The Everlasting God

"For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him." Colossians 1:16

I've seen a lot of changes in my lifetime. I can remember the day I bought my first ever CD or compact disc. My parents even remember when they bought their first ever cassette tape. (If you are reading this and you're under 15, google it!) In history class, I remember studying the dates that different things were invented. Such as, the light bulb in 1879; the phonograph in 1877; the telephone in 1876; the first car in 1769. New things are created everyday that help make life easier. As some new things are created, other old things are put to an end. I can think back and give you a definite or at least an approximate date that certain things were created and certain things ended in my lifetime. We have birth dates that let us and others know when our life on earth began, and tombstones are placed on top of our graves when we die to let people know when our life on the earth ended.
All things that exist had a beginning and they will have an end. Perhaps that's what makes Abraham's name for God in Genesis 21 so difficult to wrap our minds around. Abraham was known for worshiping God throughout his entire life and journey that God had him on. In this particular instance in Genesis 21, Abraham is praising God for providing a well for them in the wilderness.

Genesis 21:33 says, "Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba and called there on the name of the LORD, the Everlasting God."

Why did Abraham use this name for God, the Everlasting God? God had made a covenant with Abraham and also to the descendants and generations that would come from him. Abraham knew that this covenant from God wasn't just for the expanse of his life, but he knew this promise of God would go on even after his life was over. This is why he praised the Everlasting God. He praised the God who existed before him, and would continue to exist after him for generations to come.

I think sometimes it's hard for us to think about the fact that God had no beginning and no ending. We like things that are concrete. We like things that we can wrap our minds around. Personally, I get great excitement out of worshiping God as the Everlasting God because after all, who wants to worship a god they can understand and wrap their minds around? What God is doing in us and through us goes far beyond us. What God is doing isn't just about our few short years on this life, He is an Everlasting God and He is working throughout generations to accomplish His purposes. Remember, it's about more than just your life. God wants to work through you to do things that will far outlive your life here on earth. He is working in us and through us to do things that will last for eternity!

What's the Hammer For?!

Have you ever prayed a prayer similar to this? "God please just show me what You want me to do and I'll do it!" I know in my life I have prayed this prayer sometimes until I'm exhausted! I always find though, that God never seems to reveal His plans to me in great detail. If I get direction from God, it's usually a one-step plan.
I'm the type of person who wants to know all the details as soon as possible so I can get things done as quickly as possible. When I get home from the grocery store, I must get all of the bags inside in one trip as quickly as possible. My husband says I'm a "one-trip" kinda girl! If I walk up in the middle of someone telling a story, I need to be caught up on the details I missed as soon as possible! I'm always looking for a quicker way to do a task, even if that means taking a short cut. I like to know what's going on, I like to be informed, and I like to move quickly!
You can imagine the frustration of someone like me when God only reveals one step of His plan at a time. Sometimes I think, "You know God, if you would just go ahead and tell me where this all ends up, I could probably come up with a shorter way to get there!" Now of course I don't say that to God, but He knows that's what I'm thinking! "God, just go ahead and lay it all out for me so I can know what's going on!" He never does. It's always just one, small, SLOW step at a time! And even then it's not very detailed! So as I read this morning about a conversation God had with Noah, I was blown away and even filled with a little bit of envy at what I saw!

Genesis 6:12-22

And God said to Noah,"I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. This is how you are to make it: the length of the ark 300 cubits, its breadth 50 cubits, and its height 30 cubits. Make a roof for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above, and set the door of the ark in its side. Make it with lower, second, and third decks. I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die. But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female. Of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground, according to its kind, two of every sort shall come in to you to keep them alive. Also take with you every sort of food that is eaten, and store it up. It shall serve as food for you and for them." Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.

"Excuse me! God are you kidding?! You told Noah everything he was supposed to do and all that would happen to him and his family!" Now wait a minute, this just doesn't seem very fair. But just as I was starting to let this ruffle my feathers a little bit, I realized how overwhelmed I would've been had God told me I was going to build an ark, and that he was sending a flood to kill everyone on the earth except for me and my family! I also thought about how impatient I would have become when I built the ark and then had to wait on the right time for God to send the rain. You see, I'm quite sure God didn't choose me to build the ark for good reason. I'm pretty sure if I had been the one God wanted to build the ark, the scripture would've read quite differently. This is more like the story of Heather and the Ark:

And God said to Heather, "Get up." So God waited for Heather to get up and then said to her, "Look for a hammer." So Heather asked God, "What do I need a hammer for?" But God said nothing. Heather asked God again, "Why do you want me to find a hammer? What am I going to do with a hammer?" And God said, "Heather, go get a hammer." So Heather went and got a hammer. Then God said, "Go get some wood." And Heather replied, "But wood is heavy, if you would just tell me what you're going to do with the wood, I might can figure out something else to use that isn't so heavy and won't give me splinters!" But God replied, "Go get some wood..." ...You get the idea...

You see, I realized something else in Genesis 6. Verse 9 says that Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation, and Noah walked with God. Could that also be said of me? As righteous as I would sometimes like to think that I am, I hardly think arguing with God and refusing to trust Him when He tells me part of His plan is what you call righteous. I'm realizing my attitude needs to be less of "God, why do you want me to go get a hammer?" and more of "God, I will walk with you and trust you completely as I go to the store and buy a hammer."

So if you're frustrated with God right now because you wish He would just show you what you're supposed to do with your life, I would encourage you to stop, think back to the last thing you know He told you to do, and do it without questioning while you walk with Him in righteousness. Trust that He knows what's best for you. The truth is, most of us couldn't handle the stress of knowing that God wants to use us to build an ark! If we knew the extent of what God wanted to do through us in this moment, it might blow us away because we aren't ready yet. Let's begin 2011 by walking with God in obedience, a step at a time, so we will be prepared for whatever He's got right around the corner for us! I think it's huge!

The Christian Prom

Do you remember your high school prom? If a girl, you were purchasing your dress months in advance. You cleared your schedule for the entire day, just so you would have time to have your make-up and hair exactly perfect. If a guy, you rented a tuxedo in advance and made sure to take a shower on the day of the prom. You put your best foot forward. You knew, or at least your mom told you, that you needed to look your best. You took the best car your family owned, or you rented a limo to take you and your date to the prom. It mattered what you drove up in to the prom. You were careful to mind your manners and you were all smiles that night, especially for picture-taking time. Everyone looked picture-perfect. Flawless. Everyone seemed to be having the time of their life!

These days, prom isn't just for junior and seniors in high school. In NYC, there is a theatrical play called "The Awesome 80's Prom" set in a real dance hall that includes audience participation, and people flock to the theatre in NYC to relive their prom experience. There are many events all over the U.S. that closely resemble high school proms, usually as fundraisers for charities or even for-profit events. And every Sunday, churches across the country host their own version of the prom called "The Christian Prom."

Think about it, we treat going to church like going to the prom. Before church, we shower and get all cleaned up. We put on our best "church" clothes, and we make sure our spouses and kids are dressed in their best "church" clothes too. Then we load up in our nicest cars or SUVs for the ride to church, preparing ourselves and our families to be on their best behavior. Once, at church, we parade through the church hallways hoping that people notice how "put together" we look. We are careful to mind our manners, but most importantly it's all smiles! It doesn't matter that you and your spouse or kids fought all the way to church, once at church, it's time to turn on the charm. Once we get to church, we slip into our seat and watch those on stage singing in their best "church" clothes with smiles from ear to ear. Clapping and smiling, these people have gone through the same routine to get to church. So we sit and listen to the preacher, leave in time to grab some lunch and make it home to see the football game, and check another Sunday Christian prom off the list. We've done our duty. We've gone to church. We've let everyone see how perfect we are. Now we can get back on with our real lives...

Imagine this. The same Sunday, a girl walks into church for the first time. She's at the end of her rope, and while she doesn't want to be going to church, she feels it's her last resort. She thinks maybe there's hope for me there. Lonely and insecure, she approaches the church building. She sees nothing but perfect happiness on the faces of those walking in. Then she sees her co-worker dropping her kids off in the nursery. The same co-worker that is so rude to everyone in the office each week, is now all smiles and minding perfect manners. So this girl continues in to the church service. She's brokenhearted and looking for hope, but no one notices. She watches those on stage all smiles and dressed to impress, including her co-worker. She knows that this co-worker is going through a lot at home. She knows how rude this co-worker is to everyone at the office during the weekday, and so she's confused as to how she is standing in the choir acting as though everything is perfect and as if she's completely happy. Then she looks and recognizes her next door neighbor. She's only met him once when her dog ran away and she asked him if he had seen it. He stumbled to the door, completely wasted from all the alcohol he had been drinking, and managed to tell her he hadn't seen a dog anywhere. Now he's at church, sitting all dressed up and happy? She was looking for something real. She was looking for someone to notice her and help her. Instead, all she saw were happy, plastic people that didn't take time to notice her or offer her help. She figures she was right all along, the church is just a place where people go so they can dress up and be seen. A place for them to pretend like they live perfect lives. Flawless. Everyone seemed like they were having the time of their life! The Christian Prom.

Church is not supposed to be a prom. Church isn't even supposed to be about us at all. It's meeting together to encourage and disciple each other in the Word. It's finding out what's going on in the lives of others and teaching them what God's Word says about it. It's about discipling, and being discipled. This is how we fulfill God's command to us, the church. Matthew 28:19-20, "Go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you and I will be with you." This is how we glorify God. This is how we expand the kingdom of God across the world. Church is NOT about us. It's about God. It's about loving people. It's about being real! Prom is so high school.

The Miner's Rescue

Late last night and into the early morning hours, I, along with many others around the world watched in amazement as one by one, miners that have been trapped underground for the last 69 days were pulled one by one out of the mine to safety. I fell asleep last night after they had rescued 4 miners, and as I sit and watch right now they have already rescued 14 of the 33 miners. It's truly amazing to sit and watch. Relief overwhelms the faces of these miners as they are pulled to safety. Joy is on their faces as they are reunited with their family members that they thought they would never see again! And the world is inspired! The news media can't get enough! Facebook and Twitter is filled with messages from people saying they just can't stop watching the rescue mission...and I think, this is how Jesus rescued you too!

We were dead and buried in all our sin because of our sin, destined to remain there for eternity until God stepped in. He sent us a capsule, His son, Jesus Christ, to pull us up out of the pit we got ourselves trapped in! He didn't just pull us up out, but He gave us freedom forever! The assurance we would NEVER be trapped again! It is amazing how stories of rescue capture the heart of people all over the world, yet when it comes to their own rescue, people turn a deaf ear. I think it's because they fail to see their need to be rescued. Can you just imagine one of these Chilean miners trapped for 69 days already, yet when they sent the capsule down to him and said, "It's your turn to be rescued" he said, "Aah, no thanks, I don't need to be rescued. I'm just fine right here where I am." It would NEVER happen. That's because they realize that staying trapped there will lead to a slow death. Yet, when it comes to our need to be rescued from eternal death, most people will be content to sit tight in their mine, ignoring the capsule that's been sent for them that would lead them to eternal life in Christ.

I read newspaper headlines this morning that said "Joy as Capsule Raises Trapped Men to the Surface!" and "Chile Miners Rescued!" Can you imagine if there were headlines like this everytime another person in the world decided not to stay trapped in their sin anymore and decided to receive the free gift of the capsule and be rescued! I only pray today that people would realize that they, like the miners, are trapped in their sin which leads to death, and only through the capsule, Jesus, can they be saved from death for eternity. It's as urgent as rescuing coal miners in Chile, except that there's more hope for them than for some who continue to ignore God's gift of salvation.

"...today is the day of salvation." 2 Corinthians 6:2

Monday Morning Commentary

Well, when I started Monday Morning Commentary, I didn't realize that it would be another whole week before I blogged again! Oh well, such is the busyness of life.

What a wonderful weekend though! My husband surprised me with a trip to Dallas, Texas! Now, there's nothing special about Dallas except for my favorite mall is there, they have a Cheesecake Factory (my FAV restaurant!), oh yeah, and HILLSONG was going to be at Fellowship Church! My sweet husband got us tickets and so we hit the road...

We left Wednesday night and drove halfway to my grandparents house in Jonesboro, LA. I LOVED getting to spend some time with them, even though it was short! My grandmother cooked us breakfast the next morning before we hit the road again headed to Dallas.

While approaching Shreveport, we got the crazy idea that we should stop by and check out the site of one of our favorite tv shows at the moment: Billy the Exterminator. We knew he was sorta close to Shreveport so we looked it up and punched it in the GPS. (Oh yeah, we made a pit stop at McAlisters for free sweet tea day!). So we found the site of Vexcon in Benton, LA! This may not be very exciting to most of you guys, but we think Billy is pretty awesome, and we DVR his show every Wednesday night! So here's the pic of Vexcon.



While we were enjoying taking pictures of the outside like total idiots, all of a sudden Billy himself walks out, gets in his truck, and drives passed us! So what else were we to do...but follow??



We followed Billy for about 10-15 minutes like complete stalkers hoping he was going to a job and we would get to watch. We were very excited! Instead he parked here...



It was a gas station...and of course we went inside.



Unfortunately, we were so close but didn't get a picture with Billy. He went into the gas station restaurant and I guess my husband was afraid we would get in trouble for stalking if we asked him for a picture! So...our adventure ended...and we continued to Dallas.

Thursday night, we celebrated my early birthday at Cheesecake Factory...my favorite restaurant of all! Friday was full of LOTS of shopping and Forever 21! Then Friday night we went to Fellowship Church for Hillsong! It was an amazing night of worship!



Saturday was full of even more shopping...my poor husband didn't understand at all! But I'm so thankful to my sweet husband for giving me a wonderful birthday trip!

PS - no idea why the photos in this post are so jacked up! Please forgive me!

Monday Morning Commentary

Welcome to the first edition of my Monday morning commentary. The weekend was full of adventures: from dog sitting to sushi to going tubing on the Rez on a very tiny tube!

We survived our final day of dog sitting yesterday. My family headed to the beach last week, and asked us to dogsit for them. Like I'm gonna say no? Here's the thing though. I don't really do the whole animal in the house thing...but I must admit, it was kind of fun. Hartley (the chihuahua) is a mess! He's basically like a cat because all he likes to do is lay in your lap or on the back of the couch and give himself baths. He's a little high maintenance for someone who isn't used to a four-legged friend in the house. We survived however, and managed to take some cute pics!





Friday was clean-up day at the May household. It wasn't too much fun, and I think it may have made my husband sick! The reason I say that is because after the clean up was finished, he suggested that we go out for sushi! Now, this may not seem to strange to most of you out there, but my husband eats American food. Period. Every now and then I can convince him to eat some Mexican, but for the most part it's American food. So, the fact that he mentioned going to eat sushi was incredibly strange! But we headed to Nagoya in Madison for some sushi that our friends, the Hendricks, introduced us to a few weeks ago. Which brings me to Friday night dessert...Gigi's cupcakes!

If you've never been to Gigi's Cupcakes you should check out this link and visit one soon! You can see what it's all about here: http://www.gigiscupcakesusa.com/
We just got one here in Flowood, and it is a hoppin place! I met the owner of our Gigi's Cupcakes the other day (whose name is NOT Gigi, I might add...I was kinda disappointed about that...) who told me that they sell between 800-1200 cupcakes per day! She also told me that out of 20 stores nationwide, and having only been open for 2 months, her store is ranking #2! Leave it to us Mississippians to boost your cupcake business!

Saturday was a fun afternoon on the Rez with my small group. We headed out on the boat for some tubing, swimming, and boat riding and had a blast! I'm pretty sure I have the best small group girls ever! They even convinced me to try out the tube, which I might add was incredibly tiny! (Or was it the cupcake from the night before?) Anyway, here are some pics!





While on the boat, we took a ride by some islands where some goats have been placed in order to eat up the vegetation. We searched for the goats and we found them! What can I say...it's Mississippi!



Sunday was a great day! I heard two great messages that are worth checking out! One is from our church in Brandon, Pinelake Church. The other is from Newspring Church in Anderson, South Carolina. (We like to call Newspring our church away from church, although we have never been!) Here are the links! The message from Pinelake is up now, the message from Newspring won't be up until Tuesday. Enjoy!

Pinelake Church
Newspring

So that brings me to Monday. Bryant and I are going out of town this weekend (I will tell you more about that later) which means a lot to do in a lesser amount of time this week! We have a lot going on at Monkey Charms and there's a lot to be done before we leave town. I think that means my blogging time for today is over...back to work!

Proverbs 16:1

"The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord."
I was reading this verse this morning and was reminded of a video that my husband recently showed me that goes so well with this verse. If God has ever not answered your prayers the way you thought He should and you've wondered why, this video is great! God just asks us to follow Him, not to try to figure things out. Enjoy!
http://vimeo.com/4654340