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
Leigh, Houston
Psalm 90:14
Satisfy us in the morning with your faithful love so that we may shout with joy and be glad all our days.
Isaiah 54:13 ESV
“All your children shall be taught by the LORD, and great shall be the peace (shalom) of your children.”
Pam, Washington, DC
Proverbs 3:11-12
11 Do not despise the discipline of Yahweh, my child.
Do not be weary of his reproof
12 because whomever Yahweh will love, he will rebuke,
as a father delights in his son.
Kelly, Denton, TX
“I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in His word I put my hope. I wait for the Lord, more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning.”
Psalm 130:5-6 (NIV)
(memory verse for May 1st and 15th)
So we fix our eyes not on what is seen but what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary but what is unseen is eternal!
2 Corinthians 4:18 (NIV)
“in you, Lord my God, I put my trust.” Psalms 25:1 Niv
Brooke- Dallas
Crystal from Warren, PA
Psalms 51:10 (NLT)
Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me.
Sharon from Gainesville, Georgia. (The Message)
James 4:4-5. You’re cheating yourself if all you want is your own way., flirting wih the world every chance you get. You will end of enemies with God and His Way.
Cheya, Houston. “that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being,” Ephesians 3:16 ESV
Janice, Tulsa. My dearly loved brothers, understand this: Everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger, for man’s anger does not accomplish God’s righteousness. James 1:19-20 (HCSB)
Jamie’s
Corbin,Ky
He who did not spare His own son, but gave Him up for us all- how will He not also along with Him, graciously give us all things ? Romans 8:32NIV
stacey, tomball, Psalm 103:10 NIV
he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.
Thanks goodness
Dawn, Beavercreek, OH
“So remember this and keep it firmly in mind: The Lord is God both in heaven and on earth, and there is no other.”
Deuteronomy 4:39 (NLT)
verse 9 – Isaiah 54:10 NIV “Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,” says the Lord, who has compassion on you.”
“My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure hoomes, in places of undisturbed rest.” (Is. 32:18 NIV)
Sarah H.
Conroe, TX
Isaiah 40:27 NIV
Why do you complain, Jacob?
Why do you say, Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord;
my cause is disregarded by my God”?
Annalee in Houston
Resist him, standing firm in the faith,
because you know that your brothers throughout the world
are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
I Peter 5:9
Amanda The Colony, TX
Galatians6:9 NLT “So let’s not get tired of going what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.”
Be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be known to God, and the peace of Gd which surpasses all understanding will guard your hears and minds in Christ Jesus
Phil 4:6-7
Brigette Brock
Morehead, KY
It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs.
1Cor. 13: 5
NIV84
“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Romans 8:1 (NIV)
Laura. Katy, TX. If your Law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction . Ps. 119:92. NIV
If you say, The Lord is my refuge and you make the Mist Hugh your dwelling, no harm will come near your tent.
Psalm 91:9-10. NIV
Abilene, TX
Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him. Psalm 34:8 NIV
Emma, Conifer, Colorado
Hebrews 13:8 (NIV)
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Arminda in Salt Lake City, Utah
In the multitude of words sin is not lacking.
But he who restrains his lips is wise.
Proverbs 10:19 NKJV
Ivy Morrison, Willis TX
Acts 17:27 NIV
“God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.”
Gonna play catch up on all my verse posts today, sorry – spent my summer moving!! READY to catch back up!
Jude9 Niv
But even the archangel Michael when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses did not dare bring a slanderous accusation against him, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”
NKJV, 2 Tim 2:3: “You must than endure hardships as good solider of Jesus Christ.”.
Patti from La Porte
“He provided redemption for his people;
he ordained his covenant forever-
holy and awesome is his name.”
Psalm 111: 9 NIV
Allyson
League City TX
Psalm 86:7 ESV
“In the day of my trouble I call upon You, for You answer me.”
Lauren Morton, Decatur, TX – Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature. – Romans 13:14 NIV84
Jill from Oak Ridge, TN
Even there you hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. Psalm 139:10 NIV
Karen from Woodstock Ontario
Philippians 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything.but in every situation by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving present your requests to God (NIV)
Concetta, White Oak, Psalms 37:37, (NLT), “Look at those who are honest and good, for a wonderful future awaits those who love peace.”
Those who fear The Lord will rest secure; He will be a refuge for their children. Fear of The Lord is a life-giving fountain; it offers escape from the snares of death. Prov 4:26-27, NLT
Laura
Auburn AL
Proverbs 3:7-8
Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones. (ESV)
Psalm 103:5-6
Who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. The Lord works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. Esv
Kaci from Norman, ok
Amber, Huntington, IN – The steadfast love of The Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; Lamentations 3:22 ESV
Kathy French, Austin
“Good and upright is the LORD; therefore He teaches sinners in His ways. He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them His way. All the ways of the LORD are loving and faithful to those who keep the demands of His covenant.” Psalm 25:8-10
Karina
Baton Rouge, La.
“Yes Lord, walking in the way of Your truth, we wait eagerly for You; for Your name and Your renown are the desire of our souls.”
Isaiah 26:8
NIV
“Heights by great guys achieved and kept have been not acquired by sudden flight but, although their companions slept, they have been toiling upward in the night.”
Jana, Tampa, FL
For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
Colossians 3:3 NIV
Allison, Jersey Village
Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
1 John 4:8
Anna in Mobile, AL
For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.
Matthew 11:30 NIV
Lynchburg, VA.
Romans 12:12 (English Standard Version)
Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.
Ashley, Kingwood
“Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a right, persevering and steadfast spirit within me.”
Psalm 51:10 AMP
Miriam from Granby, CT
Romans 5:1 (ESV)
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Joy, Bethlehem, GA
Psalm 119:105 NIV
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
hope all have a safe holiday… here is my verse…1Corn. 16:14
Let all your things be done with Charity… amen…