His shoes were shined.
His pants were pressed, and he had a Kangol on. He was an instigator. The older
African American man who sat next to me on the bus enjoyed the journey as much
as I did. He would say whatever I thought, and we would laugh. Like those young
girls need to get up and let the older women with canes and heavy bags sit
down. Most did not.
At one point an old
drunk man decided he was going to squeeze in between two younger women in the
front seats. He asked her to move over. She didn’t. He turned his butt towards
her and squeezed in the seat next to her.
The old man next to me
laughed out loud. I admit I giggled too.
It was a busy afternoon. There was lots of getting on and off. Lots of opinions to be made about each. It was fun. This city is full of character, in the people and the places.
The beauty all around us. Simple things like a blue sky. Tall Bulding. Fun colors. I love the architecture of this city. Today, sit back and admire the beauty.
make sure you answer. God first called Samuel’s name when he was a young boy. It changed everything for everyone around. Samuel listened for God all of his life and had an incredible journey from anointing kings to advising them. Again, this is a drawing based on work by photography by James C Lewis.
For the rest of the year we will examine #girlpower. We have many role models and this month we are looking at Old Hollywood. They may not have been perfect examples, but we saw something we wanted to imitate.
It is something that no longer surprises me. When I hear about shootings, I have to remind myself, God has a bigger plan even though I don’t understand it.
A news story said there were four shootings. There were lots of news stories and images. The image that struck me was the one with all of the shoes in the parking lot of the club. It was sad to me. To think of people running out of their shoes for their lives. Some didn’t make it.
I remember it was in between the first and second service
when the worship pastor pulled out a flip chart in the center of the worship
team. It was not what I was expecting. Normally we do this thing where everyone
checks in and tells what God is doing in their life.
He said to us, he wanted to do something a little different
because he cared about our relationship with God.
He drew a circle. He placed an x inside the circle. He
placed another one outside the circle.
He said many people do church like this.
The X on the inside represented people who came to church regular.
Served and participated. They were doing good works. They were checking things
off the list of the things they had been taught to do.
People on the outside of the circle were not into serving or
coming every time the church was open. They were not considered one of the
in-crowd people. They were thought to be far away from God.
On the other side he wrote God. He put an x close, then one
far away. He drew arrows pointing the x toward God. He said it is not so much
that we are serving but serving is good. He asked are you doing what you are
doing with a heart for Jesus or checking things off a list?
He asked if we had a heart for the things God has a heart
for. It was more than coming to church every Sunday. It was more than serving
and giving. It was about what kind of heart do we have for God. What heart motives
our relationship with God?
He challenged us to check our heart’s motives. Is our life
and service drawing us closer to God?
As a result, I have been asking God about my heart towards
Him. He has been answering. I have found him in places I wouldn’t have under
ordinary circumstances. In revisiting old things, He has shown me Himself in a
new way.
This past week, I watched the movie Paul, the Apostle of Christ again. One thing this movie does well
for me, is shows how to love in a hard space. Watching Christians being burned
alive or sent to face wild animal attacks in Nero’s circus reminded me that
true Christians never have it easy. Yet
what absolutely sold me was the word of God being an active participant.
Now the only thing that changed in my second viewing of this
film is me. I watched as Paul continued to stress this love. I still don’t
understand it, but I know it is important to God.
My challenge to you is that there is something stirring deep
within you. Ask the Holy Spirit to change your heart for Him. God has promised that his love is longer,
deeper, wider, and much higher than anything we can imagine. There have been
moments this week His love has taken me into the stratosphere. There have been some moments when it just
wrecked me. His love is great.
I double dog dare you to ask God to show you His love.
James C Lewis, an international photographer, created a series
of images of people from the Bible. I
was inspired by his images and have drawn the ones that I like the most. This
month we will turn back time follow some of mt favorite bible people. The first
one is Jesus.
There is something about the water that falls from the sky that sparks life. Think about this. It strengthens roots to create buds that finds the weakness in concrete so that it can spring through.
In the south I love the smell of rain hitting hot dry dirt.
In the north it causes a rhythmic rustling through the leaves of trees that draws attention to its beat.
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