Sunday, February 06, 2005
Wow. There are no words I can use to describe Him that could fully describe how wonderful He is. His grace is beyond my comprehension. The sermon today really touched on what I had been thinking, struggling with, and wondering for the last week. The first thing, is that it reminded me of how amazing His grace and love is. How He not only saved me in an eternal sense (which is amazing in and of itself) but His grace is there every moment, restoring and rescuing me. He has also given me so much more then I could ever deserve or dare to ask for. I know, it sounds common, something you hear all the time. I guess it just hit me again, like God was speaking it directly to my heart. "Its okay you mess up, I love you anyway and my grace is there for you in the little things as well." That's insane love. Love that puts up with me even when I'm not responding to it, even when my thoughts are elsewhere. Love that goes beyond the rescue and blesses in the little things. Love that never lets go. Love that gives beauty and sunsets to a rebellious people. It reminds me of being at the lake with Emilia Fuentes a few summers ago. I looked out the window and saw the most beautiful sunset I had ever seen over the lake.
"Emilia, come look at this!" And we both just stood leaning over the rail in silence soaking up the beauty.
"He's crazy." She said suddenly.
"Umm..who?"
"God. He's insane. He's lost it, off His rocker."
"What do you mean?" I asked slightly disconcerted.
"Look at this! Not only does He die for us, but He gives us beauty. He didn't have to die, but He chose to. Then He could have put us on some butt ugly planet (which is more then we deserve), but instead He gives us something this magnificant. He's crazy, but isn't His love amazing?"
Grabbing our guitars, we headed down to the dock to praise the God whose love is insanely beyond our understanding but wonderful (while also dodging the fireworks the neighbors shot in our direction).
As we dodged the fireworks, Emilia said "Isn't that what we're like?"
"What do you mean?"
"Here we started off praising God, but we were so easily distracted. We get into these moments of praise, but they fade away in a matter of minutes, weeks, months, we never stay completely awed by Him. Just like those fireworks. They start off so brilliant and fully of color, but they do not last long before they fade into the darkness."
Once again awed by Him, we wrote a song. Remember, we were freshman in high school at this time. No, I will not sing it for you, but some of you probably have heard it before:
Have you ever thought about His glory?
Have you ever thought about His love?
I'm like a fire cracker
Shoot off but soon burn out
Start out with praises, end up without
Chorus:
He's crazy, how can he love me?
He's crazy, how can He care
Even when my heart's not there
He's crazy, but beautiful, He fills my soul.
I'm so undeserving, how can He care
He's got all the might and power
All I've got is skin and hair.
Chorus
Another thing that hit me in the sermon touched on something I have been thinking about for awhile now. I keep pondering the idea of doing missions someday, or if not that, something over sees that is a mercy ministry (things like helping those after disasters and areas that need help). I hear about things like the tsunami or people going through hard times like in the poem Fallen Angel the other night and my heart goes out to them and I just want to do something to help. I'm trying to go on a mission trip this summer actually, just waiting for them to get back to me. But I'm struck by how useless I am. I'm not a person with great faith, I have no medical skill or building skill. I have nothing to offer the people to help. I know God gave me more skill in rehabilitation and a love for that, but that does little good to help in places like those. Today in the sermon, Stuart was teaching from John, the passage of the feeding of the five thousand. Part of what he said (it was more like an off hand comment that struck me) was that Andrew found the five loaves and two fish and knew it wasn't enough. But he offered it, and that allowed God's grace to be shown through and work a miracle. I have what He has given me, and if I follow His will, His grace will fill in the rest.
Yea, I know. These are things that I already "know", but they hit me on a real level today. Or maybe I had forgotten in a way.
I had something else I wanted to talk about, but I forgot. Oh well.
"Emilia, come look at this!" And we both just stood leaning over the rail in silence soaking up the beauty.
"He's crazy." She said suddenly.
"Umm..who?"
"God. He's insane. He's lost it, off His rocker."
"What do you mean?" I asked slightly disconcerted.
"Look at this! Not only does He die for us, but He gives us beauty. He didn't have to die, but He chose to. Then He could have put us on some butt ugly planet (which is more then we deserve), but instead He gives us something this magnificant. He's crazy, but isn't His love amazing?"
Grabbing our guitars, we headed down to the dock to praise the God whose love is insanely beyond our understanding but wonderful (while also dodging the fireworks the neighbors shot in our direction).
As we dodged the fireworks, Emilia said "Isn't that what we're like?"
"What do you mean?"
"Here we started off praising God, but we were so easily distracted. We get into these moments of praise, but they fade away in a matter of minutes, weeks, months, we never stay completely awed by Him. Just like those fireworks. They start off so brilliant and fully of color, but they do not last long before they fade into the darkness."
Once again awed by Him, we wrote a song. Remember, we were freshman in high school at this time. No, I will not sing it for you, but some of you probably have heard it before:
Have you ever thought about His glory?
Have you ever thought about His love?
I'm like a fire cracker
Shoot off but soon burn out
Start out with praises, end up without
Chorus:
He's crazy, how can he love me?
He's crazy, how can He care
Even when my heart's not there
He's crazy, but beautiful, He fills my soul.
I'm so undeserving, how can He care
He's got all the might and power
All I've got is skin and hair.
Chorus
Another thing that hit me in the sermon touched on something I have been thinking about for awhile now. I keep pondering the idea of doing missions someday, or if not that, something over sees that is a mercy ministry (things like helping those after disasters and areas that need help). I hear about things like the tsunami or people going through hard times like in the poem Fallen Angel the other night and my heart goes out to them and I just want to do something to help. I'm trying to go on a mission trip this summer actually, just waiting for them to get back to me. But I'm struck by how useless I am. I'm not a person with great faith, I have no medical skill or building skill. I have nothing to offer the people to help. I know God gave me more skill in rehabilitation and a love for that, but that does little good to help in places like those. Today in the sermon, Stuart was teaching from John, the passage of the feeding of the five thousand. Part of what he said (it was more like an off hand comment that struck me) was that Andrew found the five loaves and two fish and knew it wasn't enough. But he offered it, and that allowed God's grace to be shown through and work a miracle. I have what He has given me, and if I follow His will, His grace will fill in the rest.
Yea, I know. These are things that I already "know", but they hit me on a real level today. Or maybe I had forgotten in a way.
I had something else I wanted to talk about, but I forgot. Oh well.
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