Well, my weekend plans have changed a bit, thanks to Picaboo having a major sale on their photo books! :) I've printed my blogs in book form every year, which I love, but I haven't made an actual picture scrapbook since early 2009, so there's A LOT of ground to cover!! But it's worth covering... I LOVE looking back through different seasons and fun events and remembering all "the best of times" with friends and family! So I'm spending the majority of tomorrow, Sunday, and Monday creating two photo books that hopefully cover the highlights of the last five years of my life... Get excited!! (And wish me luck! I'll really have to let go of my perfectionist tendencies to finish them that quickly, but I'd rather have two brand new scrapbooks with a lot of life documented than work on it little by little and drag it out for another year or more!)
Tonight, I'm having fun friends over for a pizza & movie night, so I'm pretty excited for that too! =)
On a deeper note, I've been listening to some new CDs by John Eldredge called The Work of Christ. (I absolutely adore him - I can't ever say that enough!) He talks about how the cross has become the key symbol of modern Christianity, yet it was not that way for the first several centuries of the church - they focused on the resurrection and the miracles! "They had seen hundreds and thousands of people crucified, but only one came back! The indestructible life was what blew them away - that was what they wanted!" **He says that the cross and suffering and dying to sin and self -- those are the minor theme of the Bible. The major theme, he says, is the resurrection, restoration, and LIFE we have in God through Christ!! He says that our time on earth is a battle between life and death, Satan always trying to bring death and destruction in every possible way... God continually offering us life and healing and hope. Yes, life is hard and there is much suffering and difficulty. But everyone knows that. In the church's effort to "be real" and relate to people, we have put our focus on the minor theme of human suffering, rather than possessing and offering to others the abundant life God offers to us! Not sure if it's translating here, but that made so much sense to me.
Paraphrase of a quote by George MacDonald (Full Sermon HERE):
On a deeper note, I've been listening to some new CDs by John Eldredge called The Work of Christ. (I absolutely adore him - I can't ever say that enough!) He talks about how the cross has become the key symbol of modern Christianity, yet it was not that way for the first several centuries of the church - they focused on the resurrection and the miracles! "They had seen hundreds and thousands of people crucified, but only one came back! The indestructible life was what blew them away - that was what they wanted!" **He says that the cross and suffering and dying to sin and self -- those are the minor theme of the Bible. The major theme, he says, is the resurrection, restoration, and LIFE we have in God through Christ!! He says that our time on earth is a battle between life and death, Satan always trying to bring death and destruction in every possible way... God continually offering us life and healing and hope. Yes, life is hard and there is much suffering and difficulty. But everyone knows that. In the church's effort to "be real" and relate to people, we have put our focus on the minor theme of human suffering, rather than possessing and offering to others the abundant life God offers to us! Not sure if it's translating here, but that made so much sense to me.
Paraphrase of a quote by George MacDonald (Full Sermon HERE):
When our souls feel crushed and overwhelmed, we believe ourselves to be tired of life; but it is death, not life, that wearies us. In all our troubles, let us remember that what we lack is life – what we need is more life, more of God’s powerful presence in us that makes us more alive and whole! When we feel broken and tired of life, let us recognize that it is actually the presence of death in this world that we are tired of. When we feel most inclined to give up, let us rouse ourselves to live. Of all things, let us avoid the false refuge of a weary collapse, a hopeless yielding to things as they are. The dissatisfied ache we experience is caused by the life of God in us is crying out for more life (more beauty, freedom, restoration, love, and healing). We are victorious when, in the midst of our pain and weakness, we cry out -- not for death or numbness – but for the strength to fight; for more power, more understanding, more of God in us!
Yeah! How profound and how true - and something I desperately need to remember when I'm at my worst. It's going in the "Survival Kit." :)
Okay, friends, happy Friday! Have a lovely weekend, and remember that the LIFE we have in Christ is "the major theme!"
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