in the love of Christ

Today, as I spent some time alone with God in the laundry room, I studied Deuteronomy 4. Deuteronomy 4:19 says, "And beware lest you raise your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, you be drawn away and bow down to them and serve them, things that the Lord your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven." Can you say kick in the FACE!?! Is Moses saying that the stars and the moon and the sun, absolutely astounding gifts from God, could ever be worshiped in the place of God? It doesn't seem to make too much sense to me to worship things that I know and recognize were God's creation. But how often do I recognize that my education, my computer, my family, and many other things in my life are simply God's blessings in my life, in the same way that the heavens are a gift from God that He "has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven". I think that, to the Israelites, Moses said ...

Tonight I sang at my friend Paige's church revival and listened to the visiting preacher talk about the story of Philemon and the need to express the love of Christ to everyone, especially non-Christians. But something else was rolling around in my head. The pastor said something about the changes that happen when you become a Christian, how you become a different person. The idea that hit me and hasn't left me since was that I don't ever want to stop being a different person. What I mean is that today I am a different person from who I was yesterday. This afternoon I was a different person from who I was this morning and now I am a different person than who I was this afternoon! I hope that continual change remains just that: continual. This may seem confusing but hold on just a second. What I am trying to convey is that, in every moment, I hope and pray that I am getting closer and closer to God and understanding His will and with every step I take closer to my Heavenly F...

In my life, right now, I am definitely going through a few transitions. In Next Door Neighbor , Max Lucado calls transitions "the desert". I loved this description of transition periods because there is waiting implied and temptation. When Jesus spent forty days in the desert, each day was filled with waiting and temptations. When I read that this summer, I reflected on it and definitely identified some of those "deserts" in my past. Now, I believe I am identifying one in the present. I am not sure what is going on around me. I feel a little confused and a lot vulnerable but also comforted all in one. This could be because of the near end of my first semester of college or the transition from just loving someone special to wanting to make that as concrete and permanent as possible. Because of the uncertainties of what my future is going to look like, exactly, I am definitely trying to focus on the constants in my life (the Word, Billy, my family, schoolwork, etc.) a...