Friday, May 30, 2008

Anemic Christian Heroes

I came across the following thought-provoking post today on the OneNewsNow website…

Anemic Christian heroes

Contemporary evangelical America has her heroes. And you can tell a lot about a people by who they look up to. Do they, for instance, look up to talkers, or doers?

Evangelicals today admire writers, speakers and singers. That is a generalization, and probably not entirely fair, but accurate on the whole. Unfortunately, those preoccupations are not the stuff of full-orbed heroism. Still, it is who we tend to admire. Christian bookstores are the places where we purchase the produce of such heroism and assume, eventually, that our own robust faith is one that reads the best authors, listens to the best speakers and taps toes to the best-selling musicians.

Not that any of that is bad, of course. But it is not Christianity.

We have been saved by grace through faith in Christ Jesus. But we are also His workmanship, created in Him to do good works. Indeed, Jesus said, let your life so shine before men that they might see those good works and glorify God. And those words on the page, the preachers from the pulpit and the guitars getting strummed are virtually worthless if those doing the articulating aren't exercising their faith amongst the hungry, the thirsty, the strangers, the naked, the sick and the imprisoned (Matt. 25:31-46) and inspiring others to do the same.

Too much of what is happening is that the writers create an appetite for more of their writing, not application. The preachers stir something in us to want more preaching. And the singers - ah, they are all about the CD's and concert sell-outs at fifty bucks a pop.

But is that heroism? Muscular Christianity? Real faith?

Would that we would salute the AIDS hospice workers, the prison ministers, the pro-life activists, the Jesus-obedient inner-city community developers, the families who foster parent and adopt...

But we don't. Too many of us are too busy buying the newest volume, purchasing concert tickets and getting ahead financially to safely ensconce ourselves away from human need.

Here's to the heroes. The real ones. You know who you are. And, glory to God, you may not.

And to the rest of us. Let us choose our exemplars well. We tend to become that which we look up to. (OneNewsNow - Anemic Christian Heroes)

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Celebrating Life at 40

Happy Birthday to me! I am forty years old today. I can’t help but wonder, “Where did all the time go?” What seems like not very long ago, I was just a teenager trying to live a bit on the wild side and making plans about what I was going to do when I grew up.

Well, age-wise and responsibility-wise I have grown up now. I am still growing character-wise and spiritually; it’s a continuous process. For this post on my birthday, I wanted to CELEBRATE the life that God has granted me and to CELEBRATE His unrelenting and faithful hand on my life.

On this May 22, 2008, I CELEBRATE and THANK
my great God, YHWH, and my Lord, JESUS CHRIST for:

Granting me breath and life 40 years ago

My Spanish heritage

Passion

My mother’s care and protection during her complications after my birth

Faithful parents to each other and to me who took great care of me

Not allowing me to drown in a pool as a little girl when I was trying to save someone else

The dear, older sisters I grew up with

Saving me from the destructiveness of self-consumed/selfish living

All the life lessons—great, good, bad, and terribly difficult—that have played their part in Him growing me up to be who I am today

The man chosen especially to be my very faithful and loving husband for the last 21 years

Being the Super Glue in our enduring marriage

Such boundless and graceful forgiveness and mercy for all the many wrongs I’ve done over the last 40 years

His wisdom and understanding

Three beautiful and precious children born out of my womb...I did not deserve them but was so graciously given the privilege, responsibility, and blessing of being their mom and teacher

The multitude of lessons learned in motherhood

All the hugs, kisses, love, and precious memories shared with my husband and my children

Relationships—all kinds ;o)

The healing of a many times broken heart; each time taking its pieces and putting them back together again stronger than before and more in the image of His own

The ability to gracefully forgive others

Life-long and faithful friends

Music and dark chocolate

House, vehicles, and so many material comforts and abundance

Animals—especially my sweet doggie children

Re-directing my faltering or confused steps countless times

Picking me up and moving me on when I didn’t have my own strength to do so

His voice whispered in my ear

The gifts of reading, writing, singing, compassion, and a tender heart

Making Himself known to me

His light in the darkness

Teaching and correction

Not leaving me to be the person that I used to be

Allowing me to have breath, life, and togetherness with my family on this very day

His unconditional love poured over me and it overflowing unto others

My life being a platform for His glory

Being my Rock, my Fortress, my Deliverer, my Strength, my Refuge, my Hope

Making me the woman that I am today

For all of that and SO much more…I am beyond grateful and thankful. For all of that and SO much more…I have given my life and heart to my God and my Lord. For all that and SO much more I CELEBRATE my life at 40!

Rejoicing and celebrating in His arms!

Monday, May 19, 2008

Friendship Isn't About...


Friendship isn’t about whom you have known the longest

but about who came and never left your side.


…there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

(Proverbs 18:24)

His name is Jesus.



(top quote author unknown; just something that came through an email and I believe to be true)


Thursday, May 15, 2008

CHRIST holds us together

Last night, I got an email in my inbox from a friend. It said the following:

Louie Giglio was talking about how inconceivably BIG our God is...how He spoke the universe into being...how He breathes stars out of His mouth that are huge raging balls of fire...etc. etc. Then He went on to speak of how this star-breathing, universe creating God ALSO knitted our human bodies together with amazing detail and wonder. ....and I was remembering how I was constantly amazed during medical school as I learned more and more about God's handiwork. I remember so many times thinking...."How can ANYONE deny that a Creator did all of this???" Louie went on to talk about how we can trust that the God who created all this, also has the power to hold it all together when things seem to be falling apart...how our loving Creator is also our sustainer. And then I lost my breath. It was because he started talking about laminin. I knew about laminin. Here is how Wikipedia describes them:"Laminins are a family of proteins that are an integral part of the structural scaffolding of basement membranes in almost every animal tissue." You see....laminins are what hold us together....LITERALLY. They are cell adhesion molecules. They are what holds one cell of our bodies to the next cell. Without them, we would literally fall apart. And I knew all this already. But what I didn't know is what laminin LOOKED LIKE. But now I do. And I have thought about it a thousand times since (already)....
Here is what the structure of laminin looks like...AND THIS IS NOT a "Christian portrayal" of it....if you look up laminin in any scientific/medical piece of literature, this is what you will see...
http://chasingthewind.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/02/laminin.gif

Now tell me that our God is not the coolest!!! Amazing. The glue that holds us together....ALL of us....is in the shape of the cross. Immediately Colossians 1:15-17 comes to mind. "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created; things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things HOLD TOGETHER." Colossians 1:15-17


Thousands of years before the world knew anything about laminin, Paul penned those words. And now we see that from a very LITERAL standpoint, we are held together...one cell to another....by the cross. You would never in a quadrillion years convince me that is anything other than the mark of a Creator who knew EXACTLY what laminin "glue" would look like long before Adam even breathed his first breath!
Of course, when I received this email, I didn’t just believe it! So I looked it up myself and not only did I discover the image of laminin but I also found the God Tube video where Louie Giglio actually talks about it. Here it is:



http://youtu.be/_e4zgJXPpI4 


Check it out for yourself and be amazed by a MORE THAN AMAZING GOD. Through CHRIST we are held together in more ways than one; EVERY one and EVERY thing!


CHRIST “in Whom we are having the deliverance, the pardon of sins, Who is the Image of the invisible God, Firstborn of every creature, for in Him is all created, that in the heavens and that on the earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones, or lordships, or sovereignties, or authorities, all is created through Him and for Him, and He is before all, and all has its cohesion in Him.” (Colossians 1:14-17)


In awe of Him…

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

A New Blog Journey

I have begun a new blog regarding all the stomach problems I have been having and about all that I am finding out regarding heartburn/acid reflux problems. You can check it out here: The Stomach Acid Truth. I have a lot to type and get posted; be patient with me. It will be worth the wait.