thoughts.

“If I’m honest, I have to tell you I still read fairytales
and I like them best of all. - Audrey Hepburn
Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life. {phil. 2:15-16} The Prop Shop: small. eclectic. like a coffee shop selling plays and spoken word. Tonight I had the chance to perform in the prop shop. to share a small moment of my year. a small portion scripture I had memorized. The spoken word of God. It is never void.  I have been reading Philippians lately. And I am reminded of that old Sunday school song. “this little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine.” We are lights, stars, witnesses of God in this generation. I know I am meant to shine, but so often I forget how. By being blameless and pure.  {Blameless and pure.} Then we will shine. Lord, transform me. Purify me. Father, I am your child and the cry of my heart is to live a life worthy of your calling. Blameless and pure. 

Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life. {phil. 2:15-16}

The Prop Shop: small. eclectic. like a coffee shop selling plays and spoken word. Tonight I had the chance to perform in the prop shop. to share a small moment of my year. a small portion scripture I had memorized. The spoken word of God. It is never void. 

I have been reading Philippians lately. And I am reminded of that old Sunday school song. “this little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine.” We are lights, stars, witnesses of God in this generation. I know I am meant to shine, but so often I forget how. By being blameless and pure.  {Blameless and pure.} Then we will shine.

Lord, transform me. Purify me. Father, I am your child and the cry of my heart is to live a life worthy of your calling. Blameless and pure. 

  Lamentations 3:22-23 The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;   his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning;    great is your faithfulness. It has begun snowing here and the air is cold to the lungs. Every morning I run to the window to see a fresh layer of white gently laid over the world. It’s beautiful. and pure. and new.  and I thank God that his love never fails. Every morning he wants us to wake up to his forgiving love. To start the day in him. He died to make us white as snow because he loves us.  it’s a new day. I don’t have to live in my muddied world of yesterday, but can change today. can live today with my God.  It’s beautiful. 

 

Lamentations 3:22-23

The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;
   his mercies never come to an end;

they are new every morning;
    great is your faithfulness.

It has begun snowing here and the air is cold to the lungs. Every morning I run to the window to see a fresh layer of white gently laid over the world. It’s beautiful. and pure. and new. 

and I thank God that his love never fails. Every morning he wants us to wake up to his forgiving love. To start the day in him. He died to make us white as snow because he loves us. 

it’s a new day. I don’t have to live in my muddied world of yesterday, but can change today. can live today with my God. 

It’s beautiful. 

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
Kerry Wade

—left behind

{time to be}

I have been talking a lot about how we are all so intricately different. How each of think and see life from our own little mountains. We stand upon everything that makes us us. We worship how we were created to worship, which is different from everyone else. 

During chapel the other day I looked around at a sea of heads. Hundreds of people with hundreds of stories. {Each of which I want to sit down and hear.} And I thought of how each person was made in God’s image. Each unique. Each beautiful. Each an aspect of God’s character. and I thought, how big our God is. 

God created us just how we are to show that aspect of Him. If we live as ourselves, as our quirky created selves, our very lives are a witness. Our uniqueness is a testimony to God’s character.  

Who am I? it is a long search, full of discoveries and personality tests. but what it all comes down to, is that I am a child of God. 

It’s time to sep off the sidewalk, and be. Be me. Be a child of God. 

Just be. in His presence. 

“The best moments in reading are when you come across something - a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things - that you’d thought special, particular to you. And here it is, set down by someone else, a person you’ve never met, maybe even someone long dead. And it’s as if a hand has come out, and taken yours.” - History Boys I read a paper this week for a class. I was in the library, on the floor, watching the rain stream down. The sky was white outside, or maybe more of a grey against the dark trees. The trees had only a few leaves left. {I wonder how those leaves had stayed this long, what strength do they have that has allowed them not to let go? Are they the strong ones? Or the ones who are most afraid?} As I read, I found a bit of myself in this paper.  This week I have not been myself. I have been tired, ungrateful, loud, obnoxious, and thoughtless. I was trying to be funny, to have a word in, to be noticed, to be in the spotlight. It took words and some silence {and some Holy Spirit} to wake me. Lord may I stay awake. and find myself in you. 

“The best moments in reading are when you come across something - a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things - that you’d thought special, particular to you. And here it is, set down by someone else, a person you’ve never met, maybe even someone long dead. And it’s as if a hand has come out, and taken yours.” - History Boys

I read a paper this week for a class. I was in the library, on the floor, watching the rain stream down. The sky was white outside, or maybe more of a grey against the dark trees. The trees had only a few leaves left. {I wonder how those leaves had stayed this long, what strength do they have that has allowed them not to let go? Are they the strong ones? Or the ones who are most afraid?} As I read, I found a bit of myself in this paper. 

This week I have not been myself. I have been tired, ungrateful, loud, obnoxious, and thoughtless. I was trying to be funny, to have a word in, to be noticed, to be in the spotlight. It took words and some silence {and some Holy Spirit} to wake me.

Lord may I stay awake. and find myself in you. 

tea by night. poetry readings by day. best use of a Friday - spent in the Prop Shop Theatre listening to a world famous poet read his works. This, my friends, is why I love college. 

Name: Kerry Wade. 

Occupation: Traveler. 

{“Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.” - Luke 2:19} Created. “I knew you before you were in your mother’s womb” When God created Adam, the very first string of DNA, we were planned. He knew the path of generations. Each couple coming together. DNA continuing to twist. So you would be exactly how you are. Created. I was created with a need for space. Maybe it is the women inside me, but I need a home, a nest to crawl into, a sanctuary. A place where I can ponder. A nighttime walk, a warm blanket, a notebook, a window. I need space to ponder. The shepherds came with stories and knowledge and excitement over the glory of God. And Mary pondered it all her heart. I was created to ponder. It is part of who I am. Pondering and treasuring God’s glory. God’s creation. To live in awe. In wonder. 

{“Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.” - Luke 2:19}

Created. “I knew you before you were in your mother’s womb” When God created Adam, the very first string of DNA, we were planned. He knew the path of generations. Each couple coming together. DNA continuing to twist. So you would be exactly how you are. Created.

I was created with a need for space. Maybe it is the women inside me, but I need a home, a nest to crawl into, a sanctuary. A place where I can ponder. A nighttime walk, a warm blanket, a notebook, a window. I need space to ponder.

The shepherds came with stories and knowledge and excitement over the glory of God. And Mary pondered it all her heart. I was created to ponder. It is part of who I am. Pondering and treasuring God’s glory. God’s creation. To live in awe. In wonder. 

{You. Are. Righteous}

This week Mattie Montgomery, lead singer of the screamo band For Today, came and spoke in chapel: 

Righteous and righteous needs are different. Righteousness is the state of right standing before God.

We CAN live a sinless lifestyle. Where sinlessness is the norm and any sin is a deviation from that.  So often we say, “we are only human.” We are not – we are children of God. Jesus took our sin.  Jesus didn’t cover our sin, he took it.

{God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.} 2 Cor 5:21

Fact: we struggle. Truth: we are Righteous, Holy, Pure, and Beloved. 

So often we go to church services that are preaching to the broken and lost. WE ARE FOUND. Do not mistake your found identity with a lost one.

We shrink down what God has done to appeal to lost people. Don’t down talk what God did in your life. How can we heal the broken with our own brokenness? Jesus is the ultimate healer, and he was perfect. If we go up to a sinner and say I am a sinner too, what do we have to offer?

Know who you are, because you know what God calls you. We are a new creation in Christ, the righteousness of God. To say or think anything different is to disagree with God. This is our standard.

My life may not look like God sees me, but I am still going believe how God sees me.

I am willing to be thought a fool to stand on this.  I am done playing games, justifying my sin, and thinking about what my life will looks someday.

I am righteous. 

                                                        {Awake My Soul}

Revelation 3:1-3 To the Church in Sardis:

“‘I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you.”

Sometimes reputation outlives reality. Areas where we once had spiritual fervor but we now simply running off of the momentum of what used to be. Can you remember back to a time when you were spiritually “on fire”?

Has something died along the way?

Have you ever woken up in the morning and realized that you are not who you were? The Church in Sardis had reached this point. They were living off an old reputation of being a strong spiritual stronghold, but in reality, they had lost it somewhere {somehow} along the way.

What do you do? How do you begin?

Wake up: God is calling us to mental vigilance. We must be guarding our hearts. Don’t we know how vulnerable we are? We must live with intentionality.

Strengthen what remains and is about to die: We must build upon what we have. Like any strength training, begin small, but begin with intentionally, urgency, and hope.

Remember: Remember what you received and heard. So often we believe {and want} that in order to awake our souls we need something new. Some new revelation to bring us back into the awe of God. {This, in many ways, is easier. A fresh start is easier than sifting through the old.} But God calls us to remember the old. Go back to the beginning. Dive deeper and dwell. {upon the live that he gave, his love, and his mercy} (http://thinkingmostly.tumblr.com/post/9307302771)

Repent: To repent is to change. A change of mind and hear that changes behavior. To change is to change. You cannot change and remain the same. You cannot follow without leaving.  

Remember who you are. You are a child of thing. Holy. and dearly loved. Remember who you are. Awake. 

- summarized from paster Jeff Manion