Archive - October, 2008

Ordinary Gains Sacred

October 16, 2008 in Confessions of a Preacher's Wife with 0 Comments

How could God ever use an ordinary person like me? Come on. I know who I am, what I think, and how I’ve behaved. All this baggage disqualifies any divine purpose or sacred use of my common life. Right? Why would God bother?

William Paul Young, author of The Shack, expressed those same sentiments in Atlanta at the Catalyst Conference ’08. His intentions for writing the parable was to explain his journey to God, healing, and wholeness to his children, to leave a legacy of faith for his kids. He had no intention of publishing it for the world or starting discussions amongst theologians, or stirring up dissention. (Actually—seeing this man in person—I felt he was quite humbled by God’s use of him, and not antagonistic while others maligned his character.)

But God . . .

When we yield to God, he takes our ordinary lives, our stuff, and can use it to make a difference, a change, in others lives. I’m not going to explore the theological rightness or wrongness of Paul Young’s parable, but the fact that God can and will use a common factory employee to tell about the grace, mercy, and love of God in a way that a God-seeker, believer and unbeliever alike, can relate. If God can use a common man’s parable to cause people to ask about Biblical truth, and read the Bible for truth, can’t he just as well use our stories and our lives?

The change agent, the difference maker, is our relationship with God. He takes ordinary mess and gives superb purpose.

Reminds me of another parable and journey told in The Dream Giver about a man named Ordinary. Both are stories I find true in my life as I seek God with all I have. The impossible becomes possible. The unthinkable becomes believable. The dream becomes reality.

If you’ve found God using your ordinary, I want to know about it. Others want to share in your excitement and joy you’ve found as God has taken your ordinary or mess and made a difference in the lives of those around you. Post a reply to this blog, or e-mail your story and a picture (if you wish) for inclusion in the iGETitLIFE e-Update newsletter of God doing great things amongst us. Sign up for the iGETitLIFE e-Update here on the right.
 

Eager to hear from you!

Robin

Blog Talk Radio topics

October 7, 2008 in Confessions of a Preacher's Wife with 0 Comments

An Interview with Eric Canaday at Christianity Unplugged:

Blog posts with related topics for discussion are below. You can read them, get to know me a little and make comments.

Living Free from Fear, Religion, & Expectations

Ordinary Gains Sacred

iGETitLIFE 21 Day Challenge Wins 20 Day Reunion

Successful Life & Leadership

My Time, My Way, & My Best Interest

I Have a Dream

My Time, My Way & My Best Interest

October 1, 2008 in Confessions of a Preacher's Wife with 2 Comments

If everybody would just do things my way, life would be perfect. Right? It’s my way or the highway–or so I thought. I get stuff done in my time, my way, and with my best interest by figuring out just when is my time–when now doesn’t seem to be working, what is my way–when all paths seem foggy, and what is my best interest–when I can’t see the future.

With all the clamor, noise, and jockeying for stuff, I easily lose my bearings. The center of who I am and the focus of what I’m about becomes distorted. Discouragement lurks in the shadows to claim all that I am. When things aren’t working out my way or in my time or even in my best interests, maybe I’ve lost the meaning of the word “my” and to whom it refers.

In Old Testament times, Moses experienced times like these and God sent him into the wilderness to be with the sheep. The clamor of Egypt, gone. The noise of people, diminished. The stuff related to position, eradicated. One day Moses went even further into the wilderness. “He led the flock far into the wilderness” (Ex. 3:1). Silence. Hoof step. Occasional bleat. His mind quiet, focused on one thing—find grazing land.

In the quietness, God called. Maybe Moses’ thoughts weren’t as stilled as they needed to be. God used a spectacular display to catch his attention and speak to him—a burning bush that wouldn’t burn up. In amazement, Moses heard God say what his time, his way, and his best interest was. It wasn’t about Moses at all. It was about God’s plan, God’s time, way and glory.

How often I get wrapped up in thinking my life is about me. Like Moses, if I take time to quiet myself in the presence of God, I learn his plan, his way, and his time. It’s then that I can sync my life with his grand purpose for me, for others, and for God’s glory.

The word “my” refers to God, not me. He knows better than I about time, ways, and what’s best.

Now, where can I find some quiet sheep-grazing land?