Setting us apart

I think I may have talked about this before. Setting ourselves apart.
I've thought about this a lot lately, ever since we have made this decision to follow the path that the Lord has revealed.

Our friend, Mike, said something at our life group last night that really stood out to me. Something to the effect of, "Followers of Christ should be placing themselves somewhere in between the world and the church- sparking the interest of the world and making them wonder while at the same time, challenging and pushing the members of the Body of Christ by simply living how God has asked us to live." That was an expanded version, but the same idea. :)

I have read Shane Claiborne's, "Jesus for President". It was very good, very thought provoking, with a little push to make you feel uncomfortable at moments. He discusses a lot on the idea that God used the laws to set apart His people in the Old Testament. The laws were not set to make sure they were doing the right thing, but to set them apart from the rest of the world. Isn't that a refreshing way to look at it? I hadn't really thought of it that way- honestly, that was a new concept to me. One of those light bulb moments.

And so it has led me to ponder and sit and stare off in space quite a bit, just thinking about what we are supposed to be doing here, now that Jesus came and left us with His Spirit.

This is what I have come to understand. His Spirit is what now sets us apart from the rest of the world. His Spirit lives in everyone who acknowledges and believes in God's Son, Jesus Christ. It's not about laws anymore- the only Law is to love God and love our neighbor. It is not a complicated system of rights and wrongs, of do's and don'ts. The thing that seems complicated is His Spirit. We don't really understand it, can't explain it, can't really justify it, but we CAN ignore it. Even if we believe in Jesus, this is the part we all have a hard time with. Hearing His voice and acting on it.

With my own experience with hearing the Spirit's voice it has been one of those trial and error kind of things. I've had to do some things that have been really awkward and weird at times. But it has made me place my trust in His grace and mercy that will cover me even if I hear Him wrong. This is the kicker. We never want to make a mistake and look like an idiot.

Kind of like the time I felt like we were supposed to give our bed to this family (who doesn't speak English) who lives in our neighborhood. I learned how to say, "Do you need a bed?", in Spanish and stopped by and asked, hoping that I was saying the right thing, the right way, etc. And they just stared at me like I was a complete freak of nature, so I said, "ok, thanks!", I ran away, got in the car and drove back to my safe little home. I felt like a complete loser, but I had a pretty good story to tell my hubby when he got home. We laughed pretty hard and now I have a funny story. And doing that actually made me a little more brave. I was not scarred for life or ridiculed by the world for offering my bed to a random stranger. I actually felt proud of myself and felt the Lord give me a little pat on the butt, as if to say, "Nice job, I'm proud of you, now let's keep trying!"

So as we "practice" acting out what we are hearing from that still small voice, we need to be brave. He gives us LOTS of practice! I hear Him telling me to do things all the time, sometimes I do them, sometimes I don't. He is not mad at me if I don't, but He is proud of me when I do.

This is how we separate ourselves, as children of God. We listen to His Spirit and act on it.

We MUST give ourselves grace. We MUST be able to laugh at ourselves. We MUST practice doing the little things so He can use us for the big things. And actually, they are all big things to Him.

It doesn't always have to be weird or random. But I think sometimes those ones stretch us and get us ready for the bigger things. Setting our pride aside to do what He is asking is how we confuse and exasperate the enemy. It stretches our faith and gives us purpose.

So, just try it! Be crazy!

The Character of God

(Note: This is a long one, so don't start unless you've got a few minutes :)

This has been a very difficult past couple of weeks for me. I have emotionally, mentally, and physically felt the attack of the enemy. Thoughts of doubt and confusion have consistently crept into my thoughts - I have been afraid to voice this to my friends, and at times to my own wife because of fear that it will confirm the doubts and confusion. This has created a since of despair and at times discouragement. At times I have even questioned the character of God.

I hesitate even now to write this knowing that many may question me or our ministry, but one of the decisions I made when I started blogging was to be transparent - we aren't as effective as we can be if we aren't transparent with one another as believers. I have had a lot of questions - the lack of answers has created the discouragement (completely un-Biblical by the way).

All of them are questions for God:

1. Why have you not moved on our house? Why is it not sold?

2. Why have you not found someone for our dog?

3. Why did we have to borrow money for the RV? (my Dad partially answered this the other day - thanks Dad)

4. Why is this all so hard?

All of these questions, without any definite answers, equals anger with God (especially when we have a shaky foundation of what the true character of God is). Ultimately I have asked "you know our hearts, we desperately want to follow you, why aren't you answering these questions? Why aren't you paving the way?"

The evil one had me right where he wanted me - discouraged, ineffective. Then I picked up a book that I read a year ago or so - The Barbarian Way by Erwin McManus (If you plan to read it, just stop here . . . . . I plan to paraphrase so much that it might ruin it for you).

My understanding of the character of God had been civilized. We have this incorrect understanding of Christianity that tells us that when we accept Jesus our life becomes easier. Things start to fall together, God begins to move and you see it reflected in the easiness of life (and I'm not just talking about the prosperity doctrine, even though that is a major misconception of the character of God).

McManus uses the example of John the Baptist (my favorite person in the Bible - except Jesus of course!). While in prison, John sends his disciples to ask Jesus if he was "the one." The question is then raised, why would John the Baptist question the deity of Jesus at this time? When they met each other for the first time, in their mother's wombs, John leapt for joy. When John saw Jesus coming to be baptized by him, at first he refused, saying (my paraphrase) "why would I baptize you, you are the chosen one, you are God." Then, after baptizing him, John saw the Spirit of the Lord descend on him like lightening. I'm pretty sure this was all confirming to him. Why then would John question that Jesus was "the one"? Well, first off, he was in prison and preparing to get his head chopped off and served on a platter to Herod, so anyone's confidence would be slightly shaken. John must have been sitting in prison waiting for the jail doors to swing open, or for another dimension to open up a hole in the side of the prison walls to allow him to just walk out. He must have been thinking "OK Jesus, if you are "the one" now is the time to show up, now is the time to work."

Jesus answers John's question by telling his disciples, "Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me." (Matthew 11:4-6) Basically, Jesus was telling John "look, you know who I am, but I'm not coming through for you, I'm not busting you out of prison."

This shakes the common understanding of the character of God. Is Jesus telling us "look I'm not coming through for you, this journey is going to be tough, you may not get enough support, you may break down, you may even be in danger, but I'm still who I am, and I'm still with you." Most people, including myself to a certain extent, would say that if the house doesn't sell, and the road is tough, that God is telling us not to go. This is not the character of God.

Many disciples have chosen this path, many have walked it with great "success." Hebrews 11 is the Hall of Fame of faith. The life these individuals chose is what McManus calls "the Barbarian Way." The passage cites people such as Abel, Enoch, Abraham and Sarah. Jacob, Moses, and Joseph, eventually the author says that he doesn't have enough time to write about them all.

This is where it gets interesting.

"Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect." (Hebrews 11:35-40)

The author doesn't even name these men and women - probably too many to count. God is not telling us to stop pressing in, to stop driving forward if we meet resistance, believing the lie that if it is tough God must be telling us no. The character of God tells us to listen to His voice, hear your calling and then wildly chase after that call - that, is the barbarian way.

Please keep praying for me - as many of you know, my writing is me processing - nothing I ever write has been completely processed, I need the Lord to continue to show me His character, continue to show me that He loves me, and continue to prove to me that we are in His will.

Map of our journey

Boise, ID - June 16th - June 28th
Spokane, WA - June 29th - July 9th
Kelowna, BC - July 10th - July 13th
Calgary, AB - July 13th - July 23rd
Break - Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks
Denver, CO - August 3rd - August 18th
Kansas City, MO - August 19th - September 3rd

Single click on the links below to see the estimated time spent in each city, as well as different organizations and churches we plan to connect with.


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girls weekend

This weekend was good. Sometimes the grown up, boring part of me takes over the foot-loose and fancy free part of me. I just need to give myself a noogie on the head sometimes.
Ally and I had a special girls weekend just her and I. Andy took Avery and the new rig over to the beach with some buddies and Eva spent the weekend with Nana and Papa (my parents).

So I made the weekend free and took Ally out on the town, doing her favorite things:

We painted. (at one of those paint-your-own-pottery places)
We ate donuts. (at the Lake Oswego farmers market)
We pet almost every doggie we saw. (had the "we don't pet dogs unless we ask the owners first" talk)
We got some bento for lunch.
Ate our bento at the park.
She showed me all of her fancy tricks on the play structure.
We ventured over to Tim and Jenn's. (they are officially out of their house and in Tim's parents!)
Ally swam. (with her best friend Abbey at their fabulous neighborhood pool!)
Ate ice cream sandwiches with best friend Abbey.
Went home and Ally crashed out in the car.
5:30pm rolls around and Ally is still asleep, so I jostle, tickle, swing her around for a good half hour to rouse her from slumber.
We eat mac and cheese.
Ally bounced on our neighbor's big bouncy party thing. (they just happened to be having a party that night and I joined for a little bit just so Ally could bounce :)
Ally takes a good splashy bath.
We snuggle up on the couch to watch Lady and the Tramp. (classic!)
We drag ourselves to mommy and daddy's bed to have a slumber party.
Both of us are out for the count by 9:30pm!
Whew!
Today was a little slower but filled with good stuff too!
Tea party after church.
Made a big honkin' fort.
Played "save the puppy" and kicked some bad guys butts for a while.
Colored. (in our fort)
Watched Dumbo.
And then Eva Diva came back home!

Ally wasn't quite ready to share mommy again but reality does have it's quirks- I think she realized she missed her little sis.
I was so glad to have a chance to fill up my Ally-gator's love bucket a little. She was needing it. I was needing it too. Over the weekend she said to me, "This is so great mommy- just you and me." I love that. I think my love-bucket was filled too.
Note: This post is not a bit on what a great mommy I am. I, unfortunately have not been happy, happy, fun-time mommy lately. And I just needed to get this down for memory's and grandparents sake.
Of course I forgot to bring the camera when we were out on the town yesterday but I got a few pics of today.

Ally crossing her eyes. She does this at random moments- often when I'm trying to tell her something serious.

Drum roll please......

Here it is folks!! We have officially become motor home owners! Praise the Lord! He has answered our prayers and blessed us with this beautiful beast!
For those of you wanting to know details it is a 1993 Holiday Rambler Imperial. Priced at a whopping $23,000! Diesel pusher. Ninety-some thousand miles on it with a Cummins engine (I guess this is the best kind). And it purrs like a kitten. :) Thank you Kent! (He was the previous owner.) By the way, this is not the one we were looking at in Denver- that one turned out to be a lemon, needed new transmission and new engine basically. Thank you Lord for protecting us!
Other than that I don't really know much about it- you can ask the Andy-man about it. All I know is that it is bigger than the last one we were looking at, it has nice front seats that are comfy and squishy, and it's very clean! There some things we will need to change around to make it livable for a family of 5 but for the most part it is ready to go. The only thing that needs to happen is to convert it to vegetable oil. The prices on fuel these days could be quite a blow at almost $175 per fill up. Free sounds much nicer. We are looking into a couple places here in Oregon that convert- looks like it could be anywhere from 3-5000 big ones. In the end, we will be saving money and also doing our part for God's creation.
Hmm...I'm not used to doing very informative blog entries, but this one is turning out to be. Just thought all of you out there would want to know some of the details going into this big rig.
Honestly, its a little weird now that things are really rolling. I sat down in the "living room" and thought, 'This is going to be our home. Wow.'
It looks like we have a pretty good lead on a family coming out to meet our dog to potentially adopt him. We're meeting them tomorrow evening!
And we're waiting to hear from the guy who has been going back and forth with us on leasing-to-own our home.
God's timing. Still singing the snail song.
God, you are so good to give us everything that we need and even more!