My Life Could Be a Waste

Is my life a waste?

What am I doing?

Where do I fit in?

Could it all be for nothing?

What is my pupose?

Have you ever had these thoughts? Have you ever sat down and really thought about where you are putting your time and energy? Where your heart lies?

Have you ever thought about what people would say at your funeral? What you will be remembered for?

Well, I have.

And I've come to one realization. That if one truth in my life is wrong, my life is a joke. My life is wasted. And that's exactly how I want it.

I want my life so centered on the life of Christ, that if Jesus turns out to be just a myth, my life was wasted. Now with this thought, I have a long ways to go. I still have a lot I need to surrender to Jesus and a lot more I can do for Him while I'm here, but I'm willing to accept that challenge. I would rather have a life some would say is wasted on Jesus, than a life which no one will remember 10 years after I'm gone. Here's how I see it...

My grandparents are two of my best friends. But the amount I know about my grandparent's life is not as much as I would like. And the amount I know about my great-grandparents is even less. I don't know if they were champion athletes, great friends, amazing cooks, beautiful dancers, brillant writers, or just quiet folk who stayed at home. I have no idea. Things like that fade away quickly. People forget. People move on with their own lives and forget to talk about you.

"Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God." (Isaiah 40:28)

Everlasting God.

We are temporary. We are here for just awhile and then gone (James 4:14). And in the midst of the great big world and the 7 billion other people on this planet, the chances of anyone remembering me past my grandkids is slim. That's sort of depressing, isn't it? You can see how it can be so easy for our lives to feel like a waste? But don't forget...

Everlasting God.

So how do we make our lives not be a waste? We live for Him and Him alone. And though no one will remember my name, I can leave a legacy in my family that was started well before me. I can leave a legacy of loving and serving the Lord. Decades down the road in my lineage, my family could still be believing in Jesus because of the love my grandkids had, the love my children had, the love I had, the love my parents had, the love my grandparents had, great-grandparents and so on. That thought alone makes me want to cry and thank God for the opportunity. But then add to it the people we can love outside our family. The people we can tell about Jesus and show His love in a tangible way to. Those people could start a legacy in their families as well, all because you lived a life for God!

So my life is a waste, uh? The majority of my time and energy goes into serving. I spend my time loving kids, creating devotions, hanging out with "the least of these," leading or participating in Bible studies, being in leadership in ministries, and studying to create a life which helps others. Now make no mistake, I don't say those things to boast in my abilities. In my mind, I'm actually missing the mark and I could do so much more. I say these things to show you and remind myself that if this "Jesus thing" is fake, if it turns out to be a big joke, my life is a total and complete waste of time. Everything I do and put my time into would be for nothing. I'm banking my entire life and the future of my family to come that God came down in the form of man, died on a cross for my sins, and is now very much alive.

When I die, no one will remember me. But I hope everyone who thinks of me, immediately thinks of Christ. And if that happens, my life is not a waste.

Jesus, A Whore, and Me

Besides the Gospel of the cross, if I had to pick one single story from the Bible to only read the rest of my life, this story would be a top contender. This is a story of love, of grace, of mercy, of truth, of forgiveness, of sacrifice, of hypocrisy, of sin, of life, of me, and most importantly, of Jesus.

The Adulteress Woman -- or for us today, the whore.

So there's a crowd. A big crowd of people and among them is Jesus. That's no coincidence He's there.
Because a group of scribes and Pharisee (aka. the uber religious folks of the time who love their rules and self-righteousness) enter the scene. Dragging a woman. Dragging a whore.

So this sounds harsh, right? To call her a whore. But she is an adulterer. Is that a better term? She slept with a married man. She's a cheater. A home wrecker. The other woman. Who reading this thinks cheating is okay? Who wants to be cheated on? Exactly. This isn't exactly the town's saint. She isn't their best friend right now.

Side note here: How would you feel being this woman? We all have sin. We all have secrets. This woman was caught in hers. And not only was she caught, she was being dragged like a dead animal in front of a large crowd with her sin practically stamped on her forehead. What if your sin was exposed in this sort of way? What if your darkest secret was revealed publicly? Just a thought.

But here are these religious guys who are literally dragging this woman to the crowd to humiliate her and give her punishment for her crime. For in this day, adultery is punishable by stoning. Stoning isn't a quick punishment. It hurts. And hurts for a long time. These men, by law, have the right to throw rocks at this woman in public until she dies. If that's by bleeding out, a head wound, or internal trauma, it doesn't matter. They keep going until she's dead.

There's still an ulterior motive going on here. They don't bring her to the crowd and just start throwing rocks like they could of. They ask Jesus a question. "The Law commands we stone such a woman. So what do you say?"

"So what do you say?"

They are trying to trap Jesus in His own words. Jesus basically has two obvious choices here. He can say stone her or He can say not to. He can either be the bad guy who wouldn't be seen as loving and living what He preaches, or He can disobey the law. Either way, He seems pretty screwed, right? The Pharisees thought so too. They thought they caught Him. They thought they had Him backed in a corner.

Good thing our God is bigger and way smarter.

Jesus answers them, "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone."

Gotcha.

And one by one, oldest to youngest, the stones are dropped. The men, ashamed, walk away. These are the religious men, and they were caught in their own trap set for Jesus. Instead of exposing the sin of this woman, their sin was exposed as well. But it doesn't end here.

"Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"
"No one, Lord"
"Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more."

I'm one of those people who thinks Jesus smiled and did that a lot. And when I picture Him saying, "Where are your accusers?" He's got to be smiling or at least smirking. Because what comes next is life-changing.

"Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more."

Don't forget her crime. She's a whore. She probably ruined a marriage. Maybe many. And Jesus doesn't condemn her. That doesn't make what she did okay. Not at all. If He had simply forgiven her and left it at that, someone may assume that. Someone may assume that Jesus let's these things go. But He goes on to say, "Go and sin no more."

God doesn't love our sin. God hates sin. He hates sin so much that He knew something had to be done because us trying to fulfill the Law on our own just wasn't working. Us trying to meet this holy standard wasn't quite doing it. But Jesus can. God doesn't love us just the way we are. Because we are sin. God loves us IN SPITE of who we are. The world labeled this woman as a whore. God hated the sin in this woman. But oh, if you don't see the love He has for her in this story, you missed the point. Jesus spared her from death. He saved her. And later in this beautiful story, He saves me, too.

From the Pharisees. In public. When I should have been the one dragged out, He was. When I should have been the one humiliated by my sin, He was. When I should have been the one beaten, He was. When I should have been the one punished with death, He was. When I should have been condemned, He was.

So at the end of the day, me and that whore have a whole lot in common.


**this devotion had a lot of help from the awesome Chris Kuykendall's sermon at Camp Hope this weekend**

Stuck in My Head

Today, I cannot stop singing. And I cannot stop listening to one song. Don't you hate when that happens??
Today I don't hate it at all. And I want to share it with you.

In case you can't watch the video, I'll put the lyrics down below.
I'm currently doing a devotion with Taylor all summer on the book of Isaiah, and man, does Isaiah know how to expose sin. I mean, he is a prophet and that's normally what they are good at, but he seems to be exceptionally good at displaying the Righteous Judge in His full glory. But with this judgement and wrath, comes the promise of hope. The promise that this sin will not overtake those who have genuine faith. The promise that He will return and make new His creation. The promise that He never fails.

******************************************************
City Harmonic - Holy (Wedding Day)

This is the story of Son of God hanging on the cross for me.
But it ends with a bride and groom and a wedding by a glassy sea.
Oh death, where is your sting?
Cause I'll be there singing, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord."

This is the story of a bride in white waiting on her wedding day.
Anticipation welling up inside while the groom is crowned as King.
Oh death, where is your sting?
Cause we'll be there singing, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord."

Holy, holy. Holy, holy. Holy, holy is the Lord Almightly.
Who was, and is, and is to come.

This is the story of Son of God hanging on the cross for me.
And it ends with a bride and groom and a wedding by a glassy sea.
This is the story of a bride in white singing on her wedding day
of the God who was, and is, and stand before a bride who sings,
"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty."

Good Food, Good Time

I love food. I workout to eat more. And I love eating as healthy as possible. It just tastes better and you feel better. Now, my most recently cooked meal was not the healthiest I've ever cooked by any means, but as a Chinese food substitute, it is way healthier than Hong Kong Inn. Not only was the food awesome though, but who I shared it with was even better. It was Taylor's last night in town for a week. Then he's back for one week and then gone again for 7. I hate distance. I suck at distance. But this is something I'm willing to fight for and give my fears to Jesus about. I mean, this could be an incredible opportunity for Taylor and I to truly rest in the presence and comfort of Christ alone.

Now for this food. It was a sort of quick decision to make a meal at home than to go out for our last little evening together. I love to cook and he loves to help so it only made sense to us to do it this way. Plus, everytime we cook it is always so good. We came up with the idea to make our own Chinese (and of course I had to add in vegetables!). I found a version of sweet & sour chicken online and we went to town on it. I got the recipe from Made It, Ate It, Loved It, but here it is!

CHICKEN:
3-5 chicken breasts (we used 6-7 tenderloins cause it's what we had and it still tasted great!)
salt and pepper (or anything else)
cornstarch to coat
2 eggs, beaten
canola oil

Rinse chicken, trim fats, and cut into 1-inch cubes. Season with salt and pepper. Dip each piece into the cornstarch, then into the egg. Heat oil in a large skillet and place the chicken in the skillet (duh!). Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Finish cooking your chicken until browned. Then place the chicken in a baking dish and coat with the sauce.....

SAUCE:
3/4 cup sugar (we used white but I've heard brown works too)
4 tablespoons ketchup
1/2 cup white distilled vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon garlic salt (or more if you're me!)

Whisk everything until smooth. Pour evenly over the chicken in the baking dish. Turn chicken to coat and pop it in the oven for 30 minutes. Stir it half way through!!

Finally, eat it up!!

We enjoyed the chicken with brown rice and sauteed vegetables (zuchinni, mushrooms, onions, and green pepper) on the porch that evening. It was perfect with my green tea. It was perfect outside. It was perfect with him.
Afterwards we enjoyed a walk around downtown and one of our infamous trips to Walmart. Even Walmart shopping is fun with Taylor. Oh, and we got shaved ice. Because we get shaved ice just about every time we are together. It's just too good.

More later. Maybe tomorrow!