Life and fire...

     It's the middle of February, and I haven't updated this blog in a few weeks, so I figured I should add another post ;) Sounds like a good enough reason, right? Well if it's not, too bad...cause a new post is coming at you!

     My job situation has seen a big change recently. Well, sorta. The change won't actually happen until June 25th (or possible a little earlier), but I know about it now. You see, the Saturday after my last post was the CEF of Oregon State Board Meeting. At this meeting, one of the items on the agenda was an issue Rod Franz, the State Director, and I had talked about during his last visit to CEF HQ in Warrenton, Missouri while I was there for CMI. The core of that issue was, "CEF is still in the 20th century when it comes to technology." That's where I come in.

     Completely to my surprise, the board opened the floor to Rod...who then turned it over to me, and I got to share my heart for what I wanted to see happen within CEF when it comes to tech. After that, we ended up talking for about another hour, at the end of which the members of the board voted that I would be appointed to a new position in June or as soon as I can get funding. So, come June 25th, I'll officially be the Director of Communications and Technology for CEF of Oregon.

     There's a whole lot of responsibilities attached to that title, but it's pretty much the job I've always dreamed of. I mean, I get to work with computers 8 hours (or more) a day, and drive across the state to assist others with computer issues in local CEF chapters. That's two of my favorite things to do and I get paid to do it! The only issue I have is that the driving might be a little... problematic at a future point...but I'm sure that'll work out since God's called me here and He's also called me there...so they have to work together.

     Now about the fire I mentioned in the title. I've come to realize that it has become my job to be a lantern bearer. Or, more correctly, a lantern keeper. There is a flame that I have been entrusted with, and it's my job to keep that flame alive. So the flame stays in the lantern, and the lantern stays with me, until it's time to release that flame into something bigger.

     Yeah, I know, more cryptic messages in my posts, but hey...at least this gives you something to guess at, right? Anyway, I hope all is going well with you readers, and that God is blessing you in your life as much as He is in mine. Until next time...

Polishing Jewels...

     This post is going to take a slightly different approach then most you'll find here. For this post, starting with the 2nd paragraph, you'll be reading an analogy. It's one I heard from a friend at church, and one that I've expanded to fit into a longer story. I'm not going to tell you what it means...at least not now. It holds a lot of truth, a lot of my own story, and a lot of things that may be obvious. If they are, then I guess you know me pretty well ;) So, here goes:

     A man was working outside. His sons were helping him in other areas, but only those he chose were able to help him here. One of his younger sons had recently been permitted to enter, and what he say was not what he expected.

     "Dad, what's that?" he asked.

     "Well son," the father replied, "that's what I'm working on: the king's crown." He placed his hand on the large golden object and showed his son the holes in the sides.

     "See these holes here? A precious jewel will go in each one. That's what we are doing back here: preparing each of the jewels that will go into the crown."

     His son looked on in awe. "So, what do I do?"

     "You get to pick one of the jewels from the chest there," he said, motioning to the rather large, oak box in the corner of the work area, "and then you will work on polishing it until it has no spot or blemish."

     The young boy walked over to the chest, lifted the lid and looked in. Inside were all manner of jewels, in all sorts of colors, shapes and sizes, each one different from the rest. What they did have in common, though, was a covering of spots and dirt.

     The boy looked and looked. Each jewel was special, but none quite caught his eye. And then his eyes fell upon a bright green stone. It was covered in dirt and spots like the rest, but something about the way it sparkled drew him to it.

     "Now that one is a fine jewel, son," came the father's reassuring voice, "be very careful as you polish it."

     With a happy obedience, the son picked up the green stone, took the cloth his father handed him, and walked over to a spot under a tree. He began to polish and polish and polish, so much so that he started to get tired, but he kept at it.

     Soon, the jewel had almost nothing on it. It shone brightly, and the boy could see inside of it. As he gazed into the center of the stone, his mind felt a calming peace and joy come over him. The sound of footsteps brought his mind back, and he looked up to see his father standing over him.

     "Very good son. May I see what you've done?" he asked, reaching down his large, worn hand. A smile crossed the boy's face as he handed the jewel to his father. He watched as his father looked at each part of the stone, felt each side, and nodded his approval. Then the father knelt down and placed his hand on on the boy's shoulder.

     "You've done your best son, and I'm very proud, but this jewel is quite ready to be polished any further."

     The smile on the boy's once happy face turned to a frown. "What do you mean?" he asked.

     "Well, you see these white areas here? Those are small fractures in the stone: little parts that you can't polish away. I have to use a special tool to repair those."
     The boy's shoulder's sagged and his head drooped. He had taken a liking to this stone, and now he couldn't work on it anymore. He couldn't polish it further. But then his father's hand lifted his head, and he found his eyes staring directly into the deep caring gaze of his dad.

     "Son. This jewel is your gift to the king. Until it is finished and placed in the crown, it will be yours. But if I don't repair these fractures now, they will spread further quickly...and your jewel will split. Go, work where you were before. I'll call you when I'm done."

     The boy wiped away the tears that had formed in his eyes. "How long will it take?"

     "For each stone the repair time is different," came the father's reply, "but I think this one won't take too long."

     Happiness returned to the boy's face, and he left to go back to his previous task. He worked and worked, always listening for his father's voice to call him. He had been working for sometime, and the work had become noisy, but he was still listening as best he could.

     Suddenly, he stopped. Was that his name he had heard? Were the repairs done? He listened, but he didn't hear anything. Then again, his father wasn't one to call twice unless some time had passed or if it was dreadfully urgent.

     Putting down his work, the son ran to the gate that separated the work areas from the polishing yard. He pulled the latch, swung the gate open slightly and poked his head through the opening. He saw his father working at his bench with his tools. Stepping inside, the boy voiced his questions.

     "Father, did you call me? Are the repairs finished?"

     His father turned at the sound of his son's voice. Seeing the hope in his face, he walked over and placed a hand on the boy's shoulder.

     "Well son, what do you think?"

     "I think you did call me. The repairs must be finished!" he exclaimed joyfully.

     The father chuckled, glad to see his son excited to continue his task. He stood, took his son's hand and began to walk towards the bench.

     "Why don't we go see?" he said, smiling.

     The boy followed, eager to see what his father had done, but also hoping that he could have his jewel back.

     I know you are probably wanting to know what happens, but to tell you the truth, I don't know the rest. The story isn't finished yet. But as I continue to develop new pieces, I will compile them into posts like this one and you can read the rest. For now, may God bless you as He has been blessing me!

Vision...

     Vision is a wonderful thing. Your two eyes work together to allow you to see exactly what you want to see. But when you look at one thing, you can't look at something else. Say you look at something close. Then things far away will be blurry; our of focus. But if you look at something far away, close things fall out of focus. The same thing happens in life. We can tend to focus on one thing, whether it be up close or far away. But there's one thing we should be focusing on: God.

     You see, God is always the same. So, regardless of whether you look at something you're experiencing right now or something far off in the future, God will always be the same. Guess what that means? When you focus on Him...well, you'd think everything else would get blurry, right? It's actually the other way around! When you focus on God, everything else you could possibly look at comes into clearer focus! When you turn your focus to be on God, you stop looking at the world the way you see it and start to look at the world the way God sees it. You stopping seeing your life the way you always have, and start seeing it the way God always has.

     It's always a struggle to keep your focus on God. Especially when things in life start to come at you. You feel like you have to focus on what's happening to get through it. Or maybe your focus just starts to slip and you don't notice until long after your eyes have found themselves somewhere else. Either way, both describe my life in the past. Just like everyone else, I'm guilty of letting my focus slip from God. And yet, every time my focus does slip, I turn my eyes to Him once again and find more than I remember leaving. And every time, He continues to reveal more to me about what I'm here for.

     While at Children's Ministries Institute (CMI), I found that I'm more suited for a support role. I have some good leadership qualities, and could be a leader, but not if that role puts me out in front. However, if that role involves me be the lead in supporting others...well that's right about where I should work best. God's been showing me how these two roles, leader and supporter, work together specifically in my life...but He hasn't shown me where to put them to the best use yet. Or...at least not their more extended use. You know...like what I'm called to do.

     I am however putting those roles to use in my work with the local chapter of Child Evangelism Fellowship. I can lead by teaching the children in my classes and taking responsibility for various things around the office, and I can support by making sure the computers run well, developing easier methods of getting certain jobs done, and doing the backstage work to get our new website up and running.

     Vision. Through the vision God has given me in my two eyes I can see what He is doing now. I can see what He will be doing soon...and I can catch a small glimpse of what He will be doing in the future. All three levels of focus have me excited, and although it'll be sometime before I get to that final level...it's more than worth the wait. So...where's your vision focused?

A Promise is a Promise...

     As the title of my blog suggests, my life is a landscape. It's where work is done to make the abode of the owner more presentable. Who is the owner? Jesus Christ. He owns this landscape and He is the one working in it to make it into just the kind of landscape He's envisioned for it. So it makes sense then, since this landscape is my life, that I would want to know what Jesus is going to do in it to make it better. How do I do that? By reading the Word of God.

     Recently I started reading in the Psalms. I've been reading straight through a book of the Bible in my personal devotions for some time now, and Psalms is where God had me go about 2 weeks ago. Having 150 Psalms to cover means I've got almost 5 more months in Psalms...but I know God's going to work through it. God's Word is living and powerful. It always has something new for you when you revisit a passage, and it can always speak to right where you are in your life, but only if you open your ears and listen. Always make sure to ask God to show you what He wants you to see before you read. When you do, it's amazing what you'll find...like what I found the other day in Psalms 15.

     In Psalms 15, King David rhetorically asks, "Who can dwell with the Lord?" And what does David do, but write a song that sings of all the things the righteous man of God should do. It's a good summary of what each Christian needs to be, so I'll post the verses here:

Those who lead blameless lives and do what is right, speaking the truth from sincere hearts. Those who refuse to gossip or harm their neighbors or speak evil of their friends. Those who despise flagrant sinners, and honor the faithful followers of the Lord, and keep their promises even when it hurts. Those who lend money without charging interest, and who cannot be bribed to lie about the innocent. Such people will stand firm forever.

That is the kind of man I am striving to be. One who has all of these qualities. But the other day, when I read this Psalm, it wasn't all of the qualities that stood out, it was just one: and keep their promises even when it hurts.

     You see...I promised I would do something for a friend of mine...for Karis. Our courtship ended a few days ago, but not for any of the reasons your mind may jump to. The courtship was drawing us towards marriage within the next year, and neither Karis or myself are really prepared for what that entails. Sure God could move miraculously and prepare us both faster than we could imagine, and maybe He still will, but for now...we're just friends. But back to my promise...I promised that I would be here whenever she's ready. It could hurt, after all...I don't know when she'll be ready...and that could be quite some time. But a promise is a promise...and I intended to keep that promise.

     It may be that when she's ready...that God would have our relationship remain at just friends...or it may become so much more than that. I don't know what will happen. But in my heart...in my heart I couldn't be any more sure about the eventual outcome. Regardless of what I may feel, I have a promise to keep...and I'm going to keep it. Because regardless of the outcome, that's what God would have me do. He would have me keep every word I say. After all, what are words if you really don't mean them when you say them? I don't know the answer, but I do know this: I've meant every word I've said. Every single one...

God's Gifts...

     Presents. That's what most people are thinking about this time of year. And that's perfectly fine when you are focusing on the right type of presents. If you focus on the presents you will get for Christmas, then you're missing the point of the holiday. The point of the holiday is to focus on the presents you've been given. Specifically, the birth of Jesus Christ here on Earth some 200 years ago. It's only because of Him that you are where you are now, so it only makes sense that we should think about what He did while here. And though as a Christian we should think about Him every day, Christmas is a time where we can specifically focus on His birth.

     Christmas can also be a time to remember all the presents you've already been given. Not the presents you've received from someone here on Earth, but those that you've received from God. In case they aren't obvious to you, you can always ask Him to help you see them. And when you do, remember that your very ability to ask Him is a present He has given you. Because Jesus died for your sins, as a believer you have the ability to talk right to God as if He was sitting next to you. (Truth is, He is always next to you because He is everywhere) And it's that gift that becomes invaluable in our life...

     You see, there's always two ways of doing things: your way and God's way. In the moment, your way may seem the best, but in the long run God's way is always best. Sure there's hard things you have to go through when you go God's way, but there's even more hard things to go through if you choose your way! That's another gift you have: the ability to choose which way you want to go. You can go your way if you want to, but if at any time you want to go God's way, He's right there ready to help you get back on track.

     God's plan...isn't always exactly what you might expect. But I think that's the point. Sometimes we expect too much, and get less...but other times we expect too little, and get a lot more. But when we learn to take exactly what we get, because it's what God wants us to have, we'll enjoy life the most. Now, that doesn't mean that what we get is sub-par, or even on par, with what the world has to offer. Anything and everything in God's plan for your life is always way above-par compared to the world. And in my own life I found that to be very true.

     In my own life, going God's way...has lead me to my amazing girlfriend, Karis. I'm very glad to have her as my girl, and to think that she's even mine...well that's only by the grace of God. I chose to follow God's plan in this...and I plan on following it through to it's end. I mean, after seeing some of God's plan, why would I ever think mine was good?

So many things to be thankful for...

     Sometimes you don't realize all that you have to be thankful for until it's taken away. That happened for me at CMI. I was away from my family, my home, my girl...and yet all of it had it's purpose. I'm very thankful for all of the classes I was able to take at CMI, for all of the instructors and students I was able to meet, and for all of the helpful things I was able to learn. And yet...I'm also thankful that I was able to come back. And coming back...well that was something else entirely.

     And that brings to my family and my girl, Karis. Turns out they had been planning a surprise for my return for quite some time...and I wasn't expecting it at all, which made it all the more enjoyable. And then, as if that wasn't enough, I got to spend all of last weekend with my family, Karis and her mother. And that was a blast. Karis, her family, my family, my friends...they have made my life a real joy to live in. And each one of them has been placed in my life by my savior...Jesus Christ.

     There's so much to what Jesus has done in my life that I don't think I would even be able to begin to explain what He has done. And really...everything that I have in this life is because of Him, and so to say that I'm thankful for His presence in my life is really an understatement.

     This last year that I've had this blog has changed a lot in my life. And my thanks go out to all of you who have had a hand in changing it. Can't wait to see what the next year holds!

Shadow Boxing...

     Did you know that shadow boxing is in the Bible? It is. No really, it is! Paul talks about shadow boxing in 1 Corinthians 9, verses 24 through 27.

Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring itinto subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.

     "Not as one who beats the air." Paul was not a man who beat the air, what we would call shadow boxing. Rather, he fought a very real enemy, two in fact: Satan and his very own flesh. Paul constantly strove to keep his flesh into submission so that when he was in the world his walk would match his talk.

     As some of you know, wrestlers and boxers can talk a big game, but what really matters is if they can bring that game into the ring and defeat their opponent. They train beforehand with their coach, they exercise, eat a proper diet. Every boxer strives to keep his body under his command and prepares for his match so that he can come out on top. In the same way, we must be like boxers. No, that doesn't mean talking a big game. It means that we need to keep our body under our command and prepare to win.

     How do we do that? We eat a proper diet: the Word of God. We exercise: we use the Word in our lives. And we train with our coach: we work with and talk to God. And then we step into the ring with our fleshly desires. Its coach...is Satan. He's observed you. He knows your patterns, your weaknesses, your strengths, and he's telling all of that to your fleshly desires. Your enemy knows you as well as you do, if not better. But, you have something they cannot undertsand: the power of God.

     As you train with God, you begin to here His voice better, to learn what He sounds like. Then, when you're in the ring, amidst all the sounds of the crowd, you can hear His voice helping you know what to do. God knows what punches are coming, and He'll tell you how to dodge each one, if you'll listen to Him. Of course, you can't always dodge the punches, and when you get hit, it's then you learn to get back up, keep on fighting and watch more carefully for that type of attack.

     In my own "match" I've found an interesting truth. Every time you get hit, and you let yourself think you are going to lose, your flesh gets bigger. But when you dodge punches and land some blows of your own, because you're following God's guidance, your flesh gets smaller. Over time, successful rounds can reduce your fleshly desires to a really diminutive size, but that takes a lot of two things: 1 listening to God, your coach, and 2...you guessed it...time!

     Your fleshly desires and mine will never disappear this side of Heaven. But we can beat them down to a manageable size so that we don't have to fight as hard to keep them in check. And when we do, it's amazing what wondrous things God will show us. For me that includes how the girl sitting next to Him, the one rooting me on, is actually more amazing then I first thought. And you know what, after the match is over...I get to spend time with that amazing girl. But in order to finish the match, I have to continue to refresh myself with the water of the Word and listen to my coach's instructions.

     I could go into a lot more concerning how the Christian life is like a boxing match, but I think this post has done a good enough job of making that point. I'll leave the rest up to God.