Am I "Oprah worthy?"

"They're giving up their dreams, their retirement funds, and their comforts to be placed in highly uncomfortable situations--financially, relationally and personally. They're being grown, stretched, emptied out and at times crushed, and then they remember the God who first beckoned them, shake themselves off, get back up and do it again"~ Margaret Feinberg. In her post (April 24th) Margaret is talking about people who are changing the world.



I was thinking just today.... is my life worthy of an Oprah story??


I already know that my life is worth the Blood of Christ, and I am adopted into the eternal lineage of the Almighty-that is not the 'worth' I am talking about.


So often when watching Oprah there is a theme to the stories. Someone has overcome the circumstances of life, and the naysayers around them to pursevere and accomplish the dream that has whispered to them from the time they were children. So often have had to take a major risk and 'step out of the boat' in order to see the dream fulfilled.


Is my life "worthy" of an Oprah show?? Am I doing anything inspiring? Am I fulfilling my highest potential???


Right now, that answer is a resounding NO. The next question needs to be... what do I need to be pursuing in order to change those no's to yes's?

I suppose the one thing I can do right now is to remember that pursuing those whispered dreams means risk, it means discomfort, it means taking a leap of faith and having to rely on the promises of God. It could even mean "...be[ing] placed in highly uncomfortable situations--financially, relationally and personally...being grown, stretched, emptied out and at times crushed, and then... remember[ing] the God who first beckoned [me], shake [myself] off, get back up and do it again".

Look out below, I think that I am almost ready to jump!

Game Day

Today is game #2

The whole city will be abuzz with anticipation and speculation. We are so excited to just be where we are. Who would have thought 6 short months ago, when we were having such a hard go, that we would be in the FINALS!!! It makes it all the sweeter.

Sometimes the harder we work to overcome adversity, the more we appreciate the victory.

We are with you boys.

Now for something completely random!

I did a store locator search on the Tim Horton's website, and within a 50 mile radius of my home, there are OVER 100 locations!

There are 3000+ locations around the country where people can go and get caffinated! That means about 1 location for every 8000 people in our country! If only we had the same number of Doctors per capita perhaps our healthcare system wouldn't be in so much trouble!

I am a huge fan of "Tim's" (as friends and family call it) despite the fact that I have never had even 1 cup of their coffee. Something about Timmy's is so ingrained into the Canadian experience that after a long road trip, no sight is more welcome than those words "Tim Horton's" looming in the distance.

Last year my father and step-mother moved to the country, it is a beautiful drive along a very rural highway to Carleton Place. Between Ottawa and Carleton place there is not much but houses and forest, about 3/4 of the way to their house you come around a big bend and one of the first signs of "civilization' is the Tim Horton's attached to the Petro Canada. It is a marker, a milestone.

Tim Horton's is such a part of the Canadian experience that there is even a Tim's on the Base in Kandahar! Did you know that??

Our troops are comforted in the long months of deployment with Tim Horton's coffee. I think that this is very interesting. Of all the national institutions and luxuries, we export the coffee that runs the nation!

What is it about Tim Hortons that holds our collective attention!

"I feel very much like a person who has a calm and regular daily routine."



This quote was shamelessly stolen from one of my favourite blogs (Three Beautiful Things). She has this amazing way with words, and I often feel when reading her blog, that I have a special door to 1800's England.


Anyway... I digress... this past season has been ridiculously busy. I cannot even begin to tell you! There are things in my life that I feel very strongly about... relaxation is one, open space on my calendar that allows me to flexible enough to assist a friend in need is another. Both of those have been in VERY short supply- I have blinked and missed April and May!


As a result, the above quote that we began with is so far from my life right now, that when I read it, it was almost a physical shot in the gut. I am not sure how I am going to achieve it, but I know that there NEEDS to be a routine in my life that is both calm and regular!

A calm and regular routine has NOTHING to do with boring, or in a rut (which I suppose is the fear) but rather, when you have a stable and regular routine, the important things (like groceries, cleaning, and friendships) don't get overlooked. I have been running from pillar to post, only to stop, look around and realize that there is nothing in my fridge, and that I haven't spoken to the important people in my world for a couple of weeks!

This is unacceptable and........ well .... it just needs to stop!!

So 3 weeks from next Tuesday when I have my next open chunk of time, I will for sure sit down and make a plan-unless something else comes up!! *grin*

God's Timing

I HATE being late... I would rather be 1.5 hours early than 1.5 minutes late. I am one of those people who sets my clocks ahead to build in extra time. If I am meeting someone and they are late, it takes me about 2 minutes before I wonder if I got the wrong time, the wrong date or the wrong location. It stresses me out. I love it when people call as they are leaving to confirm, that way I know that when to expect them so that I can be ready. I much prefer it when people are early that way I know that we can arrive on time with no stress. There are people in my life I expect to be late, some I expect to be early and then there is God.

He always is right on time.... I am not going to lie to you..... it stresses me out! I once heard a speaker (I think Terri Bone) say that "God is never late, but He doesn't take many opportunities to be early!"

Wouldn't it be so much better if God was a "10th hour" God instead of an 11th hour God?? Wouldn't it be nice if he called ahead to let you know when He was leaving so that you could be ready when He arrived???

Or would it??

Sometimes it seems as though we can see the answer coming.. sometimes like nosy kids at Christmas we look for clues (a bag from a store that has what we want, or catalogues with our deepest desires nicely cirlced!) that might give us some insight about what God has in store for us.

This is especially true in the romantic world. For someone who is single, there is a hyper-diligence about when 'the one' will make his appearance, and so we become experts at reading the landscape and watching for changes to signify a new season in our lives has begun.

A few months ago the Lord gave me direction for this next stage of my life. In January, the sense I got was that the next year would be a time of preparation-for what I don't know- much like Esther spent a year preparing herself to be the king's wife. I did not take that to literally mean that 365 day from that moment I would be a wife, merely that God was preparing me for the beginning of something new. There is nothing in me that would want to take away from the amazing sweetness of the relatonship with God that has come out of this time. I really am in no rush....

And then the rain came today!

What is it about the rain that can cause us to be wistful? To lose sight of all the good things in life? Suddenly, all the plans, all the assurances, and all the peace got washed away in the rain (it probably didn't help that I watched a WWI movie about a pilot who falls in love with a french maid) and I was back to wishing, and hoping, and feeling empty.

In the wake of meeting Mike Fisher, there were many comments made by women I love and respect about God's timing for MY great guy, and some were saying that they 'feel like it is just around the corner'. Nothing sets a single girl's heart a twitter like hearing those sweet, sweet words! The problem is that amazing, loving, Godly women have been saying this to me for about 8 years!!! The word says "a day is like a thousand years" to God... I am almost afraid of how "around the corner" translates.

It would be helpful to remind myself of all the moments where God came through at just the right time. To recall that moment of sweet relief when someone you were expecting walks through the door. He has never, ever let me down....

Tomorrow I will remember that... today though, in the rain, life gets a little messy andI feel the emptiness acutely.

Oprah's Deal

I have just watched an old episode of Oprah that where she plays Deal or No Deal for an audience member. I am a fan of Oprah, I think that it would be the best education in the world to get inside her head and learn a little about making decisions. This episode was especially interesting in light of a book that I have been reading, called Blnk. It is an amazing book I picked up at the Maximum Impact Seminars I attended earlier in the month.

It was interesting to watch Oprah under pressure having to make decisions that would effect others but not be able to do the research she likely does for every other decision she makes. However, if anyone has the confidence and history of good decisions Oprah clearly has that.

This is the way it all unfolded....

Immediately, Oprah chose the case with the highest amount, and she got a very low offer from the banker.... it was so low that she was OFFENDED!

As time went on, the decisions were easy, but it was clear that she was taking very seriously the reality that 10, 25, or 40 thousand dollars could change the trajectory of someone's life. It was amazing to see that someone who makes million-dollar deals, and who runs a BILLION -dollar media empire could still relate to the reality of her audience members.

At one point, Howie attempted to turn the audience against Oprah reminding them that she was playing with 'thier money', and began to poll the audience about what they might do with the money... it was clear that the offer of about 25K would make a major difference in the lives of so many. However, in true Oprah style, she reminded the audience that when they walked in they had nothing, now someone would be guaranteed $5000..... she reset their perspectives, and the audience was once agan on her side.

One of the points in the book, Blink, is that our brains are wired to make thousands of split-second decisions every moment on an unconcious level, and we can harness that ability to make concious decisions. You all know people who need the research and all the reports and information about all the options available before making any purchase-even a minor one. As well you all know people who make split second decisions about major purchases and are happy with that.

I am a split-second decision maker, and it freaks out my friend Nicolle who is very intentional about every decision she makes. We don't shop together very often, but we have discussed our different approaches to purchasing, and she has seen me in action.

One day in an excercise to get to know me better, she asked which pattern of dishes I liked best, we were standing in a store with about 50 patterns, as I began to assess, I honed in very quickly on one pattern and 20 minutes later, I was leaving the store with a full set of those dishes including matching pasta bowls, and mugs. All she saw was an impulse buy, but what Nicolle had no way of knowing, was that about a month before, the thought had crossed my mind that since I had just bought my first house, perhaps an upgrade in my dishes was apropos! These were beatuiful, fit all my intrinsic needs for dishes, and were a great price... so I took the plunge. What was reckless to Nicolle turned out to be a really great decision for me.

One of the points in the book as well is that we need to protect ourselves when making a decision from the distraction of too much information... have you ever been in the middle of buying a major item (maybe a car, or an appliance or a house, or a great pair of shoes) and you are pretty sure you have made your decision, then suddenly the person helping you introduces another option into the equation? Suddenly paralysis sets in, what was almost going to be a firm decision, now is muddied. In the book Blink, Malcolm Gladwell tells may stories of major decisions that went bad because of too much information and input. Doctors who made increasingly poor diagnoses as the amount of the information about the patient increased.

I watched as this happened to Oprah. The first couple of choices, she was very confident, then as the noise from the audience weighing in got louder, she became more uncertain, then when the details of what people were going to do with the money added to the information, she became less and less sure that she was making the right decision. At one point she turned to an audience member and asked him what she should do, when he responded "go for it" she did without hesitation or thought, and it was the wrong decision! Of course in true Oprah style, the audience member who won, walked away with the full $100,000 courtesy of Hershey's.

I am not advocating a lifestyle of uninformed impulse decisions, however, I am learning that the way I tend to make quality decisions is different than others, and that I need to protect the way God wired me, while still being open to learn better ways of doing things.

What is your decision-making style?

Gone FISHin'

Tonight ended completely differently than I thought. We were at the ScotiaBank Place, Home of the Ottawa Senators. Tonight though, was not about hockey, we were there to worship with Delirious.

As we were hanging out after the concert, I looked over and 2 boxes over, I realized Mike Fisher was sitting. For those who don't know, Mike Fisher is an amazing christian man who plays for the Ottawa Senators. He is a great hockey player, a christian, and quite handsome. :-)

After the inevitable squealing, questioning, and not so subtle picture-taking, we decided that we wanted to meet this gentleman. My roommate and I walked over, and met him!

He was gracious and kind and sooo handsome.

Once again... taking the opportunities as they are presented!

How would you feel if you DIDN'T!!

Adventure in the Water

On Saturday we went White Water Rafting! It was amazing. This was a new experience for me- and it was totally worth it!

Although I was excited, there was some trepidation; I knew that we were going to be issued wetsuits, travel along the white water, go cliff jumping and put ourselves at some amount of danger (let's face it, it wouldn't be fun otherwise!). Water is a very familliar place for me, I was a fish as a child and spent a couple of summers as a lifeguard, so there is no fear of water, but without fail, I have always been fearful of jumping off high cliffs into the water. I just have never been able to talk myself into doing it! I was also nervous that I wouldn't have enough arm strength to be a productive paddler for 6 hours. But inspite of it all I went.

In the spirit of my new motto "Imagine how you would feel if you didn't...", I decided that no matter what, I would get the most out of all the experiences offered. I knew that there would be an opportunity to do some cliff jumping. I told my boat mates that I was going to jump off the cliff!

As we passed by the rock we were to jump off, it didn't look that high. We pulled the boats up onshore, and climbed to the top. It came to my turn, and that familliar feeling overcame me. The rock looked much higher than it seemed from the water! I stood for a moment, fighting the urge to turn away and "chicken out", but I had promised myself, committed to my boatmates, and so there really was no choice to make. I HAD to jump. So took a deep breath, let out a little scream and off I went! Falling through open air waiting to hit the water is NOT my favourite feeling, but just KNOWING that I had done it, was amazing. That, and the fact that I had survived a much bigger risk, put it all into perspective.

Earlier in the day, we had body surfed through a very cool rapid. We experienced it first in the boat (and that got the adrenaline pumping!) then our rivier guide told us that we could surf down the same rapid! I was sooo excited.

We got a safety briefing including where we had to position ourselves along the line of waves, what to watch for and what not to do! This rapid was located just beside the spot where we were stopping for lunch, so there was a large number of boats, people and river guides as well!

The current coming out of the rapid was very strong and if you don't swim hard enough, you could get swept down river. At the top of the rapids, one of the river guides, watched and yelled instructions as we approached the rapids, he whistled at us when to roll over onto our backs, he had a high level view and so could see where we were in relation to the waves.

At the bottom, the rest of the guides were stationed at different distances with ropes to assist and then finally, there were a couple of guys in a boat to go get anyone who missed the other safety guys.

It was a scary experience, and it felt like I was going to drown, but in spite of what I FELT in that moment, I KNEW that those guys wouldn't let me get so far down the river that I would be lost, I KNEW that they had the perspective and the expertise to ensure my safety. I also knew that my helmet would keep me safe, the lifejacket would keep me a float, and the wetsuit would keep out the icy chill of the spring water. In the midst of the roiling waves, I got some water in my mouth, and I couldn't catch my breath, but I remembered what the River Guide had said about waiting until the backside of the wave to catch a breath. So I waited and forced myself to breath when it was safe to do so. I had listened and absorbed the lifesaving information before entered the water.

As I thought this experience, I realized that it is a great picture of our lives as Christians. Sometimes we are on the shore, sometimes at the end of a tumultuous period, sometimes we are struggling just to breath. The good news, though is when we are in community, connected to thers who are further along in thier walk and life, when people have experience and perspective AND we let them know what we are experiencing, and keep our ears and eyes open to recieve the assistance that they can offer, we are safe. Safe to step out and try new experiences, safe to risk doing what God is asking of us. We cannot get too far off the path before someone will notice and throw us a rope to haul us back on track. And if we somehow get swept out past all that, we can rely on God to have a team out in the river, with the equipment and the commitment to make sure that none are lost.

This experience has taught me that no matter what the fears facing me, I can overcome the irrational ones and take a leap in spite of the history that would echo and taunt me. As well, I am reminded that having a crowd of amazing people around who love me and are looking out for me allows me to step out and explore in greater confidence, the plans that God has for me.... and the same goes for you!

Lions in the Grass

I just finished a really great book! It is called IN A PIT WITH A LION ON A SNOWY DAY by Mark Batterson.
It is all about opportunities that come along.
The central idea is based on a character in scripture who, in a single moment, choose to chase a lion into a pit on a snowy day. While that whole scenario seems like a really really bad idea, he persevered and killed it. From there, God brought him alongside David, and eventually he lead the army of Isreal in their fight against the Moabites, and they won. This book is written by a church planter- someone who knows about takng on a 500 pound opportuity that has potential to harm!

One of his biggest points in the book is:

God is constantly conspiring to bring you to the place of your destiny.

So many people miss opportunities, because often it "is hiding right now in your biggest problem, your worst failure.... your greatest fear"

I took a lot away from the book. Primarily it reminded me of how BIG God is, and that so often I have allowed my fears of circumstances distract me from the Truth of God's ability to work ALL things together for good. If we truly see God as He is, NOTHING would phase us.

I have been hearing the Lion's footsteps in the undergrowth, glimpses of that amber fur which is equal parts awe-inspiring and terrifying. I will admit that in this season, I have ventured beyond the walls of safety that surround my home and I am seeking out some adventure, so really, starting to see the Lion is not that surprising~ but it can be just a scary!!

When you are out beyond your comfort zone, every noise causes you to stop and reassess: do I have the tools I need? Do I have the plan in place? What on earth am I doing? But all in all, God is whispering to me: "How will you feel if you DON'T?" He reminds me that He is the author and finisher of my faith, that He is working all things together for good, but most of all that HE is the Lion of Judah!!! I am safe in His presence, even when what He is asking me to do is scary and risky and.... exhilerating!!!!

This is a season of change. I can feel it in the air. Something is stirring in me to move, to position myself in a potentially scary place right in the centre of God's will for me. It is taking all of my trust and faith in the Lord, to even think about what is next for me, because the dreams are too big to me to fathom the sight of them coming to fulfillment.

Keep watching the peripheral areas of your life, maybe, just maybe, a Lion lurks there waiting for you too!

Purely Logikal!

Once again, Amanda Hayden (My friend, sister, and partner of mischief) has rescued me from my own lack of creativity regarding the look of this site.

I must admit, I have been feeling A LOT of BLOG envy, but now I feel like I can play with the 'cool kids'!!

This is a great example of everyone in the Body of Christ using their talents to work together.

Amanda is -as you can see- an incredibly creative site designer, but that is not all....... she has am amazing eye for beauty. Check out her portfolio at www.logikal.ca

Photographer, Web Designer, Ultimate Player, Dancer, and most of all woman with an amazingly generous heart. I am privileged to have her in my life.

Now that the environment is beautiful, perhaps I will be more inspired to write more!

Maximum Impact

On Friday, I had the amazing privilege to attend the Maximum Impact seminars at the Life Centre. They are a simulcast with some of the most amazing business leaders around!

John Maxwell, Tim Sanders, Mark Sandborn, Coach Hermann Boone (Remember the Titans is his life story), and many others. What I got out of it could fill volumes! It was absolutely awesome. God is so aware of the timing of situations in our lives. It was clear that He was priming me before this event so that as I was sitting there listening to the speakers, it felt like the whole event had been orchestrated just for me!!

The very first speaker, Mark Sandborn, told a story about when he went Bungee jumping. He jumped and had a great time. The lady behind him, however, was more hesitant. He said that after a time, he noticed the men at the top of the bridge speaking to the woman, and eventually she jumped.

After they unhooked the woman and brought her to the shore, Mark said he asked her what the men said that made her decide to jump. What he said next, captured my attention. Essentially, what they told her was to not think about how she felt on the ledge, or about the first step off, rather to think about how she would feel after she had jumped. More importantly, though, they asked her to think about how she would feel every day for the rest of her life if she DIDN'T jump.

In that moment, I had a flash of so many moments when I didn't jump. Lost opportunites, poor choices, forgotten hopes and dreams. I cannot pin point the reasons I didn't jump in those moments, just that something held me back. All I could think of was how I felt in the moment. I was only focussed on the ledge.

But God calls us to more. God has higher plans, and we can never fulfill them standing on a ledge fearful about the next step.

Just this nugget has opened my eyes to the possibilities before me, and I know that everytime I take the risk and remind myself of the payoff, that God will be faithful to complete the work He has started in me.

Stay tuned for more from Maximum impact, and just JUMP!!

Scandalous Jesus

Of late, I have had more 'guy time' than at any point over the last year or so! For a long time, my primary social interaction has been almost exclusively with women . This was not on purpose or for any reason other than with my limited social time available, I wanted to be intentional about connecting with the women in my life.

This time has been amazingly fulfilling, I know 'my ladies' better than I imagined and I love the relationships that have blossomed as a result. What I didn't realize was how much I have missed doing 'guy stuff'-watching hockey, football, playing games and just goofing around. Guys have this amazing ability to just 'be', and share the moment. Women tend to have plans and agendas - not in a bad way, just goals and points they feel like they need to address for a time to be 'productive'. I have always enjoyed adventure and games and sports. Getting together on a sunny Sunday afternoon to play volleyball is my idea of a GREAT time. This time I have been spending with guys has re-ignited in me a desire for adventure! As well, I have been reading "Wild at Heart" in an attempt to improve my relationships with the men in my life (brother, father, pastors, co-workers, friends). I always want them to be at their best, and I know that how I interact with them can influence that a lot. Wild at Heart is an amazing book by John Elderidge about how God designed men and the things that the enemy does in order to cripple their hearts into accepting a life without adventure.

This has reignited my desire for adventure, to seek out a purposeful existence that might seem to push the envelope of reason, or ‘security’-but isn’t that what Jesus was all about?

This immersion of all things ‘guy’ has changed my perspective on Jesus. The other night, we got chatting about The DaVinci Code. In the course of conversation, the word scandalous came up. I had a realization. Jesus lived a scandalous life- not scandalous like Enron, or “Jude Law with the Nanny” but scandalous none the less.

Dictionary.com defines scandal as:
a disgraceful or discreditable action, circumstance, etc.
an offense caused by a fault or misdeed.
damage to reputation; public disgrace.

Think of this, for thousands of years, the Jewish people had lived according to a certain way. They were, in Jesus’ time, a people living under occupation; this meant that they were subject to a foreign rule that just barely tolerated the Jewish lifestyle and faith. His birth was shrouded in scandal, everyone knew who He was, and then He began to preach!

He healed on the Sabbath, questioned the Pharisees, reached out to the Leper, spoke to the ‘unclean’ Samaritan woman living in sin, protected the adulteress, disrupted the temple, questioned traditions, and called the fishermen! We are familiar with all these stories, and we tell them like trite children’s tales, focusing on the lesson rather than the action.

Think of it this way….. What if someone stormed CNN’s studios, and began to expose the lies that this culture has pounded into our minds and hearts? “Debt is normal”, “the world exists for my benefit”, “I deserve to be happy”, “Sexual preference is not a choice”. What if churches began to pay off people’s debt and then trained them to stay out of that debt? What if our churches truly became a hospital for the sick of heart? It would cause a stir and a sensation, yet that is the contemporary equivalent to Jesus in the Temple!

The whole of the Jewish world would have heard mumblings about this Jesus, about the ‘disruptive’ things that He was doing. What REALLY got to the religious leaders, though, was His claim to be God-to have the right and authority to forgive sins. At His trial, there was not likely a lot of talk about the miracles, or the Sabbath infractions, but rather their biggest complaint was the He was a blasphemer!

The definition of a Blasphemer is: “to speak impiously or irreverently of (God or sacred things)”.

What are some of the “Sacred things” in our society? What are those things that we as Christians are ‘not allowed’ to speak about?

I love that Jesus was scandalous! It puts into perspective the dreams and visions that He calls us to. All over the world, people are scandalizing societies with their dreams. Bono did it with the Red Project, Muhammad Yunus did it with micro-credit in Bangladesh, Bill Gates is doing it with his work to reform education in America, and orphanages all over Africa are changing the way society views those with HIV, by embracing infected children and loving them. It is time to reach past the constraints of ‘what would people think?’ and begin to scandalize your sphere of influence!

You might not be called to change the whole world, but you can still cause a stir. What would happen if you voiced God’s perspective on abortion, homosexuality, and abstinence? What if you refused to listen to gossip, or spoke highly of your spouse? How would your co-worker respond if you offered to pray for her-or even just lent her your car? Does the word Scandalous come to mind?

Adventure

When was the last time that you recall a heart-pounding stomach in your throat experience???

Was it when you jumped out of a plane? Tackled a higher, more advanced ski hill? Stepped out in faith to touch someone’s heart? Or stepped beyond your shyness and answered a question in small group, in front of people you don’t know?

I am more and more convinced that God wired us for adventure. Male and female, it doesn’t seem to matter. It is embracing that danger that gets our hearts pumping and requires more from ourselves than we ever thought possible. It puts us in a position to trust God.

Part of the sense of adventure is the thrill of over-riding that instinct which would protect your life or your dignity. This survival instinct is so strong, and for good reason it was designed by an amazing God, to keep us from throwing our lives away. As is the case though, what God intends for our good, the enemy can twist to keep us from the fullest life God intended. Our survival instinct can be warped to keep us in bondage to our past.

I recall a time in grade 8, I entered a talent show, not a contest with judging or anything, just a chance to celebrate each other. I chose to sing. While I have delusions of grandeur … I am no Celine, I know that I can carry a tune. Somehow though, the tape I was singing to was poor quality and I couldn’t hear it. I as I sang, I saw the looks of horror on my classmates’ faces, eventually silent horror turned into outright booing. I fled the stage in tears and hid for the rest of the day in a dark room. To this day, if you put a microphone in my hand and ask me to sing, I freeze, there is a survival instinct that kicks in to protect me from further pain in this area. Is this rational?? Is this a good use of a defense mechanism? The enemy has warped it in a vain attempt to protect my pride. So many people have legitimate fears and hurts from their past that keep them from making similar mistakes that could be to their detriment- that is not what I am referring to….

I refer instead to those things that keep up bound to irrational fears and concerns.

If we are to overcome these irrational fears and bondages, we must cling to the Cross of Christ. Then we must act… if your biggest fear is to speak to strangers yet some where at the depths of your soul you yearn to preach… that is holding you hostage.

God has this funny way of using us in our weakness so that we HAVE to rely on Him. Think of Moses the stutterer…. Called to go before Pharoah to SPEAK the words of God.

2 summers ago, I had the amazing experience to go skydiving. It was a spur of the moment decision, and one of the BEST experiences ever!! I was excited and nervous until they announced that I would be going next, then I was ‘in the zone’. I got very serious and very focused, I watched as they packed my chute and I watched as my instructor put on his gear. I knew that as important as MY harness was, it was his harness that held our chute.

I remember experiencing an extraordinary quietness in my spirit as we took off. I was more concerned about losing my lunch in the back of the tiny plane than about jumping out of it. As we approached the jump zone, the only thought I had was “this is a perfectly functioning plane, why am I jumping out of it??” I was not afraid, I was not scared of the height, I wasn’t imagining all the things that could go wrong, all I had to do was to override this idea that although we were not in any danger on board the plane, we were exiting it.

Sky diving was a defining moment in my life. I took a risk that I always wanted to but never thought I would follow through on. There have been so many lost opportunities ranging from not dancing with a great guy, to not pursuing a dream to go on a cultural exchange in school. For some reason I allowed a sense on inferiority to hold me back from these life experiences.

Now though, I have gotten a taste of living a ‘dangerous’ life for God. Stepping out in prophetic giftings, risking being wrong to make sure that God’s loving messages are delivered when they are needed.

I long for adventure, and my soul burns to do something significant for God. I recently read “In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day”. It is a book all about taking advantage of opportunities that arise before us and being prepared to respond. It is too easy to blame my mortgage, or my past, or my insecurities for holding my in a job that is sucking life from my very soul. I see too many people around me who have succumbed to the ‘safety’ of middle age, stable job, stable spouse, stable hobbies, safe safe safe….

I would rather put my physical life in danger doing what God has called me to, than to die a slow miserable death of my hopes and dreams.
I am not advocating being stupid and risking life and limb in the pursuit of adrenaline (as I have been accused of!), nor do I think that you should leave a great marriage just because it is safe. Rather, in little ways each day, find something that makes your heart pump and your eyes sparkle and makes you rely on God just a little more. Take a risk. Find that adventure.

Amazing Article

God is so great that He answers the deepest questions of our hearts. I recently had an amazing conversation with my amazing Step-mother. As we were talking, she touched 2 deep questions in my heart, and all I could do is cry as her words were like a salve to my soul.

Here is another example of when God speaks to the questions of our hearts.

Thanks Terry for passing this along.

http://www.christianitytoday.com/tcw/2002/005/9.82.html