Cold Spells

After a particularly cold (by Alabama standards) winter that included some pretty substantial snowfall, I'm enjoying the beautiful spring weather that's come our way. We've already had some days in the mid to upper 80s, which seems to indicate that it will be a long, hot summer (not unusual by Alabama standards). But the past few days the daytime temp has hovered in the 70s and I've enjoyed some beautiful outdoor time, as my spring allergies will attest.

Every time the seasons start to change I'm reminded of how we go through varying seasons of life. It's reassuring to be reminded that no season lasts forever, no matter how long it seems.

This morning was chillier than usual, not quite wintry but not quite a balmy spring. That made me think about how in our own seasons of life, when we're transitioning from one season of life to the next, we may have days here and there where it feels like we're backtracking into the previous season. In those times I feel like I'm taking one step forward and two steps back, and I get frustrated. I start to think that something's wrong with me that I can't just change and make progress without stepping back. I realize that's the work of the Enemy to convince me that I'm responsible for my own change and progress.

The reality is that it's God's Spirit at work in me who changes me, and those days where I feel like I'm regressing instead of progressing are there by His design. Just as He doesn't automatically switch from winter to spring overnight without a cold spell or two in the transition, He allows me to have those days where I may take a step or two back. I don't really know why God allows that to happen--I just have to trust that there IS a purpose in it.

So as I move from one season to the next, I'm trying to focus on the ways I've moved forward and not be discouraged on those days where I feel like I'm not making as much progress as I'd like. I'm also trying to remember that He won't leave me in one season of life forever; He is continually molding and shaping my life. Even though I may not be able to see or sense what He's doing, He's continuing to work on me.

Stormy Weather

Last weekend was jam-packed, and as of yesterday morning, this weekend was also shaping up to be another packed one, between a visit from my sister and her family on Saturday and an all-day missions team retreat on Sunday. With a forecast for strong thunderstorms (and possible tornadoes), yesterday my sister decided to keep the family at home in Georgia. While I would have enjoyed seeing my family today, I'm also grateful for this unexpected free day.

It looks like it will be stormy pretty much all day today. I was awakened around 3 this morning with some loud thunder, and although it's fairly calm here at the moment, I can hear faint rumbles of thunder and know that more severe weather is heading our way. It's a great day to stay at home, catch up on cleaning and laundry, and perhaps do some reading and just relaxing.

Sometimes stormy weather is good. It can cause us to slow down and rest. It can provide a chance to catch up on some things that have been neglected or pushed to the side for a while. That's true not only with thunderstorms, but with other storms that God allows into our lives. They may not be fun to go through, but everything--storms included--that God allows into our lives serve some purpose and are ultimately for our good.

I'm thankful that this stormy weather is reminding me that storms aren't necessarily bad for us--in fact, they can provide some unexpected benefits and opportunities that we might not get when things are bright and sunny.

Book Review: The Sacred Journey

My latest book review for Booksneeze (aka Thomas Nelson) is The Sacred Journey by Charles Foster. It's one in a series of books called the Ancient Practices, and perhaps the least known and least practiced of the seven ancient practices, at least by my account.

The book focuses on the concept of pilgrimage, traveling to sacred places in an effort to connect more fully with God. I have to admit that I approached this book with a bit of trepidation. Pilgrimage is not something I was ever really taught about; I most often associated it with people from other religions traveling halfway around the world to visit some shrine or landmark considered sacred in their religion. Having been taught about the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (God IN us), the notion of needing to go to a particular place in order to feel God's presence seemed to me like a bit of a waste of time and shoe leather.

That said, while I do not believe that one must go to a particular place (such as Jerusalem or Bethlehem or Rome) in order to experience God's presence, there are certain places in which I do feel more connected with God. That's one of the points that Foster makes--as he says, "...there is a sense in which everything is sacred--the veil between the sacred and secular has been ripped down. But that doesn't mean that sanctity doesn't bubble up particularly vigorously in certain places."

Foster shares his own stories of journeys he's made to various sacred places and the people and experiences he's encountered during them. And the arrival, he points out, is less important than the actual journey and the lessons learned along the way.

He also states that traveling is fundamental to human beings, that we all have an inherent desire for change and for moving. He points out that Christ Himself was a nomad, one who wandered throughout His ministry with no permanent residence. Foster discusses the fact that pilgrimage requires great faith and is often painful, physically as well as emotionally and spiritually. But the road is often the place where God brings insight and revelation in a way that would not happen at home.

Pilgrimage is not limited to a physical journey, however; it is about getting beyond your comfort zone and pursuing God with your heart, not just your feet. Even those who are homebound due to physical limitations or responsibilities can experience pilgrimage.

This book was an enlightening glimpse into a practice that I didn't know much about, and provided much food for thought. I have a feeling that this is one of those books that I'll read again.

Relationship Advice from Madea

This weekend some friends and I are going to Atlanta to see Tyler Perry's stage production of "Madea's Big Happy Family". I was introduced to the Madea movies a few months ago, and I love the mix of hilarity with a good message.

I came across this clip from the stage version of "Madea Goes to Jail". While I'm not usually one to take advice from fictional characters, Madea does make some pretty profound (and funny) points regarding relationships. If you don't want to watch the entire clip, skip ahead to around the five minute mark, when she turns a bit serious and begins discussing the differences between seasonal people and lifetime people.

Prayerwalking

One of the main purposes of my upcoming mission trip to the near east will be prayerwalking. Prayerwalking, as the name suggests, involves spending time in prayer as we walk around the region in which we'll be staying. As we walk through neighborhoods and marketplaces and parks we'll be in prayer for the people that we encounter, both believers and unbelievers alike, and for their communities to come to know Jesus as their Savior.

Wanting to get in some practice of prayerwalking before the trip, one of my best friends (who is also going on the mission trip) and I met last night at our church building to prayerwalk around it. We spent over an hour walking around the perimeter of the building. We stood in the guest parking spaces in the parking lot and prayed that our guests would feel welcomed. We sat on the steps outside the church office and prayed for our church staff and their spouses and families. We prayed for the children's ministry, the youth ministry and the college ministry.

Our missions ministry has a couple of large storage buildings to house supplies, and we decided to walk around those buildings seven times. Just as the Israelites marched around Jericho before its walls crumbled, we prayed and walked around the mission barns seven times, asking God to break down the strongholds in the countries in which our mission teams work and to destroy the barriers that keep people from knowing God.

One of the hardest, and yet cathartic, moments from last night was when we stopped to pray outside of our gym, aka the Life Center. The Life Center is where our casual worship service takes place each Sunday, and my friend and I have been attending that service for several months now. We both admit, however, that it has been difficult to fully worship in that service because of broken relationships that we've experienced and that continue to grieve us. The people from whom we're estranged also attend that particular service, so being in the same room with them and trying to worship without being distracted by pain has been very, very hard.

On top of that, we both have struggled with a feeling of not belonging at that church anymore. We feel like we've lost the sense of community that we once had. Church has become a very difficult and lonely place for me. And so we both felt the need last night to spend time pouring out our hearts about the pain that we feel during worship and our desire to worship God fully in spite of the brokenness. Neither of us want anyone or anything to get in the way of being able to be fully engaged in worship.

Although our prayerwalking was intended to be a blessing to our church (and I believe that it was), I know that it also blessed both of us last night. I think we will try to do another round of prayerwalking at the church at least once before we leave on our trip, and we've talked about prayerwalking at other places around the city as well. I eagerly look forward to seeing how God moves in response to our prayers, both here and overseas.

On Leaving

"There is nothing cowardly about leaving something where there is nothing, to go somewhere where there is something. Someone who leaves a burning town, after he's done his best to save others from it, is simply prudent. By all means come back later to help in the reconstruction, if that's an option, but if the town ought to be abandoned, the coward is the one who sits weeping in the smoldering remains, unable to leave the memories of a vanished life."

--The Sacred Journey by Charles Foster (pg. 93)

The Rest of Me

Today is Easter Sunday. All across the world, people are dressing in their Sunday best and packing the aisles of churches. Our church had three services today, including a sunrise service. And I was not at any of them.

Last week I came down with a particularly nasty upper respiratory infection, and, aside from a few household chores, I've spent the weekend resting. This morning I woke up coughing my head off along with a bit of a sinus headache, and I decided to stay home from church and get some more rest (not to mention spare my fellow church-goers from my germs).

Although I did miss being with my friends at church, I think that this time alone was truly what I needed today. For several months now I've been going pretty much non-stop. Work has kept me especially busy, but I've also had several activities outside of work that have kept me running. Not only was my body at a point of burnout, but my mind and spiritual life as well.

Lately at church I've felt like I've been going through the motions. While I may have been there in body, I spent many services with my mind elsewhere, usually thinking about things I needed to do at home or at work. By all outward appearances I was engaged in the worship, but that was an illusion.

So today I spent some long overdue quiet time with God. Not the rushed five to ten minutes that I've been spending lately with Him, but some really meaningful time of Scripture, reflection and prayer. I prayed especially about this sense of apathy that I've felt with church lately and of my desire to be fully engaged there. I don't want to keep going through the motions. I don't want to see church as something to check off my to-do list for the week. I want more than just my physical presence there--I want my emotional and spiritual presence.

Perhaps it's fitting that I make this re-commitment to worship on Easter Sunday. Because Christ rose from the grave, there is hope for change. There is belief that the impossible can be possible. And, most importantly, there is the promise of new life, both on Earth and in Heaven.

As much as I hate being sick, I'm thankful for this downtime to get some rest for my body and for my mind and soul. This is a time of renewal and--dare I say it--resurrection for some parts of me that have slumbered too long. I feel that God is preparing me for some great changes ahead, and I'm excited to see what direction He's taking me.