I AM

Hope for those who need it now

The promise from God to everyone who believes in Him…

I Am by CeCe Winans

I am the one yes I created the whole universe
Greater than anything in heaven and in all the earth
It’s my air you breathe so I’m the one that you should please
I am the one you need why should you be alone?

I am that I am
I’m all that you need
I can yes I can
no it ain’t too hard for me
Do you know, really know, do you really believe
Every day, every night of your life
I am

It hurts my heart indeed to see those whom I love in need
Knowing all I wonder why they never call on me
If you just ask and I can satisfy you with the things
I’ll give you everything, yes you can have it all
I tell the sun to rise, the wind to blow, the rain to fall
I move the mountains and the oceans rivers great and small
Yes everything I made I want to hear them give me praise
Especially you my children each and every day

I am that I am
I’m all that you need
I can yes I can
No it ain’t too hard for me
Do you know really know
Do you really believe
Everyday
every night
of your life

I am…

 

This issue’s Discipleship Journal is in!

So I subscribed for a year to Discipleship Journal, left it for a year, and now just started it up again. It’s a great resource and magazine. This bimonthly issue’s cover topic is “Thinking Biblically about Politics,” only a huge concern right now for upcoming elections. But what I’m really excited about is page 62: “Between Here and There: Help for navigating life’s transitions.” I’m totally in transition! I just have no idea where it is exactly that I’m going. For anyone interested, the magazine is a Christian resource with honestly impressive art which complements the thoughtful Biblical commentaries and sections. In an effort to get my work done, I’m tyring to use it as my reward and actually start writing a paper. Instead, I’m blogging. Aghhhh….

But hey, if you’re not procrastinating, check out www.discipleshipjournal.com!

All Rain and No Sunshine Make a Desert

This was a wonderful devotional I was reading this morning. Lately I’ve been feeling like I’m not getting what I want - kinda like a child who’s being corrected. I don’t like the idea, but Proverbs 3:11-12 help: “My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord; neither be wary of his correction: for whom the Lord loves, he corrects, even as a father the son in whom he delights.” At least God isn’t hiding - he’s clearly working in a lot of things I’m going through (he got me through a semester of graduate school without filing for bankruptcy). But I’m definitely not being spoon-fed the ‘desires of my heart’ like I’m expecting. Anyway, the devotion is taken from RBC Ministries, Our Daily Bread: http://www.rbc.org/devotionals/our-daily-bread/2008/04/07/devotion.aspx.

“April 7, 2008

Why? Why? Oh, Why?

If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons. —Hebrews 12:7

Why must I suffer disappointment, sorrow, and tribulation? What have I done that God should send me trials? Is He displeased with me? These questions are constantly asked by God’s dear children.

Much of this fear and questioning is due to our misunderstanding of God’s dealings with His own. He has His good reasons. And one of those reasons is for our spiritual discipline. We should be far more afraid of being left alone than of God’s chastening, for He wastes no time on worthless objects that give no promise of fruitfulness.

On the shores of Lake Michigan are great barren sand dunes that have never felt the point of a plow. But in the rich lowlands beyond them, the farmer is constantly cultivating the soil. The farmer knows what he is doing, so he keeps on breaking up the soil. The deeper the plow works and the more the sharp harrow, the more precious the crop will be when harvest time comes.

God’s plow goes deep, but it is only that in the end we may forget the plowing and rejoice in the blessing of bearing much fruit for Him. “No chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it” (Heb. 12:11).  — M.R. De Haan

When blades of distress cut deep in the soul,
Breaking up ground that was untouched before,
The Lord is preparing soil to bear fruit
Fit for the harvest to feed many more. —Hess

All sunshine and no rain make a desert.”

Happy Easter! Hope (with lyrics)

Because it’s Easter and the lyrics flow so well, here’s a great example of hope and grace. It’s a great song, too. You can listen at http://www.myspace.com/jeremycamp.   

“Let it Fade” - Jeremy Camp… 

Have you been walking on a surface that’s uncertain?
Have you helped yourself to everything that’s empty?
You can’t live this way too long.
There’s more than this, more than this.
Have you been standing on your own feet too long?
Have you been looking for a place where you belong?
You can rest, you will find rest.
You can rest, you will find rest.
Let this old life crumble, let it fade.
Let this new life offered be your saving grace.
Let this old life crumble, let it fade, let it fade.

Have you been holding on to what this world has offered?
Have you been giving in to all these masquerades?
It will be gone, forever gone.
It will be gone, it will be gone

Let this old life crumble, let it fade.
Let this new life offered be your saving grace.
Let this old life crumble, let it fade, let it fade.

He is Risen!

 ”What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?” - Matthew 8:27

For Christians, today is the best day of the world really.

This morning I woke up to hear the bells pealing, and the birds singing. My dad was playing Easter hymns at full blast. It was beautiful. The Christ-child that was born has gone through a lifetime of living on this earth the way everyone has experienced it. He’s dealt with family life with siblings and all. He’s grown up knowing the difference between the haves and the have-nots. He’s been acquainted with disappointment, health, death, and sadness. He’s had some cuts and bruises along the way - experienced the pain of hunger. He knows what it is to live in a fallen world.  He’s seen the ups and downs of having friends who are on some days, and off the next. He’s had everyone leave Him when He’s needed it most. This guy seems a lot like me. Except…He was God. 

Christ - the Emmanuel that the angels sang to in a manger so long ago - has taken on the world without giving in to its temptations and sins. Today we celebrate the fact that Jesus conquered death for life. 

Jesus doesn’t walk among us anymore, but reigns over us. He stays with us because He walked the same road. For others the story is pretty interesting, but without faith that Christ was also God in flesh, the truth is missed completely.

What kind of God would come down to earth and live here?

What kind of God would be so bold as to die here and let it go down in history?

What kind of followers would tell the whole world the story so others could believe the same?

It’s crazy but this Christ whom Christians deify is truly an amazing God. Happy Easter, and God bless you! Christ is risen!