True Love

If Love was born to die,

Did he know it was for me,

Did he see the mess I’d make,

Surely then he’d run and flee

But instead he humbly came,

He chose hay over a throne

Even though it was my mess,

Bore it as it were his own.

And even though  it’s hard to fathom,

Why my price he’d chose to pay,

The reason then , to put it simply is, 

True Love was born that day.  

Sincerely, Your Beloved - 4

Dear Beloved,
The art of pursuit isn't passive.
It is one of high risk and even higher rewards,
It is one of persistence and hard work.
one of sweat blood and tears,
For that, is the price Christ paid,
It wasn't a walk in the park
He didn't wait till his bride fell into his lap,
He pursued her full force,
Holding nothing back.
With Grand gestures of his love,
and in the Grandest Gesture of all,
He spread his arms wide
saying this is how much I love you
as he died for her.
It is this kind of love my Beloved
that I know we will share.
but until then I will be Still.

Sincerely,
 Your Beloved.

A Long Way Off

We've all heard the story of the prodigal son more times then we can count,

Boy takes inheritance, boy tries to buy happiness, boy ends up unhappy broken and hits rock bottom,

Boy decides to return home and ask to be a servant,  Loving father welcomes him and throws a huge party.

Also some sibling jealousy thrown in there as well.

But there's more to the story then the Sunday school version we all memorized with the felt characters on the felt board.
Something that really struck me is this: 

. "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him." Luke 15 :20 

When he was still a LONG WAY OFF, God doesn't sit around and wait 'till we knock on the door with our head in our hands and as him to take as back, NO. HE RUNS out to us while we are a LONG WAYS OFF , while we are still lost and broken. BEFORE WE EVEN GET A CHANCE TO APOLOGIZE, he wraps his arms around us and embraces us . He RUNS OUT, he does not care that WE are the ones that walked away, He doesn't care that we SPIT in his face that we said he was DEAD to us with our actions and our words. He doesn't even wait for us to explain, He comes after us, when we are still FAR OFF, while we still STINK of pigs pen, he hugs us and holds us tight and walks with us back home.
Now that's Love.

Desire

de·sire/dəˈzī(ə)r/

Noun:	A strong feeling of wanting to have something or wishing for something to happen.
Verb:	Strongly wish for or want (something).
Synonyms:	noun.  wish - longing - craving - request - lust - will - want verb.  wish - want - will - crave - like - yearn - long – covet We all have desires, often times ones that contradict one another, I often have a desire to sleep in and stay in bed all day, but I also have a desire to pass my classes and graduate, I have a desire to save money, and yet I have a desire to buy Starbucks often. So how do we deal with conflicting desires? Well, to overcome one desire you need to replace it with a stronger desire for something else,  For example, My strong desire to eat cheesecake every day, is overcome by my even stronger desire to fit in my jeans daily. I know that when we’re in a relationship, possibly marriage, often times we find that although we love the person we are with, we may grow to find someone else attractive as well. We may in those moments desire to be with this other person, but often our love for significant other over rides that desire, and we remain faithful, being faithful isn't easy, which is why often times people become unfaithful. That’s how I look at the biggest conflict in my life, the one between doing what I want and what God wants.  I love God, but in moments I find myself desiring things more then Him and what He desires.  But thank goodness, God is faithful even when I'm not. Thank goodness for His grace.  So in those moments of weakness, I need desire to please him, to be in His will, to be obedient more than the other alternative.  But its not easy, this  is the struggle we face, It's natural, Its part of being human.  It's the classic struggle of Spirit ( God’s Desire) vs. Flesh ( Our Desires) And thankfully the Apostle Paul feels the same way as well :   For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it but the sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells with in me that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want but the evil I do not what is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I do want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.  Wretched man that I am! who will deliver me from this body of death?  But thankfully Paul doesn't end there. There is Hope: Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin:  Romans 7:15 -25

There it is. That is our Hope.

This Man in a Subway Station

In a subway station in Washington stood a violinist, 

There he stood, playing for 45 minutes during rush hour in this busy Metro station.

but no one really seemed to care, other then a young boy who stood to watch him,

 before his mother pulled him away. Thousands of people walked by, apathetic. 

Others dropped change as they swiftly walked past, rarely stopping to marvel, or care.

He ended up collecting 32 dollars in change,

 but the funny thing is his violin was worth MILLIONS.

This man was Joshua Bell,

World famous violinist who had SOLD OUT a show in Boston 2 days before.

But this man in a subway station, 

wasn't seen for who he was, 

he wasn't appreciated, 

people just walked by, 

possibly the same people that would have paid hundreds to see him play in an auditorium,

couldn't be bother to stop and listen to him now, now that it was for free.

Aren't we exactly the same? 

Jesus had crowds of thousands itching to listen to him, following him around,

sitting on crowded hills without food, in the heat of the sun, for hours. 

And yet we have the privilege of hearing him speak today, right where we are,

and yet when have we stopped to listen? 

When have we stopped and made time, sat in silence and let him speak.

Instead we rush past, throw him the equivalence of spare change when it comes to our time,

or even give him nothing at all.

Because today he isn't Jesus on the Mount,

but simply,

This Man in a Subway Station.  

Turn

Where are you right now?
Are you standing right where you have been for days, weeks, years?
Just walking towards the same direction, in plain view of
 your faults,
                    your addictions,
                                            your vices,
                                                             your sin.

Well if repentance is what your after,
you really gotta rethink your position.
Repentance isn't an appology,
it isn't giving into your guilt,
or just asking for forgiveness.

Repentance is more
its acknowledging you messed up,
and then turning around a complete 180
and getting as far away as possible from where you were before.
See its that last part.
the 180.
that I didn't do.
Ive done the 90, ive done the 45, ive even done the 360 and infact didn't move at all.
But it has to be 180,
it has to be completely behind you and you have to walk away with out looking back.

 God   <------ X-------> Sin

Because Sin is in one direction, and God is in another
and you can't walk towards both,
If you don't give your back to Sin,
you are giving your back to God
and even if you try and walk towards God while you are facing sin,
You  will be walking backwards,
and will stumble and fall because you can't for see what may stand in your way.

So which way are you facing right now?
For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. Galatians 5:17

Found

Are you done yet?
Done taking things into your own hands?
Done looking yourself, for something only I know where to find?
All you've done is search through clutter,
trying again and again what has already been discard, deemed wrong
but yet you pick it up and hope that the third times the charm.
Well its not.
You can waist your time all you want searching,
but you'll never find it because you don't even know what it looks like.
I'm standing right here, waiting,
waiting for you to give up the search,
waiting for you to throw in the towel.
It pains me to see you so troubled, helpless, pathetically searching
to no end to try and find what I've got right here.
Are you not tired?
Are you not weary,
well come here, let me comfort you
let me hold you close and show you what it is I've had all along.

Because my dear, you can't find whats already been found,
what I've had here,
all along
kept here,
just for you. 

For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water. Jeremiah 2:13

Wasn't me

I remember the song " Wasn't me " by Shaggy  was quite a hit when I was younger, still makes its appearances at Karaoke every now and then. But unlike the song, this post isn't about shifting blame, In fact I think humans are very good at saying "wasn't me" when it comes to most situations where there's blame to be placed, Classic example, Adam points his finger at Eve, Eve points her finger at the serpent, but do you ever stop to think what would have happened if eating the fruit ended positively? Like what if God came out and said "Adam, congratulations you ate the fruit and you win! " You think for a second Adam would have stopped and said."Well, actually it wasn't me it all Eve". Ya right. See, us humans are so quick to shift the blame but just as quick when it comes to taking the credit. I was reading this passage the other day and it was rather strange actually, Basically its a story of this man named Gideon who is leading an army, and God just keeps telling him to do these random tests,( things like the way a soldier drinks his water,) to decide who to send home and who to keep in battle. Gideon starts off with thirty-two thousand men, and after all the tests, ends up with three hundred, that's less then 10% of his starting amount. And you wonder why anyone would want to go into battle severely outnumbered, but God tells Gideon, I want Israel to know that I saved them, that the victory was by my power alone and no one else. ( The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against me, ‘My own strength has saved me.’ Judges 7:2)  And honestly, sometimes I feel like God puts me in these situations, ones where the odds are so completely against me that I know for sure, with out a doubt that it "wasn't me" but was all him. 
Sometimes we need to check ourselves, and just like Israel did,  and make sure that we're not too arrogant  to think we can accomplish victory on our own.
Because truthfully, any victory in my life, "wasn't me" and I need to start acknowledging that more and more each day. 
For we are mere humans who need to learn that,  just as quickly as we  say  "wasn't me" when it comes to blame, is the same speed we need to learn to say "wasn't me", it's all Him, when it comes to credit.
Not to us O Lord, not to us, but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness
Psalm 115:1

The Art of Being Still

Sometimes being still is the hardest thing to do...

To be patient, to wait, to breath, stand motionlessly. In a world where if we want something, we go get it, it is hard to accept that sometimes we can’t do anything but wait. It’s this feeling of being helpless that terrifies us, it makes us feel stranded and not in control. I always feel this way while I’m in a waiting room in a hospital, wishing there was more I can do to help, but there isn’t. All I can do is wait and trust. Sometimes being still feels impossible as everything around you is sweeping past.  But in those moments where I try to take things into my own hands rather than being still and trusting, I find I end up going in circles, ending up further behind than where I started to begin with.  So I am urging myself, to be still, to let it be, to trust rather than do, because I am tired of taking my own detours rather than waiting on directions.
 Being still isn’t sitting, uncomfortably grasped by your anxiety, restraining yourself from reacting. Being Still is releasing your worry, trusting completely and resting, right where you are and knowing that you’re in good hands. 
I'll paint a picture of true stillness : A child wandering off from his dad in a store, getting into some trouble as he knocks over a display or knocks something off a shelf. In a panic the child tries to take things into his own hands, tries to apologize to the clerk,  trying to clean up the mess, tries to fix what he's done. But the moment his dad appears from around the corner, the child drops what he was holding, gets up and no longer involves himself. Right there he's filled with peace and reassurance.  In that moment, he knows there's no need to do anymore because, Dad's got it from here.

Be still, and know that I am God. Psalm 46:10 ( NIV)

More than Mere Birds

More than Mere

Birds are we

With hands that feel

and hearts that see

We forget

How needs are met

Let fear subside

Though He provides

Yet free as Birds

Should we be

For More than Mere

Birds are we.

Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Matthew 6:26

Worship

Its beyond Friday nights and Sunday mornings,

Beyond dimmed lights and hush tones,

Its beyond mellow music and harmonies

 string instruments that accompany soft voices.

It’s not about,what people think, Its about what He thinks. 

Its not about whether you like the song or even know the song.

Its not a couple brief moments with our eyes closed,

Or with our eyes open.

With our hands still or shaking, raised or down.

Worship is Constant,

Or at least

It should be.

The way you walk in,

And out,

The way you speak up,

Or remain still

Worship,

Is not mean to endure forty minutes, every week,

Month, year.

It is daily, hourly, as often as we think

Speak,

Breath.
It is what we were made to do.
We are worshipers,
that is our purpose.