Wild Flowers & Shooting Stars

In memory of

Wes

March 1985-May 2011

For Heaven's sake...

"To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it careful round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket- safe, dark, motionless, airless- it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable... The only place outside Heaven where you can be safe from all the dangers...of love is Hell."

-C.S. Lewis (The Four Loves)

Great Awakening...

"Then Jesus lifted up His eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip, 'Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?'

...

"Philip answered Him, 'Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little.'"

John 6: 5,7

I shared with a friend this week that I felt like the disciples in this story just before Jesus multiplies the fish & bread. In fact, when I shared it with him, I was exactly in Philip's shoes. Acknowledging the reality of my unbelief startled me but I didn't run away to hide. Instead I just sat there, by Jesus, not really knowing what to say. My friend asked me if I had yet presented what I had so God could multiply it.... hmmmm.... No, no I haven't. "Why ever not?" I thought. Conviction. Correction. Still more silence. More sitting at His feet, quiet, not wanting to be a fool but rather wait for the truth to surface. The answer came to me today. As I was driving home I asked "Why hadn't I presented You with what I had?"

"'Cause you were afraid it wouldn't be enough", came the response.

Sigh. Sometimes I can be so foolish.

I got home still thinking about it. Got online to check e-mails, fb, etc. and I came across a picture from my pastor in DC. He is in Arizona at the moment and the pics were of the "cathedral rock climb" (rock formation in shape of a cathedral thousands of feet above sea level... it looks pretty cool). Anyways, one of the pics had the caption: "Calling on heaven. God spells faith: R.I.S.K."

:)

I smile because God is good.

Have you gotten the truth that was revealed to me yet?

Philip was afraid they didn't have enough. Maybe he was afraid people would get angry and hurt them (5,000 hungry, cranky ppl can be alarming). Or maybe he was scare the multitude would be disappointed. Who knows. The thing is he was uncomfortable and he wanted Jesus to dissipate that which made him uncomfortable (Luke 9:12) . But Jesus wants to teach him to walk by faith, not by sight.

A mentor of mine has a saying: "If you want to be a person of impact, you cannot be afraid of the collision."

There is always a measure of risk in following God but we cannot be afraid of it, we must embrace it. We must call on Him who gave us the vision to supply for the need. It was Jesus who made Philip aware of the need, and it is Him who supplied for it. He always knows how He will supply, even before He makes us aware of the need ("He Himself knew what He would do" Jn 6:6). He just wants to tests us through the process, that we might be purified... that our understanding of Him would expand, increase. He wants to take us outside of our box, that we can enjoy His limitless power and grace.

May God bless you today and embrace you in the power of His love ;)

Have a great day!!