no deep theological thoughts for today- just a little story- make it theological if you will... i now know that i was not made to be an e.r. nurse... bone marrow transplant, land of long term patients, here i come! it's ALL hard manual labor but anyway...

e.r. story for the day:
i had a certain patient for 6 hours in the er today- an 18 yr old black girl w/ a seizure and an abcess that had to be cut open in an unmentionable place ... as if that wasn't traumatic enough her mom ( i believe... prob not too much older than the daughter) told me as it was time to leave that 'we should hang out sometime'
i was like o really
'yeah' she said... (and i have no idea at this point where this is going)
then i think she's from far away so i go ahead and ask where she hangs out
'in the --- club down town'
pardon? i say...
"in the GAY club down town' ....
keeping my cool (i think) i say 'oh, i have never been to a gay club before'
she says 'oh yeah, dont get worried when the women start dancing around you, it's all good- it's all girls'
and i make a remark about 'yeah, girls are more fun sometimes' and made my way out of the room. yikes.
what would ya'll have said? the nurse i was with asked me 'didn't you tell her you're straight?'dangit.... i didn't think of that one...typical me

the only word that the Lord gave me was "accept"
even when people freak me out or might think i am weird ... accept them... and know that I am accepted regardless of how others perceive me as I walk in the ways the Lord has called me and created me uniquely to be.

p.s. i went to a barlow girl concert and as some of you know i have quite an affinity for barlow girl... a band of 3 sisters who rock out :) oh to jam on a bass guitar... oh to start over and get really good at an instrument... music is so cool and you can see the journey these girls have been on and their hearts and walks w/ the Lord through their songs... they are the type that can't contain what God has done and it over-FLOWS into their music. . . the new album is called 'another journal entry' so you can imagine what that's like. i like it i love it i want some more of it... jesus that is !

I have heard enough John Piper to know the 'chief end of man is to glorify God by enjoying Him forever"(Desiring God) and I was kinda playing around with the phrase "chief end" and was thinking how the result of the big spiritual words that we talk about that make up the gospel and Christianity as we know it all lead to what I think is His Ultimate Intention, His Heartbeat, His Character when you ask why you will see what I mean:
WHY did He make Adam if He knew He would 'mess up'?
I think Father values life- He delights in His creation- He is LOVE and Love is expressed when it has an object- before the foundations of time there existed Father, Son, and Holy Spirit--a beautiful picture of relationship. Father knew the 'first Adam' would fall but it was His joy to send a 'second Adam' to redeem His people- It wasn't a plan "B" but His ultimate intention to restore relationship with Himself through faith. We were important enough to Him so send a solution- We were His in the first place- He made us, so now we are doubly His : created by Him and bought by His blood... that He may exist in fellowship and relationship with us.
WHY did He send Jesus?
Sin- i.e.Adam's rejection of God's provision, Adam believing that He could be as God(P-r-i-d-e) separates us from God. I imagine a loving Father, a Jealous God, could not bear for His precious people to live unto idols of self and the world... so "God demonstrates His own love for us in this: while we were still sinners Christ died for us" So we would see HIS greatness, HIS glory, HIS selfless love (He does not NEED us, yet He loves us out of who He is) so He could be united with us- in complete unity- in intimate relationship.(Christ IN you the Hope of Glory)
Saves us from His wrath- I can't imagine any worse torture than being eternally separated from God- and neither can HE.

WHY did He forgive us in Christ?
because sin separates us from Him and He wants us to be in relationship with Him

WHY does He sanctify us?
He want to renew our souls from the inside out, disciplining us and purifying us so he can bring us to deep intimacy (in His power) and and deep trusting relationship with Him (don't you agree that trusting someone is part of true intimacy- trusting someone to see you and all your faults but accepting them wholeheartedly- so He can pour His love over you?!!)

WHY does He bring problems and trials in our lives?
Like He does in sanctification, He is faithful to relieve us of our own means of control, shows how His ways are better, thus producing a deeper dependence on Him to be the solution to problems and trials, therefore producing intimacy which equals RELATIONSHIP.

See, I don't think He purifies us just for the sake of good and bad... He has much greater purposes for us. I dont think He forgives us just because that's what we need/have to have. Ask HIM why? I have a feeling He will reveal more answers and you read the scripture with an open heart. Read them like a love letter not a 'honey-do' list. Whatever you do- do all for the glory of God... Whatever is not done in faith is sin (so that perfect sunday school attendance gets you no points if you were doing it for fleshly reasons: self image, peoplepleasing/getting acceptance, earning some righteousness... these are things that God can sufficiently provide to you and me without our help!) We go to church to know Him! through fellowshipping with others, through trusting and depending on our great Father to do what HE wants to do through our presense there (which is usually not what we think He wants to do- He's cool like that- I think He does things out of the box, well, so we can depend on Him more, listen to Him more, and therefore KNOW HIM MORE!)

He loves us out of His fullness- His overflow. He desires to know us- to be intimate with us... just look at the cross and listen to the gospel. Let is speak to your deepest needs today. acceptance? check- need met totally in Christ- can't feel it? believe it with that mustard seed of faith- He will honor it and plant that seed deep inside so it will grow. Oh He want to know you, and the depths of knowing HIM- just ask. wait. believe. He's able to do what He said He would do:

The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. (HE LIVES IN YOU, BELIEVER!)
And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places wher they should live. (could that go for us too? I believe so...)God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for Him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being. As some of your own poets have said, 'we are his offspring' Acts 17:24-28

God is purposeful. God is near. Seek him and you'll find Him. Dont give up. He is working in you whether you know it or not. If you are believer, you are living on a field with a huge inheritance in it. Think of it like this: You have an eternal reserve of oil in this field. It's yours, you just dont know it yet until you start to dig a little, sweat a little, seek a little... Then, it's only a matter of time before you strike oil.

He wants to know you. Please BELIEVE it!

Can I tell you how much I love Auburn?.... Oh I do. And I hate working in the emergency room here- it's nothing like all you think it would be. Nursing is hard labor- ya'll shold try it. Anyway my thoughts for the past couple of days have centered around this:

I think one of the biggest hindrances to living the christian life is thinking that it's up to us.... that we have the power to glorify God in and of ourselves. I like this song because it puts the power in His hands...

You're the one who chased us
You're the one who started all of this
You're the one who dreams
You're the one who loves

So let us respond

Yours-the voice that calls us
Yours- the hands that hold us
When we have come undone
You're the one who loves

So let us respond

We are free, we are free in you God
(Robbie Seay Band)

A simple definition of grace to me is "GOD does it" and like i said in the posts before we are to simply respond by placing our faith in this great, amazing God. So let us respond- let us respond.
If GOD does it, we respond- how can we not when He reveals himself to us? And on the days when He doesnt seem present we walk in faith, knowing that He is great and choose to believe that truth. (Isn't that our expression of faith- believing what we cannot sense/see/feel?)
Our response? Worship Him, solely for His greatness, and that He has us where he has us for a reason. This keeps Him in his rightful place in our lives: in the center- on the throne.

Today is just a shadow of things to come.

Hebrews 11:1- Faith- I can't see Him but He's REAL. My amount of faith does not determine how big God is.
11:4- Faith is a heart motivation and faith that pleases God is faith in Him- believing HE will do what He says He will do- even when everything around us tells us 'no way'
11:13- Reminds me of the power of faith to control and sustain my life
11:33- Faith has the power to :
subdue kingdoms, administer justice, obtain promised blessings, close the mouth of lions...and more
11:39- And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, 40since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.

12:1- Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

and verse 2(the one that brought me here in the first place...) looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Yep, it's HIS job- our responsibility is to look to Jesus. Eyes off self. Look to Jesus. the founder(some versions say Author) and perfecter of our faith! It's simple. Ha. Not easy, but simple :) Continue to let HIM transform you because He is more faithful than we can imagine. He wants to make you into the likeness of Jesus, and most of all He wants to enjoy His child. You.