Home (reposted)

Author's Note:  As I am returning from vacation, I chose this post from the archives about the glory of coming home.  One of the most frequent spiritual questions my pastor husband is asked is, "What will Heaven be like?"  I think the best answer to that is, "Like returning from a long trip to the home you love."  I pray you are blessed today as you ponder your eternal home.

Growing up in West Texas meant cotton fields and burnt grass and thunderstorms and sunsets that reached from one end of the horizon to the other. It meant dried up tank beds and pump jacks and incessant wind. It meant tractors and cows, boots and skirts, and slow-talking men in donut shops who still went out of their way to open the door for a lady. It meant mesquites for trees, cactus for flowers, and rain showers being the cause for celebrations featuring children in swimsuits running wildly through brown yards and neighbors gathering on porches giving thanks. It meant unlocked doors, Friday night football games, and Sunday afternoon naps after church. It meant catching horned toads and going barefoot and staying out until it got dark. It meant sweet tea and chicken-fried steak, pecan pie and rib-eyes, and gourmet being something that had a sprig of parsley on the side. It meant people whose hearts were as wide open as the sky.

The older I get, the more I realize this land is in my blood. When I come home after being away, I breathe easier and my smile comes faster. Home, with all its faults, is right here where my heart leaps.

And then I find myself wondering, what will this land be like when He comes and makes all things new? How will it reflect His beauty then? What part of Him will be newly birthed in the fields, the trees, the wind? Will I recognize my homeland and all my old lanes of memory, or will I need a welcome tour?

And I find a prayer on my lips that when the time comes, He will take my hand and show me how it was meant to be, the old passed away and the new wine running free.

Collide (reposted)

Author's Note:  As I am vacationing this week, this post was dusted off from the archives and is offered to you as some "recycled" treasure.  I chose this piece as my heart grieved for the fires that rage again this summer, this time in my favorite vacation state--Colorado.  Please join me in prayer for the fires in Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming to be put out and for the rain of the Spirit of God to fall upon our nation.

Our friends' ranch burned this week. The horses were saved, the buildings spared, but all the land is charred. And another friend's home threatened, and then another. Wildfires are raging in our West Texas countryside, and the church now has a line-item in the budget labeled "Hotel Rooms for Fire Evacuees." We can often smell the smoke in town, sometimes even see ash fall as we walk to the car and go about our normal routine. Our world is normal, while our friends have been thrown into chaos, everything they have built being threatened by fire.


And in the middle of it, sometime around two in the morning, I sat in the back yard, willing the rain storm I could see in the west to please come our way and collide with the huge orange glow south of town.


Collide.


Won't you come, Lord? Won't you bring the power of who You are and collide with the fires that rage in the earth? Won't you cause Your presence to rain upon the mess we have made, bringing life where we have caused destruction?


I sat for almost an hour, and I couldn't help but stretch my arms out to the sky and with one hand touch the storm and with the other hand touch the fire and with both hands push. Push them together and pray. I prayed the collision that began 2,000 years ago with a baby born in the manger would continue in my life and in the lives of my children and in the lives of my neighbors being ravaged by the drought and the heat and the winds. And I prayed that I would bring the collision, that I would carry it with me and unleash it upon the works of the enemy. I prayed that my life would bring the power of who He is to the fires that rage in the earth and that I would rain His presence, bringing life to those who need to drink of Him.

Impossible?

The most beautiful experiences of my life have involved the impossible being brought into existence.

It was impossible for a girl who came from a broken home to grow up to have a healthy marriage, but she does. 

It was impossible for my heart to be freed from self-consciousness and embrace the beauty of who God made me to be, but it has.

It was impossible for my body to function normally after years of suffering disease, but it does.

It was impoossible for that person in my life to become a follower of Jesus, but they are.

It was impossible for four children to live lives that are such exquisite examples of the goodness of God, but they do.

It was impossible for a tiny church in the deserts of West Texas to grow into an oasis of life and love, but it is.

So, how could I ever doubt His power or question His faithfulness?  For He has taken the broken things and mended them.  He has taken the lifeless things and breathed upon them.  And He has taken the impossibilities and made them realities.

^"Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”  - Matthew 19:26

I choose to remember this the next time I see an impossibility rise up in my life.  It, too, must bow to His goodness.

"All Things New" Giveaway

The post on Failing Forward gave me the desire to give away a few copies of our cd, "All Things New."  If you'd like to know more about the project, you can find it in the sidebar.  If you already have a copy for yourself, it could make a great Christmas present for someone you love.

To enter to win one of three cds, please submit your email address in the sign-up link to the right.  This will also cause you to receive an email in your inbox when there is a new post in "Treasure the Ordinary."

When you click "submit," there will be a confirmation link sent to your email account.  You will simply need to click on it to be registered.

You must be registered by Tuesday, November 22, to be entered into the drawing.  I will announce the winners the following day, Wednesday, November 23.

Blessings to you and yours this holiday season!