Borrowing

I found this link on the Rebelution site, and thought it was good. Check it out!
http://www.boundless.org/2005/articles/a0002045.cfm#share
Ad majorem Dei gloriam.
~E.K.

There's a story which is familiar to most, if not all of us. The story of Jesus walking on water, Peter walking on water, sinking. Jesus grabs his hand, pulls him to his feet, and calms the storm. You could probably tell somebody that story in your sleep. And yet, as familiar as it is, there is more to it than just a story. Read it again.
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Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but the boat by this time was a long way from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them. And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, "It is a ghost!" and they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, "Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid."

And Peter answered him, "Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water." He said, "Come." So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, "Lord, save me." Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?" And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God." (Matthew 14:22-33, ESV)

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O.K., so what? Look beyond the simple (or not-so-simple) events of people walking on water. (Like that's not cool enough, right?) Look at this not from your point of view, but from Peter's. Here we go.

You go out in a boat with 12 of your best friends. Bear in mind, you're all out on this boat because Jesus just fed 5,000 men, not to mention the women and kids, from five hunks of bread and two fish. So you go out in a boat, and Jesus goes up on the mountain to pray (he seems to do that a lot, eh?) So you twelve guys are chillin' out in the boat, while it gets further and further from the mountain. At 0-dark-hundred hours, one of the other 11 guys on the boat screams like mad. You're wide awake now, and you stare at him. He's pointing out on the sea. you follow his finger, and you start to freak out, too. There's a body, upright, floating. "A ghost!" somebody shouts. Half a minute, it's not floating. It's walking. Still, is there any rule that says ghosts have to hover? The ghost, or whatever it is, starts talking. "Take heart; it is I." (Trust Jesus to speak properly!) "Do not be afraid." O.K., so it sounds like Jesus, it looks sort of like him, but... well, you sort of let your imagination run away with you. It is, after all, the fourth watch. So, confident macho guy that you are, you start talking to the ghost. "Hey, out there? Yeah, this is Simon, also known as Cephas or Peter. Are you Jesus? You look sorta like him. Tell you what; if you're Jesus, tell me to walk on the water." After all, you suppose, only Jesus can actually make people walk on water right?

The ghost, or Jesus, says one word. "Come."

Your stomach starts churning. Remember, you're way out here because the wind pushed you out here. Wind plus water equals really, really big waves. You'd probably chicken out, except that the other 11 guys in the boat are now staring at you, waiting for you. You take a deep breath, and stick your foot over the edge of the boat. You hit something solid. Looking down... it's water. That's really weird. The other foot now. Hits water, and doesn't go through. You grin. You thought Jesus was pretty cool, even the Messiah, but that he could make people walk on water? Hey! You start walking to Jesus (yeah, it's he.) All of a sudden, you hear a roaring sound. You look towards the vast, open sea. Um, is that a wave? Yeah, that's a wave all right. A really, really big honkin' wave. And it's coming for you. Funny thing about waves, is they keep getting bigger. You stop walking, frozen in your tracks. Your feet get wet. Wet? Looking down, you see that your feet are now under the water. The sea is dragging you down. "Great," you think. "I'm walking across the water, now I'm sinking. Even if I manage to keep my head above water long enough to get back to the boat, that wave's coming. I'm not getting out of this one, am I?" You look back up, and see Jesus, standing on top of the water in front of you. He's watching you, and appears to be waiting for something. Nuh-uh. No way are you asking him for help; the guys are watching! Talk about humiliation. But you're still going dow, down, and the wave is getting bigger and closer. Finally, you start screaming. "Lord, save me!" Jesus, as though he was waiting for this, reaches down and pulls you up. Your feet are back on top of the water again, though your legs and tunic are completely soaked. Jesus looks you in the eye, and says, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?" You walk back to the boat with him, still eyeing the massive wave. The eleven guys see it, too, and are a little too worried to poke fun at you right now. You climb into the boat, legs shaking, used to the water as you are. Jesus gets back in the boat, and the wind stops blowing. The wave rolls gently past, and the boat does little more than bob in the water.

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Well, that was an interesting second-person narrative, but so what? Here's the big thing that sticks out of this passage. Look again at Jesus' response to Peter when he pulled him out of the water. It wasn't, "Yeah, that hydrogen bonding was pretty cool, wasn't it?" or "Gotta watch out for those waves, Pete." No. He said, "O you of little faith." Whoa, little faith? Half a minute! Didn't Peter just literally walk on water for Jesus, because Jesus said to walk? Yes, he did. But what happened once he got on the water? He saw the wind, and was afraid. He didn't trust Jesus to keep him abouve the water. He was more convinced of the power of nature than the power of the One who created nature.

So, what's the sea onto which God has called you? Obviously, not many of us will literally walk on water (although that would be fun....) But Christ has called us to do things that would be impossible without His grace. School, obedience, work, friendships, plays, being kind to our siblings, chores... the list goes on. But, all too often, we can be so self-reliant. "I can't get this projuect done; it's too hard!" "You know what? Forget it. My sister is just so obnoxious sometimes. No way I can be kind to her right now." "Wash the dishes? Again? I cannot keep this up!" You're right. You can't get the project done, you can't be nice to your sister, and you can't wash the dishes one more time. You weren't called to do this on your own. You were given the power of Christ for a reason. He's standing there, looking at you, waiting for you to ask Him. And when you ask, I promise (more significantly, He promises) that He will pull you to your feet, and help you to the boat.

Peace Out!

Hey Everyone! I've had alot of things on my mind lately. I'm crazy busy and even when I'm not crazy busy, I think I am and start stressing out. I've had alot of time working on the play, and I'm up to my eyeballs in some school subjects. Plus there are basic other things like serving at home and at church, and decisions that I need to make. Plus in the last week or so I've been battling against (not severe) depression. This has been causing my spiritual life to plummit. You'd think that I would want to pour myself out to God in this time of hardship, but that's not what my hearts been telling me to do. Yeah, listen to the stupid blonde listening to her heart...I was telling my friend Dave about this concern and he wisely told me that is was probably me thinking that I knew how to figure it out and not relying on God. This was true, and It's hard to battle- that inner pride thinking that I can do it by myself. And I can't.

"The only temptation that has come to you is that which everyone has. But you can trust God, who will not permit you to be tempted more than you can stand. But when you are tempted, he will also give you a way to escape so that you will be able to stand it." 1 Corinthians 10:13

" Whoever listens to what is taught will suceed, and whoever trusts the Lord will be happy." Proverbs 16:20

God knows exactly what's going on, and why. Have peace and know that he is in control.

In His Grace,

Kylie

God's Work and Grace in our Lives (Elizabeth and Kylie)

As I'm sure pretty much everybody who comes here knows, we just performed the show Pilgrim. Lots of people in the show, myself included, were more than a little bit nervous. The dress rehearsal just before opening night had been full of "speed bumps." We prayed before the show that we'd do the show for the glory of God, and not for our own glory. We prayed for the unbelievers and believers alike who were coming to see the show. So, here's the cool thing. The prayer didn't stay downstairs. I, and probably other people as well, were praying backstage. (This is NOT to exult myself as a godly person or anything like that. I would not have done that of my own accord, it was definitely the King helping me.)

Sometimes, when we read the words "Pray without ceasing" in our Bibles, it looks so dull. Pray all the time? Ugh! Can't we do anything fun? We get this mental image of praying on our knees, heads bowed, hands clasped together. We think of it as boring.

Well, He showed me something last night. It's not a drag. "It's just talkin' to Him." I had peace, not anxiety, and hope, not fear. I know God was working last night, and I could feel His pleasure that we were portraying Him, or at least trying to do so. We serve a God who is all too ready to answer our prayers.

Yes, and God has answered our prayers. Mrs. Mays spent SOOO much time praying for everyone in the cast and crew individualy. And praying for all the characters...Mrs. Mays did not make a single decision without asking God first. The whole show was turned over to God and it's just been revealed to us that anything is possible with God. Only by God's grace has the show come together. And God has taken away our anxiety and fear and filled us with joy and amazement. God is So GOOD!

In His Grace,

Elizabeth and Kylie

o HaPpY dAy

Happy Easter Everyone! Sorry we haven't posted in like forever...but I just wanted to reflect a bit on the meaning of easter.

How did your easter start? Did you automatically think of what Jesus did for you on the cross?

or did your day start like mine?

it was eight o'clock. my Dad yelled upstairs that we were going to second service and that we could come downstairs now. I dragged myself out of bed, put my feet on the freezing floor and grabbed my sweatshirt. I walked downstairs and greeted my family with a Happy Easter and looked on the couch where normally my easter basket was. I was instantly concerned- I picked up a slip of paper with my name on it that had a clue to find my easter basketl. I went through about four of these slips before I even thought about the cross and the meaning of the day. On about the fourth slip there was a reference to the cross- before that my mind had been only full of the thoughts of chocolate, peeps and cadburry creme eggs. And let me tell you, boy did I feel stupid.

Easter isn't about the chocolate or the bunnies or chicks...it's about Jesus. On Easter we should become freshly aware of what God's done for us. What Jesus did on the cross for us. And to think somehow, Jesus' ressurection somehow turned to chocolate. Not that chocolates or Easter candy are bad- but they are in no way what Easter's about. Ok, I'm starting to go all over the place and being me I will do that often...

Actually the easter egg is said to represent the stone that was rolled off Jesus' grave- I dont know if that's true or not but I found it interesting.

I hope you all were freshly reminded of God's Grace towards us the sinners that we are. And I hope you keep the even of Easter in your mind everyday, and I would encourage you all to read this passage of God's word often- and be filled with passion for what He's done.

Happy Easter!

In His Grace,

Kylie

The Incarnation

I know, I know, you're freaking out. Wondering if you stumbled into the December archives? Nope. You're here. Who says that the Incarnation can't be discussed when it's not Christmastide? And, granted, we probably made a post about the Incarnation around Christmas. But I don't think we can have our minds blown too many times by the love of our God. So, here it is again.

We're actually going to start a long way back, as far as time, from Bethlehem. We're going to begin at the creation of the world. There was a God who spoke the words "Let there be light," and boom! there it was. Light. Ever seen a light that absolutely dazzles your eyes? God made all that light, and more of it, by speaking. After that, he made the land and the sky and the animals and the trees and the waters and the fish and everything else, and finally man. He breathed life into Adam and Eve. Then, they rebelled against Him. The pots decided to be the potter. God promised that, from them, would come a Saviour. This same God later worked through Abraham and Jacob and Joseph and Moses and Joshua and Ruth and Saul and David and Elijah and Daniel... the list goes on, and I don't have the room or the time to tell all their stories. So, recount them with me in your head. Look at what God did for them and for Israel through them. Isn't that kind enough? After all, we're a pack of rebels! How often do we spit in God's face, tell Him, the King, "I'm running things my way now. Step aside, if you please, because I'm not going to submit to you. No fun, no friends, nothing in it for me. I'm doing what I think is best, and I don't care what you say." He breathed life into us, and we rebel! Isn't it amazing that he even aided Israel during the time of the kings and the exiles?
Now, with that still in your mind, think about this. The King of glory, who made the whole world, who has had people rebelling against His perfect reign for thousands of years, decides to become one of the creation. A man. With limits of space and time. With pain and suffering and temptation. Not only a man, though. It would have been amazing if He'd come in a golden chariot from the sky, surrounded by cherubim and seraphim, blasting trumpets. But no. He came as a baby, thought to be conceived out of wedlock. And he was born in a stable. Not a clean, neat stable with cute fluffy sheep, like the ones that go up as nativity sets in your living room, but a real stable. It probably smelled awful, and it was probably not the most comfortable place in the world to be. And, not only did He come as a baby, but He came with the intent of dying. And not only dying, but dying at the hands of those he created, betrayed by His friend. He came so that he could be scourged and beaten for hours, spit upon, and nailed through the feet and wrists to a Roman cross, where he slowly suffocated over the course of six hours.
Why?
Because He loves you. He loves us.
Why? That, I don't know. We certainly don't deserve it.
Marvel, though it isn't December 25th, at the amazing grace and mercy of our God.
"Amazing love! How can it be that Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?"

Happy St. Patricks Day!

Hey all. Happy St. Patricks day! Because I lack to explain the story of St. Patrick well, please click on the link and enjoy the story of Why we celebrate St. Patricks Day!
nuff said. ~Kylie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TCB5QhHVJA