Six Months!

Today marks six months since our last day in Syria. It was the day we visited Samer's family at their house and met with Basheer, Ahmad "Jake," and a couple of Basheer's friends later that evening. We walked in the souq and bought a few goodies to take home. We made a few more memories in the hostel. And I cried. Boy, did I cry.


I miss this place. Just the atmosphere, the sights, sounds and smells. And the people. Out of this world. Lovely people.

Six months already. And in some ways it seems like a lifetime ago or like a dream. But I have pictures to prove I was there. Thank You, God, for the amazing opportunity that we had to visit Syria!

Miss y'all.

Oh yeah

Psalm 118:24 -- "This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it."

One other thing my preacher said today. Notice the Psalmist didn't say "I feel like rejoicing so I will be glad in it." It was an act of the will! I choose to rejoice in this day. In everything give thanks, rejoice in the Lord always...you know, that kind of stuff!

Pitiful or Powerful?

So I've been living in a really bad attitude this week. Normally living in a bad attitude makes no sense and the proper preposition would be living with a bad attitude. But, well, you weren't part of my week (unless you are a few unfortunate people) so you just don't know. Trust me, I was living IN a bad attitude...ahhh.

Now that we have that settled. I even went to church this morning permeated by this bad attitude. I barely sang the worshipful songs, I had to force myself to smile so I wouldn't look like I'd been vaccinated with pickle juice (as my preacher likes to say). Yeah, I was really showing the joy of the Lord in my life. *ahem* I was in one of those bless-me-if-you-dare moods.

So the songs were sung, I picked up my Bible, dutifully turned to John 5 as instructed and then my preacher said "are you going to be pitiful or powerful" and followed that with a sermon on self-pity and how it sours your attitude, relationships and everything else. He told us how the Bible warns about letting a root of bitterness get into our hearts. Brian shared that gratitude was the cure and the book of Isaiah instructs us to put on the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.

He mentioned how self pity stuck to you like an oppressive spirit .. it really held you down and that's exactly how I felt this past week. I just couldn't smile and found joy in very little.

Why?

I know compared to 80% of the world (or better) I have an outstanding life. I am satisfied with my house, my car, my belongings. And God has blessed me with a great place to live near family and I am not in a war-torn area, I haven't seen anyone starve to death or be dismembered by a land mine. I am blessed. So why have I allowed this spirit of self pity?

Honestly I am bored and feel I have no purpose in life. I read all these great books about serving others and I want to do that, but I'm not sure where. I think I want to interact with people, but my life is such that I do my job at home and except for trips to Wal-mart and Food Lion and the library, I don't experience people that much. I have sweet friends, but they are busy moms. So I am really bored of ME.

But since God made a point of specifically addressing my heart problem of the past few days - and boy, oh, boy, did I have silent laughter at Him a couple of times during church because of that - I know I have a choice to make. I can continue letting this root of bitterness take over and make me miserable ('cause I was miserable wallowing in that self-pity) or I can choose to be grateful, start praising the Lord and "come before His presence with singing" instead of complaining.

Oh, Brian also told us that wallowing in self pity removes the blessing of God from our lives. And I really want God to allow me to serve Him somehow. I don't want to be some grouchy ol' hag. I really want my life to show Christlike love, peace and joy. I want to shine for Jesus, not give Him a bad name because of how I live.

So I felt God talked directly to me this morning. Challenging me. (Yikes!) Maybe there were others who needed it or maybe they had to endure this sermon because of me. Either way, I was thankful -- and actually amused -- that God used Brian to speak to me this way.

Thank the Lord for loving us enough to not leave us to wallow in our stinky self-pity!

Now ... to start that singing!

Speaking of which, I love "I'd Need a Savior" by Among the Thirsty! Check it out! Wow!!

Action Verbs!

"We have to make a conscious choice to focus on serving others. Our sinful nature, utterly self-centered in its orientation, naturally puts self first. Our culture, which is a corporate expression of natural (fallen) human nature, . . . encourages us to think of ourselves. . . . If we are to be obedient to the Scriptures and serve one another, we have to buck the trend, go against the grain, and battle uphill to change our focus." (pg. 67)

Check out the decisions Jesus made as He chose to come to earth. As recorded in Philippians 2,

⁵Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
⁶Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
⁷but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
⁸And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!

Did you notice all those action verbs? All those deliberate choices? Made himself nothing, took on the nature of a servant, made in human likeness, found in appearance as a man, humbled himself, became obedient to death!

Have we made the choice to serve? Or are we only one of those boring state-of-being verbs who just sits there and does little?


"If you were a walking advertisement for the Lord, what would people learn about Him?" (pg. 70)

Reflect on the fact that Jesus likely wasn't a standout in the looks department. Not one we'd see on the streets and say, "Wow, He looks impressive" or "He holds himself like a king .. check out that regal bearing." But then think of how people flocked to meet Him even staying for hours to be in His presence. People sought Him out, scholars were either amazed or silenced by His teachings. He spoke with authority and changed lives where ever He went. Now remembering that we are representatives for Christ, think of this: "People may not stand amazed at us when they pass them on the street, but when they get to know us, what do they think?" (pg. 78) Do people see a difference in your life that they want? Or do they say, "If that's a Christian, who needs this Jesus?"

Thoughts and quotes from Signs of Life by David Jeremiah

One last thing, Suzy at Sailing by Starlight wrote a beautiful and challenging post on prayer. She is reading Mother Teresa's book No Greater Love. Check out Suzy's post.

Mars Hill vs. The Synagogue..approaches, I mean

In the chapter "The Church Arrogantly Claims All Other Religions Are Wrong," the author quotes from emergents Duggan and Penny and then explains that "Christians come across as naive and arrogant when they can't even carry on a conversation about the religions they reject. We need to understand that people in emerging generations . . . place a high value on respecting and seeing beauty in all faiths and expressions of spirituality. If we don't recognize this and aren't sensitive in how we talk about other faiths, we come across as unintelligent, primitive, close-minded, and uncaring of people who hold different views." (pg. 165)

Concerning her own spiritual search, Penny stated: "Eastern religions were more attractive to me, because they focused more on being kind to others, loving other people of other spiritual beliefs even if they are different from you, treading lightly, and being humble. I think that was similar to the message of Jesus, ironically, but that's the opposite of what I experienced from church and Christians." (pg. 166)

Keep in mind that America is a post-Christian nation. Where we used to assume most people were Christian at least nominally, that is increasingly no longer the case. America has become the most religiously diverse nation because of our acceptance of other faiths being practiced here freely. Thus we need to know about other beliefs so we can speak intelligently with people. Don't just spout a Bible verse and say "Jesus is the only way." Be willing to listen to others as they share their beliefs and build relationships with them. The author reminded us that the Apostle Paul spoke differently to those at the synagogues than those on Mars Hill. The former group feared God while the latter worshiped many gods. Paul's starting points and approaches were different depending on whom he was addressing, and we have to keep in mind that people in our nation won't often have the same worldviews and perspectives as those who grew up in the church.

So what about us? Do we expect "Mars Hill folks" to have the same knowledge as those from the synagogue? As a foreign missionary goes to another country and learns the culture and language, we must know the culture of ... well, our own culture! Let's be willing to listen and learn and don't arrogantly dismiss others' beliefs. Show them the love of Christ by hearing them and caring about what's on their hearts.

(And, yes, I know I am preaching to myself....I am the one most in need of this lesson. )

From: They Like Jesus But Not the Church by Dan Kimball

"Be willing to get your shoes dusty on the streets of this world."

"In biblical times, the only people who got their feet and sandals dusty were those who left the cleanliness and safety of their homes. Whether they were going to the market or to minister, they had to leave home to do it. Likewise, if we are going to fulfill the Great Commission of Jesus Christ, we are going to have to leave home. It was Jesus who spoke these words in one of His parables: "Then the master said to the servant, 'Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled'" (Luke 14:23)."



"Am I willing to get my own shoes dusty on the streets of this world in order to make the love of Jesus Christ available to those who do not know Him? If I am going to be like my Savior, the answer can only be yes." (pg. 45)

"As the Father has sent Me, I also send you."
~ Jesus in John 20:21

In his book Signs of Life, Dr. David Jeremiah discusses these things quoted above and made this interesting statement. Do you agree?

"One mistake of the modern church seems to be that when someone is converted to Christ, all too often in the name of discipleship, we hurry that person out of his place in the world into the sanitized confines of the church. Instead, perhaps we need to challenge ourselves to leave the walls of the church and walk with that new believer back into the world to reach his friends for Christ."

Furthermore, he adds that in order to get dust on our shoes, we need to "leave the 'clean' environment of church and home and to go into our neighborhoods and communities and do what Jesus did: show people how much God loves them by meeting them where they are and providing what they need." (pg. 46,47)


I am trying to figure out how exactly I can do this right now. I know where I want to get my shoes dusty, but where does God want me presently? I wish I knew.

The Narrow Way

Louai sent me some pictures of Syria and this was one of them. I wanted to use it and thought of a verse that talked about narrow paths.



¹³"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. ¹⁴But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."

Words of Jesus as recorded in the book of Matthew chapter 7.