radical…the last chapter

I have so enjoyed the way I have read this book – along side people I don’t know, but are on the same journey.

Today, Marla is hosting a Radical celebration & giving away prizes. Check out her blog!

I’m finishing up with the questions Marla posed today:

Question #1: How is your life different because of reading Radical? (Tell me something cool God is doing/has done.)

Question #2: How can we pray for you as look forward to 2011 and living radically?

#1.  My life is different now because my perspective has changed.  I am looking beyond myself & beyond the other three people that I live with.  I have been sensing God leading me to be involved with the foster kids in this area, just not sure how, in what way.  Well, tonight I am attending an informational meeting/training for mentors for the Transitions program.  This is for students who are graduating from high school, and transitioning out of the foster care system.   Mentors work with their students through their sophomore year in college, educationally, socially, emotionally & I hope, spiritually.  I have butterflies in my stomach!  What if? What if? What if? I’m not letting my mind go to all those what if’s right now.  Except, what if…God uses this student in my life to make more like Him? What if God uses me to truly make a difference in this person’s life?   I’m going tonight, to get more information, and see what happens.

#2.  Wow. How can you pray for me? Pray that I will be aware of God directing me, daily, hourly.  And pray that I will be obedient when He does. 

I’d love to hear your thoughts.

old friends…

Friends since 3rd grade.  Florien High School & Louisiana Tech.  Sports, girls, youth group, fun times, near misses, family, celebrations, losses, victories, defeats, disappointments, weddings & funerals. 

I don’t have the appropriate words to describe these guys.  Wonderful weekend.  Reliving old memories, and making new ones.

How good our Father has been to my husband, blessing him with such a friendship – two men, now husbands & dads, both so strongly wanting to honor their Father in their lives.  A great thing, to have the encouragement & strength of each other.

How blessed am I, to do life with this man God must have created with me in mind.  And, a perk: his friends have become my friends.  I love Jennifer (Don’s wife) as if I have known her forever.  We seem to get together every few years, but it seems like it was just yesterday.  When we part ways, I am encouraged and also inspired. 

Man, life is good.

Radical…the last chapter

Radical…the last chapter of the book, but surely not the last chapter of the new work that God has begun in me.

I’ve been along with  marla and others for this Radical read-a-long, and here we are, on the last chapter.

Marla has posed these 3 questions for this post:

#1.   Which of the 5 components are you most jazzed about?

I am most jazzed about…“Spend your time in another context.”  I like where David Platt said, on pg. 200 “Going starts where we live, but it doesn’t stop there.”  I love it!  It’s not Brookside Blvd OR Sierra Leone, it’s Jefferson City AND Sierra Leone, AND inner city St. Louis, etc.   pg. 203 “The point is not where we go, how we get there, or even how long we stay.  The point is simply that we go.”

#2. Which one do you think will be the most challenging? 

The one that will be the most challenging for me is …“Spend your time in another context.”  How about that? Most exciting & most challenging.  This one will be the most difficult for me, because giving my time is even harder than giving money.  I don’t mean those 10 days in May in West Africa, I mean daily life, giving myself to the ones God will be placing in my life. I know it’s from Him, I know the desire in my heart to minister & step out of my comfort is from Him, but honestly, it is still hard. Hard, but not impossible.  Thank you, my Father, for not leaving it all up to me.

#3.  Any plans for the coming year you’d like to share? ARE YOU IN??

Yes! Plans, plans, plans!  Trip in May, which by the way, is open to anyone who would like to come along!  just say the word.  And, Jay & I are planning (in Feb when our next semester of Life groups start) on a Life group that is centered around serving others.  Every other week, we will do some sort of Bible study, and the opposite week, we will be out in the community, serving somehow.  We haven’t figured out all the details, yet, but we are working on it.  We want it to be serving in ways that we can serve along side katie & Mary Margaret, things all 4 of us can do together.  We are also planning to go on a mission trip this summer, to inner city St. Louis or Kansas City. 

Those are our specific plans of going, we have other plans, too, that we are still discussing amongst the 4 of us.

Exciting times are ahead…

what about you? any thoughts to share?

Radical means...Chapter 8

I've been going through this book alongside Marla & a few more online friends. If you want to read more, here's her web address www.marlataviano.com.

She has posed 2 questions this week, in reference to chapter 8 (Living When Dying is Gain).

1. What’s your biggest fear? 2. What are you ready to risk?

The chapter is basically challenging me -- why am I not going? so that is the frame of mind I am in as I write.

8ish years ago, when Jay & I came to the conclusion that we knew the Lord had something else for us (away from North Louisiana), some sort of ministry, the thought of the possibility of going to another country was exciting! a little scary, but mostly exciting. We were both at a place in our lives where we were ready to obey. We were ok with walking away from what Jay (we, I guess) had worked so hard for. He had made partner at a CPA firm, and was now in business with some great men. How could we walk away from that? fantastic neighbors who had become our friends? our families? our closest friends? our church?

We had to view it not as walking away from people/things we loved, but instead walking to Someone we loved more.

As it turns out, Central America (as we were hoping) was not where the Lord had us to go at that time. Instead, we moved (not quite so far way) to the Midwest. And after a rough year or so, we put roots down & now, we feel like this is home.

I have to confess, if God moves us again, specifically, to another country, there is a part of me that would be excited, but the biggest part of me would be afraid. I see it now as a bigger risk than I did then. I'm not sure why that is. I hold on to these girls so tightly. Am I willing to risk their safety, their lives, so that others can know Jesus? I cannot pretend I could do it. Amended statement: I cannot pretend i could easily do it.

pg. 161 "Jesus said to His followers, "Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." Jesus clearly acknowledged that following Him involves risking the safety, security, and satisfaction we have found in this world. But in the end, Jesus said, following Him leads to a radical reward this world can never offer. This begs a questions from each of us: do we believe the reward found in Jesus is worth the risk of following Him?"

any thoughts?

Radical means…chapter 7

“ The church is Plan A.  There is no plan B.”

In this chapter, basically the author goes through 7 truths from the Word, specifically, from Romans.  “All people have knowledge of God, all people reject God, all people are guilty before God , all people are condemned for rejecting God, God has made a way of salvation for the lost, people cannot come to God apart from faith in Christ, and Christ commands the church to make the gospel known to all peoples.”

I am still processing all of the above.

He concludes the chapter writing about how people “search” for God’s will.  A friend reminded me not too long ago that God’s will for me isn’t hidden (thanks, Ms. Barbara! I haven’t forgotten!).  The author goes on to say, that “the will of God is for you & me to give our lives urgently and recklessly to making the gospel and the glory of God known among all peoples, particularly those who have never even heard of Jesus Christ.”

The author then writes, instead of asking the question “What is God’s will?” we should be asking “Will I obey God’s will?”

If God’s will includes me living by & obeying His Word, which I believe it does, when am I going to stop picking & choosing the parts I want to obey, and ignoring those I don’t?