He…overwhelms me.

i.  feel like.  i.  could EXPLODE.

GAAH!

my heart, my spirit is overwhelmed by the hand of God.  the goodness of God.  the patience of God.  the strength of God.  …I am overwhelmed by God.

I feel like if I just start typing, I will verbally spew so much into this post and it will turn into a 20-page, single spaced, size 8 font post.

a year ago today, I was packing up my apartment in the Keys, throwing away tons of yearbooks, pictures, notebooks… downsizing in order to fit everything I owned into my Scion XB (aka Zeva, akaa [also known affectionately as] the Toaster).  I had always thought my friends in the Keys were crazy when they’d talk about moving off the rock – I was determined to stay in the Keys because I love living in the beautiful islands, I love that my family all lives there, I love my friends, I love the culture, I love the weather, I love the landscape…(the list goes on).

the ironic thing is, sometimes God calls us to surrender what we love.  it’s like He says, “wow…I know you love all this, but trust Me – there is SO much more I have for you!”

and it’s up to us to accept His invitation, to take the leap of faith, and trust Him.

so for the past year, I’ve been interning under Continuous Worship ministries.  ok I won’t give minute by minute details.  I realize the average attention span is currently 12.882 seconds and so I want to stick to the point before I lose you.  (and yes, I’m totally making up the average attention span thing – but you totally know it’s true!)

but the past year of my life has possibly been the most amazing, most challenging, most stretching, hardest, best years of my life.  I have never felt more alive in my life.

I now know that even when God calls you to something, He’s not necessarily calling you to something easy.  but there’s such beauty in that – because when we are weak, His strength carries us.  He is shown powerful and through that, His Spirit works in and through us.

2 Corinthians 12:9
”Each time He [the Lord] said, ‘My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.’ So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.”

I have had so many weak moments during this past year.  so many times I wanted to just curl up in a ball and wait for the task at hand to pass me by.  so many times I saw the mountain in front of me that I needed to climb and just wanted to quit and go back to the Keys where life was relatively easy and comfortable.

I have clung to this passage in 1 Corinthians 2 so much over the past year:

1 Corinthians 2:1-5 – “And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. ² For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. ³ I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. ⁴ My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, ⁵ so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.”

I always think of Paul as being this amazing speaker, this guy who never wavered in his faith and was so confident in who he was in Christ that he never feared anything.  don’t get me wrong – he was an amazing follower of Christ.  but he wasn’t perfect.  he had fears.  he had weaknesses.  but he knew the beauty of being willing to operate even in his weakness.

I have experienced God’s faithfulness in so many awesome ways over this past year.  His faithfulness to provide.  His faithfulness to lead me.  His faithfulness to be more than enough strength in my weakness.  His faithfulness to be patient with me.  His faithfulness to love me through the good and the bad.

I have experienced God’s grace in so many awesome ways over this past year.  His grace to forgive me when I doubt Him.  His grace to surround me with friends and family that love me and encourage me (and still love me even on my bad days).  His grace to use me even when I feel so unusable.

today I got the opportunity to lead the entire worship service (well, the music part) at church.  it was completely by God’s strength alone.  leading up to this opportunity, for years upon years, just the thought of being on a worship team made my stomach turn with anxiety, with fear.  so the idea of leading was always out of the question.

until this last time I was asked.

please don’t take this as me boasting about what I’ve done.  it is completely not that, and if it comes across that way, I will probably be physically sick to my stomach.

I say all this because I want you to know we serve a STRONG God.  we serve a BIG God.  we serve the ONLY TRUE God.  all things are possible through His strength when we have our sights on glorifying Him.

how hard do I seek?

I got to have coffee with a good friend of mine tonight.  I love grabbing coffee with Teah because she loves Jesus and she loves Him deeply and our conversation quickly turns toward deeper things than talking about the weather.

we started talking about what it means to truly seek the Lord.

in Jeremiah 29:13 it says:
”You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

the Hebrew word used for “seek” is “darash” and it means to seek with care, to be sought.

in Matthew 7:7, Jesus says:
”“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”

the Greek word used in Matt. 7:7 for “seek” is “zēteō” and it means “to crave” or “to seek in order to find”.

I loved Teah’s analogy.  how often do we lose something and are desperate to find it?  when I was home this winter, I was staying at my family’s place.  my 2-year old nephew, Ben, loves car keys.  like, literally – as soon as you turn the car off, he’s on you.  “Keys!  Me want…CAR KEYS!!” and he looks at you with these big, innocent blue eyes and holds out his hand and cocks his head to the side and smiles.  and he has this adorable deep, husky voice because he screamed so much as a baby (true story).  you can’t deny the kid.  so, wanting to be the cool aunt that I am, I gave him my keys and told him not to lose them (hindsight is 20/20).  I went inside and later that night, when it was dark and I needed to leave, I remembered I didn’t have my keys.  and Ben was asleep.  and we all know the cardinal rule – never wake a sleeping toddler once you’ve gotten them to bed.

so we checked his shorts’ pockets.  we checked drawers.  we checked counter tops and tables.  we checked his toy trucks.  we looked everywhere.  then we remembered he was playing outside when I gave him the keys and he had continued playing outside for awhile.  so outside we went, flashlights in hand, scouring the yard around the swing set and anywhere else we thought he may’ve gone.  nothing.

how often do I seek that desperately after God?  how often do I desperately seek to know Him more, to gain wisdom and understanding from His Word?  how often do I earnestly sit in stillness and quiet and wait to hear His voice?

I have to admit, I searched harder for those car keys than I often seek after God.  we live in a “I want it now” culture.  fast food.  fast internet.  everything right at our fingertips with our smart phones.  we are accustomed to getting what we want, when we want it.

I think we’ve lost the art of seeking.  the art of patiently yet earnestly seeking.

I don’t think God responds to us instantly a lot of times.  I know He can and He does.  but I think a lot of times, He desires to refine us, restore us, reveal Himself to us through a process and not with instant answers.  I mean, we’re told to seek.  to search after.  to think, to meditate.  none of that jives with the “I want it now” mentality we’ve come to accept.

and so – may we seek the Lord.  may we truly seek with our whole heart, our whole mind – with everything that is within us.  may we not be satisfied with instant answers but may we continue to search after Truth and wisdom from the Creator of Truth and wisdom.

oh to be a desperate seeker.

Costa Rica Rundown

I had the blessing of getting to go to San Ramon, Costa Rica for a 1-week missions trip last month.  first off, can I just tell you how awesome it was to watch God provide the $$ for me to go on this trip??  I’ve been on a lot of mission trips, but I can only recall 2 of them that I signed up for knowing I did not have enough $$ in my bank account to cover the trip in case I wasn’t able to raise the support.  all the other trips I signed up for knowing that if the money didn’t come in, I could cover the difference (now THAT’S called faith, right?  goodness…please sense the heavy sarcasm there).

what’s kind of funny is that the trips I signed up for knowing I had the money to cover any lacking financial support, I think I always ended up having to pay quite a bit of my own money to go.  however, the trips I signed up for knowing I didn’t have enough money and needed God to provide, those were the trips that were fully paid through generous financial support from family, friends, and random people I didn’t even know.

it’s like the trips I had a “backup” plan for in case “God didn’t come through” (although I would’ve never admitted that was my mindset, but really…it was), God was like, “if you don’t think you need Me, then fine – spend your own money.”  and the trips I needed Him to provide, He delighted in giving and giving generously.

He delights in giving good gifts to His children.  (check out Matthew 7:11)

ugh.  why does coffee get cold so fast?  I just went to finish my cup and spit it out as soon as I realized it was cold already.  sad.

off topic.  coming back…

anyway, I signed up for this trip needing God to provide the funds and He totally did!  and for our entire team!

our entire team of about 24 (I think) split into 5 smaller teams for the week.  4 teams each had a church/community they worked with every day, mainly doing door-to-door evangelism and leading a small group at night (I AM SECOND groups).  the 5th team was the sports team, AKA SportReach, and I was on that team.  we traveled each day to a different church/community and met up with our team that was there.  we did sports camps for kids/youth in the morning and afternoon, teaching them volleyball, basketball, futbol (soccer…although they totally knew more than we did and a lot of us decided it was safer to just give them the ball and we’d stand on the sidelines and cheer – haha), and one day we taught them ultimate frisbee, which was a hit.

every night, our entire team would gather together and debrief over the day, sharing stories of what God had done or was doing.  I loved these times.  but after a couple days, I was starting to get discouraged.  we’d hear all these awesome stories of how all these people were coming to know Jesus through the door-to-door evangelism.  but on the sports team, we really didn’t see a lot of decisions like that.  we would take a break in the morning and the afternoon and share the Gospel with the kids using a multi-colored soccer ball (red, green, yellow, black, and white).  we’d share one of our testimonies.  but then when we’d ask if anyone wanted to accept Jesus as their Savior, they’d all stare at us.  then we’d ask if they already knew Jesus…and they all said yes.  :)  a lot of them came from the churches we were working with.  but whether or not these kids actually knew Jesus, it didn’t really give us the opportunity for a lot of deeper, one-on-one conversations with the kids.

so I was getting discouraged.  I was thinking, “man…all we do all day is play with the kids and have fun…I haven’t seen anyone come to know Jesus yet…how can I be more faithful with this week God has given me here?”

I went to bed Tuesday night discouraged by this.  Wednesday morning, I woke up and had some time with Jesus on the porch, wrapped up in a big soft blanket and drinking coffee.  :)

(my view)

God really spoke this to my heart that morning. “It’s not about what I accomplish – how many people I share the Gospel with, how many people come to know Jesus, etc. – it’s about being faithful and obedient with what God has given me to do.”

I thought about that awhile.  I thought about what He’d given me to do that week.  He had placed me on this sports team for a reason (and not just because I love sports).  He was giving me the opportunity each day to meet kids and spend my entire day loving on them.  spending time with them, playing with them.  showing them they have worth and value by giving them my time and attention.  and through that, the love of Jesus is shared with them.

a couple pics of friends I made and miss very much in Costa Rica:

 

(our sports team)

a 1 minute post

I have 1 minute before 9am and I need to get to work at 9.  therefore: prepare for the 1 minute post.

some days my heart aches to be in the Keys more than other days.  I miss the atmosphere.  I miss the palm trees, the unending beautiful views of the ocean.  the sand.  the beach volleyball matches.  the laid back, no-worries people.

I miss having a full afternoon of intense beach volleyball followed by a jump in the ocean, followed by an outside shower at the beach.

but it’s OK.  there will be plenty of time for that when I get to Heaven.  :)

oops.  that took 2 minutes.

tonight, we eat steak

(monday, 7/30/12)

this morning I woke up to 3 cows outside my window.  mooing.

when I say outside my window, I mean … literally right outside my window.

during the night, the cows got out and all through the night we kept waking up to the sound of unusual mooing.  around 5am, I finally got up to look out the window to see what was clanking around outside my window.  I didn’t have my glasses on, so at first I saw this huge black animal and I thought, “IT’S A MOOSE!!!!” and I was so excited.  then I thought it was a black bear.  then I grabbed my glasses.  and realized they were cows.

I heard my dad go outside.  then I heard a pack of coyotes howling and it sounded like they were right outside my window.  I thought for a second that maybe my dad had gotten attacked by the coyotes.  then I decided that would be absurd.  then I decided I should see if my dad needed help.  it was at that point that I realized my dad’s true calling: to be a shepherd.  that guy had all but a couple calves rounded up and herded back into the right pasture!  that’s MY DAD!  :)

we got back in around 6am.  since the cows kept everyone else up all night, almost all of us slept past 9am this morning.  we didn’t even eat breakfast until 10am.  totally not normal for us.

I have never had a dislike for cows.  until this morning.

I decided we should eat steak tonight.  just to spite them.

the convergence of family

today was a great day.

I don’t know if the title of this post makes sense, but when I told Mika what I was going to write about, I dramatically (in my deepest theological sounding voice), waved my hands in the air and said, “the convergence…of family.”

so whether or not that really captures the subject, the point is – tonight my heart is full because today I saw numerous pieces of my family intersect.  and…converge.  ha.  there ya go.  the convergence of family.  totally legit title!

I just had coffee.  yes, consider yourself warned.

it started out with sound check/run-thru with our worship team at church.  our worship team is part of my family.  we share meals together.  we study the Word together.  we pray together.  and make music together.  and we laugh a lot…together.  :)  family.

then during the sound check/run-thru, 6 friends from our Costa Rica missions team family came in – our church’s team that went on the Costa Rica trip shared today at church and our friends from the Cheyenne church came to support us!  and we got to introduce them to some of our church family.  convergence of family. :)

my family is in town for a couple weeks and today they got to come to our church for the first time!  it was so cool to look out and see them out there and to introduce them to some of my church family afterwards.  it was so cool to see my parents talking with my pastor and his wife, long time family friends who knew my grandparents very well.  of course, Claire and Ben needed to test out the drums before we left.  ;)  convergence of family.

after church, my family and Paul & Cristine’s family went out to lunch together.  OK so it’s not completely a foreign convergence of family instance because Paul & Cristine really are family…like legit, Cristine’s my cousin.  :)  but it was a new feeling, a very sweet feeling – after living with Paul & Cristine for a year now and getting to really know them, it was different from when our family would come out West to visit and we would see our aunts, uncles, and cousins that we saw an average of…once a year.  here I was, sharing a meal with 2 parts of my legit, blood-related families, whom I know and love so so much.  I just wanted to give everyone a ginormous hug.  a sweet convergence of family.  :)

now here I sit, out at our family’s ranch.  4 of my cousins are here, along with my 2 nieces and 1 nephew.  we’re having one big, cousinly sleep over tonight.  :)  just 1 more beautiful convergence of family today.

(covering the driveway with sidewalk chalk creations)

God has blessed me with so many different families.  I love seeing Him intertwine different parts of those families.  He is all about relationships.  He created us for relationship, first & foremost with Him, and then with others.

my heart is full tonight :)

6 weeks of WOW

for all of you who check my blog daily for updates (HA – j/k), you may’ve noticed I haven’t updated for a month now.  I would love to give you a detailed update on all that God has been teaching me over the last month.  but I am so tired right now that I don’t think I could form that many coherent sentences in 1 go-around. :)

a quick recap of the amazing opportunities God’s given me over the last month:

week 1: cabin leader at senior high camp
week 2: day trip to cheyenne, overnight trip to Casper to see one of my bestest friends Marissa and her family whom I love so much!!  immediately followed by a trip to CO to hike my first 14-er (Mt. Antero) with some friends, followed by a Beth Moore conference in CO Springs
week 3: worship team at jr high camp
week 4: missions trip to Costa Rica

over the past month, I have slept in my bed a grand total of 3 nights.

needless to say, I have had no time to blog.  :(

and the excitement’s not over!  I am home today and tomorrow and then tuesday my family comes from the Keys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  for 2 whole weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!!  aunt jen is completely and 135% stoked out of her mind!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  we are going to spend more of the 2 weeks out our family’s ranch.  I cannot wait.

I hope to write a more detailed blog tomorrow about my time in Costa Rica.

my eyes are closing…

buenos noches.

It's all relative

When you live in the Keys, getting off "the rock" and going to the mainland (usually Miami or Fort Lauderdale) is a big deal. You make your list of places you need (or think you need) to go. You bring the cooler to load up on cheaper food prices.

When I came to Cheyenne, getting to go to Denver became my "Miami".

Now that I'm in Torrington, Cheyenne has ironically become my "Miami".

It's all relative.

One day I'm going to live in a hut on the beach in like, Nicaragua. I'm not sure where my "Miami" will be then. I'll keep ya posted.

forgiven and free

because it’s Friday and because I got to eat Chipotle today, have a power smoothie from Ruby Juice, enjoy my smoothie as I drove to Bob Marley, and because it was warm and sunny with a warm breeze today and I found $110 trail running shoes for $17 at the Sierra Trading Post Outlet, and because Jesus is so incredible in His love and grace, I decided I would share a verse that’s impacted my life hugely.  I figured those were enough reasons.

there’s this verse that every time I hear it or read it, I’m instantly taken back to the first moment this verse radically changed my life.  I remember at that moment, I swore that was the first time I’d ever heard that verse in my life – though I’m sure I’d read it or heard it many times before.

I’m not going to tell you what verse it is.

 

 

HA!!!!  I’m freakin’ hilarious.  you know you’re laughing, too.  at least giggling?  at least smirking a little with a hint of amusement showing in your eyebrow?  (…”a hint of amusement showing in your eyebrow”???  what in the world?  who’s coming up with this nonsense??  oh…shoot…it’s my blog…I can’t blame someone else…)

oops.  back on track… (I swear 1 day a study is going to come out saying everyone has at least some level of ADD or ADHD in them)

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus…” – Romans 8:1

now let me tell you why this verse brought so much life and freedom to me.

when this verse hit me, it was probably in…2008 (I can’t remember the exact year).  we had taken a group of high schoolers to Acquire the Fire (ATF) in Miami and at one point, they had a time for all the leaders to get together and hear this one dude talk.  side note: God’s real sly like that.  I think He slips into stealth mode at these youth things.  you know, you take these students to these youth events, praying all the while that God will meet them where they’re at and that He’ll capture their hearts.  but most, if not all of the time, He teaches the leaders just as much and captures (or…recaptures) our hearts as well.  He’s good.  He’s reeeeeal good.  :)

anyway, I have no clue what this dude talked about now, but I will never forget the moment he read that verse and he passionately encouraged us that any mistakes, any sins, any failures we were holding against ourselves – in Christ, we are forgiven!  He does not hold any of that against us.  And neither should we hold it against ourselves.

I was rocked.

by that point in my life, I had had plenty of instances of feeling like I failed God, and others.  I had allowed those feelings of failure to take root in me and I just never felt like God was going to want to use me ever again because I had failed Him so many times.

so I hear this verse at ATF and it rocks me but I didn’t have time to process it at the time because we quickly had to get back to our group and make sure nobody killed each other (totally kidding – we had a great group of teens).  as soon as we got home, I remember sitting in my friend Lisa’s living room (staring out across the back yard to the beautiful ocean and palm trees, I have to mention…oh my heart…how I miss the islands!).  I’m sitting there on her couch and I asked what verse that was that the guy read, the one about “there’s no condemnation”.  I asked, “is that really in the Bible??” and she laughed and had that expression on her face that said, “…are you for real?”  she showed me where it was in Romans and the beauty and freedom of that verse continued to become more and more real to me.

if we are followers of Jesus, we are cleansed by His blood, the Ultimate Sacrifice that was required to restore us to God.  we are completely forgiven and God does not condemn us anymore!  it doesn’t matter what we have done, how we think we’ve failed Him, or how many times we’ve messed up.  He loves us unconditionally.  the blood of Jesus is grace that runs deeper than any of our sins, any of our failures.

“Therefore, there is now NO CONDEMNATION for those who are in Christ Jesus…”

let those words soak.

confessions from a recovering church-hopper

I have been a dead member of the local church for the majority of my post-high school life.

this realization hit me recently when I had the opportunity to visit another church.  I love my church.  I love my family there.  I love seeing God changes hearts and lives in this community.  but I felt like I needed just 1 weekend off to just…be.

it sounds kind of selfish.  and maybe it is.  but I wanted to just be able to go somewhere and be refreshed and not serve.  haha wow that sounds terrible.  but anyway, I wanted somewhere to be poured into and re-energized for this next month and 1/2 of pure craziness (camps, missions trip, hiking Pike’s Peak, women’s conference, family here…the list goes on).

so I got the weekend off from worship team (which was so hard to follow-thru on…I love my worship team family and the sweet times of fellowship we have Saturday nights!).  that Saturday night I visited the church my grandparents were members of when they were alive.  the message was great, and it was challenging (I mentioned it in the previous post).  it was nice to be able to worship through singing from my seat in the congregation and not be thinking about what chords I was playing or what drum I was hitting.  it was nice to just…be.

and it was awful to just…be…all at the same time.  it was heartbreaking, in a way.  I realized that what I did Saturday night at this church service was exactly what I had done for most of my post-high school life.  I went to church.  I showed up.  I worshiped from my seat.  I maybe shook some hands and talked to some friends (people I knew of course…because that’s comfortable).  heard the message, maybe felt challenged by it & maybe not.  and then I’d get in my car and leave until the next Sunday.  and the next Sunday I might go to a different church.  wherever I felt like going when that Sunday morning rolled around.

the life of a chronic church-hopper is empty and lifeless.  I know.  I was one.  I’m a recovering church-hopper.

it started around my last year or 2 of high school.  this new church had exploded and it was modern and different (they met in a warehouse…that screams “cool” to those of us that grew up in conservative, church buildings with hymnals and pews).  I started going to that church here and there, partly because I felt alive there and loved the worship and teaching.  and partly because almost all my friends & church leaders from my other church didn’t like this new church – so in my selfless rebelliousness (HA, sarcasm), I wanted to prove that there was more to life than singing hymns and dressing nice.  plus I could stop by the gas station and get a coke in a styrofoam cup and take it in with me and not get dirty looks from the older generation.  ;)  (side note – this was pre-soda-less days, people.  I’ve been soda-free for 3 1/2 years!!!!  yes, I’m also a recovering soda addict.  that’s not even an exaggeration.  haha that’s a whole ‘nother blog post)

it just got worse from there, though.  I went to college and there were so many churches to choose from that I figured why stick with 1?  it was like a smorgasbord for a “church consumer”.  try out 1 church.  see what I got from it.  try out another church.  see what I got.  oh, don’t feel like getting out of my sweats to go to church?  not a problem – just go to campus church.  or better yet, drive to the park (grab a coke on the way, of course) and listen to campus church on the radio.  oh, that campus pastor’s speaking today?  nevermind – I’ll put on my ipod and listen to a podcast.

and it only continued from there, even after college.

it wasn’t until I relocated out West (yes, I still say “relocated” because to say “moved” would sound way too permanent) that I tried something new.  actually I didn’t “try” it.  I got thrown into it because of the internship I’m doing.  I had no intention of really getting connected and sticking around because I couldn’t imagine myself sticking to 1 church for too long (God is awesome – He is so sly sometimes).  but I started serving on the worship team (which I had never in my life done before).  then I joined a Bible study.  then I started getting involved with the youth group…

I love my church.  I love serving in the local church.  wow that sure feels crazy to say, after so many years of church-hopping, being a “consumer Christian” and being frustrated with local churches.  I now realize in a whole new way how much just going to church and leaving is full of emptiness.  it’s not what church was created to be.  the church was established for fellow believers to come and fellowship together.  to share what they had, to live in community with one another.  to serve each other and to love one another deeply.  to then go out and share Jesus with others and serve others and love others and…the list goes on.

I remember at my Grandpa’s funeral in 2007, his pastor (who is now MY pastor…just another example of God’s crazy, unpredictable plan for our lives!) said that my grandpa loved the local church.  he LOVED it.  him and my grandma served faithfully and loved, even when they weren’t huge fans of the addition of drums to the worship team.  :)  they still loved the person playing the drums and didn’t complain and didn’t throw in the towel and go to a more “conservative” church.  they were committed.  I specifically remember right then and there at the funeral service that I longed to one day love the local church again.  obviously, it didn’t happen over night (here I am, 5 years later, just now rediscovering that love).  but that moment at the funeral service has stuck with me ever since.

by the grace of God, I am a recovering church-hopper.

running in circles

I love when I get hit from so many different angles on the same exact topic.  that’s when I know God is really trying to get my attention, and out of His great love & mercy (and amazing patience), He is going to use all these different avenues until I get it.

I won’t cover every detail (although knowing me, this will turn out long anyways).  you can always ask me for the full story. :)  but this past week I realized I needed to start thinking about the future (“future” as in 2 months down the road, not 5 years down the road – I am SO not a 5-year plan person – way too much can happen and change in 5 years!).  I’ve been praying quite a bit about what to do once I’m done with this internship in August.  in reality, I could go anywhere.  anywhere in the world.  I don’t own a home.  I have no rental lease.  my source of income lets me work wherever I can get wi-fi access, which I’m sure there’s some sweet tiny hut on the island of tahiti that has wi-fi and I could totally go there.  in reality, I don’t need much to live.  just food, sunshine, and Jesus.

I often think about where I want to go next.  but my daydreaming doesn’t go far at all.  I start to think of a place, and then I get stumped as to what I would do there.  the only place I can see myself being right now is where I am…right now.  in this tiny Wyoming community that I have quickly grown to love.  God continues to open door after door here and He continues to blow me away by giving me the desires of my heart.  Psalm 37:4 – “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.”  I am experiencing this verse to be true and it is blowing my mind.

however – yes, there’s a “however”.

as much as I felt like God was leading me to stay here past August, I hadn’t verbally (or…textually…is that even a word?  it totally is now) made this known to anyone.  oh sure, I’d mention that I might stay around but still left it open in case God “moved me elsewhere”.  you know, the classic non-committal response to people’s questions as to what I’m going to do next.  ;)

well this past week, I talked with Paul & Cristine (refresher: I’ve been interning under Paul for the past year) about my plans.  I verbally acknowledged that I felt I was supposed to stick around past August.  why is it that when you finally verbalize something, it’s at that moment that you realize what that something really entails?  leading up to the verbalizing, you’re like…thinking it all out in your head and everything’s great and seems all put together.  then you verbalize it.  and then it’s like “oh…crap…wait a minute…now this is real…”

yeah that moment totally happened.

as soon as I verbalized it, I realized I didn’t have a place to live in this plan to stick around.  minor detail, right?  …yeah.

for various reasons that don’t need to be detailed on this blog, I went into a tailspin the next couple days.  I quickly started jumping to conclusions.  I started questioning if I had sensed God’s leading correctly.  maybe I really was supposed to go somewhere else.  but everywhere I kept running through my head as an option was just not glowing with the bright neon light saying “YES!  Go THERE!”  I had this overwhelming sense that if I gave up on this leading and went somewhere else, I would be restless and non-peace-having (I know there’s a word for that, but I can’t think of it).

so in my tailspin state of mind, I came to a logical conclusion.  I would live in my car.  that was the only solution so that I could continue on with what I felt God leading me to do.  that night I started sorting through my clothes, deciding what I could get rid of to downsize.  no really, I totally did.  haha

hey, at the time it seemed logical!!

thankfully, I have good friends who helped me regain common sense and put an end to the tailspin madness.  I realized I put God in WAY to small of a box.  my dreams are pathetically small.  I set my sights way too low.

I am created and sustained by the God of universe.  of the UNIVERSE!  the One who holds it all in motion!  the One who sent His Son to die for me so that I could have a right relationship with Him!  the One who gives me my every breath!

then this past Saturday night I had the chance to visit another local church (the one my grandparents went to when they were still alive, actually).  and the pastor’s message centered around Adam & Eve and the Fall. He pointed out that when Adam & Eve became discontent with what they had, they lost focus.  And then they became entangled in sin.  they had perfection fellowship with God.  they had it all.  but they became discontent with that.  they wanted more.  they wanted to be like God.  they wanted to know what He knew.  living in discontentment, satan striked.  Eve ate.  Adam ate.  and you know the rest.

Likewise, when we focus on what we don’t have, we lose sight of what we DO have.  we lose focus of Jesus.  we lose focus of all that we have and all that we are in Him.  we start to doubt.  we start to seek comfort/control/security/whatever from people or things other than God.

BAM #1.  actually BAM #2 – BAM #1 was the conversation I had earlier with my friend who all but whacked me alongside the head and challenged me with the fact that either I trust God or I don’t.

then this morning at church, my pastor brought another message that I swear was just for me.  he talked about Peter and what happened when he saw Jesus walking on the water to the boat.  I know I’m totally cutting this summary of the message way short – you should listen to it when it’s up (SONrise Church Messages).  first he pointed out that Jesus was walking on the water – like, do you realize what that proves?  He is the God of all creation, He commands even the waters in the seas.  He.  Is.  AWESOME.  how quickly I fail to trust Him!

but then he pointed out that Peter at first walked on the water to Jesus.  he had faith.  then he started to sink.  he lost focus.  he began to doubt.  he began to focus on the waves, not on Jesus.  then he cried out for Jesus to save him.  and Jesus did.  oh the grace of God!!

dude – you need to just listen to the message.  I’m totally slaughtering it because there was so much more to it.

but – BAM #3.

focus.  it comes down to focus.  am I going to keep my focus on God and what He has called me to?  or am I going to worry and fear and doubt?  am I going to trust God or am I not?  there’s no in-between.

this song has been in my head so much this past week.  I decided I’d bite the bullet and record it and share if with you guys.  I don’t like hearing myself sing.  and I definitely don’t like sharing it with whoever comes across this post.  haha :) but it has been on my heart and I need to share it.

and forgive me that it cuts off at the end.  I couldn’t figure out how to fade it out on garageband.  :)  this is a song by United Pursuit Band called “Running in Circles”.

Running in Circles (Orig United Pursuit Band)

Dear Blog

Dear Blog,

I have not forgotten about you. I have many things I would love to post on you, actually. But you require time because as of right now, you have not learned how to read my thoughts and transfer them to blog posts (for which I am grateful - because my mind has like a bajillion things running thru it at any given time). I will make time for you soon.

Sincerely,
me

never a dull moment on my drives

I made the hour and 15 minute drive from Torrington, WY to Cheyenne, WY yesterday, twice (there and back).  actually it’s supposed to be an hour and 15 minutes.  but because I’m jen, and God has created me uniquely and curiousitively (dude that is an amazing word creation right there, I’m claiming it!), yesterday’s trip there took about an hour and 30 minutes or so.  the trip back took about the same amount of time.  the following is a fun-filled photo documentation of my journey across the barren (or not-so-barren, apparently) plains.

from Torrington to Cheyenne:

about 30 minutes or so down the road, I saw a snake coiled up in the middle of the road.  now, if you read my previous post, you’ll know the turmoil that this caused inside of me.  do I stop or do I keep going?  do I stop or do I keep going?
learning from my last experience where when I finally did turn around, the snake was gone, this time I made the decision a lot sooner.  I slammed on the brakes, whipped a u-turn and headed back.  this time, the snake was still there.  ok so maybe it was dying and that’s why it hadn’t slithered off.  if I could, I would re-enact what the snake was doing.  but alas, I have to resort to a description with words.  it was coiled up, slithering around in a coiled up heap.  it had its mouth open and was whipping its head around like it was trying to bite its ear.  I don’t know if snakes have ears.  but it looked like it was trying to bite what it thought was its ear and where I would imagine its ear to be.  and yes, I took a picture.  because I had to document this exotic creature.

don’t worry, mom – I took the picture from inside my car.  you’re welcome.  :)

I continued on my drive, super stoked to have captured this moment.  when all of a sudden I see this huge, transformer-looking monster down the road.  it looked ginormous.  as I got closer, I realized it was one of those farm tractor things that I have no clue what the name of it is but I’ve seen them out by our family’s ranch in Nebraska.  not nearly as exciting as the snake, but I still took a picture.  because I’m cool like that.

do you see how dirty my windshield was?  ugh.  I swear it’s impossible to keep your windshield clean out here, at least during this bug-season.  at one point, I heard a big “SPLAT!” and saw some creature had suffered an abrupt death upon meeting my windshield and left it’s bright yellow insides splattered in a very nice but disgusting circular, bright yellow splatter.  unfortunately, I did not take a picture of this event. but I decided that if I was a bug, I would want brightly colored insides so I could make sweet splatter marks on windshields.  or 1 windshield, for that matter.  because I don’t think I’d last after splattering once, even though I like to think of myself as strong and bionic.

from Cheyenne to Torrington:

on my drive back, I nearly died 57 times.  that may or may not be an exaggeration.  but it probably is.  however, it was a lot more on the “oh my goodness I’m going to die” side than the “oh sweet - snakes, machines, and bug splatters!” side.

about 20 minutes down the road (it was dusk when I started driving back), a big herd of deer finished running across the road right when I came upon them.  I braked and braced myself in case there were any stragglers waiting to cross at just the right moment (that being right in front of my headlights).  thankfully, no stragglers.  but I did wonder why I scrunch my face up and nearly close my eyes entirely when bracing myself.  I don’t know what good that will do if my face is scrunched up when I hit something.  but it just feels like the right thing to do.

about 15 minutes later, I saw this lonely cow walking near the fence on the side of the road.  I rubber-neck stared at it as I went by.  it stared at me.  as I kept driving, I said out loud, “…I think that cow is outside the fence…”  curiosity taking over, I slammed on the brakes and pulled another u-turn.  this next line is 117% serious (not that the rest of my post isn’t 117% serious…).  as I turned around in the middle of the road, I caught a glimpse of the same, coiled up snake on the side of the road!!!  I kid you not!!!  out of the 83 or whatever miles between Torrington and Cheyenne, I pulled a u-ey right at the same exact spot as the snake from earlier in the day!

anyway – I drive back to check out this cow.  sure enough, she was out of her fence.  do you realize how bad that would be if someone hit it with their car?!  those things don’t move.  they’re solid.  so I pulled another u-ey and pulled over on the side of the road the cow was on, rolled down my window, and hollered at her.  I don’t really know what good I was thinking I would accomplish by yelling at this cow.  but I just felt like it was the right thing to do, next to getting out and grabbing it by its tail and hurling it back over the fence.  I yelled, “YOU’RE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE OUT HERE!  GET BACK INSIDE YOUR FENCE!!”  she jumped (no really, she did) like I startled her.  then she started running along the fence line.  and then I realized I could do absolutely nothing with this cow except maybe get charged by it if I kept harassing it.  so I took a picture.  because I take pictures of exotic creatures.

I called Cristine because they were a little bit behind me in the suburban.  I called her to warn her about the cow.  I don’t know if that’s what you’re supposed to do when you see a cow out and you know your friend is coming down the road behind you.  but I felt like it was the politically correct thing to do.

I continue on, and about 25 minutes later the most nearly-epic-clash-of-Zeva-and-the-deer occurred.  I’m just driving along, on high alert because of all the natural wildlife I’d encountered hanging out on the roads.  also a little spastic because I had caffeinated coffee to keep me awake.  all of a sudden this deer runs in front of my baby girl (Zeva).  I slam on the brakes, the cooler of food goes flying, and the deer jumps out of the way.  thankfully.

I decided I don’t want to drive on the country roads at night any more in my lifetime.  there are plenty of hours of daylight to be driving.  I’ll drive within those hours.  :)

my drive home today

signs that I still haven’t quite adjusted to fitting in out West:

• today I was driving down a dirt road and the car right in front of me swerved.  I thought there must’ve been a bunny or something.  as I got to the same point they swerved at, I saw there was a snake stretched out across the road, taking his time crossing it.  to which I had 2 immediate reactions, both of which I don’t think a local would’ve thought:
• why didn’t they run over the thing with their big truck?!  swerve to miss a snake??  a potentially lethal-biting, venomous snake?!
• why didn’t they stop to look at it?!  it’s a snake!  how cool is that?!

as I drove past, I suddenly felt like I was back at day 1 of learning how to drive a stick shift.  I braked quick, then pushed the gas, then braked quick again, then pushed the gas – trying to decide whether to stop and get out and look at it or whether to go along with the truck in front of me and appear cool, pretending to be un-phased by seeing this foreign specimen in the road.  about 1/4 mile down the road, I couldn’t take it anymore.  I threw my desire to be cool to the wind and turned around to go back and see the snake.  then I learned another thing.  snakes can move fast when they want to.  sadly, he was gone.  otherwise I would’ve taken a picture to share, for sure.

• as I got back on the road after my snake detour, I passed a truck and the guy inside had a totally legit cowboy hat on.  I immediately exclaimed, out loud, “OOOH!  A cowboy!!  A real cowboy!!!  THAT’S SO COOL!!”  I’ve learned, since coming out here, that that kind of comment in front of a cowboy is totally uncool.  but I was alone in my car and I couldn’t contain my excitement.  :)

as I thought about it, I realized that me getting excited about seeing a cowboy up here is like someone coming to the Keys and seeing a sailboat and getting super excited.  if we were in the Keys and you did that, I would be like, “um…yeah…it’s a…sailboat…1 of like 50 million down here…killer…”  so when I put that into perspective, I suddenly started to realize why people often don’t join me in my excitement up here when I see someone wearing a cowboy hat and boots.  therefore, I will try very hard not to express my excitement when I see cowboys up here.  but inwardly…I am jumping up and down with a big smile on my face.

• after the cowboy sighting (it was a very exciting, insightful drive home for me today), I passed the sale (sell?) barn where they sell live stock.  as I approached it, I wondered if I’d ever be able to stop by and see what it’s all about.  I’m curious!  it’s intriguing!  I’ve never been to such a place!  I figured I’d probably stand out.  I took inventory of the vehicles as I passed and they were all big hefty trucks and SUVs.  and then the clincher.  I saw an SUV pulling out so I took a look to see what kind of people go to the sale barn.  wouldn’t you know, the guy had a cowboy hat on.  yeah…pretty sure I would stand out like a sore thumb in that place.  :)  therefore, my curiosity and intrigue will just have to continue!

I love it here though.  :)  yes, I’m often dreaming of islands and blue/teal waters and palm trees and beach volleyball and hammocks on the beach and people that I love (…and the list goes on).  but I love the people here, too.  I joke about how well I don’t fit in, but I really do enjoy it here!  God is doing awesome things in and thru people and this community is in desperate need of revival.  there’s a water drought here right now, but there’s an even bigger spiritual drought.

Father, rain down!

82 and antsy

It's 82 degrees and sunny out and I have been waiting and waiting to start running again after spraining my ankle running a couple months ago. Even though my ankle still isn't healed up and is swollen most of the time, I couldn't help it anymore. It's too beautiful out. I have too much energy bottled up in me!

So...

I just went for my first run since the beginning of march!! It was slow. It was short. And yes, it hurt at first. But as I went on, it got better. And I loved it!!

Now I'll just see if my ankle liked it. Hoping for no extra swelling...

One thing is for sure. Being able to run again lifted my spirit! :) determined to be able to hike Pike's Peak at the end of June!

Simple joys

The following are pictures of simple joys I've been blessed with over the last couple days. A refreshing snack of rice, black beans, tomato & avocado (reminds me of the Keys). FaceTime with my 2 year old stud of a nephew. A ridiculously warm & beautiful day (in May, in Wyoming). And since I had to get work done for my job, I moved my laptop out to the sunporch where the windows were open and the warm breeze was blowing in - Josh Garrels playing in the background.

time

last year, I had the privilege of spending a couple weeks in Latvia as part of a 7-week missions outreach trip to Europe (2 weeks in Estonia, about 2 weeks in Latvia, 3 weeks in Norway).  we got to stay with this amazing family in Latvia and one of their daughters, Anda, was our contact and point person.  I love this girl.  she’s a ball of fire, with so much energy and passion to share the love of Jesus with people.  I remember one conversation with her, she was telling me how she had gone thru a phase where she hardly slept because she just had so much she wanted to do that she decided there wasn’t time to sleep.  she wanted to get the very most out of her days.  eventually she realized she needed to at least get the minimal amount of sleep to fully function. :)

I totally know what Anda was talking about now.  there is so much I want to do that I get up early and stay up as late as I can (which isn’t very late…because I get up early…).  I’ve decided I need a minimum of 6 hours of sleep to function, 7 to fully function.

I’m only working part-time right now, just enough to support myself while I’m doing this internship with Continuous Worship Ministries.  I am so blessed.  I get to work for my dad’s company back home in Florida by connecting remotely on the computer.  I set my own hours.  i. am. blessed.

I have this problem though.  for some reason, I have the hardest time getting 4 hours of work in each day (my goal is a 20-hour work week…I think I met that goal once or twice since starting this working-remotely thing in January).  I don’t know where my time goes!  seriously?  20 hours a week is NOTHING.  which has led to some math problems (yes, Dad, I’m doing math…be proud). 

there are 168 hours in a week.  let’s say I sleep 7 hours a night, for a total of 49 hours a week spent sleeping.  168-49=119.  so out of 119 hours of potential productivity time, how hard can be it be to squeeze out 20 hours of work?  that would leave me with 99 hours to do everything else.

99 is a lot.  it’s the # of sheep the Shepherd would leave behind to find 1 lost sheep (see Matthew 18:12).  it’s also the beginning of an incredibly long, annoying song (99 bottles of beer on the wall, 99 bottles of beeeer…oh you’re so singing in your head now, aren’t you?! :) ). 

all this to say, I have come to the realization that I have no idea where my time goes each day.  I had this realization about my money a few months ago, and so I started a budget.  and wow – was that eye-opening.  ok so someone might spend more $ on coffee and food than they do on gas each month…I’m just sayin’…this may or may not be true.

ok, the truth is, at any given moment, I can almost guarantee that if you walked in on me, I’d be eating something and/or drinking water, vitamin water, or coffee (probably decaf).  I actually have 3 different drinks sitting here at the computer with me… ok, confession time is OVER!

wow, ok – back on topic here.  keeping a budget for the 1st time in my life has really helped me see where my $ goes and that, in turn, has helped me be a better steward of it (still growing in that area).  so why not keep a budget of my time?

so.  for the next week, I am committing to keeping track of my time.  I’m talkin’, specific.  I want to know how much time I spend working.  how much time I spend sleeping.  how much time I spend doing ministry.  how much time I spend practicing guitar.  how much time I spend staring off into space (hey, it happens).  and yes, how much time I spend eating (aka in the kitchen).

it’s going to be annoying to track everything.  but I know it’ll be eye-opening.  and maybe I’ll be able to start finding the time that I feel like gets lost every day.

 

on a different note, today I was driving thru town with my window down.  and I nearly drove into the other lane because I was thoroughly thrown off by this moaning sound I heard as I drove past the “sale barn”.  the sale barn is where they sell livestock…I think.  and the moaning, I eventually realized after the noise was gone, was the cows.  I’m sorry.  I’ve spent my entire life living either in city suburbs and on an island.  “mooing cows” is NOT something I’m used to hearing out my car window.

Dr. Daaaaaaaaan–update

I figured it’s time for an update on where I’m at with this crazy diet Dr. Dan (a naturopath doctor in Cheyenne, WY) has me on.

a recap: starting March 27, 2012 he put me on a 90-day detox from the following:

• oats
• wheat
• corn
• white refined sugar
• brown sugar
• milk (pasteurized and raw)

and he had me taking 8 multizyme supplements a day (2 at every meal and 2 before bed) and 3 diaplex supplements a day (1 with every meal).  I thought that was a lot, but apparently I was decently healthy because when I went to buy the supplements at the front desk, the girl’s mouth dropped and she exclaimed, “you’re so lucky!”  :)  just call me the big buff beast.  no really, feel free to.

:D  I crack myself up.

anyway, I feel GREAT.  the first couple weeks I felt like I spent more time standing in the kitchen staring into space than I did anywhere else in this world.  I thought for sure I was going to waste away and starve to death.  but it’s gotten a ton easier.  it’s been about 5 weeks now (or something like that) and now avoiding these things is coming naturally to me.  my energy level is higher (not like anyone really wanted that to rise, but SURPRISE!  it DID!  watch out world!) and my blood sugar levels seem to stay a lot more stable.  I still eat like…all day (true story).  but instead of it being PB & honey sandwiches on wheat bread and an assortment of granola bars, it’s more veggies, nuts, fruit, and Lara bars (oh how I love them).  I don’t really even like veggies.  but I’m eating them.  because they’re good for me.  and they’re on my “safe” list.  and they’re food.

I’ve lost 3 or 4 pounds, which I don’t really care about except that I probably should try not to lose any more than that.  :)  I have no clue how I’ve lost weight because I eat a lot of meat and potatos :)  and eggs.  what would make me really happy is if my sprained ankle would heal so I could start running again and training for hiking Pike’s Peak in June.  Cristine & I started P90X this week, which should help (although right now it’s made my ankle swell up again but that’s beside the point).

now I’m down to just 3 multizyme a day (1 at every meal) and 3 diaplex a day (1 at every meal).  BAM!  Dr. Dan told me I’d be bionic when he gets through with me.  I plan to hold him to that.  I don’t even fully know what being bionic means, but it sounds fun.

…yes, I just had a caffeinated americano.

whose feet can I wash today?

I don’t know about you, but I so easily slip into that universe where I’m the center and, since I’m the center, everything obviously is all about me.  actually you probably haven’t been to this particular universe because, well, I’m the only one there.  but maybe you have your own universe.

I am finding that the more trouble I have loving people, and the more lonely I feel, and the more unfulfilled I feel – the more I realize how selfishness has creeped back into my heart.  man, it comes in so subtly sometimes.  but before long, it’s taken over.

I found myself in this slump a couple weeks ago.  I was processing through where I was at with a friend and realized all the frustrations and hopelessness I was feeling could pretty much all be pinpointed on selfishness.

so what’s the best antidote for selfishness?  “one anothers”. 

I’m reading this book called “Real Worship” by Warren Wiersbe and there’s this section in there that talks about various places in the New Testament of the Bible where we are told to do (or not to do) things in regards to one another.  I was challenged by my friend to read through these “one anothers”, so over the past week and a 1/2 so far I’ve been taking 1 or 2 of the Scripture references each day and spending time reading the surrounding passage and contemplating what it looks like to actually live these “one anothers” out.  so this was the first one on the list…

“Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.” – Jesus (John 13:14, NIV)

You might be familiar with the setting of this verse.  Jesus has just washed the feet of His disciples, an act of true servant-hood.  Jesus was displaying what He was calling His disciples to do – and what He is calling us to do as well.

I always read this passage and just get the basic “serve one another” application out of it.  killer.  and I move on.

but Jesus is actually like, commanding us to wash one another’s feet.  ok maybe not necessarily literally wash someone’s feet (although you could and the person might be weirded out but at the same time it is a super humbling experience…and they leave with nice clean feet).  but back when this story took place, the act of washing someone’s feet was reserved as a servant’s job.  it was not something someone of any social worth would probably do.  Peter actually told Jesus there was no way He was going to wash his feet – this was the Messiah, the Savior of the world!  but Jesus washed his feet (Jesus always wins :) ).

so what does it mean for us, today?  washing someone’s feet means being willing to perform even the most menial tasks for one another.  to which you might ask, what does menial mean?  ok so I know I at least asked that when I read it last week.  I knew the jist of what it meant.  but I looked up the meaning and found these definitions:

menial: lowly & sometimes degrading; submissive; pertaining to or suitable for domestic servants; humble

washing one another’s feet is not always going to be easy or pretty or convenient.  after all, serving almost always requires an element of sacrifice. 

so I’ve started trying to start off every morning asking Jesus, “whose feet can I wash today?”  it has been a-mazing. it’s taken on so many different forms.  I don’t want this to come across as boasting about what I’ve done the last week and a 1/2.  I just want to give a few examples of what washing one another’s feet has looked like to me lately.  it’s looked like taking time to meet with people for lunch or for coffee.  like trying to help carry the load of taking 5 extra kids in for 5 days (that was insane, entertaining, chaotic, and incredibly rewarding all at the same time).  like taking a few extra minutes when I ordered my coffee at the local coffee shop to encourage the girl who was stressing out about her college final this week that if she doesn’t pass, she won’t graduate.  literally opportunities to wash other’s feet have been falling in my lap.

it’s amazing how many opportunities present themselves to serve others when we are actively seeking opportunities.  when we are actively seeking out other people.  God is so faithful.  if we ask Him who He wants us to serve, He will be faithful to show us.  that has been so evident to me these past days!  when I get the focus off myself and onto Jesus and others, my world changes dramatically.

His grace is so sweet.  He is so merciful.

whose feet can you wash today?

the most common command

what’s the most common command in the New Testament?

L-is for the way you look at meeeee, O-is for the only one I see….ok I’ll spare you the whole song.  but i…I will always…love youuuu-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh…

alright let’s stop with the love songs.  because LOVE is NOT the most common command in the New Testament.

whaaaaaaaaat???

yep.  I just found this out.  the most common command in the New Testament is “Greet one another”.  Paul says it all the time in his letters, usually at the beginning or the end.  Take Romans 16, for example.  Nearly the whole chapter is devoted to Paul giving instructions to greet this whole list of people.  greet this person, greet that person, greet this church, etc.  I don’t know about you, but I tend to skim through the long sections of “greetings”. 

but, if it’s the most common command in the New Testament…I wonder if it’s something we ought to take a little more seriously?

I was challenged with this recently.

what would it look like to “greet one another” in my every day life?  I think it takes on a lot of different shapes. I think it’s making conversation with the cashier as you check out at the store.  I think it’s stopping to have at least a 2 minute conversation with someone at church instead of  smiling, saying “hi!”, and walking on.  I think it's putting my phone away while I’m out and about and instead of staring at my phone’s screen, making the effort to make eye contact with people, smiling, saying “hi!” as I pass by or acknowledging the people I’m standing in line next to at the check-out.

I think that by acknowledging others, we in a sense affirm their worth.  we attribute value to them.  they are worth our attention.  they are worth our time.  but it’s more than that.  just because I value someone or give them worth doesn’t mean squat.  I’m like…nobody.  but Jesus thinks they are worth it.  He thought they were worth dying on the cross for.  He valued them enough to be willing to be the ultimate sacrifice for their sins.

who knows how a greeting could completely change someone’s day?  what if someone’s at the end of their rope, but because you acknowledged them and attributed worth to them, they found enough encouragement to make it through another day?  what if that’s the way Jesus wants to reach out to them that day?

I mean, after all – it’s the most common command in the New Testament.  it was commanded for a reason.