That one liner just keeps popping into my mind. Rest while you can. Maybe it's just my sense of self-preservation, battling my conscience and telling me it's OK that I havent done a lick of paid "work" in the last two weeks. I've been waiting for one position to end and another to begin and, well, they didn't overlap as smoothly as I'd have liked. I've spent some of the last few weeks preparing for change, but mostly I've just been waiting. It's really sucked it some ways (anxiety!) but has been good in other ways. Waiting has made me question my direction a bit, which is healthy, and in turn the questioning has been driving me back to trust Jesus' plan and timing. I just blogged about this yesterday and then I wrestled with it well into the night. I even dreamt about my doubt. It's funny how many times we need to relearn and remember our lessons?
In another sense, my waiting has led me to believe that a season of change is coming, where my ability to work hard and stay focused will be tested. As a bit of a dreamer/ BS-er, it's hard for me to finish things. I don't often "ship" as Seth Godin puts it. I'd much rather think of awesome ideas, dream about their details and implications, and then move on to the next idea. (As a kid, I'd change my hobbies and interests every few months, depending on what article I'd just read in Field & Stream magazine.) That means that God is going to be stretching and growing me in big ways as I start two full-time, God given adventures in the very near future. They will both be long term investments into our future as a family, and I believe, huge ministry builders. They're coming, and they'll be tough.
For now, I'm goin to rest while I can.
Friday, June 11, 2010
Thursday, June 10, 2010
God controls the outcome
As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I believe God "decides the outcome of my income". I promised more on that later, and well, today is later. So, if you have a few minutes let me explain what the heck I am talking about. It will be fun.
I believe that those of us who are trying to follow Christ's leading through life (or "chase the Wild Goose" as Mark Batterson puts it) have the upper hand in the situations and decisions we face, and it has nothing to do with us. God controls our outcomes, He has a plan for us, good works that we were predestined (I said it) to do, and all this for His glory. He certainly puts opportunities in our path and wants us to respond to these in a way that please Him, but that still doesn't guarantee the outcome. He decides.
So, that means the incomes are ours. What we put into things via prayer, and passion and intelligence and energy (Hear, o Israel) is up to us and doesn't really equal what the outcome will be. We can try really hard, and want it so bad we can taste it, or have a huge heart for God's work in our career path and study like mad for our next test but ultimately, it's up to Him. He decides if we get the position or if we pass the trimester or if we get pregnant (I have no womb, Thank you Jesus) and it often seems like He doesn't really care what we think or feel about it, doesn't it? Certainly we've all felt at one time like God just doesn't understand what we're trying to do for Him, and if He'd just get out of the way and let us git 'r done there would be so much more fruit for us and the Kingdom.
So what do we make of this mess? God has a plan for us, and our actions do matter, but He still decides. For many of us, this is difficult to manage. We wanna control what happens and be masters of our own destiny. I think we have our perspective all wrong. What we see as a curse is really an immense blessing! We have the Almighty looking out for us in ways only He can, moving pieces on the board that we didn't even know were in play. So what's left for us? Trust Him, Love Him, try our best to please Him and talk to Him about it when we don't or can't. Seems pretty simple, right? I think so.
We have the upper hand because we don't really have a hand at all. Instead, we've trusted our Father to play our hand for us. All he asks is that our head is in the game, and that we're looking over His shoulder, watching, learning and being amazed by Him.
I believe that those of us who are trying to follow Christ's leading through life (or "chase the Wild Goose" as Mark Batterson puts it) have the upper hand in the situations and decisions we face, and it has nothing to do with us. God controls our outcomes, He has a plan for us, good works that we were predestined (I said it) to do, and all this for His glory. He certainly puts opportunities in our path and wants us to respond to these in a way that please Him, but that still doesn't guarantee the outcome. He decides.
So, that means the incomes are ours. What we put into things via prayer, and passion and intelligence and energy (Hear, o Israel) is up to us and doesn't really equal what the outcome will be. We can try really hard, and want it so bad we can taste it, or have a huge heart for God's work in our career path and study like mad for our next test but ultimately, it's up to Him. He decides if we get the position or if we pass the trimester or if we get pregnant (I have no womb, Thank you Jesus) and it often seems like He doesn't really care what we think or feel about it, doesn't it? Certainly we've all felt at one time like God just doesn't understand what we're trying to do for Him, and if He'd just get out of the way and let us git 'r done there would be so much more fruit for us and the Kingdom.
So what do we make of this mess? God has a plan for us, and our actions do matter, but He still decides. For many of us, this is difficult to manage. We wanna control what happens and be masters of our own destiny. I think we have our perspective all wrong. What we see as a curse is really an immense blessing! We have the Almighty looking out for us in ways only He can, moving pieces on the board that we didn't even know were in play. So what's left for us? Trust Him, Love Him, try our best to please Him and talk to Him about it when we don't or can't. Seems pretty simple, right? I think so.
We have the upper hand because we don't really have a hand at all. Instead, we've trusted our Father to play our hand for us. All he asks is that our head is in the game, and that we're looking over His shoulder, watching, learning and being amazed by Him.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
What is Veritas Blog?
Veritas Blog is about everything. It's about the truth that surrounds us in tiny pieces and slivers and glimpses. It's about the truth that saturates our relationships, our places and people and things. It's about exposing when and where this truth exists and claiming it, pointing to God as Creator of it.
In Velvet Elvis, author and pastor Rob Bell (let's get things off on the right foot) writes about the kavod of God, the "weight or significance" of His glory that completely surrounds us. Bell says everything is "drenched" with Jesus' presence and he mentions the words of David, "The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it". That's where we're going with this.
And not only is Veritas Blog about pointing out the everything and everywhere-ness of God, but it's about changing our thinking and perspective to include Him, more often. Yeah, it is about recognizing and claiming, but it's more about thanking Him or possibly even changing how we act or think. And if we allow Jesus to change how we act or think to include Him, more often, then we're slowly adding up to be more like He was and we're slowly adding up our impact to be more like His was. And that's a pretty big impact.
Like many budding writers, I want you to read my stuff. Even more so, I want you to read my stuff and think about it. Then I want you to comment about it, or tell your friends and family and cohorts your thoughts and where they can read about it and comment too. But in spite of my building ego and inflating weather-balloon- proportioned- head, there is something in my heart that quivers and makes my hands shake when I think about me writing and you reading. It's the thing that pops these thoughts in my head and shows me what I'm actually seeing when I look around. It's the driving force behind the equations and deductions, and it decides the outcome of my income (more on that later). To say these thoughts are not my own, but the Spirits' is a lie, and a bad one at that. I'm obviously not a psalmist (and I've been told that God's written revelation is complete), but to say that these thoughts are all mine would be taking too much credit.
So let's expose the truth (Veritas in Latin). Let's claim it as His and ours. Let's allow Him to saturate us and our everything.
Where do you see Truth?
In Velvet Elvis, author and pastor Rob Bell (let's get things off on the right foot) writes about the kavod of God, the "weight or significance" of His glory that completely surrounds us. Bell says everything is "drenched" with Jesus' presence and he mentions the words of David, "The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it". That's where we're going with this.
And not only is Veritas Blog about pointing out the everything and everywhere-ness of God, but it's about changing our thinking and perspective to include Him, more often. Yeah, it is about recognizing and claiming, but it's more about thanking Him or possibly even changing how we act or think. And if we allow Jesus to change how we act or think to include Him, more often, then we're slowly adding up to be more like He was and we're slowly adding up our impact to be more like His was. And that's a pretty big impact.
Like many budding writers, I want you to read my stuff. Even more so, I want you to read my stuff and think about it. Then I want you to comment about it, or tell your friends and family and cohorts your thoughts and where they can read about it and comment too. But in spite of my building ego and inflating weather-balloon- proportioned- head, there is something in my heart that quivers and makes my hands shake when I think about me writing and you reading. It's the thing that pops these thoughts in my head and shows me what I'm actually seeing when I look around. It's the driving force behind the equations and deductions, and it decides the outcome of my income (more on that later). To say these thoughts are not my own, but the Spirits' is a lie, and a bad one at that. I'm obviously not a psalmist (and I've been told that God's written revelation is complete), but to say that these thoughts are all mine would be taking too much credit.
So let's expose the truth (Veritas in Latin). Let's claim it as His and ours. Let's allow Him to saturate us and our everything.
Where do you see Truth?
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