YOU MIGHT NOT FINISH THIS CHAPTER:

YES!! Back to posting about this amazing book, CRAZY LOVE! I must be honest, I read chapter 2 a while back, but I wanted to continue along with our weekly posts. Bible study was actually canceled tonight – but I couldn’t WAIT another week to tell you all about this chapter titled: You Might Not Finish This Chapter.

I thought Chan was going to say something I didn’t like or maybe it was the LONGEST chapter and I wouldn’t finish it, but he didn’t do either. He meant that I may not finish the chapter, because I could infact die before reading the chapter! While I agree that is a rather RADICAL statement – his point rings true. None of us really know how long we’ve got here on earth!

Listen to what Chan has to say:

He goes on to share an amazing story of a precious young girl:

“Brooke Bronkowski was a beautiful fourteen-year-old girl who was in love with Jesus. When she was in junior high, she started a Bible study on her campus. She spent her babysitting money on Bibles so she could give them out to her unsaved friends. Youth pastors who heard about this brought her boxes of Bibles to give away.

Brooke wrote the following essay when she was about twelve; it will give you an idea of the kind of girl she was.

"SINCE I HAVE MY LIFE BEFORE ME"

By Brooke Bronkowski

I’ll live my life to the fullest. I’ll be happy. I’ll brighten up. I will be more joyful than I have ever been. I will be kind to others. I will loosen up. I will tell others about Christ. I will go on adventures and change the world. I will be bold and not change who I really am. I will have no troubles but instead help others with their troubles.

You see, I’ll be one of those people who live to be history makers at a young age. Oh, I’ll have my moments, good and bad, but I will wipe away the bad and only remember the good. In fact, that’s all I remember, just good moments, nothing in between, just living my life to the fullest. I’ll be one of those people who go somewhere with a mission, an awesome plan, a world-changing plan, and nothing will hold me back. I’ll set an example for others, I will pray for direction.

I have my life before me. I will give others the joy I have and God will give me more joy. I will do everything God tells me to do. I will follow the footsteps of God. I will do my best!!!

During her freshman year in highschool, Brooke was in a car accident while driving to the movies. Her life on earth ended when she was just fourteen, but her impact didn’t. Nearly fifteen hundred people attended Brooke’s memorial service. People from her public high school read poems she had written about her love for God. Everyone spoke of her example and her joy.

I shared the gospel and invited those who wanted to know Jesus to come up and give their lives to Him. There must have been at least two hundred students on their knees at the front of the church praying for salvation. Ushers gave a Bible to each of them. They were Bibles that Brooke kept in her garage, hoping to give out to all of her unsaved friends. In one day, Brooke led more people to the Lord that most ever will.

In her brief fourteen years on earth, Brooke was faithful to Christ. Her short life was not wasted. The words from her essay seem prophetic: ”You see, I’ll be one of those people who live to be history makers at a young age.”

This was another priority shaking story for me. Just another fabulous reminder of why I am here in this world – day by day – serving my Lord. Because in the end, that is what I can take with me! Chan ends the chapter with these verses:

His work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. If what he has built survives, he will receive reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.

1 Corinthians 3:13-15.

Don’t let yourself forget. Soak it in and keep remembering that it is true. HE is EVERYTHING!

Where have you seen God’s grace in your life today?

A THOUGHT FOR SUNDAY:

OF COURSE – any day that I don’t need to wake up to an alarm – I seem to wake up at 6:30 am. I was all set to meet a friend this morning for church, but as I tossed and turned to fall back to sleep, I ended up thinking about the church I attended down in Ft. Lauderdale last year, and how much I missed Tullian Tchividjian’s sermons! He has a way of highlighting God’s grace like no other I’ve heard before! In my lack of success falling back asleep, I decided to check out his most current sermon. Great church, great message! You can check out Coral Ridge Presbyterian here (http://www.crpc.org/) if you are interested.

I am also VERY happy to report that I stumbled across Tullian’s blog, On Earth as it is in Heaven(Tullian's Blog HERE), where his most current post unpacked a fascinating response to an article in Christianity Today discussing obedience. Here’s a snip-bit of his thought:

…to startle this restraint-free culture with the gospel of free justification that the functional justifications of human approval, moral performance, sexual indulgence, or big bank accounts begin to lose their vice-like grip on human hearts and their emptiness is exposed in all its fraudulence. It sounds backward, but the path to holiness is through (not beyond) the grace of the gospel, because only undeserved grace can truly melt and transform the heart. The solution to restraint-free immorality is not morality. The solution to immorality is the free grace of God—grace so free that it will be (mis)heard by some as a license to sin with impunity. The route by which the New Testament exhorts radical obedience is not by tempering grace but by driving it home all the more deeply…

I encourage you to take a look at the ENTIRE post (http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tullian/2011/01/27/two-ways-to-realize-radical-obedience/). Tullian does a fabulous job of highlighting what really matters – GOD’s LOVE for US first and foremost! It just lights a fire under my love for the Lord and gets me excited to get up tomorrow and see what the Lord has for me!

Where have you seen God’s grace in your life today?

FAMILY:

There is just nothing like celebrating FAMILY!!!

January 29 is a very special day! Twenty-seven years ago today, in a Minnesota blizzard, my mother and father were married! I am so thankful for both of them and have seen God’s grace in my life in numerous ways as I was growing up, and continue to now :o) I am so thankful for both of them!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MOM AND DAD!

Also, on this very special day, both of my mom’s brothers were born! Happy birthday to Uncle Gary and Uncle Jack!

Even though I am too many miles away to celebrate WITH them…I am happy to go out and celebrate the day the Lord has given me!

Where have you seen God’s grace in your life today??

HOPE? OR WISHFUL THINKING?:

I had another great morning devotional thought from Brennan Manning’s, Reflections for Ragamuffins. Something really good for me to chew on for the day…

HOPE? OR WISHFUL THINKING?

Closely related to the quality of my faith is the intensity of my hope. (WOW – could have stopped right THERE!).

I had to read this one through a few times to really let it soak in ~

CLOSELY related to the QUALITY OF MY FAITH is the INTENSITY OF MY HOPE! The word of Jesus carries the implicit theme that the world is out to do us good. When you stop and think about it, that’s an EXTRAORDINARY idea. In most of our lives we have the impression that the world has done us considerable harm and comparatively little good. YET, if the ABBA OF JESUS loves US, if he PURSUES US as a tremendous Lover who is DYING (in his Son) to be with US, then we are COMMITTED to the notion that his world, the work of HIS hands, is out to do us good. And that means taking the risk of letting others do good to us. It means going to the wedding feast and celebrating with the FIRM CONVICTION that we are NOT going to be chumped, cheated, or disastrously surprised.

“No weapon forged against you will prevail,
and you will refute every tongue that accuses you,
This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD,
and this is their vindication from me,”
declares the LORD.

Isaiah 54:17.

Now if THAT wasn’t just the attitude adjustment I needed! Thanks be to GOD!

Any thoughts?

Where have you seen God’s grace in your life today?

HOW GREAT IS OUR GOD

A friend told me all about Louie Giglio and his discription of just how GREAT our GOD is! WOW! It is split up into five parts - but a really worth taking a look at!

Louie Giglio: How Great Is Our God
WATCH HERE:

PART 1:

PART 2:

PART 3:

PART 4:

PART 5:

Where have you seen God's grace in your life today?

CRY OUT TO JESUS:

Although I have been learning so much through the tools in my life, and I’m happy to share with you, I don’t want to deny the fact that I am going through a very difficult season of my life. Just as I shared this weekend, the last few days have been extremely hard for me. God is REALLY working on me. He is bringing a lot of my CRUD to the surface. It’s difficult to face, isn’t fun and doesn’t feel good; but I am thankful for this season. I am facing myself in the mirror as God sees me and fighting through it.

I had a great conversation with my sister in the car on my way to work today. Tears rolling down, she prayed for me and I saw not only my pain, but how my pain was hurting her. It has ignited an even deeper part of me to fight through this loneliness. After she prayed for me and we said goodbye, God met me right where I was out as I cried out for Jesus.

There is hope for the helpless
Rest for the weary
Love for the broken heart
There is grace and forgiveness
Mercy and healing
He'll meet you wherever you are
Cry out to Jesus

When you’re lonely
And it feels like the whole world is falling on you
You just reach out, you just cry out to Jesus
Cry to Jesus

A friend lent me a stack full of great movies, and after a tough day, I decided to pop one in. The story of Elizabeth in, Though None Go With Me, was exactly what I needed. Through her life journey of trials, Elizabeth holds onto her commitment to Jesus Christ,

“Though none go with me,

I still will follow,

No turning back,

No turning back.”

I thank the Lord for fighting with me through today. His grace continues to pour out on little me.

Where have you seen God’s grace in your life today?

STOP PRAYING:

I going to preface this by saying – this is a LONG post – BUT don’t miss out on it! Chapter 1 floored me!

The chapter begins by Chan asking us to “stop praying” and instead of talking AT God for a while; taking a LONG, HARD LOOK at HIM. In a culture where we are slow to listen, quick to speak, and quick to become angry he explains that spoken and written words are cheap, easy to come by, and excessive.

CATCH-UP on what Chapter 1 is all about HERE:

GOD: Are we so familiar with GOD that he becomes COMMON to us??

Is there any sense of AWE in you anymore?

How does it affect your everyday life?

Chan quotes A.W. Tozer:

“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us… Worship is pure or base as the worshiper entertains high or low thoughts of God. For this reason the gravest question before the Church is always God Himself, and the most portentous fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like.”

Chan goes on to explain: “If the “gravest question” before us really is what God Himself is like, how do we learn to know Him? We have seen how He is the Creator of both the magnitude of the galaxies and the complexity of caterpillars. But what is He like? What are His characteristics? What are His defining attributes? How are we to fear Him? To speak to Him? Don’t check out here. We need to be reminded of this stuff. If is both basic and CRUCIAL… He already has a name, an identity. We don’t get to decide who God is. God said to Moses, ‘I am who I am’ (Exodus 3:14). We don’t get to change that.”

Sit in Awe of these statements:

God is HOLY

God is ETERNAL

God is ALL-KNOWING

God is ALL-POWERFUL

God is FAIR

God is JUST

Ponder this question: Can you worship a God who isn’t obligated to explain himself to you?

I’m going to turn to my journal on that one!

Chan concludes the chapter this way, “Perhaps you need to take a deep breath after thinking about the God who made galaxies and caterpillars, the One who sits enthroned and eternally praised by beings so fascinating that were they photographed, it would make primetime news for weeks(He describes these beings in the chapter as he unpacks a glimpse of the Throne Room of GOD). If you are not staggered, go to Isaiah 6 and Revelation 4 and read the accounts aloud and slowly, doing your best to imagine what the authors describe.”

Maybe I shouldn't ask WHERE you have seen God's grace in your life today...BUT INSTEAD how many times has He FLOORED you by continually showering you with His GRACE day in and day out???

We are so small, and He is SO BIG - and yet he LOVES and CARES for ME! What a beautiful God we serve!