God is Big...Period...

So...I have been reading this book called "CRAZY LOVE" by Francis Chan...It's flippin amazing...You must read it sometime...I am not very far in really...Only a few chapters, but that is because I have to keep stopping and write stuff down because it is all so awesome and I don't want to forget...Recently the focus has been on how big God is...Now this sounds stupid and obvious...But stop and think about how many times a day you stand still and actually try to comprehend what is going on...There are so many things in this world that are so intricate and complex..."The caterpillar has 228 separate and distinct muscles in its head, the average elm tree has about 6 million leaves on it, and your heart generates enough pressure throughout your body that it can squirt blood up to 30 ft. (Don't try it :) God didn't have to put hundreds of different kinds of bananas, but he did...He didn't have ti put 3,000 different species of trees within one square mile in the Amazon jungle, but he did...How about the way plants defy gravity by drawing water upwards? Did you know spiders produce 3 kinds of silk? When they build webs, they create sixty feet of web an hour, simultaneously producing special oil on their feet that keeps them from sticking to their web...What about the simple fact that plants take in carbon dioxide (harmful to us) and produce oxygen (we need to survive)? You knew that, but have you ever marveled at it?

"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world."
PSALM 19:1-4

This is our reason for worshipping him...The earth is the work of his own hands...He is the King of Kings, Alpha and Omega...I know you have heard this...Just don't miss it...So, how do we respond to this? Do we look at a sunset night after night, forgetting the next morning what beauty we saw just hours before? Do we look at the stars in the sky and ignore the millions of balls of insane light that have been created light years away? Or do we see the world everyday and get blown away with how everything seems to work, no matter how good or how bad it looks? Do we realize that God doesn't really need us to do anything, but He wants us...He wants to use us as his medium on this earth...He can and does speak to people on his own yes, but he also chooses to let us be a part of that process...HOLY CRAP!!?? I feel freaking honored when I am used by God to do something to further his kingdom here...We are so small, yet so beautiful...Don't lose this...Don't forget that God is bigger than the universe itself and he created every corner...Breathe it in...

Quiet and Rest...

Tonight in my bible study, I arrived a good amount of time late, like over an hour, but I got there in the middle of a time when everyone was on a 30 min walk...We were supposed to just be reading Psalm 23 and reflecting on it...What it meant to us, part or whole...The first verse of course stuck out to me and was familiar: "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want." Then I read verse 2 and 3, which weren't so familiar...They spoke of rest and quiet with God...That hit me hard...One of my biggest struggles is staying quiet before God and just trying to listen a little...I read that God restores my soul and guides me in a path of righteousness FOR HIS NAME"S SAKE...Not only do I get my soul renewed by God, it is done so that His name is glorified...I am in the position in my life where I get stoked whenever God gets credit for anything done by me, which is just God using me for his plan...That excites the crap right outta me... :)
God takes care of us...We have to remember that...He doesn't pressure or force us to let him do that...He just wants to...He also doesn't force us to follow Him, whether that be a total surrendering or just a little hang-up in our lives where we get off the path a little.....He just waits for us, patiently...Waiting for us to say, "Ok God, my way sucks and I want to be in on your plan..." Just chill and let God take over...You will have to discern, yes, but you will also not be failed by Him...If any of these random thoughts I just spilled out made any sense, hallelujah...



PSALM 23
"The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me besides quiet waters, he restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil; my sup overflows.
Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."

Woman of God...

In our lives we people we admire...We have people who we aspire to become...Sometimes it is out of jealousy we want to be them...Sometimes it is because we can see God shining through them so clear it blows us away on occasion...There is this woman whom I met about a year ago in person...Her name is Carol Wilson...She is the grandmother of my best friend Jeremy...I can't even think of where to start on her life, even as little as I have known it...When I first met her about a year ago she was well into her cancer treatment and was trucking along as if nothing hindered her...When she was first diagnosed with cancer she was given months to live, I believe...She outlasted that prediction by about two years...Through it all, from the outside I heard about her personality and how she just lived life...I was impressed about her joy and happiness in her suffering of course, but I was blown away by her persistence in glorifying God with EVERYTHING...Whether she was just spending time with her family, neighbors, friends, or serving in her church back home in NC...She always pointed her situation, if that is a proper term for it, towards God...She found God's plan in it all...She realized that her journey was God's plan and she was right in the middle of it...With this she wasn't afraid to share...Her blog was and is read by people all over the world...Seriously...From reading her comments on her posts, there were people from all over being impacted by her words and her perseverance in her cancer...

Carol Wilson, affectionately known as "Mimi" by some, has shown me what it means to live a full Godly life...She showed me how to commit to the ones you love...How to live a solid marriage built around Christ...How to live a life in Christ...

If you read this, you need to go to her blog and read back on some of her stuff...There is a lot, so you may want to make it a daily read for awhile or something... :)


http://carolwilsonupdate.blogspot.com






"Come thou fount of every blessing
Tune my heart to sing Thy praise
Streams of mercy never ceasing
Call for songs of loudest praise
Teach me some melodious sonnet
Sung by flaming tongues above
I'll praise the mount I'm fixed upon it
Mount of Thy redeeming love

Here I raise my Ebenezer
Hither by Thy help I come
And I hope by Thy good pleasure
Safely to arrive at home
Jesus sought me when a stranger
Wondering from the fold of God
He, to rescue me from danger
Interposed His precious blood

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be!
Let thy goodness like a fetter
Bind my wandering heart to Thee
Prone to wander Lord I feel it
Prone to leave the God I love
Here's my heart Lord, take and seal it
Seal it for Thy courts above"