Ticket to Ride

It's so loud I can hardly hear myself think.  "Has everyone in the world decided to cram in here," I think to myself.  As I follow my dad down the grimy steps of the Tube station, I try to keep up with him as he walks quickly through the swarm of people.  Pink tickets from the day before litter the marble floor that may have been white once upon a time.  Bumping like a pinball through people, I smell the long work day on the man's coat next to me.  Coffee wafts through the station from the Starbucks in the far corner, and there's no time to stop and look at the gorgeous and vibrant flowers in the flower shop.  The huge clock dictates the movement of the swarm that scatters all over the station, and with a quick glance Dad hurries us on towards the turnstiles.  As we near the gates and I begin to feel more and more like herded cattle, the one thing that should be on my mind is furthest from it.

"How am I going to get through the gate?" I should be wondering.  I should be screaming on the inside, "Wait! Where's my ticket?"

But I'm not.  I know exactly where it is.  My dad has it.  It's right in his jacket pocket where it can't get lost, forgotten, or damaged.  He always seems to give it to me right as I need it.  If he'd given it to me back at the coffee shop, I may have been too absorbed in the yummy smells to notice the importance.  The man buying a large bouquet, with the assortment of the perfect flowers, for his sweetheart would have distracted me from the crucial pink ticket that I needed to accept.

Instead, when I'm standing in front of the turnstile, focused on the gate ahead of me, I'm presented with my ticket at just the right moment.  Too soon, I would have lost it; too late and I wouldn't make it through the gate.

I was reminded of this point from a dear friend of mine last night.  In discussing the topic of worry, he told me a story he heard about Corrie ten Boom from the weekend.  Having been to her house and crawled into the hiding place that several of her friends hid in for many days, this story immediately resonated within me; not to mention, I've had several of the same experiences from living in London.  My friend told me of how her dad reminded her of how he always provided her with the ticket at just the right moment and she never worried where it was.  So it should be with our heavenly Father.

God himself speaks several times in His Word about perfect timing.  Ecclesiastes chapter three is titled as "A Time for Everything," Jesus mentions in John 7 that it was not the right time for him to go, and Paul says several times in the books he wrote that God revealed Himself to us at just the right time.  The two that seem to speak straight to the heart of the matter are Romans 5:6, "When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners" and 1 Peter 5:6, "So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor."

I'm standing at the coffee shop, screaming at the top of my lungs, "God! Where is my ticket?! Where is the man who will love me for the rest of my life?" I'm not at the turnstiles, I'm at the coffee shop.  He hurries on ahead, silently urging me to follow him and follow closely or else get lost in the swarm of people.  Stay close or you'll get lost in the crowd or distracted by the sights along the way.  I've called you to greater things and I'll show them to you at the perfect moment, just stick close, my beloved.

So stick close and trust that He has your ticket, just as He does mine.

Father, thank you for such a dear friend to remind me that you have my ticket safe in your pocket.  Help me to remember that you'll present it to me not too early or too late.  Thank you for wanting me to stick close to you, follow hard after you; please help me not to get distracted or discouraged along the way.  Forgive me for screaming and worrying about when the time is right.  I will praise you for keeping me safe, watching out for me, and providing me with more than I could ever hope for.  How I love you.

Avalanches in Mississippi

Some lessons are easy to learn.  Other lessons are so hard it feels like someone's ripping out your toe nails.  And some lessons are learned with little realization until it hits you like an avalanche.

My avalanche came today.

Montgomery was just the start of "We Believe 8-0"
that was all over campus.

Last Thursday as I was heading to my 8 a.m. class, I saw a sign hanging outside a building on campus that made me smile and fill with love and pride for my school.  The sign simply said, "We Believe 8-0."  This is the first time in a long time that Mississippi State University has gone undefeated so far into the season, but we knew to keep that record we'd have to fight and fight hard.  Our opponent to make the record 8-0 was none other than the Crimson Tide.  For those of you who aren't SEC people, they've pretty much been the number one college football team in the nation for the past couple of years.  Not to mention the head coach, Nick Saban, is up there next to God and the Virgin Mary for some people.

We were facing giants.  Honestly, we shouldn't have had hope.  We shouldn't have had signs at all and our "We Believe" phrase shouldn't have spread across the globe.  But that's the amazing thing about hope, even against the greatest odds, it still endures.

Even walking into Bryant Denny stadium, a large part of me thought, "We could walk away with a win here.  It won't be easy by any means, but we could do it." I had hope for my team, for my school, but I had no hope for me and no hope in my God.

I've faced the facts.  I'll graduate single with no one standing in line waiting for me.  I'll get a job, move and start life on my own.  I'll learn my way around my new city, find a church and make friends.  While my house may be quiet when I get home, I'll get to pick the TV channel and what show I watch.  I'll go it alone, learn to be ok with that and continue to go through life with no expectations.

Standing in the stands, experiencing culture shock, I was screaming for my team.  I got some really weird looks by cheering for the other team and by the end of the first quarter I'd quieted down, mainly because we weren't doing so hot.  How could I stand there, screaming for my Dawgs to keep pushing down the field with the hope that we would turn the Tide, and have no hope when it comes to me and what God could do in my life?

Little did I know, my favorite part of the weekend would be going to church with my friends.  The pastor spoke on just what I needed to hear; the Holy Spirit spoke straight into my heart that morning.  The church is walking through a series was entitled "Legacy" that focuses on steps to take in order to leave a legacy.  Sunday's sermon was called "Greater Things" and was all about stirring hope once again.  We often lose hope, which can hinder our legacy, because of a wrong view of self (1 Peter 2:9), wrong view of people (Matthew 9:36) or a wrong view of God (Jeremiah 32:17).

We started out in Ephesians 4:1 which says, "I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received."  The pastor then asked, "Why does Paul urge us to live a life like this?  To answer this question, we need to back it up a bit."  So we did and we read Ephesians 3:20-21, the two verses previous.  Here's why Paul urges us, "Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen."

I had lost hope in my Father.  Even though I've been reminded of what His Word says, I still struggle with having hope in Him.  I know that He is able to do more than I can ask or imagine, I trusted Him with my hopes and dreams and I just feel like I've been burned.  But maybe the reason I feel burned is because I was convinced that my dreams were the best, but God has something even better.  Regardless, it hurts because of the loss that I've suffered in the process.

But we didn't stop there.  Then we moved to 2 Kings 3:9-18; definitely go and read it for yourself, but to sum up the story three kings banded together to take over the Moab nation (where Ruth was from), but they left God out of it.  They remembered that Joshua had marched around a city seven times and it fell, so these guys did the same thing thinking it would work again.  No such luck.  They were running out of water and really confused and started saying, "Why would God bring us together and not give us this nation?"  So they called for a prophet and Elisha came and after he agreed to help them he called for a harpist.  He needed a little mood music.  As a music lover, it seems appropriate.  I often feel God's presence so much more in a song or through music.  The point was, "Faith is birthed in God's presence."  Then Elisha tells the kings to have the men dig ditches in the valley, the focus being, "Faith goes beyond inspiration to participation."  God promised He would fill the ditches with water, but not through rain clouds or from wind, and this shows that "Faith continues regardless of what is seen."

While I may be tired of digging ditches, tired of waiting for the water to fill the ditches, it's no excuse to lose hope.  He may not fill my ditches through big black rain clouds, ominous and obvious, but I have to remember that it's easy to have faith when you can see it coming.  The beauty comes in how He choses to fill it and how it tells of His glory.

"Failure isn't accomplishing a goal, failure is not having a goal at all."  I'd set myself up for failure.  I'd faced the facts and was content to go through life with no expectations, remember?  I didn't have hope, let alone a goal.  He wants me to dream and dream so big that it's a goal only He can accomplish.

"I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing.  He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. John 14:12"

He wants greater things for me.  He wants me to hope for a win against the best team in the nation, He wants me to believe that He will come through for me, He wants me to dream of a life only He can fulfill.  He wants me to hope for greater things.

Are you beginning to feel the weight of my avalanche too?

Father, thank you for reminding me that my hope needs to be in you.  Help me to trust you when you say that you are able to accomplish immeasurably more than I can ask or imagine.  Please give me strength to continue to dig and the patience to wait for you to fill those ditches.  Remind me that nothing is too hard for you.  Thank you for stirring my heart, bringing me a newfound hope and with it a new song.  Thank you for how your lessons draw me close to you.  Whisper your love and truth into my ears today and help me to hold tightly to your words.  How I love you.

Watch, listen or download the full notes for the sermon here.

Struttin' like the Beatles

As a walker on campus, I feel like the streets belong to me.  I step off the curb and strut across the street like I'm a model in Paris, stopping traffic with the flick of the wrist.  Mom would be ashamed of how rarely I stop, both ways and then look both ways again before I cross the street.

I strut my stuff like these boys
as I sing, "Here comes the sun...doo doo do doo"

Pedestrians ALWAYS have the right of way around campus, even though it's strongly encouraged that we use the crosswalks.  Today, walking down the middle of the crosswalk I had a new thought.

Crosswalks are like the center of God's will.

Now before you go calling 1-800-LOONY, hang with me for a second.  In the crosswalk, you are protected, the law is on your side.  That doesn't mean that you can't or won't get hit by a car, tractor, or moped, but it means that if that happens you have the benefit of the doubt.

Crossing the street without being in the crosswalk can also be done, but if you are hit by the freak three-wheeled car, then you aren't inside the law.  In fact, you were breaking the law by "jaywalking," or failing to cross the street in a crosswalk.  Very little can be done to help you legally if you are hit when not in a crosswalk.

Just like crossing the street, in our Christian walk we aren't promised that we won't encounter problems.  But, when that car does hit us when we are in the center of the cross walk--when troubles do arise when we are in God's will for us, we are promised help along the way.  We are ensured help from the ultimate Guardian; the Crossing Guard of the Universe.

If you find yourself "jaywalking" across the Universe, I'd strongly urge you to talk with your Crossing Guard and ask Him to show you how to get back to the crosswalk.  As Mom always said, "Better safe than sorry."  He loves you and wants you to be protected, headed in the right direction, and guided along the way.

So next time you go for a strut, ponder this thought and thank your Guardian for His simple, but sweet reminders.  Also, go walking down the middle of those white lines because studies show that three out of five pedestrian deaths occur outside of the crosswalk.

Who's the Planner?

Thank goodness for calendars.  I'm probably even more grateful for calendars that are small enough for me to carry with me.

As a planner, I can't help but love my calendar.  It helps me keep track of what's coming, which in turn means that I help make sure I'm rarely caught off guard.  But more and more I'm finding that the things I want to be on my calendar aren't even penciled in.  Things like the day I find out a man likes me, the day he asks me on a date, the day of our first date, the day of our umteenth date, the day he asks my dad for permission to marry me, the day he buys the ring, the day he asks me to honor God with him for the rest of our lives, the day my best friend and I figure out wedding details, the day my mom has tears in her eyes because we find the perfect dress, the day I say "I do," get cake smashed in my face and dance with my dad, the day we start our lives together.

While I want to write these things in my planner, and honestly I very well could, that doesn't mean that they will happen when I write them down.  Ultimately, I have to rely on my Planner and trust that His timing is perfect for me.  But I'll be honest, most days, even most moments, I struggle with letting Him hold the pen.

I complain, groan and whine.  I probably sound like a three-year-old after dinner, "But MOM! I ate my broccoli AND my green beans.  I ate all of them! Why can't I have dessert now?"  The problem lies with my motivation.  Did I eat my veggies because of their nutrition and because I knew they would help me grow strong so that I can be ready for what God calls me to do, or did I eat them because I wanted the reward of a yummy dessert afterwards?  Did I wait patiently and surrender plans to Him because I wanted those things on my calendar or because I wanted to honor my Father?

Even if dessert is promised, I hate waiting.  Even after I try my hardest to be patient and wait, I sometimes find myself still waiting.  It's tiresome and often times I feel hopeless after waiting what feels like forever.  And then He brings me a reminder..."Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God's glory.  We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance.  And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.  And this hope will not lead to disappointment.  For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love." Romans 5:2-5

The portion in verse 2 that says, "brought us into" means that He escorts us into the throne room.  Not only are we no longer walking into rooms alone, and not only is He escorting us, He's escorting us into the throne room--the place where He dwells.  And when we're frustrated because God hasn't penned in events that we think should already be on our calendar, we have to remember that it's a chance to grow in patience.  With that patience comes character, which makes our hope strong.  This next part I love.  "And this hope will not lead to disappointment."  Why?  Because this hope isn't in the events that happen, it's not in the dessert that we receive, this hope doesn't lead to disappointment because we hope in God himself.  We have hope because we remember how much He loves us and that He gave us the Holy Spirit to fill us completely with His love.

So as much as I want Him to put all those things on my calendar, today I'm asking Him to give me a bigger craving for Himself.  I'm asking Him to help me not focus on my calendar, but on Him instead.  I'm so thankful for His gentle, sweet reminder that has brought me a newfound hope and for how He is so patient with me when I keep asking, "Are we there yet?!"

Please, Father, help me to look at the scenery along the way, enjoy the ride and to find my contentment in Your presence.  Forgive me for when I'm not satisfied with You alone.  Show me how only You can complete me and fill my heart until I am without want.  Thank you for Your Holy Spirit and hope that won't lead to disappointment. How I love you, Jesus.