"I'm Sorry!"

I was reading in 2 Corinthians today about "godly sorrow."  I tried to link the passage, but am technologically challenged, so if you want to read it, get your Bible out or go to biblegateway.com and look it up.  It's 2 Corinthians 9-10.

I think we say "I'm sorry" so readily sometimes without thinking of the repercussions.  I'm trying not to say it unless I'm ready to change, to do things differently.  Maybe that's not the right way to look at it, but I'm thinking if Godly sorrow brings about repentance, a change of heart, a turning from sin... I'm not going to say "I'm sorry" unless I really mean it, because that's a huge responsibility!  That means the next time I am faced with that particular situation, I am responsible to act differently.  That's a big deal.

Eh.  Just a thought.

United.

I've been thinking about something.  (Oh No!  Not again!!!)  I know, it happens from time to time.  I try to curb it, but sometimes I just have to type a little blurb about it, clear my mind and make room for more!  : )

The other night at our Hub Group (fancy name for Bible study, small group, etc), we were reading in Genesis where the people were scattered from the tower of Babel... their languages were changed and they were spread out over the Earth.  And the thought came up that you know, maybe that wasn't very nice...  because now we have this block to communication with each other...  How are we to be united, of one heart and mind... when we can't understand each other?  And I thought, wow... that is so true...  People just don't communicate well.  We see it in marriages, parenting styles, government, churches maybe especially...

So a week or so ago, I made a commitment to pray for our fellowship, Hub City Church, 10 minutes every day.  I've stuck with it (a couple days prayer was kind of on the fly, but I've been more or less consistent), and one of the things big on my list to pray for is unity within the body of believers and that God will do something so incredibly supernatural in us and through us that only He can get credit for it.

And it just occurred to me.  We should not be unified.  I don't mean we SHOULDN'T be.  I mean, all things considered, it should not be possible for us to be unified.  Seriously.  Hub Group people...  we probably shouldn't be friends.  Just in our Hub Group, we have medical professionals, engineers, writers, artists, factory workers, pastor, stay-at-home moms...  We have people who never talk, people who can't stop talking, introverts, maniacs and nervous wrecks *waves hand wildly.*

I think God is teaching us dependence on Him.  When we open our eyes to Him for our "light," He is able to then take that light and light up the whole body.  Instead of us looking to our similarities, our strength in numbers, our power and influence as a group of people.  When we rely on Him, He creates the unity.  He does the impossible and causes us to understand each other, accept each other, encourage one another.  He gives us greater influence because it's so amazing that a group of freaks, misfits, outsiders... people with shady pasts and wounded souls... are unified somehow...  How can that be anything other than God?

SOAP.

Well, today was day 2 of my much needed, new and improved, time set aside for God, SOAP method... based on what I read in The Divine Mentor...  It hasn't been easy finding "alone time" with one of my children home sick and my husband working bizarro hours, but it's worked out ok, and I'm really super excited to have a "plan" again.

Just a quick recap: S-scripture, O-observation, A-application, P-prayer.

I think perhaps I am not that great at observation...  I'm having no problem "hearing" a particular passage jumping out at me from scripture... I definitely am able to come up with an application to my life... and surprisingly, I haven't had any problems with the prayer part either; in fact, having the focus of a particular area to pray about (plus adding in the 10min of prayer for Hub City Church) has made my special time set aside for prayer so much easier.  Normally I have tons of trouble with my mind wandering and pretty soon I am planning dinner or looking at the cheerios under the futon and thinking about all the other things I should be doing.  But the "P" portion of this method has really helped me to concentrate on a specific prayer and I think that is a good start!

Maybe I'm not clear on what I am supposed to be observing.  I find myself simply restating the scripture, which doesn't seem very... observant... of me I don't think.  Oh well.  I'm just planning to continue plugging along and see if something doesn't start coming a bit more naturally over time.

Here is one of the reasons why I am so determined to draw near to God on a daily basis and really listen to what He has to say to me... to be taught by Him...  It's something I read that just really jumped out at me:

God isn't looking for someone loaded down with churchy buzzwords and Christian cliches.  He doesn't need someone with a Master's degree in marketing or a PhD in public relations.  Nor does He need public speakers who manipulate people with guilt or shame into praying more, giving more, doing more.

God is calling for a spokesperson---a man or woman who will deliver His very heart.  He's looking for someone who will speak in such a way that a light will turn on.  He is searching for those who will know His heart and His passion for the lost.

I want to do that!  (not the public speaking part, let me clarify!)  I want to be able to give a voice to God's heart.  In my marriage, my family, my church, my community... in every chance I have to speak with someone... Not in a churchy, preachy, fake-"well God bless your sweet little pea-pickin heart" kinda way that we see so much of here in the south... Just in my real dealings with people.  I'm not a good pretender anymore, so if I don't know God's heart, I'm just not going to speak for Him.  But I'd like to.  I love people.  I love relating to people.  I love when you can feel a connection, like what I am saying actually matters... So, how better to learn God's heart than sitting with Him every day and giving Him my undivided attention.  Not just reading the Bible and praying, but listening and responding... changing.  It's a thrilling prospect actually.  And NO, I have not been living in a cave somewhere.  I know this is nothing new.  But perhaps I am not well practiced in acting out  what I know.  I'm glad for the opportunity.

A Prayer to Our Father

I got my new book from The Ooze Viral Bloggers!  I am really excited to start reading A Prayer to Our Father--- Hebrew Origins of the Lord's Prayer by Nehemia Gordon and Keith Johnson.
http://www.aprayertoourfather.com - official website
http://www.wfae.org/wfae/18_93_0.cfm?do=detail&id=10404 – authors’ interview on NPR

An interesting thing...  The intro page to the book includes both the KJV version of The Lord's Prayer and the Hebrew Matthew version.   Here they are:

Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.  They kingdom come.  Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread.  And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:  For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever.  Amen.

The Lord's Prayer--- King James Version

Our Father in heaven, May your name be sanctified.  May your kingdom be blessed.  Your will shall be done in heaven and on earth.  Give us our bread continually.  Forgive us the debt of our sins as we forgive the debt of those who sin against us.  Do not bring us into the hands of a test, and protect us from all evil.  Amen.

The Lord's Prayer--- Hebrew Matthew Version

Should be interesting!  Can't wait to fill you in as I read through it this coming week!

Incarnation

Ok, so I didn't title this one "Part 2"... 'cause it's not very catchy and maybe you wouldn't have read it... But I'm still reading The Divine Mentor, and I'm still being challenged by it and heartily recommend it!  Here is an excerpt from what I read today:

     Conversely, when you ask, "How will I live differently because of what God has just said to me?" then incarnation has begun.  Incarnation is what changes the world.  Incarnation transforms your family.  Incarnation rewrites your future.  When God's Word bleeds out your fingertips and toenails---when you treat it as fresh bread, to be consumed daily---that's when it makes you a disciple.

** Just in your head: information.

** Just in your heart: inspiration.

** When it bleeds out of you: incarnation.

     When it's just in your head, it makes you pharisaical.  (And inside each one of us is a Pharisee just waiting to grow up!)

     When it's just in your heart, it makes you a fanatic.

     When it bleeds out your toes, it makes you authentic.

 Are you ever amazed when God repeatedly brings up the same material... gently yet persistently nudging you in a particular direction?  That's been happening to me a lot... I guess some in hindsight.  I don't know...  Teachings from our pastor, books I've read, conversations I've taken part in... sort of all coming together and making sense (more sense anyway)...  Things like:  a disciple being someone who "hears from God and does what He says," doing the right thing, even when it's hard, and being brave enough to consistently ask "what is the wise thing to do?"...  Ok, so this isn't rocket science, and I guess most of these things I've always known...  But I think it really does maybe come down to the enormity of the gap between "knowing" something, and "bleeding it out your toes and fingertips"!  So many times, I've "understood" things at head level... or "experienced" things at heart level... My absolute deepest desire is to be able to "incarnate" what I know in my head and feel in my heart... authentically... with my life, so that people can see Jesus living through me and bring glory to my Father.  I know I say this a lot, and perhaps it sounds overused, but I am so so thankful for grace.  I screw up so so often.  Sometimes just terribly.  If God were going to be just, he would have incinerated me long ago.  It seems like a miracle to me when a seed sticks in my heart a little better today than it did yesterday.  I do not deserve that kind of grace, but that is God, seducing me, enticing me, luring me.  Isn't that amazing?  That is a God worth living for.

The Divine Mentor, Part 1?

Yeah, I hate to write "Part 1" because I'll feel bad if I don't follow through and write a "Part 2" later... but I really do think I'll be writing a bit more at some point.


Here's the book:


(and I have no idea why in the world I cannot post images all of a sudden-- so I dunno-- google the darn thing or look it up on Amazon!)


It's called The Divine Mentor.  It's written by a guy named Wayne Cordeiro.  He's a church planter and pastor of a Foursquare church in Honolulu who has devised this super simple, but really cool plan for staying in God's Word and "feeding yourself."  Now, I'm only roughly halfway through the book, so I am still entitled to change my mind later on (I'm a woman, come on I can do that!), but from what I've read so far, I'd like to buy up a big case of these things and pass them around.  I absolutely love that their whole church and people all over the place following this plan could be reading from the same passages every day... just all that God-breathing everywhere... coupled with people listening and acting... could be a very powerful thing.


The basic method is S.O.A.P.-- appx. 40min per day... written down in a journal...
S= Scripture-- You have a somewhat lengthy passage which you read, noting a smaller portion, perhaps a verse or part of a verse that jumps out at you.  Listening for what God wants you to see in the reading for that day.
O= Observation-- What you observe about the verse or verses in context... what story is it telling?
A= Application-- How does God want you to apply this scripture to your life?  What does He want you to do about what you just read and observed?
P= Prayer-- Write down a prayer.  It can be short and as simple as "Father, help me to apply what I just learned to my life today!"  


There are some more in depth things he suggests to do with the journaling... but you get the gist of it from the simple acronym.  


It's  a good good book...  The main point that Mr. Cordeiro makes is that you can choose between two teachers:  Consequence or Wisdom.  And the Bible is full of men and women who have learned (or not learned as the case may be) from both.  You have the opportunity to be mentored by them and their experiences by sitting at the feet of Jesus each day in your devotion time... soaking up these bits of story and storing them away in your heart as Wisdom for life.


Here is a small excerpt from the book, page 70-71 that really spoke to me:

     To achieve success, to be productive, to feel satisfied and fulfilled--to become an important part of the solution rather than a significant part of the problem--we must practice the same regimen, day in and day out.

     Daily devotions.

     When you miss your devotions one day, you notice.  When you miss them two days, your spouse and kids notice.  And when you miss them three days, the world notices.

     When you and I skip our "scales," in no time at all we start falling back on worldly knowledge and wisdom.  We may not even realize that's what we're doing, but it's almost inevitable.  

     Furthermore, we get spiritually weak.  If we go without food for several days, how do we start to feel and act?  We get cranky, suffer headaches, become abnormally edgy.  Starvation causes us to make chaotic choices.  Every action is imbalance; every motive skewed.  Neglecting to feed our spirit and ignoring the hunger of our soul causes spiritual weakness; this results in desperate decisions and stinking thinking!

     A starved soul and a famished heart will find you in a party... a pity party.  The surroundings?  A pitiful dump.

     Regularly and consistently practicing our scales will embolden us to climb out of the landfill and exchange our odorous clothes for a fragrant wisdom that will mentor us away from the slippery slopes that snared us in the first place.

I'm looking forward to putting what I read into practice.  I have had some trouble "feeding myself" as of late.  For me, physical illness is a huge stumbling block and fatigue from sickness makes me mentally lazy and apathetic.  I'm going to settle on a time every day that will work for me and stick with it.  I'm more tired of giving up than I am just tired, so that's a good sign I think!  I'm really excited to finish this book and will try to fill you in on any pertinent details, but so far, I think you'd be well served to just go ahead and buy the book and read it yourself!

Hope for the Flowers

I am attempting to think "happy thoughts" today.  So I thought I'd share with you my favorite book ever.  The full title is:

hope for the flowers

a tale--- partly about life

partly about revolution

and lots about hope

for adults and others

(including caterpillars who can read)

by Trina Paulus

I am reading it with the girls this week.  I found my first copy at a used book store on the clearance rack for $0.30 many many years ago and fell in love with it instantly.  I have given it as gifts, and try to pick up a copy whenever I find one at a good price (not in a freaky OCD kind of way, but just because it is such a fabulous book, I like to share it!)  It has meant different things to me at different points in my life, and I have a tendency to get it out when I'm grouchy and it cheers me up!  You should check it out sometime!

Here is an excerpt:

The grey-haired caterpillar continued to cover himself with silky threads.  As he wove the last bit around his head he called:  "You'll be a beautiful butterfly-- we're all waiting for you!"

And Yellow decided to risk for a butterfly.

For courage she hung right beside the other cocoon and began to spin her own.

"Imagine, I didn't even know I could do this.  That's some encouragement that I'm on the right track.  If I have inside me the stuff to make cocoons-- maybe the stuff of butterflies is there too."

The Simple Things.

I went to The Haven shelter in Spartanburg today.  It was nice.  I got to meet some of the people who live there and some who work and volunteer there.  My job was to put together meal plans for the next three nights dinner.  Dinner for 20+ people.  Entire meal plans... main dish, sides, drink, dessert.  For 20 people.  It took me over an hour folks.  Rooting through shelves and refrigerators, boxes and piles.  My work looked horrible!  Scratched out, marked up, messy handwriting...  The problem I kept running into was that I would get halfway through a menu, and lo and behold... a missing ingredient!  So I'd have to start all over again.  For instance...  They had TONS of canned tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste...  The problem?  Well, do you like spaghetti with PLAIN tomato sauce?  No flavor, no seasoning?  How about chili?  What do you eat with chili?  Cornbread?  Tortilla chips maybe?  How do you make lasagna with no ricotta or mozzarella?  What do you do with refried beans if you don't have any flour tortillas?  A bag of flour?  Great!  But without baking powder or baking soda... You get the picture...

I mean, this is some serious stuff.  They are feeding a full dinner to 20 residents every night of the year.  ON DONATIONS.  They occupy a house which does not qualify for the state grants which alot of other facilities have.  Well what do we typically donate when we give to places like this?  In that past I have given my leftovers.  A can of this, a can of that.  A box of this or a box of that.  Well let me tell ya folks, a box of rice-a-roni aint gonna go far when feeding 20 people.  And while you can certainly open up 15 cans of chicken noodle soup, people are not going to be full or have their nutritional needs met without some things to go along with that.  These are families... children... pregnant women.  People, who need to eat to live just like us.

If you live in the upstate SC area and would like to help out...  Even $5 a week.  $5.  $5 would buy 50 flour tortillas, 15 boxes of cornbread mix, 2 pounds of cheese or 5 dozen eggs.  What is $5 to us?  A cup of coffee and a bagel?  A newspaper a few mornings a week?  I'm telling you, what a difference $5 a week would make to these 20 people and the people who are helping them.  I'm going to be going shopping, probably once every week or two.  If you want to help out, I will gladly do the legwork for you.  Just let me know.

If you want to do some shopping yourself, here are some ideas:

flour tortillas
corn tortillas
tortilla chips
corn bread mix
baking powder
baking soda
LARGE cans of applesauce or other fruit (like what you would find at Sam's or Costco)
LARGE containers of spices: chili powder, cumin, italian seasoning, garlic powder, onion powder
butter or margarine
vegetable oil
eggs
parmesan cheese
large bags of shredded cheese
carrots (you can get a 25 pound bag at publix for $15)
sour cream
drink mixes (lemonade and iced tea)
brownie and cookie mixes