Today is a glorious day, I have been so far from God and there seemed to be a wall between us. I knew that I was the one that put it there, but couldn’t find what it took to take it away. I have hated God and cursed him for taking away my husband, best friend, and the one that I leaned on. Thanks to a dear friend that God sent to me after not seeing her for a long time, gave me a song to listen to and print off the words and put them on my desk to read every day and PRAISE GOD he knew I was ready to knock down the wall. Three of my coworkers and I had prayer and right now I am so full of his grace and I know that he is here holding me in his arms. I know I will still struggle and will have to work hard to remain close to him. I still have issues with being with people, but God will take care of that in due time. I want to thank everyone for your continued prayers and PLEASE continue to pray for me as I work at becoming what God wants me to be. God is so awesome. Thank you God for carrying me these last 2 years. To Tina and Joe I want to say Thank you for being there for me through all of this.
My Gospel October 20, 2008
I invited people to write out their own paraphrase of the Greatest Story Ever Told.
I told them I’d love to post it here for others to find the blessing of reading “The Gospel According to Me”.
If anyone would like to take me up on that, just comment on this entry and I’ll post it to share.
In the meantime, I figured I should do the same…
The Gospel According to Tina
In the beginning, God. That’s it. God period. He spoke and the world was born – his breath started it all, his heart gave it purpose, his vision made it perfect and beautifully flawed. It had to be that way. He wasn’t creating a robot habitat, he was creating a family - and that is always complicated. People have been able to choose from the get-go, and it didn’t take long before we chose ourselves over Him. So Eden was only a glimpse of our home, our perfect, walking and talking with God, home. Heaven had come down to Earth and it was all ours – was meant to be all ours – untill the choice to be like God, rather than simply trusting God, started a whole new ball game, and we’ve been struggling ever since.
Then, at some point back in the day, God reconnected with us through a new relationship described in an old testament. God spoke, people listened, God spoke, people were stupid, God disciplined, people learned, God spoke, people listened… sometimes. It’s a fascinating, drama of epic proportions that speaks of love and neglect, of redemption and miracle, of a perfect God desperately trying to be in relationship with an imperfect people. But it just wasn’t working – the Jews tried very hard some of the time – they definitley came up with lots of rules and regulations, did lots of altar building and sacrificing, but the distance between us and Him was too great. That sin thing is a real problem for God. (It did lead to some pretty phenomenal literature – you should read through those books of the bible, get a helper though, it’s tricky but full of wisdom and grace.) So anyway, God shifted gears.
This is important because it meant His one and only Son, who was there when the speaking and breathing got it all started, had to take a serious demotion. From the right hand of God, to a baby wrapped in rags, born inside a poop-filled barn to teenage parents who had no clue – that’s not a good day. Except it was - because heaven had come down again.
Just to be sure we would get it this time, God sent his Love to us in our own skin, speaking our language, dealing with our issues, and yet… Jesus was without sin. He was perfect – fully God, fully human - I don’t know, I haven’t fully figured that one out yet, but I believe. His example lived is enough for me. Its ability to span time and culture and a world of other options helps me believe. If that weren’t enough, His life still speaks - it encourages and inspires me daily. (It helps that my husband is a freaky replica of the classic, Western art version of his image, which is a constant reminder of His presence in my life.)
The Good News is – he came - he lived – he taught – he loved – and then he redeemed. He pulled the most amazing God-trick ever. He stood in the gap that humanity’s sin had created. He enabled the relationship between us and God to be renewed, and that took a great sacrifice – the weight of all that wrong had to be placed on someone’s shoulders – and so it was done. On the cross that day, Perfection paid the price of death so that imperfect people like you and me could cross the chasm of selfishness to find the arms of selflessness. The creation reconnected to its Creator. Then Jesus, who had really been a team player in all this, simply rose from the dead.
The Good News is - He is alive! And that living happens in each of us who says yes to the offer. No, of course it’s not perfect – this world is still broken. That happened long ago – God is a god of His word, and that means He works within the system that we helped create. But He is around every corner if you look for Him. The sunset is singing of His grace as much as the summer storm sooths with His mercy. When you get that hug you so desperately needed, those are His arms surrounding you. In those moments of peace that restore your sanity, if you listen you’ll hear that star-forming breath in the still and the silence. When you are laughing and playing and having a ball with some sort of recreation – so is God in the midst of you – re-creating. He is here and he loves you so much. Will you love him back?
The Good News is - every day is a miracle of grand proportion. A great journey/adventure with the God of the universe that I am honored to play a part in. Some days I make God proud in my role - other days he shrugs with an unsurprised grunt that feels like love coated in disapointment fringed with understanding and soaked in unabashed optimism. The reality is, without Jesus I am just a screw-up who gets it right sometimes on accident without hope of a future or a future of hope. With Jesus, I am a saint who often struggles with sin and there is nothing in my life but hope. Without Jesus I can try to be a good person, who makes a difference in this world. With Jesus I am a piece of heaven coming down, so that a good God can make an eternal difference for all people. And that is good news!
Stories of Healing April 21, 2008
Well, it has begun!
Tonight we had a preview service for the Water’s Edge and it was awesome! Thanks to all the people who have done so much to make this thing take flight. What a beautiful thing to see a vision come to life! It’s just phenomenal, and we’re only getting started! I can’t wait to see what God is going to do next!
Tonight (and May 4th) we had an awesome conversation about Jesus the healer. In the process we invited you to share your stories of healing. So to do that, just comment on this entry and we’ll use the listing of comments to share the stories with everyone.
Thanks for sharing!
Peace <>< Tina.
