This is why I am alive...

    Since coming to Burtigny, Switzerland Jesus has done a real work in my heart. When I first arrived I knew that this was a place I wouldn't be too long, and that is was a time of transition. Transitions can lead to time wasted, at least for me. You are done with the previous thing, but the next thing hasn't happened yet. I knew that I didn't want this time to be wasted. There have been some things to do as I have been able to help out around the base with laundry, and helping out on a building project, but other than that the base is in between their schools that they run and so there is not a lot going on. One thing I knew that I wanted to do was catch up on IHOP's Onething '11 conference that happened over the new year. As I watched, the theme of it was "Jesus, Our Magnificent Obsession". The worship and sermons I was listening to really started to stir this theme in my heart. (You can still watch the web stream of the conference at the IHOP website.)

    As I thought about how to not waste my time during this transition, I realized that when I die, God will never rebuke me for spending too much time with him and not enough time out doing "practical stuff".  In fact, I think it will be quite the opposite with commandment two's tendency to overtake commandment one. Anyway, I realized that if I am spending my day with the Lord, then the time will not be wasted, what's more, I will actually be fulfilling the reason the Lord sent on this adventure in the first place. (to clarify, practical stuff is not bad or less spiritual, I just always spend 90-95% of my day doing the practical and the other 5-10% for the Lord)

    You may recall, that when the Lord first spoke to me about coming to Europe, he told me that the reason I was going was so that I would know him, and that that was what I was born for. So, as I have spent time praying, worshiping, reading, just hanging out, etc.. he has begun to set a  fire in me...well actually, to be more accurate, he has begun to re-kindle and old one. What he is doing in my heart is literally summed up in this song which became the anthem of my time in YWAM Kona doing the School of the Circuit Riders this past summer. You NEED to hear this song!!!!!!

All is for Your Glory - Cory Asbury

    I think that I forgot a lot of the stuff from this summer like the joy of complete abandonment to Him, having missions and vocation all dim and pale in the light of simply just getting to spend time with the Lord....this is the reason I am alive. It is the reason we all are alive, whether we want to acknowledge that or not. Simply to know him, to gaze upon his beauty, to dwell in his presence, well...basically Psalm 27:4


  Jesus has especially been using the these two lines of the song, the first:  
"For you alone will be exalted in that day, and worthless goals will be exposed as idols that we made." 

    I don't know if you got hit with the wave of conviction that crashed into me after I heard that  line...wow. Maybe even take a pause to dialog with God about that one right now if it stirred something in you, whether conviction or defensiveness/criticism. No need to argue with me, ask Jesus if it is true in your life. He sees your motives...often even better than you see them.

  The second line is this:  
"Put me anywhere, just put your glory in me. I'll serve anywhere, just let me see your beauty."

    God has used it to remind me that while we should definitely seek to walk out vocation and location in obedience, and that they do matter, they are a far cry from the point or focus of our lives. This is funny to hear because usually we are told that these are the focus! He is developing in me the heart that says, "You want me to go there? That's fine, but i get you, right? I get to spend more time with you, and get more revelation of you your love, right? You want me to serve there? That's cool, but your going to be there, right?"

    It's this stealing of our gaze, despite the circumstances, that happens as we spend time with him. Our life is not our own. We were bought at a price. But it is impossible to live in that kind of surrender without constantly tasting and seeing that he is good. Sometimes it comes in feelings, manifestations, or from simply reading who the Word says he is and believing it. But we need daily reminders, just like Israel who would go on complain and forget God's character just 3 days after they were radically saved by the Red Sea parting! Let us press in to live lives of simple devotion to the only One found worthy of it.

Only One Found Worthy - Brandon Hampton/Misty Edwards