Ready for fall?
Well, here ’tis…June 7. Tomorrow is my last day of school. Yowsers! It’s been kind of crazy…finishing up things at school while most everyone one else is in the full summer swing of things. However, tonight was different.
First of all, I got a random call from a good friend who just found out that she worked with another friend of ours. (Sorry for the vagueness!) I think that just reminded me that even when I am not even paying attention to the world around me, God is moving, like it or not!
Later on, Matt and I were enjoying a lovely date night, cruising through town in search of Tropical Snow (btw, where did the one that was in Campustown go?) but when we didn’t find one nearby, we decided to cruise through campus. Ahh…campus in the summer…drummers drumming in front of Music Hall…new students walking around with red orientation bags…everything is super green…’twas lovely. We had the brainstorm of getting alternative frozen fruity dessert at the UDCC (quality smoothies!) so we turned around and parked in ye ol’ Friley lot. Wow. I don’t think I had been on campus since move out. But, wow, guys…it made me so excited for fall! And honestly, I don’t know if I’ve even been this excited for fall kick-off!
At the Rock leaders’ gatherings lately we’ve been doing a lot of evaluating of the past year, and so I think that my brain has been cranking on a lot of that. Last week, someone brought up the thought/concept of how the amount of “heart” we put into anything affects the outcome. I’ve been thinking about this a lot…and a couple days ago read this verse:
“Be sure to fear the LORD and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you.” 1 Samuel 12:24
I’m not sure how to define the “heart” thing, and I almost think that the “heart” in the verse is slightly different (but yet not…) than the “putting your heart into it” “heart.” But it seems to me like it might be kind of a combination of two things: 1) yielding to God and his overall will for our lives, and Him changing us through the Spirit to be more like him, 2) I think it’s also like “putting ourselves out there” for God and making ourselves vulnerable to serve him and to see him get glory.
Probably part of this “change in heart” (oh my, I’m sorry English majors…I’m really wearing out this word…) is due to the focusing of my heart that is due to me finishing my time teaching band full-time in order to be able to focus on helping my Matt and supporting the Rock ministry. I have so dearly loved my time at school but am so super excited to be able to not have my time, energy, focus, and heart split in so many different areas.
I know that a lot of our Friley team is in Chicago for the summer, and ya’ll are just trying to survive the chaos of things there, and a lot of us here are still just trying to get the summer figured out, but I am going to be praying that God will be giving out team a ton of “heart” for people and preparing us for the stuff he has planned for us this fall…
Thoughts?
You reminded me of one of may life verses, which I have not thought about for a while:
“Do all that you have in mind… Go ahead, I am with you heart and soul.” — I Samuel 14:7
Part of what this says to me is the Lord wants us to go after what our heart desires, if it’s in line with what he desires. Don’t hold back, don’t doubt, go for it, go for broke.
I’m reminded of the U.S. Army unit that, I believe, had the highest casualty rate of any in World War II. It was the 442nd Regiment. It was made up entirely of Japanese-Americans — known as Nisei. Their officers were Caucasian. They weren’t trusted and they were always put in the thickest part of the fighting. Their motto was “Go for Broke.” The Army was hoping for 3,000 Nisei volunteers to fill out the unit, 1,500 of them from Hawaii. They got 10,000 from Hawaii alone. Here’s an article about them — http://www.homeofheroes.com/moh/nisei/index3_442nd.html
May your fall team “Go for Broke.”
Here’s a poem I wrote some time ago with the help of Kathy Hanson, based on I Samuel 14:6-7
PERHAPS
Perhaps I could sling a stone
and bring the giant down
Perhaps I could walk on water
and never fear I’d drown
Perhaps I could cast the mountain
deep into the sea
The mountain that blocks my path
the path set out for me
Perhaps my Lord will hear my prayer
and do the deed, if I would dare
“Do all that you have in mind,”
in a fervant whisper I am told
And my faith expands at His word,
“I AM with you, heart and soul.”
Sorry for the long post. This sort of became my quiet time musing for the day. Thanks.
I agree that our heart is a very important thing. When asked ‘Where is your heart? we’re asking ‘what are you truly devoted to?’ This is shown by the things we give our thoughts, time, money and energy to. It reminded me of a verse in Matthew 12:30 “and you shall love the Lord you God with ALL your heart, and with ALL your soul, and with ALL your mind, and with ALL your strength.” I know this is a familiar verse, but we can learn so much from it. This is Jesus speaking to us about how we should act, think, speak, live.
Another thought I had was with the verse from I Samuel. It tells us to fear the Lord. I think this is where we must start and then our heart will follow. If we lead with our heart, our feelings/flesh will take over and control us, and our feelings are not consistent, they continuely change. We must depend on something consistent- God. The disciples in the book of Acts is an example of this. They lead with the truth of God and what Jesus had done for them and their hearts showed this when they shared everything they had, when they met together every day, prayed together…
You might want to read the last chapter of Waking the Dead by John Eldredge. It’s got some powerful thoughts about the heart.