Make Some Noise

Bang! Bang! Bang! Not exactly the sound I wanted to hear at 2 a.m. but there it was. It had been a beautiful day and I had been busy outside and had unlatched the door on our screened in porch so I could go in and out. The bang was the reminder I had not latched the door back. The wind had come up and was blowing its way through the porch and banging the screen door as it went whistling on its way. As I lay in bed wondering if I could just sleep through it or if I would have to get up and latch the door, I had this thought- you need to make some noise.

I knew immediately that the Lord was about to give me an object lesson. God did not save me to be quiet. He saved me to proclaim His word wherever I go. He saved me to rejoice. He saved me to make a joyful noise. Sometimes I allow fear to latch my heart shut. I am afraid that I might be rejected. I am afraid of what others might think. I am afraid and I close off my testimony of God’s love. I latch my heart shut.

There are several references in God’s word comparing the Holy Spirit to the wind. It is the Holy Spirit’s desire to blow not just on my life but also through my life. As the Holy Spirit blows through my life I am moved to confront injustice. The wind of the Holy Spirit carries me to places I never thought I would go and gives me the power to do what I believed to be impossible. God used a banging screen door at 2 a.m. to remind me that my life was never meant to be lived tightly shut up and quiet. Steven Curtis Chapman says it this way

“Wake the neighbors

Get the word out

Come on, crank up the music, climb a mountain and shout

This is life we've been given, made to be lived out

So, la, la, la, la, live out loud”

So the bottom line on this Thursday is ---Unlatch your heart’s door and let the wind of the Spirit blow through your life and MAKE SOME NOISE!

Psalm 98:4 Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise.

Out of Control

Rebellious wild child is probably not a phrase most of you would match up with my name. So some of you – probably most of you – are wondering why I chose the title “Out of Control” for my blog.

There is a poem called “Iowa Child” written by Sarah Hall Mancy. Part of it reads -

“I am an Iowa Child

Part and product of the land on which I grew

Flat and open and straight, like

The farm road that bordered the corn

Friendly and receptive, like the rich,

Black silt that grows the corn

Simple, and plain, but productive,

Like the fields of soy beans and hay.

And I know my Iowa child must live

And come to terms with the part of me

That is controlled, precise, yearning

to be perfect-

Like the squared-off, ruler straight rows of hybrid seed corn.”

Therein lies my struggle. I am controlled, precise, yearning to be perfect and I hear Jesus speaking to me to completely surrender control of my life to Him. Sounds great and I am all for it intellectually but when I try to actually implement letting God have control of every area of my life I am confronted with just how controlling I am. If you would listen in on my prayer time, I am not sure you would know who was the master and who was the servant. I have suggestions to help God out. I have a specific time frame that I want adhered to. I think I know exactly what I need. I question His decision to allow this or that in my life. I rebel against God’s authority over my life.

So the title comes not from where I am but where I want to be. I want to give up control of every area of my life to the Lord. I want Him to direct my steps, I want Him to set my agenda, I want Him to open and close doors as He sees fit.

I hope you will join in my rebellion against a controlled, precise, yearning to be perfect life and allow God to set you free to be who He has designed you to be.

Romans 12

Place Your Life Before God

1-2 So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

Pooh - An Adventure with God

"As soon as I saw you, I knew an adventure was going to happen." Christopher Robin

I can say that exact same thing about my relationship with Jesus. What an adventure I have been on! I was born on a farm in Iowa. I can’t say that I ever really dreamed big dreams or set lofty goals. I did determine to marry my high school sweet heart at the ripe old age of 18 and move away from my family and friends. I worked while my husband went through college and then I stayed home to be a mom and stayed even when there were no kids still at home. I have been to 13 foreign countries, most of the Caribbean, and Hawaii. I have been up in a hot air balloon, ridden in an Indy car doing 154 mph and hung from a zip line in Belize. But all of that is nothing compared to my journey with the Lord.

Truthfully I cannot remember the exact moment when I saw the Lord and asked Him into my heart and the adventure began. He has just always been with me for as long as I can remember. All through my childhood His hand was on my life. As I began the adventure of being a new wife and later a new mother, He was there to help and guide me. He was with me when I told children in a Russian summer camp that had once been used to indoctrinate them into Communism about Jesus. A young boy by the name of Nick came looking for me one day and asked me to pray with him to know Jesus because he knew of no such Jesus in Russia. The Lord was with me in El Salvador as I watched children digging through the garbage for food and in the Philippines as I walked through a cemetery that families there call home. I have celebrated the greatest joys in my life with the Lord by my side and went through the deepest valleys being carried in His arms.

I had the honor and privilege of speaking at a women’s retreat last weekend and the Lord gave me this passage to share.

Isaiah 43:18-19 “But forget all that—

it is nothing compared to what I am going to do.

19 For I am about to do something new.

See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?

I believe that is the message the Lord desires to speak to all His sons and daughters. I believe that is the message God wants YOU to hear today. Forget the past, it is nothing compared to what He is going to do. The past the Lord was telling the children of Israel to forget was their deliverance out of the land of Egypt. There were actually times of blessings in the beginning and then a time of severe testing. As I look back over the entirety of my life, the times of blessing far out weigh the times of testing. Maybe you would say the opposite and you have been going through a lengthy time of testing. I believe the message is the same for both of us – forget it. Everywhere I have been, everything I have experienced is nothing compared to what God has in store for me and the same is true for you. I can hardly wrap my mind around what He is saying. Just when most people my age are thinking about retirement homes, horseshoes, and bingo – God comes to me with that twinkle in His eye and says, “You haven’t seen anything yet!” I know there is a song about heaven that says I can only imagine what heaven will be like but I’m not waiting until then. I can only imagine the adventure that God has for me and for you right here and right now as we follow after Him. I pray that you will open your heart and your mind to the word that God is speaking to all His children

"But forget all that---it is nothing compared to what I am going to do."

And then get ready for the greatest adventure of your life!

God Loves a Mess

Hello, my name is Judy and I am a recovering HGTV addict. I could sit all day and watch as a designer walks into a room, or a whole house, that is an absolute mess and in 30 minutes turns it into something out of a magazine. I love it!

One level above that is Extreme Makeover Home Edition where Ty tells you the heart-wrenching story of a family who is in desperate need of a home makeover. They show you room-by-room the “mess” that the family is living in. They show the leaky roof and the walls that need repaired. They show you four kids sleeping in one bedroom. Sometimes a parent has died or a child is sick. They tell you how eight people are living in one tiny room with only one bathroom and the toilet doesn’t work and they have to carry water to flush. What do makeover shows see that I do not see in a mess? They see opportunity – possibilities – restoration – renewal – the final reveal.

The first thing they do is address the mess. The mess gets personal. It is not a “mess” anymore but now we see Jim and Diane and their two kids Tim and Chloe. Ty and his team wade in. They don’t sing and dance around the edges and throw little morsels into the mess. Oh no they wade right into the middle. They get their hands dirty. They sweat. They demolish what is broken and in disrepair so they can build something new. Ty is running around with his megaphone screaming at the top of his lungs, “OK people we only have one day left.” There is a sense of urgency. They work all night. They search out a child’s favorite ball player or a young girl’s favorite singer. They have special items custom made just for the family. They hammer, they lay tile, they dry wall, they paint – they work hard.

Our God is like that and more. From the beginning of time God saw the MESS sin would bring. He saw the heart-wrenching story of a people separated from Him. He saw the hurt and the pain. He saw the devastation and He made the determination to get involved. God waded right into the middle of our mess. He became flesh and dwelt among us. He started calling us by name. He put in some all nighters. He got His hands dirty. He withheld nothing – He gave His life. WHY would He do that?

For the final reveal -

the moment we all watch for – that moment when the family comes back home in a limo. The streets are lined with people cheering. The anticipation can be felt. There is a big bus parked right in front of the new home blocking the view. The family gets out and waits for Ty to say the words we all want to say with him, “DRIVER MOVE THAT BUS.” Then we watch as a family is overwhelmed by what awaits them. A new home – new appliances – new floors – new bathrooms – a new life.

God is into final reveals in a big way. He loves to take a life that is in complete chaos and transform it into something more beautiful than ever thought possible. So today if your life is in a big huge mess – take heart – God is the master designer and He will not leave you where He finds you. He will do whatever it takes to transform your life. Where you only see hurt, pain, and disappointment God sees you through His eyes of love and is thinking of possibilities, restoration, and renewal. He already sees your final reveal and it beyond anything you could ever imagine.

Ephesians 3:20 (The Message) God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.

Unpacking

I love vacations. I love getting away. At least two weeks before I leave I begin making piles. I lay out my clothes to make sure I have an outfit for each day. I can’t forget my camera, medicines, gps, hotel reservation information, addresses, phone numbers and on and on – just like Prego – it is all in there.

But eventually, the vacation is over and I am back home and everything has to be unpacked. Unpacking is not near as much fun.

The whole trip can pretty much be retraced by what is left in the car, in my purse, and in the suitcases. One of the first things I do is dig out my camera and upload pictures. It is like reliving the whole trip again. Then there are ticket stubs from attractions I visited which stir up happy memories of laughter and fun. I always bring home souvenir cups from everywhere I go to remind me of my visit as I sit and have my morning tea. Of course, there is always some trash to be dealt with. Leftover McDonald bags, Starbucks coffee cups, Wal-Mart bags, empty water bottles, chocolate wrappers etc. are mixed in with all my other vacation treasures.

I have found the same thing true in my daily life. At the end of the day I have collected some treasures and some trash. There is a prayer called the prayer of excamen which is basically an unpacking prayer. When I get into bed, and before I drift off to sleep, I take a few minutes and basically unpack my day. The last 24 hours were a gift from God. You and I will never get them back. How did I use them?

Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living." So I start off by examining the good things in my day. Even on the worst of days, God is faithful to send His love. The fact that I was able to get out of bed, walk, dress myself, feed myself are all gifts from God. I remember the sound of a child laughing and I smile. I remember the unexpected phone call from a friend. I remember the amazing sunset that God painted at the end of my day. I want to end my day with an attitude of gratitude.

On every journey we collect a little trash that just needs to be thrown out. I gather up any anger, frustration, doubt, fear, worry, jealousy that got left in my life and give them to Jesus. I ask for forgiveness of any harsh words I spoke, missed opportunities, unkind acts.

Envision your suitcase if you never unpacked but just kept adding stuff each time you went somewhere. Fairly quickly one suitcase turns into two, three, four. You are now carrying around dirty clothes and trash right along with your treasures and happy memories.

So tonight before you drift off to sleep, say an unpacking prayer and then-

Psalm 4:8 In peace I will lie down and sleep,

for you alone, LORD,

make me dwell in safety.

SWEET DREAMS