“Though you walk in the dark, keep on,
for there you will find treasures that will be seen in the light.”
Loren Thornburg
Life is full of ups and downs, highs and lows, mountain tops and valleys, places where things feel full of light and places of darkness. We would prefer it to be full of ups, highs, mountain tops, and light. Unfortunately it is only by the darkness of the dark that we understand the greatness found in the light. So often we find that the greatest treasures this life has to bring are in the places we thought least likely to find them. They are in the dark, in the hard, in those low places of our lives. And what’s more is that it is those hard places that bring us to even more light in our life; light that we would not have known were it not for the darkness. It is in the darkness that we find treasures we would have missed if not for the darkness. So though you walk in the dark know that the treasures will be seen in the light.
“And I will give you treasures hidden in the darkness—secret riches. I will do this so you may know that I am the Lord, the God of Israel, the one who calls you by name.”
Isaiah 45:3 NLT
Are you walking through a tough time?...God is there! He is walking with you, even in the darkness. He made both the light and the dark. There is nowhere that you can go that He is not there. Knowing that He is with you even in your darkness it only makes sense that there would be treasures there, secret riches! He loves to show Himself to you! He is calling you by name through your darkness…can you hear Him? He is calling you into His treasures and His riches. No matter where you are, or how you got there He wants you to let Him be God and show Himself as Himself…all powerful, all knowing, all wise, all wonderful, all good, all God! You may not see Him, you may not hear Him, you may not have the treasures yet but know He is there, He is calling you by name, He is giving you treasures and riches that you may know that He is Lord even more, even deeper, even greater than ever before. That is who He is and He can’t help but do it any other way. Hold onto His truth and don’t miss His treasures. They may be hidden in your darkness.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Sunday, April 19, 2009
True Trust Acts
“Fear keeps your hands in close;
Faith reaches your hand out;
Trust believes someone will grab it and lets go”
Loren Thornburg
Trust is defined as confidence and reliance on the integrity, strength, ability of a person or thing. Technically trust is both a thing and an action, a noun and a verb. But we can only see the fruits of trust when we put it into action and let it be a verb, especially a verb with an ing at the end. This implies trust which not only acts but is acting now, presently. We can say our trust is in this or that as a thing, as a noun, but until we have to act on that trust it is not true trust. For if we are not willing to act on that thing we say that our trust is in, how is that really the trust we defined. There is no confidence, reliance, or surety in something that we are not willing to step out in. True Trust is willing to act. It not only says it trusts, but it reaches out and lets go because it is truly confident, truly reliant, and truly sure of the strength, integrity, and ability of that which its trust is in. True trust is trusting.
“Trust me in your times of trouble and I will rescue you, and you will give me glory.”
Psalm 51:15 NLT
Trouble brings such fear into our lives and fear tends to bring us greater trouble. For in our fear so often we tighten up and look in. We stop looking, stop reaching for help. We take things into our own hands seeing no other way out. The reasons are many to stop trusting, but none is bigger than our God, who rescues and saves. God loves to show up in our times of trouble. Yet so often we don’t trust Him enough to give Him the time and space to rescue in His timing, in His way. God asks that we trust with a trust that is true, with a trust that acts, and with a trust that is present with an ing at the end. He asks because He knows His ability to rescue us is greater than any other person or thing. Not only does He have the ability to rescue you from that fear, from that circumstance, from that impossible place but He longs to do that. And if that’s not enough when we let Him rescue us from whatever our place of rescuing is He gets the glory.
Faith reaches your hand out;
Trust believes someone will grab it and lets go”
Loren Thornburg
Trust is defined as confidence and reliance on the integrity, strength, ability of a person or thing. Technically trust is both a thing and an action, a noun and a verb. But we can only see the fruits of trust when we put it into action and let it be a verb, especially a verb with an ing at the end. This implies trust which not only acts but is acting now, presently. We can say our trust is in this or that as a thing, as a noun, but until we have to act on that trust it is not true trust. For if we are not willing to act on that thing we say that our trust is in, how is that really the trust we defined. There is no confidence, reliance, or surety in something that we are not willing to step out in. True Trust is willing to act. It not only says it trusts, but it reaches out and lets go because it is truly confident, truly reliant, and truly sure of the strength, integrity, and ability of that which its trust is in. True trust is trusting.
“Trust me in your times of trouble and I will rescue you, and you will give me glory.”
Psalm 51:15 NLT
Trouble brings such fear into our lives and fear tends to bring us greater trouble. For in our fear so often we tighten up and look in. We stop looking, stop reaching for help. We take things into our own hands seeing no other way out. The reasons are many to stop trusting, but none is bigger than our God, who rescues and saves. God loves to show up in our times of trouble. Yet so often we don’t trust Him enough to give Him the time and space to rescue in His timing, in His way. God asks that we trust with a trust that is true, with a trust that acts, and with a trust that is present with an ing at the end. He asks because He knows His ability to rescue us is greater than any other person or thing. Not only does He have the ability to rescue you from that fear, from that circumstance, from that impossible place but He longs to do that. And if that’s not enough when we let Him rescue us from whatever our place of rescuing is He gets the glory.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Unlikely Hero
You’re My Hero
You fight when there’s reason to run
You’re brave when there’s reason to fear
You go when there’s reason to stop
…You’re my hero
You believe even though it’s hard
You try even though you might fail
You play even though it hurts
…You’re my hero
You smile because you’re alive
You dance because you can
You dream because there’s hope
…You’re my hero
You live and never stop loving
You reach out and never stop caring
You push for more and never stop inspiring
…You’re my hero
My life is forever changed
The way it was no longer enough
I won’t, I can’t be the same
…You’re my hero
Heroes are those people whose lives call to ours. Their story speaks so loudly to our own we are ignited in such a way that we will never be the same. I have found that some of my greatest heroes are not world famous, they don’t hold a prestigious position or have great wealth. In fact the older I get it seems the people I want to be like when I grow up are getting younger. Because of these heroes how I lived, the way it was, is no longer good enough and so is true because of 11 year old Erin Buenger. Diagnosed at 5 with cancer, battling this disease for 82 months she fought without fear. Not because it was easy, but because she could. She could still smile, love, fight, encourage, believe, hope and live and that’s exactly what she did. When I think about Erin mediocre is no longer good enough. The circumstances that once defined my life become not smaller because others are going through worse, but they become less powerful. I am reminded of her smile, her energy, her life in the middle of it and that calls to me, it speaks to me, it ignites me to more and now I won’t, I can’t be the same.
“Come to Christ, who is the living cornerstone of God’s temple. He was rejected by the people, but he is precious to God who chose him. And now God is building you, as living stones, into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are God’s holy priests, who offer the spiritual sacrifices that please him because of Jesus Christ.”
I Peter 2:4-5 NLT
Jesus was not the likely hero. There was nothing extraordinary about being born in Bethlehem and being a carpenter. He was so ordinary that many people missed Him as the savior they were looking for. It wasn’t that they weren’t looking; they just didn’t think Jesus measured up to what they were looking for. He was the unlikely choice and was rejected by many because of it. Yet God chose Him to be the Savior, the hero for those who saw past the ordinariness to His extraordinary love found no where else. All throughout the bible we see many other stories of unlikely heroes. Of people like you and me, who feel they don’t quite measure up in some way or another, feeling not up to the call. When we read the stories it’s easy to wonder why they feared knowing that God in all His power and sufficiency was calling, until we realize we do the same thing. We feel like the unlikely choice and so we step back. However God says that He is building you, He is calling you, inviting and asking you to be His holy priests because of Jesus. Jesus was the unlikely hero who sacrificed everything for you and now you are invited to come to Christ, to follow God’s call, though you feel like the unlikely choice.
You fight when there’s reason to run
You’re brave when there’s reason to fear
You go when there’s reason to stop
…You’re my hero
You believe even though it’s hard
You try even though you might fail
You play even though it hurts
…You’re my hero
You smile because you’re alive
You dance because you can
You dream because there’s hope
…You’re my hero
You live and never stop loving
You reach out and never stop caring
You push for more and never stop inspiring
…You’re my hero
My life is forever changed
The way it was no longer enough
I won’t, I can’t be the same
…You’re my hero
Heroes are those people whose lives call to ours. Their story speaks so loudly to our own we are ignited in such a way that we will never be the same. I have found that some of my greatest heroes are not world famous, they don’t hold a prestigious position or have great wealth. In fact the older I get it seems the people I want to be like when I grow up are getting younger. Because of these heroes how I lived, the way it was, is no longer good enough and so is true because of 11 year old Erin Buenger. Diagnosed at 5 with cancer, battling this disease for 82 months she fought without fear. Not because it was easy, but because she could. She could still smile, love, fight, encourage, believe, hope and live and that’s exactly what she did. When I think about Erin mediocre is no longer good enough. The circumstances that once defined my life become not smaller because others are going through worse, but they become less powerful. I am reminded of her smile, her energy, her life in the middle of it and that calls to me, it speaks to me, it ignites me to more and now I won’t, I can’t be the same.
“Come to Christ, who is the living cornerstone of God’s temple. He was rejected by the people, but he is precious to God who chose him. And now God is building you, as living stones, into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are God’s holy priests, who offer the spiritual sacrifices that please him because of Jesus Christ.”
I Peter 2:4-5 NLT
Jesus was not the likely hero. There was nothing extraordinary about being born in Bethlehem and being a carpenter. He was so ordinary that many people missed Him as the savior they were looking for. It wasn’t that they weren’t looking; they just didn’t think Jesus measured up to what they were looking for. He was the unlikely choice and was rejected by many because of it. Yet God chose Him to be the Savior, the hero for those who saw past the ordinariness to His extraordinary love found no where else. All throughout the bible we see many other stories of unlikely heroes. Of people like you and me, who feel they don’t quite measure up in some way or another, feeling not up to the call. When we read the stories it’s easy to wonder why they feared knowing that God in all His power and sufficiency was calling, until we realize we do the same thing. We feel like the unlikely choice and so we step back. However God says that He is building you, He is calling you, inviting and asking you to be His holy priests because of Jesus. Jesus was the unlikely hero who sacrificed everything for you and now you are invited to come to Christ, to follow God’s call, though you feel like the unlikely choice.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Purposed Progression
There is a reason for this step
It’s building a bigger whole
Keep on in the process
There is purpose for it all
Loren Thornburg
I don’t know much about building a house, but I do know there is an order to it, a progression. You can’t put on a roof without walls and you can’t put up walls without a foundation. As a softball pitching coach I know the value of the small steps. I teach the pitch in a progression not moving forward until one step is built as they each build on one another. Recently I was working with a small group of eight year olds. As we began with the early stages of the pitch they became impatient and many whines were heard saying, “when are we going to do the full pitch?!” I am much like these eight year olds. I just want to get to the final goal and skip all of the steps that prepare me for it. I want to be there already (wherever there is). It’s easy to see the purpose of the progression as a pitching coach because I know the importance of each step. If only the eight year olds understood the importance of the steps to the whole they probably wouldn’t complain so much. And neither would I if I would trust the purpose of the progression in more than just softball.
“Soon—and it will not be very long—the wilderness of Lebanon will be a fertile field once again. And the fertile fields will become a lush and fertile forest.”
Isaiah 29:17
God is a god of purpose! Everything He does is for a reason and He is working it for His kingdom, for the bigger whole. He works and is working this purpose out through a progression. Just as the wilderness became a fertile field and then became a fertile forest, that which was desired, so too He is working in the wilderness of our lives to make them fertile fields and then to bring those fertile fields to become fertile forests. He is not satisfied with the fertile field, although it may be fertile, because He knows it was made to be a fertile forest.
Now, He could change things in an instant, but He knows all we would miss in the process. When I think about the way the Lord has worked in my life there are so many times I wished He would take the pain away in that instant. Yet through the healing progression and process I learned more of Him, more of faith, more of trust, and those which are things that not only do I need for other places in my life, but that I wouldn’t have wanted to miss. They bring me into deeper relationship with Him, and that is something that far outweighs the pain or frustration of the process. In the wilderness, in the fields and in the forest remember that there is a reason, there is a purpose, there is a process and our God is working it all for His Good and that’s a step worth taking.
It’s building a bigger whole
Keep on in the process
There is purpose for it all
Loren Thornburg
I don’t know much about building a house, but I do know there is an order to it, a progression. You can’t put on a roof without walls and you can’t put up walls without a foundation. As a softball pitching coach I know the value of the small steps. I teach the pitch in a progression not moving forward until one step is built as they each build on one another. Recently I was working with a small group of eight year olds. As we began with the early stages of the pitch they became impatient and many whines were heard saying, “when are we going to do the full pitch?!” I am much like these eight year olds. I just want to get to the final goal and skip all of the steps that prepare me for it. I want to be there already (wherever there is). It’s easy to see the purpose of the progression as a pitching coach because I know the importance of each step. If only the eight year olds understood the importance of the steps to the whole they probably wouldn’t complain so much. And neither would I if I would trust the purpose of the progression in more than just softball.
“Soon—and it will not be very long—the wilderness of Lebanon will be a fertile field once again. And the fertile fields will become a lush and fertile forest.”
Isaiah 29:17
God is a god of purpose! Everything He does is for a reason and He is working it for His kingdom, for the bigger whole. He works and is working this purpose out through a progression. Just as the wilderness became a fertile field and then became a fertile forest, that which was desired, so too He is working in the wilderness of our lives to make them fertile fields and then to bring those fertile fields to become fertile forests. He is not satisfied with the fertile field, although it may be fertile, because He knows it was made to be a fertile forest.
Now, He could change things in an instant, but He knows all we would miss in the process. When I think about the way the Lord has worked in my life there are so many times I wished He would take the pain away in that instant. Yet through the healing progression and process I learned more of Him, more of faith, more of trust, and those which are things that not only do I need for other places in my life, but that I wouldn’t have wanted to miss. They bring me into deeper relationship with Him, and that is something that far outweighs the pain or frustration of the process. In the wilderness, in the fields and in the forest remember that there is a reason, there is a purpose, there is a process and our God is working it all for His Good and that’s a step worth taking.
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