Hop on the boat...

I had such an awesome day yesterday - rekindling an old friendship - I am constantly amazed and feel very blessed when I stumble across one of those relationships that might not be a best friend, but something clicks - you get each other - and you can be apart for months or even years, but you can get back together again and it's like you were never apart. We had coffee and talked for a long time about our lives and what's happened in the past year and a half, lots of stories, lots of change.

We went to see Evan Almighty also - definitely would recommend seeing that movie. It's very thought provoking - particularly one line when "God" is talking to Evan's wife Joan (Joan of Ark - hehe), and she is struggling with the fact that her husband seems to have lost all touch with reality - sitting in a restaurant with her kids after leaving to move in with her mother until things blow over. He asks her, "Let me ask you something: if someone prays for patience, do you think God gives them patience, or does he give them the opportunity to be patient? If they pray for courage, does God give them courage, or does he give them opportunities to be courageous? If someone prayed for their family to be closer, do you think God zaps them with warm fuzzy feelings, or does he give them opportunities to love each other?" Her face changes - and she starts to reconsider. She had prayed for her family to get closer, and failed to see what was happening right in front of her eyes.

We always want something to be handed to us, and forget to look at what is right there - we are being given answers by God all the time, but fail to see them because we are expecting to see one specific thing. God does not work within boundaries. God does not work within time constraints. God works in ways that force us to change our attitudes and preconceived ideas about the way our lives - and life in general - are supposed to run.

A few weeks back one of my pastors preached a sermon about dead men walking - It was a play off of one of the stories where Jesus ressurects a man. Jesus had gone to a town called Nain, and ressurrected a woman's son. (Luke 7:11-17) He went on to talk about the "dead men walking" right around us every day - kids with life the life sucked out of them, young adults that walk around like zombies because society has drained them of the joy they had - they are being forced to grow up too fast and to deal with things that children shouldn't have to deal with. This happens in the church as well - things happen, and we slowly start to lose the vibrance and life that we had because we sink into ruts and keep expecting hand outs when we aren't contributing anything of our own.

Jesus didn't act out of sympathy. He didn't speak teary eyed with cliches - but rather, he calls upon his authority as God's son. We can do the same. We must act with compassion. No one deserves God's love. NO ONE. But God looks upon us with compassion - and JUST GIVES LOVE. We are to do the same thing. We must shake ourselves from our stupors that life has put us in, and move. Live. Love.

SEE THE JOY!!

He Touched Me - Hymn

Shackled by a heavy burden, 'neath a load of guilt and shame,
Then the hand of Jesus touched me, and now I am no longer the same.

He touched me, oh He touched me.
And oh, the joy that fills my soul,
Something happened and now I know,
He touched me and made me whole.

Since I met this blessed Savior, since He cleansed and made me whole,
I will never cease to praise Him, I'll shout it while eternity rolls.

He touched me, oh He touched me.
And oh, the joy that fills my soul,
Something happened and now I know,
He touched me and made me whole.

Amen. SEE THE JOY!!