Wisdom to act or to wait.
Sometimes, we have limited information about a person or a situation.
There have been times when I have felt frustration over a decision someone has made. I voice my concerns and find out later that I didn't have all the facts. Then, I walk away feeling stupid that I judged too quickly. There have been other times where I felt strongly that some sort of action/judgement should come quickly! ( even knowing all the facts) Then in the end....waiting and grace turn out to have been the better options. In those moments, I find myself walking away saying.....Why was I so quick to be harsh? Why do I worry, when God is in control?
I am sure there will be situations in my life that will contradict these lessons now and again but for the most part.....
I find myself learning to dance with Jesus without steping on His toes.
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Sunday, January 22, 2006
Paradigm shift
We are in the middle of a preaching series on “Changing perspective” at our corps. It was my husband's turn to preach this morning and it was an excellent sermon!
The following are excerpts from his sermon. I wanted to share it because it really spoke to me.
Thomas Kuhn, the science historian who coined the phrase, “paradigm shift”, in a paper in 1962, on talking about revolutions in science said this:
“Led by a new paradigm, scientists adopt new instruments and look in new places. More importantly, during revolutions scientists see new and different things when looking with familiar instruments in places they have looked before. It is rather as if the professional community had been suddenly transported to another planet where familiar objects are seen in a different light and are joined by unfamiliar ones as well.”
Let me paraphrase this for our context:
“Led by a new paradigm, Salvationists adopt new ways and look in new places. More importantly, during revival, Salvationists see new and different things when looking with familiar instruments in places they have looked before. It is rather as if the longstanding traditional Corps had been suddenly transported to a spiritual depth where familiar ways and familiar people are seen in a different light and are joined by new ways and new people as well.”
Stephen Covey said, “Paradigm shifts move us from one way of seeing the world to another, and those shifts create powerful change.” For him when truth was revealed, and he realized the father sitting next to him was not an incompetent parent, but a grieving widow he said, “My paradigm shifted. Suddenly I saw things differently, and because I saw differently I thought differently, I felt differently, I behaved differently.
Allow the Spirit to take hold of you and break the mold that keeps you comfortable where you are. Allow the Spirit to take hold of this Corps to break any bonds that keep us from being all that we can be as a relevant, effectual, spiritual force in this community. This corporate paradigm shift has not so much to do with old ways and methods verses new ways and methods as it has to do with a fundamental change in the our hearts. Faith, if not growing, becomes mundane and mediocre. We need people excited about the Word of God, powerful in their witness and prayer, deep in their knowledge of their Savior. And when that happens, our corps becomes a growing vibrant community, not because of our worship style or clever programming, but because of the Holy Spirit’s power in the lives of everyone who worships and serves in this place.
The following are excerpts from his sermon. I wanted to share it because it really spoke to me.
Thomas Kuhn, the science historian who coined the phrase, “paradigm shift”, in a paper in 1962, on talking about revolutions in science said this:
“Led by a new paradigm, scientists adopt new instruments and look in new places. More importantly, during revolutions scientists see new and different things when looking with familiar instruments in places they have looked before. It is rather as if the professional community had been suddenly transported to another planet where familiar objects are seen in a different light and are joined by unfamiliar ones as well.”
Let me paraphrase this for our context:
“Led by a new paradigm, Salvationists adopt new ways and look in new places. More importantly, during revival, Salvationists see new and different things when looking with familiar instruments in places they have looked before. It is rather as if the longstanding traditional Corps had been suddenly transported to a spiritual depth where familiar ways and familiar people are seen in a different light and are joined by new ways and new people as well.”
Stephen Covey said, “Paradigm shifts move us from one way of seeing the world to another, and those shifts create powerful change.” For him when truth was revealed, and he realized the father sitting next to him was not an incompetent parent, but a grieving widow he said, “My paradigm shifted. Suddenly I saw things differently, and because I saw differently I thought differently, I felt differently, I behaved differently.
Allow the Spirit to take hold of you and break the mold that keeps you comfortable where you are. Allow the Spirit to take hold of this Corps to break any bonds that keep us from being all that we can be as a relevant, effectual, spiritual force in this community. This corporate paradigm shift has not so much to do with old ways and methods verses new ways and methods as it has to do with a fundamental change in the our hearts. Faith, if not growing, becomes mundane and mediocre. We need people excited about the Word of God, powerful in their witness and prayer, deep in their knowledge of their Savior. And when that happens, our corps becomes a growing vibrant community, not because of our worship style or clever programming, but because of the Holy Spirit’s power in the lives of everyone who worships and serves in this place.
Saturday, January 21, 2006
Jehovah Witnesses
The Jehovah Witnesses just left my front step. They made a few mistakes today with me!
1. They came on a Saturday morning when I was not busy and was still in my pajamas.
2. They tried to tell my zeal for God was commendable but so was Saul before he knew the truth and became Paul!
3. Then they tried to guilt me for being home and not “out in the world”. Their reasoning is that if I was really living by the scriptures I would be going door to door as Jesus did.
DON’T get me started!!!
1. Mornings are not good for me! If provoked I will bite back!
2. I said “How do you know you are not Saul? Your Zeal seems greater than mine; I am not out going door to door! I am still in my Pajamas!!”
3. Must I say WAR CRYS….yes it has been awhile but I have gone door to door. Also, Christ taught in the synagogue and went in to homes where he was invited -even to the house of sinners. He didn’t go door to door knocking on random houses!
In the end, it was all friendly. They said it was commendable that someone in this day and age would really be searching the scriptures when most people don’t care.
This is the BIGGEST problem of all! Most of us do not know what we believe or how we are any different than them. The differences are sometimes so subtle that ANYONE who doesn’t know more than basic Sunday school lessons or basic Corps Cadet Lessons could be easily deceived. PLUS! They are going out door to door on the whole premise that they are right and people don’t care or know the Bible.
READ YOUR BIBLE- Study the WORD of GOD and find yourself approved.
They do have more zeal than most of us and that is to our shame for we have the truth that Jesus is God, God in flesh. Truly and properly God and truly and properly man.
Devotions this morning with them was exhausting!!
I am going back to my toast and coffee.
1. They came on a Saturday morning when I was not busy and was still in my pajamas.
2. They tried to tell my zeal for God was commendable but so was Saul before he knew the truth and became Paul!
3. Then they tried to guilt me for being home and not “out in the world”. Their reasoning is that if I was really living by the scriptures I would be going door to door as Jesus did.
DON’T get me started!!!
1. Mornings are not good for me! If provoked I will bite back!
2. I said “How do you know you are not Saul? Your Zeal seems greater than mine; I am not out going door to door! I am still in my Pajamas!!”
3. Must I say WAR CRYS….yes it has been awhile but I have gone door to door. Also, Christ taught in the synagogue and went in to homes where he was invited -even to the house of sinners. He didn’t go door to door knocking on random houses!
In the end, it was all friendly. They said it was commendable that someone in this day and age would really be searching the scriptures when most people don’t care.
This is the BIGGEST problem of all! Most of us do not know what we believe or how we are any different than them. The differences are sometimes so subtle that ANYONE who doesn’t know more than basic Sunday school lessons or basic Corps Cadet Lessons could be easily deceived. PLUS! They are going out door to door on the whole premise that they are right and people don’t care or know the Bible.
READ YOUR BIBLE- Study the WORD of GOD and find yourself approved.
They do have more zeal than most of us and that is to our shame for we have the truth that Jesus is God, God in flesh. Truly and properly God and truly and properly man.
Devotions this morning with them was exhausting!!
I am going back to my toast and coffee.
Thursday, January 19, 2006
God of Hope
The sky yesterday afternoon made my heartache for the right words. As I looked at the sun breaking through the clouds behind me and illuminating everything in front of me, I wanted to create. To create a poem or capture on canvas what I saw around me. But no words came and no time was given to pull out the easel and brushes.
Behind me the clouds were white and broken. You could see the baby blue sky dancing above. In front of me, on the horizon, heavy clouds made of dark violet hung with the moodiness of a bored woman or the attitude of a vengeful man. The contrast of the sky behind me and what I saw before me became enchanted by what I found in-between.
In the middle of it all, the light from behind pressed upon the pressures ahead and seemed to kindly grace the storm that had passed. Everything in front of me was wet and wind blown. There were branches lying in the road and cluttering groomed lawns. The trees dark from the heaviness of the rain looked as if they had soaked in all of the burdens of the storm. As I drew closer to the trees they remained like silhouettes against the open sky. The light in-between looked like twilight but it was the middle of the day. The “in-between” was magical and then I heard in my heart and mind; “This is what hope looks like. If I was to paint hope a color….this is it!”
Hope is found in the “in-between” with the sun breaking through behind you. Hope illuminates that which is heavy laden, covering it with the light of grace. Hope is found in the storm that has just past, rolling away on the distant horizon, yet still close enough to see.
Hope.
Dear God of hope,
Fill me with all joy and peace as I trust in you, so that I may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13)
Color me with hope.
Amen
Our God who is the Great Creator of all things understands and knows my desire to be like Him. To, on some level, create. To paint, write or speak words that bring forth some reflection of His Glory.
As a kid I used to wonder if we would be given special jobs in Heaven. It was at the age of eight that I first asked God if my job (if there were jobs) could be to help paint the skies. It’s a great canvas and often times, I think I see brush strokes! The sky is always changing and new and no matter what the weather………God has found numerous ways to take my breath away.
Behind me the clouds were white and broken. You could see the baby blue sky dancing above. In front of me, on the horizon, heavy clouds made of dark violet hung with the moodiness of a bored woman or the attitude of a vengeful man. The contrast of the sky behind me and what I saw before me became enchanted by what I found in-between.
In the middle of it all, the light from behind pressed upon the pressures ahead and seemed to kindly grace the storm that had passed. Everything in front of me was wet and wind blown. There were branches lying in the road and cluttering groomed lawns. The trees dark from the heaviness of the rain looked as if they had soaked in all of the burdens of the storm. As I drew closer to the trees they remained like silhouettes against the open sky. The light in-between looked like twilight but it was the middle of the day. The “in-between” was magical and then I heard in my heart and mind; “This is what hope looks like. If I was to paint hope a color….this is it!”
Hope is found in the “in-between” with the sun breaking through behind you. Hope illuminates that which is heavy laden, covering it with the light of grace. Hope is found in the storm that has just past, rolling away on the distant horizon, yet still close enough to see.
Hope.
Dear God of hope,
Fill me with all joy and peace as I trust in you, so that I may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13)
Color me with hope.
Amen
Our God who is the Great Creator of all things understands and knows my desire to be like Him. To, on some level, create. To paint, write or speak words that bring forth some reflection of His Glory.
As a kid I used to wonder if we would be given special jobs in Heaven. It was at the age of eight that I first asked God if my job (if there were jobs) could be to help paint the skies. It’s a great canvas and often times, I think I see brush strokes! The sky is always changing and new and no matter what the weather………God has found numerous ways to take my breath away.
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Commissioner Samuel Brengle
My Aunt posted this on her Xanga site. It is written well and I believe is just as powerful and real now as it was when he wrote it. Lord help us, help me....to grow in grace.
"It's easy to pick out flaws
In the work that others have done;
To point out errors that others have made,
When your own task you haven't begun.
It's easy enough to fuss and find fault
When others are doing their best;
To sneer at the little they have achieved,
When you have done nothing but rest.
It's easy enough to cavil and carp,
To criticize, scoff and deride,
For few of us ever have done perfect work,
No matter how hard we have tried.
It's easy enough not to speak of the best,
And to dwell all the time on the worst;
And perhaps it is proper sometimes to find fault,
But be sure that you've done something first!
~The late Commissioner Samuel Brengle
"It's easy to pick out flaws
In the work that others have done;
To point out errors that others have made,
When your own task you haven't begun.
It's easy enough to fuss and find fault
When others are doing their best;
To sneer at the little they have achieved,
When you have done nothing but rest.
It's easy enough to cavil and carp,
To criticize, scoff and deride,
For few of us ever have done perfect work,
No matter how hard we have tried.
It's easy enough not to speak of the best,
And to dwell all the time on the worst;
And perhaps it is proper sometimes to find fault,
But be sure that you've done something first!
~The late Commissioner Samuel Brengle
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
An Army on their knees
I saw an Army on their knees today. I was looking in the Eastern Territory’s Good News. There was a picture of delegates at a congress in Africa all kneeling….the whole crowd of them.
When I was in Latvia, with a small brigade of cadets from them Eastern Europe Territory, we attended a Holiness meeting in an apartment. Between 80-95 people came into that apartment for the meeting. The living room which was long and narrow turned into a corps hall. We worshiped together, collected offering, and had testimonies. When we came to an open time of prayer, a young woman came to the front of the room (she was obviously pregnant). The officer in charge explained how this young lady had lost her last child prematurely. She sat Olga in a chair and called the leaders of the room to stand around her. She invited everyone to pray for Olga, for her husband and for the baby. I placed my hand on Olga and closed my eyes to pray. I was startled by a loud thump and the floor shaking beneath me suddenly. I opened my eyes to see everyone in the room on their knees in prayer. I could only imagine, from the abruptness of the thump and rattle of the floor, that they all fell to their knees in unison. It seemed to me at the time to be their habit to pray that way as a congregation.
Prayer can take on many different postures.
I know God looks at the heart………not if we are standing, sitting, lying prostrate or praying while we drive. However, the posture of kneeling while praying is a humble posture.
When we are proud we stand tall.
Full of shame, we hang our heads low.
When we kneel to pray………..what are we saying?
When we kneel to pray in community what does that say?
Why is it harder to kneel in public worship than at home?
When I was in Latvia, with a small brigade of cadets from them Eastern Europe Territory, we attended a Holiness meeting in an apartment. Between 80-95 people came into that apartment for the meeting. The living room which was long and narrow turned into a corps hall. We worshiped together, collected offering, and had testimonies. When we came to an open time of prayer, a young woman came to the front of the room (she was obviously pregnant). The officer in charge explained how this young lady had lost her last child prematurely. She sat Olga in a chair and called the leaders of the room to stand around her. She invited everyone to pray for Olga, for her husband and for the baby. I placed my hand on Olga and closed my eyes to pray. I was startled by a loud thump and the floor shaking beneath me suddenly. I opened my eyes to see everyone in the room on their knees in prayer. I could only imagine, from the abruptness of the thump and rattle of the floor, that they all fell to their knees in unison. It seemed to me at the time to be their habit to pray that way as a congregation.
Prayer can take on many different postures.
I know God looks at the heart………not if we are standing, sitting, lying prostrate or praying while we drive. However, the posture of kneeling while praying is a humble posture.
When we are proud we stand tall.
Full of shame, we hang our heads low.
When we kneel to pray………..what are we saying?
When we kneel to pray in community what does that say?
Why is it harder to kneel in public worship than at home?
Monday, January 16, 2006
Be Thou my Vision!
“ We can not attain to a vision, we must live in the inspiration of it until it accomplishes itself! Waiting for the vision that tarries is the test of our loyalty to God.” Oswald Chambers
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