one…okay that one.” And I’m beginning to think he’s wasting my time. All of sudden I realise, “Holy cow, where is the cross!!!!!?????!!!!”
To this day, I have no idea how the guy got hold of it. I mean I was really paying attention carefully. I looked up at him, and then looked, and I could see he was holding it in his hand down by his side, but it was too big to be completely concealed. I looked at it, looked up at him, and seriously you guys, a boldness came over me like nothing I’ve ever experienced, and I said, “Give it back.” He looked at me, kind of uncomfortably, and then tried to play it off, and handed the cross over the counter to me. My heart was absolutely racing. I put the cross back into the case and locked it. He said he wanted to keep looking at bracelets, and I said, “No.” He left the store and my manager was rather perturbed he didn’t have the opportunity to call him in for attempted theft. I was thankful the Lord had prompted me to be mindful of that stinkin cross or I probably would’ve lost my job and owed my boss 5K!
Not just in a literal way, but also in a spiritual way, being mindful of the cross can give us a clearer perspective on what’s happening around us. When we think about Jesus’ sacrifice — coming down from heaven where He was equal with God to save us — we realise that, in comparison, no matter what we give up, we aren’t really sacrificing very much to follow Him. When the enemy tries to condemn us, or make us feel like because of our sin we are unworthy of a relationship with a holy God, we can point to the cross and remind him that our relationship with God is paid for.
And thanks to the Bling Bling Pawn Shop Cross that almost got stolen, I will have the message — Keep your eyes on the cross — etched in my heart for the rest of my days.
xCC
Jun 12, 2009 | Scotland, South Africa, The Good Word, Top Ten Lists
After a good chat with a friend of mine who’s going through a hard time, I started thinking about some of the things I think the Lord might like to say to her, to speak to her heart in the place where she is right now. I thought it might be something a lot of other people need to hear, too, so I thought I’d share it.
I hope this is a Top Ten from the Heart of God…
10. You are so wonderful, so special, and so precious to Me. I knit you together in your mother’s womb, and there is no one else in the universe like you. (Psalm 139:13-14)
9. Before your life even began, I sent my one and only Son to die for you. I did this because I love you.  (Ephesians 2:4&5)
8. I know sometimes it feels like I’m a million miles away. But I told you I would never leave you, and I meant it. Even when it feels like no one is with you, I Am. (Hebrews 13:5)
7. Even during this time when you’ve felt so far away, I’ve been with you. I’m always with you. (Matthew 28:20)
6. My darling, you are so beautiful, special and precious to Me.  (Song of Solomon 1:15)
5. Even before you went away from Me, I forgave you. (Luke 23:34)
4. I don’t change, and My love for you will never change. (Hebrews 13:8)
3. You don’t have to do anything to earn My love. Please know that My grace is sufficient. In these moments when you are feeling so weak, My strength can be made perfect in you. (2 Cor. 12:9)
2. I miss you. I want to hear you speak again, and I want to see your face again — your voice is so sweet to Me, you face is so lovely to Me. (Song of Solomon 2:14)
1. No matter where you are, no matter how far away you feel, if you search for Me with your heart and soul, you’ll find Me. (Deut 4:29) I want to be found by you. If you look for Me, you’ll find Me. (Jeremiah 29:12-13)
Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens. Your faithfulness, stretches to the skies. Psalm 36:5
Jun 11, 2009 | Stories, The Good Word
When you’re talking to someone, and you are not very near each other, you have to shout in order to hear what each other is saying. The closer you get, the more softly you can speak, to the point that your mouth can be just by the person’s ear, and you can communicate what you want to say with nought but a whisper.
When I first began to walk with the Lord, I felt like I heard Him loud and clear. When I prayed about something, the answer was almost a shout — like He was making sure I knew He was there, He was helping me to learn to trust Him, helping me to learn to recognise His voice. As the years have gone by, however, it seems His voice has grown more quiet. This could be a discouragement, if I were not thoughtful about the Lord’s ways, and perhaps His motivation in drawing more quiet.
If someone is speaking to you quietly, you have to draw nearer to listen. As long as they’re shouting, you can stand at a good distance and still get the message. But as the voice of the Lord becomes a still, small voice, He invites you — as deep calls out to deep — to draw nearer and nearer, to listen.  Perhaps the goal in this is that we can draw so very close to the Lord that our ears are upon His chest, and we are listening to the very beat of His heart.
What untold riches there are at the foot of the throne of Jesus! But perhaps even more treasures may abound, the closer you draw to the heart of God.
“…and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.
So it was, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave…”  1 Kings 19: 11-13
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