"THANK you Jesus"
"Thank you JESUS, Thank you Jesus, THANK you Jesus, thank you Jesus, thank you Jesus, thank you Jesus, thank you Jesus, thank you Jesus....
I was awestruck. The shabby room slowly quieted down as the large black woman stood, persperation running down her body in the hot un-airconditioned room, saying over and over Thank you Jesus. As she said it she looked around the room, finding eye contact with someone each time she spoke. It was a profoundly powerful moment.
As the room settled, she continued to say it until others took up the chant and soon this room full of well below poverty people joined her in Thanking Jesus.
None of these people have cars, none of these people have air conditioning in their homes, most of these people have no jobs, none of these people have iphones, or even cell phones, none of these people get their nails done or go to the beauty shop to have their hair done. They don't take their children out for ice cream cones or go to the movies. Their kids don't have bikes. They don't go to the beach on vacation. They are poor. Really poor.
Many of them are older women caring for one or more grandchildren because their own children are either drug addicted or incarcerated.
Many of them are teenage mothers, babies with babies.
Most of them have incomes below $1000 a month.
Still, with fervor and feeling, their prayer that rainy, hot, muggy morning was Thank you Jesus.
I was humbled. I was chastened, I was grateful to be there. Tears stood in my eyes.
God is honoring me with the opportunity to serve these people, they think I am helping them. Not true, they are helping me. Helping me to learn how to have gratitude no matter what the circumstances of my life are on any given day. That my gratitude to Jesus is not dependent on my circumstances, my gratitude to Jesus is for what HE did, for me.
It would appear that they have every right to complain and bemoan their situations. They live in abject poverty, in the middle of a rich city, state, country. They have so little , and yet, when they say, with so much depth and feeling, "Thank you Jesus", they know that they have so much. They have all any of us need. They have Jesus.
"Thank you Jesus"
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Saturday, August 1, 2009
It's Gonna Be Sunny in Tybee, A Story of Faith
For several years when my daughter was young, between the ages of 6 and 10, she and I took an annual trip to Tybee Island, Georgia for a vacation before school started. She went to private school, so she didn't start school in the middle of August, as all public schools in the south do, she started when you should start, the week after Labor Day. So we would head down there after public school opened and have the beach to ourselves. The tradition started after we saw Parent Trap, that cute remake with the then cute Lindsay Lohan. The twin who lived with her father took a trip with him right before school started every year, so we started to do it too.
One year, she was seven I believe, we headed out down I 75 South, Tybee bound. We both had on our floppy sunhats, and were so happy to be on the road. We stopped in Forsyth for our McDonalds, which was our traditional road food, and got back on the road as fast as we could. One of the many things that is great about Tybee is that you can leave the ATL at 8 am and have your toes in the sand by noon. We were staying on schedule.
This particular day though, after we left McDonalds, it started to rain. I thought Uh oh, I hope it doesn't rain all week, there is not much to do with a seven year old at Tybee if we can't go to the beach. Pretty soon, it was pouring rain, and I'm thinking, we better go back home!
I glance over at TJ, and she is just grinning, and looking so happy. She had taken off her sunhat though. She saw the look on my face, grabbed her sunhat, jammed it onto her head and declared, "it's gonna be sunny in Tybee!" I wanly smiled back and thought, what a hopeless optimist my daughter is!
As we drove down I 16, rain coursing the windsheild, I was all gloom and doom in my head, but everytime I even glanced over at her, she smiled at me and said, "it's gonna be sunny in Tybee!"
As we drove through Savannah, I was actually frightened. It was raining so hard that there were minor floods running down the gutters of the streets. It was so dark out I thought I would never again see the sun, and the lightning strikes were immense. I considered stopping and getting a room in Savannah, instead of making the trip out to Tybee. Tybee Island is the last of a string of Islands off the coast of Georgia, near Savannah. From the first island to Tybee is eighteen miles. I was truly afraid, as hard as it had been raining, that some of the bridges may be washed out.
There was Taylor Jane, beaming, hearing nothing of stopping in Savannah, it was gonna be sunny in Tybee! It is such a lonely feeling, far from home, alone with your seven year old daughter and fightened of something. You feel such enormous pressure, the situation as well as not letting your daughter know that you are scared to death!!
I kept driving, fearing that I was going to drive into a flood so deep we would be stranded. That's how hard it was raining. Not once did Taylor Jane express any fear or doubt. She was so sure it was going to be sunny in Tybee it made me continue on, as frightened as I was.
We drove across the first island in the rain, as we passed over the second or third island I began to see off in the distance in front of us the sky clearing a bit. You could see the end of the storm, even though we were still in it. With ten more miles to go, we were still in rain, but we could see blue sky out in the distance.
I'll never forget the feeling I had coming over a rise just before reaching Tybee and seeing clear, blue sky ahead. I almost cried.
Triumphantly, she screamed, " it's sunny in Tybee"! As we got closer and closer it began to clear, by the time we drove onto Tybee, we were in sun. It was indeed, sunny in Tybee.
I was flabbergasted as our toes hit the sand, albeit a little later than expected, the rain had slowed us down, but we had come through the storm and here we were, on the beach at Tybee on a gorgeous sunny day. I was convinced her belief alone had made it happen.
That story has become a metaphor for our lives, whenever a situation seems bleak or dark, we always say "it's gonna be sunny in Tybee!"
Thinking positive always makes every situation better. Belief alone can change any situation. We just have to have the faith of a seven year old who knows her week at the beach was going to be sunny!
For several years when my daughter was young, between the ages of 6 and 10, she and I took an annual trip to Tybee Island, Georgia for a vacation before school started. She went to private school, so she didn't start school in the middle of August, as all public schools in the south do, she started when you should start, the week after Labor Day. So we would head down there after public school opened and have the beach to ourselves. The tradition started after we saw Parent Trap, that cute remake with the then cute Lindsay Lohan. The twin who lived with her father took a trip with him right before school started every year, so we started to do it too.
One year, she was seven I believe, we headed out down I 75 South, Tybee bound. We both had on our floppy sunhats, and were so happy to be on the road. We stopped in Forsyth for our McDonalds, which was our traditional road food, and got back on the road as fast as we could. One of the many things that is great about Tybee is that you can leave the ATL at 8 am and have your toes in the sand by noon. We were staying on schedule.
This particular day though, after we left McDonalds, it started to rain. I thought Uh oh, I hope it doesn't rain all week, there is not much to do with a seven year old at Tybee if we can't go to the beach. Pretty soon, it was pouring rain, and I'm thinking, we better go back home!
I glance over at TJ, and she is just grinning, and looking so happy. She had taken off her sunhat though. She saw the look on my face, grabbed her sunhat, jammed it onto her head and declared, "it's gonna be sunny in Tybee!" I wanly smiled back and thought, what a hopeless optimist my daughter is!
As we drove down I 16, rain coursing the windsheild, I was all gloom and doom in my head, but everytime I even glanced over at her, she smiled at me and said, "it's gonna be sunny in Tybee!"
As we drove through Savannah, I was actually frightened. It was raining so hard that there were minor floods running down the gutters of the streets. It was so dark out I thought I would never again see the sun, and the lightning strikes were immense. I considered stopping and getting a room in Savannah, instead of making the trip out to Tybee. Tybee Island is the last of a string of Islands off the coast of Georgia, near Savannah. From the first island to Tybee is eighteen miles. I was truly afraid, as hard as it had been raining, that some of the bridges may be washed out.
There was Taylor Jane, beaming, hearing nothing of stopping in Savannah, it was gonna be sunny in Tybee! It is such a lonely feeling, far from home, alone with your seven year old daughter and fightened of something. You feel such enormous pressure, the situation as well as not letting your daughter know that you are scared to death!!
I kept driving, fearing that I was going to drive into a flood so deep we would be stranded. That's how hard it was raining. Not once did Taylor Jane express any fear or doubt. She was so sure it was going to be sunny in Tybee it made me continue on, as frightened as I was.
We drove across the first island in the rain, as we passed over the second or third island I began to see off in the distance in front of us the sky clearing a bit. You could see the end of the storm, even though we were still in it. With ten more miles to go, we were still in rain, but we could see blue sky out in the distance.
I'll never forget the feeling I had coming over a rise just before reaching Tybee and seeing clear, blue sky ahead. I almost cried.
Triumphantly, she screamed, " it's sunny in Tybee"! As we got closer and closer it began to clear, by the time we drove onto Tybee, we were in sun. It was indeed, sunny in Tybee.
I was flabbergasted as our toes hit the sand, albeit a little later than expected, the rain had slowed us down, but we had come through the storm and here we were, on the beach at Tybee on a gorgeous sunny day. I was convinced her belief alone had made it happen.
That story has become a metaphor for our lives, whenever a situation seems bleak or dark, we always say "it's gonna be sunny in Tybee!"
Thinking positive always makes every situation better. Belief alone can change any situation. We just have to have the faith of a seven year old who knows her week at the beach was going to be sunny!
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
I'd Rather Live One Day in Your Courts....
There is this awesome christian song that has those words as a chorus, and they finish with..." than a thousand days elsewhere."
I thought about that in relation to the AA saying, " live one day at a time", I'd rather live one day at a time in the court of the King, and I realize that I can do that. It is only a matter of choice.
It is a matter of choice how I live each day, I can choose to have an awesome day each day when I wake up and then I can manage that choice. I don't have to let the day begin to roll over me and then decide how I feel based on what happens to me, I can decide how I feel, and then manage what happens to me.
My circumstances are not what I can control. What I can control is my reaction to them.
Taking God into my day with me is paramount in that choice. How, after all, can I not feel awesome about my life, when He gave His in such a monumental way. What could be my complaint compared to nine inch nails driven through flesh.
I know this to be true, each day as it passes is gone, never to be retrieved. When I have a God who loves me the way mine does, I owe it to Him to live each one of the days He has given me in the freedom and grace that He died for. I don't get back the days of fear and worry. Those are truly wasted days. The fear and worry has never changed my circumstances.
One day lived in freedom and grace is one day in His court, one day at a time, and all those days will add up the the eternity I am promised, of an eternity in His court. Halleluia.
There is this awesome christian song that has those words as a chorus, and they finish with..." than a thousand days elsewhere."
I thought about that in relation to the AA saying, " live one day at a time", I'd rather live one day at a time in the court of the King, and I realize that I can do that. It is only a matter of choice.
It is a matter of choice how I live each day, I can choose to have an awesome day each day when I wake up and then I can manage that choice. I don't have to let the day begin to roll over me and then decide how I feel based on what happens to me, I can decide how I feel, and then manage what happens to me.
My circumstances are not what I can control. What I can control is my reaction to them.
Taking God into my day with me is paramount in that choice. How, after all, can I not feel awesome about my life, when He gave His in such a monumental way. What could be my complaint compared to nine inch nails driven through flesh.
I know this to be true, each day as it passes is gone, never to be retrieved. When I have a God who loves me the way mine does, I owe it to Him to live each one of the days He has given me in the freedom and grace that He died for. I don't get back the days of fear and worry. Those are truly wasted days. The fear and worry has never changed my circumstances.
One day lived in freedom and grace is one day in His court, one day at a time, and all those days will add up the the eternity I am promised, of an eternity in His court. Halleluia.
Monday, July 20, 2009
He Loves ME!
"for He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight.."
Eph 1:4
God knew me and loved me when I was driving drunk; God knew me and loved me when I was being promiscuous; God knew me and loved me when I hurt other people to get my way; God knew me and loved me when I was in a crack house; God knew me and loved me the day He saved me from that life.
God knows me and loves me when I am angry; God knows me and loves me when I am judgmental; God knows me and loves me when I am impatient; God knows me and loves me when I am unlovable.
God has known me and loved me all of my days.
God so unshakably loves me that he has adopted me permanently, knowing beforehand all I will be and do. All He asks of me is to believe in Him, to accept the finished work of the cross and know that by grace I am forgiven.
Knowing that, believing that, understanding that, makes me desire to be the best kid any parent ever bounced on a knee.
Knowing that, I want my Father in heaven to say to me when I face Him on that glorious day, " Well done, my good and faithful servant."
I want to earn those words.
"for He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight.."
Eph 1:4
God knew me and loved me when I was driving drunk; God knew me and loved me when I was being promiscuous; God knew me and loved me when I hurt other people to get my way; God knew me and loved me when I was in a crack house; God knew me and loved me the day He saved me from that life.
God knows me and loves me when I am angry; God knows me and loves me when I am judgmental; God knows me and loves me when I am impatient; God knows me and loves me when I am unlovable.
God has known me and loved me all of my days.
God so unshakably loves me that he has adopted me permanently, knowing beforehand all I will be and do. All He asks of me is to believe in Him, to accept the finished work of the cross and know that by grace I am forgiven.
Knowing that, believing that, understanding that, makes me desire to be the best kid any parent ever bounced on a knee.
Knowing that, I want my Father in heaven to say to me when I face Him on that glorious day, " Well done, my good and faithful servant."
I want to earn those words.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
How Does God See Me?
God chose me and because I belong to Him through Jesus Christ, He looks at me as though I have never sinned.
God chose me and because I belong to Him through Jesus Christ, He looks at me as though I have never sinned.
" since we are His children, we will share His treasures - for all God gives to His Son Jesus is ours now too.." Romans 8:17
How much God loves me. When I understand this, and accept it, the affect on me is stunning. It rocks me to my core. It changes me.
No longer do I need to feel depressed, angry, upset, lonely, judgmental, un-loved, or any other "feelings" that I can fall prey to.
Even though I sin on a daily basis, God looks at me with the same love He looks at His Son with - a me free of sin.
In the face of this, how do I choose to view myself? Do I follow my feelings, which are driven by my circumstances and are not the truth OR do I accept the truth, freely given to me by my Faith in Jesus, as God's own beloved child.
I choose the latter, I choose to see myself as God's truly loved and cherished daughter.
I choose to match my actions to that truth.
No longer do I need to feel depressed, angry, upset, lonely, judgmental, un-loved, or any other "feelings" that I can fall prey to.
Even though I sin on a daily basis, God looks at me with the same love He looks at His Son with - a me free of sin.
In the face of this, how do I choose to view myself? Do I follow my feelings, which are driven by my circumstances and are not the truth OR do I accept the truth, freely given to me by my Faith in Jesus, as God's own beloved child.
I choose the latter, I choose to see myself as God's truly loved and cherished daughter.
I choose to match my actions to that truth.
Monday, July 6, 2009
Empty Heads
You know how you always heard "idle hands are the devil's playground"? Well I think empty heads are the devil's playground too. We are wired to think, all the time, and to absorb whatever is happening around us. I think too many of us are not careful of what is going on around us, what is influencing us, what is filling our minds.
We are so influenced by the what other people are doing, and think that if we don't do those things we won't fit in. So we might drink too much, or look at porn, or be bored, or participate in activities that we know are not good for us, or any number of things that can separate us from the person we are meant to be.
I believe we all have a purpose. It is clear to some people, from an early age, what their purpose is, and sometimes I envy those people. Most of us can spend years floundering around trying to find what it is we are meant to be doing. Instinctively we know there is more to life than "work to home, home to work".
Realizing that purpose, knowing what it is, that is the difficult thing. An empty head allows all the wrong influences to bombard our minds and confuse the issue.
Your always going to be thinking about something, make sure you control what that is. Don't let your mind be idle and become a devil's playground. Read positive uplifting books, surround yourself with positive uplifting people, do positive uplifting things, like volunteering somewhere, go to a positive uplifting church, listen to positive uplifting music, fill your head with positive uplifting things and leave no room for the devil to squeeze in there and start to influence your thinking, causing you to be negative and unhappy.
You are more likely to discover your purpose with positive uplifting influences, because God in His infinite love for us, wants the best for us. We just have to create a fertile, cooperative environment for Him to work in. Get out of His way, and He will show you your purpose. Give Him the room in your head, not someone or something else.
You know how you always heard "idle hands are the devil's playground"? Well I think empty heads are the devil's playground too. We are wired to think, all the time, and to absorb whatever is happening around us. I think too many of us are not careful of what is going on around us, what is influencing us, what is filling our minds.
We are so influenced by the what other people are doing, and think that if we don't do those things we won't fit in. So we might drink too much, or look at porn, or be bored, or participate in activities that we know are not good for us, or any number of things that can separate us from the person we are meant to be.
I believe we all have a purpose. It is clear to some people, from an early age, what their purpose is, and sometimes I envy those people. Most of us can spend years floundering around trying to find what it is we are meant to be doing. Instinctively we know there is more to life than "work to home, home to work".
Realizing that purpose, knowing what it is, that is the difficult thing. An empty head allows all the wrong influences to bombard our minds and confuse the issue.
Your always going to be thinking about something, make sure you control what that is. Don't let your mind be idle and become a devil's playground. Read positive uplifting books, surround yourself with positive uplifting people, do positive uplifting things, like volunteering somewhere, go to a positive uplifting church, listen to positive uplifting music, fill your head with positive uplifting things and leave no room for the devil to squeeze in there and start to influence your thinking, causing you to be negative and unhappy.
You are more likely to discover your purpose with positive uplifting influences, because God in His infinite love for us, wants the best for us. We just have to create a fertile, cooperative environment for Him to work in. Get out of His way, and He will show you your purpose. Give Him the room in your head, not someone or something else.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
A Parents Love
If you are a parent you know this is true; your child can do no wrong, you love your child unconditionally and you believe in your child more than anyone else in the world can imagine believing in someone. Now, you also know, in your deepest of deepest places that your child is not perfect. You know, more than anyone again, the times your child behaves in less than model ways. You know, better than anyone, that your child can be selfish and self -centered, not always wanting to share toys. You know, better than anyone, that your child can be mean and petty. You know that your child does not turn to you at times when you really could help. You know your child doesn't call you as often as you would like, just to say Hi! I love you!. The list goes on, you do know that your child is not perfect. It does not matter, however, you love your child no matter what you know to be the truth about them. You don't even question it, you just love them, no matter what!
How much more then, can our Father in Heaven love us? He who knows better than anyone, including ourselves at times, who we can really be.
We all have our public persona. We also all have our inner life that we choose not to expose to the light of day. Oh, it can be the small things, like eating a whole bag of oreos yourself, or watching mindless TV for hours, or procrastinating constantly, or secretly judging people, this list can go on and on. Our Father in Heaven knows all of it. He sees all of it. And through it all He loves us more than anyone on earth could even hope of loving us. He loves us even though he knows the truth about us. He loves us even when we turn our backs on Him and don't ask him for advice. He loves us even when we don't phone Him.
Just as when your child calls after several days or weeks, you brighten up and say Hi! So good to hear from you! How much does our Father in Heaven brighten up when we take a few minutes out of our day to call Him up. How happy is He when we turn to Him for help and support. How willing is He to come to our aid in any kind of need.
He loves us with a parents love, no matter who we are.
How grateful am I that this is true.
How much more then, can our Father in Heaven love us? He who knows better than anyone, including ourselves at times, who we can really be.
We all have our public persona. We also all have our inner life that we choose not to expose to the light of day. Oh, it can be the small things, like eating a whole bag of oreos yourself, or watching mindless TV for hours, or procrastinating constantly, or secretly judging people, this list can go on and on. Our Father in Heaven knows all of it. He sees all of it. And through it all He loves us more than anyone on earth could even hope of loving us. He loves us even though he knows the truth about us. He loves us even when we turn our backs on Him and don't ask him for advice. He loves us even when we don't phone Him.
Just as when your child calls after several days or weeks, you brighten up and say Hi! So good to hear from you! How much does our Father in Heaven brighten up when we take a few minutes out of our day to call Him up. How happy is He when we turn to Him for help and support. How willing is He to come to our aid in any kind of need.
He loves us with a parents love, no matter who we are.
How grateful am I that this is true.
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