God is teaching me through Time & Space. Oh, and Fire.

So, you know how when you wake up and say, "Today will be a good day, my Jeep probably won't go up in a ball of flames today!"    Yeah.  Well, yesterday wasn't one of those days for me. 

Its been easy for me to comfort others or to try to help them gain perspective on life and loss of things or stuff, because, honestly... its THEIR STUFF.  When the stuff is mine, well, it just plain sucks to lose it.  And, I did 'LOSE IT' for a while yesterday, like right after I got the phone call that my Jeep was on fire.  Then again when I saw said Jeep, post fire.  Then again when I thought about what the heck will I do without a car and no insurance to replace it?  Then again... then again...

Then, after the fire inspectors & firemen left and my family and I got back to our house, I picked up my tear-stained & rosy-red cheek-ed daughter (who had been in the car with my son and I not 5 minutes before it went up in flames) and said "it's ok honey... it's just stuff."  I didn't really fully embrace the words at that moment, but am learning to.

Time & Space away from our stuff sure helps gain perspective on its importance and grasp on our life.  And, really, in the end, its not MY stuff anyway;  it's GOD'S stuff.  And, sometimes some of God's stuff blows up-  it's 4th of July time!  

Seriously though, I know that I am merely a steward of what God has given me, and I do the best with what I have while I have it, then TRUST that God will make a way.  I have already been contacted by some dear friends doing their best with what God has given them to be stewards of as they want to help us find a new vehicle.

God is making a way, every day, with everything we have.  He makes all things new, and often the thing that is being made new is me, my eyes, and my heart.  I pray you will give thanks today for what God has blessed you with, and ask Him to make your eyes new today.  Oh, and watch out for sparks, sometimes God speaks through fire!

                          (Argus Leader news story on the fire here)

Hope's NOT giving up- Remedy Drive

A gRACE against time: life in Snow Motion

Puntastic, and mildly cheesy- that's your forecast for this blog ;)

click pic for better detail

So, i'm sitting with some coffee this morning, looking out the window at the snow, reflecting on something one of my Omaha tweeps @phileena said about the snow "May the blanket of white invite us deeper into inner stillness, silence & solitude."  This made me begin thinking about it myself, and this occurred to me:  each little piece of snow is like grace.  A little, a little, a little- but next thing you know things look different.  God grants us little pieces, or maybe little 'peaces,' of grace in our day and before you know it what used to be one way is now another.   And, if we are honest, that grace offered isn't always, or further is seldom, convenient.  That grace, like the snow, makes routine NOT routine.  Driving my kids to school today I could either exercise patience or get in a wreck-  graceful?   Maybe.  Gift?  Most assuredly.    When we slow to the pace of the grace we are given, we notice things anew and breath in a new way, more fully and deeply.

I also notice something visually about the snow, and the pieces into piles of it.  How what seems insignificant begins to slowly but slowly change the very landscape and how it makes all things new.  The sloggy, muddy, crusty, wreckable crud becomes a smooth and flowing sea of white.   Grace.  Gift.

click pic for better detail

Last thing on the snow-  it consumes noise.  I don't know where you live or what you have in the area of being able to get 'away' but I challenge you to do so in the snow.  Pretty much anywhere in the country is gonna be able to take advantage of some snow this week- get out and listen, be aware of the way snow, little by little, peace by peace, consumes and quiets the noise around you.  What a gift, not all at once, but just like the grace of God we allow in- the noise and chaos and worry seems to cease.  It doesn't go away, it just ceases to be 'noise.'   The beach, the ocean... the crashing waves-  not 'noise' at all, but still sounds.

My prayer for us all is that we unwrap what God has for us in the lesson of snow this week.  We'll sure have plenty of examples to go check out, so get out there-  listen, and get the peace of snow on your face today




want some extra reading? 
well, there's some other stuff kicking around up there in my bean about water in it's different forms-  ocean: how you can cast your cares upon Christ out there, how the beautiful noise of waves makes the world's noise seem non-existent, how my sister-in-law is scared/respectful/fearful of the ocean in a way that I am- in the way that Aslan is described as a good-but-not-tame lion. 

your thoughts?

Invitation to understanding

There was a great article in the magazine Alt Press yesterday, pointed to me by Disciple guitarist Andrew Welch, which is a GREAT primer for those seeking to care more deeply for the community of which you are a part.   This is a community you might not have been AWARE that you are a part of, but if you consume art, whether words or music or pictures,  you are part of the crew.  Creatives create NOT in a vacuum or void, but within the context of a world filled with people like you and I, and their creations feed our souls in ways that nothing else can.

I'd love to have you take 5-10 minutes and read this article, then toss a comment or 2 on here, or email me what thoughts this provokes in you.  I promise you this will open your eyes a little, will enlighten you a bit, and MAYBE even help you begin to care more deeply.  Want to help the very folks this article is talking about?  swing by the LightsOut store or get in touch & be part of OUR team as we minister to artists and seek to provide care for those serving in these spaces.

to read the AP article click here: