Eternally Engaged

"All that is not eternal is eternally useless." 

CS Lewis

I wonder how different my life would look if I truly believed those words.  To think that there are energies I am devoting myself to that matter nothing for eternity breaks my heart. I'm sure it breaks the heart of the Father even more.  How He must watch the activities I engage in on a daily basis that further my kingdom instead of His, with a sadness for all that I am missing.  

Because it's really me that's missing something--not Him.  His Kingdom is still going forth with just as much force and validity and power as ever, I'm just the one who has stepped out of the march to pursue worthless things.  And I'm the one missing the power that is ushering forth His Kingdom.

For the Kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power.

(1 Corinthians 4:20)

Dead men are raised to life. Blind see. Deaf hear. The crippled walk.  Good news is preached to all.  Lives are changed. Orphans are introduced to the Father of the fatherless. Broken people are restored. 

And really?  All that power and I'd rather spend my time doing frivolous things?   Or worse--I'd rather think that I'm engaged in the beauty of the Kingdom by merely talking about it all the time?  

There's so much more to the Kingdom to that.  And I want to see it.  To hear it, to reach out and touch it.  

And there's so many areas where the Kingdom needs to be preached.  Places where the depth of darkness seems unbearable.  

Sex-trafficking. 

Underdeveloped countries without clean water. 

Orphans with no hope and no future. 

People who don't know from where their next meal will come. 

Those completely isolated from hearing the Good News of Jesus Christ. 

My neighbors who think this life is all there is.

All these opportunities, waiting for the power of the Kingdom to come and overwhelm them.  The keys to which I hold in my hand.  And so often I choose the lesser things.  Things that are eternally useless. 

But the most amazing thing to me is that He knew that I would do that.  He knew that when He chose to use imperfect people to bring forth His Kingdom here on earth, that we would often neglect the most important thing.  That we would chose things that don't matter over the only thing that really matters. And yet, He still chose us to be the means He would use.  

So...yes I am the one who is missing out when I choose the things of this world over things of eternal significance.  But, there's grace to cover those attitudes of apathy and a God who uses the weak and foolish of the world to display His strength and wisdom.  And that God has invited me to be part of the great Rescue Mission that He is carrying out. It's the greatest rescue ever carried out and victory is already secured. 

So, I am left with this choice--give away my life to gain it?  Or gain the whole world and forfeit my soul? 

The Jesus Storybook Bible

The intended ages for the book is 4-7....but I have been completely engrossed in it the past few days. I love the way it is written and how it can make me excited to find out what happens next even though I already know the story. It's imaginative and creative and makes my heart race in the same way that reading about Aslan in the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe does (And, not to mention--the artwork is beautiful!).  It tells the full story of redemption from the Fall in the garden of Eden to the second coming of Jesus when He makes everything right again.  The entire Bible is told as one big Story where each individual part--from Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac to the parting of the Red Sea--is told in a way that points to Jesus and talks of the "Great Rescue Plan" that is being carried out and how all of these accounts are just foreshadows of what is to come in Jesus. 

Here's a little taste of why I love it so much.  This is an excerpt from Jesus' calling of the 12 disciples, starting off right after he left the temptation in the wilderness:

Jesus left the desert and set about the Great Rescue.  He was going to get God's people back.

But first he needed to find some helpers and friends.  He had a lot to do.

He would need some people to help him.  

Who would make good helpers, do you think? 

Clever ones? Rich ones? Strong, important ones? 

Some people might think so, but I'm sure by now you don't need me to tell you they'd be wrong.  

Because the people God uses don't have to know a lot of things, or have a lot of things--

they just have to need him a lot.

One day, Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee when he saw some brothers & friends

mending their nets.  They were poor fishermen.

Jesus called out to them, "Let's go!"

Peter, Andrew, James and John looked up at this man on the shore.

And they couldn't explain it: their boats needed to be put away, 

their nets needed mending, fish were still wriggling on the shore. 

But something about this stranger made them just drop their nets and their fish, 

leave their boats--and everything--and follow him.

This God-Man was like no one they had ever met.  When they looked at Jesus,

their hearts filled up with a wonderful, forever sort of happiness 

and inside it was as if they were running free in an open field.

Jesus asked 12 men to be his helpers: Peter, Andrew, James and John,

Matthew Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, another James, Simon, Thaddaeus, and Judas.

Meeting Jesus would change all of them forever.

I am using it as inspiration for developing curriculum for teaching the 1st graders Bible.  But, I highly recommend it to everyone--whether you have kids or not!  It will awaken those adventurous parts of your heart and bring the Story of God's Redemptive Plan to life!  You can click here to buy it on Amazon.

Ava

I just have to share this picture of my niece Ava.  This was her on Easter Sunday.  It also happened to be her birthday the same day.  She was one happy little princess.  She put her hello kitty rainboots on to go on her Easter egg hunt.  No time for strapping on her pretty little sandals!

I really love being an aunt.  I've talked about that before here (though quite out-dated, the reasons why I love them is still the same).  One of the reasons I love it so much is that I get to see them grow up and see their little minds wrap around the idea of a big God who loves them.  I love seeing it through their eyes; it's all so much more simple. Ava is 4 and is asking lots of questions about Jesus lately.  I love them all. Sometimes it's good to get back to the basics.

He loves me.

He made me.

I can talk to Him anytime I want.

Those are the lessons Ava is learning for the very first time.  And they are lessons I want to come back to often.

I pray that beautiful little Ava grows up to be a woman who loves God and seeks Him and finds her beauty in Him.  Until then, I love seeing the process as she begins to understand who He is.  And I love all that I am being reminded of in the process.     

Overwhelmed

Yesterday was one of those days in which I felt overwhelmed with life.  Sometimes it just hurts, ya know?  A family friend passed away and though she was 93 and headed to meet her Savior, it's never easy to say goodbye.  Poor little Nik cried himself to sleep because he missed his mommy.  Needless to say, it was a rough day.  One for the books.


Then today came.  It was an early morning, which are always difficult for me (I'm totally not a morning person!).  But, His mercies were new and they shone so very brightly into my weary and burdened heart.

Nik wanted to bring his Bible to school this morning and he read Scripture to me on the short drive to school.  His heart is hungering more and more after God's Word and my heart is more and more encouraged by it.

My parents and sister and I went down to UCLA for a doctor's appointment for my sweet mom who has Parkinson's Disease.  We were all faced with the painful reminder that it's a progressive disease, that her earthly body is never going to be perfectly "ok" again.  And yet, there we sat in the doctor's office, laughing, enjoying one another, uncertain of, but not fearful for the future.   

God reminded me through phone calls and texts from friends, time with family, worship music we listened to in the car, and His Word that He is good.  His kindness never ends.  He is faithful in every season.

He has promised in His Word that "goodness and mercy shall follow [literally pursue] me  all the days of my life." (Psalm 23:6)  And He has proven that promise moment by moment, day by day in more ways than I can ever hope to express. 

He pursued me to rescue my soul from death and He will continue to pursue me in goodness and mercy forever.  I can think of nothing more sweet.