Winter Update Letter!

Grace and peace to you and yours!

I pray that you are receiving this letter at a time of joy and comfort this holiday season. I am writing because it is that time again. What a blessing it is to be able to share life with all of you in a variety of ways. So many things have happened since this summer, I hardly know where to start.

My summer internship at Central Ave. UMC turned out to be a fantastic experience. It has served as an opportunity to learn more about myself and God’s will for my life, as well as a springboard for future opportunities. It was designed to facilitate an exploration of calling and I discovered a calling in multi-site church development. I hope to pursue a vocation in this field of ministry but only time will tell. As a result of this discovery, I decided to drop my religion major to a minor and take additional classes of interest. So far I’ve taken a class on Entrepreneurship and a class on Personal Selling.

In addition to it being a great experience, I was able to walk away from the internship with tangible skills. One in particular is the ability to tell my story as more than a testimony, as a sermon. Since this summer, I have traveled to a couple of churches to preach and I enjoy every minute of it. Through relationships I’ve made this summer, I have been able to speak in other contexts as well, such as a Young Life leaders retreat.

Since the start of the school year, I have also been attempting to build my professional network. I’ve had the opportunity to meet with leaders in multi-site churches and church consulting from Ohio and Tennessee. The meetings are always interesting and educational. I have made some great connections! As I continue to work on models and processes to assist churches with multi-site development, I know the information gathered through these connections and the connections themselves are priceless.

Unfortunately, due to the amount of time and energy I have given to these endeavors, I’ve had to shuffle around my campus activities. I am no longer an active member of the golf team, as of the end of fall season. I will continue to support the team in the spring, however, I will not practice every day or compete. My other campus activities have continued. I lead two small groups, one as a Bible study and one as a life group. I am the Event Coordinator for the Collegiate Entrepreneur’s Organization. I sit on the Student Advisory Board for the Communication Department of the Arts and Sciences College. Last but not least, I sing in People of Worship which is an outreach ministry through the chapel.

My last new development is…a job! Beginning on January 5th, I will work for the West Ohio Conference of the United Methodist Church as a conference consultant specializing in youth work. The contract runs through June and only demands 15 hours of time a week. It’s a step in the right direction!

At this point in my life, so many things change so quickly. For more frequent updates and thoughts, follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/TAShanks, on Facebook at facebook.com/tiffanie.shanks or on my blog at tiffanieinministry.blogspot.com. I’m not sure what life will look like after graduation in May but I know that God is in control. When the time is right I’ll know the plan. Until then I’m enjoying the ride!

In Christ,

Philipians 1:3
Tiffanie ♥

Merry Christmas!

When I think about Christmas I think about three things…faith, hope and love. Imagine that? I don’t think of them in that order though. See, I first think about hope. I think about what great hope the followers of Jesus in the 1st century could have in the fact that God had chosen to come down as the Son of Man to be our salvation. He came down to bring us out! But, where do we get our hope? “Faith is the substance of all things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.” Our hope comes from our faith that Jesus is the Son of God, sent by God to be crucified, dead and buried, and to rise again. But that doesn’t happen until Easter. Nowadays its only a few months between Christmas and Easter. In the 1st century there were 33 years between Christmas and Easter. 33 years of faith. 33 years of believing in things that they hadn’t seen happen yet. So, faith in what? Faith in knowing that God has sent His only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. Why, would God do something like that? “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” Because He loves us THAT much.

So, when I think about Christmas, why do I think about faith, hope, and love? Because that’s all we really get until Easter! We get faith that Jesus is God’s only Son, hope in God's promise to his nation, and the love of God's sacrifice.

True Affirmation

A few weeks ago, I drove to Columbus to have coffee with David Cofer, CEO of Cofer Consulting Solutions LLC. I made the trip because I wanted to get his feedback on my idea to start a consulting firm that specializes in multi-site development and change management for the local parish. After I described the idea to him, his first comment was, “Why don’t you set it up within the church instead of forming an outside agency?” When he said this my heart melted because I had thought about the possibility of building the practice within the church on my drive down. 

During the drive back to Ada, I began to think about the blessing that God provided for my calling through that meeting. What God taught me was a lesson on affirmation of calling. My thoughts took me back to before I completely understood God’s calling for my life.

Before my summer internship at Central Ave. UMC, I had recognized my passion for multi-site development in the local parish. I remember believing, in my heart of hearts, that God wanted me to understand what it was like to be a leader in the local parish and that’s why He gave me the internship. When I shared this with the people around me they began to tell me that I was jumping to conclusions. For whatever reason everyone around me was convinced that I was (or am) supposed to be a pastor and that this summer’s internship was going to prove this to me. And, every time I tried to tell them what God was telling me they would turn it around and convince me that I was telling God what I wanted instead of listening. Their justification for all of this? God uses those around us to reveal our calling to us.  In this context, this statement just seemed to rub me the wrong way. During my drive back to school, God revealed to me why.

You see, there is a difference between creating and affirming a calling. All of the people in my life who tried to tell me that I was wrong about God’s calling for my life were attempting to create a calling. It’s one thing to plant the seed, to mention that being a pastor is real option as a calling. However, trying to dissuade me from what I believe about my calling is an attempt to create a calling for my life. On the other hand, when God places something on my heart or a thought in my mind about something, and without any mention of it someone tells me exactly what I was thinking, that’s affirmation. This is what happened during my meeting with David Cofer. God affirmed my calling.

In essence, we just have to remember, that in order for a call to be affirmed it must first be discerned. Otherwise, it is simply being created. Unless, they are just planting a seed.

Psalm 119:125*

In Christ,

Reflections on Internship

Good afternoon all!

I'm sorry for neglecting the blog for a while now. As I was recovering from illness, the internship was coming to an end and my senior year at Ohio Northern was getting started, the blog fell on my list of priorities. The internship concluded with a number of changes in my life and my future.

I have decided that at this point in my life God is not calling me into ordained ministry. It is not something that I will never again consider, but at this point it will not be the next step that I take.

I'm truly feeling a call into multi-site development and change management within the local parish. Multi-site pursuits are attractive right now partially because of the cost reductions and resource utility that results. However, many times the church makes common mistakes during the organizational change process that result in excess spending instead of savings. One of the reasons and possibly the most common reason multi-site ventures fail or stumble is the lack of effective cultural change within the organization. It is something that can easily be overlooked. However, cultural change must be the first step in creating efficient and effective change that can be maintained. The posts that follow will elaborate on this issue and evidence of God's calling in my life.

Upon returning to school, I immediately dropped my religion major to a minor and picked up a minor in entrepreneurship. This is simply in an effort to better prepare myself for what God has in store for my life. The previously declared religion major is not completely necessary if I decide to go to seminary (which is probably not going to happen right away). The addition of the entrepreneurship minor provides me with the opportunity to gain some business knowledge and work on a business plan for the West Ohio Conference of the UM Church in pursuing multi-site development.

As usual I have a number of different things going on at once. I really want to host a lecture series on student to professional development through my involvement with Lambda Pi Eta (the communication honorary). I'm also actively working on a case-study research paper on multi-site development. I'm leading a small group, playing golf, sitting on the Student Advisory Board and working at Lima Senior High School.

As I continue my pursuit of God's will for my life, I humbly ask all of you for prayer. Pray that I will leverage and prioritize my life properly, that I will continue to receive guidance and remain in constant discernment. If there is anything that God leads you to do for or say to me, please, please listen. Thank you and as always...

In Christ,

Hypocrite? Really?

I have never considered myself to be much of a hypocrite. Last week I spent most of the week at home in Dayton because I was sick. In between doctor’s appointments I was able to spend some time in reflection about the week before. In addition, I attended service at the Miller Lane campus of Stillwater UMC (my home church).

Stillwater is currently doing a series on “Stupid Christians” and last week was on hypocrites. Marie Smith gave an example from her life when it was apparent that she was being a hypocrite. She has always preached and taught on living in community. She has also always been willing to fill the needs of many people in the community with a loving and open heart. In this story, however, the roles were reversed. Someone had offered to help Marie with a need that they noticed she had and she immediately turned them away by telling them that the help wasn’t needed. It was in this moment that someone pulled Marie aside and “ripped her mask off”. This person told Marie that she has always taught others to live in community and care for each other but as soon as someone tried to care for her, she didn’t practice what she was preaching. Essentially, she was being a hypocrite.

I have always been that person too. I’m never too busy or too tired to help someone in need. It doesn’t matter if that need is food and shelter, or a hug and a smile. But when others try to help me, to be there for me, I’m always the first person to turn them away. Before Marie’s sermon I always thought that was a good thing, now I know differently.

See, the week prior to this, the week of July 12th, the ’09 interns went on the Seminary Tour. It was an amazing week but I’ll give my critiques about the trip as a whole in a separate post. Right now I really just want to talk about the last day. Unfortunately, I spent that day sick. That evening we spent some time at Tammy Jo’s house. She was kind enough to open her house for dinner and fellowship, and I did my best to enjoy it. But as I said, I didn’t feel well.

That night the group was staying at Sharonville UMC. Once we settled in to our respective sleeping quarters, most everyone gathered in the sanctuary for worship. I tried to appreciate the opportunity that I had been looking forward to all week but I needed to lie down. As I lay in the bed, trying to fall asleep, I was tossing and turning due to an irregular heartbeat and chest pains. I wasn’t sure if I should go to the hospital, so I began to pray. As I prayed and tried to calm down the pain kept getting worse. I decided that chest pain was nothing to take a chance with so I told Dave Allen about my pain and we decided that I should go to the hospital.

He sent Tammy Jo a text, hoping that she was still awake enough to hear her phone, asking her where the nearest hospital or urgent care was. I remember hearing him say, “Yes, it’s Tiffanie”. A few moments later he was off the phone and he told me she was on her way to take us to the hospital. As we waited, we prayed.

I remember Allyssa asking me if I wanted her to come. “I’ll go if you want me to”, she said. There was a part of me that wanted the comfort of a close friend, but I also knew we were all looking forward to spending as much time together as we could and that she loves music. I didn’t want her to miss out on the opportunity to worship with our friends. I told her that it was okay and that she should stay and maybe get some rest.
When Tammy Jo arrived, Dave and I hurried out to the car and Tammy Jo asked me what was wrong. I explained that I was really short of breath, felt nauseous and had a lot of chest pain. As she drove, she checked to see if I had a fever and kept asking questions about how I was feeling. Soon we arrived at the hospital.
The nurses gave me an EKG to make sure I wasn’t having a heart attack. The test was negative, so I waited and they put me in a room while they ran some tests. All night long Tammy Jo sat beside my bed. Every once in a while she would pace for a moment to help herself stay awake. She watched the heart monitor like it was her favorite soap opera (haha)! As I lay in the hospital, in a town I still couldn’t tell you the name of, I was scared. But my first thought, when I looked at Tammy Jo, was that this wonderful woman of God had spent the day preparing a space and a meal for sixteen people. If she wasn’t exhausted from that alone, it was now in the early morning hours of the following day and she was still awake. There was no doubt she was tired. I laid there convincing myself everything was going to be okay. I was in a hospital, right? Dave had gone to the waiting room to get some rest, so I told her she could go and rest too if she’d like. But she said she’d rather stay with me. Either way, I still felt bad that she was so tired. I thought maybe I should tell her that if she took Dave to get the car from the church she could go home and rest. As I turned and saw her sitting peacefully in the chair beside my bed, all I said was, “Thank you.” I knew that I was still scared and if she left I would feel alone. I wanted her to rest, but I needed her presence. In a moment of growth, I realized that I’m allowed to need people too.

When I heard Marie’s sermon on hypocrisy the lesson that God had for my life was solidified. I had been a hypocrite long enough. Sometimes people need you to be there for them, and that’s fine. Sometimes you need people to be there for you, and that’s okay too!

As I recovered in Dayton, I realized one other blessing God has provided me with during this experience. My mother passed away when I was fifteen. But because of His grace, His love, and His compassion for me surrounding my loss, He has never left me without a mother. When my mother first died, it was Michele. A couple of years later, it was Karen, Marie, and Malinda. And that night it was Tammy Jo.

In Christ,

This is my story, This is my song...

My story is my testimony. I tell my story as a witness and example of God’s love as it abounds in this world. My faith can provide hope and witness to the Gospel of the Christ, Jesus. I tell my story because it was my struggle, it was my fight, it was my gift. God did not have me experience these things so that I may be blessed, but so that I may bring witness to God’s blessings.

During the D.C. trip QuiQue Aviles said, “No one is going to sing your song for you so you have to sing it for yourself. Sometimes you have to write it. If you’ve got something to say, figure out a way to say it.” This is the poem that I wrote during his time with us.

“I was 15”

I was 15.

I walk into the room,
my mother
a hospital bed
a machine
another one

I was 15.

I stand beside the bed,
no strength
no movement
no breath
no life

I was 15.

My father had asked us,
keep her alive
allow her to die
uncomfortable silence
I answer

I was 15.

My father tells me “she’s gone”
I smile
there’s peace
there’s comfort
there’s God

I was 15.

I sit beside the bed
its okay
I say
for her
for me

I was 15.

Others come in the room,
they hug
I leave
they cry
I smile

I was 15.

As always…

In Christ,

When we say "never again", what do we mean "never again"?

I spent June 14th through June 19th in Washington D.C. as a part of the Next Generation Leadership Intern program. We went for a Mission and Justice Seminar on Immigration. It was hosted at the United Methodist Building on Capitol Hill. We also had the opportunity to visit Wesley Theological Seminary and the Holocaust Museum. At the end we were able to speak to the offices of Kilgroy and Voinovich on the issue of immigration. What a wonderful learning experience! Originally I was concerned that the group of interns would have a couple of personalities that would clash and make this trip difficult. As it turns out, many lifelong friendships were formed between people that I wouldn’t expect. The trip as a whole was a blessing.
The theme for the week was exemplified in Micah 6:8, Ephesians 4:1-6 and Matthew 23:23. They provided structure to our thoughts surrounding our calling as Christians and the idea of justice within the constructs of religion and theology. One of my thoughts throughout the week was, “If everyone who is able helps one who is unable, what would the world look like?” It is the responsibility of those who have, to help those who have not. The recognition of privilege is an important step towards justice and equality; especially unearned and unwanted privilege. Unfortunately, the recognition of privilege is often a step that is overlooked because the privileged become comfortable with their situation. Until you are compromised it is easy to be complacent. As quoted in the Holocaust Museum, Pastor Martin Neimoeller said, “First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out -- Because I was not a Socialist. Then they came for the Trade Unionist, and I did not speak out -- Because I was not a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out -- Because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me -- and there was no one left to speak for me.” This was a quote that was on the wall at the end of the permanent exhibit at the Holocaust Museum. It’s a perfect example of complacency. Does the fact that we live under, or are a part of, a suppressive system give us the right or privilege to become complacent to the system? I’d say no. But what does that mean for me, for us, for the people, for the nation?

Other memorable quotes and thoughts from the day we spent at the Holocaust Museum include one from Elie Wiesel, “When we say “never again”, what do we mean “never again”?” It makes me wonder how we continue to say that we would never become complacent to genocide and yet there is Darfur, Rwanda, Bosnia, etc. Genocide is not a problem of the past. It’s not a problem of tomorrow. It’s today’s problem. It’s our problem. So, when we say “never again”, what do we mean “never again”?

There was a temporary exhibit on propaganda. How much of today’s Jewish stereotype was influenced by Hitler? One thing I noticed was that the methods that Hitler used to persuade and coerce people to listen and follow him were the basic methods of persuasion studied in communication. Later that evening, during reflection, we discussed how those methods are also used by the church. At what point does the church shift from persuasion to coercion? What makes the church any different than Hitler? It can’t be because we think we’re right…Hitler thought he was right? So, when we say “never again”, what do we mean “never again”?

As we explored the immigration situation here in the U.S., I was reminded that during the Holocaust, when Jews tried to enter this country, we sent many back to Germany, even though we knew that they were refugees. To this day we continue to deport refugees back to the country they fled for numerous unnecessary reasons. Furthermore, once they are deported they can never return. So, when we say “never again”, what do we mean “never again”?

When we say "never again", what do we mean "never again"?

As always…

In Christ,

Thoughts on Annual Conference

The week of June 8th through June 11th, I was blessed to experience the West Ohio Annual Conference in Lakeside, Ohio. It was an enlightening experience. I stayed in the youth house as a NGL intern. Although politics are not my favorite thing to participate in, it was important for me to see how the United Methodist Church operates. I went to a couple of their sessions and it took all that I had to stay awake, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I should mention that the freedom the UMC offers its members, clergy and otherwise, is remarkable. The voice of the individual is powerful and recognized. It is a very open approach to religion and theology. I was blessed to be a witness to such a posture.

The worship services were outstanding! Ginghamsburg Praise Band and the Hope for Africa Children’s Choir led worship. The teachings were on leadership from different perspectives. Whether one was trying to understand biblical leadership or develop leaders there was something in the messages that spoke to you. Sue Nilson Kibbey was especially enlightening for me. She was pleasant to listen to without losing the passion in her voice. Both her and Mike Slaughter used short video stories on different topics to help the conference understand and visualize their message. I hope to create something similar for Central soon. It was a good example of using technology to enhance and enrich the Gospel. Many times technology can be used to put on a performance instead of bringing people closer to Christ. In my opinion, the videos were a great way to use technology to help glorify the Lord and His kingdom. A great example of leadership!

Another memorable moment during conference was the offering of school kits. It was amazing to see hundreds of people taking thousands of kits up on stage. It wasn’t much fun to move them off of the stage and on to a truck. Then move them from the truck into a storage room while packaging them for shipment. But it was a wonderful blessing for those at conference and the children who will receive the kits around the world!

The time I spent with the other interns and the youth at the house was wonderful. Even though the introvert in me wanted more time to rest and process information (which is what I think many youth leaders forget…not all youth need something to do all of the time!) I had a great time. A couple of mornings we went down to the dock for sunrise and then had breakfast/coffee together. The time of fellowship was priceless. It was the beginning of many lifelong friendships!

As always…

In Christ,

Summer Update Letter!

So I haven't blogged in a while but I will be on a blogging spree for about a week or so playing catch up. I've been really busy and have tons to share....Here's some of it!

Grace and Peace to you!

It is wonderful to be writing another letter to all of you. Why, you might ask? It means that another period of my life has passed and is worth sharing with those in my life who care. I am writing this letter a couple of weeks later than usual because I wanted to have a better understanding of my summer schedule before I sent this letter. I’m going to try to not explain anything in too much detail because a lot has happened since Christmas.

To start off, I’d like to address some of the items I mentioned in the Christmas letter. I did have the opportunity to submit a research paper to the Central State Communication Association Conference. Unfortunately, I had a little too much on my plate (surprise, surprise). I’ve decided to submit it for next year’s conference. Hopefully I’ll have some time to work on it this summer. I also didn’t have the opportunity to participate in the International Play Festival as the Assistant Stage Manager. My golf schedule was not compatible with the demands of the production. It is possible that I may have the opportunity to participate in a production next year.

As usual, I expected to do a lot of things with my time but I ended up doing a lot of other things. At the beginning of spring quarter I decided to change my minor in Religion to a major. So now I am double majoring in Organizational Communication and Religion while participating in the Pre-Seminary professional program. I have managed to keep my GPA around a 3.0. As a result, I was inducted into the communication honorary, Lambda Pi Eta, this past spring. I also had the opportunity last quarter to create a video on cross-cultural appointments in the United Methodist Church from the perspective of young adults. It was for the Issues in Professional Communications course on globalization. I thoroughly enjoyed that project and have since had my hands in a couple of other video projects. None of the others are finished yet but you can see the completed video on my blog.

Spring is also the primary golf season. I was given the award of Most Improved which is typical for me. I haven’t decided if that’s a good thing or not. It either means that I am a pretty good player because I’m constantly improving or that I’m so bad that I always have a lot of improvements to make. I’ll let you decide. Aside from that, this golf season was particularly difficult for the team. The coach that we had in the fall, Coach Hairston, resigned and moved to Canada about a month before the start of the season. The school hired Coach Dawn West, which turned out to be a blessing. She previously played on the Futures Tour of the LPGA and had plenty of advice and structure to advance our team. Unfortunately, she won’t be returning in the fall but we are all excited to see what God is going to do with this team next year.

Since the end of the school year in May I have stayed pretty busy. I’m currently working on creating a workshop on Creating and Maintaining Supportive Climates for an organization called Sing Watson Studios in Tipp City, Ohio. I will conduct the workshop later this summer. I’m also working on a promotional video for Sing Watson Studios that will be a summer long project, possibly spilling over into the fall. Another communication opportunity involves an organization called Heaven’s Oven in Athens, Ohio. I’m working on a portfolio for them to look over and decide if they’d like for me to work with their organization.

Just last weekend I moved to Athens for the summer. I’m here for an internship that I have received through the West Ohio Conference of the United Methodist Church. Through this program I have taken a trip to D.C. for a Mission and Justice Seminar on Immigration. The group of 13 interns had the opportunity to speak to members of Kilgroy’s and Voinovich’s offices about immigration reform. It was an amazing learning experience! I will also attend Rob Bell’s conference in Michigan and go on a Seminary bus tour. This program is designed to allow us to explore our call into ministry. Therefore, I will experience individualized opportunities at my host site, Central Ave. UMC, as well. I will be preaching on June 26th and August 23rd in addition to organizing four church social events and increasing participation in their food pantries. I am working on videos as a means to increase participation and fuel a desire to fill the need in the surrounding Appalachian communities. As you can see, there are a lot of things going on this summer!

As for preparing for my senior year in college, I plan on starting an organization called Acting on AIDS through World Vision. I’ll be writing the constitution and bylaws this summer while preparing for recruitment at Welcome Fest in the fall. I’m also spending some time networking with professionals in the communication field in order to prepare for hosting a panel discussion/conference through Lambda Pi Eta next year.

There are a ton of things going on in my life right now. I’m assuming it’s the nature of being in college. Then again, maybe it’s just me! J If you’re interested in keeping up with my thoughts and actions a little more closely feel free to check out my blog tiffanieinministry.blogspot.com or follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/TAShanks.

Thank you so much for your support and encouragement!

With Love,

Tiffanie Shanks

And as always....

In Christ,

Disconnected...Reconnected to God

(thoughts on majoring in religion)

I want to spend my life following after God.
...chasing after Him, even if it is only to touch the edge of the hem of his garment.

I want to climb the mountain, even if I never make it to the top.

I want to swim across the ocean, even it I never make it to the other side.

I want to live ministry.
...to be the living ministry of my Lord and Savior.

I want to be the Lord's vessel because He is the only way, the only truth...

I want to wholly surrender to His will.
...so that I may see the world as He sees it
...so that I may be emptied of my self and filled with Him.

I would rather love god in my ignorance, than question God in my intelligence.

We finished it!

This is the video my friend, Lisa Paul, and I created for our Issues in Organizational Communication class. We're both religion majors and Pre-Seminarian students at Ohio Northern University. So, we wanted to produce a video that we could add to our portfolio. In the video, prospective young adult clergy discuss the future of the UM church regarding cross-racial and cross-cultural appointments. 

Check it out!!! (and let me know what you HONESTLY think) 

UPDATED volume settings!

Thank you to all who were involved. You're support, encouragement and inspiration was priceless. Encore!

as always...

In Christ,

Internship Orientation!

Sorry for the delay...

Last weekend the Next Generation Leadership Interns gathered at the West Ohio Conference Center for an orientation. It was facilitated by Jill Moore, David Cofer, Paul Risler, David Allen, and Ian Strickland. All of you did a very nice job, thank you!

Paul filled in the morning with an interesting presentation. He made two lists; one listed the most commonly discussed topics in church board meeting and the other listed the concerns of the world. Some examples...

Concerns of the Church
Service start times
Carpet color
Building/property usage
Budgetting

Concerns of the World
HIV/AIDS
Genocide
Poverty
Depression/Cutting

My first thought was "how unfortunate". My next thoughts were "will that be me? and how can I prevent this from happening? this isn't what ministry is supposed to be about."

Paul continued by talking about ministry's purpose. The purpose is to share the Gospel. What is the Gospel? The good news of Jesus Christ, by whom all should repent and believe with the coming Kingdom of God. According to the Lord's Prayer, the Kingdom of God is a present reality. "...thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven..."

Reflection: What does ministry look like for your life? If you are called into full-time vocational ministry, what does that look like? Will you be a part of God's Kingdom, a part of its growth?

My thoughts: The path seems shorter if you trust the one guiding you. Trust the Lord! Have faith! and live IN THE MOMENT!

This is the video Paul showed about how God views the world... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3s0GgtCD6I

These are the thoughts that I will carry with me throughout the summer. We'll see how they play into my experience!

He Knows!

Focus: Hebrews 11:1, Proverbs 3:5, Jeremiah 29:11

As Christians, we are faced with difficult questions regarding our faith. The one that I struggled with the most is, “How can God be three beings but one God!?” It took me a long time to come up with a good answer. Eventually, it all came down to faith. In Hebrews faith is defined as the substance of all things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. If we understood everything we were supposed to believe, faith would not be a vital component of Christianity. In Proverbs, Solomon wrote, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.” In other words, HAVE FAITH. When it seems as though your life is spinning out of control, when everything seems to have taken a turn for the worst, when you’re coach is leaving. When there’s so much to do and so little time, when no matter how hard you try you always fail, when the weight of the world is on your shoulders, when you simply don’t know what to do anymore…have faith. When things don’t go the way you planned…

In Jeremiah, God declares that He knows the plans that He has for us, plans not to harm us but to give us the future that we hope for. In essence…have faith. Trust Him with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind and all your strength. Trust Him, because God’s ways are higher than our ways. God’s thoughts are higher than our thoughts. God’s plans are higher than our plans. He genuinely wants what’s best for us. What’s better is He knows what’s best, regardless of what we think.

Remember that He loves you. He loves you, because He loves you, because He loves you, because He loves you, because that is who He is. He loves you because of who He is, not because of who you are. So, there’s nothing you can do or say or fix or change to make him love you more. What’s greater is there is nothing you can do or say or fix or change to make him love you less. He loves you because He loves you. Even when it hurts, and when you feel lost and alone. He loves you. And, if you ever forget it, sit. Sit still, sit quiet, and pray. Pray to feel protected and cradled in His arms like the cherished child you are. You will feel warmth inside your soul like you’ve never felt before. You’ll feel His arms console you. That’s Him reminding you that He didn’t leave you, that you’re not alone, and that He loves you.

He will always look out for our better interest. Even when it isn’t what we expect or what we think is best. As long as we remember that He loves each of us, and we have faith and trust Him, we’ll always make it through.

Sunday Morning...Psalm 23

It all began with a video on facebook...

Our most gracious God and heavenly Father,
giver of every good and perfect gift.
I welcome you into my heart, Lord.
I follow you wherever you lead, as you are my shepherd.
It is by you that I have everything I need.
You have made me to lie down in the greenest pastures,
You lead me beside the stillest waters,
You restore my faith in You, o God.
You guide me down a path of righteousness,
for the glory of Your name.
Even though I may walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will not be afraid.
I know that You are always with me,
beside me,
the light of my way in You, o Lord.
It is Your rod and Your staff that bring me peace.
You even prepare a table before me in the presence of my greatest opposition,
in the presence of my strongest enemies.
You, Father God, fill me with Your anointing until that anointing pours from my soul.
I am certain that Your goodness and Your mercy will follow me every day of my life,
and I will dwell in Your house, my Lord,
Forever and ever and ever and ever
Until eternity.
It is this I pray in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ,
and in communion and fellowship with the Holy Spirit.
Amen.

Reflections on Easter

This past weekend I celebrated Easter, the death and resurrection of Jesus. Many would consider Easter to be the most important Christian holiday. I would agree that without the resurrection Christianity would have struggled to survive. But for me, this year was different.

Usually on Easter weekend, and especially Good Friday, I am reminded and completely taken back by the realization of God's sacrifice. The power of God's love to bring salvation to the world is awe inspiring. I would never deny God of the glory and honor He deserves. I give all thanks and praise to El Shaddai. However...

As I sat through Good Friday service, Saturday night service, Sunrise service and Sunday morning services, it didn't hit me. The tears that I typically shed never came. I keep thinking about why this Easter was different. Maybe its because of the course work I've encountered through my theological studies, or the fact that its the same old story told the same old way. More likely its because I haven't been spiritually aroused in a long time. I haven't felt God working inside of me. I see Him working through me and around me, but not in me. I have given my life to God but I'm disconnected from the Holy Spirit.

God,
I need you.
Mess me up...inside.
Bring me new peace,
New joy,
New hope,
New faithfulness...
As the deer pants for the water,
So my soul thirsts for you, O God.*
Search me.
Know me.*
I love you...

*Psalm 42 & 139
In Christ,