For those of you who have never been to a Passion event, have you ever just wondered what it might look like? Well... here's a little glimpse of the 9,500 young adults in Atlanta a couple of weekends ago... Watch your volume control because with that many young adults passionate about the Lord, it can get a little LOUD!!!
It's like a birthday gift for Brooklyn by the guy who recorded her favorite song!!
After Passion '07 (and a brief chance to meet him as he went up the "stairwell" that we were entrusted to be "doorkeepers" over that weekend), Brian downloaded Matt Maher's CD, Overflow, off of iTunes. Brooklyn somehow connected with the song "For Your Glory" and would squeal with delight when she and Brian would dance around the room to that song. It's a fantastic song... check out these lyrics:
There is a time to dance,
A time for joy's embrace,
And in all seasons, God
we humbly seek Your face.
This is our offering to You,
This is our offering.
Everything I am is for Your glory,
Everything, I am for You, Lord.
Everything I am is for Your glory,
Everything, I am for You, Lord.
And then I really love the bridge...
The earth stands still without You.
We could only move because You made us to.
The world is nothing without You.
We could only love you because You made us to.
I gotta give the kid credit... she's got great taste in music! You can click here to hear the entire song.
And the greater news is that if you are a blogger, you can click here to get a free copy of latest CD, Empty and Beautiful, which is due in stores TODAY!
There was a tiny glimpse of spring yesterday. Between the days of cold, rain, and wind, a little bit of sun and a smidgen of warmth found us yesterday. The ground is soft and wet, and the spring bulbs are just barely peeking through the dirt. It was just enough incentive to get out and run around the backyard...
Book #3 --- Passion and Purity
by Elisabeth Elliot
I have to admit that this is one book even I didn't expect to be on my list, but after thinking about all the books I've read over the years, I realized the influence that Passion & Purity had on my life has been long-lasting. The concept of Christ’s Lordship over my life began to be an adult reality around the time I first read this book. So much so that many of the quotes from this book were posted over the walls of my dorm room, my cubicle at Eastman, and my little apartment in Longview.
I stumbled upon this book during the spring quarter of my junior year of college (I think... that was such a long time ago!), after a few of us from the BSU went down to New Orleans for a missions conference at NOBTS. We arrived late and walked into a huge room where everyone was already engrossed in a movie that I didn't recognize. We joined in and watched the tale end of the movie which involved the story of a group of missionaries who were killed in Ecuador. I never caught the name of the movie nor the names of the missionaries, but the story stuck with me and I couldn't get it out of my mind. Some time later, I encountered Passion and Purity, and as I read through this book, I began to put the pieces together.
So… yes… at a time when I began to truly accept and try to live out Christ’s Lordship over my life, this book left some serous footprints all over my life! While this book is often read for it’s insight into dating, courtship, and marriage, the lasting lessons have mostly to do with surrendering our will to the Lord’s and following Him whole-heartedly down whatever road He chooses to take us on. This is how the book is described on the back cover:
“In Passion and Purity, [Elisabeth Elliot] emphasizes the need to commit daily to Christ all matters of the heart and to wait upon Him. She teaches this often-painful, yet rewarding discipline by candidly tracing her love story with Jim Elliot to ‘serve as evidence that I’ve been there.’ Through letters, diary entries, and recollections, she shares the temptations, difficulties, victories, and sacrifices of two young people whose commitment to Christ takes priority over their love for each other. These revealing personal glimpses, combined with relevant biblical teaching, may help to remind you that only by putting your human passion and desire through His fire can God purify your love.”But here are some of the quotes that made their way onto the “walls” in my life…
“Until the will and the affections are brought under the authority of Christ, we have not begun to understand, let alone to accept, His lordship.”
“I do know that waiting on God requires the willingness to bear uncertainty, to carry within oneself the unanswered question, lifting the heart to God about it whenever it intrudes upon one’s thoughts.”
“God’s time for further revelations of the heart might come later. Tomorrow was not our business; it was His. Letting it rest with Him was the discipline for the day, and it was enough.”
“But the things we feel most deeply about we ought to learn to be silent about, at least until we have talked them over thoroughly with God.”
“We are not meant to die merely in order to be dead. God could not want that for the creatures for whom He has given the breath of life. We die in order to live.”
“Wherever you are, be all there… Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God.”
~ Jim Elliot
“Our vision is so limited we can hardly imagine a love that does not show itself in protection from suffering. The love of God is of a different nature altogether. It does not hate tragedy. It never denies reality. It stands in the very teeth of suffering. The love of God did not protect His own Son. That was the proof of His love --- that He gave that Son, that He let Him go to Calvary’s cross, though ‘legions of angels’ might have rescued Him. He will not necessarily protect us --- not from anything it takes to make us like His Son. A lot of hammering and chiseling and purifying by fire will have to go into the process.”
“The disposition… to leave the dearest objects of our hearts in the sublime keeping of the general and unspecific belief that God is now answering our prayers in his own time and way, and in the best manner, involves a present process of inward crucifixion which is not obviously favorable to the growth and even the existence of the life of self.”
~ T. C. Upham Inward Divine Guidance
We're pressing on... there are many things that need to be done in preparation for our trip to Uganda, but most urgent has been documentation and fundraising.
Last week, we sent our documentation packet to WH to continue the visa application process. We were required to first have yellow fever vaccinations before sending in our applications, and there seems to be a bit of a YF vaccine shortage in some areas of the country. So, we're thankful that God made a way for our entire team to get the vaccine on time! And it was just in time!!
Fundraising continues to move forward, although we still have a very long way to go before we reach the $3500 per person required. Our group has already hosted a couple of Parent's Night Outs, and this weekend is our benefit concert with One Life Lost and Richard Jordan. We're thinking about having a garage sale later this month, and my little neice has been hard at work selling cookies at her local bowling alley. We have also begun to send out support letters to friends and family and church members... we simply cannot reach our goals without God pouring out His favor on this trip through the generosity of those who hear about our trip and respond.
We are trying to be faithful by doing our part, but we are fully aware that our mere human efforts will prove useless unless the Lord pours out His favor on us.
