Today, the plan will be to abide in Christ.
From John 15:
Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do NOTHING.
At times in my life, abiding seems to come so easily to me, and at other times, it seems out of reach. Why do I spend so much time struggling and striving to find my way on my own, apart from the power of God? I feel so discombobulated, so strung out when I'm out there trying to do anything apart from Christ. Even going to the grocery store can be a challenge done apart from Christ. I need his power in all things. Either I believe this or I don't believe it.
What I say I believe is not what I believe...what I believe is what I do.
Lord, let what I do today...be to abide in you.
Monday, December 5, 2011
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Inside Outside Upside Down Kingdom
Dar's thoughts on...
Philippians 2
In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus, (is this even possible for us as humans, to really have the same mindset as Christ Jesus in our relationships? even in those relationships that get on our nerves? what would that look like if we did? if we truly understood what that really meant? Lord, come in your power and give us the power to have peace in our relationships on earth as it is in heaven.)
Who, being in very nature GOD (what?? He was God but he laid it all down so that he could come and know me? So that we could know him and the freedom that comes in a relationship with him? So that he could know our sufferings?)
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
rather he made himself nothing (and was born in a barn among stinking animals in a little known town called Bethlehem! There was no place for him to lay his head even as a baby.)
by taking the very nature of a servant, (we say that we want to follow in Christ's footsteps and become a servant, until we are really treated like one...then we don't like it!)
being made in human likeness. (with all of our weaknesses and imperfections and strivings)
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death,
even death on a cross! (and death on a tree was the lowest form of death there could be for a Jew. My mind cannot even fathom where Jesus went for us. I can't even imagine an earthly king doing something like this, much less GOD, the God of the universe stepping down to be with us.)
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name
that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the Glory of God the Father.
...continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.
--
Lord Jesus, thank you for giving me the place in life where I can be a true servant. Even though, honestly, it's really annoying to be treated like a servant. I want to be where you are Jesus. If my God could give up his throne to come to the earth and be a servant, how much more do I need to do the same? Unfortunately, I don't have the strength to be able to do that! I just want to be in charge, to run things, to make my goals and vision be made known. Lord let me be a servant as you were a servant. If even just for a moment, let me catch a glimpse of what that looks like. It's not going to be a fun day at Disneyland as I learn what this means, and I accept that. Refine me God, take me through the fire.
Philippians 2
In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus, (is this even possible for us as humans, to really have the same mindset as Christ Jesus in our relationships? even in those relationships that get on our nerves? what would that look like if we did? if we truly understood what that really meant? Lord, come in your power and give us the power to have peace in our relationships on earth as it is in heaven.)
Who, being in very nature GOD (what?? He was God but he laid it all down so that he could come and know me? So that we could know him and the freedom that comes in a relationship with him? So that he could know our sufferings?)
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
rather he made himself nothing (and was born in a barn among stinking animals in a little known town called Bethlehem! There was no place for him to lay his head even as a baby.)
by taking the very nature of a servant, (we say that we want to follow in Christ's footsteps and become a servant, until we are really treated like one...then we don't like it!)
being made in human likeness. (with all of our weaknesses and imperfections and strivings)
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death,
even death on a cross! (and death on a tree was the lowest form of death there could be for a Jew. My mind cannot even fathom where Jesus went for us. I can't even imagine an earthly king doing something like this, much less GOD, the God of the universe stepping down to be with us.)
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name
that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the Glory of God the Father.
...continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.
--
Lord Jesus, thank you for giving me the place in life where I can be a true servant. Even though, honestly, it's really annoying to be treated like a servant. I want to be where you are Jesus. If my God could give up his throne to come to the earth and be a servant, how much more do I need to do the same? Unfortunately, I don't have the strength to be able to do that! I just want to be in charge, to run things, to make my goals and vision be made known. Lord let me be a servant as you were a servant. If even just for a moment, let me catch a glimpse of what that looks like. It's not going to be a fun day at Disneyland as I learn what this means, and I accept that. Refine me God, take me through the fire.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Excerpts from Ephesians 4:
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace.
It was he who gave some to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.
INSTEAD, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the head--CHRIST.
From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
I am longing for the day when we as a body of Christ can truly work together out of the bond of peace. I am so tired of being tossed here and there by every wave that comes in life. I want to know the fullness of Christ. I want to be strongly rooted in him and in his mighty power. I want more. It's so hard to want more, because through wanting more, we are asking for some rough and challenging times. I feel like it's only in the depths of challenge and heartache where we truly learn to live this life. Where we truly learn to discover who God has made us to be. In the midst of heartache and struggle we learn to know who God really is and who we really are.
I often think that our view of God is too small. When we pray for something, and he doesn't answer, what does that really mean? Do we really think that God is going to work how we want him to work? What does it say about God when something horrible happens...or we find out that something horrible happened to someone we love dearly. Where was God in that?
Through this whole support raising process I am learning that God is giving us the exact amount of money that we need each month to learn to truly cling to him and his provision for us. We have exactly what he wants us to have so that we can grow in our faith and in our understanding of who he is in our lives.
Just because we give it all for God doesn't mean that we automatically get some kind of orb of protection put around us. I often think, "God, we put it all in for you...why did this happen??" I guess God says in those moments that there is even more that we need to put in for him. More of ourselves that need to be shaved off, more refining that needs to happen in our spirits, so that we can be mature and complete, lacking nothing.
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace.
It was he who gave some to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.
INSTEAD, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the head--CHRIST.
From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
I am longing for the day when we as a body of Christ can truly work together out of the bond of peace. I am so tired of being tossed here and there by every wave that comes in life. I want to know the fullness of Christ. I want to be strongly rooted in him and in his mighty power. I want more. It's so hard to want more, because through wanting more, we are asking for some rough and challenging times. I feel like it's only in the depths of challenge and heartache where we truly learn to live this life. Where we truly learn to discover who God has made us to be. In the midst of heartache and struggle we learn to know who God really is and who we really are.
I often think that our view of God is too small. When we pray for something, and he doesn't answer, what does that really mean? Do we really think that God is going to work how we want him to work? What does it say about God when something horrible happens...or we find out that something horrible happened to someone we love dearly. Where was God in that?
Through this whole support raising process I am learning that God is giving us the exact amount of money that we need each month to learn to truly cling to him and his provision for us. We have exactly what he wants us to have so that we can grow in our faith and in our understanding of who he is in our lives.
Just because we give it all for God doesn't mean that we automatically get some kind of orb of protection put around us. I often think, "God, we put it all in for you...why did this happen??" I guess God says in those moments that there is even more that we need to put in for him. More of ourselves that need to be shaved off, more refining that needs to happen in our spirits, so that we can be mature and complete, lacking nothing.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Columbus Home y más
Looking forward to going back to my Columbus home. I am ultra excited about this year coming up. I am looking forward this next chapter in our lives. Yesterday I was listening to a message on-line and the preacher said that Faith isn't the absence of doubt, but rather it's the act of moving forward in the face of doubt and fear. Just because fear and doubt exist doesn't mean that we lack faith. I am ready to jump into the next phase of our lives that God has for us. I don't want to just go through the motions of life and never really live.
I hope to get more involved with the Latino/Hispanic community in Columbus this coming school year. I am excited to learn more about what God is doing in that area of our city.
This summer I have learned that God has given me a great confidence in speaking Spanish. I think I've been waiting for this moment for the last 14 years since I started learning Spanish. It's not that I've reached a point where I know it all, but I just feel a new comfort around Spanish speakers that I haven't felt before. I feel sure of my abilities and sure that I can communicate in a myriad of different situations without getting stuck.
I've also learned this summer more about being a good mommy. I've learned to involve Adah in what I do, and try to focus on her world and what she's learning more and more. She's 16 months old now, which is amazing. I still think sometimes how blessed I am to be Adah's mommy. She fills my day with so much joy and accomplishment. Having her here in the midst of so many people who love her too is a beautiful thing to watch. I'm going to miss the companionship of being able to walk out my door and have so much and so many people for Adah to explore.
Something else that I have realized is what a blessing it is to be a part of all that God is doing to save lives here in Rosarito and Tijuana. Through my service, people's lives are being changed. Although I'm doing the grueling and tedious background work the majority of the time, I am able to derive so much joy out of that because I know what the end result is.
Praise the Lord for another amazing summer!
I hope to get more involved with the Latino/Hispanic community in Columbus this coming school year. I am excited to learn more about what God is doing in that area of our city.
This summer I have learned that God has given me a great confidence in speaking Spanish. I think I've been waiting for this moment for the last 14 years since I started learning Spanish. It's not that I've reached a point where I know it all, but I just feel a new comfort around Spanish speakers that I haven't felt before. I feel sure of my abilities and sure that I can communicate in a myriad of different situations without getting stuck.
I've also learned this summer more about being a good mommy. I've learned to involve Adah in what I do, and try to focus on her world and what she's learning more and more. She's 16 months old now, which is amazing. I still think sometimes how blessed I am to be Adah's mommy. She fills my day with so much joy and accomplishment. Having her here in the midst of so many people who love her too is a beautiful thing to watch. I'm going to miss the companionship of being able to walk out my door and have so much and so many people for Adah to explore.
Something else that I have realized is what a blessing it is to be a part of all that God is doing to save lives here in Rosarito and Tijuana. Through my service, people's lives are being changed. Although I'm doing the grueling and tedious background work the majority of the time, I am able to derive so much joy out of that because I know what the end result is.
Praise the Lord for another amazing summer!
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Difficult for different reasons
So each week here seems to bring its own challenges. Isn't that how life is, though? This week has been rough because last Saturday we said goodbye to Matt and Amanda and Jeremy. Also Bill Drake was here last week, which was such a blessing. We had an amazing dinner at our favorite restaurant in Puerto Nuevo. They have tortillas the size of pizzas, and they taste amazing! We have one team here from New York, as well as two guys from Canada. Thinking about heading back to Columbus is starting to make me feel a little nervous, just because I know that this fall is going to be different for us, and what awaits us beyond the fall is exciting to think about, but it's also an unknown!
Adah is growing so much...today I think she babbled non-stop. She does this weird sound where it sounds like she's a motorcycle revving up, like "a-nun-nun-nun-nun." Then she makes another sound, "neener, neener, neener..." And she makes the sounds so loud sometimes! She is definitely going to be a talker. She talks to me all the time. Sometimes she's just babbling, then other times it seems like she's really telling you something, with the correct sentence intonation and everything. I think the thing that I need to pay attention to now is keeping my eye on her all the time still. Since she's a little more independent now, it's easy to just kind of let her do her own thing, then you realize she has a crayon in her hand, is unrolling the toilet paper, or worse, getting into some kind of trouble that she shouldn't be in.
We're flying home on August 29th. Katie is coming to hang out with us for a few days before we fly home. It will be great to have her help on the plane!!!
Adah is growing so much...today I think she babbled non-stop. She does this weird sound where it sounds like she's a motorcycle revving up, like "a-nun-nun-nun-nun." Then she makes another sound, "neener, neener, neener..." And she makes the sounds so loud sometimes! She is definitely going to be a talker. She talks to me all the time. Sometimes she's just babbling, then other times it seems like she's really telling you something, with the correct sentence intonation and everything. I think the thing that I need to pay attention to now is keeping my eye on her all the time still. Since she's a little more independent now, it's easy to just kind of let her do her own thing, then you realize she has a crayon in her hand, is unrolling the toilet paper, or worse, getting into some kind of trouble that she shouldn't be in.
We're flying home on August 29th. Katie is coming to hang out with us for a few days before we fly home. It will be great to have her help on the plane!!!
Monday, August 9, 2010
Holy moments
This morning I had the incredible opportunity of leading worship for the team of 11 that are here this week from New York. We held the worship/Bible study in the newly re-designed staff lounge. It was one of those holy moments for me, when something of heaven touches earth. We had people of Chinese, Pakistani, Cambodian, American, Canadian heritage there in that room, all worshipping in unison the one and only God.
"Missions exists because worship does not."
--John Piper
"Missions exists because worship does not."
--John Piper
Friday, June 4, 2010
June 2010 Newsletter
Well the time has come once again. Time for us to pack up say our good-byes and get ready for another crazy amazing summer of service in Tijuana! As some of you may know since we’ve been doing this in 2006 we were able to pack up our vehicle, a Jeep Liberty, and take a long yet fun drive across our wonderful country from Ohio to California. This year with our beautiful addition we’ve decided to both fly down to San Diego instead. We don’t think for Adah that long of a trip would be the best way for us to travel. Pray that we’ll have a pretty non-eventful trip you know, no delays, Adah adjusts well to the new environment, etc… We will be leaving on June 11th at 6am. We hope to be all packed up by Tuesday of this coming week. The summer season of outreach begins on June 13 and ends on August 21. We will probably be staying beyond the outreaches for a few days or weeks to debrief, rest, and meet with people there.
This summer brings a new position for both of us. We are now officially going to take on a position as Outreach Directors. It’s so amazing to see where God has led us the last 4 years that we’ve been involved with YUGO. When we first went to take part in the outreaches, we just wanted to do whatever God wanted us to do…we really didn’t have any plans. Now he has given us the ability to lead others in a really powerful way. The whole time we have worked with YUGO, our goal has been for unity. We are driven by Jesus’ prayer for us in John 17: 20-23:
“I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me…may they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”
This has been at the core of what we do when we’re in Mexico. We put almost all of our effort into maintaining the bond of peace and love amongst the staff, the team members that come from the US, and the Mexicans that we have the privilege to work with. We have seen that as we love each other and serve together, we are able to show the world God’s love. So often in the Church and as Christians I think we don’t realize how much our love for each other really needs to be at the center of what we do. When Jesus prayed to God in the above passage, this was at the center of his heart, and we strive to make it the center of the ministry that God has entrusted us with.
We wish there was enough space here to fill you in on all that will happen this summer and all that we hope to see God do in us and through us. We could probably fill many pages!! We hope to update our blog (and Facebook!) as much as is humanly possible throughout the summer to try and fill you in on the details of things as they happen! One of the most exciting things this summer will be our Mexicanos a Mexicanos (Mexican to Mexican) outreach week during the last week of July. During this week, we will be bringing in Mexican youth from the Tijuana area. We will be training them and sending them out as teams into the local communities to reach their city for Christ. It is an amazing and humbling thing to watch God use us to empower the local people to reach their own people for Christ!
Our prayer for you is that the Lord would richly bless you as you pursue Him and His will. I have discovered lately that life is all about relationships. Our relationship with God first, then our relationship with others. I think that relationships are all that really matter in this life. It is through our relationship with God that we are able to find strength. It is through our relationship with others that we are lifted up, are able to serve, and most importantly, are able to point people to HIM.
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