Hey, Everybody!
I’m so happy to spend these next few minutes with you. I like to remind you in a writing season like this that I am thinking about you constantly even when it appears from your side of the screen as if we’re less in touch. As I study and write workday in and workday out, you are the first group that comes to my mind. Teacher’s pets if I’ve ever had any. I’m chatting to you constantly right now as I peck away at the keyboard. You just can’t hear me. I’m smiling thinking about how those tables may turn in a little over a year for any of you that end up doing the Bible study. You’ll be talking back to me as we discuss various passages in your homework but I won’t be able to hear you either. What a weird and beautiful dynamic.
I had the biggest blast getting to see a whole bunch of you Siestas at our Eugene, Oregon Living Proof Live. I was shocked when I walked in that room right after the event and David Lowe (our good friend who subs for Rich when he’s out) already had you split into two groups for our picture-taking. It would be hard to over-blow how much I loved being in Oregon for our event. God brought together one of the most wonderful, enthusiastic, Jesus-seeking, gonna-get-a-word-or-else groups ever. One of my top ten favorite groups in all fifteen LPL years. I could have cried when it was over.
(I just happened to remember that I have a few pictures on my iPhone of various shots from this trip so I’ll pitch a few in here for those of you like me who love visuals.)
(In the above picture, we took that State-famous “O” for Oregon and made it into a few divine adjectives for an “Omnipotent,” and “Overflowing,” “Overcoming” and “Out-breaking” God.)
Try to wrap your mind around the fact that God incited 7300 women by His Spirit to attend that event. That was nearly twice what we would have expected in that part of the United States for a gathering of this kind. Travis, the praise team, and I knew within about 2 minutes that Jesus was planning to be there whether we came or not. We felt completely incidental to the whole thing. He has something huge stirring in the Northwest. I can’t quit thinking about it. I got a DM from my good friend, Louie Giglio, last Friday saying that he and Chris Tomlin and their team had just been to that part of the country and were blown away by what God was doing. We left feeling the same astonishment.
I got to spend a little more time in the area than I usually do because I couldn’t get a flight out on Saturday night. That meant several walks in several different parks.
This scene was walking distance from the Holiday Express where we stayed in Eugene. Your blog mama is in there but it’s kind of like “Where’s Waldo?”
Most of our team went to Mount Pisgah Arboretum on Saturday afternoon and, honestly, it was like we were caught in the hobbits’ glen in Lord of the Rings. If Frodo Baggins had stepped out from behind a tree with his short legs and long hairy feet, the whole scene would have been complete. The trees looked just like the ones that talked in the trilogy and they groaned and creaked in the wind like old men trying to get out of a low chair. It was crazy. I didn’t even bother taking pictures with my iPhone because it would have been a travesty but our friend David got some great ones with his grown-up camera. This one doesn’t even give a hint of the gorgeousness that was surrounding us in that park but I think it is especially gorgeous because I love this group of women so much. These are some of the hardest working girls you’ll ever find on earth. They are part of the LifeWay women’s event team that actually puts on Living Proof Live events. (As well as Priscilla Shirer Live and many others.) They don’t often come to the platform but trust me when I tell you that no one would serve on that platform if not for these women doing all the front work, sight inspections, training, praying, and city coordinating. Then, once the weekend arrives, they are busy behind every scene, down every hall, and all over the arena. I am nuts about them. There are at least a dozen others who weren’t assigned to our Oregon event over the weekend. I wish you could see them, too. They are all stellar women.
I could have stayed a solid week in Oregon. Or, if all my people had been there, a month. But Bibby gets cranky for the grandbabies after too many days away. I saw them right before I left for Oregon and the day after I got back. Thank you, thank you, thank you to my beloved Amanda and Curtis, who always make room for the grandparents in their hyper-busy pastoring lives. I happen to be typing this post about five feet away from this picture right here. Now, I ask you, who could stand to be far from those two for very long?? My point exactly.
Oh, one more thing about the trip. On the rare occasions when much of the team gets to stay an extra night after the event, there is considerable foolishness. With God-fearing people, especially of mixed company, off-color humor is out so we have to go with just plain stupid and it works for me every time. This is Travis with his good friends Clay (who played the mandolin for us at this LPL! We loved him!) and Seth (who we always love and get to have on the team most of the time).
I bet Travis wore those glasses for 15 minutes in the drugstore. (Yep, that’s where all this stuff was.) Long enough to where I found myself talking to him normally as if he didn’t look like an idiot. Of course, it might be a tad hypocritical for me to say he looked like such a thing since…
Tragically, that’s not plastic you’re seeing there below the glasses. That’s my real nose. (I made myself laugh.)
Well, I could talk on and on but, the fact is, we have Scriptures to do today, Sisters! I love mine this time around. Remember how we talked about the importance of choosing one to memorize that really means something to us personally? This one’s really speaking to me right now. Lately I’ve been especially aware of the contrasts in the Christian public square between those who build up the Body of Christ and those who tear it down. If we’re going to be builders in a world tearing apart, we’re going to have to be deliberate. We’ll also have to accept the materials we’re working with. We’ll never have a flawless body of believers to edify. Not this side of our completed state. As my friend Carlos Whittaker says, we’re all crazier than we think we are. It’s a mess out there. Oh, for crying out loud, I’m a mess in here. But we do have a flawless Savior and we are indeed God’s chosen people, loved and planned for and accounted for in the Kingdom agenda. We’ve got to decide how we want to treat one another on this thorny journey. This verse says it well.
Beth, Houston. So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church. 1 Corinthians 14:12 ESV
There He says it: don’t just take a stab at it. Strive to excel in it.
Oh, Sisters, I love you so much. I truly do. I’ll talk to you soon!
Tags: Scripture Memory 2013
Titus 3:9 (NKJV)
But avoid foolish disputes, genealogies, contentions and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and useless.
“And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness.For example,we don’t know what God wants us to pray for.But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.”Romans 8:26,27 NLT
Desiree in Carlsbad
“Those who plant in tears will harvest with shouts of joy.
They weep as they go to plant their seed,
but they sing as they return with the harvest.”
~Psalm 126:5-6 (NLT)
Amy
Oklahoma
Exodus 14:14 – “The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”
Kristi, White Pigeon, MI – Exodus 14:14 “The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” NIV
Mandy, Bastrop
I will instruct you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye. Psalm 32:8 NIV
Cheryl, Austin: “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” Galatians 5:1 ESV
“For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end;”
Hebrews 3:14 NASB
Susan, Charleston, SC
salm 57:1 NIV
I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed.
Theresa from Tenaha, Texas
I DESIRE to do your will, O my God,
Your law is within my heart. Psalm 40:8 NIV
Quita from Trenton, Tx
KJV
11 Timothy 2:4
No man that warreth entangleth himself
with the affairs of this life:
that he may please him
who hath chosen him
to be a soldier.
Jessie Hurst
New Palestine Indiana
Colossians 2:7 “Let your roots grow down into Christ and draw up nourishment from Him, so you will grow in faith, strong and vigorous in the truth you were taught. Let your lives overflow with thanksgiving for all He has done”. (NLT)
Cindy K, Rock Hill, SC
All my longings lie open before You, Lord;
my sighing is not hidden from You.
Psalm 38:9 (NIV)
Madison, Ms
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.
Ephesians 4:2
NIV
Diane Seltzer from Chesapeake, VA.
” And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful.”
Colossians 3:15 NLT
Suzanne, Birmingham: “In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation.” Psalm 5:3 NIV
Fay, Ozark, NO
But Ruth replied,”Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Ruth 1:16 NIV
Becky, Chattanooga, TN
“So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.”
2 Corinthians 4:18 NLT
Natalie, Grand Prairie, TX
I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.
Ephesians 1:17 NIV
Michelle P., Cypress, TX
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23 ESV
Cheryl, Everett, Isaiah 55:11. “The same thing is true of the words I speak. They will not return to me empty. They make the things happen that I want to happen, and they succeed in doing what I send them to do.”
Susan, Wynne
“That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Cor 12:10 (NIV)
Beth, North Royalton, OH
1 Thessalonians 5:11 RSV
Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.
Kathi Nitzsche
Lexington, OH
Through Christ you have come to trust in God. And you have placed your faith and hope in God because He raised Christ from the dead and gave Him great glory.
1 Peter 1: 21 (NLT)
Remind me each morning of your constant love, for I put my trust in you. My prayers go up to you; show me the way I should go.
Psalm 143:8(GNT)
Janice from Abbeville, Al
“He yearns jealously over the spirit that He has made to dwell in us.”
James 4:5 (NKJV)
Irene, Clarksville, TN
Set your mind on things above, not on the things that are on the earth.
Colossians 3: 2 (NASB)
Mary
Silver Spring, MD
Joshua 1:9 (NIV)
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.
Evangeline, Loveland, CO
Avoid Godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly. 2 Timothy 2:16
Dawn, Dubuque, IA
“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” NIV 1 Thessalonians 5:16
Jill Leonhart, Amarillo, TX
“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy & dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, humility, gentleness, & patience.”
Colossians 3:12 (NIV)
Psalm 19:4b-6 NIV
“In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun,
which is like a bridegroom coming forth from his
pavilion, like a champion rejoicing to run his course.
It rises at one end of the heavens and
makes its circuit to the other;
nothing is hidden from its heat.”
Bette, Danville
Isaiah 64:4 NIV
Since ancient times no one has heard,
no ear has perceived,
no eye has seen any God besides you,
who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.
Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Romans 12:12 NIV
Tilley Hawkins from Franklin, TN
“Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?”
Luke 12:25 (NLT)
Lisa Lucas
Indianapolis, IN
NIV
Psalm 37:3-4
Trust in the Lord and do good;
dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
Delight yourself in the Lord
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
The Lord is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life— of whom shall I be afraid? (Psalm 27:1 NIV)
Kim Wilson Plano, TX
Rebecca, Chattanooga, TN
Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.
Psalm 20:7 ESV
Vanessa from Victoria, TX
“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands.” Psalm 19:1 NIV
Megan, from St. Louis
“I have set the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.”
Psalm 16:8, ESV
Sara, Plymouth,IN
You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.
1 John 4:4 (NIV)
Kimberly from Amarillo, TX
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.”
Isaiah 43:1b ESV
Suzie, Wenona, Maryland: Come, let us return to the Lord. For He has torn us, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bandage us. Hosea 6:1 NASB
Mary, Concord, NC: But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure, then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. James 3:17 NIV
Janie from Warner Robins, GA
Praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord from the heavens;
praise him in the heights above.
Praise him, all his angels;
praise him, all his heavenly hosts.
Psalm 148:1-2 NIV
Melissa from Flemington, NJ. Colossians 3:12, “Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering.” KJV.
Kelli, Dover
And He brought us out from there, that He might bring us in and give us the land that He swore to give to our fathers.
Deuteronomy 6:23(ESV)
“A new commandment I give to you,
that you love one another as I have loved you,
that you also love one another!”
John 13:34 NKJ
Emily McAnear, Corona California
You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast because they trust in you.
Isaiah 26:3, NIV
Deborah from Calgary Alberta – Ephesians 3:20 -21 (NIV). Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.