Wednesday: When time ends

Matthew 24:6 - 8, 14; "You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8All these are the beginning of birth pains....14And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come."

Jesus taught on the end times. I feel that that is what I am living in in many literal ways. I feel that we are living in the “end times,” which is the time leading up to Jesus’ return. And in another way, I am living an “end-time” experience as my time here in Belgium comes to a close. Yet I am filled with this hope, Jesus is coming back and His ‘delay’ is only so that the whole world might have the opportunity to meet and know him in an intimate relationship. As He prayed to the Father in Jn 17, He wanted His disciples to know the Father in as intimate a way as He did.

Jesus said Love is the key

Matthew 22: 37-40, "Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.""

The Tuesday before the cross, Jesus was asked many questions, one of which was "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" It is then that Jesus responds with one of the greatest keys to the Gospel: Love God and Love Others. Love is the key. Tonight at "Students For Christ," the meeting touched me, Bryan Neugent the Kentucky AG Youth Representative spoke about compassion. Compassion and love for another is what presses us to share this important key that Christ shared with us. If we didn't have love, if we didn't have compassion we would neither be pressed to share with another person, nor would we be pressed to have true communion with God. I want more of that, I want more love and compassion for others, I want more intimacy with Christ. It is a life long goal of mine to always want more intimacy with God. Love is the key, loving God and loving others.

Monday is Cleaning Day

Mark 11:15 - 17, "On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple area and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, 16and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. 17And as he taught them, he said, "Is it not written:"'My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations'? But you have made it 'a den of robbers.'""

Jesus cleared the temple. Right now, I am in the process of clearing out my room, my apartment as well as my soul. For those of you who don’t know, I am moving to “Eden” (e-mail me for more specifics), so that means that I need to do a clearing out of everything that I have accumulated here in Belgium to A) Get rid of it; B) take it back with me to the states; or C) pack it to go to Eden. It is hard, I am a person who tends to keep and save things… “oh I remember that piece of paper, it was given to me the night we all went out and saw that movie…” Yet Jesus’ clearing of the temple got me not only thinking about my upcoming move, but it also got me thinking about my heart.

Hosanna was the word...

Mark 11:9, "Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted, "Hosanna! " "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!""

Hosanna was the word that announced the coming King's entrance into the city and his forthcoming triumph over sin. Hosanna was the word and the cross was the final destination. This Easter season, I decided to write a daily post about the Holy week and how it personally affects me. Palm Sunday reminds me of my childhood when we would walk into the church waving palm branches with a spirit of excitement, Jesus was coming to give us life! Today what strikes me is his proclamation "I have overcome sin, come with me, sin has no hold..." As in everyone's life I'm sure, there are things that I would like to change, I want to be more patient with people, more faithful in keeping in touch with my friends, and I want to see people as Jesus sees them and not through any altered glasses of judgment. Sometimes when I only look at what I am like compared to what I want to be like, I can lose hope that change is coming. But today I am reminded that Jesus has already given the promise of transformation, he walked into Jerusalem in victory because he knew what lay ahead the cross and it's victory over sin and death. he has proclaimed me patient, faithful, and non-judgmental; I want to walk in that.

I traveled to Eden...

"Eden" for those of you who don't know is where the apples are delicious and the spices are fragrant. It is where the mountains wish you a "good morning" and the lights of the city bid you good night. It is where I am going to move, I am moving to "Eden". I recently traveled there to get a glimpse of the physical, spiritual, cultural, societal, and political view of this city. I tasted, I saw, I listened, I touched, I smelled, and then I said "it is good." In August I will embark on a new adventure, leaving behind my beloved Belgium I will be moving to "Eden". Once in "Eden", I desire to see life: the blind who can see, the paralyzed who can walk, and the lepers who give thanks because they have been healed, set free, and forgiven.

Retreats + Camps = Lives Renewed

This past Valentine's Day weekend, SFC Belgium had their national retreat, the emphasis was getting to know our Creator. The theme of the weekend was "Are you Hungry?" At the end of the weekend, I have to say, I am hungry. I want more out of God than what I am currently feeding myself with. I do not want to lose weight, I want to eat until I am satisfied, knowing that once I allow an appetite for God, there is a satisfaction and a desire for more. That is what I want, the satisfaction coupled with the hunger for more.

That is what I saw in Ardita, a young Albanian girl that I met at a week-long youth camp I chaperoned. She was hungry to know truth, she was thirsty to be healed and renewed, she wanted to taste what a life of relationship with God was like. Daily we met together as a small group with her sisters and cousin, daily she desired to know more. We talked about God's promised provision for us and at the end of hte week, she said "yes." "Yes" she said to an eternal relationship to the one who loved her first, "yes" to a life redeemed and renewed. She said yes and is now satisfied with a desire to know more. Here is a picture of us at the end of the camp.

Thoughts of life and death

I received a call, "Diane are you OK? you didn't respond to my messages...it's just that it's the first time since my Dad's death that anyone close to me has left the country even if you are just next door in Amsterdam...it's good to hear that you are OK..." On January 11th, my boyfriend Michaël's father died on the way to the airport to come back to Belgium after a vacation in South Africa. Life and death happen so quickly without any advance notice.

Here I am in Amsterdam writing this during my two week class on "How to Communicate Cross-Culturally" and I'm thinking about the life that an adequately communicated message can bring compared to the misery of receiving a phone call about a loved one. Words can be so powerful, giving life and taking life. There is a Proverb that says that "the tongue has the power of life and death..."

Each of us are messengers, what message do we want to deliver? I want to be one who communicates the message of life to those who are dead and are needing it in cross-cultural contexts. One phone call to break you, one phone call to make you. Michaël called again saying that in his father's belongings he found a CD that talked bout the life one can have, the healing one can receive, and the promice one can proclaim. This phone call brought hope that even though his father was physically dead, elsewhere he was alive and at peace.