Dust's Lover.

Genesis 18:27 (Abraham) Abraham answered and said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes…”

Why did Abraham talk like that? Why don't I?

Through my life I have always been a prideful person... really, what have I ever been truly humble about? I have acted humble, or like a servant, with the knowledge that people will see... What do I do at home? What do I really act for/live for/look for/want? Praise? Acceptance? Success? Pleasure?

Today, I am not writing this to teach, but rather to confess and commit myself to humility, and I would be humbled to have you join me. I don't have a real good intro... so I am just going to dive in:

What are we to God? How does he look at us? How ought we to relate to him?

God is infinite right? He created the earth right? Well He also created dust... Genesis 2:7 says: "Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being."

I am dust... dirt... ashes... (Essentially a worthless thing that we vacuum up), and God is... what? I can't grasp it. HE IS the "I AM". God knew we could not grasp Him, He Is God.

But how does this dust creation treat the I AM, God?

I remember I was watching Mr. and Mrs. Ludy speak at our home school conference this passed year. Mr. Eric Ludy talked about dethroning yourself, and letting God take the throne. (He said it much better than that :-) But at the time I was so blinded by my own pride that I didn't see how securely I was chained to that seat of power. I was living in a world blind to all that was around me. I thought I had given God the throne... I thought that I was one of those "Real Christians" who had given in to His will. But really? I used God; I needed to let God use me.

Harry Emerson Fosdick said: "God is not a cosmic bellboy for whom we can press a button to get things done."

That is how I have treated God my whole life... like a servant... like some magic wish-granter who is at my disposal.

Isaiah 29:16 Shall the potter be considered as equal with the clay, that what is made would say to its maker, “He did not make me”; or what is formed say to him who formed it, “He has no understanding”?

I have been that dirt, that clay, that pot, meant to work for him, and yet I have made him work for me. I, the dust, have thought of myself as so amazing in a sense, that I have thrown off his kingship in my life, and made that throne very dusty, and my life the whole time has had the label of “Furthering His Kingdom.” That is called hypocritical! How can you further his kingdom while dethroning Him?

What has God’s response been to my actions? God is eternal right? He had foresight to see what humans would do to him, and yet He still created us. We mocked Him, spit on Him, dethroned Him and yet, Jesus indwelled a created body so that he could serve us to the death. We willfully turn from the path of God’s way and yet, The Holy Spirit is willing to indwell us to become our helper. All for what? Why is God this way? Why is God willing to serve me? Why did he die for me? Why did he surround me with friends like all of you who are reading this? Why did is He still willing to guide my every step?

… He. LOVES... He. Loves. me…dust…

What is love? How can I comprehend what God has done for me? Why has he done it? Why has God done this for dust? What is this love, and why has He shown it to me?

I will never be able to grasp the enormity of this thing called "love" but how can I act with what I do know?

Girls, from child hood we dream of our nights coming in shining armor. We dream of being swept off our feet onto the shinning white steed. We dream of being rescued from all unhappiness by our prince. From the time we very small, we imagined being princess, and getting married to this prince and living happily after. When we get older that dream evolves, but I think that often as we get much older it disappears as a childish fantasy. But is it just a fantasy, and why do we think that way? Why do we want a rescuer? Why do we want to be married and live happily after? Why did God make this a little girl’s desire?

Could it be that God put that dream within us, because it will really happen someday? Couldn't God have made His created beings with a specific longing for what only he could give? Love, dependability, safety... We as girls want all of these, and yet we think that they are childhood fantasies? What if God has been preparing us, since we were playing dress-up, for the most amazing, spectacular, satisfying, romantic, and beautiful love story of all time!

You were created... we sinned, were condemned to death and trials and sadness. We were locked in a cell with an evil captor, scared, sad, lonely, abandon, and condemned. We were alone forgotten, worthy of death, in a just position, when... Along came the perfect dashing night! His eyes shine with love for you. He gently lifts you out of your cell, and took up your chains instead. He loved us so much that he took on our captor in a one on one battle. He fought the evil enemy, and He emerged from the dungeon victorious! He swept us up on His steed and carried us off to his castle, and...

That is where we step into the now. Right now, as teenagers and young women, we are in His castle preparing for the greatest day yet... The marriage supper of the Lamb! The day we will be united with our Savior, our Lover, our Knight. Your dream is not a childish dream, it's not even figurative... it's real! Your knight may have come over two thousand years ago, and you may not get married for another few decades, but it still is REAL. This story really is happening!!! We are in His castle, His presence, His creation, preparing ourselves. Daily we are faced with a choice.  We can choose to go back to our captor, the Devil, in the dungeon, or we can accept what our Prince did, and prepare for Him.

As girls we like to make ourselves look good... right? We instinctively want to be a shining beauty. We want to find some earthly prince and make ourselves look good in front of him. Often we forget about our real prince in the castle, about that real wedding feast, about the real joy ahead. We need to change our focus. There is a Prince out there who is watching, who loves, who cares, and we need to try and look good in front of Him. Our duty now is to make ourselves ready for isle. Really! Your duty is to get ready for eternity. To turn Jesus' head, by mimicking the Love that He has for us.

We can’t put earthly man in front of Christ. Someday, when we are ready God will bring into our lives some man that will prepare us for Christ. Our eyes must be one Christ, and someday He may deem right that another man come into our lives who will point us ever towards the real Prince.

NCFCA is probably one of the most important parts of my life. It’s my social pool, my non-home part of school J. I have friends there like I have no where else. I have learned so much from people there, I have been encouraged, but it is also a challenge for me. There are times I find myself doing things for the wrong motives, Rejecting, even subconsciously God’s leadership, dethroning Him, forgetting my eternal Prince, forgetting that I am but dust.

NCFCA is my challenge. It is the place I need to try the hardest to be dust, and remember dust’s lover. I encourage you, as many of you get ready for this KC tournament, with speeches, and debate cases, to also prepare another way. REMEMBER THAT YOU ARE DUST. Remember your lover.

So why does Christ want to marry the church? Here is the answer: Love transforms us from dust.

Christ Loved us, and gave us the ability to Love Him and others. Love transforms us from dust to  a church. Only God by His unthinkable love can transform us into His Princess! Only God’s love can give us the ability to speak at a tournament J. Only His love lets us live!!! His Love gives us the choice to follow Him. But He is willing… to love this lump of dust. Love, turn God's head, and not the world's. Let God work through you, don't try to work through God. GET OFF THE THRONE! Really! He is the Prince after all. Accept His love in humility. Love like Christ loved us. Empty yourself for Him, as He emptied all to save you.

Philippians 2:5-8 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 

Mark 10:45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

Mimic that Love. We are dust, dirt and ashes, yet He considers us useful to serve his purpose. The only way to bring ourselves out of dust is to love: to be empty. I have been compelled to consciously change the whole way that I relate to God. I want to be God’s slave after what I have realized about God’s love for me. After all, it’s either being a slave to my flesh, sin and the world, or to the amazing, loving, beautiful God.

So what does it mean for us to Love God and others?

1 Corinthians13:1-8, “If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³ And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing. ⁴ Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, ⁵ does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, ⁶ does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. ⁸ Love never fails;"

Love is what makes us useful to Him. Love created us, Love saved us, Love still helps us, and love is now being offered to us. Take it; use it; share it. Love is part of God, God is Love. Love is what brings us up from dust. Love is what we can use to prepare for eternity. If we could Love we would be perfect... So Love! It will remind us that we are dust, it will delight our Prince.

Genesis 18:27 Abraham answered and said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes…”

~ Kathryn

 

Why Did I Say That?

Words. They're so confusing, aren't they?  They can build people up, tear them down, change lives, and ruin them. They can send the right messages, send the wrong messages, and send unspoken messages by what's behind them.

And as NCFCAer's?  We use them a lot.  Tournaments are all about words..... the words we communicate to the judges, the words we tell ourselves before our rounds, the words we use when we talk to other competitors in the hallways in the hangout area, and the words we use to say good-bye.

Words are dangerous things. James compares the tongue to a rudder of a ship.... it's small, but it controls the entire direction of the ship. If the rudder doesn't follow the map, the whole ship is lost.

Words don't seem like a big deal. We use them so much, that, often, we don't even think about their full weight. But I think we've all felt the power of words, too. There are things people say that they don't even think twice about, but they enter our minds in a much different way.

I think the most confusing thing about words is that we never know how they're going to enter into another person's mind. How do we control it?  How do we know whether or not our words are going to encourage someone, or not help at all?  How do we know if a word of mutual support will strengthen someone, or cause them to think the wrong things?

It all comes down to another idea in the book of James: the words are only a result of what's on your heart. As humans, we can't guarantee that what we say will come off the right way when they reach the ears of others. We're not responsible for them; we're responsible for us. If your heart is in the right place, you can trust God to deal with the results. But where is your heart when you speak?

Words can be beautiful, and they can be deadly. I've brought people down further than I can imagine, with some of the words I've said. Words can't be made beautiful if they're of the world. The words of this world can never bring anything truly lasting, other than discouragement, pain, and distractions.

But Christians aren't supposed to be of the world. What if our hearts were actually of God?  Wouldn't it follow that our words would be, too?

I don't know how many of you remember the Council Bluffs tournament in 2012. Maybe it was just another tournament for you, maybe it was one of your best, and maybe it was your very first. But for me, it was possibly the most discouraging tournament of my life. Having done fairly well in the 2011 season, I guess I'd let my hopes get too high for 2012. I didn't break in LD that tournament, and I was crushed. I watched as one of my best friends excelled and ended up winning the whole tournament, as I sat quietly in the audience, trying not to cry, and hating myself for being so jealous. But, after awards, as I was standing in the foyer waiting for my ride to be ready to leave, Noah Stewart came up to me, and started talking to me. I was pretty uncomfortable, since I'd never talked to him before......and it definitely didn't help that he had nine medals hanging around his neck. ;)  But as I was getting ready to leave, he said, "Hey, by the way, congrats on Regionals last year!  That was awesome!"  I guarantee you, he doesn't remember saying that. But, two years later, I still haven't forgotten. It's so amazing how God can use words!

Last week, my beautiful "Spy-girl" sent me these thoughts she had written. I think it's so important to guard our motives, and make sure our hearts are in the right place, and I think these words sum it up perfectly:

Why did I say that?

I remember learning in my college communication class that people are constantly communicating with each other - whether or not they want to. At first I didn’t believe it but now I realize that its true. When you yawn, laugh, itch, talk, ignore, and sleep you are sending messages to others. But interestingly enough the most complicated form of communication is the most direct one: words. Anyone can learn to read your body language. Most people pick up on at least a part of that body language automatically. But words, although seemingly simple, have a hidden side to them. How often have you wondered if someone “really meant it” or what they were doing when you call and they say answer “nothing much?” 

Today has involved a lot of communication with words for me. I messaged my friend to say hi, I called my cousin to figure out a time to work on homework together, I talked to me family about a million things I can’t remember, and I had an online chat conversation with a friend miles away. (Oh, the wonders of technology. Sometimes you can’t remember if you said something face to face or through a computer screen.) I did a lot of communicating today but then I stopped and asked myself this simple question: Why did I say that? I didn’t ask this because I had said something I regretted, or something completely out of character. My communication was completely ordinary. But why did I say the things I said? Its an important question to ask yourself. Because I am starting to realize that in God’s eyes its even more important why you said something than what you said. 

I can’t speak for guys, but one of the first tip offs that a girl has a crush on someone is that she will be constantly bringing that guy into everyday conversation. It doesn’t matter if you are talking about the price of chicken, your aunts birthday party, or the current oil crisis, she will find a way to bring whoever that special someone is into the conversation. Although she may think she is sneaky, it soon becomes pretty obvious what is going on. She wants to talk about this guy and she has a reason for bringing him up - but what is that reason? Is she trying to glean information about him from others? Is she hoping that flattering remark will get back to him through the grape vine? Or is she truly so obsessed with the guy that everything reminds her of him? I don’t know. I think it varies from person to person. But I do know whatever that girl’s motivation for bringing a certain someone into the conversation is: it matters. It matters because ultimately why we do things is going to determine what we do. It matters because your hidden motives of what you say, realized or unrealized, will influence the effect those words have. It matters because God looks at the heart. 

So often I will worry about if I said the right thing. Did that comment come off the way I meant it to? Is it appropriate to tell a guy that? What if they misunderstood me? But when it comes down to it what we say is not as important as why we say it. People will misunderstand you all the time. But if you are striving to honor God through your words, and your intentions are correct, you will know in your heart you didn’t do anything wrong. Do you best to communicate honestly with the right intentions and let God manage the rest. 

Think back to the last thing you said. The last message you sent. The last phone call you made. 

The important question is not what you said. The important question is:

Why did I say that?

MARVELous

I have yet to meet a person who doesn't love a good superhero movie. There's something about the idea of being able to have victory, and strength, and courage like that that draws us in. Something about knocking the enemy forces down with one kick or a quick flame out of your hand, that energizes our hearts.

I think superheroes are awesome. And, surprisingly to some, I've been able to draw a lot of parallels between the lives of some of Avengers, and Christianity. This is fun stuff. :)

The Li'l Guy

Steve Rogers was the first "Avenger". He was the li'l guy in boot camp. He was the one that nobody thought would amount to anything. He was a squirt, and his commanding officers knew he'd never be able to fight.

But Steve had a strong heart. He didn't have the body of a fighter, but he had the spirit of one. He had courage, kindness, integrity and emotional stamina. He was knocked down by people twice his size, and his response was a simple: "I could do this all day!"

Nobody thought Steve could amount to anything. But one scientist believed differently. Steve was a li'l guy. REALLY little. His helmet didn't even fit. But this scientist didn't look through the typical eyes of the world. It reminds me of the story of David in:

1 Samuel 16:1-13

Saul, the former king, was tall and strong. David, on the other hand, was the li'l guy. He was so insignificant from a worldy standpoint, his father hadn't even bothered to bring him out to show Samuel. He was too young to fight when his brothers went off to war with Saul against the Philistines.....and the helmet didn't fit him, either. But God looked at the heart. And only David was brave enough to stand against the uncircumcised Philistine who dared to blaspheme the armies of the living God.

Steve Rogers wasn't always a little guy. This scientist eventually convinced one of Steve's officers to let him enter an experiment, in which whatever was inside you got a lot bigger. Not only did Steve's heart get bigger, but so did his body. He, like David, was made strong.....to give.

But neither David nor Steve were given a chance at greatness right away. Instead of going out and fighting Nazis, Steve got to become "CAPTAIN AMERICA" and stir up fundraisers for the troops. David had proven his valor in battle. He had single-handedly stood up and defeated the giant that an entire army had shied away from. And his new job was?  The king's harp-player.

Eventually, though, both of these men's potentials were discovered....and heroes were made.

In your own strength.....

What happened to Captain America was pretty cool. Step into a machine, inject a little chemical, go through a little pain, and......... surprise!  The perfect recipe for a war hero!!

Decades later, Bruce Banner decided this was what he deserved, too. So he tried to imitate this scientific masterpiece in his own strength. The result was............well...........far from desirable. :)

For three hours in The Incredible Hulk, Bruce fights to rid himself of this monster he created. He's being hunted by the US army, so they can protect the public from this massive green monster that Bruce becomes whenever he gets angry.

David was a great king. And he had a massive empire. He was able to do great things for God. And his grandson, Rehoboam, wanted that, too. There was just one little problem.......he wanted to do it without God. In his own strength, he tried to rebuild and expand the kingdom of David and Solomon. But it was all in his own strength. Unlike David, he wasn't a man after God's heart. God's heart couldn't matter less in his life. He tried to do it on his own, and the result was........ An Abomination.

"If you try to imitate in your own strength, you will become a miserable replica. But if you let the power of God overtake you?  Suddenly, it all works." 
                                                                                                                     ~Eric Ludy

The Impenetrable Heart

*Drum roll*......................IRONMAN.

If you've seen any of the IronMan movies, you'll know that Tony Stark isn't exactly the most upstanding guy on the block. But the story of his heart is pretty cool.

When Tony Stark goes to an American base to display his latest weapon, things don't exactly go as-planned. After he's almost killed by Afghanistan soldiers, Tony receives a new object on his chest from a brilliant German scientist. His chest is filled with shrapnel from the encounter, and he can't remove it on his own. That shrapnel is constantly trying to get into his heart, and overtake it. There's really only one thing that's keeping him alive: A heart of light.

This new heart was created to replace the old one. To do what it always wanted to, but never could. I love this image of the heart....mostly because, it reminds me of my heart.

My heart was attacked by destruction before it even started beating. My chest is full of a shrapnel that I can't remove on my own. And every day, that shrapnel tries to get to my heart. To kill me.

And every day, I let it.

That shrapnel enters my heart because I say it can. I give it access. I don't always want to. But in my own strength, I can't stop.

Which is why you have to stop trying to imitate in your own strength.

There's a heart of light out there. One that can do everything that your old, sinner's heart couldn't. One that can keep the shrapnel away from the sacred, and protect it. One that can give life to a dead heart, and defend it. One that can turn it outwards, and let it start seeing the broken world around it......one that can open your eyes to the shrapnel flinging itself at the world, instead of just the shrapnel inside you.

On this side of the cross, that heart of Light is available.

I say it's time for the real heroes to stand up and grab a hold of it.

The Calling: A reflection on my heart

Think.

A simple word, the spark of a greater

thing. It leads me to speak,

but only after I have counted out the words

which I will use. And then to act,

for what is thought without an ultimate goal?



But what is my goal?

An end towards which I strive … I think.

But do I truly strive if I never act?

Can it be that I do nothing greater

than constantly spew out words

which have no meaning, every time I speak?



And when I speak,

I’m sure they do not guess that this could be my goal -

to impress the judges with my words.

Little do they think

that this is not much greater

than an act.



I don’t want to keep up this lonely act.

How I wish I could do something more than speak,

that I would push myself to something greater,

and find myself a better goal.

But instead I only think,

and sometimes put my thoughts into words.



Inside my head, there are so many words.

How much easier it is to talk than act,

and how much simpler to think

than to speak.

But God has given me a goal,

and I know he will give me strength to become greater.



In search of something greater,

by God’s grace, my words

will be used to further His own goal,

and lead me to commit the act

which I have been so eager to speak

about to others. Maybe now I’ve truly learned to think.



How much greater it is to act once I

have paused to think, and considered how the

words I speak will further God’s glorious goal.



By Magali Laporte