Love Wins

It really does!  Love will always be more powerful than hate.  Love will always win in the end, because of the ultimate love Jesus  showed us from the cross.  He could have given up, but he didn’t.  He remained on the cross and died for us, so that we might live.

I’ve wanted to get a tattoo for over a year now and I actually went twice to get it and was stood up both times by the tattoo artist.  I’m actually happy that I ended up waiting, because what you see in the picture is my new tattoo and yes it says Love Wins.  I love it, I’m happy with it, and I think the artist I finally chose, did a great job.

So why?  Why “Love Wins?”  Because I often find myself impatient and frustrated with people.  I don’t show them the kind of love that God expects his people to show towards each other.  I even struggle with showing enough love to my family.  You would think love would come naturally, but because of the broken, sinful, and selfish nature we are born with, love is something that takes work and practice and effort.

I really want my scribbled life to be a reflection of Christ’s love to others.  Will a tattoo that says “Love Wins” on my wrist mean that loving others will be easier?  No!  But maybe, just maybe, it will be a small opportunity to testify about my need for Christ’s redeeming love in my life.  Maybe it will pave the way for a future conversation with someone about how I struggle with loving others and the only way I can successfully love people is through the grace of God and because of his love for all of his creation.

Do you wrestle with the ability to love others more than you love yourself?

The Parable of the Sower…The Untold Story

The Parable of the Sower

(From The Message)

^3-8“What do you make of this? A farmer planted seed. As he scattered the seed, some of it fell on the road, and birds ate it. Some fell in the gravel; it sprouted quickly but didn’t put down roots, so when the sun came up it withered just as quickly. Some fell in the weeds; as it came up, it was strangled by the weeds. Some fell on good earth, and produced a harvest beyond his wildest dreams.

18-19“Study this story of the farmer planting seed. When anyone hears news of the kingdom and doesn’t take it in, it just remains on the surface, and so the Evil One comes along and plucks it right out of that person’s heart. This is the seed the farmer scatters on the road.

 ^20-21“The seed cast in the gravel—this is the person who hears and instantly responds with enthusiasm. But there is no soil of character, and so when the emotions wear off and some difficulty arrives, there is nothing to show for it.

 ²²“The seed cast in the weeds is the person who hears the kingdom news, but weeds of worry and illusions about getting more and wanting everything under the sun strangle what was heard, and nothing comes of it.

 ²³“The seed cast on good earth is the person who hears and takes in the News, and then produces a harvest beyond his wildest dreams.”

 

The Untold Story

After the birds ate the seed from the road, the seed traveled through their digestive system.  A business man walking along the road frightened the birds and they scattered over the field, crapping the seed onto the good earth, where the seed eventually took root right along side the seed originally cast there by the farmer.

Think about it and then tell me what you think this story means?

No Resolutions!

I’ve been in a little writing funk lately, so forgive me if this turns out to be putrid dribble, but I still feel the need and desire to write.  My fear is it will just be garbage ink on electronic paper.  I don’t want my journal to become boring, tireless crap, but feel it’s important to spew forth the feelings and thoughts within my feeble little mind, in an attempt to keep it from exploding.

The thoughts that have been in my head for over a week now are about resolutions, goals, and my big plans for 2009.  I’m not much on making resolutions, because I always fail.  Last year I set goals in hopes that I might actually achieve them, but since they were only goals it didn’t really matter if I met all of them, I was working towards a mark and only hopped to hit it.  And like I said last week, I can still use these same goals for this year, because they still apply.

Now I’m faced with a stubbornness that will not allow me to make resolutions, I’m using the same goals from last year, and I’m thinking “where does that leave me?”  Bored, tired of thinking about it, and still pressured to have some sort of “plan.”  It’s a new year for heaven’s sake and I need to get on board with it.

Idea!  Maybe I’ll just share with you my manifesto.  It’s something I wrote two years ago and has been in my drafts folder for over a year now.  Maybe it’s finally time to share it.  I just read it and it certainly still applies to my life and works for me.  It will continue to be my public declaration, a goal, and plan I attempt to live my life by.  Most of this came to me after reading the book In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day by Mark Batterson.  Here it is!

1.  I am a “Lion Chaser” in training! — A lion chaser is someone who stops running away and starts grabbing life by the tail.

• How do I grab life by the tail?  Take some risks.  Stop worrying that I might fail.  Recreate what isn’t working.  Be creative.

2.  I will be an agent of change!

• How do you become an agent of change?  Unlearn your fears.  Become vulnerable.  Be honest with yourself, with God, and each other.  Understand that you can’t do anything, but God can do EVERYTHING through you.

3.  I will go after a dream that is destined to fail without divine intervention!

• Becoming uncomfortable to the point that I relinquish control to God and say “I’ll go where you want me to go, I’ll do what you want me to do” scares the crap out of me and is something I really struggle with.

…Why?  Fear of failure, the unknown, vulnerability, time, family, things I may have to give up.  Caring more about what my peers think, instead of what God thinks.

4.  I will stop pointing out problems and become part of the solution!

• I am a recovering cynic.  My natural direction is downward.  I get depressed easily, it’s become natural for me to complain, and I have no problem finding faults with other people.
• When I only point out problems, who do I hurt?  Everyone!

…I must stop repeating the past and start creating the future.  I want to criticize by creating and I want to take action and stop sitting around and waiting for someone else.

5.  I will stop letting what’s wrong with me keep me from worshipping what’s right with God.  (2 Samuel.)

• When I don’t have the guts to step out in faith and chase lions, God is robbed of the glory that rightfully belongs to Him.

…What is this chase I’m referring to?  Going outside my comfort zone to serve and love the oppressed, marginalized, and outcast in society.  The people we would have found Jesus hanging out with.

I’m happy to say since writing this manifesto two years ago, my life has changed dramatically.  I’m not struggling with number four nearly as bad as I was last year or years prior to getting the help I needed.  I’m positive and optimistic about what God has planned for my life and especially in 2009.  Like I keep telling friends and co-workers, “Sky’s the limit” for what could happen in my life this year and I’m looking forward to it.

Special thanks to Mark Batterson for writing In a Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day and for this book being just as relevant today as it was when I read it two years ago.

My Christmas Prayer

 

God, thank you for the way you’ve blessed me and my family.

Thank you for your love, your grace, and your peace!

Thank you for loving me in spite of my sin, my mistakes, and my selfishness.

Thank you for sending us your son to die for my sin.

 

Thank you for entrusting me in the areas of leadership and giving me the responsibility to serve others.

Help me to take my leadership and responsibility seriously and to always do what is right.

Give me strength to persevere when I feel like giving up.

 

Lord help me to love others the way you loved.

Fill my heart with compassion for people, especially the poor, outcast, and marginalized.

Fill my mind with thoughts and ideas that will guide me to help others.

 

I pray God you will help me in the areas I am week.

Surround me with people who are talented in areas I am not.

Help me to find people who are willing to serve you and will join in this Kingdom Restoration.

Give me the wisdom to understand and do your will.

 

God you are amazing and I’m so happy you are my life.

I’m glad you understand me and pray you will help others who don’t understand me.

I pray that I can live at peace with ALL of your creation,

and may you guide me as I work to help others understand and live at peace

with ALL of your creation.

 

God I pray you will;

Use me.

Heal me.

Ruin me.

 

This is my Christmas prayer! 

Hear me now as I pray….Amen!