A Paraphrase

"Go. Leave it all."
"Where? Where shall I go?"
"I'll show you but for now go."

genesis12:1-3

What a week

This Wednesday at chapel a pastor from a local church spoke. He started off by describing the a desert hike he had gone on last year. It was 120 degrees and they came upon this Arar tree with fruit. Of course they all asked the guide if they could have some. So they grabbed the fruit and then cut it open and it was empty except for cobwebs and the little that was in there was poison. Jeremiah 17:5-6.
This is what the LORD says:
"Cursed is the one who trusts in man,
who depends on flesh for his strength
and whose heart turns away from the LORD.

He will be like a bush in the wastelands;
he will not see prosperity when it comes.
He will dwell in the parched places of the desert,
in a salt land where no one lives.

This bush/tree look good on the outside but then on the inside it is full of cobwebs and poison. But then there is another tree described in verses 7 and 8:

"But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,
whose confidence is in him.

He will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit."

What's the difference between the two trees? Simple. One tree is rooted in the river and the other is not. Am I rooted in the river? Rooted in God? Or is it just a good superficial look even with "fruit."

He posed these questions: Where does your heart go to find pleasure, when there's a season of drought? What is it that cause you to worry, to be afraid?

It's your roots that determine who you are.

While I know with all my heart that I am rooted in the Lord I began to prune. Are there any places where I see this Arar fruit budding? Places where instead of trusting in the Lord I'm putting up this front? Then once I found those, to begin the process of hacking the bad branches off (John 15:1-2).


"Anything fake is poisonous."
_the pastor's little daughter

Hard headed or Somethin'

I was challenged early on this week to, "think outside the box." I had just got done telling my friend different stories about my time in Mexico specifically about my "try again" entry that I had written last August about Maldives and the following months of my brain processing different things. As soon as she said this I began to think, "what in the world does that look like?" I am a very inside the box thinker. Give me rules, direction and I'll follow but give me freedom and I almost don't know what to do with myself. As I began to think about this "outside the box" over the next couple of days I realized something that I have noticed before but it was another one of my "duh" moments; I like plans. I know that you are all thinking duh or possibly might have chuckled a bit because that is an obvious with me but like I said it was a "duh" moment. When God changed my life in a matter of a moment 4 years ago in Mexico once I returned I instantly began thinking, "what will/can I do as a vocation because I can't just major in missions?" At that time I was reading Mission to the Headhunters by Frank and Marie Drown and at one point she spoke of medicine and how that opened up doors to share the gospel and instantly I thought I can do this. Then there was the Maldives saga, ha, where I fought and fought then said alright I can do this. Again and again different things have "appeared" and I right away I say alright "lets conquer" or "woah what...well okay lets conquer." Then I thinking and wondering and seeing that maybe this isn't right. I go through pros and cons, maybe I don't make a list but mentally, oh yeah. think outside the box...

Back in July when the staff was on retreat we had one day where we were in silence and solitude. One of the things I so clearly understood that day was Trust God He has the plans for you (Jer. 29:11) and then...live by faith as Abraham did. The author of Hebrews comments on his faith in chapter 11 specifically I think of verse 8, "By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going." (emphasis mine) God told him just a glimpse of the plan, God said go and gave him a promise.

The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you.

"I will make you into a great nation
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.

I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you."(Gen. 12:1-3)

Put this into perspective. At this point Abraham had established a home with his wife and family, servants, his job, his life. Think about it in our terms today, Think about your life: where you live, your family, your friends, jobs, church family, your favorite places to go, etc. and then God says, "I want you to leave all of it and go to a new place where I'll show you but for now just go." ...wait you want me to do what? Okay well when will I get there? How far away? Do I get to come back and see my family? Is it hot or cold what do I need to bring? Can I leave in a month I need to finish somethings? I would be asking for clarifications, details, "benefits", wanting to know what exactly am I getting myself into. But this is key,

"So Abram left, as the LORD had told him..." (Gen.12:4)
"By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going." (Heb. 11:8)

Abraham hears God's commands and goes. "He did not go in blind faith but in complete confidence in God's trustworthiness."(The study notes) Complete confidence in God. Thinking back to my constant switching of plans, my in the box thinking and right now feeling as though I'm in this "limbo" and wanting to yet again switch to another plan. This is something God has been hammering into my head since last summer (and I'm sure before) and you would think, "ya got it yet?" but man I just so badly want to be in control of things even without my knowing. Thankfully God knows me therefore he uses people (and a myriad of different things) to get through my thick head once again to teach me, Faith. Faith like Abraham. Have complete confidence in me. I know that my friend had intended me to be thinking out of the box about different things but God led me back to this lesson again which I so desperately needed. Just be still and have faith.


Psalm 46:10
Psalm 37

A little different thursday sharing

I was surrounded by a group of 300 plus students walking on the shoulder of the street making our ways to the sand dunes. Once we climbed the stairs to reach the sand we dispersed for an hour and a half of alone time. I sprinted up the dunes to my right finding the perfect spot with Silver Lake on my left and Lake Michigan on the right with sand of course everywhere in between. When I sat down looking upon His majesty. I couldn't help but sing praises. Sing beautiful and cannons by Phil Wickham which made me think of Ps. 104, which made me pray and sing more praises. How beautiful you are Lord!

Later after we returned to camp we entered the gym listening about Character :

where do I say one thing and do another?

the stuff you want to see happen can actually can happen…because of the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives

not so that we tell others how to live but challenge others by the way you live with that character

When we discussed these thoughts about Character afterwards we went around the group and talked about people we knew in our lives that exemplify godily character. One of the girls talked of someone she met in South Africa and because of visa problems she was threatened to be thrown into jail and this guy was going to make sure if that happened that he was going to be thrown in too compromising is reputation, etc. so he could protect her. And no matter who he talks to rich, middle, poor he was the same person. And I almost started crying it was crazy, I yearn so badly to have that character to be so in love with Christ it just overflows from me. And this is when the overwhelming continued from the morning sand dune time.

The next session was about Jesus being a servant washing his disciples feet– the last person expected to do the job is the one who did the job (john 3:1-17 & phil. 2:1-11)... we went back into our room(small group room) and our leader washed our feet. We sat in silence as she went around and when she came to me I just…I was in awe. I tried to picture Christ washing my feet and I would have responded like Peter, asking why you Lord? Then I was brought to tears by the fact that He did and then He was the ultimate servant and gave up His life… The rest of the night I was just in silence just in awe of God and wanting so badly to be like Him.

Oh Lord how majestic you are, may I continue to just delight in you. I am baffled by you, by salvation…it just wow I am in awe of you completely. Thank you Lord for delighting in me and allowing me to delight in you.

Camp

"thursday" blog is coming soon hopefully tomorrow. I wasn't able to write it last week because we were at camp last thursday to today and God taught me so much so I'm excited to tell you all soon. But I apologize for the delay I'm not going to stop writing just because I'm at school I just did not have a computer last thursday.