everyone smile

At least he's following through on his promises.

creation speaks, more

We're doing a series on hearing God's voice and wisdom in everyday life at THRIVE. This week was about "God's World Wide Web" and letting creation speak to us about God's sovereignty and goodness. We were challenged to get alone with creation. Drawing a picture of something in creation and letting it speak to God's "eternal power and divine strength" (Rom. 1:20).

I took a picture of a tree in my backyard (below). It had birds perched on the fronds. This poem came to mind...










You will find what you're longing for.
Not in me, but in the One who made us all.

Let us sing of his rest and support.
How alive and free we are in Him!

There, in Him, you will find belonging.

balcony time

I want to invite you to consider Balcony Time. I have stolen the phrase from a leadership book and am using it now to refer to my life with God. The basic concept is this: get off the stage of life and sit up in the balcony of the theatre with God in order to talk with Him about what is going on on the stage. Colossians 3:1 might be a theme verse: Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand.

For me I have to have a regular time set apart for this (usually Thursday morning). I also have to get away from the places I usually find myself, like home, work, church, places I usually run into people I know, etc. Getting out in nature or drinking a quiet cup of coffee helps.

The first few weeks I decided to be intentional about this I struggled with a busy mind, ringing phone, books that wanted to be read, music calling to me, etc. I found myself running from questions like, "Is my heart for God growing or shrinking?" Or, "What am I most/least grateful for?"

This last week seemed to be somewhat of a breakthrough. As I sat God brought a picture of twirling plates to my mind. Each plate was labelled with parts of my life, Family, Ministry, Friends, etc. Then in front of my on the table was a plate labelled Heart. There was a clear invitation to pick up my heart... but I would need to set down SOME plates.

Ministry was the first God brought to mind. I was overwhelmed with that idea but God said He would provide. I asked for a godly woman to help out in the high school ministry. He said send out an email. So I did. Within 8 hours I had two women interested. Some good consolation.

I share this because I know it is easy to become busy with so much of our lives (even while journaling or doing a daily devotion). Developing the rhythm of stepping out of our usual lives and fixing our eyes on Jesus pays off!

Get out for some Balcony Time soon!

this time, it's personal

Just got back from the THRIVE Winter Retreat (pics). Jordan did a great job teaching, the final alone time stood out to me. We were invited to memorize Romans 8:39. One of the methods had us rewrite the verse with our name in it:

Neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate RYAN from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. — Romans 8:39 (NLT)

Something clicked for me. Try it:

Neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate ______________ (your name here) from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. — Romans 8:39 (NLT)