My wife Sarah and I celebrated our first anniversary this last Sunday the 23rd! It was awesome to share it with the church and take a moment to look back at all the year has held. I thought it only fitting that I share these thoughts today:
Marriage. It's that thing that we do. Or that we at least try.
Some know it's not for them. Some wait what seems an eternity.
Most of us jump right in, ready or not, to a life of living with another.
Marriage is grand and beautiful, it is wild, it is hard, it is work.
Some say it's bliss and the best--all about the romance and burning desire.
Many agree it's more about friendship and teamwork than hearts on fire.
So we each join our friend, get to know our friend, and do life with that friend.
Of course we're always hoping for a little "hearts on fire" here and there.
But sometimes we don't see the rest.
Marriage is also faith. It is relationship.
It is hoping that there is something stronger keeping two together than the mere efforts of two flailing human hearts.
Engaged couples usually look at me blurry-eyed when I tell them:
God has to be first in your life together.
But it's true.
Marriage is about joining God just as much as we join each other.
It's only God that gets couples through the rough moments,
Through the surprises. Through the never-thought-it-would-happen-to-us times.
Ultimately, as the two of us looked back, being married one year,
We saw how marriage at its best blends it all together:
Marriage IS a beautiful thing when it is
Faith and relationship with God,
Friendship and teamwork,
Hearts on fire and romance,
When it is fun, hard, challenging, rewarding,
When it surprises and blesses,
When it takes all we have, and gives us all we need,
When it is too stubborn to quit and too foolish to know better,
When it keeps saying yes, even when no is so much easier.
I believe this is what God had in mind--possibly with marriage and a lot of other things too!
Here's to one year with my wife. Thanks Sarah, thanks God, thanks family, friends, and church for holding us up, in prayer, and together! And now...here's to day one of an entirely new year!
More to come!
Jason <><
Monday, June 24, 2013
Monday, June 17, 2013
Never Had a Friend Like This!
It's a clear theme of God's word, but it's not our favorite. We like grace, mercy, love, salvation, but rarely do we jump for joy at the idea of obedience. We live in a free country. We believe in democracy. We believe in free will. We value choice and options and no contracts. Obedience seems to go against most of those freedoms.
Yet we are reminded in Deuteronomy as Moses prepares God's chosen people to live in an ever-lasting relationship with him that "It is the Lord your God you must follow, and him you must serve. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him" (Deut 13:4).
Eventually we figure out a way to work this obedience thing into our faith lives, but it's rarely the foremost feature of our faith.
But obedience might be more a blessing and gift than we have imagined!
We've all been through the spiritual droughts--the ones that leave us dry and withered after a season of spiritual fullness and closeness to God. In the drought, nothing feels as good, as powerful, as inspiring. God doesn't seem as close either, and we wonder what went wrong. This is the place where many of us get thrown off the trail altogether and never get any further.
That's when obedience kicks in and comes to the rescue. It doesn't feel like it's rescuing us from anything at the time. It mostly feels like it's locking us into this dry, lifeless place in our faith forever. But there's way more to the picture we often don't see.
While it's true that obedience doesn't swoop down like a superhero to save the day, it does keep the source of goodness flowing, and it keeps the lifelines open between God and us. Furthermore, it honors God. We can scarcely comprehend how much obedience means to God, but it's huge! If freedom is at the top of our value list, willingly giving it to God and trusting that there's something ever greater than autonomy cannot be overlooked! It's essential to our growth.
So, while all of this obedience stuff is going on and we're painfully trudging along in our practices of going to worship, reading the Bible, praying for others, loving others, and cutting out some distractions in our life--as if it just might kill us--God and our friend obedience are planning a banquet for us.
It's impossible to predict God's timing, and difficult to discern when we finally, really get the point. But we must believe that the drought doesn't last forever and that there are really good things on the other end. After all, the banquet being prepared is a life with God that blows us away with each breath. It's the original spiritual high combined with a solid, wise, unshakable foundation. It is good.
So while we groan along with our wretched friend Obedience, wondering if it's worth it or perhaps whether it's all just a hoax, remember that Obedience may just be our best friend and most worthy companion on this dry, painful road. At the end of the drought, we come to find that our time spend being obedient is NEVER just about being obedient. It's about getting ready to join God in even greater things through that relationship being established with Him!
Happy obeying! :-)
More to come!
Jason <><
Yet we are reminded in Deuteronomy as Moses prepares God's chosen people to live in an ever-lasting relationship with him that "It is the Lord your God you must follow, and him you must serve. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him" (Deut 13:4).
Eventually we figure out a way to work this obedience thing into our faith lives, but it's rarely the foremost feature of our faith.
But obedience might be more a blessing and gift than we have imagined!
We've all been through the spiritual droughts--the ones that leave us dry and withered after a season of spiritual fullness and closeness to God. In the drought, nothing feels as good, as powerful, as inspiring. God doesn't seem as close either, and we wonder what went wrong. This is the place where many of us get thrown off the trail altogether and never get any further.
That's when obedience kicks in and comes to the rescue. It doesn't feel like it's rescuing us from anything at the time. It mostly feels like it's locking us into this dry, lifeless place in our faith forever. But there's way more to the picture we often don't see.
While it's true that obedience doesn't swoop down like a superhero to save the day, it does keep the source of goodness flowing, and it keeps the lifelines open between God and us. Furthermore, it honors God. We can scarcely comprehend how much obedience means to God, but it's huge! If freedom is at the top of our value list, willingly giving it to God and trusting that there's something ever greater than autonomy cannot be overlooked! It's essential to our growth.
So, while all of this obedience stuff is going on and we're painfully trudging along in our practices of going to worship, reading the Bible, praying for others, loving others, and cutting out some distractions in our life--as if it just might kill us--God and our friend obedience are planning a banquet for us.
It's impossible to predict God's timing, and difficult to discern when we finally, really get the point. But we must believe that the drought doesn't last forever and that there are really good things on the other end. After all, the banquet being prepared is a life with God that blows us away with each breath. It's the original spiritual high combined with a solid, wise, unshakable foundation. It is good.
So while we groan along with our wretched friend Obedience, wondering if it's worth it or perhaps whether it's all just a hoax, remember that Obedience may just be our best friend and most worthy companion on this dry, painful road. At the end of the drought, we come to find that our time spend being obedient is NEVER just about being obedient. It's about getting ready to join God in even greater things through that relationship being established with Him!
Happy obeying! :-)
More to come!
Jason <><
Monday, June 10, 2013
No Way?... No Way!
Ever felt like you have nothing left to give? Ever felt like there's simply no way forward in your day or your situation?
I get the feeling that the way our world works and the way we push ourselves, we often feel like we're totally worn out by the end of the day and that there's nothing left to do but get through the rest of it. I've been there before.
When we feel all we can do is simply "get through it," the thought of giving more, or giving anything to anything or anyone outside of our main "getting through it" goal seems absolutely absurd. There's no way that's going to happen! Not now...
But, it's no surprise there's little room for this kind of thinking in God's kingdom. God's wisdom in Proverbs reminds us that "One person gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty" (11:24).
This challenges me quite a bit when I'm feeling like I have nothing left to give. But this wisdom also reminds me I am to that point often because it's been a while that I have given to someone or something else that has nothing to do with my own needs or concerns.
Do we ever truly have nothing left to give? NO WAY!
When I find I have nothing left to give, I often find that I still have a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, a praying heart to give. And when I give, I find that my own heart begins to open up to all sorts of new opportunities and directions and God's unending abundance! That's when it gets good.
More to Come!
Jason <><
I get the feeling that the way our world works and the way we push ourselves, we often feel like we're totally worn out by the end of the day and that there's nothing left to do but get through the rest of it. I've been there before.
When we feel all we can do is simply "get through it," the thought of giving more, or giving anything to anything or anyone outside of our main "getting through it" goal seems absolutely absurd. There's no way that's going to happen! Not now...
But, it's no surprise there's little room for this kind of thinking in God's kingdom. God's wisdom in Proverbs reminds us that "One person gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty" (11:24).
This challenges me quite a bit when I'm feeling like I have nothing left to give. But this wisdom also reminds me I am to that point often because it's been a while that I have given to someone or something else that has nothing to do with my own needs or concerns.
Do we ever truly have nothing left to give? NO WAY!
When I find I have nothing left to give, I often find that I still have a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, a praying heart to give. And when I give, I find that my own heart begins to open up to all sorts of new opportunities and directions and God's unending abundance! That's when it gets good.
More to Come!
Jason <><
Monday, June 3, 2013
If it Weren't for Them!
I love bubbles--trying to blow the biggest, the most, and watching them silently float into the air completely defiant to gravity and brilliantly displaying rainbow swirls as the go...
But, more so than many times in our history, it seems we are preferring to live our entire lives in bubbles. We've embraced the rugged, self-made individual, the world of personal devices, the craze of heightened needs for privacy, the wildly popular need for 1 person per 5-seat vehicle, the need for separate homes, tall fences, and dark curtains. We've even shifted our entire concept of faith and religion to the individualize, personal, and solely internal.
Sometimes it's great to have a little time alone, to have some personal space.
But there are times I fear we've taken things too far. There are times when I am absolutely sure that if my own bubble hadn't been broken, I would not be here today!
Why I'm sure of this: 2 weeks ago the house I lived in while in Bellevue was vacated, and Sarah and I were faced with the task of getting my house that had been poorly kept by a renter back into shape for a sale.
We scarcely knew what we were in for: deep cleaning, wall painting, rebuilding, replacing, steaming, shining, sweeping, digging, mowing, cutting, wiping, drilling, dusting, ripping up, laying down, refitting, etc. For the last 2 weeks, it has consumed so much of us.
BUT, this is where I thank God for keeping our bubbles popped! Within a heartbeat, Sarah's and my parents showed up with tools, ideas, energy, solutions, love, and the willingness to put in some long, sweaty, back-aching hours. Within minutes, old neighbors I had scarcely seen in months showed up asking to help mow, help throw away, help fix.
It was beautiful. Sarah and I looked around and were blown away by the community that surrounded us and gave away their Memorial Day weekends to be with us and love us. We could only imagine what it would have felt like trying to go through that all alone. After all, that's our first reaction in this world. We desire to be tough enough all by ourselves. We'd rather not let anyone help us. We don't think we need anyone.
But we realized that the opposite happens when you let your bubbles pop: we get to go through life together. We get to hold each other up.
Opposed to our worldly view today that says "I'm afraid to help you because if I do I may not have enough to take care of myself," God encourages us to live in a world that says "I know not one of us will ever have enough, but together we'll always have enough."
My prayer today is that God takes tiny needles and pops the bubbles of our lives that keep us isolated. My prayer is that we'll be connected in ways we'd not have the chance otherwise!
More to come!
Jason <><
But, more so than many times in our history, it seems we are preferring to live our entire lives in bubbles. We've embraced the rugged, self-made individual, the world of personal devices, the craze of heightened needs for privacy, the wildly popular need for 1 person per 5-seat vehicle, the need for separate homes, tall fences, and dark curtains. We've even shifted our entire concept of faith and religion to the individualize, personal, and solely internal.
Sometimes it's great to have a little time alone, to have some personal space.
But there are times I fear we've taken things too far. There are times when I am absolutely sure that if my own bubble hadn't been broken, I would not be here today!
Why I'm sure of this: 2 weeks ago the house I lived in while in Bellevue was vacated, and Sarah and I were faced with the task of getting my house that had been poorly kept by a renter back into shape for a sale.
We scarcely knew what we were in for: deep cleaning, wall painting, rebuilding, replacing, steaming, shining, sweeping, digging, mowing, cutting, wiping, drilling, dusting, ripping up, laying down, refitting, etc. For the last 2 weeks, it has consumed so much of us.
BUT, this is where I thank God for keeping our bubbles popped! Within a heartbeat, Sarah's and my parents showed up with tools, ideas, energy, solutions, love, and the willingness to put in some long, sweaty, back-aching hours. Within minutes, old neighbors I had scarcely seen in months showed up asking to help mow, help throw away, help fix.
It was beautiful. Sarah and I looked around and were blown away by the community that surrounded us and gave away their Memorial Day weekends to be with us and love us. We could only imagine what it would have felt like trying to go through that all alone. After all, that's our first reaction in this world. We desire to be tough enough all by ourselves. We'd rather not let anyone help us. We don't think we need anyone.
But we realized that the opposite happens when you let your bubbles pop: we get to go through life together. We get to hold each other up.
Opposed to our worldly view today that says "I'm afraid to help you because if I do I may not have enough to take care of myself," God encourages us to live in a world that says "I know not one of us will ever have enough, but together we'll always have enough."
My prayer today is that God takes tiny needles and pops the bubbles of our lives that keep us isolated. My prayer is that we'll be connected in ways we'd not have the chance otherwise!
More to come!
Jason <><
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