john speaks
this morning i am reading through the book of john. there’s this spot in chapter four when jesus stops for water at the well that jacob built a few hundred years before. he meets this woman there who’s just doing her daily stuff, pulling water from the well. i can’t imagine he really needed her to get some water for him. his disciples had gone on into town to get some lunch but jesus chose to stay back.
when he asks her, she looks at him with a little bewilderment. it’s maybe similar to a jewish man speaking to a palestinian muslim woman in the middle east today. “How come you, a Jew, are asking me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” She asks. (Jews in those days wouldn’t be caught dead talking to Samaritans.)
jesus responds by offering her ‘living’ water. of course she’s confused. she probably even thinks he’s crazy. but then he asks her a pointed question. “go call your husband and then come back.”
“I have no husband,” she said.
“That’s nicely put: ‘I have no husband.’ You’ve had five husbands, and the man you’re living with now isn’t even your husband. You spoke the truth there, sure enough.”
she then assumes that he’s a prophet- but he corrects her in saying that he is the messiah her people have been waiting for. and he says:
“But the time is coming- it has, in fact, come- when what you’re called will not matter and where you go to worship will not matter.”
and for my favorite part:
“It’s who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That’s the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who simply and honestly are themselves before him in their worship. God is sheer being itself- Spirit. Those who worship him must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration.”
a prayer for me from you
hey friends.
could you please pray for me in the next week?
i am sending out resumes and applying for jobs in seattle and really just want what the Lord wants for me! please pray for discernment and wisdom, that God would give me the strength and the courage to decide and to be smart about the whole process.
Also, could you pray for Keith and Kristine? They are in Seattle until Wednesday and are putting money down on a house. They are touring about eight different homes with their realtor and are just praying hard that God would give them wisdom in making a decision. PLEASE PRAY!
Love much, worry less!
~Shelli
ambivalence.
i am sitting on the 22nd floor of a beautiful high rise in downtown St. Paul, looking out at the capitol. i am so thankful for friends who are willing to open up their homes, serve us meals, give us their time and their love…
it’s rainy, the day is cold. i’ve been with five wonderful people this weekend, conversing about life and the future and telling stories and jokes- playing taboo and mad gab. we are throwing out ideas and responding to them. we are talking about homes in the pnw, with the opportunity to open our homes to neighbors and friends, mission teams to come in and spend time.
conversation:
it sucks that pastors have to worry about “image.” i can respect that, but at the same time, it is God’s place to judge, no one else’s. God has a way of blessing- from farmhouses, trailers, apartments, and homes- there are many seasons of life. To sign up for a huge mortgage is a huge crisis of faith and completely terrifying when the budget does not exist, to put a down payment on a house…. Yet, it seems so cool.
Maybe the world will see it one way. But like Ty always says, you can judge someone by the outside of their house, but you don’t know what’s on the inside. You could use a house like that to be such a blessing. to have the means for spare bedrooms, open for friends and family, open for missionaries to stay and minister… to use the resources God has given us to bless everyone we possibly can…
embrace color.
summer is coming and my countdown has began: T-MINUS 2 months, aka..50 some odd days.
so right now, i am focusing less on that moment, and more on the one thousand, three-hundred and twenty hours I have between now and then. if these are my last two months on earth, what am I going to do with them? the responsibility alone of the thought comes on heavy enough that i want to cry and jump out of my skin all at the same time.
i’ve had alot of people ask me questions like, “are you excited?” or “are you nervous?” or “how are you going to do it?” or “what’s it going to be like?”, and quite frankly, I can’t answer any of these questions in a way that will satisfy. the first two questions fluctuate depending on the day, depending on the mood. it is not as much an excitement, as it is a determination. it is not as much a ‘nervous’ anticipation, as it is an obedient decision of the will.
and for the last two questions- i can only hope, but i cannot see. i can’t tell you what the building looks like. i can’t tell you what my daily schedule will consist of. i can’t tell you who i will become or where i will go as a result of the experiences ahead, but i can tell you, that YES… i am choosing to submit to the will of my gracious Father Lord and i can tell you that YES… He is teaching me to live each of these twenty four hours a day in full color and to decorate life with an artist’s instincts.
so, back to the question, “what will i do with these next one thousand, three-hundred and twenty hours?” it is never too late to love. to be free and render sweet mercy and give of myself in creative ways. i will play. i will not settle. i will fail and get up and try again. i will not lose the optimism. i will never lose the hope.
the poet and priest st. francis of assisi writes:
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury,pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen
I’ve been tossing around practical ideas for ministry, but I would love some more.
Let’s converse. Throw up some comments- I’d love to hear your ideas, or ministries that maybe your home church has that are effective, or have made a difference in your life…
