Born to be Free

Within my small, olive-green ESV Bible I keep a series of note cards.  I have a number of sloppily jotted thoughts, and lots of quotes from my pastor written on them. Some catch my eye more than others at times.  This past Sunday my mind lingered on a few written points for a while longer. "What if following Jesus means giving up on your greatest dreams?" That's not a comforting thought.  Not something you wish to lie awake at night dwelling on. What are our greatest dreams?  Maybe if you're like me, you've got a few of them.  They are in essence, hopes.  Vague notions of a plan we wish to someday implement.  The reasons we work crazy hours and save every penny. But what if He asks us to give those things up?  Everything? What if for the student it means giving over their desires to work overseas and instead never moving out of their state?  What if for the middle-aged woman it means no longer having a chance to have her own fami...

Today we find ourselves in the midst of the third week of Advent.  The waiting. The brisk winter winds silence all other outer noice and force us to contemplate what is inside. We have received an invitation from Immanuel to linger in the moments, to wonder at what was and is and will be. We wait for Him, but He is here already. Does this seem strange?  Perhaps at first glance.  We know Who our Savior is.  We have known the power of His resurrection intimately.  This is what the prophets only dreamt of. So what are we waiting for?  We wait for the reconcilation of all things. We look for relationships to be restored. We look for injustice to be eradicated. We look for the lepers to be healed and the Pharisees to be put in place. We look for the day when the devil knows his kingdom is no more. We look for our Messiah. But the thing is......He's already here.  Yes, He is coming in that Day and will set the seal on t...

It used to be that I never felt I was truly home.  The Scriptures speaking of our souls belonging to another Kingdom resonated deeply, and they still do. But it took a journey to Canada two years ago and living on an island the size of a city block to etch the truth into my soul - that "the Most High is [my] dwelling place". Since then, I've found home to be in a thousand places. It turns out, the place where you belong is wherever He tells you to go. This is how we live as sojourners - we go where He sends, no matter how frightened we may be of the outcome.  Scared senseless, we step out.  What if God's call on your life is the path that terrifies you the most!?  Home is wherever His purposes collide with our passions. This is something that will look different for everyone.  We have each been given unique roles to play in the Kingdom's story. So what will we do?  Will we choose to trust in God's call on our lives, believing that He will uphol...

I am by nature one who tries to fix things.  Everything from recipe typos to broken chairs to broken hearts.  It is difficult for me to see a situation in need of change and look the other way.  That's not how I was made. Unfortunately, this also means that I try to do a lot of stuff on my own, be my own hero and everybody else's in some way.  I want to help people. Recently I was faced with a situation that has bothered me for quite a while since.  It is difficult for me to watch people I care quite a bit about make decisions and/or walk unknowingly into situations that will hurt them and others.  These are the kinds of thoughts that keep me awake early into the morning some days. Sadly, sometimes there isn't anything you can do.  As much as you want to help, as much as you want to prevent anything terrible from happening to people - your position is powerless when it comes to trying to warn them. I have a choice.  You have a choice. W...

Are you ready?  We're asked this a lot - heading out the door, making important phone calls, getting around for a formal event. Maybe we're asking ourselves the same question, only more frequently. Am I ready...? Ready for the beginning of the semester, to start a new job, embrace the distanced family member, start a study group, or raise a child?  Ready to relocate to chase God's dreams for your life, ready to start your business, or find a way to survive in less than great circumstances? We each face our own questions, and some may seem too daunting to try and think through. What if it doesn't work out?  What if I've mistaken God's call on my life, or can't find what I need to do this...? I'm sure sometimes your mind swims like mine can. Someone asked me at the start of this year what my long-term plan is.  Two, three, five years out.  To be honest, I had no words.  My first thought was "I can't believe people do that." I...

I've been thinking a lot lately about the topic of rest. Physical rest just isn't something I normally get much of right now, and that's okay - for multiple reasons. Being pushed beyond what you believe to be capable of flings the door wide open for the Spirit of God to take over. Because Peace is a Person.  Not a circumstance.  Rest is found in the same Person.  Not in how much or how little sleep I get. I had no idea how the Holy Spirit can take over even physical needs until this summer. My soul often finds itself restless.  Anxious.  Running way too fast on way too little. I think often of how Jesus Himself "withdrew to a desolate place". He knew what satisfied His soul and He sought it - God Himself. His presence.  His peace. Rest for the restless. Paul speaks of the peace which can rule in our hearts as "surpassing understanding". Even as we uproot and wander across the vast expanse of the world and of our souls - we find our...

Seventy-five degree weather has finally made its way back to my habitation.  It's been long in coming. This year there wasn't a gradual slip from winter to spring.  One day you rise from sleep and find things to be far different than you anticipated. My life has become punctuated with sudden changes as of late.  You'll find that when you lay your future in the hands of God, you never know what it's going to end up looking like.  In the words of Arthur Conan Doyle, "The unexpected has happened so frequently in my life that it ceases to deserve the name." And yet, it turns out to be quite beautiful.  For what seems like ages I've held onto the words of Martin Luther, reformer of the 16th century Church: "All who call on God in true faith, earnestly from the heart, will certainly be heard, and will receive what they have asked and desired, although not in the hour or in the measure, or the very thing which they ask; yet they will obtain somethin...