UPP Creative, a multimedia company, wants to entertain, educate and stimulate your mind and spirit.
Check out some of our projects
faith
Enjoying the Journey Like It Is Meant To Be
This week’s journey has been amusing. I got to spend time with some older women from a Baptist Church. Remember the story of those sisters getting put off the wine train because they were too loud? I met some sisters who make them look like children playing. These sisters were rowdy and fun. They wore beautiful outfits to be photographed in. They sat and shared their lives and testimonies with each other. I appreciate being able to eavesdrop into their world.
One of my favorites was a little woman who had had several bouts with cancer. I had never heard of sinus cancer until this woman began to testify to God’s goodness in her life. She said it was nothing short of a miracle that she was still alive. Not only did I listen to her testimony but I watched her live her life. She volunteered and lived the life she had fought cancer for. (Sometimes we get so defeated by the battle, we stop living)
It reminded me of the testimony of a man from another Baptist church who told me of his heart transplant and how God kept him going through those trials. At one point, he said he had a pigs heart to keep him alive. Afterwards he was determined to live his life.
It is hard to fight your way through when you don’t have something major coming at you like cancer or heart disease. We tend to discount the little discouragements and disappointments. We like putting a big name to our struggles. But what I learned from these folks is keep on living. Keep moving forward. The life you live is your real testimony.
These people weren’t just living their lives. They were enjoying their lives which was evident by the laughter. When times are hard you have to find a way to enjoy what God has given you. It may not be what you want, but it is what He has given. Live.
Whom Shall I Fear?
In the year that King Uzziah died, Isaiah got the opportunity to see God in a whole new light. The fact that Isaiah hung on to the death of something in his life showed he had experienced great loss. There was something valuable to him that was there no longer. But what he gained was bigger and better than he ever thought possible. God gave Isaiah a glimpse of who He really is. Once you get a glimpse of who God really is, nothing else matters.
Isaiah needed that moment with God to fill his emptiness.
Once God filled it, Isaiah was ready to minister again. “Here I am. Send me.”
Like Isaiah, I have experienced great loss. I have nothing left to give. God has emptied my coffers so that all there is is me. But all the takers in my life are still trying to take. They are frustrated when there is nothing there to take. They want more of what they were used to getting, but there is nothing. He brought me to this season for a reason. God is my only source, and I have learned contentment. (Philippians 4:11-13)
In my 50th year of life, the Lord is teaching me how to fear Him. It is the beginning of wisdom. Once you get a good picture of who you serve, it puts everything in perspective. I don’t think that it is a coincidence that there are lots of thunderstorms and earthquakes in this area. God shakes our foundations to show us we don’t control anything.
The same God who loved us so much He sent his Son, is also the same God who turns up the earth in quakes and sends us running for cover in tornados. I serve a mighty God and trust Him with all areas of my life. He shut the mouths of lions for Daniel. He kept the fire from the 3 Hebrew boys. Ain’t nothing out there can touch me, less it go through Him first. If He brings me too it, then He will bring me through it.
If Noah had brought other people on the boat, they probably would have jumped off after 20 days because they didn’t trust what God was doing with Noah. He got to experience God as a destroyer of mankind and as a provider for his family. I know that when this season of life is over for me, I will be like Isaiah wanting to share all that He has done for me.
God is in control. He knows what He is doing. I believe that His children will not be forsaken.
Good Friday
For Lent this year instead of giving up something, I added something.
Every day I told the Lord I loved Him. I mean He already knew, but through this process I learned some things.
Here are some of my take aways:
His love is consistent. He tells me everyday He loves me whether I hear it or not.
He trust us with moments
He protects me from things I don’t know. I don’t need to know everything.
He continually reveals Himself to me.
I am learning not to fight when the day doesn’t go the way I schedule it. I remember one morning He woke me very early to spend my time with Him and do my bible study. I ended up spending the rest of the day at DPS renewing my license. Instead of leaving cranky about how slow DPS was, I was in awe of how God ordered it all.
Even though we think we order our days, plan our paths, control our destiny He showed me that He can shut humanity down with some ice and water. While we were trapped in our houses, I watched birds gather pecans like nothing was happening.
My favorite is the adventure that comes with a life dedicated to Him. Some people think their lives will be boring if they follow Jesus. Over the last month and half I have heard the President speak live, had my film accepted into two great film festivals and had the chance to visit a site from my family history.
Life is not always so full and fun. I think of the incident yesterday in Kenya. New stories said four gunman divided the students between Christian and Muslim. They killed the Christians. In my safe little world of Fort Worth, it is easy to say that I identify with Christ. But I wonder what would I say if there was a gun to my head. Whenever I think I am sure that I would stand up for Jesus, I think of His disciples who chose to run on a day like today. Are you confident of what you would do? If not:
Keep allowing God to work your muscle of faith.
Be confident like the three boys in the furnace.
If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” Daniel 3: 17-18.
I am assured that when those babies entered heaven yesterday that Jesus was standing at the right hand of God welcoming them home. They had passed the most important test.
Community
This week I was reminded that we are to live as a community, supporting one another.
This week I got the opportunity to love on a friend of mine as she mourned the loss of her father. I understand her grief as I continue to mourn the recent loss of my mother. Grief is a journey you can get lost on if you are not careful. I believe that is why God has us in communities of people, so that we can support each other as we go through this process.
I have a high priest who understands this type of pain. Although the story is not in the Bible, it is implied that He understands the loss of a parent because his earthly father, Joseph was not around during the time of Jesus’ ministry on earth. Jesus gets this journey on earth and knows that we are better together. It is the second greatest commandment: love your neighbor as yourself.
God blessed me with the opportunity to know not only the daughter, but the mother as well. Over the last couple of years, I got to know her mother while serving in leadership with her working for God’s kingdom. It took me a while to make the connection that I was serving with my friend’s mother. But I was not surprised because awesome women create more awesome women.
I went to bless them, and they were the blessing to me. When times are hard, the Lord will send a community of believers to hold you up. Let them. We mourn together. We laugh together. We pray together. Each day He give us what we need. Each other. We are much stronger than we think we are.
Happy New Year
Old years pass, new ones come. Sometimes it just seems like another day. Sometimes the day lands on a milestone. 2015 is going to be a milestone for me and I am excited. Amazing things will happen in 2015.
One of the best things I saw on Facebook was “Don’t live the same year 75 times and call it a life.” Life should be filled with ups and downs, with people you love and hate, and places, lots and lots of places.
It is easy to get into a routine and become comfortable with the pattern. It is not our nature to venture out of our safe zones. We tend to like things we can control. I guess I can only speak for me.
I can truthfully say 2014 was not like any other year I had. I was out of my comfort zone often. I experienced things I had not experienced before. God led me through this year, and it was an adventure. Toward the end of the year I prayed “Lord, show me what you want me to know and keep from me things that you do not.” He was faithful.
I have tried to give up understanding everything that happens and have chosen to trust God’s plan. As I raise my daughter, she doesn’t get explanations for everything I teach her. Sometimes she just has to trust me. Sometimes I just have to trust Him.
I have chosen to cherish the memories He has given me and be a blessing when I can. I am a child of the Most High God, (John 1:12) and that is something to rejoice over. Happy New Year Everyone.
Peace and Hair Grease.
10 Days Till Christmas
One of the presents I received this year was four days in the dark.
What looked like a light storm came through our city one evening, lasted about 30 minutes. Ripped up the place.
The power went out on my street and it didn’t come back on for four days. We had a tree land on our roof.
Those four days in the dark gave me time to think about the God I serve. I mean why on earth was He leaving me, His faithful servant in the dark and no electricity in the middle of a Texas summer? What purpose could this serve?
It was a chance to get to know HIm better without the distraction of daily routines.
I am currently reading Knowing God by J.I. Packer. One of the principles I have gleaned from this reading is “those who know God have great contentment in God.” This contentment happens no matter what. This year, He allowed me to see if I had that type of contentment no matter what. Some moments I was cool. Some moments I was “Okay, Lord, fix this now!”
Packer’s argument was once you truly knew God nothing could disrupt your peace. He said people who truly knew God lived differently. They have something that the world can’t explain.
I want to live out that kind of faith.
I
UPP Creative Media 