SMOKE SIGNALS

I heard a song recently by Red titled “Let it Burn”.  The emotion of the song was undeniable.  I immediately thought of a couple places in the Bible.  Times when people were experiencing such pain and anguish that they literally cried out to God asking, “Where are you?!?!”  I think of where David cries out in Psalms, and in Revelation where through moments of sadness and despair, the communication with God is raw, real, and without filter.  Read a couple of the passages below and watch the video.  Comments welcome.  

“Why, Lord, do you reject me and hide your face from me?” -Psalms 88:14

“And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?”  - Revelation 6:10 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ehr4MnAWd30

Christian or not, I’m curious to hear feedback.  

 

• It’s sweet when someone remembers every little detail about you, not because you keep reminding them…but because they pay attention #LOVE 

• Real men don’t love the most beautiful girl in the world; they love the girl who can make their world the most beautiful. #LOVE

• Relationships are like glass. Sometimes it’s better to leave them broken than try to hurt yourself putting it back together. #LOVE

• Everyone should focus on making their lives & the lives of others better, not worse. That’s love. #LOVE

• Love someone for who they are not for who you want them to be. #LOVE

I think we all have an opinion about love….what would your tweet be?

Check out this clip about how men and women differ in their views of romance….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGoC8FTLKSI

Sooo….I got this in an email from my wife this morning.  Many of you know we have been searching for a house for a while now.  My wife is a genius. 

So I was bantering with God this morning asking him why in the world we can’t just find a house already. And then, he put this thought in my head…  

Once upon a me there was a little girl named Kyleigh and a little boy named Justin. Their father told them, “Eat all your meat and all your vegetables, please.” So they ate all of their hamburger. But they didn’t want to eat all of their vegetables. It wasn’t their favorite and they wanted to make sure they had room for dessert. They thought, “well, if we finish our dessert and we still have room…then we will eat all of our vegetables”. Their father came back into the room. They asked, “Can we have our dessert now?”.  Their father then said,

“You didn’t eat your meat and vegetables like I asked you to. You can have your dessert when you finished what I first asked you to do.”

Why did I think of this stupid story?? Well, I was thinking about what you said. How we need to go back to what we first felt. When we first decided to get off our rears and start listening to God’s whispers the very first thing he told us was GET RID OF YOUR DEBT. Then we felt he was telling us to SELL OUR HOUSE. The meat and vegetables, right? We have this money in our account that we are saving for our house that we don’t have. We keep saying, well maybe we will need it for our next house so let’s not pay off the car yet…

Maybe God is saying we can’t have our dessert until we finish our meal.

Iron melts at around 2800 degrees.  You know how hot the water is when it’s boiling on the stove?  Yeah…take that TIMES 13!  So you get it…about the time when Iron is melting…it’s safe to say you don’t want to be standing there. The core of good ‘ol Mother Earth is molten iron!  A MOON-SIZED ball of fire.  Yeah, it’s hot.  LITERALLY—IT’S ON FIRE!  The iron rotates at the core of the earth…and not only is it’s heat radiating out, but the rotation of this liquid metal helps create a magnetic field some say.  This magnetic field makes tools like to compass work, helping us navigate.

The way the iron rotates at the core seems similar to situations in our lives.  There are always situations around us that seem to be the HOTSPOT of our lives at the time, or even for the week.  It’s what our attention is focused on, and the situation keeps rotating, swirling, and seems to not lose any heat.  All the while…the lava is burning us.  We don’t realize it because we’re caught up in it…and don’t worry if we’re getting a sunburn.  Each “swirling iron core” in our lives is also creating a magnetic pole.  It’s a pole of morals.  No matter what, if we would just look at our compass, we could see what direction we’re going.  Do you even carry your compass with you? Do you even know how to use one?  Or is it easier to do nothing, and let the situation define you?

In 1866 my great, great, great grandfather Franz came to America on a boat from Germany.  I don’t know much about his family in Germany yet…but I’m certain that I want to learn.  I think that it is awesome to know about your family history.  5 generations later, I don’t know what kind of man Franz Reinig was.  Here is what I do know. 

Franz & family settled on CR 40, in a place they called Barker.  Modern day…we call it Waterloo, Indiana.  It’s crazy to think that over generations our family wasn’t taken further from where we were planted in America.  What I know about his direct discendants tells me that we haven’t drifted too far spiritually either.  It is scary to think about how far you CAN drift from your roots in just a couple of generations!  Yet when you look at some families…it’s amazing to see their devotion to their roots. 

Abraham was David’s great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandpa.  14 generations from “Father Abraham” to “King David”.  Although throughout thier descendants they strayed, how crazy to think that what Abraham did with his life and family would affect David in some way….14 generations later. 

If you knew 14 generations back in your family heritage…would you thank them for the direction that your family has taken over the years?  Each generation has the choice of how they will handle “taking the wheel” of direction of the family.  In 14 generations, will they thank you for bringing the family closer to God?  I firmly believe that memories of me will be forgotten, but the God-loving legacy I will leave will only take my family closer to Christ. 

There were 14 generations between Abraham and David.  There were 14 generations between David and Babylonian exile.  There were (you guessed it!) 14 generations between Babylon and JESUS.  42 generations between Abraham and Jesus.

I would love to think that 42 generations from now, people will remember me.  Most likely they will not.  So what’s the purpose of building my own kingdom of possessions and money?     

BOTTOM LINE…they WILL remember God in 42 generations.  I will do everything in my power to ensure that.  Will you?

What is it for anyway?!?!  God, I was better off without you!

Ever been there?  First, your curious about God, and even see it as your hope, your stabilizing force…  Second, you know that you’re on a journey closer to Him, and you’ve made the decision to make a step change in your faith.  Somewhere on that journey, WHAM!  Out of nowhere, you realize that the situation that you’re in is heavier than you can carry on your own.  THAT’S THE POINT!

You made the decision to leave a place in your life that you thought was ‘fertile ground’, to go to a place that was even more ‘fertile’….but you feel that the distance between these two on the journey is desert filled with LaNdMiNeS!!!  It’s in this time…that we’ve found “the land between”.  The truth is, although we feel that the bookends of our journey are the most fertile….God wants us to know that this desert we’re in is fertile too!  And actually…it’s where he is doing the most cultivating in our heart!!!

IT’S NOT A LIGHTSWITCH! Your heart can change immediately, but your life is tougher.  We think that it’s a magic token, but its actually a decision to let God work in your life and cultivate awesomeness!!!!

1.  Where are you?  Are you in the land between?  Are you reluctant to start the journey?

2.  What parts of your life do you think God is doing some farmin’? 

3.  Are there times in your life that have made you question how fertile the desert is?