"A love unlike any other. A God unlike any other." (N.T. Wright in Lent for Everyone, Good Friday) These words closed out my Lenten devotional today, and I was struck by how true they are. On this day, when we remember the crucifixion... it's easy to jump to the end of the story. We know how it turns out - the amazing things that happen on Sunday. But can you imagine the confusion and sorrow of those who lived it? They didn't know what Jesus was doing on that cross. They expected a completely different God. We also often want to make Jesus fit our understanding. I read an article today that resonated with me. It's called "I'm Christian, unless you're gay." I don't want to get into the issue of homosexuality here, and that wasn't the author's point either. His point was that we tend to be "Christian" towards those who are like us, but when people are different or don't fit into our understanding of what it mean...
This year for Lent I have been considering whether I wanted to give something up or add something, or even do nothing at all. Nothing at all seemed not to be my best option since I'm clearly not perfect yet - God is still working on me so I should use this opportunity to let him. So I decided the area I need the most work is my prayer life. There's a lot of unknown in my life right now, and prayer is the best way to remind myself to rely on God. I will be doing a lot of this on my own time and not blogging or facebooking it, but one of the ways I connect with God is when others speak the words of my heart, and all I can do is say "yes. that." And those moments I will share, in the awareness that my moments may speak to someone else. I heard this song last night on the radio, and it seemed appropriate for today. Even though I don't know what your plan is I know you make beauty from these ashes. Today we are reminded that we came from a...
This evening I have been working on the video for the Costa Rica mission trip, and as such have been thinking about the children we met at La Carpio. There was one moment on this trip that really broke my heart. We were at La Carpio and I was serving juice. Each kid received one glass of juice, and after we finished pouring the last glass, a little boy came up and asked for more. I asked the woman if I could give him more, and she said no because there was not enough for everyone to have more. All he wanted was more juice. Something we all take for granted. Another kid wanted more food. And the same answer. There was only enough for one bowl per kid. This was probably the only meal these kids would have all day. 70-80 children who get one bowl of food a day. The Wednesday after we got back from Costa Rica, I was at Be 5:6 (SUMC's 5th and 6th grade ministry). There was plenty of food and drink for everyone to have as much a...
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