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Springtime reflections

I went on a 5 mile walk today with my friend. It was awesome! 

Springtime pushes me out of the house and into the sunshine. Plus, it’s time for me to get back into an exercise routine…it’s been too long. 

I looked around as we walked the trail and saw some interesting things:

1. Beautiful trees growing in all sorts of directions. 

2. A butterfly bush and several butterflies. (I even tried to catch one but it didn’t happen.)

3. A man playing bongos on a park bench. 

4. The fact that this beautiful walking trail ran parallel to the road and highway entrance. It just struck me as odd for some reason. 

The weather is beautiful and the sunshine’s appearance makes this Easter weekend perfect. 

Today I can’t help but think of the disciples and how they were so sad because Jesus was gone–or so they thought! 

It’s easy for us to pick on them for their unbelief, but that’s unfair. 

How many times do we fail?

And, we have the whole Bible and the disciples did not. 

They remembered after the fact all that Jesus had told them about His death, burial, and resurrection. 

I’ve forgotten stuff the Lord has told me and the Holy Spirit has to remind me. 

All of these thoughts have me excited about Sunday…

Even when I mess up and forget, Jesus never does. He always does what He says. 

Nothing has changed from that first Easter weekend to now because Jesus is the most stable, most steady guy I know. 

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Redemption Stories

unityThere is great power in our personal stories (Christians call this their testimony, but story fits just as well here).

I heard several after Mr. Kirk Dubois finished up announcements on Thursday. He invited students up to share how they ended up at Rhema.

Looking at my fellow classmates now, you would never know about their pasts. Coming to Christ radically changed their lives–and the lives of many of their family members as well. 

Today is Good Friday. At 3 PM, Jesus died on the cross. He was falsely accused, mocked, and ridiculed. The events of His Crucifixion were foretold in the Old Testament and by Jesus Himself.

Isaiah 53 says:

He was looked down on and passed over,
    a man who suffered, who knew pain firsthand.
One look at him and people turned away.
    We looked down on him, thought he was scum.
But the fact is, it was our pains he carried—
    our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us.
We thought he brought it on himself,
    that God was punishing him for his own failures.
But it was our sins that did that to him,
    that ripped and tore and crushed him—our sins!
He took the punishment, and that made us whole.
    Through his bruises we get healed (MSG).

What gets me in this passage is Jesus was “a man who suffered, who knew pain firsthand”. The King James calls Jesus a Man of Sorrows. 

Many people claim that no one understands their pain, their suffering.

First off, that’s simply not true. There are others (probably more than you realize) who can identify with you. 

Secondly, Jesus knows your pain.

Blow by blow Jesus was beaten and all of His blood was shed.

Our sins are the reason Jesus willingly laid down His life. 

As you observe Good Friday, maybe even for the first time, meditate on these truths.

Our stories were redeemed because of Jesus’ sacrifice.

 

 

 

 

 

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Confessions of a Book Matchmaker

  I am so glad that I kept a book list last year! 

A friend of mine needed some recommendations for her younger sister’s school project. 

I pulled out my phone, opened my Evernote app, and BAM!

All the information I needed was at my fingertips. 

It’s also been a great way to remember what I’ve read because recalling titles gets harder and harder the more I read. 

And, if you’re a goal oriented person like myself, lists are a wonderful method of tracking progress. 

My reading goal for 2016 is 50 books. 

I’m already at 19! (School reading is helping my numbers.)

Yes, I geek out over reading…

But today my geekiness proved useful, which was a neat thing to see. 

I love to play book matchmaker!

My book list is simply another tool to aid me in my quest to connect people with the right book. 

If you’re a reader like me, I encourage you to keep a list. 

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Getting past minor snafus 

I had a messy moment at work today. 

My attitude needed adjusting and perfectionism tried to pick a fight with me–and at the same time, too!

I am a Christian, which means I don’t have to be controlled by feelings, but I’m also human. 

Choosing to not react to my feelings and frustrations is tough. 

The situation I faced was not a big deal at all. Some poorly written instructions collided with my first time using a computer program. 

Despite the challenges, Step 1 of my project was completed. 

The minor snafus of life are true tests of our ability to respond instead of react. 

I didn’t fail the test, but I didn’t make an “A” either. 

It’s easy for me to become cynical about whatever I perceive to be the problem. 

Not everything, though, has to be a tragedy. 

Life happens. 

Most of the things that irritate me are small in scale. I just have to get over myself. 

It’s not the end of the world to make mistakes, to mess up, to drop the ball. 

What’s important is to learn from your mistakes and move forward. 

Did you hear me?

Move forward!

Quit your pouting.  

And if you can’t tell already, this post is more of a note to myself. 

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Invest in the right thing

As much as I love reading–I would read all day everyday if I could–I love people more. 

People are always more important. 

We’re surrounded by technology and a million other distractions that can keep us from investing in the lives of our friends and family. 

Only 2 things on earth are eternal: 

  1. God’s Word
  2. The spirits of men and women. 

Everything else will be burnt to a crisp once the final judgment comes to the earth. 

The Great Comission is about preaching the gospel and making disciples. 

Jesus told us the greatest command is to love God. Then He said the 2nd commandment is equal to the first: love people. 

God is a people person–He just wants us all to know Him. 

He loves us so much that He sent His most precious gift, Jesus, to earth to live and die for our sins. 

A gospel message that lacks love is not representing the true gospel at all. 

One of my teachers said something recently that I’m still chewing on:

In our preaching, is Jesus attractive enough that people want to accept Him without the threat of hell?

Please don’t stop reading. I’m not a heretic. 

Hell is a real place like Heaven–and it’s not a fun place either. Eternal punishment and separation from God is the worst fate ever. 

But I wonder what would happen if Christians shared with lost people about a God who loves them first instead of throwing it in after speaking of the eternal doom of not choosing Jesus. 

Why not start with love?

Share the story of God’s love and model it in your own life. 

I’m not interested in debating on  methods of evangelism. I just want to point out that Christianity at it’s core, is all about the love of God and the love of Christ. 

Love multiples, which is why Jesus told us to share and teach the truth. 

The importance of discipleship was emphasized and modeled to us by Jesus and the early church leaders. 

People are important and investing in relationships is the best use of your time. 

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The Road Home

 

 

the road homeI’m still not sure why Christian Fiction authors love the Amish so much, but I’m hooked now…

The bad news about there being so many novels about the Amish is that many of them are cookie cutters.

Which leads to my confession:

I am reading The Road Home by Tommy Tenney and Mark Andrew Olsen for the 4th time in 2 years.

Technically, I’ve listened to the audio book 3 times and currently I’m reading the print version. (The whole debate on audio books vs. printed books is a touchy subject among readers.) 


The Road Home is one of the best Christian fiction books I have ever read. There’s depth and character development and no cheesiness.

Another plus is that the novel is a modern retelling of the Book of Ruth. 

I don’t want to give anything away, but here’s the blurb:

For Naomi Kauffman Yoder, memories of a Pennsylvania Dutch childhood, abandoned roots, lost connections, and shattered dreams have left her with nothing but loneliness and regret. Now wracked with grief, she comes to a momentous decision…

For Ruth Escalante Yoder, daughter-in-law and friend to Naomi, she concludes that leaving Las Vegas is the only option left to her…

So begins their odyssey–a cross-country quest in Naomi’s creaky old Impala as she returns to her family farm in Lancaster County, to the values of a life once spurned.

Although never having seen the East before, Ruth too is looking for a place to call home. Will she find it among the slow, quiet rhythms of Pennsylvania farm country?

Doesn’t this story sound cool?!?

Let me know if you read the book. And, if you have any theories on why Christian authors love the Amish, I’d love to hear those too!

 

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Time for Action

Isn’t it amazing how the things we get all worked up over are so small on the importance scale?

I ran into a few technical problems this morning with the PowerPoint for the conference at work. 

Guess what?

We all had a great time worshipping the Lord even though things weren’t running smoothly as planned. 

Majoring on minor details is the fastest way to lose sight of what’s important. 

I’m not saying to do sloppy work, but you can’t freak out when things aren’t “perfect”. 

Perfection will cripple you any chance it can. 

You’ll wait forever to do something under the premise of the “perfect moment” when the best time to do it–whatever “it” is–is now. 

The book of James tells us to be doers of the word and not hearers only. 

What are we waiting for?

Christians are told over and over not to sit around dreaming about what will one day happen. 

Maybe the reason God hasn’t done this or that (preachers have a new list every week) is because He’s just waiting on us to do something. 

It’s not like we don’t know what to do. God wrote it down for us. 

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Trust is key 

I entered a busy season today. There’s a lot going on at school and work. 

It’s all good stuff, but it could easily become overwhelming if I let it. 

And we all know that stress and worry has never helped anyone. 

I’m doing my best to combat any anxious thoughts immediately by praying about them instead of fretting over them. 

It really works! 

In fact, I am more at peace now than I ever was in the past when facing similar situations. 

My trust in God has increased exponentially and I’m learning to bring it all to Him first–not as a last resort. 

One of the biggest lessons I’m learning at Rhema is that knowing something and doing something are very different. 

Yes, I have known for a long time that trusting God is key to a peaceful and fruitful life.

 I have many stories about how trusting God has pulled me out of many seemingly impossible situations. 

But living in Tulsa has only increased my opportunities to trust God more fully. 

Like Dean Tad says, “If you can move to Tulsa by faith, you can follow God anywhere by faith.”

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Walk to Beautiful

I did something last night that I haven’t done in a long, long time: I stayed up until 2 AM reading a book. 

Good stories, especially true stories, intrigue me more than anything.

Walk to Beautiful by Jimmy Wayne is a captivating story of one man’s troubling childhood and how he became successful despite the trials. 

walk to beautiful

There was no way I could put the book down.

No matter how many chapters I said were the last.

No matter how many times I told myself, “30 more minutes, Audra.”

How could I stop now? The story was holding me captive! 

Jimmy lived in a world raging with violence and with no sense of normalcy, but he still had hope.

This one fact is amazing to me.

 

We are all hardwired to hope, which is why I think the saddest thing to see is hopelessness prevail. A sense of utter hopelessness is the #1 reason people commit suicide.

What I love about Jimmy’s story is how he wrestled hopelessness to the ground, tied it up, and ended it’s life–not his own.

Inspiration is awesome, no doubt, but inspiration that leads to change? Yes! Sign me up!

The biggest obstacle Jimmy faced as a boy was loneliness because people saw him as another juvenile delinquent when he was just an innocent kid. He only knew darkness; he’d only seen glimpses of light.

Many children in foster care face the same challenge. They want to do better, but no one’s ever modeled what that was for them. Or, in the worst of cases, they’ve succumbed to hopelessness.

All it takes, though, is one person reaching out to help. 

And that’s all I could think about last night as I turned page after page….

 

 

 

 

 

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Good dirt is important

I got to play in the dirt today! 

My fun spring break activity was visiting my friend Nina and helping her get some gardening projects done. 

We re-potted some thyme and spinach, moved a cold frame, and planted potatoes, onions, and garlic. 

Digging around in the dirt is my favorite part of gardening. I enjoyed the dirt stains on my jeans (and having muddy hands). 

My obsession with dirt is a bit odd to some, but it’s such a reminder to me of our lives. 

Most of the time, any problem with your plants can be traced back to the soil. 

Good dirt makes all the difference. 

Nina and I had a lot of fun chatting as we worked. It’s cool to see how the Master Gardener, God the Father, is working in and through our lives as we follow Him each day. 
Covered in dirt, surrounded by kids–real kids and goat kids–the afternoon was filled with good conversation and gorgeous sunshine. 

I couldn’t have asked for a better day.

 This is the first spring break I’ve had in many years and it’s been awesome.