true greatness...

i loved this blog post stephen altrogge wrote about his grandfather. i think in my day to day social media hungry for viralness life that i need to remember these words...

“Despite his lack of public fame, my grandpa was truly great in God’s eyes. That’s the funny thing about true, biblical greatness. Biblical greatness almost never goes viral, because biblical greatness almost always involves doing things no one ever sees.” stephen altrogge, from “true greatness never goes viral”

doing things no one sees. or tweets. or instagrams. or facebrags (a facebook brag). or blogs about. or talks about later in a little aside to a friend. or oh so “humbly” mentions in passing. all of those are some of the ways i get in my props. ugh. 

true greatness. not letting my left hand know what my right hand is doing. much less not announcing it to the world via social media.

perhaps not counting up my “likes” (can i ever remember a time before we knew what “likes” were?) not evaluating the comments. or lack of comments. not explaining how busy i am. how important i am. because of all the “things” i do. for others. for God. for my family. how ever will i get over myself?

i am always returning to romans 7 and 8 as ballast for my soul. as encouragement that not all is lost. that there is hope. that SomeOne understand. perhaps that is why i read it so often this summer (like how i got that brag in about my constant Bible reading?) 

romans 7:21-23-25 (the message)

It happens so regularly that it’s predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God’s commands, but it’s pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge.

 I’ve tried everything and nothing helps. I’m at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn’t that the real question?

 The answer,

thank God,

is that Jesus Christ can and does.

the only thing “true and great” about me is Jesus Christ. that's all i have to say about that today. and tomorrow. and into eternity. i am so indebted to the apostle paul. for penning those chapters in romans. but mostly indebted to Christ. who showed me that the greatest in His kingdom is those who never achieved it in this one...

taylor the latte boy responds...

here are a few highlights from dessert theater. and by "highlights" i mean "wonderful things maxx did." 

and in case you don't really understand the "taylor the latte boy responds" song, watch the video below it first. that is the "taylor the latte boy" song. which in our production was sung by an adorable high school girl named emma. instead of kristen chenowith. who is also adorable. but not a high school girl. nor a member of FBC tallahassee's youth group.

rosalea did wonderful things too. she was running the backstage. putting on scenery. microphones. handing out props. but it is difficult to video or take photos of backstage help.

dessert theater is a yearly occurrence at our church. and it is a HUGE pain during rehearsals and you think you will never survive the schedule. but you do survive. mostly. and in the end it is amazing. and the kids are fantastic. and the money raised goes to the youth mission/choir tour. and it is something all the kids that graduate talk about how much they miss being in it every year. and the parents that are finished with the marathons of dessert theater talk about how much they miss their kids being in it now. and i know i am coming to the last of my performers (though rosie may keep working her backstage magic.) and i know i will miss seeing him on stage also. mostly because he loves to be on stage so much (he got that from his mama.) but i have one more year...

mysterious ways...

i hope you had a chance to read the story about this chaise lounge and my sweet friend sharon. we decided that it might give out too much information that really wasn't my story to tell and so i have removed it because the last thing i would want is for this fabulous story to end up telling things that aren't my story to tell. so if you want to hear the whole story, you can ask me. or sharon. and we will tell you how GREAT God is and how He is always doing a thousand things... even from a photo of a chaise lounge....

(the rest of this story has been removed. but i left the poem and Scripture verses in. because they are really really good ones to read...)

God Moves in Mysterious Ways by William Cowper (1731–1800)

God moves in a mysterious way,
His wonders to perform;
He plants his footsteps in the sea,
And rides upon the storm.

Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never failing skill,
He treasures up his bright designs,
And works his sovereign will.

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take,
The clouds ye so much dread
are big with mercy, and shall break
In blessings on your head.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust him for his grace;
Behind a frowning providence,
He hides a smiling face.

His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.

Blind unbelief is sure to err,
And scan his work in vain;
God is his own interpreter,
And He will make it plain.

(my addition. apologies to willy cowper)

He takes my simple photo shot in jest,
and uses it to spur;
an answer to a prayer is blessed,
as is this story when it is heard.

ephesians 2:7-10 (the message)
Now God has us where He wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all His idea, and all His work. All we do is trust Him enough to let Him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join Him in the work he does, the good work He has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.

beiber fever...

 so i don't usually write about pop stars... but since the biebs was arrested in my home state i feel very close to this story... ha.

and here is my 1 cent opinion (not really worth 2 cents). and it isn't even my own. i read it somewhere else and then moved on and later thought about how brilliant it was but i couldn't find it again to quote it from the source... but here is a synopsis of what i read...

once upon a time there was a very talented young man. who went to the big city. and did every kind of wrong thing there was to do. and his mother and his home church prayed for him. his name was augustine. st. augustine of hippo.

a guy who one day heard a voice saying “take up and read”. and he took up and read a book that would change his life. and mine. and he would write things that still move my heart today...

“Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee.” 

“And men go abroad to admire the heights of mountains, the mighty waves of the sea, the broad tides of rivers, the compass of the ocean, and the circuits of the stars, yet pass over the mystery of themselves without a thought.” 

“You never go away from us, yet we have difficulty in returning to You. Come, Lord, stir us up and call us back. Kindle and seize us. Be our fire and our sweetness. Let us love. Let us run.” 

“You called and shouted and burst my deafness. You flashed, shone, and scattered my blindness. You breathed odors, and I drew in breath and panted for You. I tasted, and I hunger and thirst. You touched me, and I burned for Your peace.” 

“For great are you, Lord, and you look kindly on what is humble, but the lofty-minded you regard from afar. Only to those whose hearts are crushed do you draw close. You will not let yourself be found by the proud, nor even by those who in their inquisitive skill count stars or grains of sand, or measure the expanses of heaven, or trace the paths of the planets.” 

“Late have I loved you, beauty so old and so new: late have I loved you. And see, you were within and I was in the external world and sought you there, and in my unlovely state I plunged into those lovely created things which you made. You were with me, and I was not with you. The lovely things kept me far from you, though if they did not have their existence in you, they had no existence at all. You called and cried out loud and shattered my deafness. You were radiant and resplendent, you put to flight my blindness. You were fragrant, and I drew in my breath and now pant after you. I tasted you, and I feel but hunger and thirst for you. You touched me, and I am set on fire to attain the peace which is yours.” 

all quotes from a guy a lot like justin beiber who became a True Believer... Augustine of Hippo, Confessions

how to draw near...

in light of my last post this quote by clive staples seems most appropriate... (is there EVER a time when a clive staples quote does not seem appropriate? i have not found that time yet...)

We shall draw nearer to God not by trying to avoid the sufferings inherent in our lives, but by accepting them and offering them to Him; throwing away all defensive armor. If our hearts need to be broken, and if He chooses this as the way in which they should break, so be it. 
—C.S. Lewis 

trying to accept and offer all that is broken in my life to Him. so be it..