How Awesome is This Place?

"Nothing that you have ever done could disqualify you from God's grace." Those were the first words I heard Ross say as I snuck into the back of the church. Late. From, you know...cooking bacon. Likely story.

We were still in Genesis talking about the ladder climber, Jacob. We entered the story just as Jacob goes down for a good night's sleep. Using a rock from the ground, he rested his head down for what was to become one of the most famous snoozes in the Bible. Jacob's ladder: or The Night I Met God.

Notes: Sometimes the realization of all my junk catches up with me. My past sin, my choices today, and my many mistakes I will make tomorrow. But, the hope is that I am never too far gone for the grace of God. Awaken to the grace. I hold all my trash up to you. Please take it away. Release me. Am I running away from sin, which is not the goal, or am I running toward God? I will run to God. I reach for you. Give me a moment of personal revelation. I will never lose Your favor. It's not about me climbing the ladder, it's about God coming to me. God's grace. Grace that I didn't earn, couldn't earn. I am not worthy of it. There's nothing in me that is worthy. It's Jesus.

"It's the place of not deserving grace that qualifies me for grace." (Ross)

God promised blessing to Jacob, just as he does to every one who believes in Him.

Genesis 28: 13-15. Interestingly enough, God promises Jacob His presence BEFORE Jacob decides to live a sin-filled life. Jacob's future, and mine, does not disqualify me from His grace. God's desire is to know us personally, and for us to know Him personally.

How often do I forget Him? Is my rebelliousness a result of my forgetfulness of His presence, His provision, His protection, and His promises?

Philippians 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.

I can count on God. His promises will endure. There are over 14,000 promises recorded in the Bible. He has never failed one yet. He will never let me down. There is nothing higher God can swear by than His own name. When he says it, it is true.

As I remember His faithfulness, I am moved towards Him. God will never cut me off. That is His promise.

When Jacob awakened from this amazing, promise giving dream from the Lord, Jacob says in verses 16 & 17, "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it. How awesome is this place?"

I love this phrase. And I love this story.

It's a RECOGNITION of our utter ignorance, and God's omnipresence.

It's an INVITATION to accept that there is such hope wrapped inside a package of despair.

It's a REALIZATION of God's provision of grace amidst our most certain imperfection.

This was the statement from a guy who was running from his blood-thirsty brother Esau. He was in much distress when the Lord gave him this dream that promised Jacob much land, many offspring, blessings, God's presence, and restoration.

And then, STUPIDITY. Jacob bargains with an unbargainable God. While reading this verse today, and seeing the first part of verse 20, I knew we had hit a snag. "If God will......then the Lord shall be my God." Wow. Was he really making God's lordship conditional? Yep. True to Jacob's character, he made a hasty vow to God. Promising ten percent of all of his belongings, Jacob tells God that He must bless him first. The demanded blessings included, but were not limited to, bringing him back to Isaac's house in peace and a continual supply of food and clothing. I wonder how many prayers I have made to God just like this one. "God, if you will help me out just this one time, give me the money to make rent, make my children obey, help me lose 10 pounds, or whatever, then I promise I'll go to church every Sunday." You know the prayers I am talking about. But, God doesn't even address or rebuke this heart matter. God met Jacob on a rock, secured Jacob's position in blessing, and fulfilled His promise. That's God for ya.

Let's talk about this little stone. Jacob set it up like a pillar of remembrance. He poured oil on it and declared it a place of worship called Bethel. The stones in our lives act as little bookmarks of moments that we met God, heard God, understood God a little more. Where are my Bethels? Where are the places where I heard from God, where He spoke to me, where the promises became personal?

John 1:43 and the story of Nathanael. Fascinating. I had forgotten that Jacob in the Hebrew language meant deceit. That nugget of information makes this story about Nathanael much more interesting.

My response:

Are you on the run,

at the end of your rope,

do you find your self alone,

and living with no hope?

Take heart, for

This is the place of God.

Capture me,

Change me,

Lord, rearrange me

Transformed by Your presence,

Locked in by Your love.

Give me a place of personal revelation

Grant me a chance to see Your face

Take my hand,

Change the landscape of my life.

Awaken to the grace

Put that past away

You won't need it today

God's given you a new way

How awesome is this place?

You Have Saved Us!

After scrounging around for a pencil that worked this past Thursday evening, I began jotting down some thoughts. Pencil in one hand, microphone in the other, I was in the middle of band rehearsal at church. That's right, I can sing and write at the same time people. Talent.

"You Have Saved Us" by Paul Baloche talks of our God as Savior and Redeemer. God is described as some who lifts us up. "Raised us up with You..." is actually what the song says.

I began to think that I have never heard of God ever pressing His people down, forgetting or crushing us. 2 Corinthians 4:7-10 says...

"we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies."

It takes much more strength to pull people up than push people down. We, in our bodies of clay, are weak, but our God is strong! So if He is holding me up, then my gravity is light. How exhilarating!

He is in the business of restoration, of bringing His people closer to Himself.

So along with the typical notes of "end on the key of E", and "bass and drums to start", and "synth rings on A as Todd talks", and the like, I also scribbled the things I heard my heart respond. In no specific order or reason....

"Your grip never breaks.

Your heart never stops

From the heartache

I cause You.

My body is clay.

My frailty just proves

my need to be liberated

from my gravity.

I wear your death.

I remember I have new breath.

Your back is so strong

to hold my sin's weight.

The lift of my soul, the flight of my sin,

the healing power of

exhilaration!"

The Window Seat II

Flight to Sierra Leone

2/23/11

Magnificent creation

Dawn's beauty shines shyly

Around the corner of eve's dark den.

My eyes, they did see

Or else I would not have believed.

Horizon, riding long and unencumbered.

Your line leads light across

The plain of milky dew.

Like the call of a shepherd

The clouds follow you.

The Window Seat

Descent to London

February 23, 2011

Alien land high above my head

Spotted with the blink of dawn

Rolling hills of snowy white

Pinkened by the sun's first light

This must be where angels come to rest

To rest their heads on cloud's full breast

Blessing of the pinch

Two months ago, I began to pray that the Lord would allow a time of personal growth during my preparations for Sierra Leone, Africa. I told Him that I am open to feel the pinch, or experiencing the cooperative effort of the body of Christ as the team prepares. Or, a combination of the two...or anything in between. I really am ready to learn.

I am not sure what God wants to teach me during this time or what He has in store for the women of this war-torn country in the next couple of weeks.

Sometimes He tells me to suck it up and feel the pinch of sacrificial giving...placing household and family needs on the back burner for another time. Other times He blesses in the now beyond any reason my little brain can comprehend. So, what is He doing now?

As the team looks forward to February 22nd, I continue to pay for travel expenses. If you feel led to join in the effort, please log onto the Bethel Bible web-site and give as the Lord leads. (Please designate: Sarah Burton, Sierra Leone travel)

We normally don't keep our friends in a jar.

Meet my friends the Kuykendalls, Mark, Marla, Kylee, and Marcus. We normally don't keep them in a jar.

In 7 days, they will be boarding a plane for Ethiopia to meet their new daughter face to face for the very first time. (Oh, to smooch that beautiful face!) They will have to make two different trips to that country before they can have the joy of bringing her home to Tyler.

For the last couple of months, my children began collecting spare change in a mason jar that we lovingly referred to as the "Mark and Marla jar". They were not sure that if their collection of coins would even make a difference. I wasn't sure either. But then I realized that their spirit of sacrificial giving was just the beginning of perhaps a great realization of who God is in the world, and how He was going to use our family in the future. Raising global citizens, one penny at a time.

If you would like to donate to the Kuykendall's journey, please don't hesitate for one moment. A mover and shaker in the adoption world has generously created a fund raiser called "Recycle Love" to assist adoptive parents make their journeys. Click here to purchase some really cool Valentine's Day t-shirts for your family while helping out another one. Make sure to type KUYKENDALL when you order.

Trust

If you give me an assignment, or a task to complete, I'm your gal. I am all about crossing things off a list. Left to the great white unknown plain of possibility, I flounder.

In five weeks, I am going on an adventure like I've never had before. I am headed to the great, mysterious continent of Africa to see what the Lord would have me DO to serve Him. Last night, as our small team met to discuss plans and pray, I left without the one thing that would make me feel secure. My list. There was no talk of an itinerary, no mention of a schedule, no whisper of ANY plans. My heart was racing to say the least. How will I know how to prepare? More importantly, how will I know what to pack?

I am positive that this is the beginning of an adventure of trust. Faithfully seeking Him as fresh manna to feed me every morning. He will go before me and make my plans straight. He will equip me for every good work. HE WILL. I can do nothing for Him. I will show up every day, committing this trip and our fellow believers in Christ half-way around the world to prayer. I don't need a list to do that.