Waiting for Daddy To Come into View January 26, 2012

Right now we’re doing something special for our devotion time at Crossroads CONNECT on Thursday nights with the high school students.  Each week someone (either an adult leader or a student) shares a story of something that’s happened in their lives and then connects it to a truth about Jesus.   Maybe it’s a story of sometime when God revealed Himself in a new way, how they became a Christian or simply a neat God-sighting.    I look forward to this time each Thursday as we see real life and our faith CONNECT.

 

Below is a story I shared tonight about something I experienced a few years ago while I was in college.  As I think about the things these students face each day… the worries, the pressures, the distractions, the exams, the scholarship and college applications,and more… as I think about them being in a stage of wondering what in the world they should do with their lives… as they try to figure out who they are and what the next steps are, I pray that they can remember their Heavenly Daddy that will guide them through and will come back for them when they get lost.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was a gorgeous night and I was so excited to just be outside.  After going for a run, I was getting ready to turn off the bike path to head back toward my dorm when two little kids rode up to me quickly, one on her bike, the other on his tricycle. The little boy was almost in tears as he frantically told me that his dad got too far ahead of them and they didn’t know where he went and that they were scared. I told him that I’d wait there with them until their dad came. Within a few seconds their dad came into view and their fearful, worried faces turned to ones of joy and relief.

Isn’t it the same way with us? (or at least me). We’re going down the path of life and God, our heavenly Daddy, is right there leading the way. Yet, we get distracted and look at the things around us and suddenly we’re standing their wondering where in the world He went.

In reality the dad of these young children was just around the corner, but because they were so short they couldn’t see over the bushes.  Like these children, we often freak out the very moment we can’t see EXACTLY where God is, what He’s doing, and where the road goes that He’s leading us down.

Then, we somehow think the best thing to do is turn the OPPOSITE direction and ride as fast we can, trying to get back to something that makes sense… to a place we’ve been before.  We think that we’ll be able to find our own way or that other people may be able to show us the way to go.

But God knows that won’t work because he’s got plans ahead for us.  So, just as this dad of course turned around and came to find his kids,  our Heavenly Daddy comes back to find us when we start to go the other way.  He reminds us that He loves us and that He’ll never leave us.  He turns us back in the direction of the path He has for us and off we go.  He’ll come back for us day after day, hour after hour if He needs to… because that’s what Dad’s do.

 
“Those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs–heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.” ~ Romans 8:14-17

God Sighting Saturday (on Sunday) January 22, 2012

So with being at a conference all week and then moving yesterday I’ve sadly neglected my blog this week including God sighting Saturday but here we are on Sunday with many sightings of God at work to report. Here are a few of the many places/things/people in whom/which I’ve spotted Him (in no particular order):

* Easy-to-access, quality medical care… For me, for dad, for friends who are sick
* airplanes and safe travel for me and for Haiti teams and more
* friends near, friend far, friends new, friends old, friends reunited, friends made
* community with other youth leaders passionate about youth missions
* Just Dance, love sacs, popcorn, and putt putt
* Sonic
* La Dolce Viva Coffee Shop
* rides to/from airports
* a car cleared of snow
* safety on slick roads
* breakfast for dinner and time in God’s Word with others
* Painting hands, cleaning hands, carpet-installer-calling hands, praying hands, packing hands, carrying hands, comforting hands, unpacking hands, truck-and-trailer-driving hands, bed-making hands, cooking hands and many more.
* leftovers
* tweets from Haiti
* a friend and her husband opening their home while I was in Colorado
* an engagement story
* facebook messages with friends
* Laura’s song in worship today
* hearing Haiti stories
* grace to be okay with imperfect
* Karlie’s babbling voice on the phone
* friends
* Promises from God’s Word to claim each day this week
* Fuzzy socks
* Encouragement when I need it
* real conversations about what’s true in life
* rest
* random texts from friends

God Sighting Saturday January 14, 2012

I almost forgot about God-Sighting Saturday. I am thankful I didn’t because there have been PLENTY. While I could list hundreds, I want to just mention a few in two categories… The PLACES I’ve seen God at work and
The PEOPLE I’ve seen Him working through:

Places:

HAITI
140 characters or less at a time, we’ve gotten to witness God at work in Haiti. From conversations on airplanes to fruit snacks for hungry kids, it’s obvious tht God is at work. Every single tweet that’s come back from the team has been a God-sighting for me (except maybe some of Pastor’s which always seem to be picking on people ….hmmm. Just kidding… That’s a God-sighting too because it means he’s not here to pick on ME! In any case I can’t wait to hear the longer stories from the team members of God in Haiti

NOT HAITI
Many people have been surprised to find out I did not/am not going to Haiti this year. Choosing to stay here in NY this year has been it’s own God sighting. While I always love these types of trips and would live to be there right now, as I prayed about going, somehow it seemed God was saying “not this year”. First of all, I believe God’s calling me to focus right now fully on high school and young adult ministries. By saying “no” to Haiti I’m able to say “yes” to those area more this month. One example of that is that First Trinity was asked to be a part of the field testing for the programming and curriculum that will be used at our Workcamp (and over 50 other Workcamp sites) this summer. Stephanie Mongielo, an adult leader for this year’s team, and I will travel this week to Colorado to join 41 other Workcamp and Week of Hope leaders from all over the country at the Group Publishing headquarters to help develop the material that will impact thousands of youth (and even more residents) this summer! That’s pretty cool if you ask me! (Not to mention we’ll get a sneak peak at the theme which will help us prepare our FT students starting right now.)

EUROPE
My younger cousin Byron left yesterday to spend a few months doing mission work throughout Europe. I sent him a card last week to let him know I was praying and received a reply yesterday which was a God-sighting as he reminded me of how much Jesus loves me. I can’t wait to hear about God at work in Europe.

People:

There are MANY people through which I saw God this week; here are just a few:

My teammates
Those in Haiti, yes, but especially those of us that stayed behind. I am especially thankful for the way they make me laugh everyday. Also thankful for the way they truly care for me and remind me to care for myself. It is such a blessing to get to work with these people everyday with a common mission of transforming lives through the power of God’s living Word.

The ladies in my lifegroup.

I saw God’s word come alive in my living room this Wed as 8 of us gathered to talk about God and life and everything else. They teach me so much!

The many people helping me prepare to move.
About 36 hours after my arrival back in Buffalo later this week I will be moving into the house next door to church. I’ve seen God countless times the last couple weeks in people helping make sure the house is painted, cleaned, and ready to make that happen one week from today.

my family

In the phone conversations and text messages and cards sent from my family back home, I’ve seen God too!

I’ll Love You Forever! January 10, 2012

I was just wandering through Dollar Tree trying to find the something I needed when I heard the conversation. They were just two twenty-somethings co-workers trying to pass time as they restocked the shelves.

“Oh did I tell you…” one asks the other as if she’s simply going to state some random fact about her exciting Friday night plans or something. But as she continues I realize the news she’s sharing with her friend is anything but exciting.

“… my mom just found out that my dad’s had a girlfriend for like five months.”

“Really?!?”
“I’m never getting married!”
“Me neither.”
“There’s nothing anyone could ever say to me to make me believe they actually mean ‘forever’. Forever is a long time.”

And the conversation was over as quick as it started.

My heart broke for these women… probably my age or even a few years older who had just completely given up on the idea of ever getting married because of the hurt they’ve experienced and the simple “fact” that there that there could never be anything that’s “forever.”

I don’t think it would have caught me so much had it not been for a book I’m reading called “In Real Time:Authentic Young Adult Ministry as it Happens” by Mike Glenn. The conversation I witnessed this evening very well could have been an example in either of the two chapters I read earlier today. In one of the chapters, the book was describing a demographic of young adults who have been let down by authority figures in their lives. If those authority figures claimed Christianity, then they soon formed this idea that Christianity didn’t mean much.

“They have watched the way their parents lived out faith and have, by and large, decided it was not for them. They didn’t see a faith that works modeled at home. They saw materialism, divorce, and ambition dealt with in a way that was not significantly different from there secular friends’ families.

Now I’m not saying every young adult had a horrible life growing up or that most parent were bad parents. I know plenty of parents, including my own for whom that is anything BUT the case. But as I interacted with my peers in high school and college (especially as an RA and RC) and as I interact with high school and young adults everyday in my job and hear them talking about their lives and their friends’ lives, I’m realizing more and more that these generations of youth and young adults truly are in general very jaded and broken.

These young adults may have had everything materially or when it comes to opportunities, but feel abandoned.

“So the young adult knows only ‘I don’t want to live like that.’ The problem is you can’t live against. You have to live for. But most of them don’t know what ‘for’ is.

The book goes on to describe the reality for many young adults who missed some crucial affirmation from parents or other significant adult figures and while it truly may not have been a big deal then, as they seek to find identity and a purpose in life, they are left confused and wandering.

“During a child’s life there are several important moments when a parent, grandparent, or significant adult speaks a ‘you are’ phrase to the child. The adult will say, ‘You are smart,’ or ‘you are pretty’ and that statement becomes part of that child’s identity. …

If, however, the significant adult is absent for any reason and the ‘you are’ statement goes unspoken, children begin a quest to find out who they are. … The media is filled with all kinds of messages to a young adult on this quest, but instead of ‘you are’ statements, our culture sends ‘you are not’ statements. The magazines tell our young women they are not thin enough, not pretty enough, not sensuous enough. The epidemic of eating disorders is just one of the tragic consequences of a young adult looking for a ‘you are’ validation, only to hear, ‘you are not.’
Young men… as well hear ‘you are not’ in many ways throughout our culture.

The gospel is filled with ‘you are’ statements. You are chosen, beloved, called, redeemed. … Yet, many people assume, with some justification, that if they come to church, the only message they’re going to hear is ‘you are not.’. You are not ‘doing enough for God.’. You are not ‘good enough.’. Many young adults actually think that going to church will not only not help them but will actually do them more harm. In their minds the church has become another voice of judgment and condemnation, a constant and painful reminder of all the ways they fall short.

So what’s all this mean?!? Why write all this?!?

First, to say THANK YOU!
Thank you Mom and Dad for showing me an example of what it means to be faithful to each other and for living out your faith, even in (especially in) the hard times.

Thank you to all the people who have also done that as well as those who have spoken ‘you are’ statements into my life as I found (and continue to find!) my identity.

Second, if you ever have opportunities to speak words of grace into another human being (no matter what their age)… DO IT! You may be the only positive, life-giving voice in their life and even if you’re not, can you ever have enough encouragement?

Third, let’s make sure as Christians wherever we are, we’re proclaiming the true “you are” statements into people’s lives and strip away any hint of judgment or condemnation that tries to sneak in.

Lastly, I challenge us all to live out your faith in front of each other. Especially those of you who are married… model this for your children (and for people that aren’t your children.) If you’re working through a struggle in life, don’t try to act as if everything’s perfect… Let people see you turning to God in prayer. Let them see you broken and weak and real… needing a Savior. Believe it or not, doing that may be the very thing that could give someone like those girls in the store tonight hope… Hope for a marriage someday, but more importantly, hope in something Someone who really does mean it when He says “I love you forever!”

Prayers for Friends January 9, 2012

A beautiful prayer for our friends and family members. I have some friends for whom I’m praying this today. I bet you have some friends who could use some prayer too.

“Father, when we hear how much You love us, that You’ll always be there, how constant and consistent You are, it’s hard for us to believe. Others have let us down, and we know how flaky we are when we make promises. But when You say,’I'll keep my promises,’ it’s true.

I pray for my friends now. Some of them are praying simple prayers. They need your strength to get through this day, this night, this, challenge. Others are praying difficult prayers–prayers that are so big and so confusing they don’t see how in the world anybody, even You, can work it out. I ask, Father, that now, as they pray, they begin to trust.

I pray that Your Spirit will tell them:
* You’ve heard their prayers.
* You’re already working on it.
* What You’re working on is the absolute best they could ever have.

For my friends who are wounded, I pray for their healing. For my friends who are angry, I pray for release and forgiveness. For my friends that are lost, I pray this will be the moment You find them. For all of us, may this be the moment that You remind us who You are and what we are in You. I pray this in Your name. Amen.
“

Taken from the book “In Real Time” by Mike Glenn

Where “joyfullyblessed” came from… January 8, 2012

People often wonder where the phrase “joyfullyblessed” came from and why I write it as one word.

For the first answer, check out the right sidebar of my blog site.

As for why it’s one word… basically, back in January of 2009 when I was making a journal to list the blessings and joys in life, the letters wouldn’t fit if there was a space between “joyfully” and “blessed”.

I realized I kind of liked it as one word and it stuck.

Here’s more about why I like it as one word.

God-Sighting Saturday January 7, 2012

At some point during the last week of 2012, I got thinking about the concept that many bloggers use where certain days of the week are dedicated to a specific blog post type.

We have:
5-minute Friday – five minutes (and only five minutes) of unedited writing based on a weekly prompt
Weird Verse Wednesday – Looking at a uncommon, not often quoted, or just plain weird Bible Verse each Wednesday
Saturday Prayer – a quoted prayer posted each Saturday

… Among many others.

In hopes to blog more consistently this coming year, I decided I would start a God-sighting Saturday post.
God-Sightings are basically places we see God at work each day in our lives.

Each Saturday I will post one or more God-Sightings from the past week. Sometimes it will be a story of something that happened that week. Some stories may be related to my own personal life while others will be related to ministry at First Trinity. And some weeks, like this one, it may simply include a list of big or small ways I saw God show up in the week. My prayer is that as I do this, it will help me to keep my eyes open for what God is doing in my life and the lives around me!

Here are SOME of this week’s God-sightings:

- So many of the FT youth serving in worship… Especially after staying up half the night at the New Year’s Lock-in.
- Awesome adult leaders that were willing to stay up half the night with the high schoolers at the lock-in as well as those who helped prepare and decorate for the event.
- Pastor offering to help me carry stuff out to my car after church.
- a long Sunday afternoon nap!
- a day to do whatever I needed to do… Including rest
- friends to do life with
- the joy in greeting a friend home from vacation
- some fun goals for 2012
- lunchtime laughter
- watching the Haiti missionaries busy preparing to leave and while I’d of course love to go, being 100% content with not going … With knowing that when God said “not this year, Bekah” (and I actually listened) that it is TOTALLY a good thing for many reasons
- a day of unexpected motivation from start to finish (possibly divine motivation)
- people helping paint and fix up the house next to church that I’ll be moving into later this month.
- 20 people, 40 suitcases, TONS of donations filling the basement at church as our two missions teams prepare to go to Haiti
- recalling God’s goodness in my life as I glance through old journals as I pack up my apartment.

And a few more in pictures from the week:

Words to describe 2011 along with our hopes for 2012 from the lock-in

Reminders to SHINE!

Pictures of my beautiful niece sent from my beautiful sister

Sticky Faith January 5, 2012

A while ago I started reading the book Sticky Faith.  I’ve picked it up again now that we’re through the busy holiday season and continue to love what I read.  This book is based on the results of a 4-year longitudinal study (which, for those of you who may  not be as passionate about psychology, sociology, and research like I am,  means meaning they followed the same people over the course of 4 years to get their data).  They interviewed, surveyed and used various other methods of research to gather data from youth group members during their senior year of high school and then the three years after that with the goal of figuring out what makes faith “stick” (or not stick) in their lives.

You can expect more posts about this as I read through the book, but today  I wanted to point to a blog post on the Sticky Faith Blog.  The author of this post was responding to a previous post discussing young adults leaving the church.  Some of the comments made by him and others sound a bit harsh at first, but I believe there is some truth in the statements as well for the Body of Christ as whole. One particular comment that caught my attention was this:

… if you’re a church member or leader, please take a hard look at the ways that you might have allowed your community to become unwelcoming and maybe irrelevant to younger folks.  Maybe it’s not so much that young folks have abandoned the church, but that the church has abandoned them.

As for First Trinity, my experience is that this is a place that is very welcoming and relevant to all types of people from all different age groups.  This comes through even in the story statements that sort of “define” this place:

• All People Matter
• Rooted and Relevant
• Celebrating Life Together

With that though, there is always room for growth.  I want to constantly be on the lookout for ways we can help these three statements be even more true in this place for even more people.  I’m not sure of the answers, but I’m excited to continue to read more of this book, do some research of our own in our context and see what things we can do to help faith “stick” in the lives of youth, young adults… and really all of us.   I challenge you to do the same!

2012: SHINE January 3, 2012

My last few days have been full of reflecting and planning and “starting new in the new year.”  That’s not a surprise… thousands of other people in the world can say the same thing.   However, if I’m being honest, the fact that I’m finding myself so “into” this stuff this year is kind of annoying me.  I’ve generally been one who stayed away from New Year’s Resolutions (most people will give up by next week) and I guess I’ve just thought that I should have that “start new” attitude everyday not just the first week of January.

But I guess God will use whatever he can to get our attention and He’s made it clear to me the past few days (starting with what He taught me through Pastor’s sermon this past week) that his message to the Israelite in Isaiah 43:19 is true for me right now…. at the start of a new year.

“See, I am doing a new thing!  Now it springs up, do you not perceive it?”

As we journey into 2012, there are a few themes I feel God asking me to focus on (listed below).   I’m not sure if these themes and ideas will last for the entire year or not.  Maybe they’ll last three years.  But God is leading me into a new season and I’m excited to see what he had in store, and hopefully share that with you here on the blog.

Whether you do the “New Year’s” thing or not, blessings to you as 2012 begins!

 

MY THEMES FOR THIS NEXT SEASON IN LIFE:

OneWord365 word: SHINE  (more details coming soon in another blog post).

Theme Passage: Psalm 40  (Click here to read a whole blog post about this.)

Theme Song: “Shine” by Matt Redman

Lord we have seen the rising sun, awakening the early dawn,
And we´re rising up to give you praise.
Lord we have seen the stars and moon, see how they shine,
They shine for you,
And You´re calling us to do the same.

So we rise up with a song, and we rise up with a cry
And we´re giving you our lives.

We will shine like stars in the universe,
Holding out Your truth in the darkest place.
We´ll be living for Your glory,
Jesus we´ll be living for Your glory.
We will burn so bright with Your praise O God,
And declare Your light to this broken world.
We´ll be living for Your glory,
Jesus we´ll be living for Your glory.

Like the sun so radiantly
Sending light for all to see,
Let your holy church arise
Exploding into life,
Like a supernova´s light,
Set your holy church on fire;
We will shine.
© 2006 Sparrow

2012: Looking forward January 1, 2012

I wasn’t planning on having a “theme passage” for 2012.  The thought hadn’t even crossed my mind.  But I guess that just goes to show, that even on this first day of the new year, we can plan for what’s ahead, but God determines our steps (Proverbs 16:9).

 

And to think I almost missed it!  You see, I stayed up most of last night with a group of high school students and other adult leaders celebrating New Year’s.  We had gone to early service and so I was thinking that I might use the second half of the late service to finish cleaning up from the lock-in so I could head out as soon as I could after church to get home for a nice long nap.  But as I walked to my office, instead of cleaning up, I ended up picking up my Bible and going back into church.

 

I pulled out my completely sermon notes from earlier that morning and began thinking more about the questions Pastor presented:

• What one thing do you desire from God?
• What one thing do you lack?
• What one thing do you need to let go of?
• What one promise do you  need to claim?

Somewhere in my attempts to stay awake I found myself thinking more about a passage Pastor read from Isaiah that talked about leaving the past in the past and looking forward to the new things God would do.  I started looking at other verses with the word “new” in them and landed in one of my favorite Psalms… Psalm 40. 

 

As I somewhat alluded to in my post from yesterday, amidst the many joyous parts of 2011, last year also included a lot of struggle and letting God pull me out of the “junk” of life.  Psalm 40:1-2 puts it this way:

 

I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry.  He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and the mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.

I wish there were words to explain how much this fits with last year.  The year itself was great but as I tried to experience all the joyful things in life, I kept finding myself standing in the mud pit of the past. Time and time again he came and lifted me out, cleaned me off, and gave me a firm place to stand. 

 

I continued reading and realize that as 2011 ends and 2012 begins, God is calling me to live out verse 3:

He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in God.

Last year God truly did give my heart a new song to sing.  Now it’s just time to SING!!!!

 

The sermon continued as did it’s connections with Psalm 40. 

 

Question 1: In your prayer time, what one thing do you desire from God?

Psalm 40:8: “I desire to do your will, O my God…”

 

Question 2: When it comes to your spiritual life, what one thing do you lack?

As Pastor talked about the rich young man in Mark 10 and ask him to give up his riches, I think God’s asking me to give up putting trust in myself.

Psalm 40:4 “Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust, who does not look to the proud, to those who turn aside to false gods.”

Question 3: What one thing do you need to let go of?

In two words: the mud. As I said before, last year was a year of me learning to wait patiently for God to pull me out of the mud and the mire.  And while I’m sure  this year will have mud and mire of it’s own… as I step into 2012, God is asking me  leave behind any old mud and simply sing the new song He’s put in my heart.  (Psalm 40:1-3)

 

Question 4: What one promise do you need to claim?

God is for me!

Pastor used Psalm 56:9 to talk about this promise in the sermon, but I see it all through out Psalm 40.  As I walk into this year, there are bound to be things that come against me in my pursuit to know God deeper.  Verse 12-14 of Psalm 40 talk about this too:

“For troubles without number surround me; my sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see.  They are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart fails within me…. “

But even when everything is against me, my God is for me and his love and truth.. “always protect me” (vs 11).

You are my help and my deliverer (vs 17)

 

So there you have it… a theme passage for 2012.  I can’t wait to see what all God will teach me through these 17 verses over the next 366 days (Happy Leap Year).

 

God is doing something new in your life too… do you not perceive it?  (Isaiah 43:18-19)