"savor the now"

I opened up a Dove wrapper once that read "Savor the now." I like that. I'm a couple hours away from my twenty-second annual new year. Like the rest of the world, I'm not all that great at sticking to "New Year's Resolutions." In fact, by the third week in January I don't even know what I resolved to do! Eh, who needs resolutions anyway?

But on the other hand, there is something refreshing about new beginnings. It's kind of nice to put another year in the past and welcome in a new one. It's also kind of neat to reflect on what's happened in a year's time. Actually, come to think of it, I can't think of a lot that's happened in the last year. (That could make for a boring post...) The year to come will be interesting, though. I graduate college in May. My youngest brother graduates high school while I will be half way around the world in South Africa. My parents turn 60 (I think...) and they'll celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary this year (which makes out to be a lot of new years).

The rest is yet to be... I don't really know what's ahead, and I think I'm ok with that. James 4:13-17 says "Now listen, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.' Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, 'If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that.' ... Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins." Life is short. No body knows how many New Years they'll celebrate. There's only now! Many yesterdays have become treasured memories, many others have become painful reminders; but that was yesterday. There's only now. This year will bring 365 tomorrows, "if the Lord wills." I'm trusting Him to fill those days as He sees fit.

So, this year, I choose to savor the NOW. I choose to redeem the time. I choose to do the good I know I ought to do. This year my only resolution is to make the most of the year and all the moments that fill it so that I don't come to this point next year with regrets.

Happy New Year (insert your name here)!

more like doodle

I love my little doodle! (That's what I affectionately call my nephew.) He's all of three years old (and he will tell you, too), but he's managed to weasel his way into my heart FOREVER. I'm not complaining, though- I love the kid to death! If you've known me for any time at all, you've probably heard me talk about my little man with all kinds of glowing terms (all true, I should add).

For instance, he has finally arrived at the age that he can actually give a good hug- makes me melt everytime. He talks in complete and proper sentences. It cracks me up. If you ask him a question like "Would you like some milk?" he'll respond very matter of factly, "Yes I would. Yes I would like some milk." He's also one of the smartest little kids I know. The kid has beat every member of my family at Memory countless times- when we're TRYING! He is starting to read and recognize words... which consequently means we can't play the I-can't-say-it-so-I'll-spell-it game anymore. He's so eager to learn anything and everything.

More than all of these things though, I love his tender little heart. One of my favorite things to do is pick up Hunter from 2s & 3s at church. I love to see his face light up as he tells me everything he learned in Sunday School. He holds up his scribbled works of art and brags about how he colored them all by himself! It's funny how we prize a child's art work and praise it like it's the Sisteen Chapel ceiling. I'm his biggest enthusiast, though! :) But like I started to say, the little guy is such a tender chap. He's got this funny facination with Bibles- especially the pocket-sized editions. He sits down in a chair and leafs through the pages over and over again and mumbles to himself like he's reading. Or he'll beg anybody and everybody to read to him; he says "Will you read this to me?" To be fair, I'm sure he probably doesn't really understand what he holds or how it's different from Seuss's Hop on Pop... but it's still precious. It challenges me, though.... I want to have a stronger affection for that Little Black Book. I want to be more excited to tell people what I'm learning. I want to be more like my little doodle!

Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these." - Matthew 19:14

being found in appearance as a man

Excerpt from Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller:

There once was a man performing a covert operation, freeing hostages from a building in some dark part of the world. A team flew in by helicopter and made their way to the compound and stormed into the room where the hostages had been imprisoned for months. The room was filthy and dark. The hostages were curled up in a corner, terrified. When the SEALs entered the room, they heard the gasps of the hostages. They stood at the door and called to the prisoners, telling them that they were Americans. The SEALs asked the hostages to follow them, but the hostages wouldn't. They sat there on the floor and hid their eyes in fear. They were not of healthy mind and didn't believe their rescuers were really Americans.

The SEALs stood there, not knowing what to do. They couldn't possibly carry everybody out. One of the SEALs got an idea. He put down his weapon, took off his helmet, and curled up tightly next to the other hostages, getting so close his body was touching some of theirs. He softened the look on his face and put his arms around them. He was trying to show them he was one of them. None of the prison guards would have done this. He stayed there for a little while until some of the hostages started to look at him, finally meeting his eyes. The Navy SEAL whispered that they were Americans and were there to rescue them. "Will you follow us?" he said. The hero stood to his feet and one of the hostages did the same, then another, until all of them were willing to go. The story ends with all the hostages on an American aircraft carrier.

One of the colorful terms I've learned in Bible college is "kenosis." It's a Greek word used in Philippians 2:7 which means "to empty." Philippians 2:6-8 says "Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to His own advantage; rather, HE MADE HIMSELF NOTHING by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled himself by becoming obedient to death- even the death on a cross!" That verse is no doubt very familiar, but just as likely too familiar.

Think about it, Jesus Christ who was absolutely equal with God and enjoyed all the glory and honor due Him in Heaven, laid it ALL aside. He who was perfect subjected Himself to take on flawed humanity and live among them. He went the distance, becoming like us so He could save us. John 1:11 reads like Jesus' epitaph (if He had one), "He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him." What awful words! Note: I realize that every metaphor falls apart somewhere and there is no analogy that can perfectly parallel the kenosis of Christ with something that makes sense to man. The story I opened with had a happy ending- the hostages trusted their hero and followed him to freedom. But in all reality, there's a world out there chuck full of hostages who refuse to trust the Hero who humbled Himself and became like them in order to rescue them. "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved." (John 3:17)

I am so thankful for the reason for this Christmas season. I'm thankful that my Jesus came to earth and became like me so I could learn to follow Him. I realize that this allgience was nothing I accomplished in my own strength, but rather something He accomplished FOR ME by His grace. Praise the Lord that I, who was once a hostage, have been forever set free!