What about the love?

"...I went to see my brother
On the 32nd floor
Of a building down on Wall Street;
You could hear the future's roar.
He said, "Here we make decisions,
And we trade commodities;
If you tell me where there's famine,
I can make you guarantees." I said,
"Is this all there is, Power to the strong?"
Something's wrong.

Something's wrong in heaven tonight.
You can almost hear them cry.
Angels to the left and the right, Saying,
"What about the love? What about the love? What about the love?"

Years ago, our family friend, Amy Grant Gill, wrote a song called "What about the love?" In light of yesterday's election, I have to ask the same question...

WHAT ABOUT THE LOVE?

My friend, Nicole and her family, are of the Mormon faith; like Presidential candidate Mitt Romney. She might be one of the most fun and sweet people I know. However, she suffered much criticism regarding her faith yesterday OVER FACEBOOK. "Thanks, Romney's god?" "His god sure showed them." How could that possibly do anything to serve and uplift others when one is disappointed by the election results?! That demonstrates pure hatred, not love.

Then we have the race issue.... people calling for another OJ riot situation if their man doesn't win. Or the Black Panthers showing up to initimidate people at the polls. How does that serve to unite our broken country? The ONLY thing that will unite us is Jesus and all of us showing each other the love of Christ.

The first thing we MUST do is pray for our president. Pray that if he doesn't know Jesus, that his heart is changed 100%. And that if he isn't making Christ based decisions, that God touch him and win his heart and mind.

My family is serving (in as much of a selfless manner as is possible) in a foreign country that was once our enemy (Pearl Harbor 1941). There are days that we long to be back home, that we wish that service before self wasn't a requirement. But, if people like Dan don't do it, who will? We deserve no thanks or glory - we are just choosing to serve Christ in a way that is challenging and sacrificial for us. Others do much more extreme things - like serving in forsaken places far and wide. Where there is no drinking water, etc.

Let's remember in this time of challenge and not much transition that we are ALL God's babies and that we must treat each other as such: Muslim, LDS, Christian, Buddhists, no matter what - let's show the love that was shown us thousands of years ago when Christ died for ALL of us.... no matter the color or religion. No human or candidate is an "awful human being." We are all the beloved of the Most High God.

 

My February 20th

I have been a Christian for the majority of the life that I can remember. I remember being in my bed in Talladega, Alabama with my mom and my sister and accepting Jesus into my heart. However, I couldn't have been more than 5 years old.

I remember the glow of the hallway light reflecting off of the beautiful face of my Mama and the way my sister and I were laying in my white bed and the yellow flowered wallpaper covering the walls of the dark room. I can still hear the tape "Good Night, Sleep Tight" playing softly on the cassette player in the bathroom between my and Kelly's rooms.

Fast forward to February 13, 1993. I was a stupid 13 year old suffering acne, being too skinny and too tall and too big footed for my age (I wore a size 10 shoe, was 5'7.5" tall and weighed a whopping 100 lbs). I was suffering through my first crushes, my first heartaches caused by mean "best" friends and many other ailments that a 13 year old suffers.

But at the Sunday church service at Disciple Now 1992, I made my way down the aisle at the First Baptist Church of Troy (before all of the gorgeous renovations - green carpet, bad fake flowers, and all). And in front of my mom, dad and Kelly and along with several of my close girl friends, I professed publicly that Jesus was indeed the Lord of my life.

You all know that I do a lot of my time with the Lord these days while I am out on my morning jogs. I tune into my iPod and listen to my favorites praise God: NeedtoBreathe, Fernando Ortega, Amy Grant, Third Day, Mercy Me. But today was spent listening to one of my all time favorites, Steven Curtis Chapman. Many of you know that in May of 2008, his son accidentally ran over one of his precious adopted daughters. Her name was Maria and she was 5 when she died. He just released his new album "Beauty Will Rise" this past month. To try to explain the depths of grief he dives into is futile; you can only know how painful that album (and his journey has been) is if you listen to it.

One of his songs is entitled "February 20th." He wrote it in honor of the day that his sweet daughter, Maria, accepted Jesus into her heart. Here are several lines of the lyrics:

"February 20th 2008
on the floor with her mom putting her shoes on
getting ready for another day
February 20th she says mom is it true
does God really have a big big house
and does it really have a lot of rooms.
and she said i really really want to go there
and i said so why don't we just talk to him.
and that's what we did February 20th

February 20th i did my best to explain.
how it is that we all want to be with god
how it was the savior came.
February 20th
if its true what he said that god himself sang along with the beautiful song of rejoicing in heaven
and she prayed Jesus come and please live in my heart.and someday can i come live with you
and we could never had imagined that'd she'd be going there so soon..."

My heart cried out as I listened to that song. When I publicly professed to my little world in 1993 that Jesus was my Lord, I did so exactly 15 years and 1 day to the day that I brought Noah into this world. I had no idea the responsibility that I would be taking on in a decade and a half from that day.

Now I have a beautiful almost-2-year-old who, at the end of every day, asks to say his "paaayers" with me and his daddy. Noah finishes our prayers as a family at night with a great big "AMMMMEENNNN." He says many times a day "I yuv you, Jeee-sus." My eyes fill with tears everytime I hear him say that.

While he doesn't yet understand the gravity of what he's saying when he tells Jesus he loves him, he will one day. And that is a responsibility that Dan and I do NOT take lightly. We know that it is our duty to teach him about who Jesus is and why, how, when He died. I long for the day that I can be present when my little one accepts MY Lord into his innocent little heart. I cannot wait to be witness to Noah's "February 20th."

Die Myself

Won't you take this cup from me?
because fear has stolen all my sleep.
If tomorrow means my death
pray you'll save their souls with it.
Let the songs I sing bring joy to you.
Let the words I say confess my love.
Let the notes I choose be your favorite tune.
Father let my heart be after you.
In this hour of doubt I see
who I am is not just me
so give me strength to die myself
so love can live to tell the tale.
~ Garden by NeedtoBreathe (2009)

Wow. WOW. When I hear this NeedtoBreathe song, I get chills. I love to listen to it while I am out running. We have that awesome privilege of asking God - the Father of the Universe - to let our hearts be after Him. We can do it just like Jesus did in the Garden. He begged His Father to spare Him and when he realized that wasn't going to happen, he begged to "die himself" and to have His prayers and words be used to save each of us.

What does it mean to "die myself?" I remember hearing that verse over and over again when I was at a Disciple Now retreat in the mid-1990s and I remember kind of rolling my eyes (that's a confession on my part). "Yeah, yeah... Let me 'die to myself' like the New Testament said..." Blah, blah -- the thoughts of a rebellious 13-year-old-psuedo-Christian. But here I am, 3 weeks short of 30 and I really get it. I do. How awesome to DIE to myself?! For Christ. For nothing else but the Savior I chose to serve.

Mark 8:34-37 "Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?"

We are called to a much greater purpose. Much greater than staying in shape, eating the right foods, saying the right things, buying the right clothes. We are called to be like Him, to take up His Cross. But, why is that so hard? I find myself asking that question daily. I lose myself in trying to be what I think I should be, trying to be the best mom, wife, friend, daughter that I can be. However, all I am called to be is everything He has made me. That's it - that's all He wants of me! What an awesome task but it is sooo simple.

I pray that I can continue to listen to songs such as the NTBreathe song "Garden" and be inspired to pick up His Cross where he left it and let the voice I know I was given because of His death resonate across "the Nations."