Christmas in Chains

Christmastime is warm and fuzzy at my house. Spicy candles, twinkly lights, warm fires, and yummy smells are all part of what Christmastime is. Certain traditions must take place... watching White Christmas, reading Christmas with Anne by L.M. Montgomery, and singing O, Holy Night in the dark. I go to church on Christmas Eve and sing Silent Night and hold candles, eat homemade ice cream and go sleep under layers of blankets.
But elsewhere in the world,a man is weeping in a cold, hard cell. A woman huddles in the corner and tries to ignore the hunger gnawing at her insides. Children stare with glassy eyes at the ceiling and try to forget the image of their mother being beaten to death.
Thousands of our brothers and sisters around the world are beaten, tortured, abused, and killed because they are not ashamed to confess the name of Jesus Christ. They do give up everything to follow the One they love, the One Who died for them. They grasp in the depth of their soul what it means to take up their cross and follow. Their very lives they pour out before the Father as an offering, the highest one they can give.
The enemy of our souls laughs when that man finally succumbs to a beating; when that woman finally starves. But their blood cries out to El Elyon and He will not always leave them unavenged. The day is coming, when the last martyr goes Home, when He will rend the heavens and come to earth with a sword.
But until that day, remember your brothers and sisters all around the world who will this year celebrate Christmas in chains.

Grace and a Canyon

The other day my friends and I were driving by the Grand Canyon and a song come on the radio. One of my favorites... Amazing Grace: My Chains are Gone. As I looked at the canyon with the song playing in the background, the grace of God took on a different meaning. Sometimes it seems so abstract. Theologians have argued over the correct definition and many books have been written trying to explain it to the common masses. But there before my eyes was the tangible, very visible expression of God's grace.
The canyon was formed by Noah's Flood. The land is scarred from the weight of the punishment that was God's wrath. The wound healed, leaving only a scar, but people travel from all over the world to see that scar. The immensity of the canyon is hard for our minds to comprehend. But the fact that we are here to see it and enjoy it is another act of grace. The wickedness that caused God's wrath to pour out on the earth is still present today. The hearts on mankind are just just as black and the vileness of their sin just as great. But God's made a promise and He never goes back on His own word. Judgment is held off, kept in the storehouse, until the end of the ages. Until God's time is complete. He gives time for us to repent of out sin and turn to Him. Like Noah on the Ark, He provides a way of escape for the coming judgment. But as in that time so it is now. Judgment will come and only those who are covered in His blood will escape.
I was humbled again at the enormity of God's plan. The Flood was so long ago yet the effects are still visible. Jesus died so long ago yet His blood is still potent and powerful. Time is nothing to Him Who created time and exists outside its confines. Yet He orders the ages so that we can see His works and know that He is God... full of grace and truth, abounding in mercy and love toward us, His creation.

Heroes

Every night before my two little friends go to bed I've been telling them stories out of the Old Testament. Being boys, they like the ones best where somebody get killed and armies clash in battles. They love the drama of the stories and the fact that they're real. That it really happened. Telling these stories that I have heard my whole life, and putting them into words that little boys can understand has opened my eyes to things in these stories that I never noticed.
These are the stories of heroes. The original heroes. Real, live people. Some of them have long stories like Samuel, David, Samson, Moses... but others have only a few verses like Shamgar, Othniel, and Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest.
But does that make them any less of a hero in God's eyes? No.
Every one of those men did what God asked them to. They were given a task and they completed that task with the resources they had.
David had an army and a core group of loyal, mighty warriors. Shamgar had an ox goad, but God used both of them to deliver His people from their enemies.
Samuel was God's voice for many years, in many different situations. Zechariah was God's voice in one instance and he was stoned for it. But both men were obedient to the Word of the Lord and spoke it to those it was meant for.
Moses delivered Israel from 400 years of slavery in Egypt and led them for 40 years in the Wilderness and experienced incredible acts of God. Othneil delivered Israel from 8 years of servitude to the king of Mesopotamia and led them in peace for 40 years.
The stories of these men are all so different but with a common thread... obedience. They became heroes because they were humble enough to hear God and courageous enough to act on what they heard.
God has called you to be a hero too. He designed you for a task that no one else can do. It's tailor made just to fit you and the resources that He has given you. Maybe your story won't take up a whole book like Nehemiah or Esther, or several books like David and Moses. But He has a story written out for you that is unique and special to Him. Right now, at this very moment, you have what you need to be a hero. You have what it takes.
Will you use it?

"Who was, Who is, Who is to come..."

I love writing.
I do it a lot because it helps me to put my thoughts into coherent order. I love words and their beauty, both physically how they look on a page and the pictures they give your mind.
So today I was in one of those moods where I have to write but I'm not sure what exactly will come off the end of my pen. So I picked up my pen and started writing. What ended up coming out of my pen was a page and a half of truths that i believe about God. The first one that came to me was, "I believe that God is."
When I was finished writing I looked back at the top of my page and saw that sentence. I was awestruck. Not by my own writing but by that thought.
God Is.
There are incredible implications if you believe that statement to be true.
If God is... then who are you?
If God is... then why are you?
If God is... then why is there evil?
If God is... then where is He?
If God is... then......
Nothing is more frightening... nothing is more comforting... than knowing God is. The very fact that we can make such statement is incredible. God could have chosen to keep Himself to Himself. He doesn't need us... but He wants us. He wants us so much that He showed Himself and allows Himself to be found.
So many questions are answered and so many more created by that statement. But contained within that statement are the answers to every question we could ever ask. The simplicity of those two words is astounding. They beg to be studied. Those words, those two beautiful words, created in me a thirst to know... deeply, intimately, passionately, neverendingly... who God is.

Promise Keepers

I'm a pretty ordinary girl. I've lived in the country my whole life, outside of a very small town. I go to church and have picnics in the field. I go swimming and do laundry. I text and take my dog for walks. I sing and cry and laugh and watch the sunset and count stars.
Jesus was an ordinary Man... on the outside. Nobody could see that He was God. They saw the callouses from His carpentry tools but they didn't know that those hands also held together the universe. They saw His eyes look at Jerusalem and weep but they didn't know that He wept for them. They heard His voice teaching them and singing with them but they didn't know that voice also bound the ocean to its place and called the dry land into existence. And they couldn't see His heart beating in rhythm with God's.
He has made us like Him... ordinary, temporal shell with an extraordinary, eternal soul. We were made for eternity but now, for just a little while, we live in the confines of time. Within this time we call our life, we have a task, just as He did when He put on Time.
He came to heal broken hearts and release captives. To remove the barrier that kept us from returning to our home when our Time was completed. The promise that was made to the first man and woman, that someday the Seed would crush the serpent, came to pass. The promise that God made to Abraham that through him all the nations of the world would be blessed, was fulfilled. The whole of the Law and the Prophets was completed in Him.
So we are His promise to the World. What was promised by The Spirit through the Prophets has come to pass. The Messiah has come. And what is promised to the World, through us, will also come to pass. He will come again. He will restore righteousness and peace. He will cast out Darkness forever. He will wipe away all tears. He will kill Death. And we will forever be in the Light of His Presence.
We are sons and daughters of the Promise just as Isaac, Moses, and Joshua the High Priest were. They were reminders to their generations that God is still faithful and still remembers His promises. We are reminders to our generation that God is still God and He keeps His word.

Glory in a Clay Jar

Sometimes when you see clay pottery its been painted with brilliant colors and elaborate patterns. Others are plain and their beauty lies in their simplicity. But either way, the pottery in and of itself has no glory. They glory, or shame, lies in what is put inside the pottery. "God formed man out of the dust of the ground..." In our essence we are clay pots. We are formed on purpose for a purpose. We are all different, unique, special. My clay pot may be taller than yours. His clay pot may be stronger than mine. She may have many more beautiful colors on her's. But what's inside my pot? What's inside of me? Honor or dishonor? Glory or shame? Light or darkness?

Let me tell you what's inside of the clay jar called Tori.

Honor. "Because he has set his love on Me... I will...honor him."

Glory. "...this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory..."

Light. "...your whole body is full of light as when the bright shining of a lamp gives you light.”

And just how do I know all this?

Because I am His. I am nothing but clay filled with the Glory that make all of heaven and earth tremble.

"Look, I go forward, but He is not there, and backward, but I cannot percieve Him; when He works on the left hand, I cannot behold Him; when He turns to the right hand, I cannot see Him. But he knows the way I take; when He has teastd me, I shall come forth as gold. My foot has held fast to His steps; I have kept His way and not turned aside. I have not departed from the commandment of His lips; I have treasured the words of HIs mouth more than my necessary food. But He is unique, and who can make Him change? And whatever His soul desires, that He does. For He preforms what is appointed for me, an many such things are with Him. " Job 23.8-15

I just read that for the first time today. I love it! It's beautiful and challenging and comforting all at once. We can't always see Him work but we see the work when it's done.

Babies and flowers. Both are hidden for a time. But when the time is accomplished, they burst forth in beauty and testify of our Creator.

How's Your Oil Level?

Now Joshua was clothed in filthy garments, and was standing before the Angel of the LORD. And He answered and spoke to those who stood before Him, saying, "Take away the filthy garments from him." And to him He said, "See I have removed your iniquity from you, and I will clothe you with rich garments...... If you will walk in My ways, and if you will keep My command.... I will give you places to walk among those who stand here."

I don't really know anything about the pastor I listened to on Sunday morning. I've heard him preach but I've never seen him up close before. He preaches with straightforward, unashamed passion. Passion is like salt.... once you've had a taste, you want more. He preached on the parable of the 10 virgins. Some were wise, some were foolish. Some had oil, others did not. Oil is passion, the overflowing result of faith that is rock solid. The certainty that you are in fellowship with God, that you are covered with Lamb's blood.

If I believe that those verses above are true then I should be an oil well bigger than anything ever discovered in the Middle East. Change the names and pronouns..... Now I was clothed in filthy garments and stood before the Angel of the LORD... and He said, "Take away those filthy garments from HER. ' He said to ME, "See I have taken away YOUR iniquity......

How's your oil level?

The Glory of God

What is the glory of God? It is who God is. It is the essence of His nature, the weight of His importance, the radiance of His splendor, the demonstration of His power, the atmosphere of His presence. God's glory is the expression of His goodness and all His other intrinsic, eternal qualities.

Where is the glory of God? Just look around. Everything created by God reflects His glory in some way. We see it everywhere, from the smallest microscopic form of life to the vast Milky Way, from sunsets and stars to storms and seasons.

God's inherent glory is what He possesses because He is God. It is in His nature. We cannot add anything to His glory, just as it would be impossible for us to make the sun shine brighter. But we are commanded to recognize HIs glory, honor His glory, declare His glory, praise His glory, reflect His glory, and live for His glory.

-Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life

His Voice

The mind of God is so unfathomable.

How obvious I know. But it's something I have to remind myself of. I can not know the ways or the reasons of God. They are high above me. They are of a nature that I am not. So I cannot comprehend them.

But they are perfect. Always perfect.
Perfect in their timing.
Perfect in their execution.
Perfect in their plan.

They are of God... YHWH... Adoni.... the Master Craftsman.

Sometimes I wait and wait and wait.... and wait. And I still see no flashes of light. No thunder claps. No big neon signs. And I forget that sometimes He is harder to hear than that. Sometimes He wants you to try to hear Him. To work at it, to be close enough to Him to hear in the silence.

Wait upon the LORD. Yes, wait for Him.