Farewell, Sandy

This morning finds my hometown of Wilmington, NC fully out of Hurricane Sandy's strike zone, relatively unscathed. But make no mistake, we've stared into the eye of many a storm. And storms have taught me a few lessons.

For a while we were nicknamed "Hurricane Alley" as storm after storm rolled up the coast and into us, like a bowling ball in a bowling lane. I grew so accustomed to doing hurricane preparation, I no longer needed the "hurricane checklist" I'd made after moving here.

We've lost trees, shingles, power, and freezers worth of food. I've learned to prep food in advance, fill the bathtubs with water, and determine just how long my fridge can go before we need to hook it to the generator for an hour.  I've also learned NOT to tape my modern storm windows (#notneeded, #useless).

But no matter how many times I've hunkered through a storm, it has the same effect. It reminds me of the fragility of life. It reminds me I'm not guaranteed tomorrow. Much less a sunny, happy, prosperous, trouble-free tomorrow.

At least not here on earth.

It reminds me of the importance of people. Relationships. Friendships. Family.

And it pulls my often-warped sense of blessing out of the hands of capitalism and Madison Ave. and places it back where it belongs: bowed on bended knee before God.

A whole lot of people fared worse in Storm Sandy that we did here -- and I'm praying for them. For them to be safe, to stay dry, and to be fed and warm. I pray they will weather the losses well. But most of all I am praying that this experience drags our point of view off of ourselves, off of our dire circumstances, and onto the Lord.

Because I've learned that is the greatest blessing to come out of such a tragedy.

So today I say farewell to Sandy, and hello to an adjusted sense of gratitude.

The Power of Confession

In the movies, I can usually tell the good guys from the bad guys.  The good guys wear white and want justice. The bad guys wear black and seek their own selfish gain. Some movies I’ve seen, however, surprise me at the end with who is really on which side.  Jesus told a story like that in Luke 8 verses 10-14.

 

[good guys wear white]

 

Jesus tells of two men who went into the temple to pray.  We learn that the first guy is a ministry worker. They were known to carefully follow God’s laws and encourage others to as well. We learn that the second guy does not work in the service of God, but for the government in a job widely known to be filled with corruption. They had a reputation for abusing the system and swindling the citizens for their own profit. 

 

From Jesus’ description of their jobs, I picture the first guy looking clean-cut, praying with sincerity in his voice, and maybe even wearing a white robe. The second man I picture as somewhat dirty and gruff, with dark, intimidating eyes. I imagine him going through the motions of prayer – for show, but not really meaning it.

 

Not only does Jesus tell us the two men’s occupations, but He also reveals exactly what they prayed. The first guy’s prayer was traditional for rabbis according to the Talmud. He gives thanks to God that he is set apart as a holy man, unlike the government employee on the other side of the room.  He prayed, “God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get” (Luke 18:11-12, NASB).

 

The other man, however, wouldn’t even approach the alter. Jesus said he stood at a distance, refusing to lift his eyes up to heaven to address God directly.  This man was not going through the motions as I would imagine, he was feeling quite emotional. He beat against his chest with his fist, very aware of his need for God as he begged, “God, be merciful to me, the sinner!” (Luke 18:13b, NASB). 


Jesus said it was this man and not the first who left that temple having been made right with God.

 

The ending of this story was a shocker to Jesus’ audience. God didn’t justify the religious leader of the Jewish people who had fasted and tithed, but the tax collector for the Roman government who’d stolen from God’s people. Why? 

Because good actions are never enough to save our souls from the sins we commit. We need grace. And notice that the tax collector was the only one of the two who actually acknowledged he had sinned and asked to be forgiven. 

 

****

 

The lesson in their story remindes me of God's words in Hosea 6:6, "I want you to show love, not offer sacrifices. I want you to know me more than I want burnt offerings." (NLT)

 

If we're honest, often we just want to ignore our sin until we can forget about it. Pretend it isn't there, because we feel shameful when we face it. But shame has a way of building up and clouding the complexion of our hearts.

 

We become mired in the notion that who we are or what we’ve done is so bad that God can’t or won’t forgive us. There is nothing biblical about that – God delights in forgiving repentant sinners! We simply ask with genuine sorrow for the sin and with faith that He will cleanse it.

 

  

"Let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ's blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water."  (Hebrews 10:22, NLT)

 
 

Once we are in Christ, our salvation doesn't depend on confession of every sin. But I strongly beleive our spiritual vitality can.

Confession washes the grime of shame from a believer's heart, restoring her spiritual complexion to a sparkling status. And allowing her to better see God.

 

 

I'm Torn

Today, I'm torn.

Torn between what I want to do, and what I want to do.

I have two competing desires. And I don't think I can do them both. So I have to choose.

I hate choosing. In the "either/or" questions of life, I prefer to be an "AND" girl. As in have the cake and eat it too.

When I was younger, maybe 12, I remember sitting in the dressing room for half-an-hour while my mom repeatedly held up items of clothing I'd just tried on. "You can't get them all so which three do you want? Pick three."  It felt like she was telling me I couldn't keep both my legs so I'd need to choose which one I wanted to keep. I didn't know which to choose.

My situation today is a little bit different. I'm not choosing between things - for one of them I must do. It's a given. An obligation. And that's ok because I want to do it. And I want to do it well. REALLY well.

The problem is I also want to do this other thing - this optional desire. At the same time. And if I do that thing too, I'm afraid I won't be able to do the first obligation REALLY WELL. Plus, I might not do such a hot job with the second thing, or enjoy the process as much, because I already have the first obligation on my plate.

So I'm torn. Can you relate?

The easiest and perhaps smartest thing to do would be to just do obligation #1 and do it well. Leave desire #2 for another time when I can do it well. And that would be my decision - it would be a painful one to make, but it would be my decision - except for my one word.

When I think and think on something and I'm still not sure what course to take, I consult my one word for the year. This year that one word is CREATE. And wouldn't you know, desire #2 is the quintessential outcome of my one word. At least in my head it is.

But obligation #1 is the first outcome of this year's one word. Here's the deal. Obligation #1 is spending November preparing to launch my new book My One Word: Change Your Life with Just One Word and it's accompanying speaking topics and life coaching package. The book releases in December. And I. AM. SO. STOKED. for what this book will do!

Meanwhile, desire #2 is to spend the month of November creating a novel with NaNoWriMo because November is national novel writing month. It is crazy to write a novel - much less your first - in one month. That will take so much focus and time. But my heart yearns to try it. And it would be so fun to do in the group process that is NaNoWriMo. (I dig fun.)

Yet I don't want to hinder in any way the launch of my best creation of my year with CREATE - My One Word.

So I remain torn, but trusting I will find my way into the right decision as I lean on the verses below. Maybe they will help you today too.

"For the LORD gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding." ~Proverbs 2:6

"If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him." ~James 1:5

"To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness..." ~Ecclesiastes 2:26

"In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps." ~Proverbs 16:9

I am praying to have wisdom and peace with my decision. If you can relate to any of this and you want me to pray for one of your decisions too, leave me a comment. This "and girl" would be happy to pray over my choice and yours. Anybody else out there doing NatNoWriMo?

Lynn Cowell - how one girl gets things done

A couple weeks ago I shared with you how my seriously productive writer friend Marybeth Whalen gets things done. This week I invited my P31 teammate Lynn Cowell to tell us how she gets things done.
 
I know that Lynn pours intentional time and effort into shepherding her teen girls and young women. So I asked her how she makes room for that among all the other duties in her life. Below is her response in her own words.

Lynn and her girls

 
Last night while I was folding laundry, while cooking supper, while helping my daughter with her homework, while waiting for my husband to come home…I took a very deep breath. I felt that weight that comes when life is spinning with so many things to do.

I’m sure you know how it feels…you probably felt it last night too.

With the pressures we feel as moms, daughters, wives, employees and all our other titles, “discipler” (I know it’s not a word, but let’s pretend for today it is) is the one thing that often gets thrown to the side. Instead of doing it ourselves, we hope that the youth director, youth pastor or the Bible teacher at school is covering that one for us.

For too long, I would crawl in bed each night, feeling like I had failed again becasue my children were no closer to understanding the Bible than they were the day before. God calls us to teach our children God’s Word, and I just wasn’t making that happen. I knew I had to do something to change that.

So over the past few years, I have begun to disciple my girls in three different ways:

1.     Read God’s Word over Breakfast

Breakfast is a great time to read God’s Word to your children because you have a captive audience! While they fill their stomach, I fill their hearts and minds with God’s truth. Some days it is a few verses from Proverbs. Other days it is a word from a devotional. I then pray over them, making them aware that the Holy Spirit will walk with them as they go through the double doors of their high school.

2.     Small Group Study

Every Monday after school, my youngest daughter and four of her friends from softball get together at my home. Gathering around my kitchen table, we chat about the day while we munch on a snack. Then we study the Bible. We might go through a book, or study a book of the Bible together. Right now we’re studying the book of John. This is a great way to not only invest in my girl, but in my girl’s friends as well.

3.     Just Chat

Any chance I get, I share with my kids what God is doing in my life. It might be a prayer that was answered, a surprise gift from Jesus, or a sin I tripped on and had to ask forgiveness for. I try to have a mix of it all. Isn’t that the way our life is anyway? I want them to see Jesus in my life – indeed that Jesus is my life!

This is how I get done the calling to teach my kids about Jesus. My girls don’t know every story in the Bible, nor can they quote many verses with the reference too. Each day, though, they are having their hearts filled with God’s unconditional, perfect love.

When could you find time to pour God’s truth into your child? Is over breakfast a good time? Or, over dinner? Maybe as they crawl into bed, or maybe in the car on the way to school is a better fit. The time of day is not important. What is important is that we find the time in the day.

 

So that's how Lynn, as a mother, gets one of life' most precious tasks done.  How are you dicipling your child?

PS. Lynn’s new book, Devotions for a Revolutionary Year might be just the tool you are looking for to invest in the lives of the young women close to you. She also has some free resources at her website - just click here.