A gift of a bible- afterthought

here is the illustration from scott's sermon sunday.

Learning To Receive

Have you ever been given a gift, a reward or an encouraging word that you just couldn't understand why or where or even how it came to be for you?

Were you able to accept it wholeheartedly or did feelings of guilt, undeserving or even shamefulness stir inside of you?

When a few of us were in Toronto a couple weekends ago we met an amazing man named Richard. He took us on a walk through the streets of T.O. and shared with us pieces of his story and the world he continues to live in, but is no longer a part of.

At the end of the weekend Em (leader of UrbanX) received a text message from Richard and took note to mention that he never sends messages unless it's about an excursion. He said he had a message for me and went on through five text messages to say that basically, I had greatly inspired him.

I was speechless. In fact it still stumps me.

I've been finding it really hard to accept this amazing blessing and encouragement because I didn't do anything that night, in my eyes, that would initiate such beautiful comments from another. Especially one who has come out of a much darker place than I have ever been.

Richard is the inspiring one. He's the one who has strength, love and compassion on the sleeve of his arm.

Rob asked me if I felt guilty and undeserving of the gift given. After thinking about it for a bit I thought, "Ya kind of... it's just... I didn't do anything!"

This has not been an easy blog for me to write (ask Julie). I think it's because I've been trying to make sense of why, out of five other people I was centered out as an inspiration when all I did was look Richard in the eyes and listened. I've been trying to work it out so I could give God all the credit and not have to receive the gift.

Sometimes we have encounters with people and to us, we may just feel like us (maybe not even the best version of us), but to another, in that moment, something within us touches them.

Richard saw something in me that moved him...

God blesses us because we are His children...

Receive it. Accept it. Share it.

To Blog Or Not To Blog - What's The Big Deal?

I was informed by the BBM yesterday that there was a specific reason he made it a requirement for me to write blogs. He informed me last week that I was three blogs behind and I had not realized he was keeping track. I had been keeping track. I knew I was behind, but I also thought it wasn't a big deal if I didn't complete them all... they're just blogs.

What is so important about blogging anyways? What are blogs for?
Why do we blog?

1. To communicate. To share our ideas, thoughts and resources with one another.

2. To share stories. It is beneficial for others to hear what pain, frustrations and victories we have and face. It can be of great encouragement to those who are in the midst of their own battles and triumphs. It is also beneficial for ourselves to share our stuff.
Shelley ended one of her blogs back in July with a statement that really impacted me. Paraphrasing she said, that being a witness to Jesus is about being open with our lives and inviting people to see into our struggles, hurts, lessons learned, joys and gifts.

3. To have a voice. We all have things to say. We all have good days and bad days, times when we don't know where we're at in our heads and hearts. We all have God moments or moments of truth, as some may put it. We all have different perspectives on how we see and feel about what's going on in our world and the world at large. These are valuable things to share.

This leads me to my final point, which I think is the reason Rob is adamant about me blogging.

4. Our person has value. This means what we do, what we think, what we use, how we feel, how we are, who we are... these things are important and hold such great value we need to share them with others.

So, you're thinking, "well yah Genevieve, that's obvious". Well, the thing is, I have a love hate relationship when it comes to blogging. (This happened in university in Dan's class as well.) I want to blog because I enjoy writing, but unless what to write about is obvious I never know what to write.
Rob is always pointing out things I could blog about and I think he's crazy, "I can't write about that," I say...

Why?

Because someone might disagree with me (which means I'm wrong -in my head).
People would know how I really feel or think (which makes me vulnerable).
I might offend or hurt someone (which would make them mad at me, which means they don't like me -in my head).
Who really cares about what I think anyways (shut-up youstis! - the name Sarah Compton gave her negative inner voice and shared at the 2008 Women's Retreat).

Rob said to me this morning that it's generally not our stories/messages that people remember, it's everything that makes up our stories and how we choose to tell them -the stories within the Story. How we interact with our family, what we do for fun, what challenges us, what we do when we're sad, what books we read, what movies we watch or don't watch, what inspires us, what makes us mad, what is our art.

All these things reveal pieces of who we are as individuals. Each one is an expression of the uniqueness God has put in us and shows how we are choosing to form our journey's.

Why is it important for me to blog? Because it challenges me to look for the value within my environment, my community and most importantly the value I have within myself - all of the elements that make up who I am are valuable and worth sharing with others.

Having this knowledge move from my head and root itself in my heart is a big part of my journey.

How True it is...

I'm in the middle of a week of vacation and haven't really done all that much...which is just the way it's supposed to be! I'm doing a bit of this and that - no real projects. Any reading that I'm doing is mostly light. I'm reading a bit from Fred Smith (he was a model Christian leader) and thought I'd pass this little quote he made. He wrote this in the context of being a mature leader and that at some point, maturity will bring us to the crossroads of the here and the hereafter - and mature leaders live their life with an understanding of the hereafter. And then he adds this:

If I see any one danger sign in our society, it is losing our consciousness of God and the hereafter. The Puritans were strongly motivated by their sense of God’s ultimate judgment. In my many years of living I have never known a devout Christian come to the end of his life and wish he had lived unChristianly. On the other hand, I have known many non-believers who felt they missed the bar and wanted a do-over. A priest for street people told me, “I’ve never known a dying man to call for his therapist.”

I think he's right...but then again, maybe it's because 50 is crouching at my door ready to pounce!

Attention Worship Leaders -- It can be easier.

One of the great benefits I recieved from being a student in the former program, The Institute of Contemporary Emerging Worship Studies (ICEWS) at St. Stephen University, is that I became a member of a fantasitic worship resource called, WorshipTeam.com.

This is a web-based program that has pretty much everything a worship leader needs to build a set, enter new songs, share songs and most importantly communicate with the rest of their team and the church. And it's incredibly simple!

The program allows you to brows through thousands of songs, change the key of songs with one click, as well as hear the songs in the same chosen key... Amazing!

You can edit, revise and save songs to fit yours and your bands needs. When you create a set list you give it a title, when the set is complete you can tell your team the title of the set, they log in from home and click the set title and all the songs, chord charts and mp3's are there before them. They can then print them off and practice.

It can also come in handy on a Sunday morning as the person on PowerPoint just pulls up the program, clicks on the set title and clicks export to set-up the viewing screen -- Quick and Easy.

This program has saved me time, energy and basically from going crazy, especially on days or nights that I'm in a hurry to prepare sets and get chord charts and lyrics together.

http://www.worshipteam.com/ I encourage all lead worshippers and team members to check out this link. You can explore and research the site. It does cost money to join, but it is not at all unreasonable and if all leaders and teams feel this will work best for them, you can make a proposal to the church.

If you want a deeper look at the program I'd be happy to go through my account with you -- just let me know.

This program really has changed my life as a worship leader.

Cleaning your cup

So,

The nagging thing about cleanliness is, 'how do i clean my cup?' 'Will I ever be clean?' It can be such a nagging thing that often Christians resort to thinking, 'well, at least jesus loves me when i am dirty, so I guess I'll just stay that way.' This is basically restorting to the idea that God forgives my sin, so it doesn't matter that I keep on sinning.

Romans 6,7 address this when Paul says, 'should I keep on sinning, so that more grace abounds?- NO. Galatians 5 talks about freedom that we receive as Christians, that we no longer need to sin, because God gives us the power to live differently. Freedom means, we are free to choose the right thing.

Needless to say, that being dirty, separates us from others. Nobody likes dirty stuff. Being dirty is discouraging because we feel our inadequacy, our shortcomings. The hope is that God loves us, and can change us. Faith is walking this change out. By walking it out, this faith, that ignores the dirt, and our hopeless, godless emotions, we find that God makes us, clean and makes our dirty lives valuable.

Sunday, I talked about Sunje, the guy doing rock balancing on Queen st. in toronto. I have his website linked here. Check it out.

Ironically I also was listening to CBC on the way home where the program Tapestry, was dealing with the idea of cleanliness in world religions. It is well worth the listen.

The program we went to be a part of is called URBAN X. Check them out, they are a fantastic group who take people to be with and learn from the poor. Challenge yourself to go beyond thinking the poor are projects to be fixed.

Who's reading the blog?

I thought I'd throw this up as a human interest story.... Here is a sample of the people checking us out from around the globe.

It's nice to know someone is reading...hope you're enjoying it.

God's Rhythm...My Rhythm

When does the day begin for you? If you're like me, it begins when the alarm goes off...for me, around 5:30.

I'm curious...when I read Genesis, I read 'there was evening, there was morning...". Is it possible that according to God, the day begins when we think it ends? From my perspective, 'activity' begins when people get up. So from God's perspective, does activity really begin when we stop all of our activity and efforts? Something tells me that when I am asleep, God is at work in his world and in the hearts of people. And when I wake...rather than beginning something, am I being invited to join God in what he's already started? If that is so (and something tells me that it is), then it changes things drastically for me and it should for all lovers of God.

If a new day is being created just when my body is winding down, then I have this thought that sleep should be sweet and restful. Think about it...according to Genesis, my day starts with a meal shared with family or friends; followed by casual talk and hanging out with family and maybe some friends; then I get to sleep. When I wake up, I am aware that He has already been at work in me and in others. What a difference that makes for me as I begin my day. I still don't know what I'm going to face that day, but I think there is a better chance at approaching it with anticipation rather than fear and trepidation.

God is good (and smart)!