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happy birthday to one of the coolest people i will ever know and love, my sister brittney! she’s the kind of person that everyone loves. you meet her and you can’t help but just love her. she is absolutely hysterical, such a dry witty humor and she’s also probably one of the smartest people i know. she can talk to you about renaissance art one minute, the decline of the ottoman empire the next and then seamlessly jump into the current conflict in afghanistan. she has this incredible ability to see all sides of an argument and always eager to learn. her capacity to love far exceeds most people’s’ ability to love, although sometimes this gets her burned. yet even after she’s burned she’ll still see the good in that person and love them. i wish everyone could have a sister like her. or at least a friend like her. her very nature and love challenge me to be a better human being.
happy birthday b, love you very much sis! save some kids today – ha!
the past few days have been quite interesting with the Lord. sunday’s sermon was about the Nearness of God and my pastor made one point that has been sticking out in my head A LOT: the nearness of God is SAFETY. and he said when we begin to experience fear we tend to go into plan mode. we plan what to do and how to do it to rid ourselves of the fear. when in fact, what we should do is pause, stop and draw near to God. yesterday the Lord took me to psalm 27. when i got to the end of the psalm, it was as if the final verse screamed at me:
Wait for the LORD;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the LORD.
then this morning i read from good old oswald chambers’ devotional my utmost for His highest and this really stood out to me:
Our problems arise when we refuse to place our trust in the reality of His presence.
as i’ve been waiting on the Lord, feeling quite challenged to be still, trust, and know He is near, i began to wonder: if more people knew they could access the power of the Almighty, would they then believe? if people understood that the most amazing mystery of Christianity is that the Almighty, All-Powerful God of the Universe really does want to talk to them, to engage with them and give them the ultimate freedom for life that can only come from Him. if people knew that as mere human beings we can access that power and His infinite wisdom, would they want it? would they consider knowing Jesus?
it seems so simple. give. just give. give what? time? love? money? home? hugs? friendship? compassion?
Jesus gave. His life was about nothing less than sacrificial giving. He gave His life. for ALL of us.
what will i give? will i give freely? or will i give with expectation of something in return?
matthew 22:37-39
Jesus replied: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
Lord, help me to give love just as you commanded.
every friday we have devotions at work and each week someone brings in a snack. it was my turn this week and i wanted to do something easy but yummy. i found this recipe for peanut butter pie on allrecipes.com. super easy and super yummy :-) just thought i’d share, happy friday!
my friend emily’s guest room was featured on ApartmentTherapy.com. check it out when you have a minute. she’s so crafty!
you can see more of her fabulous talent at her blog industrious emily endeavors. so proud of you em :-)
the five dysfunctions of a team by patrick lencioni
great book! i’m the kind of reader that picks up a book, gets a little ways in and is super bored. in fact, if you pulled any given book off my bookshelf at home i can pretty much guarantee you’ll find it dog-eared at about 40-60 pages in. i kid you not. it is a horrible habit and one i wish i could break!
anyway, this book is not one of those. i seriously could not put it down. it’s a great book on leadership, that’s for sure. but it’s also a really good read. many, many people have read it… i’m a bit late to jump on the bandwagon, but i had to recommend it anyway. whether you work on teams at work or in ministry, it’s super practical and i highly reccomend it.
we were just about to the point in the trail where we would repel down the rock wall to where we would spend the day climbing. we came to the most narrow place in the path. todd, our guide, was in front of me and peter was behind me. todd had pretty much all the climbing gear, ropes, carabiners, cam locks, etc. his pack probably weighed about 40 lbs. i had my measly backpack with my harness, shoes, water bottles and some snacks. peter had his backpack with pretty much the same contents but he also had a rope in a rope bag hanging over him.
back to the narrow place in the path.
it was really narrow. to the left was a massive boulder. to the right was a 30 to 40 foot drop. a 30 to 40 foot drop down some major rocks. as we passed through the narrow part, i was a little nervous (i have had a heightened awareness of my own mortality since i attempted to summit mt. rainier) but it wasn’t until it occurred to me that peter, tall, like six-foot three tall peter was behind me. maneuvering around the branches on this narrow part of the path was hard enough for me at five-foot five and the branches were at my face–i couldn’t imagine having branches starting at my chest and trying to push them all out-of-the-way while crossing this super narrow space with gaps between the rocks we were walking on.
whew. we made it through the narrow part.
todd sets our ropes and peter and i prepare to repel down the wall. we put on our harnesses and enjoy the beautiful weather the Lord blessed us with and being outside with good company.
todd finishes setting the ropes and asks us if we’re ready to repel. we look at our harnesses and todd says, “hey peter, you gotta double-back your harness. i’m pretty sure lindsey would like you to make it down the repel and live the rest the day.” for those that don’t know, when climbing, you have to double back the waist belt and leg loops of your harness. that way they won’t come undone (like that crazy scene in the beginning of cliff hanger when sylvester stalone can’t rescue his woman… her harness wasn’t double-backed).
that’s why we have safety checks. so peter double-backed his harness and we were all set. all three of us repelled down the wall and enjoyed a day of climbing from that point forward.
but something really struck me in that moment. something i wasn’t prepared for and something that has stuck with me since last saturday. for the past three years since i’ve started climbing i haven’t really been all that concerned about the danger of it. i simply went about doing things that people might consider dangerous because it seemed like fun. it’s exciting. but something changed that day. suddenly i realized, there is this person i deeply care about doing this crazy dangerous stuff with me. suddenly the danger seemed to overtake the feeling of adventure. suddenly all that was at stake became real. one slip on the path, one lapse in safety measures and nothing would be the same.
this might seem overly dramatic to some, but i don’t think it is. through this experience the Lord showed me something profound. the greatest step of faith in my life to date, is choosing to trust God with peter’s life and my life. and committing to peter, means i’m committing to trusting God’s will for both of us. i know, duh linds. but when mortality comes into the picture, decisions take on a whole new perspective.
before i was blessed with peter i found it easier to trust the Lord with my life in these dangerous situations. truly believing (i know, this might sound morbid to some) that God has my life and if He chose to take it while doing some crazy dangerous thing that’s okay with me. but bring peter into the picture, and wow, my thoughts and feelings change dramatically.
i don’t naturally trust the Lord with peter’s life like i have trusted the Lord with my own. i want to hold tight to peter’s life, protect him, ensure he’s safe and cared for. but i can’t control his life. God is in control, God is sovereign. and walking by faith means trusting the Lord with EVERYTHING, including the lives of the people we love.
i didn’t see this side of trust coming my way. but it makes sense to me. am i going to trust the Lord and His leading knowing He can change the course of things at anytime? am i going to step out in faith in this relationship and know that the Lord promises to be with us no matter the storms, trials, difficulties?
without faith it is impossible to please God. i want to please God. trusting God with this relationship with peter is my greatest step of faith yet. and i praise God for it.
ecclesiastes 4:9-12
9 Two are better than one,
because they have a good return for their work:10 If one falls down,
his friend can help him up.
But pity the man who falls
and has no one to help him up!11 Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.
But how can one keep warm alone?12 Though one may be overpowered,
two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.
