Category: Books

Here and Now

I read this in the Fall 2012 Leadership Journal yesterday and I am pretty sure it was written just for me:

Frustration

I have been thinking for the last couple of weeks that I am tired of “just getting through” whether that be my next task, the next hour, the next day, the next week, etc. As I read this, I realized that this may be some of my problem. I know I have been called to pastoral ministry and I don’t see anything moving in that direction at this point. I know God has more for my family along those lines, but it hasn’t been revealed to us yet. And I am looking forward to that, I am excited about where God will lead us.

But in the meantime, I get frustrated that noting is changing and that it all stays the same all the time. Especially since a Word from the Lord we received around Christmas time promised movement on His part and we are still waiting.

I guess this article was (is) a good reminder of Philippians 4:11-13

11 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

Maybe I haven’t learned to be content where I am now. Maybe I haven’t learned to be content with waiting. Maybe I have lost some of the passion for the here and now and am spending too much time wondering about the yet to come. I don’t know. I don’t have the answers. But I do know I need to keep asking about the yet to come, while being content in the here and now. And “trust God and let that be enough.”

In what ways do you find yourself sacrificing the here and now for the yet to come?

Be Strong. Take Heart. And Wait.

Sometimes it feels like we spend our whole lives waiting for something to change. Dress size. Marriage issues. Work problems. Financial woes. You get the idea.

One thing I have been waiting on for a long time is simply the next step as I follow the Lord in the call to ministry. I don’t know what it looks like, but I know something is coming. I don’t know what action I should take, if any. The only thing I do know is that He has called me into full-time ministry and for now what that looks like is administration at GFMC, ministry to the kids in the LOFT, and preaching at area churches when I can.

Sometimes it’s hard, the not knowing. It feels like I have been forgotten. Sometimes the enemy tries to come in and tell me that I didn’t hear the Lord or that I am not who He wants to use.

Sunday, as we read Psalm 27 together, I was reminded that sometimes it’s hard to wait, especially in hard times. But I have a choice in my response.

Psalm 27

Of David.

1 The Lord is my light and my salvation—
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life—
of whom shall I be afraid?

2 When the wicked advance against me
to devour me,
it is my enemies and my foes
who will stumble and fall.
3 Though an army besiege me,
my heart will not fear;
though war break out against me,
even then I will be confident.

4 One thing I ask from the Lord,
this only do I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to gaze on the beauty of the Lord
and to seek him in his temple.
5 For in the day of trouble
he will keep me safe in his dwelling;
he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent
and set me high upon a rock.

6 Then my head will be exalted
above the enemies who surround me;
at his sacred tent I will sacrifice with shouts of joy;
I will sing and make music to the Lord.

7 Hear my voice when I call, Lord;
be merciful to me and answer me.
8 My heart says of you, “Seek his face!”
Your face, Lord, I will seek.
9 Do not hide your face from me,
do not turn your servant away in anger;
you have been my helper.
Do not reject me or forsake me,
God my Savior.
10 Though my father and mother forsake me,
the Lord will receive me.
11 Teach me your way, Lord;
lead me in a straight path
because of my oppressors.
12 Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes,
for false witnesses rise up against me,
spouting malicious accusations.

13 I remain confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living.
14 Wait for the Lord;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the Lord.

I choose to remain confident. I choose to be strong, take heart, and wait.

Are you waiting on something this morning? Be strong. Take Heart. And wait.

Soup’s On

Spring is coming. It seems rather slow in coming some days, but I know that it is getting close. And I am ever so thankful. With spring comes warm runs, walks and bike rides with the kids, a craving for more fresh veggies, salads, stir fry, and grilled foods.

But for now, it is still cold and one (maybe the only?) part of cold that I do enjoy is soup. And I am apparently trying to get my fill because that is the only thing that sounds good and thus the only thing I am cooking these days.

I thought I would share a couple of my favorites that I have found over the last few weeks.

Tuesday of this week I was in the mood for black beans, but not necessarily wanting to pair them with rice or a Mexican-flavored dish. I knew I had some barley, so when I saw this recipe for Fall Vegetable Stew with Black Beans and Barley, I knew I had to try it. I had a couple of butternut squash hanging out from one of my previous co-op baskets, and everything else was in my fridge or my pantry. I did use dried herbs instead of fresh (use about 1/3 of the amount requested if you are using dried). I was sure my kids would hate it because of the squash, but to my surprise and delight, Anne loved it and Ty liked it well enough to eat it without much complaint (which is a miracle in and of itself). Mike wasn’t home, so I didn’t get his feedback, but a good friend of mine came and grabbed a bowl as she headed back to work and raved about it as well. It tastes pretty good leftover, too. I think next time  I will mash all the squash, then there will be no complaints from the kids because they won’t know the squash is even there. 🙂

Last weekend, I was just in the mood to cook and was scrolling through my Healthy Food Pinterest board to see what appealed to me and corresponded with what I had hanging out in my fridge. This Carrot, Potato, & Leek Soup just looked fabulous and I had some huge carrots and two leeks that needed to be used and because I am married to meat and potatoes man, we always have potatoes hanging around. It was super easy to make, just chop the veggies, season with EVOO and spices, and roast in the oven. When the veggies are done, puree them with some vegetable broth and add any more seasoning to taste. It was delicious. I even served it to my small group the next evening and the ones that tried it, liked it. It would be really good with some homemade croutons, so I might try that next time.

The other soup I made recently was White Bean and Basil. I found it in the cookbook: Quick-Fix Vegan: Healthy, Homestyle Meals in 30 Minutes or Less. It was really easy, quick, and had a wonderful flavor that came from onions, carrots, garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, and both dried and fresh basil. My kids aren’t a huge fan of basil (which is totally wrong in my book), so they complained a little, but I think if I had added the cooked elbow macaroni that was offered as a variation, they probably wouldn’t have complained at all. Because that’s the way kids are.

So if you are like me and are soaking up the last bit of soup season, here are a few ideas for you to try. It is amazing to me how many different flavors and combinations that I keep finding and liking that I never would have encountered if I hadn’t made the decision to adopt a vegan diet. And boy am I enjoying it!

More Devoted: Bar Patrons or Christ-Followers?

My dad is reading a book called Crossing Over: Getting to the Best Life Yet, by Paul Scanlon and this morning as he was reading, he was struck enough by the following passage that he called to share it with me:

I had a defining moment during this period of our crossing over when I met an ex-Baptist pastor who, after twenty years in ministry, had resigned and was now a barkeeper. He told me what had led him to this radical change was twenty years of soul-destroying ministry that put him and his wife on prescription medication. He described a church where he felt completely responsible to persuade people to get involved, but they refused. He became worn out from the huge effort required to convince, persuade, remind, and sometimes beg people to get behind his vision, but they wouldn’t.

I asked him what he enjoyed about being a barkeeper, and his reply hit me like a hammer. He said, “I love this job because my drinkers are devoted all by themselves.” He explained how he never had to persuade or remind his customers to come back. He never had to call his absent drinkers to assure them they were missed, nor did he have to inspire them to part with their money. Finally, he said, “my drinkers come early and stay late, but in twenty years of ministry, the church did neither.”

As my dad read it to me on the phone, I, too was struck by this statement. Wow. It’s so true.

I work for a church, and we talk about these things often. Now it seems that a “regular” attender is no longer someone who is here every Sunday, but someone who comes once or twice a month and considers this their church home. These “regulars” may or may not give financially to the church, even if they are a member and have committed to that as part of the membership covenant. Every month we look at a list of people who haven’t been counted present for the previous month and discuss how to follow-up with them to let them know they are missed. We are consistently looking for new volunteers in all areas of ministry and are just as consistently coming up short.

Why is this? Why are people, who say that they are devoted Christ-followers, not as devoted as they could be?

I don’t know the answer to that question, but that is what I am thinking about this Monday morning.

What do you think?

Waiting

I am not a fan of waiting.

I don’t like waiting in line. I get frustrated waiting for my kids and husband to move. And waiting on someone else to finish what they are supposed to do so I can do my job, well, don’t get me started.

I am a go-getter. If I see that it needs to be done, I do it. If I know I am supposed to do something, I want to get it done.

So, waiting for something that I know is supposed to happen bugs me.

But I also am aware that when it comes to God’s call and timing, I am not the one in charge. And it has become a learning point for me over the last several years to wait on Him.

As I was reading from Love Does by Bob Goff last night, I ran across this paragraph that does a pretty good job of describing me.

I think God passes by me a lot, and it serves to show me the direction He’s going. We don’t always know where He’s headed or what to expect along the way. But I think direction is the point, the part, and whole of it. He wants followers, not just onlookers or people taking notes. Plus, I think God knows that if I found out more than just the direction He was going, I’d probably try to beat Him there. And if He spoke to me with something audible, I’d probably mess it up and mishear Him.

So I continue to wait for His next move. His next direction-giving moment in my life. Even though I get tired of waiting.

Is waiting easy for you?

Part of the Process

I like to read. A lot.

Much of the time I read novels. Nicholas Sparks. Karen Kingsbury. Angela Hunt. Dee Henderson. Charles Martin. Beverly Lewis. These are just a few of my favorite authors.

I am one of those people who gets absorbed in novels and have been known to cry or get angry about what is happening in a book as if the characters were real.

Last January I hit a dry spell. I couldn’t read. I tried. Over and over. I started one book that would typically take me a couple of days to finish and it took me 6 months.

Finally, in October, the dry spell was over. I could read again. I was devouring books again. I even spent a couple of days on my couch just reading. I can’t remember the last time I did that.

And then it happened. I finished The Nativity Story by Angela Hunt and I couldn’t start another novel.

I’m not sure why. I had one picked out and sitting by my bed, but I couldn’t pick it up.

Instead, I was drawn to a book in a genre that is quickly becoming my favorite: memoirs.

The one calling my name was Angry Conversations with God: A Snarky but Authentic Spiritual Memoir by Susan Isaacs. I bought the book over a year ago and it had just been sitting on my shelf. So I started reading it. And I couldn’t put it down. I finished it in just a couple of days. (And since I pretty much only have time to read before bed, and even that is limited some days, that’s pretty amazing.) In her story, she takes God to counseling, or rather, she takes her image of God to counseling. There is something about the way she writes that just struck a chord with me. The sarcasm, snark, and humor perfectly woven with the real questions, hardships, and struggles that she faced spoke to me. So much so, that when I finished it, I posted this on Facebook:

Just finished “Angry Conversations with God” by Susan Isaacs. Loved it. The subtitle is “A Snarky but Authentic Spiritual Memoir” and it is just that. It is real. It is tough. It deals with the fact that life sucks. It really spoke to me. Read it. If you have ever questioned God or life or your place in it. Read it.

And I meant it. I still do.

After I finished it, I went to pick up the novel that I had picked out (it was still sitting next to my bed) and again I couldn’t.

Instead I was reminded of a book that I had waiting for me in the Kindle App on my iPad. Love Does by Bob Goff. Guess what. Another memoir.

I have been working on it for the last couple of days. I can’t put it down. I keep finding gems that speak to me. Things like:

Jesus told the people He was with that it’s not enough to just look like you love God. He said we’d know the extent of our love for God by how well we loved people.

and:

I once heard somebody say that God had closed a door on an opportunity they had hoped for. But I’ve always wondered if, when we want to do something that we know is right and good, God places that desire deep in our hearts because He wants it for us and it honors Him. Maybe there are times when we think a door has been closed and, instead of misinterpreting the circumstances, God wants us to kick it down. Or perhaps just sit outside of it long enough until somebody tells us we can come in.

I don’t know why I am being drawn to these books. But I think it might be part of the process of coming out of this time of depression and anxiety that has been plaguing me. I think there may be things that I need to learn and I can’t learn them through novels right now. (I have learned much from novels, as well, over the years, but maybe that’s not what I need at this point.) Maybe I can only learn them through other people’s real stories. Through their struggles. Through their pain. Through their redemption. Through their enlightening.

So I guess I’ll keep reading what my heart and mind seem to be looking for – whatever form that takes.

What are you reading these days? How do the books you read affect you?

What Can I Do?

The last few days I have been feeling overwhelmed by the needs of the people around me and trying to figure out how I can help them. I have one friend who is in a specialty clinic for some health problems that have been plaguing her for months. I have another friend whose family just seems to continually be bombarded with major health issues and a new one has arisen. A third friend is struggling with some significant heart and mind issues. And then in staff meeting yesterday we had a long list of needs that we prayed over on behalf of our congregation. Sometimes it can get heavy when faced with so many issues,  and then to top it all off, sometimes you don’t even know how to help or to pray.

As I thought about all this today, I was reminded of this scripture, and I love the way The Message phrases it:

Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good. — Romans 8:26-28 (The Message)

Good news! If we don’t know how else to help, prayer always helps! And, we don’t have to know what to pray – the Spirit knows!

Not that this gets me “off the hook” for doing something else tangible for any of these people, but when there is nothing else I can do, I can always pray.

So that is what I intend to keep doing.

How about you? Does prayer play an important part in caring for those around you? How does that look for you?

Too Busy!

I read this in my devotional book this week:

When the Master invited the Governor to practice meditation and the Governor said he was too busy, this is the reply he got: “You put me in mind of a man walking blindfolded into the jungle–and being too busy to take the blindfold off.”

When the Governor pleaded lack of time, the Master said, “It is a mistake to think that meditation cannot be practiced for lack of time. The real reason is agitation of the mind.” –From Taking Flight by Anthony deMello

And then the next night, I read this:

How often people today cry out in exasperation or despair, “I just don’t have enough time!” There is so much to do: earn a living, fulfill a vocation, nurture relationships, care for dependents, exercise, clean the house. Moreover, we hope to maintain sanity while doing all this, and to keep growing as faithful and loving people at the same time. We are finite, and the demands seem too great, the time too short.

Puritan Sabbath keepers agreed that “good Sabbaths make good Christians.” They meant that regular, disciplined attention to the spiritual life was the foundation of faithfulness. Another dimension of the saying opens up if we imagine a worshiping community helping one another step off the treadmill of work-and-spend and into the circle of glad gratitude for the gifts of God. Taken this way, good Sabbaths make good Christians by regularly reminding us of God’s creative, liberating, and redeeming presence, not only in words but also through a practice we do together in response to that presence. –From “Keeping Sabbath by Dorothy C. Bass in Practicing Our Faith

How many times in the last week have you said, “I’m just too busy to get to that,” or “I don’t have time to do this?” Can you even count the number? And how often do you say, “I just don’t have time to pray,” or “I can’t figure out how to work devotional time into my schedule?”

We live in a culture of busy-ness. Life seems to be out of our control because there is something going on all the time and we can’t (don’t want to) miss anything. And what suffers when life gets crazy busy? Our quiet time. Our centering time. Our sabbath time. We just keep filling the schedule until there is no time left to refresh and renew ourselves with the help of Christ.

There was a time when I said  I just couldn’t find any time that worked to spend time reading my Bible and praying. Then one night, I climbed in bed and picked up the novel I was reading and it hit me. I was choosing to lay in my bed and read a novel. I had time to do that. Or rather, I was making time to do that. Why wasn’t I making time to spend with the Lord? So I started. I put my Bible on top of my book and before I could read my book, I made myself read my Bible. And then I added a devotional book. And then I added writing in a journal. And now, I can’t imagine going to sleep without that time. I do it faithfully every day. Even when it is late.

You hear people say all the time about how important this time is, and I agree, but until I read Monday’s devotional, I never quite had the right words for why it is important. Now I do.

When the Master invited the Governor to practice meditation and the Governor said he was too busy, this is the reply he got: “You put me in mind of a man walking blindfolded into the jungle–and being too busy to take the blindfold off.”

Every day, we are walking into a jungle, crazy schedules, family dynamics, work issues, and so much more, and when we are too busy to stop and re-center our lives around Christ and who we are in Him, we are walking into it blindfolded. We can’t see our purpose. We can’t see how God is at work. We can’t see how what we are a part of fits into a bigger picture than just getting through the day. And we are purposely not taking that blindfold off because it would take too much time.

I don’t want to spend my time in the jungle blindfolded. How about you?

The Right Armor

Sunday I started teaching a new series in Kids Church. It is called Faith Case: Armor of God. It is a great set of lessons about what it means to operate with the help of the Holy Spirit and what it looks like to put on the full armor of God. The DVD-based series follows a girl named Regina into a new school where she will need to use her armor to fend off the attacks of The Spoiler.

One of the things that the kids will learn over the 10-week period is Ephesians 6:10-18:

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

Now, I don’t know about you, but memorization is hard for me. And if I am asking kids to memorize these nine verses, I need to memorize them, too. Give me a script for a play that has back and forth lines or lyrics to a song and I can memorize them, but for some reason (because I don’t have to? because I am not motivated to?) memorizing scripture is much harder for me. I know it is important. After all, one of the right pieces of armor is “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” Jesus Himself even modeled that for us as he fought off temptation by quoting scripture to Satan (Matthew 4).

I want to know more scripture. I want to be more like Christ. And to be more like Christ, I need to have more of His Word deep in my heart. So I’m going to work on it, beginning with these nine verses and then going from there.

And I am challenging you to do the same. Are you up for it?

No Condemnation

Everything I have run across in the last couple of weeks keeps sending me back to Romans 8. Devotionals, Facebook posts, church, etc. It must be time for me to spend some time there again. In the meantime, I read this recently and thought that I would share it with you.

Condemnation is a heavy burden to bear. No matter the source of the condemnation and no matter the reason, condemnation crushes the life out of us all when given the opportunity. Many of us live our lives condemned because we have been unable or unwilling to permit that burden to be removed. Sometimes the condemnation is self-imposed, and we just cannot forgive ourselves for what seems to be, in our own estimation, some great failure. Sometimes the condemnation comes from outside ourselves for failures in the eyes of others. Whether these failures are relatively insignificant or enormous, the burden of condemnation is hard to bear. Therefore the words of Jesus–“neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again” (John 8:11)–are music to our ears. To know that we do not need to carry the failures of the past into the future is good news indeed. Jesus came not to condemn the world but to save the world (John 3:17). The good news for all of us declares that the chains binding us to past failures can be broken; we can be set free to live all our tomorrows without condemnation.

Stop and think for a moment about all those memories that keep invading your consciousness to convince you that you are condemned. And then remember these words of the New Testament: “Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us” (Romans 8:34). There is no condemnation for those who walk with Christ.

Today offer all the condemnations of the past and present–silly and substantial–to God in Christ Jesus and hear the words of Jesus addressed to you: “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.” And now give thanks to God that you are free of the burden of condemnation.

–Rueben P. Job in A Guide to Prayer for All Who Seek God

A good reminder for those of us who tend to carry guilt and condemnation from various places – both internal and external – that we are not condemned in Christ Jesus. Remember that as you start a new Monday morning today.