Hair today, gone tomorrow. Yesterday I had my hair shortened after more than two years of wearing it long. It takes a while to get used to. Such is the characteristic of seasons in our lives. Things constantly change, and what was once the present is now the past. As Christians, we have to move on. We cannot stay in the exact same situation we were in last year, or even in yesterday. Each day is a gift from God, and He desires that our path shine brighter as we walk with Him.
Seek the Lord's will for your life today. Let Him put His desires for your life into your heart as you soak in His presence. God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. Hats off to the past, coats off to the future!
“...'It is a good land which the LORD our God is giving us.'” - Deuteronomy 1:25
Showing posts with label Promises. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Promises. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow
Thursday, October 11, 2007
October 11, 2006
10-11-06: This date is written next to three different verses in every B1BL3 I own. (All two of them.) I can remember it so clearly. If you will, please follow me back in time to October 11, 2006.
It was just like any other night I spent in Japan: busy. Something inside me felt different though. I needed to get away for a little bit. It was actually against the rules for me to leave the house this late at night. We had just gotten back from some meeting at the Koinonia Café and curfew was closing in quick.
I snuck out anyway.
I walked to the little park close by (which is now a huge park) to get alone and think. No one in sight, it was just me. Just me: an adopted child crying out to his Dad about an uncertain future. "Do you want me in China? I don’t even like China!"
On my knees in the shadows of playground equipment with the Book in front of me, I decide to strike a deal. I’m not much on making deals with God. But I think if you will seriously act out on them that He will speak to you. So I said if He gave me three verses that specifically spoke to me about China I would go, no questions asked.
(I should point out that I had been thinking about how the government churches in China are not allowed to talk about the resurrection.)
Open the book, Mark 16: all about the resurrection. Underline it, first verse.
I really like Japan. I don’t really want to go to China.
I flip over a little bit, 1 Corinthians 2:2.
“For I determined not to know anything among you except JC and Him crucified.”
Underline it, second verse.
Oh man, I’m stuck now.
Flip down a little farther to have Ephesians 5:14 jump up and kick the wind out of me.
“Awake, you who sleep,
Arise from the dead,
And C will give you light.”
Relief pours over me like a flood. I know what I have to do. I still don’t really like it, but at least there is no more inner conflict. No longer a battle between my flesh and His Spirit. Underline it, third verse.
It’s nearly 1:30 now. Tom would kill me if he knew. My legs are asleep and it takes me nearly 10 minutes to be able to walk. I get back to my room around 2 ‘o clock and sleep.
I have never slept better in my life than I did that night.
Jump forward a year and now I’m living where those three verses sent me. I could never ask for more.
Doing exactly what He wants, even if you don’t think you will like it, will bring a constant joy that nothing else can come close to. Every time I almost get ran over by a bus, every time I get stared at and called a foreigner, every time my student's eyes light up because they finally understand the difference between past perfect and past continuous, every time I play guitar and hear Him harmonizing with me, every whisper in my heart to lift my spirit, every glance over His shoulder to make sure I’m following, every tear fallen in prayer, every “I love you,” all these things remind me of different promises He has given me.
Given us.
Act on what He says, it will set you free.
It was just like any other night I spent in Japan: busy. Something inside me felt different though. I needed to get away for a little bit. It was actually against the rules for me to leave the house this late at night. We had just gotten back from some meeting at the Koinonia Café and curfew was closing in quick.
I snuck out anyway.
I walked to the little park close by (which is now a huge park) to get alone and think. No one in sight, it was just me. Just me: an adopted child crying out to his Dad about an uncertain future. "Do you want me in China? I don’t even like China!"
On my knees in the shadows of playground equipment with the Book in front of me, I decide to strike a deal. I’m not much on making deals with God. But I think if you will seriously act out on them that He will speak to you. So I said if He gave me three verses that specifically spoke to me about China I would go, no questions asked.
(I should point out that I had been thinking about how the government churches in China are not allowed to talk about the resurrection.)
Open the book, Mark 16: all about the resurrection. Underline it, first verse.
I really like Japan. I don’t really want to go to China.
I flip over a little bit, 1 Corinthians 2:2.
Underline it, second verse.
Oh man, I’m stuck now.
Flip down a little farther to have Ephesians 5:14 jump up and kick the wind out of me.
Arise from the dead,
And C will give you light.”
Relief pours over me like a flood. I know what I have to do. I still don’t really like it, but at least there is no more inner conflict. No longer a battle between my flesh and His Spirit. Underline it, third verse.
It’s nearly 1:30 now. Tom would kill me if he knew. My legs are asleep and it takes me nearly 10 minutes to be able to walk. I get back to my room around 2 ‘o clock and sleep.
I have never slept better in my life than I did that night.
Jump forward a year and now I’m living where those three verses sent me. I could never ask for more.
Doing exactly what He wants, even if you don’t think you will like it, will bring a constant joy that nothing else can come close to. Every time I almost get ran over by a bus, every time I get stared at and called a foreigner, every time my student's eyes light up because they finally understand the difference between past perfect and past continuous, every time I play guitar and hear Him harmonizing with me, every whisper in my heart to lift my spirit, every glance over His shoulder to make sure I’m following, every tear fallen in prayer, every “I love you,” all these things remind me of different promises He has given me.
Given us.
Act on what He says, it will set you free.
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