Going All The Way With God

First Annual Love-Your-Enemy Day 9/11/10

Matthew 5:43 and 44 You have heard that it was said, "Love your neighbor and hate you enemy." But I[Jesus] tell you: LOVE your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.


These words rolled off the lips of my beloved Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the middle of one of his most famous, breathtakingly beautiful sermons, so I was completely confused and horrified yesterday when I learned through a news report that an individual in FL who claims to bear the name of Christ was attacking the Islamic faith by inviting his congregation to attend and participate in a ceremonial burning of copies of the Koran on the anniversary of the infamous World Trade Center terrorist attack. I do not know this man's private motivations, but it seems by the timing and nature of the event that he is acting in poorly aimed retaliation against the men who orchestrated these attacks. Now, I say, "poorly aimed," because he seems to be attacking any and everyone sharing the terrorist's proclaimed faith. I'm confident that, much like this situation, one or two strangely radical personalities in the Islamic faith acted on 9/11/01 without the support or consent of every or any other practicing Muslim! Its sad when the one looney in the bunch does something completely unrepresentative of the group to get recognized by the rest of the world! I fear that just as the poor choices and destorted reasoning of those few terrorists have become, for some, the face of Islam that the unbiblical actions of this one man proclaiming to be a minister of Christ will tarnish the already terribly misrepresented name of Christ Jesus! Anyway, what I want you to know is that Jesus doesn't want us to react to the persecution heaped on our country by teorrists in the past with hate, but rather, love and prayer! Now, folks, that's a biblical response, so what does love for your enemies look like in this situation? I guess it depends who you feel has become your enemy as a result of the events of 9/11/01. If as this minister in FL seems to feel, anyone who practices the Muslim faith fits that description, something as simple as picking up the litter you notice on the lawn of a local mosque might be considered a loving, Christ-honoring action, but for me, I would need to go so far as track down the families of the men who crashed those planes and help fill the gaps whether emotional, spiritual, or financial that have been left in their lives since the deaths of their sons, husbands, and fathers. Since this action is neither practical or logical, after having spoken with a minister at my church, I am considering participation to some extent in the Dearbourne, MI ministry project that strives to minister in all the above mentioned areas to the largest Muslim population in the United States, but I commit to praying for those men's families in an intentional and direct act of love for those terrorists themselves! Those words would catch in my throat if I were speaking them aloud because that is so against my human nature, but I love Christ, and he has called me to love my enemies and pray for those who persecute me, so I will if only for the sake of representing him well to the world around me!:) My commitment to honoring Christ in not only my actions, but also, the attitudes of my heart leads me to proclaim that for my family 9/11 will always and forever be Love-Your-Enemies Day instead of my original thought Love-A-Muslim Day. I don't want the focus to be on Muslims specifically because I feel that identifying the religion as a whole as our enemy is dangerous and inaccurate, and I feel that Love-Your -Enemies gets to the heart of my original thought and intention. I want my Lili to always know how important it is to Jesus that she practice this behavior no matter how counter to her human nature it runs, so tomorrow celebrate with my family Love-Your-Enemies Day and take the time to examine your heart to the point that you are able to identify any people or groups that you classify as enemies or persecutors and take time to pray for them and intentionally love on them!:) Please, pass this thought along to all you know!:)

Roller Coaster Religion

The Labor Day weekend found me in a couple situations during which I was able to observe people of all ages riding roller coasters of all sizes. First, at Holiday World, a small theme park in southern Indiana that offers some of the world's best wooden coasters and second, at a local Labor Day carnival near our home. As I watched the riders I saw varied responses to the danger and excitement the rides presented. Some threw their hands into the air with great abandon hoping to heighten the exhileration of flying down a steep hill embracing the belly-thieving feeling of lost control, while others, clung to the seat with white knuckles having boarded the ride just to say they had or to placate their pleading companions. These pictures reminded me of the scene I have viewed on many a weekend at evangelical Christian churches during the group worship time. Some throw their hands in the air with great abandon reaching out to God and saying, "I'm all in. Take me on a spiritual adventure while others clutch the pew in front of them with white knuckles as they inch away from the obviously crazy holy-roller beside them who must be experiencing a hallucination during which she is headed down a steep hill on a roller coaster with her hands extended high into the air. In this same pew is another individual who raises her hands only so she isn't the only one who isn't. I mean, she doesn't want to appear to be a heathen in the presence of all these saints who seem to be so much closer to God than herself, and next to her is standing a person who raises her hands simply to portray that she is a saint although she knows that if anyone had seen her interacting with her family before church he would have known otherwise. This post is not about whether you ever raise your hands in worship or not because, honestly, as this scenario makes obvious, the raising of hands during a worship song during weekend services can reflect several different spiritual motivations some sincere and others not so much, only God and the individual who owns said hands knows which motivation is behind the supposedly worshipful posture, so I mention my roller coaster observations to ask you not, "what is your posture during worship songs, but what is your posture as you live your life?" Do you live your life as the first person in the pew embracing God's will for your life as if it were your own, fully submitted to abandoning the desires of your flesh in a manner that, at times, is terrifying to both you and those around you, or do you cling white knuckled to your own desires like my Lili did on her first and second solo ride on the kiddie, dragon roller coaster at the Labor day carnival, but I did notice that she relaxed a little with each lap around the track as if her mounting experience gradually convinced her that she was safe even though it felt scary and that if she allowed herself to fully enjoy every aspect of the experience it could be completely amazing and breathtakingly enjoyable:) I relate to her experience in my spiritual life as stated in 1 Peter 2:2 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. The second part of this verse is where I draw a connection to Lili's roller coaster experience. Once we taste and see that the Lord is good we begin to trust and adore him in a whole new way that allows us to assume a posture of complete disregard for ourselves before him! When we obey God even when his advice doesn't make sence to us, we find out that His wisdim, his advice, his intentions, are GOOD, and it becomes a little easier for us to relax into allowing him to fill the role of LORD of our lives, which in all honesty, is the spirit's true equivalent of throwing your hands in the air in worship. God doesn't care what you do with your hands when you sing songs to him, but he is intimately invested in the posture of our spirits as we live our lives, so ask yourself, "Am I holding white-knuckled onto aspects of my life in an attempt to maintain full control, or do I daily throw my figurative hands in the air in total submission to God's will for my life?" If you don't know, here's a test for you to measure your true level of submission to God's authority in your life. Read Matthew 5:39-41 But I [Jesus] tell you, do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. Now, before you bust your computer monitor tryng to reach through the screen to strangle me for these words I have typed, stop to consider that these are the recorded words from the good and holy lips of Jesus Christ, you know, the one, you likely say is Lord of your life if you label yourself a Christian, so why do these words irritate us so and raise our hackles? I really don't need you to answer that question because I am well aware of the answer from my own personal reaction that the thought of living life this way makes me feel vulnerable and unprotected and likely to end up as the world's doormat, and then, my question for myself is, "Why, Cori?" You have tasted and seen that the Lord is good! You have story after story that you share through your writing and speech that ooze with praise and commendations for the yumminess(beyond goodness) of living life with Jesus Christ as Lord (Boss), so why do you question him here on whether he knows what he's talking about in these scary potentially hurtful situations? What does this reveal concerning how submitted you truely are to him? You've experienced that life Christ's way is AWESOME as you have pried one white-knuckle loose at a time, and with each freed finger you KNOW the ride that life is just got BETTER and BETTER and BETTER and BETTER, so why not just let go COMPLETELY and stand before the Lord with both hands raised in complete submission to his will and make it possible to experience the heightened enjoyment and excitement of riding hands-free? I'm sharing my deepest thoughts with you here in hopes that it will get you thinking deeply about your own walk with Christ because I truely have tasted and seen that the Lord is excellent, and I totally think its worth it to follow his advice in everything even when its scary because from my personal experience it ALWAYS leads to blessing and joy beyond compare!:)
Another observation that stands out to me as I consider the experience I had over the weekend is that as I stood among the throng that had formed near the roller coaster entrance at a location that offered a good vantage point of some of the rides most frightening assests, I couldn't help but overhear the conversations of those around me that reflected admiration for the members of their group who had chosen to ride, and maybe even, a little regret that they hadn't joined them. Another common thread to the conversations was a recognition of the fun the riders wer having and possibly a little vicarious enjoyment as well:) I couldn't help but wonder why these individuals didn't just get in line and ride, so they could experience the fun for themselves. In sharing this, I am further extending Jesus' oringinal invite by inviting you to join me in enjoying life in a committment to FULL submission to Jesus Christ. Please, don't just stand and watch me enjoy the ride wishing you could experience it also!

Strike A Pose!

In my absence from writing the past several weeks I have started a diet on which I have already dropped 8+ pounds. Knowing my husband is the most honest, straight-forward person that God placed on this earth, I dared to strike a pose this mornig right before stepping into the shower while questioning him in a sing-song little girl voice, "Am I skinny yet?" Not surprisingly, just as I had hoped, he answered honestly, "You're skinnier than you were!" Why am I pleased with this answer that implies I'm still on the wrong side of chubby with more than a few pounds to go before my ideal weight will be attained? Because I know, just as I am sure you do, that weight loss is a process that requires time and effort. One doesn't miraculously drop from nearly 200 pounds to 150 with the first sip of Coke Zero! I am pleased that my husband recognized a noticeable and measurable difference in my size and shape this morning although I am well aware that I haven't yet met my goal! As I was completing my morning routine my stroke-ravaged brain made a connection from that incident to a moment that occurred during yet another new development since the last time I wrote. Yesterday, I began teaching/leading a women's Bible study entitled, "Living Victoriously In Difficult Times." During the introductory lesson, we began an overview of the spiritual benchmarks or milestones I have identified from personal experience that are necessary to have reached in order to be victorious when life stinks. By definition, benchmark and milestone are both words that describe a marker that identifies a specific distance traveled on a journey. In order to progress on said journey, one must pass the progressive milestones to reach a further location. Just as I must lose 10 pounds before I can boast having lost 50, I must grow in my relationship with God through Jesus Christ past certain understandings in order to experience true VICTORY in life no matter the circumstance. Making spiritual progress requires discipline and effort just as progressing in a weight loss program does. While abstaining from fatty and sugar-filled yum-yums seems to be the key attaining my goal weight, gorging on God's word and regularly enjoying ooey-gooey, sweet time in God's presence through prayer, worship and fellowship with other believers are key to spiritual growth. I share this because sometimes we can become discouraged and even question our salvation when we witness other Christians who are farther down the road with God, and once again, just as in weight loss, it not really about where you are but instead about whether you are making recognizable progress on your spiritual journey or not, so strike a pose before the most honest person you know and ask, "Do you see a difference in me? Do I look more like Jesus (our behavioral and spiritual goal as Christians)?" On this note, I remember watching the minister at our church as a teenager and thinking, "That's what I want! I want to love God with that intensity, passion, dedication, and committment! Well, today as a 30 -year-old woman who still treasures that minister and his family, knowing intimately who I was as a teenager, I know I have progressed farther and farther along the path to those characteristics I admired in his spirit...spiritually, I am a different size and shape than I was, and although I have not finished my journey and there is still room for plenty of growth, I am near to giddy over the results I see, so I will continue seeking to grow in the Lord as long as I live, and one day, when I get the privelage of finally meeting Jesus(and not a second before!) I will finally be made perfect (completely reflecting Jesus in everyway). I find this comparison of weight loss and spiritual growth interesting because one is about losing and shrinking while the other is about gaining everything and growing while both are important to health and quality of life (just in different areas). Take some time to evaluate your spiritual progress once in awhile just as you might step on the scale or ask your husband's opinion occassionally when you are dieting to evaluate how you are doing and determine if you need to make a change in your program. If you don't have a brutally honest individual in your life to ask, dig into God's word because as 2 Timothy 3: 16 says All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so the man of God may be thouroughly equipped for every good work. Sounds like the equilvalent to a spiritual scale to me!:D Another glowing recommendation for God's word as a tool for spiritual growth is found in Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

If you are curious about the spiritual milestones I eluded to early on in this post, you are welcome to join me next Wednesday at Crossroads Christian Church in Evansville, IN for my class which is part of a larger women's ministry called Daughter's of the King (DOK). The program in its entirety runs from 9AM-11AM with my class portion beginning at 10AM being preceeded by a large group worship and learning time. One can pre-register at www.crossroadschristian.com. Child care is provided, so no excuses;)

Color Crayon Doctrine

My quickly approaching four-year-old daughter posed a befuddling question to me this afternoon, "Cori (yes, she likes to call me by name), why do grown-ups color in the lines?" Upon considering her query, I was tempted to respond with, "because it makes a prettier picture," but then it quickly occurred to me that my daughter's colorful and carefree expressions, which most would interpret as scribbles, often can be described as beautiful and engaging, so I stopped short of responding anything more than, "I don't know!" In fact, I immediately began to question whether instructing our children to color inside the lines might unintentionally squelch their individuality, so maybe, I wondered, "Is it bad for our children or wrong to inhibit them in such a way?" Of course, I had to follow our short conversation with a facebook post to flaunt my adorable, genious and elicit some opinions from my friends concerning the coloring conundrum in which I now found myself! One comment in particular got the few undamaged brain cells that remain after my stroke to firing, and they haven't cooled since. Basically, my friend suggested that coloring in the lines is neither right nor wrong good nor bad, but just a simple way for a child to learn self-discipline, which appealed to my understanding of life just as much as my initial, maybe, there's not any value to training a child to stay in the lines like everyone else other than stifling their creativity and creating a little conformist. Neither of which appealed to me as a goal I want to acheive in my parenting career. Anyway, my mind connected from here to the concept of living inside the boundaries that God has established for our safety, which I have blogged about previously. We are all likely aware that God has set forth certain guidelines, boundaries, commandments, or rules in his written word, the Bible. Much like we as parents set rules for our children to protect them because we love them, God sets the boundaries for our physical, emotional, and spiritual safety as we live here on this earth. It is my belief that choosing to live within these established lines although it requires a great deal of self-dscipline allows us to avoid many of the consequential hardships and tradgedies that we often note others experiencing. Often, wondering why God wants to keep us from the apparent fun on the other side, we are tempted to cross over and soon learn from what exactly our loving father wanted to protect us! caused us. Just like my daughter's coloring pages, at first, the activity going on outside the lines looks enjoyable and exciting, and we may even feel cheated or stifled by keeping inside the boundary lines God established, but we soon learn that life outside the lines is messy and confusing and not nearly as attractive or fun as it first seemed, but by no means does this imply that we cannot color/live with great passion, exuberance, and creativity within the healthy and safe boundaries that God has established, so commit today to making your life a lovely, colorful, and creative picture colored by you just for God that he can hang on his refrigerator with pride and delight when you hand it over to him when you're finished, and remember, for your own enjoyment along the way color with exuberance INSIDE the lines he has established to protect you!:) Also, if it is your desire to carefully color inside the lines of the picture your life is, it might be wise to familiarize yourself with the boundaries God has established by reading his word regularly because you might be surprised by how easy it is to unwittinly scribble in some areas of life when we get distracted by the ever changing views and opinions of the world around us!

Garden of Weedin'- An Apologetic Blogger's Excuse

I have been dreadfully absent from my blog since summer began, and I have an excuse and an apology for you because of it!:) As the first warm rays of sun kissed the earth to announce spring and ready the soil for seeds a plan was birthed in my heart and mind from my home's desperate need for landscaping and my heart's equally desperate need to proclaim my love and gratitude to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, for sustaining me in the storms of life in the most miraculous ways that have allowed me to truely experience LIFE, yes, an all-caps life in spite of tragic circumstamces! During the Easter holiday, I was reminded of an old hymn I had learned in my childhood entitled Because He Lives. Its lyrics say, " (vs. 1) God sent his son, they called him, Jesus; he came to love, heal, and forgive; he lived and died to buy my pardon, an empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives. (chorus) Because he lives, I can face tomorrow; because he lives, all fear is gone; because I know he holds the future, and life is worth the living just because he lives. (vs. 2) How sweet to hold a newborn baby, and feel the pride and joy he gives but greater still the calm assurance, this child can face uncertain days because he lives. ( repeat chorus) (vs. 3) And then one day I'll cross the river; I'll fight life's final war with pain; and then as death gives way to victory, I'll see the lights of glory and I'll know he reigns. Anyway, this hymn took on such personal meaning to me as I celebrated the Easter holiday, and I became more and more aware that the LIFE I had the privelage of living was solely in all-caps because of the relationship I have with God only through Christ Jesus because he overcame my sin's punishment (death on the cross and separation from God) by raising from the dead that first Easter morning and establishing the possibility for me to LIVE my life in the peaceful, joy-filled presence of my creator, and folks, this realization spurred me on to dedicate the flower and vegetable gardens that have been devouring all my time since the onset of spring to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ in order to establish a means of daily remembrance of the fact I get to LIVE life courtesy of him and the joy, peace, and contentment he funnels into my life with no regard for circumstance! As a result, the Because He Lives Memorial Gardens, which require a great deal of time and effort to maintain even though it is only 75% complete was estabished on the grounds surrounding my home. My sincere attitude of joy and thanksgiving requires me to make such a huge tado because I recall a time before God's healing had touched my soul when I had thoughts like, " I wish everyone would stop making such a big deal about surviving a stroke because its really nothing to be happy about because I'd rather have died than have to live like this, " and "Its handicrapped not handicapped because this is a load of crap!" I hope that gets a WOW response out of you in comparison to the current state of my spirit once I gave God a chance to do his thing in my heart! I was near suicidal, in fact, I can remember half-heartedly considering slipping beneath the bubbley water in the tub once just to end the daily struggle I experience, but now, with God's healing touch only possible through Jesus Christ, I sincerely love my life and embrace my disability...THAT'S A MIRACLE, and I am sorry that my desire to celebrate that miracle through the hobby of gardening has kept me from my writing ministry for several weeks. Although my tribute garden is a fountain, two benches, a swing, a flag pole, several rose bushes, and various decorative finishing touches away from completion, it serves its purpose as a daily, visual reminder of the healing of mind, body and spirit for which I am eternally grateful! I hope to post some pictures as soon as I can figure out how to do it, so you can see it yourself and watch my garden's progress toward completion:) Just so you know, I am hoping to arrange a couple of areas for Bible study and reflection within the flower section of my garden, hence the need for benches and the swing. One such area is to have a fountain reminiscent of the one in a garden at the Rehabilitation Institute where I spent a month after my stroke and before my heart surgery. Near the cite for that fountain is already planted a weeping pussy-willow tree representative of the mourning that took place immediately following the tragedy. This was flanked on both sides by a plant named bleeding heart to symbolize my heart surgery. Unfortunately, I have already killed both of these:/ I hope to replace them with roses as soon as finances allow! Although not planned, how appropriate because God took my bleeding heart and replaced it with the beautiful, sweet fragrance of joy and peace! My point tonight, once again, is God is awesome, and not only desires your love and devotion, but fully deserves it!:) I face tomorrow and everyday of my disabled future with peace, hope and joy instead of fear, disappointment, and bitterness, so I sing at the top of my lungs, "[only] because he lives, I can face tomorrow! Because he lives, all fear is gone! Because I know he holds my future...my life is worth the living just because he lives!"

Who Is Douglas Adams?

Human beings,

who are almost unique in having

the ability to learn from the experience of others,

are also remarkable for their apparent

disinclination to do so. -Douglas Adams

Last weekend the sermon offered by our minister was one laiden with historical fact that I am sure to relay incorrectly, but I need to express a point from the sermon, so I will try to do so without falsely representing history, and I apologize in advance if I do. Well, evidentally, we have come to a point in the Old Testament during which God's people are divided into two separate nations, Judah to the north and Israel to the south, and over a period of time both nations failed to honor God and therefore didn't experience his blessing and support leading to miserable captivity in the end. Well, according to our pastor the northern nation was more advanced in reaching this point allowing the southern nation the opportunity to witness the results of living outside God's will as a nation, and the very good question that was raised asked, "Why did they not learn from the example of their northern neighbor and alter their path accordingly? Anyway, following this lesson striking a chord in my heart, I ran accross this quote from whoever Douglas Adams is, and I realized these two parallel teachings, if you allow them to be true for you, could nullify the usefulness of my writing altogether because, I write in hopes that someone, anyone will recognize the great treasure I have found in a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, which is available not exclusively to me, and accordingly follow my example of living life to the tune of Jesus' teachings found in the Bible! Anyway, my point in this particular blog is to say, "please see what beauty and joy exists in my life in spite of circumstance as a direct result of my committment to follow Jesus, and don't be like Israel and totally miss your opportunity to avoid the disaster that life is without him by joining me in following him today if you haven't already!" Join me in taking note of the examples from which we are intended to learn and choosing to do just that...learn and live accordingly:)