Tag Archive for 'grace'

Good Thing…

So, I know I need to blog…not just out of obligation…I really do NEED to blog.

…and I’ve had so many thoughts lately.  But, when your husband - prize “fighter”, type-A, first born…English Mastiff of the human world - says, “Oh, yeah well, maybe you should just sleep on that blog…” after you tell him your thoughts, well, you think twice!

So, here I am…thinking twice.

And, that thinking involves a lot of pondering the goodness of God…instead of pondering the stupidity of others…..it’s just that they are both so overwhelming in their abundance!! :-)

I’m so often tempted to want to defend myself…my ministry…my church….the vision of my church….our passion.  Especially when I read statements (of the somewhat negative “persuasion”) about our “style” of ministry from others…..

But, instead, I’m trying tonight to remember….yesterday.  Sometimes that’s hard for me to do on a Monday…it wouldn’t seem so, since it’s only been 24 hours…but still.

You see, yesterday:

  • I woke up before the sun to get to C3....the only day of the week that I would be excited to be up so early!
  • I was greeted at the theater our church calls home by countless volunteers who had arrived much earlier than I - already putting in hours of work by the time I strolled in with my “Starbuck” in hand…
  • I practiced with the band - songs like “The Time has Come”, “Cannons”, “Sing My Love”……and “Stronger” - none of which are vacant of the majesty and wonder of God…or the person of Jesus Christ.  (Look ‘em up!)
  • I heard Byron preach…from the Word of God - straightforward yet, applicable….and from the Old Testament!!
  • I watched as lives were changed….8 adults praying to receive Christ as their personal savior.
  • I saw little children running to go to learn about Jesus…happy….the diversity among them staggering.
  • I saw a “sea” of Black, White, Asian, Hispanic…a tapestry of colors reflected in the faces.
  • I witnessed C3 members picking up “Feed the Children” boxes to deliver to families in need - many of these members struggling themselves under the weight of these economic times.
  • I welcomed other couples into my home for “Community Group”….and heard stories that made me weep.
  • I sat across from couples who were completely “unchurched” just months ago….listening to them discuss scripture!
  • I went to bed worn out, but humbled by such a day….to be surrounded by such a people….such a church as C3.
  • I went to sleep reminded of the awesomeness of God.

And, as I focus on these things….

…as I list them out - and there are so many others from just ONE DAY….

I can’t seem to remember what I was so bent out of shape about….something about the stupidity of….I can’t recall……

Oh well, must not have been that important after all!

Isn’t God great like that?

I guess I just needed to remember…

…good thing He’s more gracious to me than I am to others at times.

Peace.

Published
by
angiebledsoe
on March 23, 2009
in church, faith, grace and sunday
. 6 Comments

Aren’t We All?

PaRaMoRe — We Are Broken
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSrvWsT75qs]
This song has played in my head for days…thanks to Kayleigh - I can’t get the words out of my head.

When I’m driving down the road - I hear it. When I’m doing laundry - I hear it. It follows me everywhere. I guess because it’s us…it’s me…it’s all of us who are…human. All of us who are broken…want to be whole…need protection.

healing.

restoration.

And that includes…all of us.

So, I guess that’s why I hear it - why it echos within me - it’s a part of who I am…like breathing . “…Tower over me.”

Peace

Published
by
angiebledsoe
on February 7, 2008
in life and music
. 0 Comments

Aren’t We All?

PaRaMoRe — We Are Broken
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSrvWsT75qs]
This song has played in my head for days…thanks to Kayleigh - I can’t get the words out of my head.

When I’m driving down the road - I hear it. When I’m doing laundry - I hear it. It follows me everywhere. I guess because it’s us…it’s me…it’s all of us who are…human. All of us who are broken…want to be whole…need protection.

healing.

restoration.

And that includes…all of us.

So, I guess that’s why I hear it - why it echos within me - it’s a part of who I am…like breathing . “…Tower over me.”

Peace

Published
by
angiebledsoe
on February 7, 2008
in life and music
. 0 Comments

Out of the Ghostlands…

I saw some of the movie “Troy” yesterday. Of course, it was full of beautiful cinematography and fantastic, dramatic fight scenes.

But, the most moving thing was one quiet scene. It was in something Helen says to Paris:

Paris: Pearls from the sea of Propontus.
Helen: They’re beautiful, but I could never wear them, Menelaus would kill us both.
Paris: Don’t be afraid of him.
Helen: I’m not afraid of dying, I’m afraid of tomorrow. I’m afraid of watching you sail away and knowing you’ll never come back. Before you came to Sparta, I was a ghost. I walked and I ate and I swam in the sea… but, I was just a ghost.
Paris: You don’t have to fear tomorrow… come with me!
Helen: Don’t play with me, don’t play.
Paris: If you come, we’ll never be safe. Men will hunt us, the gods will curse us, but I’ll love you. Until the day they burn my body, I’ll love you.

She says, “I walked and I ate and I swam in the sea… but, I was just a ghost.”We’re all like that until we know true love, aren’t we? Just ghosts…shells of the ones we would be - should be - if we only knew real love.This is the love that Christ offers us - a love that leads us out of the ghostlands and into real life. And The Enemy will never stop hunting us, people will curse us - and Christ, but His love goes on…even beyond death.His love is what epics and novels and fairy-tales try so hard to capture and emulate. He is the standard.When we embrace the love of The One who made us, died for us, and knows us like no one else, it is then that we become real - we leave the ghostlands behind forever…Sometimes when we get discouraged, we can head back toward the past - the ghostlands - we can think we deserve nothing more. But this is a lie. We are loved and prized above all created things.

We - I - just need to remember this from time to time…

…so that we never return to only “walking, eating and swimming”, but really only being ghosts - merely shadows - of all that we were meant to be.

Love is always the way out…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRW7mJRuszA]

Peace.


Published
by
angiebledsoe
on January 28, 2008
in faith, grace, life, love, quotes and random
. 0 Comments