A love worth giving

This sounds like an excellent book - I'll be looking for this one and reading this very very soon!

David Whiting Live

Before we moved, we attended North Baptist Church in Rochester, NY, and I have to say that I truly miss sitting under the teaching of the lead pastor there. He has a great combination of directness, accuracy, relevancy, and compassion in his messages that is hard to find. Recently he started up a blog that I've set up feed for on the sidebar. It's from www.davidwhitinglive.com . I just thought it might be fun to share. I've also embedded one of his messages on compassion as a podcast. Enjoy!

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Time to leave

“And you can be sure of one thing. Among the voices that found their way into that carpentry shop in Nazareth was your voice. Your silent prayers uttered on tearstained pillows were heard before they were said. Your deepest questions about death and eternity were answered before they were asked. And your direst need, your need for a Savior, was met before you ever sinned.

And not only did he hear you, he saw you. He saw your face in shame the hour you first fell. The same face that looked back at you from this morning’s mirror, looked at him. And it was enough to kill him.

He left because of you.

He laid his security down with his hammer. He hung tranquility on the peg with his nail apron. He closed the window shutters on the sunshine of his youth and locked the door on the comfort and ease of anonymity.

Since he could bear your sins more easily than he could bear the thought of your hopelessness, he chose to leave.

It wasn’t easy. Leaving the carpentry shop never has been.”

Max Lucado, God Came Near

You know, I really do believe this stuff. I do. I believe that the Jesus we talk about at Christmas really did do what He said He was going to. I believe that the Bible really is a true collection of things that really did happen, just they way it says they did. I believe that because of this all there really is hope in this seemingly hopeless world.

The troubling part of that is that since I really do believe that, why don’t I live like it? Why isn’t my life markedly different from the lives of those around me who don’t have the same beliefs? The same hopes?

I guess it’s time for me to leave the carpentry shop in my life, and to step out and really live like I should be. Not easy. Not comfortable. Right.

It's a Gift

“Bloodstained royalty. A God with tears. A creator with a heart. God became earth’s mockery to save His children.

How absurd to think that such nobility would go to such poverty to share such a treasure with such thankless souls.

But he did.

In fact, the only thing more absurd than the gift is our unwillingness to receive it.”

Max Lucado, God Came Near

How dense we people are!!

Deep thoughts

Have you ever read any John Piper? He is an amazing speaker and author, and you definitely don't want to try to listen to or read his stuff unless you are fully awake and fully focused, but if you are, you will be blessed. I found a feed that I've linked to on my website, www.stayathomemama.info . When the kids are sleeping and you're ready to think, check it out :).

Missing it

More Max Lucado – there are just so many “nuggets” of wisdom, and of encouragement, in this book, God Came Near. This is speaking of the night when Jesus was born into our world….

“Meanwhile, the city hums. The merchants are unaware that God has visited their planet. The innkeeper would never believe that he has just sent God into the cold. And the people would scoff at anyone who told them the Messiah lay in the arms of a teenager on the outskirts of their village. They were all too busy to consider the possibility.

Those who missed His Majesty’s arrival that night missed it not because of evil acts or malice; no, they missed it because they simply weren’t looking.

Little has changed in the last two thousand years, has it?”

Wow…. I say that a lot as I read his stuff. It has a way of just piercing right in and challenging me where I need it? How often am I just too busy to notice the amazing things going around me? How often do I miss the important things because I am caught up in the “tyranny of the urgent”, the many insignificant things that drain my time and my energy and are of little lasting importance? Wow…..

Majesty in the mundane

More Max Lucado...

"Wide awake is Mary. My, how young she looks. Her head rests on the soft leather of Joseph's sadedle. The pain has been eclipsed by wonder. She looks into the face of the baby. Her son. Her Lord. His Majesty. At this point in history, the human being who best understands who God is and what he is doing is a teenage girl in a smelly stable. She can't take her eyes off of him. Somehow Mary knows she is holding God. So this is he. She remembers the words of the angel. "His kingdom will never end."

He looks like anything but a king. His face is prunish and red. His cry, though strong and healthy, is still the helpless and piercing cry of a baby. And he is absolutely dependent upon Mary for his well being.

Majesty in the midst of the mundane. Holiness in the filth of sheep manure and sweat. Divinity entering the world on the floor of a stable, through the womb of a teenager and in the presence of a carpenter.

She touches the face of the infant-God. How long was your journey!!"

Wild. You know, it's easy to confine thinking about this much to the Christmas season, but wow. It really happened. It really happened for you and for me. Wow!