Elyon?

i have been reading a trilogy written by Ted Dekker. It is a fantasy style series that tells the story of God and humanity. He paints a striking picture of how we sometimes miss God, even when we are looking for Him. I have been thinking about the people of Israel and how they missed Jesus while waiting and watching for The Messiah. How could they have missed the signs? In the Book, those who love Elyon(God) the most, totally miss Him.

This got me wondering, how often do I miss God in my own life, because He doesn't come in ways I would recognize? Have I got Him so pigeonholed that sometimes, I miss Him? I guess the question is, can I put aside my preconceived notions of who God is and how He operates, and learn to see Him as He really is. It is not that all my notions are wrong, but they can't be all right either. So, I need to humble myself and learn to see the "wonder" of God. Yeah,... this will be easy......

Peace,

K

I'm outta here

Hi guys' I am out of town for the week, I am at a pastor's conference with FMC. have a great week. See you next week.

peace,

K

How long can we fake it

I am stuck on this cup analogy. This idea that all we have to do is keep up the appearance of change. We can be like the Emperor in The Emperor's New Clothes, we are convinced that no one really sees the reality of our heart. We can smile and say the right things for a time, but eventually we start to crack. Our attitude starts to show in our comments, facial expressions and behaviour. This happens because keeping up a facade is hard work. It takes alot of energy. So, why do we start a game we can't finish. Why do we convince ourselves that we can do it.

It takes alot less energy to be transparent. Sure it can be hard at first, because we are used to living the lie. It is uncomfortable. Transparency seems like nakedness, but the freedom it brings is amazing. "I am not perfect. I have cracks. But, by God's grace, not anything of me, I am striving to live my relationship with God. It isn't always pretty, but it is real." We don't have all the answers, so why pretend we do. That just pisses people off. People were drawn to Jesus because of His transparency. I am sure they will be drawn to Him by ours.
This can only happen if our cup is clean. Which can only happen if we fill our cup with His Spirit.

Peace,

K

How's your cup?

Is it cleaner on the inside or the outside? Sometimes we as followers tend to get tunnel vision about how things appear on the outside. Maybe preoccupied is the right word. We worry about looking good. Looking holy. Looking happy. What a crock. Many of us have been guilty of making sure our appearance is pristine, but neglected to clean the "inside" of our cup. We say and do the right things, but our heart is black, or at the very least, grey. This amounts to placing us in the same category as used car salesmen. I have a friend who used to say, if you make a car shiny, no matter how bad it runs, someone will buy it. I think at times we hope the same for our faith.

What people really need is to see that the inside of the cup is different, not just the outside. If we are transparent and allow people to see our hearts, and they are "clean", people will be drawn to Christ. They want to know that God really makes a difference that is more than superficial. For the most part real people don't care about appearance, language, style, etc., as much as we think they do. They care about being loved and accepted, people having compassion, people serving each other. As Karl has pointed out, he is drawn to Christians who do stuff, not ones who just talk pretty(my Paraphrase). Which are you? Which am I?

Peace,

K

Talk, Talk, Talk

We are good at it aren't we? We can talk all day about vision, passion, ministry. I think, we think that as long as we are talking about doing something, it is as good as doing it. Which may be the case, if all we had to do was impress ourselves. The rubber eventually has to meet the road. Talking is great,.... if it leads somewhere, if not, it's just GAS.

Peace,

K