A couple of years ago, my family went on a vacation to Colorado, to see the Rocky Mountains. It was beautiful! One day, as we went for a one-mile hike near a lake, we discovered that there was another trail that forked off of ours, climbing, zig-zagging, up one of those great Rockys. Foolishly, we took that hike, not knowing how long it would be. In a very short amount of time, we ran out of water. But still we hiked on, and on, and on, until my 4 siblings and I could take it no longer. We had to stop. So, we stopped to rest, and eat a little of the Beef Jerky in our backpacks. But when it was declared time to move on, we refused. We quit. We hiked all the way back down to the bottom, stumbling wearily most of the way. From the bottom, it was one mile more to the car. When we heard it, we could've cried. And, actually, some of us kids, (including me) did. That hike introduced us to pain that none of us had ever experienced before - and never want to know again. It got tough, and so we quit, even before we had reached the snow.
Everyday, many people try to climb the outrageous heights of perfection. And, everyday, most of those people quit. They decide that they just can't do it. And their right!
They can't do it on their own.
Fortunately, God knows that they can't, and provides a way, a path, a trail, to perfection. He writes the law. But still many of us fall - and quit.
And so God provides a GPS - the many prophets of the Old Testament, yelling at you when you take a wrong turn. But people are too stubborn to listen to these gadgets.
Do you see a pattern here? God provides, but even then we fall short. We can't make it.
The only One who can get us all the way there, is God. And so He does. Jesus Christ, the son of the Creator, lays himself down, and paves a path. He guides us when the path gets rough. He's our walking stick to lean on when we can't go one more step. He's the light in the darkness. He's the living water that revives us when we fall. He's the strong arms that lift you when you do fall, and carry you the rest of the way. The rest of the way, to perfection. To Heaven. To Eternal Life.
Why, then, are there still so many at the bottom? There's everything you need right here, right in front of you. Will you not accept it? Will you not give up trying to do it on your own, and take the outstretched hand of God? What more could you want? Is it your pride holding you back? God says, Pride comes before a fall. Is it your shame? "All have fallen short of the Glory of God." Not just you! All of us.
Accept God's guide, and stop trying to write your own map. Give God your trust, your faith, your heart. And lean on him. He'll carry you all the way. All the way up the Impossible Trail.
14 July, 2008
12 July, 2008
Ebenezer
OK, I know this sounds kind of odd, but I got the idea for this post from an e-mail loop that my mom is part of. A while back they had a discussion about a song. It was a good discussion, and I want to share one of the things I learned. Actually, I just wanted to share a few thoughts about one of the lines. The song is entitled "Come Thou Fount". The first two stanzas go:
Come Thou Fount
Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it,
Mount of Thy redeeming love.
Here I raise my Ebenezer;
Here by Thy great help I’ve come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.
So, the writer is praising God for all he has done, and he says "Here I raise my Ebenezer...." I did not know this before, but an Ebenezer is a 'stone of help.' I had always thought, "Wow that's kind of odd, isn't 'Ebenezer' out of A Christmas Carol? You know, Ebenezer Scrooge.'" Well, I was wrong. The author was actually referring to a Jewish custom. You see, when the Israelites crossed over the red sea, they set up a monument, an Ebenezer. They put it there so that they could remember their crossing. So years later their children would ask why it was there, and they would remember crossing over the red sea again, and they could tell their children about what God did for them. It would be their stone of help for many a generation.
That's a cool thought, isn't it? To have a 'stone of help', I like the idea! But notice, the song does not end there. The writer goes on to say "Here by Thy great help I've come; And I hope, by Thy good pleasure, safely to arrive at home." He does not just say, "Thanks for your help! See you next time I'm in a dire situation and I realize I can't do it on my own!" The writer says "Yes, I know you are the reason that I am here! If it is you will, please help me to get where I need to be. I know can't do it on my own. Help me to arrive where you want me to be!"
It is really an inspiring song. It is a prayer really.
I just thought that it had a cool message, and I think it is really thought provoking.
1st Samuel 7:12
Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen, and called its name Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far the Lord has helped us”.
One other thing, I found a vid. on God Tube that has a lady signing Come Thou Fount. It is pretty good. Click HERE to watch it.
-Lauren
Come Thou Fount
Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it,
Mount of Thy redeeming love.
Here I raise my Ebenezer;
Here by Thy great help I’ve come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.
So, the writer is praising God for all he has done, and he says "Here I raise my Ebenezer...." I did not know this before, but an Ebenezer is a 'stone of help.' I had always thought, "Wow that's kind of odd, isn't 'Ebenezer' out of A Christmas Carol? You know, Ebenezer Scrooge.'" Well, I was wrong. The author was actually referring to a Jewish custom. You see, when the Israelites crossed over the red sea, they set up a monument, an Ebenezer. They put it there so that they could remember their crossing. So years later their children would ask why it was there, and they would remember crossing over the red sea again, and they could tell their children about what God did for them. It would be their stone of help for many a generation.
That's a cool thought, isn't it? To have a 'stone of help', I like the idea! But notice, the song does not end there. The writer goes on to say "Here by Thy great help I've come; And I hope, by Thy good pleasure, safely to arrive at home." He does not just say, "Thanks for your help! See you next time I'm in a dire situation and I realize I can't do it on my own!" The writer says "Yes, I know you are the reason that I am here! If it is you will, please help me to get where I need to be. I know can't do it on my own. Help me to arrive where you want me to be!"
It is really an inspiring song. It is a prayer really.
I just thought that it had a cool message, and I think it is really thought provoking.
1st Samuel 7:12
Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen, and called its name Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far the Lord has helped us”.
One other thing, I found a vid. on God Tube that has a lady signing Come Thou Fount. It is pretty good. Click HERE to watch it.
-Lauren
08 July, 2008
Perfect Joy
Joy. What does it mean to you? Money in your pocket? Making music? Being surrounded by friends? Happiness is a funny thing. It's a hole in your heart that must be filled. It's something that must be found, like a hidden treasure. It's the thing that adorns the girl around the corner, but never seems to fall on you.
Or at least that's what the world tells us.
They say you need to have the right clothes, the right cell phone, the right computer, to be happy.
But that's not true. It's a lie. No, Joy is not a lie - a myth - a legend. It's real. What isn't real is that you can do somethng about obtaining it.
Because you can't.
You can't, but someone can. Let's look back to the beginning of the Bible. It says in the 1st chapter of Genesis, several times actually, "And God saw that it was good." The Garden of Eden was perfection. Filled with joy and happiness. Of course, then Adam and Eve had to go and mess things up. Joy wasn't so easily found anymore. It was still there - you could feel it gazing at the brilliant stars; holding a newborn baby; when you shared a meal with some one else. But now there were other emotions, too. Anger; when the skies cloud up. Sadness; when the tiny, helpless, newborn baby dies. Selfishness; it was your meal, after all. Sin entered the world.
It wasn't a world of joy anymore. It wasn't the world of which God had said, "It is good."
In fact, it was bad. And it kept on getting worse. But God had a plan.
About 2000 years ago God sent his only son, Jesus Christ, to Earth.
No, think about it.
God's perfect world wasn't perfect anymore. The only perfect thing left was God. God, and his son.
Okay, so you have two chocolate bars. One of them your little sister drops in the dirt, and is no good for anything except to be thrown in the trash. It was good, but the dirt changed that. Now let's look at your other chocolate bar. It has everything that you could ever want! Caramel filling, nuts, dark chocolate, the creamy inside, this humongous chocolate bar of perfection. It's the only thing you have left. What are you going to do with it?
I know what I would do. I would be angry at my sister for dropping my first chocolate bar. I would be sad that my first chocolate bar was ruined. And, most of all, I would be selfish. I wouldn't share my perfect chocolate bar! Not with the girl who ruined my first one! After all, I gave her a chance to have some of a chocolate bar. She just didn't take that chance. It's her fault.
But God isn't selfish.
He sent his perfect son to this sin-filled Earth. His perfect son was born in a place that smelled like cows, sheep, horses. Even pigs. His perfect son ate the bread that was fixed by sinful hands. His perfect son was accused of many crimes. His perfect son was mocked, flogged, pierced, starved. His perfect son carried a cross to Calvary. His perfect son was nailed to a tree that he had created. His perfect son felt the crushing weight of all the sins that we could not carry. His perfect son died on a cross to save us from our sins.
So that we could have joy again. So that we could be perfect.
So that we could have Perfect Joy.
Or at least that's what the world tells us.
They say you need to have the right clothes, the right cell phone, the right computer, to be happy.
But that's not true. It's a lie. No, Joy is not a lie - a myth - a legend. It's real. What isn't real is that you can do somethng about obtaining it.
Because you can't.
You can't, but someone can. Let's look back to the beginning of the Bible. It says in the 1st chapter of Genesis, several times actually, "And God saw that it was good." The Garden of Eden was perfection. Filled with joy and happiness. Of course, then Adam and Eve had to go and mess things up. Joy wasn't so easily found anymore. It was still there - you could feel it gazing at the brilliant stars; holding a newborn baby; when you shared a meal with some one else. But now there were other emotions, too. Anger; when the skies cloud up. Sadness; when the tiny, helpless, newborn baby dies. Selfishness; it was your meal, after all. Sin entered the world.
It wasn't a world of joy anymore. It wasn't the world of which God had said, "It is good."
In fact, it was bad. And it kept on getting worse. But God had a plan.
About 2000 years ago God sent his only son, Jesus Christ, to Earth.
No, think about it.
God's perfect world wasn't perfect anymore. The only perfect thing left was God. God, and his son.
Okay, so you have two chocolate bars. One of them your little sister drops in the dirt, and is no good for anything except to be thrown in the trash. It was good, but the dirt changed that. Now let's look at your other chocolate bar. It has everything that you could ever want! Caramel filling, nuts, dark chocolate, the creamy inside, this humongous chocolate bar of perfection. It's the only thing you have left. What are you going to do with it?
I know what I would do. I would be angry at my sister for dropping my first chocolate bar. I would be sad that my first chocolate bar was ruined. And, most of all, I would be selfish. I wouldn't share my perfect chocolate bar! Not with the girl who ruined my first one! After all, I gave her a chance to have some of a chocolate bar. She just didn't take that chance. It's her fault.
But God isn't selfish.
He sent his perfect son to this sin-filled Earth. His perfect son was born in a place that smelled like cows, sheep, horses. Even pigs. His perfect son ate the bread that was fixed by sinful hands. His perfect son was accused of many crimes. His perfect son was mocked, flogged, pierced, starved. His perfect son carried a cross to Calvary. His perfect son was nailed to a tree that he had created. His perfect son felt the crushing weight of all the sins that we could not carry. His perfect son died on a cross to save us from our sins.
So that we could have joy again. So that we could be perfect.
So that we could have Perfect Joy.
03 July, 2008
Wind
Abbie and I went to the Rebelution conference in Dallas last weekend. On the way the air conditioner started acting funny. We ended up having to turn off the air for a while and roll down the windows. We hardly ever roll the windows down when we are the interstate (I'm hardly ever on the interstate anyway), so I did not realize that rolling the windows down would mean so much air being pushed in the car. (My mom keeps telling me I am blonde. I guess she is right!)Anyway, I was shocked. I guess air doesn't flow through the car at the same speed when you are going 70 mph as when you are going 40 mph.
Having the windows down was fun for the first five min., but soon I started getting tired of fighting to stay sitting in one place, the air was so strong! I eventually had to roll my window up for a min, and rest, then roll it back down, then back up, several times. In the end, we were able to keep our windows up, and the air conditioner worked better then ever!
God is the air conditioner. (No, I do not worship our air conditioner, but I do enjoy it!) We are the passengers in the car of 'life'. We found out that our air conditioner was acting funky, so we needed to open our windows to the world. And, although it was good for us, (it fixed the conditioner,) I needed a break from the world. I needed tofall back into the car with my window rolled up to rest. We, as people are the same way. We will be forced into the winds of life, and it strengthens our relationship with God, but to be able to survive we have to often and always fall back on God.
-Lauren
Having the windows down was fun for the first five min., but soon I started getting tired of fighting to stay sitting in one place, the air was so strong! I eventually had to roll my window up for a min, and rest, then roll it back down, then back up, several times. In the end, we were able to keep our windows up, and the air conditioner worked better then ever!
God is the air conditioner. (No, I do not worship our air conditioner, but I do enjoy it!) We are the passengers in the car of 'life'. We found out that our air conditioner was acting funky, so we needed to open our windows to the world. And, although it was good for us, (it fixed the conditioner,) I needed a break from the world. I needed tofall back into the car with my window rolled up to rest. We, as people are the same way. We will be forced into the winds of life, and it strengthens our relationship with God, but to be able to survive we have to often and always fall back on God.
-Lauren
01 July, 2008
Welcome!
Welcome to our blog!
How do you start a blog? To be honest, we don’t know. It’s not exactly like a letter, because it’s not to one specific person. It’s not like a book - we don’t have one particular thing to write about. So, how do we begin? It’s a really tough question. We could just say welcome, so, um…WELCOME!
Hi! I am Lauren. I play piano, and I do Irish Step Dancing. I am an avid reader, and am always looking for more good Christian literature. I have a passion for God, and I hope you see it as you read this blog!
Hello! I'm Abbie. I love reading, piano, and the outdoors but, most of all, I love ballet. Not the pink tutus, but the work; the sweat; the passion! I want to dance for Jesus. I’m homeschooled, and my favorite subject is writing. I hope you enjoy reading my thoughts, and that they glorify God!
Now, we send out a heartfelt
“THANK YOU!”
-just for reading our first post!
How do you start a blog? To be honest, we don’t know. It’s not exactly like a letter, because it’s not to one specific person. It’s not like a book - we don’t have one particular thing to write about. So, how do we begin? It’s a really tough question. We could just say welcome, so, um…WELCOME!
Hi! I am Lauren. I play piano, and I do Irish Step Dancing. I am an avid reader, and am always looking for more good Christian literature. I have a passion for God, and I hope you see it as you read this blog!
Hello! I'm Abbie. I love reading, piano, and the outdoors but, most of all, I love ballet. Not the pink tutus, but the work; the sweat; the passion! I want to dance for Jesus. I’m homeschooled, and my favorite subject is writing. I hope you enjoy reading my thoughts, and that they glorify God!
Now, we send out a heartfelt
“THANK YOU!”
-just for reading our first post!
SOLI DEO GLORIA!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
