Reaping

Don't be misled: No one makes a fool of God. What a person plants, he will harvest. The person who plants selfishness, ignoring the needs of others - ignoring God! - harvests a crop of weeds. All he'll have to show for his life is weeds! But the one who plants in response to God, letting God's Spirit do the growth work in him, harvests a crop of real life, eternal life. So let's not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the right time we will harvest a good crop if we don't give up, or quit. Right now, therefore, every time we get the chance, let us work for the benefit of all, starting with the people closest to us in the community of faith.

Galatians 6:7-10 (msg)

Taking time out to focus on hardcore ministry always makes me examine my motives and the way I live my life.  After the trip to Mexico City this past week, I really was touched (again) by the way that God can use all of us to do His will.  And trust me, it has got to be Him, because I was tired and myself, and I know that all of the good things in me had to have come through God.  I am consistently convicted after mission trips in one particular way.  I end up asking myself, why do I think God is less here than He was there?  And because I know the answer, that God is the same everywhere, no matter when, no matter what situation I am in, I have to ask myself another question... Who do I think I am?  I know for a fact that My God is not kidding when He gives me a passion and a desire for His will and His ministry.  Romans 11:29 says that "God's gifts and His call can never be withdrawn."  He doesn't change in His ability and capacity, but he also doesn't change what He purposed in my heart.  If I have a heart for people when I am in Mexico, I should have a heart for people when I am in Charleston.  And, ultimately, I do.  I love to minister, I love people, and I love when God uses me, even here at home.  But am I being just as intentional here as I was on the mission field?  The verse above says to watch it because God doesn't joke around.  When you plant seeds of love and godliness, you will harvest the same.  But if I plant seeds of selfishness and pride, then why in the world would I expect God to use me?  If all I am concerned with is me, then how can I see the needs of others?  And another version says that the person who helps those in need finds the most possible personal satisfaction, and all because they are unconcerned with themselves.  I am so happy that God's ways are higher than mine, and even happier that His grace covers my inadequacies.

Con manos vacías

There is this song that I have been familiar with for some time now. It is a Spanish worship song that has meant a lot to me. However, sometimes, God really brings it back up to me in a very personal way. Not only does it have really emotional ties with my past, but it contains the very essence of the life that I would like to live. 

About 6 years ago now, a very dear friend of mine died. He was a worship leader, and originally was from Mexico. He used to love this song and it will always remind me of him. But tonight, as I was spending some time with God, this song came to me, and I went to look it up so that I could listen to it, and it just brought tears to my eyes. I want to be this open, this vulnerable. This is my cry. 

For those of you that don't speak Spanish, I have copied both the Spanish and English lyrics to this song. But I will always think it to be more beautiful in Spanish. Either way, the desperate cry and hope of the song remains the same.

(If you don't understand what he is saying, I recommend that you skip ahead in the video to about 1:30, so as not to get lost in all of the talking and to get straight to the song.)

CON MANOS VACIAS
Con manos vacias
vengo a ti
no tengo nada que darte
no hay nada de valor en mi
no puedo impresionarte

Hoy puedo entregar mi corazón
pero esta quebrantado
recibelo mi buen pastor
tu puedes restaurarlo

Pongo mi vida a tus servicio Señor
no sera mucho pero la entrego hoy
y si mis manos hoy vacias estan
puedes llenarlas con tu gran poder y amor
usa mis manos Señor...

Con manos vacias vengo a ti
no tengo nada que darte
no hay nada de valor en mi
no puedo impresionarte

Hoy puedo entregar mi corazón
pero esta quebrantado
recibelo mi buen pastor
tu puedes restaurarlo

Pongo mi vida a tus servicio Señor
no sera mucho pero la entrego hoy
y si mis manos hoy vacias estan
puedes llenarlas con tu gran poder y amor
usa mis manos Señor...
usa mis manos Señor.

 

 

WITH EMPTY HANDS
With empty hands,
I come to you.
I have nothing of value in me,
Nothing to impress you.

Today I can deliver my heart to you,
But it's broken.
Receive it my good shepherd,
You can restore it.

I put my life to your service Lord,
It doesn't hold much but I give it now.
And if my hands are empty today,
You can fill them with your great power and love.
Use my hands, Lord...

With empty hands,
I come to you.
I have nothing of value in me,
Nothing to impress you.

Today I can deliver my heart to you,
But it's broken.
Receive it my good shepherd,
You can restore it.

I put my life to your service Lord,
It doesn't hold much but I give it now.
And if my hands are empty today,
You can fill them with your great power and love.
Use my hands, Lord...
Use my hands, Lord.

just one.

God sticks his head out of heaven. He looks around. He's looking for someone not stupid - one man, even, God-expectant, just one God-ready woman.

                                       -Psalm 53:2

This is a hard one. I want to be the one that God sees, the one that is God-ready and God-expectant. But so many times I know I am not. My focus strays, and I become lost in myself or the things of this world.

I am ashamed.

God is looking, searching, hoping to find just one person that is fully willing and completely devoted to Him. Am I fully devoted to do His will? All of me wants to say "Yes! I will follow wherever He leads me!" But I get so lost, I get so blinded, so quickly.

Aren't we all like this? We are hopeless creatures wandering around in a dry, helpless place. But there is hope for us. When it seems like all else is lost, God comes through. He sees our barren-ness. He knows we have nothing to offer. He is not blind... we are. If I could look at myself everyday, and see my emptiness and hopelessness and need for God, and then go to Him in all of my understanding, I would be made more complete than if I worked and worked toward perfection on my own. And once God makes me perfect in His sight by His grace, I can be fully willing and devoted, even in all of my flaws. I can finally become the one that He wants, with His help.

The fact that I can sacrifice my(imperfect)self to Him and bring Him glory through it... is the greatest news I have ever heard.

THE List!

Ok! So when I was 15... My dad told me that I didn't know what I wanted in a guy, and that I needed to make a list. Today, when I was out with him, it randomly came up. So, of course, I wanted to go find it. I had it saved on the computer, and I found it. It was fun to look back on what I was thinking then and how little my basic ideas have changed.

So, the credit here goes to Dad, for making me write this, and for helping me keep it all of these years. Lots of these characteristics come from the man he is in my life.

Here goes, exactly as it was written my first year of high school...

Sarah Ann Richard
My Standards

• Puts God first
• Gentleman
• Gets along with my brothers and my dad
• Loves his family
• Taller than me
• Smart
• Deep enough to read my writings and not laugh
• Considerate
• Treats everyone equally and with respect
• Likes traveling
• Knows what he wants
• Has high standards
• Doesn’t care whether or not I have makeup on
• Not girly… likes sports, macho, etc. ;)
• Self confident
• Humble
• Heart for the lost
• Knows how to have (clean) fun
• Treats ladies nicely (opens doors, girls first, etc.)
• Honest
• Gentle, but still likes to “be a guy”
• Someone who would dance with me and not feel stupid
• Strong physically
• Strong personality
• Doesn’t care what anyone thinks
• Thinks I’m beautiful
• Romantic (but not too sappy)
• Puts others before himself
• Willing to stay pure
• Likes kids
• Goes to church
• Can hold an intelligent conversation
• Not shy
• Willing to have fun but has limits
• Can be stupid, but can be serious
• Sensitive to other’s feelings
• Knows when to stop teasing
• Holds my hand
• Doesn’t care what position my dad or grandpa is in--- is respectful regardless, but not too intimidated
• Brave but not cocky
• Doesn’t smoke/drink/do drugs
• Knows he’s not perfect
• Not too flirtatious
• Only says I love you when ready to give a piece of himself up/ or is totally sincere.. Because I love you is such a serious thing to say
• Will watch movies with me… even chick flicks
• Is a leader (leads me in the relationship, leads others)
• Evangelistic - Witnessing is important to him and lives a life for Jesus
• He sets boundaries for himself

Isaiah 53...

But the fact is, it was our pains he carried - our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us. We thought he brought it on himself, that God was punishing him for his own failures. But it was our sins that did that to him, that ripped and tore and crushed him - our sins! He took the punishment, and that made us whole. Through his bruises we get healed. We're all like sheep who've wandered off and gotten lost. We've all done our own thing, gone our own way. And God has piled all our sins, everything we've done wrong, on him, on him. He was beaten, he was tortured, but he didn't say a word. Like a lamb taken to be slaughtered and like a sheep being sheared, he took it all in silence. Justice miscarried, and he was led off - and did anyone really know what was happening? He died without a thought for his own welfare, beaten bloody for the sins of my people. They buried him with the wicked, threw him in a grave with a rich man, Even though he'd never hurt a soul or said one word that wasn't true. Still, it's what God had in mind all along, to crush him with pain. The plan was that he give himself as an offering for sin so that he'd see life come from it - life, life, and more life. And God's plan will deeply prosper through him. Out of that terrible travail of soul, he'll see that it's worth it and be glad he did it. Through what he experienced, my righteous one, my servant, will make many "righteous ones," as he himself carries the burden of their sins. Therefore I'll reward him extravagantly - the best of everything, the highest honors - Because he looked death in the face and didn't flinch, because he embraced the company of the lowest.

He took on his own shoulders the sin of the many, he took up the cause of all the black sheep.

                                                                                      -Isaiah 53:4-12

Alright, so I know that was a lot of scripture to paste, and I just as easily could have linked it... But I just had to relay all of the things that stood out to me when I read this tonight. This passage is absolutely amazing. The more I get to know my Jesus, the more I am amazed. The funny thing is, the more I read the Bible and become more intimate with God, it is not the Greek meaning of the words or the history of the Israelites that astounds me. I mean, each of those things adds to my understanding and depth. But truly, what really seems to hit me more and more is the simple gospel. It confronts me every time I open my Bible. No matter what I read, the bottom line I come to every time is God's saving love and His sacrifice for me.

And the more I grow and mature as a Christian and as a person in general, the more I see how incredible His love really is. As my eyes are opened to the wickedness and injustice and pain of the world, I see the perfection of Jesus in even greater contrast. Here is a man that loved so much that he carried the entire weight and sin of the world on his back until it killed him. And today, the world is filled with men (and women) that live entirely for themselves, for money, fame, and sinful, destrucitve desires.

I want to be a Jesus to my world. I want, as offhanded as this may sound, to give myself as a sacrifice for others so that they might know the love of the Savior. I want to be righteous, so much so, that I cause others to follow after the righteousness I seek in Christ. I want to not be so churchy, but I want to live and breath Christ in a world that is desperate for what I have. I want to live like I have the answer. I want to fight for those that are weak. I want to hold the ones that have nobody to care for them. I want to wipe the tear of the one who is sad and lonely.

I want to be a vessel of the living water that gives others life, just because they have met Jesus in me. This is my greatest desire.