miss plank eye

so this is probably the 10th post i've started. maybe ill finish this one. maybe ill one day finish the others too! my big lesson in this season of life has been pride and humility. God has used some pretty influential people and authors to show me my sin of pride. a little less than a year ago i began meeting people that didn't act like me or love God like me. in my flesh, my first instinct is to look down on these types of people and make a harsh judgment on their spiritual status, but God gracious decided to use these people to break down my idea of a "cookie cutter" Christian and start showing me what deeply loving Jesus and other people truly looks like.

Christianity is not about calvinism vs. armenianism, having a glass of wine vs. never having a drop, raising hands in worship vs. sitting still. it's about rejoicing in our God. in our hope of salvation. in the victory that happened on the cross. in the BEAUTY of Christ. in finding true joy in times with the Lord. in having our anchor be in the only thing that will never ever change. in fearing our God the judge yet feeling comforted and safe in the arms of God the father. I dont care what you look like, where you go to church, what your beliefs are on controversial issues, if you are doing all of those things, then I praise God for His salvation in you and the work he is doing in your life.

God has created us and wired us SO UNIQUELY. to say we all look the same and experience God in the same way would be an insult to Him! He is so creative in nature, why would that be any different when creating people and their hearts and passions? I pray that God continues to stretch my mind and my thinking, that I grow even more in my deep love for people, and that most importantly, i grow to a deeper love of my creative soveriegn Father whom I praise for not letting me sit in my dirty rubbish of my pride, but would bring me to an even better understanding of Him and His beautiful bride, the church.

blurb

i can't believe it's october 4 already. it's starting to get cooler and we even had rain tonight. the scent of fresh rain is truly intoxicating. i wanted nothing more than to lay on my bed with one certain candle burning and listen to george winston... like the old days :).

tonight i was completely blessed by sharing the evening with great friends. so much laughter and so much enjoyment. i was reminded that this is one of the many blessings of being a part of the Body of Christ. that was true community. and how often we pollute the body of Christ when we are hanging out! with movies, our topic of conversation, our language, etc. i praise God for blessing me with great people to surround myself with. i do not thank Him enough. i often complain and think of how things should be better and how it's not exactly how i want it. how selfish am i!? i'm a work in progress...

and i know this is no "part 2" to my last post. i'll get there!