The thing about taking chances is that there is a "chance" that things may not turn out the way you think they will. In fact, anyone who has lived any life at all will tell you that things rarely, if ever, turn out to be what you anticipated. But many would also tell you, it's far better that way.
It basically comes down to this: it's not about having everything you want. It's about being able to look back and not feel like you have wasted your time. If you aren't where you want to be in life, you are the only one who can change that.
There are so many things we put off because we don't have the time, we don't have the money, we don't have the opportunity, it's too difficult, or "there is one last thing that needs to fall into place THEN I'll be able to_________." Sadly, that one last thing that needs to fall into place never will. We will always have just as much time as we do now. And money, well, it tends to disappear as quickly as it appears.
Contentment is not apathy. If there is something you have a passion for, God cares about that. When you open yourself up and become a little more flexible who knows what kind of opportunities He will bring along? Don't hold back because it doesn't "look" the way you thought it would. Our perceptions will become bondage if we aren't willing to let them go.
Monday, July 5, 2010
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Sweet Sleep
I am awake. My first attempt at sleep was three hours ago. My second was about one hour ago. It's strange, I have always feared the inability to sleep. Even when I was a little girl, life was only good if my sleep was sweet.
Well, here I am, and oddly enough, it's a good thing I am not asleep. God is ministering to me so much just through worship music, the words of my friends, and His still, small voice. He is reawakening passion for His Kingdom within me. This world sucks the life out of you, literally. It takes all your passion, your joy, your zeal and replaces it with apathy, cynicism and contempt. In order to keep our passion we need to protect it and cultivate it relentlessly.
Unfortunately, I have not done so and God is having to rebuild a lot of me from scratch. He knows what I need. My faith is fragile and He is bulking it up. I'm just pressing into Him and letting Him do all the work. I'm tired of trying to accomplish things my way. All I have is only what He has given me. All I will be is only what He will make me.
So, I'm just going to sit back and watch Him work. His faithful, loving, gentle hands will get the job done.
Come finish the work you began in me, Jesus.
Well, here I am, and oddly enough, it's a good thing I am not asleep. God is ministering to me so much just through worship music, the words of my friends, and His still, small voice. He is reawakening passion for His Kingdom within me. This world sucks the life out of you, literally. It takes all your passion, your joy, your zeal and replaces it with apathy, cynicism and contempt. In order to keep our passion we need to protect it and cultivate it relentlessly.
Unfortunately, I have not done so and God is having to rebuild a lot of me from scratch. He knows what I need. My faith is fragile and He is bulking it up. I'm just pressing into Him and letting Him do all the work. I'm tired of trying to accomplish things my way. All I have is only what He has given me. All I will be is only what He will make me.
So, I'm just going to sit back and watch Him work. His faithful, loving, gentle hands will get the job done.
Come finish the work you began in me, Jesus.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Justice
Taylor and I recently went to some friends' wedding down in Houston. Our friends, Derek and Tessa, started a ministry last year with some other passionate servants of God. The ministry is called Rescue the Girl and it started as an effort to raise enough money to save just one girl from the horrors of sex slavery. From that point it grew--you can see just how far they've come at www.rescuethegirl.com.
The weekend in Houston gave us the opportunity to have some good conversations with these amazing people about their vision for the ministry and the event that we are planning to have here in Wichita this summer. (If you are here in Wichita or nearby, keep you eyes and ears open. The event we are planning will be consistent with other RtG events in that we will use the creative arts to bring awareness to the problem of sex slavery as well as to raise money to further this cause that is so close to God's heart.)
Talking about this particular type of slavery got me to thinking about ALL types and what my responsibility is to prevent them. While I wish I was in Africa and India and even here in Wichita on the front lines kicking down the doors, God has yet to give me that opportunity. But I have begun to consider the steps that I can take to end slavery here at home.
With a little research I realized that a lot of what we buy is made by the hands of children who are being exploited for monetary gain...and not just children. Adults fall prey to this exploitation as well.
I think that part of the reason that this is still such a problem in our society is because the people in the world who have the money (that's you and me) feel entitled to buy whatever we want and don't feel the need to know where it came from. We are consumers. If we want something, we go get it without thinking twice.
The reality is that you and I have a responsibility as Jesus' hands and feet here on this earth to bring justice to those whose lives have been stolen by greedy hands. Psalm 37:28 says that the Lord LOVES justice and Psalm 82:3 states that we are to "give justice to the weak and the fatherless" and to "maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute." It doesn't get a whole lot clearer than that.
With this on my mind, I have done a little research. Here is a website with a PDF list of countries and the products they sell that involve child labor and forced labor: http://distributism.blogspot.com/2009/09/slave-made-goods-by-country-list-from.html. It gets a little confusing once you realize that the cute pair of shoes you want at Target are made in the USA with products from China and Pakistan. Unfortunately, it's impossible for us to know for sure that the things we are buying have never passed through the hands of a slave laborer, but it's good for us to keep the possibility in mind as we shop so that we are able to avoid the obvious slave-made products.
Also here is a link to Free the Slaves: http://www.freetheslaves.net/Page.aspx?pid=348. They have a lot of good information on modern day slavery and how to practically become involved in putting an end to it.
This has been something that has been weighing heavy on my heart. We ALL have the ability in some way or another to bring justice to those who have no voice to plead for their own cause (Proverbs 31:8).
Let's be proactive in shaping the world. God has made us more than conquerors in this evil place--why not change some things?
I love you all.
Kaela
P.S. Photo courtesy of Tessa Harvey!
The weekend in Houston gave us the opportunity to have some good conversations with these amazing people about their vision for the ministry and the event that we are planning to have here in Wichita this summer. (If you are here in Wichita or nearby, keep you eyes and ears open. The event we are planning will be consistent with other RtG events in that we will use the creative arts to bring awareness to the problem of sex slavery as well as to raise money to further this cause that is so close to God's heart.)
Talking about this particular type of slavery got me to thinking about ALL types and what my responsibility is to prevent them. While I wish I was in Africa and India and even here in Wichita on the front lines kicking down the doors, God has yet to give me that opportunity. But I have begun to consider the steps that I can take to end slavery here at home.
With a little research I realized that a lot of what we buy is made by the hands of children who are being exploited for monetary gain...and not just children. Adults fall prey to this exploitation as well.
I think that part of the reason that this is still such a problem in our society is because the people in the world who have the money (that's you and me) feel entitled to buy whatever we want and don't feel the need to know where it came from. We are consumers. If we want something, we go get it without thinking twice.
The reality is that you and I have a responsibility as Jesus' hands and feet here on this earth to bring justice to those whose lives have been stolen by greedy hands. Psalm 37:28 says that the Lord LOVES justice and Psalm 82:3 states that we are to "give justice to the weak and the fatherless" and to "maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute." It doesn't get a whole lot clearer than that.
With this on my mind, I have done a little research. Here is a website with a PDF list of countries and the products they sell that involve child labor and forced labor: http://distributism.blogspot.com/2009/09/slave-made-goods-by-country-list-from.html. It gets a little confusing once you realize that the cute pair of shoes you want at Target are made in the USA with products from China and Pakistan. Unfortunately, it's impossible for us to know for sure that the things we are buying have never passed through the hands of a slave laborer, but it's good for us to keep the possibility in mind as we shop so that we are able to avoid the obvious slave-made products.
Also here is a link to Free the Slaves: http://www.freetheslaves.net/Page.aspx?pid=348. They have a lot of good information on modern day slavery and how to practically become involved in putting an end to it.
This has been something that has been weighing heavy on my heart. We ALL have the ability in some way or another to bring justice to those who have no voice to plead for their own cause (Proverbs 31:8).
Let's be proactive in shaping the world. God has made us more than conquerors in this evil place--why not change some things?
I love you all.
Kaela
P.S. Photo courtesy of Tessa Harvey!
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
My Winter
In the past month and a half, Taylor and I have said goodbye to three sweet people who had an impact on our lives in some way or another. Death is a heart-breaking process. It changes the person completely. It steals their smile, captures the sparkle in their eye and diminishes them to little more than a beating heart which will eventually succumb as well. Before you know it, the person you loved and lived life with is barely a shadow of their former self.
We fear death. Fear is a natural human reaction to the things we don't understand and cannot predict. But for these three loved ones, there was no uncertainty. They knew where death would take them and Who would be waiting to greet them on the other side.
Death isn't scary. It is simply the last paragraph of the introduction to an amazing masterpiece that God is writing. It is the sneak peek of our true destiny: to be with and worship God forever. Our lives are important, but death is the first step into freedom--the true original freedom that God had in mind at the beginning.
This has been my winter--cold and hard. But the spring brings new life. Hopefully it will come early this year.
We fear death. Fear is a natural human reaction to the things we don't understand and cannot predict. But for these three loved ones, there was no uncertainty. They knew where death would take them and Who would be waiting to greet them on the other side.
Death isn't scary. It is simply the last paragraph of the introduction to an amazing masterpiece that God is writing. It is the sneak peek of our true destiny: to be with and worship God forever. Our lives are important, but death is the first step into freedom--the true original freedom that God had in mind at the beginning.
This has been my winter--cold and hard. But the spring brings new life. Hopefully it will come early this year.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Yesterday was not a fun day...I took our cat Annie to the vet to get fixed and declawed. At lunchtime the vet called me to tell me that Annie had died after surgery. Apparently the anesthesia didn't agree with something in her body and it stopped her heart. He said this has only happened twice in his ten years of practice. He thinks that maybe she had feline leukemia or something that would have caused her to react badly to the anesthesia. At least if she was sick, she died peacefully and painlessly.
Life is fleeting. My mom told me on Monday that a friend of ours in Idaho died of a heart attack while riding his mountain bike. He was the same age as my parents--young and healthy with a sweet family. He was in great shape and ate healthy...he did everything he could to live a long, enjoyable life. You just never know, though, when it is going to be your time.
So, I have cried a bit the past few days.
Life is fleeting. My mom told me on Monday that a friend of ours in Idaho died of a heart attack while riding his mountain bike. He was the same age as my parents--young and healthy with a sweet family. He was in great shape and ate healthy...he did everything he could to live a long, enjoyable life. You just never know, though, when it is going to be your time.
So, I have cried a bit the past few days.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Judgment House
I can't believe it has been over a month since I've written. I have been waiting for inspiration--bad idea. :)
Last Friday, Taylor and I took the youth group and a few people from church to Judgment House. Judgment House is a walk through drama put on by Newspring Church here in Wichita. It's like a Christian "haunted house" if you will. The story followed a young man whose parents were in jail for drug abuse. His grandmother had taken him into her home. She prayed earnestly for her grandson to come to know Christ.
In short, he goes to a Christian camp where all the "Christian" kids treat him like an outsider and talk behind his back. While he is there his grandmother dies. Feeling like he has lost everything, he turns to suicide. From there we follow him to judgment where he watches his grandmother go into glory with her Savior and where he is taken into eternal judgment. We follow him into hell--the smell, the heat, the taunting voices of the demons. It was frightening. We know that hell is a real place, but having to face what it looks, smells and sounds like even on the smallest scale, is a terrifying experience.
Thankfully they didn't end with hell--from there we went into heaven with the grandmother. By this time I was weeping. Entering into that beautiful, peaceful room I felt just a glimpse of the relief I know I will feel on that glorious day when I see the face of my Savior. As we walked into the room the angels put robes of righteousness on us (more like scarves of righteousness). Jesus came and hugged everyone and welcomed them. It may sound a little corny, but was beautiful.
Three of the kids in our group made a decision for Christ. If I didn't already know Him, I would have, too! Coming face to face with the reality of eternity in either heaven or hell is a ground shaking experience for any person willing to let God shake them up.
Every decision, every moment here on this earth is only preparing us for REALITY. Eternity is a greater reality than we often care to believe simply because it is unseen, uncharted territory...for us anyway. Jesus Christ has already been there. He has given us the map. He has paid the way for us. We can either take the gift that He has given or say, "No thanks, I'll pay my own way." Those who decide to pay their own way will pay it for eternity in hell. The MOST important decision we can make here on this earth is what we will do with the gift of eternal life that Jesus Christ has given us. When we look into His face, will we have chosen to feel relief or terror? It's all up to us now. Jesus has given us all we need to spend eternity in heaven with Him.
His love is overwhelming. Our worthiness was NEVER the question. What we could offer Him was never a part of the equation. His mercy and His grace are that is necessary.
He says come to ALL.
I am overwhelmed by the love of my Savior.
Last Friday, Taylor and I took the youth group and a few people from church to Judgment House. Judgment House is a walk through drama put on by Newspring Church here in Wichita. It's like a Christian "haunted house" if you will. The story followed a young man whose parents were in jail for drug abuse. His grandmother had taken him into her home. She prayed earnestly for her grandson to come to know Christ.
In short, he goes to a Christian camp where all the "Christian" kids treat him like an outsider and talk behind his back. While he is there his grandmother dies. Feeling like he has lost everything, he turns to suicide. From there we follow him to judgment where he watches his grandmother go into glory with her Savior and where he is taken into eternal judgment. We follow him into hell--the smell, the heat, the taunting voices of the demons. It was frightening. We know that hell is a real place, but having to face what it looks, smells and sounds like even on the smallest scale, is a terrifying experience.
Thankfully they didn't end with hell--from there we went into heaven with the grandmother. By this time I was weeping. Entering into that beautiful, peaceful room I felt just a glimpse of the relief I know I will feel on that glorious day when I see the face of my Savior. As we walked into the room the angels put robes of righteousness on us (more like scarves of righteousness). Jesus came and hugged everyone and welcomed them. It may sound a little corny, but was beautiful.
Three of the kids in our group made a decision for Christ. If I didn't already know Him, I would have, too! Coming face to face with the reality of eternity in either heaven or hell is a ground shaking experience for any person willing to let God shake them up.
Every decision, every moment here on this earth is only preparing us for REALITY. Eternity is a greater reality than we often care to believe simply because it is unseen, uncharted territory...for us anyway. Jesus Christ has already been there. He has given us the map. He has paid the way for us. We can either take the gift that He has given or say, "No thanks, I'll pay my own way." Those who decide to pay their own way will pay it for eternity in hell. The MOST important decision we can make here on this earth is what we will do with the gift of eternal life that Jesus Christ has given us. When we look into His face, will we have chosen to feel relief or terror? It's all up to us now. Jesus has given us all we need to spend eternity in heaven with Him.
His love is overwhelming. Our worthiness was NEVER the question. What we could offer Him was never a part of the equation. His mercy and His grace are that is necessary.
He says come to ALL.
I am overwhelmed by the love of my Savior.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Faith
I have a plethera of words and thoughts floating around in my brain. Some of them connect, others are simply random.
Faith has been on my mind a lot lately. I struggle with fear--irrational fear that really makes no sense at all in the scheme of the life I am living. But I struggle with it nonetheless. It's like the enemy has found that that is my weak spot. It is easy for me to be afraid, and it is made easier because I don't see myself the way God does. Many of my fears are brought on by my low opinion of myself, quite sadly.
I am just being honest with you. If it makes you uncomfortable go read someone else's blog. ;)
But as my fears and the voice of the persistent enemy twist my thoughts into a mass of confusion, there is the still, small voice of my Savior. He gently reminds me that He is there and He is in control. And suddenly things are simple: Trust Him. There is nothing with which He is unfamiliar--no needs, no fears, no hopes, no disappointments.
We must acknowledge that we do not fight against flesh and blood, but against the spiritual powers of darkness and then fall into the arms of our Hero. He is the one Who has already saved the day. And like Paul said, whatever it is that afflicts us is NOTHING compared to the glory that we will one day have in Christ. God knows that we are weak. Even the most faith we can manage is often smaller than Jesus' humble example of a mustard seed. But He is not limited by the size of our faith. He has given us victory over all things through His Son Jesus.
Lord, I believe. Forgive my unbelief.
Faith has been on my mind a lot lately. I struggle with fear--irrational fear that really makes no sense at all in the scheme of the life I am living. But I struggle with it nonetheless. It's like the enemy has found that that is my weak spot. It is easy for me to be afraid, and it is made easier because I don't see myself the way God does. Many of my fears are brought on by my low opinion of myself, quite sadly.
I am just being honest with you. If it makes you uncomfortable go read someone else's blog. ;)
But as my fears and the voice of the persistent enemy twist my thoughts into a mass of confusion, there is the still, small voice of my Savior. He gently reminds me that He is there and He is in control. And suddenly things are simple: Trust Him. There is nothing with which He is unfamiliar--no needs, no fears, no hopes, no disappointments.
We must acknowledge that we do not fight against flesh and blood, but against the spiritual powers of darkness and then fall into the arms of our Hero. He is the one Who has already saved the day. And like Paul said, whatever it is that afflicts us is NOTHING compared to the glory that we will one day have in Christ. God knows that we are weak. Even the most faith we can manage is often smaller than Jesus' humble example of a mustard seed. But He is not limited by the size of our faith. He has given us victory over all things through His Son Jesus.
Lord, I believe. Forgive my unbelief.
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