Well Known January 18, 2009

In all my reflecting on last semester and my time in Bratislava and in discussions with others lately, I’ve realized that I learned alot about myself last Fall–weaknesses, limitations, likes, dislikes, joys, and gifts. Some of these were surprises, and some were already known to me.

As I’ve thought about the future and how to respond to the things I’ve learned, I’ve noticed two temptations: one is to be so focused on myself that everything is about me in a boasting, prideful way. The other is to become so focused on myself that everything is about me in a “I’m not good enough, I can’t do that” way. Both are wrong attitudes because both put the emphasis on me and what I can do, instead of God and what He can.

So, today when I read this from the devotional I’ve been doing, it was quite encouraging.

The Lord has searched you and known you. The Lord knows when you sit down and when you rise up; The Lord discerns your thoughts from far away. The Lord searches out your paths and your lying down, and is acquainted with all your ways.

Go in this overwhelming knowledge, knowing that the Lord is calling you down the pathways God has for you.

God knows all about me, and yet He still has plans for me.  Healthy pride and humility is knowing that I am well-known by God, thanking Him for how He has made me (weaknesses and all) and trusting and acknowledging His work in and around me.  My sense of self and security comes from the knowledge that I am completely known and loved by Him and that in spite of what He knows about me, He still longs for a relationship with me.  Even better, He calls me to serve Him by loving others.

Pray for Russian Gas Dispute January 14, 2009

The gas dispute between Russia and Ukraine is still ongoing. Talks that were supposed to settle this on Tuesday fell through. Please pray this will be resolved soon. Also please pray for my friends in Slovakia who are affected by this crisis. Temperatures there are in the teens and I heard from someone that there’s only a 3-day supply left of gas.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7827829.stm#map

Stories January 12, 2009

What a neat day at church! Today is the 5 year anniversary of my church, Grace Fellowship Kingsport. The service today focused on stories of people and ministries that have been impacted by Grace Fellowship.

Over and over again as I listened, the theme that kept coming to mind was connection and timing. God is definitely God of the details. Whether that is having people from the same town but different churches sit together at a youth conference in a different state so they can connect or putting an Asian exchange student in the home of a Christian family so he can meet Jesus or answering a sweet Phillipino lady’s prayer of thirty years for someone from her American church to visit her father’s church in the Phillipines, God knows the exact time and works in the logistics to make all things beautiful in his time.

Be All There January 3, 2009

This is not a New Year’s resolution post because I stopped making resolutions years ago.  But one thing that I’ve been trying to implement over the last year and will continue to try to do is to set aside time to disengage from the hectic craziness that life becomes and have a Sabbath rest.

I just read these two articles back to back, it was an interesting contrast. One is by Mark Edmundson, a professor and scholar at UVA about how today’s college student is always engaged with life–Internet, chatting, iPod, cell phones,etc.– and the impact this has on education. The other by Karen Wyatt Kent speaks to the need to disengage from life every now and then in order to be effective leaders.

One of the struggles of life these days is to “be here now.”  Too often, I find myself looking ahead to the future and focusing on the next thing before the current thing is finished.  In the meantime, I miss out on the blessings right in front of my face.  One of my favorite quotes from Jim Elliot is  “Wherever you are, be all there. Live to the hilt every situation that you believe to be the will of God.”  With so many competing demands for time and energy, it’s harder and harder to be all anywhere.  Too often I try to be multiple places at once as Edmundson describes.

So, while I’m not giving up technology completely, I am choosing to be less and engaged with so many things at one time.  Multitasking is overrated anyhow.