Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Dumpsters and Alleyways


I have been practicing the secret place with Jesus for over three years now (on and off), and I really love those times. I went again Sunday morning with my Sunday school class and got down on the floor and asked Jesus to show me something about Himself. Then I waited to see where our place would be this time. I looked around and saw that we were in a alleyway, and I thought that this can't be right. Our places were normally in the great outdoors. On mountains, near waterfalls or by a camp fire. But now I was standing in a alleyway.

I decided that this couldn't where He wanted us to go and I imagined we were in another place...somewhere nicer and more to my liking. But I couldn't shake the alleyway. So I let Him take me back to that place. Taking a better look around I saw a place much like the picture above. There were dumpsters that lined the alleyway. I looked at Jesus remembering what I had asked Him in the beginning: Show me something about yourself. It was like I had asked Him again and He answered with a smile:

"I like garbage!"

Ha ha! I laughed out loud, forgetting I was in a room with other people. His face was so sincere as He said it. He moved over to the nearest dumpster and looking the contents. I looked inside too. There were broken toys, soiled paper, pictures, all kinds of things. This wasn't your normal dumpster. He took out a broken object and started to mold it in His hands. Within a matter of moments the once forgotten and broken object was like new! It even looked better than it's original design. 

Amazed by what He did, I looked in the dumpsters and pulled out a crumpled paper. I saw that it was like a Broadway play, with music and words on the sheet. I looked back at Jesus. What is all this stuff? Jesus started to explain:

Dreams, ideas, families and really this list could go on forever. Take the Broadway play. That was a great idea, but the writer thought it would never be good enough for the big stage...so he through it away. The dumpster is full of things people thought weren't worth anything or weren't worth saving. Marriages, relationships, music, books anything you can think of. I like to come here and fix what is broken. I make all things new. There is nothing too broken or too forgotten that I can not fix it.   

I thought about what He said. He makes all things new... All. Have you put anything in the dumpster? Do you have broken relationships? Dreams and idea's that you once had but decided against them? Jesus is ready to fix them, to mold them into something more wonderful than you could have imagined! He loves what we think is insignificant, or beyond saving.  He makes them beautiful. Today if you feel like something in your life is broken, let Him have it. Entrust it to Him. You wont be disappointed. 

Looking back now on the time I spent with Him, I laugh to myself. I went dumpster diving with Jesus! Ha ha! How crazy is that? It makes wonder where we will go next? I learned that if your with Jesus, anyplace is great. Try it today! Go with Him somewhere it's so fun! And who knows, you just might end up a dumpster and a alleyway.



Photo credit: grungecity.wordpress.com & corynnchan.blogspot.com

Friday, July 5, 2013

Love...What An Novel Idea


This summer I pulled out one of my favorite books. I hadn't read it in 3 years, and was excited to read the heart gripping story again. As I read the story I was struck by the level of love one of it's characters lived in. Whenever something happened, she responded with love. Even when it came to facing someone who tried to have her killed she saw it as a opportunity to love once again.

I sat there convicted in my own heart as I remembered the John 13:34-35 MSG:


“Let me give you a new command: Love one another. 
In the same way I loved you, you love one another. 
This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other.”

Jesus said that our love for one another is how everyone will know we follow Him..... Everyone! How spectacular is that? The entire world will know. It's not our good works, the healing's or anything of that nature. It's love. There is so much in that word. There is so much depth. 

It's easy to love when nothing is going wrong. But when things come and hit you in the face, love, a lot of times becomes an after thought. 

I looked back at the book, what if a story was written about me? What would I see? Would I love unconditionally? Even unto death?  

This is something that I want to live everyday. Even when I all I want to do is not love! One thing is certain, we can't love people with that kind of love by ourselves. We can't even come close to producing that kind of love. It takes the love of God to love people with everything that we are. 


Photo credit: http://artsymumof5.tumblr.com