Spring Drizzle

It won't rain and it won't shine... it just drizzles. Ever felt that way in your daily living? Sometimes I feel like God is putting a passion or drive in my life and I get motivated to put the plan into motion but it doesn't pan out. He drives me toward it and then holds me back. What is with that? Everything seems to be going well in my life and I can't complain but nothing is going super, it's kind of drizzling with moments of partly sunny.
This weekend I went down to the army base to visit my son before he shipped out. We played the old hurry up and wait game. I had to be there by a certain time so we could wait together to hurry up and get to the next place on time so we could wait together again. We got to places on time to wait for practices and ceremonies to start, we hurried to appointments and waited for office personnel, and then we sat on base waiting hours for the next scheduled event. We hurried up to be at the bus station so we could check in on time to wait an hour for the bus. We had to be at the shuttle station on time to wait 20 minutes for the shuttle. Is life just the wait between hurry ups?
When I sense God calling I get excited about the plan, I hurry up and get started only lately it seems to be told to wait. It bears a striking resemblance to drizzle. Everything is wet but nothing is dramatically drinched like in a thunderstorm. I can feel God's presence in a subtle way but nothing dramatic like a miracle or sign. Held back by the lack of sunshine I sit at the window and wait.

Ready Yet?

"Romans 8:19 The created world itself can hardly wait for what's coming next. 20Everything in creation is being more or less held back. God reins it in 21until both creation and all the creatures are ready and can be released at the same moment into the glorious times ahead. Meanwhile, the joyful anticipation deepens."

I read this passage to my 8 year old last night and ask him how God will know when creation and the created are ready. What do we need to do to be ready?

He replied, "My theory is that God is watching us. He isn't worried about our sin because Jesus took care of that so our sin doesn't count. But God is seeing how many times we could have sinned but chose to do good instead. When he counts up enough of those, we are ready."

Check the Fruit

Ever wonder if something is from God. Check the fruit.

• Love
• Joy
• Peace
• Patience
• Goodness
• Kindness
• Faithfulness
• Gentleness
• Self-control

The Holy Spirit produces fruit in everything that is from God. (Gal 5:22)

Life After the Fall

We have all experienced a personal encounter with "life after the fall" when we first realized the fairy-tale was over. Are you afraid to think about yours or is yours all too real to you? Is it a divorce, the loss of a loved one, a chronic illness, or a job that you despise going to? Maybe your fairy-tale ended much earlier in life with the divorce of your parents, death of a sibling or parent, or a chronic illness in childhood.
Did you give up on paradise after the fall or search for it in all the wrong places? Are you angry at the angel keeping you out of the garden of eden or battling God to let you back in? Did you build up a wall around your heart and choose to never let it reveal it's desire for paradise again?
I was listening to John Lennon's "Imagine" yesterday and I realized for the first time how wrong he was. He posits if there were no heaven and no hell we would all live as one and everything would be wonderful. I thought if there were no heaven above us and no hell below us then heaven and hell would be trying to co-exist on earth; sound familiar?
I used to get frustrated reading the scripture that instructs us to focus on the eternal and not worry about worldly things. How God? I would ask. I have to live here. I have eat, breath, and experience this world because you put me here. "Imagine." Imagine heaven on earth. The instruction is not to quit living but to imagine heaven on earth. Put our sights on heavenly things and consider eternal consequences of our actions. God didn't want to us limit our vision but to expand it. He wants us to see through the hell on earth and to find the heavenly things.

Great Expectations

John Eldredge wrote in his book, The Journey of Desire, "Now what if I told you that this is how it will always be, that this life as you now experience it will go on forever just as it is, without improvement of any kind? Your health will stay as it is, your finances will stay as they are, your relationships, your work, all of it will remain the same forever." Are you disappointed?
Most of us would be because God has put a longing in our hearts for more than anything thing life on this earth can offer us. We try to get it right, we even see glimpses of it but they are fleeting and often unnoticed. God has put in our hearts a great desire for more than we can even imagine. And although it will not be filled in this life--- God calls us to him with it. He wants us to keep searching for it and keep asking for it and keep longing for it. Do not be discouraged but let God keep drawing your heart toward it, toward the perfect life He has prepared for you?
In the meantime as we learned in our Sunday's teaching this week, we should expect great things from God. The woman who reached to touch Jesus' robe expected that touch to heal her and she was not disappointed. God is revealing to us the secret life he has placed in our hearts. We should expect it to be filled "On earth as it is in heaven." It is the Great Expectation--- that God can and will fulfill the longing in our hearts for LIFE--- the LIFE Jesus already claimed victory for us. Do not let the search discourage you--- move from one glimpse to the next glimpse, take note of the glimpses with great Joy, and in between anticipate the next glimpse with GREAT EXPECTATION!