Come, thou long expected Jesus, 
 born to set thy people free; 
 from our fears and sins release us, 
 let us find our rest in thee.  
 Israel's strength and consolation, 
 hope of all the earth thou art; 
 dear desire of every nation, 
 joy of every longing heart. 

     Born thy people to deliver, 
 born a child and yet a King, 
 born to reign in us forever, 
 now thy gracious kingdom bring. 
 By thine own eternal spirit 
 rule in all our hearts alone; 
 by thine all sufficient merit, 
 raise us to thy glorious throne.

---

radical devotion.

I see so many Christians who say that they would die for their faith, but their lives never reflect that.

They claim that if they were under radical persecution they wouldn’t lose their faith and if a gun was put to their head they would stand fast and give their life up for their faith, because following Christ is that important to them.

But there is no gun to their head- we live in America, after all. So their lives don’t demonstrate the radical devotion to Christ that they speak of.

Is it easier to give up your life for the Gospel than to give your life for the Gospel?

Thoughts for Monday.

“Hear, O Lord, and be merciful to me!
   O Lord, be my helper!” {Psalm 30:10}
 
Rejoice in the fact that God is merciful and let Him be your helper. Let Him lift you out of this and into Joy. He isn’t a tame lion. He isn’t human and wishy-washy. And his love for you is like stepping into the rapids of a whitewater river.

You cannot help but be swept away and drown in it.
And in the loveliest way imaginable.

“Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither.”
C. S. Lewis

Jump off of that raft, into the rapids.

Aim at heaven and get earth thrown in.

Run after God like you are thirsty and you need the Water of Life. Run after Him as if your life depends upon it, as if your joy depends upon it. It does. Run after Him like he died for you and you’d like to thank Him face to face. Run after Him like His dying makes your living worth it. Run after Him the way the lame man ran after he had been healed; rejoicing.

Don’t choose to live asleep. Don’t choose to live sitting. Don’t choose to let all of the distractions of the flashy souped up overrated world numb you when there’s better to be had. “It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” {C. S. Lewis.}

Don’t pass up infinite joy and remain satisfied with trash. Don’t waste your life.

Run, run, run. It’s tiring but there is infinite joy waiting for you. At the finish line there is one hugely unimaginable prize to be had. Run after God with endurance and find Joy.

“...and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” {Hebrews 12:1}

The Sunday of Joy!

Gaudete 2012- Third Sunday of Advent- The Sunday of Joy.
Philippians 4:4-7

"Do not fear; do not worry; rejoice in everything. Does that mean that everything that would happen to them would be good? Obviously not. They faced terrible persecution and would have terrible things to deal with. Of course, they would have absolutely no control over what happened to them. Many Christians around the world face the same thing today. In Egypt, in Iraq, in Africa, in China, and in many other places persecution is just a heartbeat away. Think of the parents of the children murdered this weekend in Connecticut. They had no choice in the events that over took them and ripped their babies from their arms and hearts. Two things are necessary for us to consider.

First, joy is often a decision, and not only an emotion. It will certainly come up as an emotion at times, but many other times will require that you make a decision to rejoice. Just using this week's terrible events, you can see both sides of the argument. If you discover that your child was not one of the victims, you would understandably be overcome with joy; you would rejoice to see your baby walk out whole and uninjured. On the other hand, if your child was among the victims, it would be a very hard decision to rejoice about it. I am not saying that someone in the position should be laughing and happy. Joy is not simple happiness. It is ultimately an expression of trust in God, even in terrible circumstances. Remember our brothers and sisters around the world that face persecution every day. At Columbine it was reported that the killers targeted Christians. That is real live persecution here in the United States. Paul's command is clear: rejoice in all things. It does not mean to be happy about all things. 

Second, we need to turn to the Lord to be able to make the decision to rejoice. Paul tells the Philippians to take all of their requests to the Lord. They are to do it with thanksgiving. Supplication is a strong word showing that we can express our needs to God with great feeling. Look at all of the Psalms David gave us while he was persecuted by Saul and his rebellious sons. Crying out to the Lord often means just that: to cry out in agony to the God who loves us and has sent these hard times our way. 

Thanksgiving will be the best indicator of where your heart it. If you can thank God in the circumstances then you will be able to rejoice in them as well. I believe that eventually you will see his kind hand leading you in even the most difficult of times. God sculpts us from hard providences. Just as Jesus learned obedience the very hardest way, our God will shape our character with the hard things that come our way."

-Pastor Gene Franklin, 
from the sermon Joy In Hard Places.

“Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither.”
C. S. Lewis

...

...It’s as if I’ve built up this wall to keep everyone out and to hide behind. For the sake of safety and security, long years of building a fortress around myself to keep everyone out.  
But I’ve trapped myself as well.
No one can get in, but I can’t get out, either.
I’ve been alone with myself for so long that I can't stand it, but so closed up that everything beyond that wall fills me with fear. I know that it is time- this wall needs to be torn down and done away with. So I begin wildly beating the walls and pulling down bricks.
My hands are bleeding raw and the process of breaking free...is excruciating.
 
I have to get out no matter what the cost.

And I cough, pulling bricks out as decade-old mortar crumbles over my dusty hands, throwing them away- all of these pieces that make up my prison. They lay in a pile behind me splashed with the blood from my frantic hands.

Finally I collapse- I need a break from attacking these bricks.
I lay in the dust and cough as it settles and swirls, coating my sweaty face. But then...when the chalky grey is done dancing in the air, I taste the sweetest oxygen seeping through the compromised wall.

I sit up.

There is a breeze blowing through, I can feel the outside and for the first time I don’t fear it, I’m eager for it- so eager.

That openness, wide and terrifying and shakingly huge- I want it so badly.

The honesty.

So once again wild with desperation, I continue the task in front of me- determined that there will not be a single brick left in its place. Looking forward to dancing in that openness, free of walls and masked insecurity.

I will be free.

Adventure.

unfurl my sails
shake out their dust
too-eager canvas
fuels wanderlust

hoist the mast high
feel the wind surge
reel in your anchor
let the ship diverge

the fear of being free
of holding nothing back
oft times keeps me from going
off the beaten track

i am not running away
just running for the sake of feeling the wind
i am not lost nor am i astray
just running so restlessly after Him

as swimming in deep salty waters
overcome in tumultuous ocean
so His love drowns my fear,
His grace moves me on,
and His mercy gives this ship motion

Chasing leafy winds...

He clutches the bundle of colorful leaves all gold and red. 
He laughs, not a care in the world besides catching all of them as he chases the wind
laughter bursts out in wide happy peals.
“Get them, get them!”
I urge him on, smiling.
“Dawww, darn it.” he says in his four-year old lisp.
He can’t run fast enough to catch the leaves in mid-air.
I try to encourage him-
“You have to be faster, the leaves are so quick!
but don’t worry, the wind is always around.
More leaves will fall...”
I look around and breathe in the brilliance
the colours that hide all year and then are revealed
when the chlorophyll fades away.
“God’s always around too.” I think,
remembering how I chase him like a child,
eager to touch the wind, grasp it.
And though I never will,
I run all the same after an ungraspable God-
the kind of Creator that you cannot fit into a box.
And the swirling leaves and the blessings 
are the evidence of the wind,
the shadow of Jehovah as he passes by,
giving me something to run after.
Greyson and I walk home and he picks up big yellow leaves,
gasping each time he finds a prettier one.
And of course, each one is more stunning than the last.
“Oh, Esther- look!” he holds up a bright scarlet leaf.
His big blue eyes make me ache,
because I long to be like a child 
and wonder the way that I used to.
Why does the world make us so unresponsive to glory?

So today, as we walked home with an ever-growing bouquet of that glory, I resolved to be enraptured, to live with eyes that see beyond the surface image of life and let myself be filled with wonder. Child-like wonder. 
 


Lord, I want to see.

Soul-Quenched.

As water roaring from a rock,
from the rock that is higher than I
nourishment flows never ceasing
a river of holy communion.

O my soul, come to the water
bathe thyself in grace.
immerse yourself in his goodness
drench your dry thirst, drink in His love.

Saturation of all of my senses,
I am satisfied in you.
The absolute end of a search,
the resolution, the consummation...
The Omega.

Hallelujah, praise God;
He has saved my soul and enlarged my heart.
Do you thirst, does this life leave you parched and dry?
Do you hunger, your soul a moaning cry?
Come to the water. Eat of the bread of life.

Yahweh; holy, exquisite, passionate, eternal, just, compassionate, merciful, patient, jealous, steadfast, impossibly huge, awe-inducing, fierce... {to name a few of the attributes of an indescribable God.}

1“Come, all you who are thirsty,
   come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
   come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
   without money and without cost.
2 Why spend money on what is not bread,
   and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
   and you will delight in the richest of fare.
3 Give ear and come to me;
   listen, that you may live.
I will make an everlasting covenant with you,
   my faithful love promised to David.”
{Isaiah 55}