Beating Around...Solar System Fun Time!

Holy Week is around the corner and I am so very excited for a couple of reasons! The first obviously being that we get to celebrate the single greatest act of love ever committed that simultaneously defeated evil (Jesus Christ Superstar?). The second being that I desperately want an obnoxiously large cup of coffee in my hand ASAP (followed by a piece of chocolate and later… a glass of wine).

With the Passion of Christ in mind, I decided that last night’s middle school youth night should be about…THE SOLAR SYSTEM!!! Holy Week equals the Solar System makes perfect sense right? Well I thought so and I hope you do to!

Our middle school sun...doesn't he look thrilled!

When we think about the solar system (only up to earth for now) we naturally picture the sun in the middle (because it is). It is stationary because its gravitational pull is so strong that the planets have no other choice but to revolve around it. Each planet’s gravitational pull is nothing compared to that of the sun. And so, the sun is literally the star of the solar system and everything else by its mere existence testifies to the its power and majesty.

Our earth for the night, what I make these poor kids do!

It would be foolish of us to say that earth, or any other planet (including Pluto as a planet) planets do not give off light or heat. 

So if we messed with our 5^th grade candy solar systems by say… placing the earth in the center, we would have all failed. If any other object in our solar system were placed in the middle besides the sun, the entire system would stop working.

Further more, the relationship between the earth and the sun is absolutely perfect for sustaining life on a planet. How crazy is it that if the distance between the earth and the sun were only slightly changed, all creation would cease to exist. Yes, even the slightest shift in the relationship between the earth and the sun would be fatal to all creation, as we know it.

Me explaining the workings of our solars system! (or half solar system as we only went up to the moon.

And this illustration my friends… is why Holy Week and the Passion of Christ is SO POWERFUL!

Enter: Break Down

So God created man to be in perfect relationship with him. God is perfect. Man was perfect. God is the life giver. Man is the life receiver. Therefore, God was the center of creation and the life of man revolved around God. This relationship was as perfect as the relationship between the sun and the earth. We (man) however decided that we don’t like having to revolve around God, but that we want creation to revolve around us. We therefore, shifted the relationship out of perfection and into perversion. It wasn’t a dramatic shift. It didn’t cause an earthquake or a volcanic explosion. No, it was a quiet rebellion in which we tried to switch the sun (God) and the earth (us). But as we have already discussed, the earth in the middle of the solar system leads to the death of the solar system. Man as the center of creation leads to the death of creation.

BUT (and this is a good but), because God so loved the world (John 3:16, someone shout out GLO-RAY). He knew that the only salvage this relationship was to shift it back into a God centric relationship yet also pay for the death that we caused by attempting to have everything revolve around us. And so, Jesus Christ, full man walked through this earth in perfect, original relationship with the Father so that God would be properly glorified as the center of our universe and we would receive life from Him, not death from ourselves.

My friends, this is what Jesus was passionate about! Every single moment of His life was lived for one thing and one thing only, to bring the focus back to God, giving life back to us (makes our passions look super lame doesn’t it). This is what kept him up at night. Every single action he took, every word he spoke, every drop of blood that he shed happened in order to prepare Him to finish what he started and to prepare us for the shift that would restore us to perfect relationship with our Father.

And so, as Jesus entered into Jerusalem on a donkey, the pinnacle of our history began. The last supper, the sweating of blood in the garden, the unceasing prayer, the handling of an angry mob, the condemnation of the Sanhedrin, the carrying of the cross, the death and the resurrection all occurred so that God the Father could be rightly glorified! So this means, that IT IS NOT ABOUT US!

How great is that news! One perfect man was SO passionate about the glory of the Father that he endured every single moment of what we celebrate as Holy Week. We read about it, we ponder it, we think that it is all about us and our salvation which is not false, but there is SO MUCH MORE here! Our salvation lies in the fact that this life is not about us, we didn’t reach perfection, we don’t deserve the credit and by the death of Jesus, we are free to revolve around God! And isn’t life a whole lot more satisfying when credit is given where credit is due?

Example

Proverbs 3: 6-7 says “ Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in ALL your ways SUBMIT to him, and he will make straight your paths.”

In another translation, the same verse reads, ACKNOWLEDGE HIM IN ALL YOUR WAYS! ALL YOUR WAYS! That means EVERYTHING! What would that look like? Would that change the way we view our Creator? Would it change the way we worship? Would it change the way we view our salvation if we am focused on His majesty instead of our brokenness? Well I did a little experiment…

Waking up: I am not responsible for the breath that gives me life. I did not think of it. He is the one who created breath. He is the one who thought of lungs and air. He is the one who created the sleep cycle that tells me when to sleep and when to wake. It was His idea to connect my brain to my heart, my eyes, my lungs so that in one glorious instant my eyes pop open to the rays of the sun, my lungs expand, and my brain tells me that it is time to get out of bed. God created it, so my waking up is not about me, it is about Him and His biological genius.

SO SCARY with eyeballs!

Brushing my teeth: I did not think of teeth, my God did. And aren’t teeth a funny thing anyway (imagine those wind up chattering teeth when they are by themselves). My God in his great humor thought of teeth and created all the workings of my mouth to be the avenue through which I am nourished. So my mouth, my teeth, what I eat and what I say should be an example of praise to the One who created it. Credit is due to my God with a sense of humor, not myself!

Breakfast and Coffee: This is my favorite time of day. But guess what, I did not come up with the idea of coffee (although I wish I could take credit for this one). My God produced the plant that produced the coffee bean. My God created the mind that decided to grind that bean and make it a drink. I can create a painting of a coffee mug (although God thought of paintings) but my delightful Father in Heaven created a delightful drink. And so, when I drink my coffee, it is not to my own credit, but the credit of my Father in Heaven. Credit is due my God with a sense of expression, not myself.

Leaving the house: As the sun rises over the Floridian bay, I drive over the bridge to work. I did not think of the sun! I did not think of the water! How lucky, how humble am I that I can even enjoy the view of such an ARTIST! At that moment, the idea that I was not the one to create anything that I have enjoyed, my breath, my awakening, my teeth brushing, my breakfast, or my environment. How can I possibly want to give myself credit for any of it? My GOD created it ALL!!! So should I ACKNOWLEDGE HIM IN ALL MY WAYS! I did not create my ways, HE DID. It is in this attitude and this focus that my salvation will bring me joy!

And so, life is more vibrant when God is the center of it because my Father is way more brilliant, way more hilarious and artistic than I!

This was Christ’s passion! This is what He died for! That we would recognize that our entire life is not a result of our brilliance but of God’s brilliance… it is in this mere fact that we have been set free!

Beating Around...Daddy Issues

This weekend, I was privileged to study the actions of species called the  “new grandparent” right in my own home. My parents came to visit and in hind sight… I should have made a documentary.  See, my clever, creative and cunning (always room for alliteration) sister-in-law started a blog in which my nephew Philip can share his thoughts and post video.I must say, he is incredibly well written for 3-month-old. It was such a brilliant idea, that my parents are playing Philip videos constantly. I have found myself starting to do the same. Here is the video so you can laugh before I go all heavy on you… no worries there always a hope at the end of my posts.

IS HE NOT THE BEE KNEES!!!!

Oh Hello World, I'm Philip and this is my Amazed Face!

My parents are both incredible human beings and did an amazing job parenting my brother and I (just look at the prodigies that Jared and I have become!) and we had a lovely time together (love you mam and dad)! Any who, during our 35^th visit to the blog this weekend there was a small line written by my nephew (tehe) that struck an unusual chord in my heart. In a perfect world, it should have been nothing more than a common statement, but if you live anywhere but under a rock, you know that our world is far from perfect. This is what Philip wrote,

“Highs, lows, a couple of surprises and one very pleasing compromise all occurred this week. Last week ended on a low point for me, but it was for a good reason. My daddy left for Maxwell Air Force Base on Saturday to begin his Commissioned Officer Training, which means mommy and I won’t see him for 5 weeks when we move to Virginia Beach. Even though mommy and I are sad that we can’t be with him, my daddy is my hero and we are very proud of him for his choice to serve our nation.”

My FAVORITE new family!

The issue of fatherhood for some reason has been reoccurring in my life if only to compel me to write to all of you. How many of us actually think of our dad’s as heroes… as OUR heroes? The answer should be 100% but if I were a bettin’ woman, I would place a lot of money on a less than 50% statistic that we look at our fathers and think … My Hero!

My dear friend Anthony said a few weeks ago “ I believe that one of the devil’s greatest victory has been to destroy fatherhood in this nation”, and I tell you that my heart stopped at the truth in this statement.

Think about it. If it is a man’s deepest desire to know that he has what it takes and it is a woman’s deepest desire to know that she is lovely then who are the first people to which we look for this answer? Our parents! And who is supposed to be the leader of the family? Our father! We as young children look to our fathers for the answer to this question but often times, because of either his words, his actions, or his absence, we hear a very loud no when we should have hear yes.

Where do we go? What do we do if the earthly man responsible for our life tells us that we do not have what it takes or we are not beautiful? No matter what excuse we make for ourselves, the disaster of fatherhood taking place in the world today is sending us spiraling; we are looking for someone, anyone to tell us “Yes, my son you DO have what it takes. Yes my daughter, you ARE lovely.” But the problem is no matter how many times we get a yes from others, we have one NO screaming to our hearts in the background, ruining everything.

Yes, Anthony… the devils biggest victory was to destroy fatherhood because in destroying the role of a dad, the family is destroyed, our self-worth is distorted, and we can’t even begin to love our Heavenly Father… our image of Him looks too much like that of our earthly father. Devastating.

So then what do we do? To spend our lives wallowing in the identity given to us by our earthly fathers will lead us to way too many terrible choices for which our father’s can not be held responsible. There must be a better option… especially since the devil is NOT the victor in this story.

My suggestion (take it or leave it) is to become an adult.  

 St. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 13: 10 – 12

“But when the perfect arrives, the imperfect passes away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child. But when I became a man, I put aside the things of the child.”

When we walk out of our childhood into adulthood we can give our earthly fathers a break because perfection has arrived, our Heavenly Father. If we are looking to the Heavenly Father for the answers to our questions, then the distorted answers that we were given as a child (the imperfection) pass away. All of a sudden, the “No you do not have what it takes” and the “ No you are not lovely” noise that is constantly screaming in our hearts is stomped out and overcome with a resounding and permanent YES MY SON, YES MY DAUGHTER! YOU DO HAVE WHAT IT TAKES! YOU ARE LOVELY!

When we walk out of our childhood into adulthood we can forgive our earthly fathers because we see that they might be just as confused and lost as we. Imperfection passes, and perfection arrives. Our Heavenly Father is NOT CONFUSED or LOST! He knows our identity and he is constantly reminding us of whom we are,

1 John 3:1 “ How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, we should be called children of God! AND THAT IS WHAT WE ARE!”

Finally, we walk out of our childhood into adulthood we can take responsibility for the family that we will have one day. If we are looking to Perfection for our identity, then our children will not hear no when they ask us if they are worthy. They will hear a loud and permanent YES, because we are free to give them one.

We can be the generation that restores the beauty of the family and it starts with fatherhood (sorry men, no pressure!). Women, hold the men around you up to a new standard, to an adult standard! It’s time that we quit allowing our twenty somethings to be boys who can shave (shout out Matt Chander for the term) and have sex!

Men look to the Father for your worth and act out of the identity that HE gives you. This will guarantee that your children will be saying what my nephew did “ Daddy is my hero”.

Love you all!  

     Mallory

  

Beating Around... Rebellion

When I was seventeen years old, I snuck out of my house for the very first time. My parents are practical and protective so every night (to this day) when we come in from a night out, we have to turn on the alarm. So even if I am rolling into that house at 3 or 4 (a rarity), I am supposed to hit the alarm. The sounds tell my ever loving parents that their precious daughter is home safe and sound out of the dangers of the criminal playground we call Houma, Louisiana. 

This night however, I DID NOT turn on the alarm because I had a plan. Oh yes, in my room for 11pm? No thanks mom and dad, I know better than you and I am only seventeen. 

After my parents were sound asleep, my plan turned into action. I grabbed my 1^st generation I pod and a blanket from the T.V. room. I crept downstairs as if cloaked with the cloak of invisibility and stealthily made my way into the black abyss of … wait for it……………

MY BACKYARD. Yep, I snuck out of my house to go stargazing. After about 10 minutes of looking at cloudy constellations, the mosquitoes attacked and I snuck back inside afraid of having to explain my silliness. MISSION. ACCOMPLISHED!

I have been a rebel without a cause for no reason ever since I can remember and the above story is proof. Can anyone relate? Each of us has a desire to prove that we can when someone says we can’t or that we will when someone says we won’t. If there is a protocol to follow, many of us are convinced that we can get the same result doing it OUR WAY instead of the way explained to us. We have a desire to stand out, to be different, to be more and better than our peers. Am I right or am I right?

I have recently been thinking about this concept as I watch my life and the lives of my peers unfold through a Tampa looking glass. My generation, as rebellious as any other, has the power to start a new kind of rebellion, the right kind if you ask me. Now I know you may be wondering where I am going, but you also know if you have read any of my previous posts that we will end at Christianity. So walk with me.

On a long drive, when I think about my deepest desire, I come down the a few things. My heart desires to be loved with a love that does not go away. My heart desires to give a love that does not go away. My heart desires to share my life with someone else. My heart desires to leave a mark on this world, to be important, to be secure, to be free and to be joyful (joy is different than happy; happiness is fleeting). And since I am no different than you my lovely reader, I am willing to bet that you feel the same.

So why do we rebel? We rebel because in all of our infinite wisdom as young people, we think that we can accomplish these things through our own prerogative. We believe that we are more forward thinking than our parents and that “OUR WAY” to love, legacy, importance, happiness, freedom and joy will work for us in a way that it didn’t for previous generations(because let’s face it, many adults are pretty miserable). So basically we want to take an alternative path to the same result. But normally in the end, the path that we have chosen (partying, materialism, free sex, fun…) isn’t forward thinking at all. Our parents chose that path too (the 60’s anyone?) in their infinite wisdom as young people and many of them feel the opposite of loved, impactful, important, HAPPY, FREE, and JOYFUL.

So my question is, if generations before us “rebelled” with the free love movement and feminism and these many other (many worthwhile) causes that have made us more free to make terrible decisions than ever before AND this is exactly what culture is telling us to do. Are we actually rebels? I think not. I would call us a bunch of conformists who finally realize in our 30’s that the rebelling did not lead us to anything that our hearts desired so we are left rest in our ways, become cynical and insecure or we turn to the rules and values of our parents to achieve a more stable sense of self.

So if we have a rebellious spirit (which we do) and we desire the above mentioned, how can we reconcile the two? By accepting that maybe the traditional values of our parents and much more importantly a relationship JESUS might be the ultimate rebellion. Choosing to follow a faith that is so counter cultural that the government doesn’t even know what to do with it right now may be the most daring and rebellious choice that we could possible make.  I mean think about it, our leader was the most rebellious being on the planet in everything that he did, thought and preached. He is the absolute definition of counter culture so why would we settle for the “Hot Topic” brand of rebellion (a.k.a. conformity and emptiness) when we can feast our eyes upon the real thing in Jesus Christ. The man who preached everything opposite of culture and those who followed him not only received everything that their hearts desired but left legacies that over two thousand years are still unmatched by modern day heroes.

Psalm 37:4 says ,“Delight in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart”

To back him up… Our Boy C.S. Lewis said , “Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

Our heavenly Father is offering us a cause to fight for. He wants us to rebel against a world that offers what does not satisfy. And in the process of our battles, he offers us the fulfillment of our deepest desires. We are already rebellious, but most of us have nothing lasting for which we should fight. Christ offers us a life of beautiful rebellion for an infinite cause that is literally beyond this world.  And if we should dare to join Him, all of a sudden we don’t have time to revel in the half hearted joy that is offered to us by our culture… there is too much work to be done.