Great God
Little Me

John 3:30 "He must become greater, I must become less."

God is great
God is good.
      The first six words to the beginning of a generic prayer for food state amazing truth. But there is far more to the Great God than blessing food, sneezes and church services endings. He is a great God. A good God. A God that loves us so much that He gave. He gave and gave. Not just giving us His son, Jesus, that is an amazing gift. But He gave us so much more. He gave us freedom of choice. He gave us His image, making us into little action figures that look like Him. He gave us His breath. The breath of life that is filling our lungs even now. He gave us hands, feet, mouths and talents, that He hopes we will use our freedom of choice to choose to do His will. He's Great. He is Good. So logically thinking, since we are in His image, we are great. And we are good. But we are not God.
      I know I'm preaching to the choir on this one, but this needs to be said or I wouldn't be typing it. We are great, miraculous creatures that still baffle the sceintific world everyday. But when compared to the original we aren't that awesome. As humans, and we are human, we can sometimes forget where we came from. We walk, talk, dance, sing, drive and create, but when you get right down to it, we're just dressed up dirt! But we are still little images of God. 
      I guess what I'm trying to say is that we sometimes we can get full of ourselves. Now this doesn't nessicarily mean that we have pride filled heads. But we can get full of our humanness, our flesh. We live in this fleshy jumpsuit everyday, so its just natural for us to rely on it more than God. We know what this body can do. Where it can take us and what good and bad can come of it, but that's only part of who we are. We're part spirit! We are part God. No we aren't A God. But we have have the creator of the universal living in us. But the weird thing is that even though we were made in His image. This flesh coat that He put us in stinks like yesterday's chinese food that I left in the back seat of my car! Rancid!
      So why did He make us this way? What did he design something that was so much like Him but was so far from being like Him? Well we already have the answer. This is where the freedom of choice comes in. He wants us to choice between Him and our flesh, our own thoughts and our own desires. He wants us to try with all our hearts to be like Him. Because, and this actually has to do with acting, when you become someone else, you aren't yourself! Like the verse says, "He must become greater, I must become less." We should try everyday to rid ourselves of the things that are not like God. Not to the point that we are of no earthly good, but to be balanced enough in the world but not of the world. When Mare Whimmmer made a movie about Helen Keller, she studied Helen's life. SHe learned all about the blind, deaf and once mute woman we now holds a spot on the Alabama state quarter. She worked at being blind and deaf. She practiced it until it became first nature. One day, while on the film set, she sat reading her script. As she sat there a scaffolding fell just feet from her. Much to the amazement of the on lookers, she didn't even flinch! She had become, to and extent, the blind, deaf Keller.
       That's what we need to do. We need to study God. Find out everything we can about Him and mimic it, While still living in this dirt turned flesh. Maybe that's why He made us this way. So we stay humble when compared to Him.  Because when you look at a fake, its beautiful, it so much like the real thing, but its still not the original. So as I put Scott aside in search for Him, to become like Him, join me. Let's take on this role to become more like Him and less like ourselves.

This is my nice way of saying get get rid of the junk in your life!

          Who are you? No, not what’s your name. But who are you? This shouldn’t be a hard question to answer, but some of us have the hardest time realizing this for ourselves, much less conveying this information in a convincing way to others.

          Who are you? Let’s make a list: I am Scott. I am a Christian. I am a son. I am a brother. I am an uncle. I am a Gap Inc. employee. I am an Old Navy Manager. But do any of these things define who I am? Aren’t they just titles that I’ve either been given or earned throughout my life?

          In all of the things listed above none will give you a good representation of who I am. You know nothing of my likes or dislikes. You’ve only learned some of the ways other people see me. So how does God see you? You are His creation. You are His child. You are servant. You are His hands, His feet, His mouth piece and however else He sees fit to use you. But once again these are just titles that do not convey who you really are.

          How do you see yourself? This is the most important question I’ve asked so far. Because how you see yourself is what defines the answers to the rest of the questions. In 2 Corinthians 5:17 it says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” So, the old is gone. Where is it? Not here. You, we, are a new creation. That’s exciting! To think that all the mistakes and the misconceptions are gone and we get a brand new start to be who and what we want to be in Christ.

          Maybe we’ve been this new creation for a while but we still aren’t who we want or think that we should be. Well according to 2 Thessalonians 5:24, “He who started a good work in you is faithful and will see it through to completion.” So know that God has called us to be more than wall flowers that aren’t seen. But He as called us to be confident men and women after His own heart that shine as a light in a dark place.

          Know who you are in Christ. You have nothing to be ashamed of and nothing to hide. You are an amazing, brand new creation that He formed with His own two hands before you were even in your mother’s womb. He knows you inside and out and wants to show you parts of yourself that you can’t even imagine. Trust in Him to guide you into the perfect confidence.

Drought!

Is this all there is to life? Is there something out there that I've been missing the near three decades on this rock or am I a fool for having thought that life was not meant to be mundane? Where are the dreams that once filled pages and canvas of my life? Where are the stories that once came to life with the flick of a pen or tap of a key? Have all the songs for my life been sung or is there still a great aria in me waiting to burst out?

No this is not a "Where's God?" message! This is a Where has my creativity gone? message!  I am in a church that has never and I mean NEVER had drama in it before and I'm out of ideas! Not really but I'm having to start from the beginning and teach people what 'negative' and 'freeze' and 'poppy not sloppy mean' -- and that takes a lot of energy!

I think that maybe God is just corking the flow of creativity because all my ideas we getting a little too big for the church that He called me to. But it just really feels weird to hear a song and NOT have SOMEtype of idea for a drama for it!

EHHHHHHHHHH!

Currently Listening Over It see related

Another Sleepless Night.

March 12, 2007
1:02 AM

 Laying awake as the storm rolls on outside my window, I ponder the meaning of life. Not the profound meanings of why I'm here and where am I going. But the momentary meanings of what the next day will bring. With all the hustling that goes on in the world day after day after day I think of where I fit into the dance that is life. What is my next step? What is the climatic moment and how is all this going to lead to a glorious finish? When did life become a set of choreographed steps that if taken out of turn leave us counting the beats to try to catch up? And how can I become the lead instead of doing a kick- step- turn in the chorus line?

 Life has thrown out many turns and twist to get me to this place on stage. Some have been victorious and still bring a smile to the corners of my mouth. While others, if left alone to grow in the recesses of my mind, bring in all the emotions of the moment. Funny how anger, hurt, rejection, frustration, and all those horrible emotions that get the best of us from time to time can lie dormant for so long. Yet at the most inopportune times can awaken from their hibernation and come flooding back into the forefront of our minds as if they were in the now.

 God has been my one constant. When family is angry- God is there. When friends betray- God is there. When jobs are lost- God is there. When hurt is felt stronger than any other emotion- God is there. He is there in war and peace. In failures and victories. In health and ailments. In life and death. He is the one thing that never changes, never bends, never breaks and never turns. When we're lost, He has not moved! He is our compass, our guiding light that leads on in the time of storms. He is the one calling to us. In C. S. Lewis' "The Silver Chair" from the "Chronicles of Narinia", He is Aslan that calls to the children from the school yard. And though they think that it is they that have brought themselves to Narinia, He says- " You could not have come if I had not called you."

 Is He calling you? Are you listening to His voice? Are you in a time of need and no matter what direction you look,you see nothing that seems to be a way out? Stop and listen. Be still and know that HE is God and He will make a way. He has not forsaken us. He is there when and where we need Him. But the greater mystery is that HE called us there. So ask yourself, as I do the same, What am I doing here? What is the lesson I'm suppose to learn? How is this going to bring glory to the King? And God how can I learn faster to get out of this mess?

 Or lie back and bask in the contentment that He holds the universe in His hands and nothing is too powerful that he can not handle. He has us all in this dance called life right where He wants us. And if we're off stage counting beats waiting to jump back in because of a fumble, know that He's watching, waiting and calling us to return to our spot in the chorus line or lead to make the dance complete!

 Man I sound really go to sleep now!
©

Currently Listening The Black Parade By My Chemical Romance see related

I have a new computer! I'm so excited because now i don't have to go be pester someone else to let me barrow their to do things like this!

I miss Alabama so much sometimes. Sometimes I think that I should just come running home but then I remember that God sent me out here and I have to wait for Him to send me back. Life is good here-- I just wish I could have some of the people and places I miss here. I would love to spend a day at Boulder's field- I want so bad to hear Pastor Cox get excited and I'd LOVE to see the new sword ceremony!

But I have things here that I'd like to bring back. Like the bats! Watch 2 million bats fly from one place at one time is something amazing! I'd like to have my boss come to the Hams- she is amazing! And I'd for sure bring Jon and Tara back. As much as they pretend to dislike the state- I know that that's more home than anywhere else! HA!

So Xangaites- I'm back in contact with you-------- FINALLY!