Not Without Drama

Today is our official ‘away’ date.  However, there is the small matter found last night of a water pump or some such thing that needs fixing in the car…I suppose we should be grateful that Matt can fix it himself instead of having to book it in to a shop before we leave.  Our ETA was 9am, but has been delayed till probably 1pm…if the store has the part.  Then we stop off in Townsville, camp in Rockhampton, with a layover on the Sunshine coast, and then on to Brisbane and the airport…well, that’s the plan anyways.

Reflections

Our official move out date is April 9th…2 days short of exactly 2 years of living in our little house on the beach. 

Our time in that house has felt like a clean out.  The four years previous were a huge time of growth for us.  They were a heavy slog at times, where God kept us in our discomfort zone in order to mould us and chip off some rough edges.  But I think you will often find, those times of intense growth tend to fertilize a little bit of baggage.  The human in me could not help but grow a few extra chips on its shoulder.  And so, these past two years have felt like a big clean out.  God has brought me to a place where I can be content again, no matter what the situation…well, almost.  We have no idea what is to follow, but eagerly await the steps before us.  We’ve been walking blind for the past two years, knowing that our time in the house was temporary, but not knowing why, and now I find myself expectant of what God will do next because we have no job and no place to live…what the?!  More faith exercising…I sometimes feel like I’m running out of breath from it, but never seem to…

And Away We Go!

…Well, sort of.  We’ve got tickets booked to the States for the end of April, and Matt will be finishing his job shortly.  Because we will be travelling for over a month and Matt doesn’t have a job we are going to give up our house on the beach.  Oh and we are having another baby by the way.  Why does God keep doing things this way.  I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s exciting, but we keep ending up in these vulnerable positions, mostly when we are about to have a baby.

When I was pregnant with Seth and about to go on maternity leave, Matt called me up at work and told me he needed to resign, and he is not the type to leave a job if he doesn’t have another one lined up.  But in this case he was so stressed he couldn’t stay, so I knew it was important he leave the job.  And there we found ourselves -neither of us working and about to have a baby…I don’t recommend it, but in our case it was definitely a God thing.  For the past couple of years we had been talking about moving about an hour north, but were never able to because we both had work in town and there isn’t much work north.  But since we found ourselves suddenly in a position where we could go, we decided to.  And God confirmed this to us by giving us such a peace that we should not have had considering the position we were in.  Another confirmation came when we rang our landlords to say thanks for being such great landlords and they informed us they had a place about an hour and a half north on the beach not doing anything and they had recently wanted to rent it and asked if we would like it for cheap rent…what the…and that’s how we have found ourselves living on the beach for the past 2 years.  It’s been great, but a new baby seems to symbolize a bigger change than just the size of our family and so we find ourselves in that place again.  God has been signalling to us for about a year that change was coming so we’ve just been waiting for it.

(Interesting side note: when we first moved here I asked God to give me a bible verse/s about what was coming up next for us, and I felt to read the very end of Acts, not knowing what it was.  It reads as follows ‘For two whole years Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him.  Boldly and without hindrance he preached the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ.’  I had ignored the part that said ‘for two whole years’ cause I thought that was a little too specific, but when we leave here it will be 2 years almost to the day…interesting)

Over the past year and a half we have struggled and changed and grown and struggled.  I have battled with being content and being a mother.  And we find ourselves in a place of peace and contentment (most of the time).  Even though I can actually see the change coming now, I have no frustration in waiting for it.  I’m finding it quite easy to sit back and let God do what God is going to do…it’s a really good place to be.  And since God’s in the drivers seat, I have no idea where we are going…and I don’t need to.  I can just sit back and enjoy the ride.

Set Your Heart on Things Above

We find ourselves in a familiar place.  A place of uncertainty.  It’s an exciting place, but also full of it’s own stresses.  A place where we need to ‘set our hearts on things above’ as Paul states in Colossians 3:1.  It’s too easy to look at the world around us and worry about the things of this world.  But we are trying to remember that as Christians we are not slaves to the circumstances of this world, and so we strive to set our hearts on things above.

It’s familiar but uncertain which almost seems like an oxymoron.  Everything is about to change, but we can’t see past our toes.  God hasn’t lit the path past each step that we’ve taken over the past year, but He has never led us astray before.  We should be full of faith constantly, knowing that God has never let us down.  But there is that ever present voice that says ‘maybe He will this time’.  Why is faith like that.  It’s a muscle that needs to be exercised or else it diminishes.  And so God has put weights on our faith…again…(since we are often too afraid to do it ourselves…can we not help but be grateful?)

And so here we find ourselves putting one foot in front of the other because the only other choice we have is to stand still and we were not made for that.  Time to hold our breath, close our eyes and jump when He says jump.

Communion

This past Sunday I spoke for communion.  We celebrate communion every other week at my church so it can some times be difficult to speak on something new…here’s what I said…

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When we celebrate communion, we are celebrating the sacrifice that Jesus made for us through his death and resurrection. We aspire to have an understanding of what it cost Jesus, to ‘feel’ something of that sacrifice. But today I want to look at this celebration from a different direction. As Christians, it costs us something to be in relationship with Jesus, but what cost are we really willing to pay? How often do we offer something that costs us very little.

In 2 Samuel 24 King David is building an alter and needs a few supplies. He goes to see a man named Araunah who tells the King to take whatever he likes, and offers him some animals to sacrifice as well, and this is David’s reply in verse 24:

But the king replied to Araunah “No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.”

Are we sacrificing ‘burnt offerings’ to God that cost us nothing? Jesus sacrificed everything for us. In return are we offering him the very least of ourselves?

In saying all of this, when we talk about paying a price, it tends to have a negative connotation, but as we reflect on what our relationship with Jesus is costing us, I want to suggest that it is something to celebrate as much as we celebrate the sacrifice that Jesus made for us, and here is why.

Luke 6:38 says:  Give and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap.

When we give of ourselves to God – that – is how he gives back to us. So let’s stop and think about what we receive back when it costs us the bare minimum. When we do only just enough to become a Christian and no more...what do we receive? We get eternal life… how’s that for pressed down and shaken together. So now imagine what God could do with your life if you gave it fully over to Him.

Jesus said in John 10:10:  I have come that they may have life and life to the full.

Not that we ‘will’ have life to the full but that we ‘may’. So today I want us all to ask ourselves one question...What else can it cost me?

As I was preparing for communion I thought I had better ask myself that question before I stand up here and ask you to. And at the time the answer was time. I had been really slack about spending enough time reading my bible and praying. And so when I found myself about to turn on the TV or get on the internet, I’d stop and pick up my bible. Even though I didn’t want to every time, it helped me to remember that it’s supposed to cost me something. So today, what does it need to cost you? Maybe it’s finances. You haven’t been paying tithes regularly and God is speaking to you about that, or it may go beyond that into giving as a lifestyle. Maybe it needs to cost you a boyfriend or girlfriend (I was going to say ‘non Christian’ but it can be a Christian who is keeping you from growing in your relationship with God as well). It might be a job or a career. Perhaps it’s security. God wants you to step out in faith and you are afraid. There is always something more we can give to God of ourselves.

I’m going to pray and then we will share communion, and as we continue to worship, take the time to ask God what else it needs to be costing you. And keep in mind this is not a once off thing. This is something we should be doing on a regular basis. Lets receive from Jesus the ‘life to the full’ that he has come to bring us.