Alone with God
Last week, we decided to sit on the far side wall of the church facing the side of the audience. During the praise songs, we were singing this song...
You are holy
You are mighty
You are worthy
Worthy of praise
I will follow
I will love you
All of my days...
As we sang this sound, I looked out over the audience and watched people worship God. It was powerful and I had a revelation. God spoke to me watching these people worship. Many had both of their hands stretched up like a baby wanting to be picked up by their Daddy. Others had their eyes closed as they sang. A few smiled brightly with their eyes closed. A few others were crying.
I focused on a friend on the front row. Her husband was beside her, her young son and daughter on the other side. I know this girl very well - we grew up together. She and her husband have a totally souled out relationship with God. They are not "pretty" people. They don't play society's games. They are intently focused on their walk with God.
But in this moment, I focused on Nancy. A wife, mother, daughter, sister and friend to many, in that 3-4 minutes, she was totally alone with God. Eyes closed, arms stretched upward and focused on every word she sang to the Lord....
You are holy
You are mighty
You are worthy
Worthy of praise
I will follow
I will love you
All of my days...
Nothing else mattered in that moment for Nancy. She and God were millions of miles away from her earthly responsibilities. She wasn't a Mama, she wasn't a wife - she was totally alone with her Father. And there, in that moment, I was stuck with a word from God - my walk with God is ALL that matters. Compared to God, my wife and daughters don't "matter". To say they also matter greatly diminishes the enormity of God. One day all will be stripped away. My job won't matter. Taxes won't matter. Investments won't matter. Houses will be torn down. Our spouses and kids won't have the role they have on this earth. In that final and eternal moment, it will be me and God. It will all be about God and my walk with Him. It is God and God alone.
Now, I am not saying literally that nothing on this earth matters - that I should just focus on God and no one else. God gave me a wife and kids and a job and areas of service and He expects me to provide and care for those entrusted to my care.
But that worship experience drove home the real point - that ultimately and in the final analysis...what matters is God in the sense that to compare him to my wife or my daughters or my career is to just so greatly diminish who God is. He is worthy of no comparison.
And yet, I have find myself compartmentalizing God. I pull Him off the shelf for a short while and quickly put Him back away when I am done needing him. What God showed me was He craves full-time relationship with me. God doesn't want a part-time relationship with us. He desires constant, loving fathering of His children. Constant communication, constant asking "What about this Lord?", constant seeking... "Who is it You want me to reach out to?", constant studying "Lord, what does Your Word want to show me today?" and constant thanksgiving for the marvel of His grace and love.
I was liberated (here again, the Great Liberator has yet again opened another jail cell and set a part of me free...) last Sunday. God showed me. I get it!
Soar!
Monday, May 18, 2009
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Social observations...
Just a few social observations. Be aware of what goes on around you. This age we live in is very dangerous.
Oakland California is opening to debate a measure to legalize marijuana because the city is broke and needs the tax revenues. California is an interesting observation in and of itself. It is a pretty liberal place and always has been on the cutting edge of evolutionary thinking. It is an incredibly rich state - Stanford University, Silicon Valley, Google, Cisco Systems, Intel, vast lush farm fields, huge offshore oil reserves and yet the state is also teetering on bankruptcy. Miles of farmland is restricted from farming to protect a small animal that isn't even on the endangered species list - it seems the environmentalists crave the protection of this small animal over the jobs and tax revenues the farms would produce. They have huge oil reserves but the environmentalists won't touch it. And yet the state is going broke. Vast social programs to help the less fortunate have outstripped the vast revenues from the huge industries operating there. And now, they toy with legalizing pot to help balance the budget. What of the unintended consequences of this action? What of the oppressed that the very liberal seemed focused on protecting who already struggle with poverty and drug addiction? What will come for this group if pot is legalized? How easy will it be for the unemployed to get a job if their boss knows they can smoke pot on their break? What will happen to crime rates? It is shaky ground they sit on...quite literally.
Here is another observation -- The Rev. Katherine Ragsdale has been elected the President of Episcopal Divinity School - a major seminary near Harvard founded in 1974 after the merger of two divinity schools founded in the 1850's. She is an openly gay woman and has decided to take an aggressive stance on abortion. For her (and her teachings and the students coming through her Divinity school), it is not enough to be pro-choice but rather to be fanatically pro-abortion. She says abortion is a "blessing". (A blessing!) She goes on to say, "When a woman becomes pregnant within a loving and supportive relationship she has every option open to her. If she decides not to bear a child and has access to a safe abortion - there is not a tragedy in sight - only blessing. (a blessing!) The ability to enjoy God's good gift of sexuality without compromising one's education, life's work, or ability to put to use God's gifts and call is simply a blessing."
She goes to say that the workers who make abortions possible should be thanked --- now get this -- because they "are doing holy work."
In 2003, she said the Resurrection may never have happened. That the suffering and death of Jesus is "an interesting theory, but not one I find compelling."
This woman is running a school of Divinity. She is responsible for the education of future Episcopalian's who seek to enter to field of ministry.
So not only is our nation now running away from God but so are some of the leaders of our denominations. She hits the nail on the head that which plagues our nation - the ability to do whatever we want without having to compromise. No responsibilities - just being able to do what we want with no consequences.
It is a very dangerous age we live in. As we go about our daily lives, we ignore the creeping cancer that is eating our nation's soul. It is eating into our major denominations. Preachers are routinely embracing gay rights, abortion and saying you cannot believe the Bible literally.
God warns us that the days are dangerous. We have to be on alert because our enemy prowls around like a lion looking for someone to devour. I'm afraid America is the next meal.
Where do we go with this? Where is the hope? The hope is in Christ. The final battle is already won. We know how this story ends - it ends in Christ's return as a mighty warrior who will destroy the foul one and send him to his death. We may be living in the worst of days. We'll see terrible things continue to happen. Let us be light in this very dark world. There is a battle being waged. We are troops serving a mighty General.
Soar!
Just a few social observations. Be aware of what goes on around you. This age we live in is very dangerous.
Oakland California is opening to debate a measure to legalize marijuana because the city is broke and needs the tax revenues. California is an interesting observation in and of itself. It is a pretty liberal place and always has been on the cutting edge of evolutionary thinking. It is an incredibly rich state - Stanford University, Silicon Valley, Google, Cisco Systems, Intel, vast lush farm fields, huge offshore oil reserves and yet the state is also teetering on bankruptcy. Miles of farmland is restricted from farming to protect a small animal that isn't even on the endangered species list - it seems the environmentalists crave the protection of this small animal over the jobs and tax revenues the farms would produce. They have huge oil reserves but the environmentalists won't touch it. And yet the state is going broke. Vast social programs to help the less fortunate have outstripped the vast revenues from the huge industries operating there. And now, they toy with legalizing pot to help balance the budget. What of the unintended consequences of this action? What of the oppressed that the very liberal seemed focused on protecting who already struggle with poverty and drug addiction? What will come for this group if pot is legalized? How easy will it be for the unemployed to get a job if their boss knows they can smoke pot on their break? What will happen to crime rates? It is shaky ground they sit on...quite literally.
Here is another observation -- The Rev. Katherine Ragsdale has been elected the President of Episcopal Divinity School - a major seminary near Harvard founded in 1974 after the merger of two divinity schools founded in the 1850's. She is an openly gay woman and has decided to take an aggressive stance on abortion. For her (and her teachings and the students coming through her Divinity school), it is not enough to be pro-choice but rather to be fanatically pro-abortion. She says abortion is a "blessing". (A blessing!) She goes on to say, "When a woman becomes pregnant within a loving and supportive relationship she has every option open to her. If she decides not to bear a child and has access to a safe abortion - there is not a tragedy in sight - only blessing. (a blessing!) The ability to enjoy God's good gift of sexuality without compromising one's education, life's work, or ability to put to use God's gifts and call is simply a blessing."
She goes to say that the workers who make abortions possible should be thanked --- now get this -- because they "are doing holy work."
In 2003, she said the Resurrection may never have happened. That the suffering and death of Jesus is "an interesting theory, but not one I find compelling."
This woman is running a school of Divinity. She is responsible for the education of future Episcopalian's who seek to enter to field of ministry.
So not only is our nation now running away from God but so are some of the leaders of our denominations. She hits the nail on the head that which plagues our nation - the ability to do whatever we want without having to compromise. No responsibilities - just being able to do what we want with no consequences.
It is a very dangerous age we live in. As we go about our daily lives, we ignore the creeping cancer that is eating our nation's soul. It is eating into our major denominations. Preachers are routinely embracing gay rights, abortion and saying you cannot believe the Bible literally.
God warns us that the days are dangerous. We have to be on alert because our enemy prowls around like a lion looking for someone to devour. I'm afraid America is the next meal.
Where do we go with this? Where is the hope? The hope is in Christ. The final battle is already won. We know how this story ends - it ends in Christ's return as a mighty warrior who will destroy the foul one and send him to his death. We may be living in the worst of days. We'll see terrible things continue to happen. Let us be light in this very dark world. There is a battle being waged. We are troops serving a mighty General.
Soar!
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