For the third day in a row, I woke up without an alarm. For the third day in a row, I woke up after the Sun. Settled down for a breakfast of coffee and cake. What a beautiful way to celebrate the morning!
Indecisive storm clouds hover around the edges of the bay. It looks like it may be raining in Port Orchard. The mountains are completely obscured, as if they weren't quite awake yet.
It's 11:00 am. Some days the mountains never wake up around here.
The water is eerily still. The same shade of gray as the clouds. You wouldn't know where one changed into the other, except for the peninsula marking the border. Hills, houses, trees, roads. And the marina. And ship yard.
Today has the air of ordinary to it. The type of day where you sleep in and eat cake.
Reading one of my favorite psalms, David paints a more action-packed scenario:
"By awesome deeds You answer us in righteousness,
O God of our salvation,
You who are the trust of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest sea;
Who establishes the mountains by His strength,
Being girded with might;
Who stills the roaring of the seas,
The roaring of their waves,
And the tumult of the peoples.
They who dwell in the ends of the earth stand in awe of Your signs;
You make the dawn and the sunset shout for joy." --Psalm 65:5-8
Sometimes Sinclair Inlet feels like the farthest sea. Kitsap county seems like the ends of the earth.
I forget the sleepy mountains are girded with might. I forget that the stilled seas are submitting. I forget that salvation is the only cure for the tumult of the peoples.
God, give me a fresh attitude of awe. Be my trust. Work Your wonders in every ordinary day. Praise Your name, Amen
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Saturday, January 30, 2010
hot date
Sweet and addictive. Powerful. Enticing and empowering.
The psalmists write that "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in times of trouble" (Psalm 46:1). He's "abundantly available for help", according to the footnote of the same verse.
But, we still try to make it our own way. When we try to build our own refuge, it turns out like this... or worse. The flip flop banner is a nice touch, though...
The psalmist keeps singing:
"Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change
And though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea;
Though its waters roar and foam,Though the mountains quake at its swelling pride." (Psalm 46:2-3).
I recently went on a date with Jesus to Point No Point. (There's the light house over on the right--His type of refuge.) We talked for a few hours about how awesome He is. We talked about the plans He has for my life.
Want to know a beautiful secret?
"Cease striving and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."
-- God, Psalm 46:10
Mountains fall into the sea? God wins. Nations blow each other up? God still wins. No matter who falls, who fails, who fights... God is exalted. Every nation, every people. Even in Kitsap county, WA.
Best date ever.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
apologies to Office Depot
With semester crashing to a close next Thursday, it's easy to focus on lists, accomplishments and deadlines. Each period today came with a fresh set of students trying to make-up unearthly amounts of homework. Some scrounge for extra credit. Some have given up.
After the bell finally rang at 2:05, I settled into my own list of to-do's. Some tasks were pleasant: watching students make up an experiment. Others were more challenging: contacting the parents of each student failing my science class. Either way, by 3:25, I was "finished" enough to leave for the monthly meeting with Joy (my mentor) at the Global Bean.
We talked. We prayed. We talked about praying. We talked about crying. (We didn't cry, though. There's been enough of that this week!)
Expressing life to Joy helps me understand why I struggle with my struggles and why I rejoice in my celebrations. What a refreshing time! Our monthly coffee dates have become a highlight. They help me cope with the excitement and the uncertainty of trusting God.
Then, after checking a few more errands off the list, I drove to Mom & Dad's for dinner. We talked for a few hours. Deep, exhausting, fulfilling conversations. I love the way my parents challenge my thoughts, especially when we don't agree at first. (I'll never be conservative enough to be a true Rarig, but God's okay with that...pretty sure.) What a blessing to see God moving within and through our family.
Later, I met up with some friends at a really lame dance club (because, really, who goes to a dance club in Silverdale. Old town Silverdale, no less.) I don't really enjoy bars in the first place, but the time to talk with friends was well-worth the poorly-mixed 80's music.
So what does this have to do with anything?
Brushing my teeth, getting ready for bed, I was cataloging everything I'd accomplished in the day. And it hit me. It's not about our accomplishments. God isn't keeping score of the number of people I talked with. He's not recording the hours I was at work. It doesn't matter how much money I spent on drinks or even on relief supplies for Haitian refugees.
Sure, there are Bible verses that talk about loving people and loving God. But that's not what I remembered while brushing my teeth.
My friend JJ used to work at Office Depot. One night, he pulled a paper out of his pocket that said:
Drop
Everything.
People
Over
Tasks.
Hmm. How many opportunities do I lose when I "do life" focused on the tasks? It seems so much more natural to put the tasks over people. Especially at work.
But people are always more important.
I've taken this past week "off" from people. Tired and processing life, I felt like I needed a break. Last night, my roommate Michelle and I shared our common frustration, loneliness and sadness of this week. Sometimes it's good to be alone. There are times for that boundary. Often though, it's better to be alone with someone.
Starting this weekend, though, it's time to move on. Time to drop everything. Time to put people over tasks. Tasks won't make it to Heaven with us. By the grace of God, people will.
"Love your neighbor as yourself." --Jesus
After the bell finally rang at 2:05, I settled into my own list of to-do's. Some tasks were pleasant: watching students make up an experiment. Others were more challenging: contacting the parents of each student failing my science class. Either way, by 3:25, I was "finished" enough to leave for the monthly meeting with Joy (my mentor) at the Global Bean.
We talked. We prayed. We talked about praying. We talked about crying. (We didn't cry, though. There's been enough of that this week!)
Expressing life to Joy helps me understand why I struggle with my struggles and why I rejoice in my celebrations. What a refreshing time! Our monthly coffee dates have become a highlight. They help me cope with the excitement and the uncertainty of trusting God.
Then, after checking a few more errands off the list, I drove to Mom & Dad's for dinner. We talked for a few hours. Deep, exhausting, fulfilling conversations. I love the way my parents challenge my thoughts, especially when we don't agree at first. (I'll never be conservative enough to be a true Rarig, but God's okay with that...pretty sure.) What a blessing to see God moving within and through our family.
Later, I met up with some friends at a really lame dance club (because, really, who goes to a dance club in Silverdale. Old town Silverdale, no less.) I don't really enjoy bars in the first place, but the time to talk with friends was well-worth the poorly-mixed 80's music.
So what does this have to do with anything?
Brushing my teeth, getting ready for bed, I was cataloging everything I'd accomplished in the day. And it hit me. It's not about our accomplishments. God isn't keeping score of the number of people I talked with. He's not recording the hours I was at work. It doesn't matter how much money I spent on drinks or even on relief supplies for Haitian refugees.
Sure, there are Bible verses that talk about loving people and loving God. But that's not what I remembered while brushing my teeth.
My friend JJ used to work at Office Depot. One night, he pulled a paper out of his pocket that said:
Drop
Everything.
People
Over
Tasks.
Hmm. How many opportunities do I lose when I "do life" focused on the tasks? It seems so much more natural to put the tasks over people. Especially at work.
But people are always more important.
I've taken this past week "off" from people. Tired and processing life, I felt like I needed a break. Last night, my roommate Michelle and I shared our common frustration, loneliness and sadness of this week. Sometimes it's good to be alone. There are times for that boundary. Often though, it's better to be alone with someone.
Starting this weekend, though, it's time to move on. Time to drop everything. Time to put people over tasks. Tasks won't make it to Heaven with us. By the grace of God, people will.
"Love your neighbor as yourself." --Jesus
Thursday, January 21, 2010
hay muchos corazones rotos y llenos de dolor
Yaneth loves Jesus and lives like it. She loves people. She trusts God and uses medicine to heal people. And she prays.
Yaneth is the staff nurse for Children of the Nations in the Dominican Republic. Right now, she's helping victims of the earthquake in Haiti. She e-mailed one of the members of our team from the summer to share specific prayer concerns. She asked us to pray for the flood of victims coming into Dominican cities, into the city of Barahona, and into the Children of the Nations clinic.
Her e-mail described the physical needs of the clinic (gauze, antibiotics, a portable x-ray...) But then, she closed with a final request: to pray for the spiritual needs of the people. "Hay muchos corazones rotos y llenos de dolor" Translated: There are many broken hearts, full of pain.
Then, an article from USA Today captured the only hope that can heal broken hearts:
"Josita Petit sat on a flattened cardboard box in her new home — a tent shared with several other families — and quietly read her Bible. Her home flattened and her 15-year-old daughter missing, Petit bit her bottom lip when she spoke.
"I have nothing left. It is all gone," she said. "The only thing I have left is Jesus Christ."
I asked her a few more questions, took my notes, then placed my hand on her arm.
"He will never abandon you," I promised. She smiled and nodded. I wanted to tell her that Haiti would be OK. I wanted to tell her that the world will continue to care and that the city would be rebuilt and that her government would restore itself and care for its people, but I couldn't bring myself to lie.
The people are durable. The Haitian people are full of faith and will get up and find a way to survive. I wish I was as confident about the country." (Torres, 2010.)
Praise be to our God who holds governments in His hands. This is His world. These are His people.
While we're on earth, there will always be broken hearts in need of healing. Full of pain. But there's hope. Real, hope to can hold onto.
"because the Lamb in the middle of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” -Revelation 7:17 NET
Sunday, January 17, 2010
a day on
Martin Luther King day isn't supposed to be a day "off", but a day devoted to social justice. A day purposed to make a difference. A day "on".
I'm set to spend a good part of tomorrow in airports and on a plane, so we'll see how that works out. Traveling can make for the best conversations. Divine appointments, chance encounters, whatever you call them.
Reading tonight, (The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne), I came across a quote by the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. describing the difference of helping those in poverty and helping those get out of poverty. It captured my heart.
I hadn't listened to many of Dr. King's speeches before, so I found a clip of the speech on YouTube. Couldn't find the whole recording, but did manage to find the transcript. Here's the quote in context:
"A true revolution of values will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our past and present policies. On the one hand, we are called to play the Good Samaritan on life's roadside, but that will be only an initial act. One day we must come to see that the whole Jericho Road must be transformed so that men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed as they make their journey on life's highway. True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.
A true revolution of values will lay hand on the world order and say of war, "This way of settling differences is not just." This business of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nation's homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into the veins of peoples normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice, and love. A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death." (Martin Luther King Jr., "A Time to Break the Silence" (sermon, Riverside Church, New York, April 4, 1967).
While Dr. King was speaking of American involvement in Vietnam and the struggles of the impoverished in America, these words are as relevant and as powerful today. War is real. Poverty is real. Dr. King connected them and I cannot help but understand his connections. Thirty-three years later, has anything really changed?
So what will I do with this day "on"? What am I going to do to make the world a better place? How can I (a 23-year-old single white girl) help to heal a broken world?
Pretty sure that I can't. Not by myself, at least.
But God is faithful forever. He uses His people, His church, His Bride. God has US here to love His world. We get to be His hands and His feet. We get to take hold of the Beautiful Revolution of His Kingdom coming to Earth. When we are willing, He uses US.
I hear Dr. King speak of a "true revolution". I read about "obsessed people" experiencing crazy love with Jesus. (Crazy Love, Francis Chan.) My church constantly describes a life "on the mission". I don't want to be comfortable. I want to be a revolutionary for Jesus.
So, on this day "on", I hope to change the world. Maybe not for everyone. But for someone. In some way. That's how it starts.
This picture is of two sisters living in Don Bosco, a barrio for the most impoverished Dominican citizens of Barahona. They've been given more opportunities than other children living in poverty. They're drinking fresh water outside their school. These girls will be able to hear about God's love for them, in their own language, because a few revolutionaries cared enough to change the world.
Let's change the world with them. We each have different gifts. Let's use them for the same goal.
--Matthew 25:34-46
I'm set to spend a good part of tomorrow in airports and on a plane, so we'll see how that works out. Traveling can make for the best conversations. Divine appointments, chance encounters, whatever you call them.
Reading tonight, (The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne), I came across a quote by the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. describing the difference of helping those in poverty and helping those get out of poverty. It captured my heart.
I hadn't listened to many of Dr. King's speeches before, so I found a clip of the speech on YouTube. Couldn't find the whole recording, but did manage to find the transcript. Here's the quote in context:
"A true revolution of values will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our past and present policies. On the one hand, we are called to play the Good Samaritan on life's roadside, but that will be only an initial act. One day we must come to see that the whole Jericho Road must be transformed so that men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed as they make their journey on life's highway. True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.
A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth. With righteous indignation, it will look across the seas and see individual capitalists of the West investing huge sums of money in Asia, Africa, and South America, only to take the profits out with no concern for the social betterment of the countries, and say, "This is not just." It will look at our alliance with the landed gentry of South America and say, "This is not just." The Western arrogance of feeling that it has everything to teach others and nothing to learn from them is not just.
A true revolution of values will lay hand on the world order and say of war, "This way of settling differences is not just." This business of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nation's homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into the veins of peoples normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice, and love. A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death." (Martin Luther King Jr., "A Time to Break the Silence" (sermon, Riverside Church, New York, April 4, 1967).
While Dr. King was speaking of American involvement in Vietnam and the struggles of the impoverished in America, these words are as relevant and as powerful today. War is real. Poverty is real. Dr. King connected them and I cannot help but understand his connections. Thirty-three years later, has anything really changed?
So what will I do with this day "on"? What am I going to do to make the world a better place? How can I (a 23-year-old single white girl) help to heal a broken world?
Pretty sure that I can't. Not by myself, at least.
But God is faithful forever. He uses His people, His church, His Bride. God has US here to love His world. We get to be His hands and His feet. We get to take hold of the Beautiful Revolution of His Kingdom coming to Earth. When we are willing, He uses US.
I hear Dr. King speak of a "true revolution". I read about "obsessed people" experiencing crazy love with Jesus. (Crazy Love, Francis Chan.) My church constantly describes a life "on the mission". I don't want to be comfortable. I want to be a revolutionary for Jesus.
So, on this day "on", I hope to change the world. Maybe not for everyone. But for someone. In some way. That's how it starts.
This picture is of two sisters living in Don Bosco, a barrio for the most impoverished Dominican citizens of Barahona. They've been given more opportunities than other children living in poverty. They're drinking fresh water outside their school. These girls will be able to hear about God's love for them, in their own language, because a few revolutionaries cared enough to change the world.
Let's change the world with them. We each have different gifts. Let's use them for the same goal.
--Matthew 25:34-46
enjoying
Resolved for 2010: Enjoy God.
I shared this idea with Joy, my mentor, a few weeks ago. The idea of enjoying the One You love. Not just duty or sacrifice, but enjoyment.
It seems as though I've spent life missing this big, obvious concept: we are to enjoy what we love. I spend time with family because I enjoy them. (And I'm really enjoying this time with family in Denver right now!) I explore the mountains because I enjoy them. I run because I enjoy to run.
And we can find this joy in our relationship with God, too. Here's a quote that Joy e-mailed me:
“One who loves is bourne on wings;
he runs, and is filled with joy; he is free and unrestricted.
He gives all to receive all, and has all in all;
For beyond all things he rests in the One Highest
Almighty, from Whom streams all that is good.”
Thomas A. Kempis
Thursday, January 7, 2010
and it begins
One week in, 2010 is off to a decent start.
"He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters." Ps 18:16.
Excited to see what comes of the next 51 weeks!
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