This Christmas take on the classic Hallelujah is hauntingly beautiful and I wanted to share it in case you hadn’t yet seen it. (It is making its rounds rapidly on social media.) I think I may have a new favorite Christmas song and I am absolutely in love with the band Cloverton!
Hallelujah!
I had a visitor yesterday…a very mobile visitor who had my living room floor scattered with toys and still found the Christmas tree and fireplace more interesting. We played peek-a-boo and patty cake. We danced and sang Christmas songs, dined on bananas and squash (she did anyway) and had a wonderful time together. I marveled in the normalcy. This little visitor’s smile can light up a room and dimple will melt your heart. I was overwhelmed as I watched her sleep to think of where she was just one year ago and I held her a little closer and hugged her a little tighter as the reality of what could have been hit me like a ton of bricks and I thanked God for miracles. My visitor, sweet Hannah, celebrated her 1st birthday this week after being born at only 26 weeks and weighing a mere 2lbs 6 oz. (Read last year’s introduction to Hannah in We Interrupt This Christmas Celebration To Bring You Back To Reality.)
What a difference a year can make…Heartache and the holidays go together about as well as a maltov cocktail. Exploding into flames as the ingredients are mixed, maltov cocktails aren’t designed to destroy on contact, only to set things ablaze. Heartache will do the same thing to a holiday…slowly, and methodically, in the same way as a fire spreads, it can consume us and all of our “merry and bright.”
One year ago, our holiday became consumed with fear and uncertainty, and love and Hannah. Over the last year there have been moments of panic, days that never ended, and weeks that bled one into the next. There were bleak predictions given by doctors and terrified parents. There were uncontrollable tears and unspoken fears. There have been blood transfusions, collapsed lungs, pneumonia, oxygen cords stretched through the house, alarm bells ringing, countless doctors appointments, sleepless nights, and prayers whispered in desperation.
But there has been one constant and certainty through it all, the love, comfort, and hope of an all-powerful God. Emmanuel, God with us….
His name will be ‘Emmanuel,’ said the angel, which means ‘God with us.’ That God with us promise, that heaven-on-earth assurance, came true in Jesus. It’s why we celebrate Christmas. This is the majesty of the miracle, God sending his Son, a baby, into our messed up, pain-fraught world, to be with us. Jesus, growing up, knowing and feeling and facing every single thing we ever have or ever will and then dying with the weight of our sin. God with us.
Jesus is the reason for the season. That’s what we spout at this time of year but what does it really mean? It means that when you are sitting beside your baby’s bed in the neonatal unit you are not alone. It means when there is a knock on the door, when you get the diagnosis, when you get “the call,” when tragedy, death, or fear come knocking, you are not alone. And it’s not just for this season. The holidays can be some of the most difficult times to embrace this though because we are expected to “leave all of our troubles behind” and in real life that just doesn’t work and we feel the most alone because we just can’t “make merry” like everyone else. Every breath, every tear, every struggle, everyday of the year you are not alone.
Emmanuel, God with us.
Sometimes His answers don’t look like our prayers and the heartache doesn’t feel like it will ever subside. Sometimes our holidays, or Tuesdays, or Saturdays, or any day will explode into flames when fueled by our heartache.
But this is a season for celebration, even in the midst of our heartache, because of the promises fulfilled on that very first Christmas when, for Mary and Joseph, things must have seemed all wrong. This was not their plan, this was not the time, this was the the place for the Messiah to be born. A stable surrounded by farm animals? Surely God would have had a grander plan for the entrance of His Son into our world. But no, He came to be God with us. God with us, as were are, in heartache and in celebration. God with us when everything goes our way and when everything falls apart. God with us to fulfill the promise of peace and hope, comfort and joy. God with us, delivered in the midst of real life, into a manager on that first Christmas.
God with us, one year ago, when a baby was born and our heartache exploded into flames. God with us today as our heartache has been replaced by baby girl giggles and we celebrate and thank God for answered prayer and miraculous life. Hannah has continued to defy the odds, predictions, and expectations set forth in a great testament to God’s goodness and power. He is bigger than anything we face and is using Hannah, this sweet baby, to teach all of us His lessons in such a beautiful way.
As we celebrate Hannah’s first birthday and look forward to celebrating The Miracle of the coming season, from our family to yours we want to say Thank You! Thank you for your kind words of encouragement, your support, and most importantly your prayers! Have a blessed Christmas and may you know that whatever you are facing God is with you…
See some more of Hannah’s story through this past year in, Tiny But Mighty – An update on Hannah and Into Every Life…The Good (A Hannah Update)
Advent…and so it begins. The countdown that marches us closer and closer to Christmas. I think of calendars with tiny little doors that open to reveal a piece of chocolate (eaten before breakfast, of course) for every day between now and Christmas. My kids used to get excited if they happened to miss a day for some reason and got to have two pieces of chocolate. We don’t even have advent calendars this year. I can remember having my own advent calendar years ago and the excitement and anticipation that opening every little door brought. One day closer…
I pulled out all of the Christmas totes lasts week, filled with pretty baubles and sparkly things and I put about half of them up. Everything goes in the same place every year, it doesn’t take much thought, but I just didn’t have it in me to do the rest. Maybe it’s because our high school football season is still going on (state championships next Saturday – congratulations to a well-deserving, hard working team) and this is a wonderful thing but it means practice, practice, practice. Maybe it’s because we have been working so hard on finishing the basement renovation project and it’s taken so much of our time and energy. Maybe it’s because my daughter handed me a note addressed to Santa and said “this is for you” and I now know the answer to the unasked “does she still believe question” and a little bit of the magic is gone. Maybe it’s because our old Christmas traditions are forever lost to the thief of death. Maybe lots of things, but I am not in my usual Christmas Wonderland Stupor of decorations, and baking, and fa-la-la-ing. So today, on this first day of advent, I am attempting to jump start the Christmas Spirit train and I know it needs to start within.
My world is changing
I’m rearranging
Does that mean Christmas changes too?
*Where Are You Christmas, Faith Hill
This is my question, straight from The Grinch, does that mean Christmas changes too? I am not aiming for the mellow dramatic here. Just honesty. Seasons change, chapters end. It doesn’t mean it’s bad, just different, and that takes me a little bit to embrace. And that brings me back around to advent…
Advent is to Christmas what Lent is to Easter. A time of preparation for the coming celebration. John Piper says, “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” In other words, “In every heart prepare him room…by cleaning the house.” So today, I will clean the house, and put up the rest of the decorations, and in my heart I will try to do the same and I will remember and reflect.
Will you join me? At least in part, take some time to be still today, and in the coming days, to prepare your heart, or as John Piper said, clean the house. Marvel with me in wonder at the miracle of the season. Allow yourself time to take a deep breath and soak in the meaning of the season. This is where the change of heart will happen.
Jesus said, “I have come as a light to shine in this dark world, so that all who put their trust in me will no longer remain in the dark.” (John 12:46) He came to light up our world, to rescue us, to pull us out of the darkness forevermore. The very first gift of Christmas, given to you, to me, was love and salvation, peace and joy, given in the tiny form of a baby, wrapped, not in shiny paper and sparkly bow, but in rags.
For tonight, my plan is to sit in the glow of the Christmas tree and kick off the advent journey with a piece of chocolate and a quiet heart, stripping out “the stuff” and remembering the simplicity of why we celebrate.
For a child is born to us, a son is given to us….And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6 NLT)
As Thanksgiving winds down I thought this was a great reminder to take with us into the next season as we are continuously looking ahead to what is next…next to do, next to buy, next to find, next to achieve contentment. In the process we are missing the now and all of the gifts held within it.
Forgive me Lord for my waiting room addiction…addicted to always thinking I am waiting. Counting down the days until I enter real life, when real life is happening right now and You are the one waiting for me to give you thanks for the miracle of now. Wake me up from my waiting room addiction.
As we kick off advent today please try and enjoy every second of the upcoming Christmas season.
How often do you sit in the seat of thanksgiving throughout the day? I am trying to do a better job of this on a consistent basis. As we prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving this week, realize, amidst the chaos, the dysfunction, the laughter or the tears, there is always a reason to be thankful.
Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)
Alright, let’s try this again. Many of you humored me last Friday and came up with a list of five things. (See my original list here.) I’m challenging you to do the same thing this week only you have to pick different things to be thankful for. You may have to dig a little deeper this week.
The rules are the same. Five things, ridiculous or serious, big or small, that you are thankful for this morning. Again though, don’t just stop with the list. Take a moment while you’re reflecting and remember where all of our blessings come from. Turn your list into a prayer of thanksgiving.
Here is my Friday five list…
1.) My husband….He works so hard and it was so nice to have him home all week for the first time in five weeks!
2.) Piano duets…playing the piano with my daughter warms my heart. Music, specifically piano, is a family tradition. And while I love heart and soul it’s nice to have been able to move on to something a little more difficult.
3.) A reliable car…my car gets taken for granted but I was struck this morning by how much time (and how many miles) we spend in it in any given week and I don’t have to worry that we won’t be able to get where we are going.
4.) Duck face selfies…compliments of my son who changed my lock screen on my phone to his absurd picture. Every time I have since picked up my phone, his goofiness has made me smile.
5.) Laughter…this week brought a 5 year milestone since my grandfather passed away and I cannot think of him without thinking of his laugh. He brought so much joy into life and always, always, always loved a good laugh.
These things, each of them random and seemingly disconnected are blessings, gifts from God. Laughter, music, family…
Give thanks to the LORD and proclaim his greatness. Let the whole world know what he has done. (Psalms 105:1 NLT)
And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 5:20 NLT)
I would love to hear yours again this week!
Happy Friday! Tis the season for gratitude. Finish the week strong with a thankful heart.
Today, I am thankful for legacies. I am thankful for the gift of an extraordinary, quiet man of God whom I was able to call Pap. A man, who has left a legacy of what it truly means to be the hands and feet of Jesus…
These hands, once strong and able, with age became weak and unsteady but never less powerful. These feet that once ran in youthful excitement over time became homebound, but never lost their impact.
We are called to be like Jesus and in reading this last week I couldn’t help but think of my grandfather, Pap who died 5 years ago today…
“Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations. He will not quarrel or cry out; no one will hear his voice in the streets.” (Isaiah 42:1-2; Matthew 12:17-19)
Jesus wasn’t like some of these people we see today, going all-out, being loud and obnoxious, in the name of the Lord. He really didn’t draw attention to Himself. In fact, He blended into His world so well that in the Garden of Gethsemane, if Judas hadn’t betrayed Him with a kiss, His enemies would never have recognized Him. Here was a Man who had healed, and fed, and taught thousands, yet He remained unidentifiable because He moved in such humility and grace.
To move in humility and grace, Jesus legacy to us, Pap’s way of life…quietly, unassumingly, being the hands and feet…feeding, clothing, teaching, loving, giving, caring for others.
Edwin Eugene Charles, known to all as Pap. As many times as he has stood on death’s doorstep and came back to us gives testament to his fighting spirit and determination as well as God’s plan to show His Glory and Greatness through miracle after miracle. Today marks 5 years since this man, who lived his last days in such pain, was freed from that bondage and now celebrates in Heaven.
Born in the early 30s into a coal-mining family in a small town in Pa., he grew up with very little but in doing so came to understand early the important things in life. Faith, family, and laughter. These are the pillars upon which his life was built.
My challenge today is how do you, in the shortness of a few paragraphs, even begin to capture the entirety of who Pap was to so many different people. The difference he made in living the way he did. Our memories of him are an integral part of who we are and there is no way to properly pay honor to such a great man.
Pap was the Go-To-Guy. Not just ours but everyone’s. Did you need someone to listen and give advice? He was there, a great listener and his advice wasn’t off the cuff. It was thoughtful and contemplative and filled with love and your best interests in mind.
Did you need a little money to get you through til pay day? Or maybe you needed a lot. Pap gave it graciously without any strings attached. It wasn’t just money though. If he had it and you needed it it was yours. It didn’t matter what it was, the shirt off of his back if that would have helped. He was the hardest worker that I have ever encountered, sometimes working three jobs in order to provide the things for his family that he never had.
He loved his garden and his tomatoes especially. He babied his plants and watched them vigilantly waiting and watching for the first one to ripen. Nothing tasted as good to him as the first homegrown tomato of summer, salted and savored. He shared his garden’s bounty with anyone who would take it. He even boxed it and shipped it across the country to family.
He attended every sporting event, recital, program there was from his children to his grandchildren, taking pride in the accomplishments of each and every one of us. Sports were one of his great passions, baseball, football, wrestling. He was a student of the game. He studied plays and players, from the peewee level through the pros and took great pride when any Pennsylvania team beat any Ohio team. He was sure to remind you of the victory if you weren’t together at game time. The phone would ring after a game and you knew who was on the other end. Pap, just wondering if you had watched the game, innocently asking if you knew the end score.
Pap was often the first call when you had good news to share. He enjoyed a good story, but, even more so, a good laugh. He loved to joke and to tease. His laughter was infectious and it came from deep within him. It was a large part of who he was.
Pap’s giving and generous spirit were evident year round but during the holiday season he would shine the brightest. He provided magical Christmases for many, many people. The memories that we carry in our hearts of Christmas Eve’s spent with him over the years are our most cherished. He embodied what the season is supposed to be about. Not Santa, not presents, not stuff, but remembering God’s gift of Christ to us and glorifying Him for all that that gift meant.
In his last days we had to bring the outside world into him. He lived through the stories that we brought him. Stories of the great hunt, or a great game. The visitors were a constant stream in and out, a testament to the lives that he touched. Thank you to all who stopped in to share a story or just say hello. You helped him continue to be connected and pass the days of being homebound.
Someone once said that he was an uncommon example of kindness and generosity. What made him uncommon? It was his faith. The Lord was his guidepost, his rock. His faith quiet, understated, but evident in every day that he lived. And today he suffers no more. He doesn’t cease to be but lives on in heaven. Because of his faith he has gone home to be with his Lord and Savior.
The legacy that Pap was in life, and now leaves us with in death, will be a summons to all to live in a way in which God’s love through us can touch the people whose paths we cross for the rest of our lives. That we may be one fraction of the man that he was. To live in kindness, humbleness, and generosity. Always putting others before ourselves and living our lives in faith, surrounded by family, and with a good dose of laughter.
This…this is what it’s all about. This is what it looks like to be the hands and feet and tonight I am so thankful for this man, for my memories, and for his legacy that I hope to pass on to another generation.
Good morning! I want to challenge you all to start off today with a thankful heart. So, right now, wherever you are, take a minute and make a list of five things you are thankful for. Big, small, serious, ridiculous, the key is being thankful RIGHT NOW for (at least) five things. (I don’t know why five. Three seemed like it would be too easy and Friday and five both start with F, so there you go.) Don’t just stop with your list though, take your list and turn it into a prayer of thanksgiving. Recognize where each of those blessings came from.
Give thanks to the LORD and proclaim his greatness. Let the whole world know what he has done. (Psalms 105:1 NLT)
And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 5:20 NLT)
My Friday Five
1.) It’s Friday…enough said.
2.) Football Prayer Services (pep talks with God as Ty calls them) and the ability to send my kids to a school where a priority is placed on prayer. (Please Lord keep these boys safe this weekend.)
3.) Good coffee and a beautiful sunrise. I know that’s two but they go together in my book. I might as well throw cinnamon rolls on this number too because they were part of the coffee/sunrise combo this morning.
4.) School uniforms and French braids and headbands because they make mornings soooo much easier.
5.) Words and all of you who read my words and share my words. (And when you share with me the way God is working through them – wow! Just wow!)
What are your five? I would love to hear them!
Have a fantastic Friday! Go forth and be thankful.
Thanksgiving is quickly approaching. There are turkeys to be thawed, potatoes to be peeled, tables to be set, parades to be watched, and blessings to be counted. Sometimes it just doesn’t work out that way though…
Come gather around at the table
In the spirit of family and friends
And we’ll all join hands
And remember the moment
‘Til the season comes round again*
Last year, my sweet niece Hannah was born the week after Thanksgiving. All of 26 weeks into the pregnancy she was 12 in long and 2lbs 6 oz of fighting spirit. Our little Tiger. She is living, breathing proof of God’s answered prayer and miracles as we prepare to celebrate her 1st birthday. But last year at this time? We couldn’t know all that would happen, the heartache that was to be endured. (See We Interrupt This Christmas… for the first Hannah story.)
Let’s all try to smile for the picture
And we’ll hold it as long as we can
May it carry us through
Should we ever get lonely Til the season comes round again*
Five years ago my grandfather, my pap, passed away the week before Thanksgiving. This man…I really have no words…it still hurts and I still miss him dearly, but I will try to do him justice in the coming days as I introduce you to him because I can promise you there is no one else on Earth that embodies what he was to so many. His legacy I can only hope to carry on.
One night, holy and bright
Shining with love from our hearts
By a warm fire, let’s lift our heads high
And be thankful we’re here
Til this time next year*
Three years ago this week the barrage of testing began to determine why my heart was suddenly, literally, broken. In a span of a 24 hr holter test I had over 3000 irregular beats and it felt as if my heart was doing somersaults in my chest. Tests and questions and tests and questions all to finally receive the news that my body is at war with itself, attacking the main arteries off my aorta.
May the new year be blessed with good tidings
Til the next time I see you again
And we’ll all join hands
And remember this moment
And we’ll love and we’ll laugh
In the time that we have
‘Til the season comes round again*
(*Til The Season Comes Round Again, Vince Gill)
Thanksgiving…a time to be thankful and count our blessings. What do you do when the blessings feel thin and the hurt runs deep? I Choose Thankful. It’s a choice and I hope that over the next two weeks you will follow along with me, especially if you are struggling with Thankful. I hope that through the stories I share you will be encouraged and uplifted. May we laugh together and cry together as we prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving.
Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:18
This is for all of my deer hunter friends. A little hunting season homage to praying without ceasing.
I love the light-hearted look that the Skit Guys put on this (I am pretty sure I have uttered some of those same Deer Lord prayers.) I also wanted to share with you some real words of encouragement, a real life guide to prayer, that I have gone back to many times since first hearing this message from Matt Chandler. In this sermon from 2013 he is studying from the book of Nehemiah and introduces us to two essential types of prayer, big block prayer and rifle-shot prayer.
First up, big block prayer…
You have a big block of prayer. You have this kind of set-aside block of prayer. If you have a background in church, in your teenage years you were taught it. It was called a “quiet time,” that you are to set a part of your day aside for the sole purpose of being in the Word of God and praying.
I always thought we probably should have named it something other than “quiet time.” That sounds a little bit like discipline, like you’re in trouble. “You get in the corner and think about that.” We probably could have done better at that, but it’s called a quiet time, a set time of your day you are to just commune with God in Bible study and prayer.
And then there are what Chandler has dubbed rifle-shot prayers…
What I want you to notice is also on top of this communion with God that was day and night, this set-aside time, you also had these kind of rifle-shot prayers. “Okay, God. I prayed about this earlier today.” It’s a rifle-shot prayer. So you have these two kinds of prayers being established here, where you have a built-out set of time just between you and the Lord, and then you have these little rifle-shot communications throughout the day.
If you have a set time where you’re saying, “I’m going to pray, I’m going to lay these things before the Lord,” wouldn’t it make sense that it would overflow as you… Let’s take that guy at work you don’t like. Let’s take him, whoever he or she is. You have that person at work you kind of struggle with being kind to, having compassion for, showing patience toward.
If in your prayer time in the morning you say, “Lord, help me with this person. I just do not care for them. I know you love me and I have ugly stuff in me, but I just lack patience with this person,” and then you say, “Amen,” and you get in your car, and there’s Bill walking up to you as soon as you walk in, you’re aware, “I’ve laid this before the Lord.” Now you can Nehemiah rifle shot and go, Here we go, Lord. Here we go. “Bill, how are you? Are you doing all right? No, I can’t have lunch. Good to see you this morning, though, Bill. Blessings,” and then run and lock your door and hide behind the desk. Those little blocks bleed out into the rest of your life.
Now, if we were honest, for relationships to really flourish and have a lot of vibrancy, both of these are necessary. If human relationships work this way, how much more do our relationships with our heavenly Father work this way? Here’s what I’m saying. If you don’t have a set block or you don’t rifle shot prayer, I’m not saying you’re not a believer. I’m just saying the vibrancy of your relationship with God has suffered. You’re not robbing God; you’re robbing you, because to behold Jesus, to have a relationship with God, is to be transformed by him. I fear so many of us are stuck in bad patterns simply because we won’t connect with the relational component we’ve been rescued into. If you’re thinking morally and not relationally, you’re thinking wrongly.
Now, I want to say this, because I believe it’s true and it’s helpful. You will live your life or it will live you. You are never going to fill your spaces with prayer…ever. If you get an hour to kill, if an hour opens up… I don’t even know if that would happen in your world. It rarely happens in mine that “I have an hour here with nothing to do. How should I fill it?” If that happens to you, you will never fill that with prayer. You’re going to catch up on The Walking Dead. You’re going to do whatever else it is you do, but you’re not going to fill that hour with prayer.
I’ll tell you why. Because there is a war, a spiritual war and tear occurring about you connecting relationally with God. If all God is is an ambiguous idea to you that you love…you love the idea of God, but not necessarily love God and have a relationship with God…transformation is slow or doesn’t happen at all. So you begin to be churchgoers who are not walking in the fullness of life God has brought about in Christ.
But if you connect relationally with God, if you set aside periods of time to pray and consider and then from there have that overflow into the rest of the areas of your life, now we’re moving. Now transformation is occurring. Now you’re a bit dangerous to what is evil and dark in the world. If you don’t think our Enemy has a vested interest in us not praying, then you’re walking in some foolishness. That’s why you don’t fill your space with prayer. That’s why this is a struggle.
Prayer is one of those really weird things. I’ve said this over and over again. We all know we should. No one in this room right now is going, “Wait a minute. Are you saying…? You cannot be saying that as a Christian I’m meant to pray.” I just don’t think anyone is doing that. We know we should, but we’ve taken this poll (about seven times since I’ve been the pastor here) about how well we’re doing at that, and we generally have a consensus in the room that we stink at it.
So here’s the way I want to encourage you this week. If you’re one who struggles with setting aside a block of time, you’re going to have to say, “This is when I’m going to do it.” If you don’t, you’re not going to do it. Here’s what I would encourage you. Don’t try to go Michael Jordan right off the bat. Don’t go, “I’m going to set aside an hour a day this week.” Go for it if you want, but I’m saying I’ve seen guys come into the gym and set aside an hour of hard labor and then haven’t ever seen them again. They’re somewhere in an ice bath.
What I would do if I were you is set aside 5 or 10 minutes. You have 5 or 10 minutes. Set aside 5 or 10 minutes just to pray to the Lord, and part of that prayer needs to be, “Help me be mindful of you during the day.” One of the things I do is pray my calendar. I’m praying for the meetings I’m going into. I’m laying those things before the Lord, so that when those meetings come, I get to circle back around and do the rifle shot and go, “Okay, Lord, I laid these things before you. Recall to my mind, strengthen my heart, give me the courage I need,” and then I move into the meeting.
You need to get in your head now, “This is when I’m going to do that,” or you’re not going to do it. Then don’t make it law. If you make it law and you miss for this reason or that reason, then you broke the law and you’re not going to have a tendency to go back, if it’s just, “This is when I set aside time to pray.” Listen. I’m going to throw this out there. I miss sometimes. I have my little block that occurs right after I get up in the morning, and there have been times, because of situations or scenarios or other things, I miss that time.
I don’t think in that moment God is like, “You make me sick.” I think the blood of Christ covers that, and I’m going to rifle shot prayer that day, and I’m going to wake up the next morning and start over, and the mercies of God will be new. God will not be disappointed, although I do believe he’s a jealous God who longs for time with us. You’ll have to set out a little section to do this, or it’s simply never going to occur. You don’t need to view it as law, and you don’t need to view it as “Jordan-esque.” You need to start somewhere small and let it build. That’s how everything good works.
Then maybe you’ll get up to like a Calvin and Luther, praying an hour and a half a day or something. All right? I don’t know. But it should start small and sustainable, and let the Lord grow it from there. Don’t overestimate your own awesomeness. If you can take the posture, “I really stink at this,” then you can set up goals that are attainable. If you think, “I should be able to do what people who have been following Christ for 30 years should be able to do,” then I love you, but you’re a fool.
Don’t overestimate your own awesomeness…but don’t let your life live you either. Just start the conversation and you will be amazed what happens.
Dear Lord…
Run and Be Still 