"the blueness is newness in Jesus Christ"

I've been waiting to blog so I could post the link to the rest of World Christian Week's sermons but the link isn't up yet. It was very good. God is awesome.

For those of you who don't know, after teaching English in the middle east this summer, I'm off to Austria, Germany, and the Czech Republic with my sister. Then we're off to the Ukraine for more English teaching. Clearly, God continues to be awesome.

Since you all know that I love quoting from books, I thought I would write some from Shattered Dreams by Larry Crabb, the book I noted in the blog below. I continued reading it on this 80 degree, clear and sunny day in Columbia, after church and lunch at Donna and "J"'s of course. :o)

Jesus' teachings:
"Truth 1: Life includes suffering, but life is good. In this world, His followers and everyone else will suffer tribulation. But Jesus has made a way for us to satisfy our deepest desire in the midst of unrelieved pain.
Truth 2: The cause of all suffering is separation. We are separated from God - and from our own deepest desire, our longing for God - and we're therefore deceived into looking elsewhere for joy. That sets us off on the ultimate wild goose chase. Nothing but God satisfies our most profound desire.
Truth 3: The way to handle suffering is to discover your desire for God. Then everything, both good and bad, becomes redemptive. It moves us toward the God we desire. Enter your thirst. Feel your ache, the very worst ache that throbs in your soul. Face how you harm others, your spouse, your children, your friends. And face your disappointment with them. Eventually, you will seek God for... ...forgiveness of your failure to love. ...the love you desire. ...empowerment to love others. ...hope that one day you will revel in love freely given and freely received in a perfect community of lovers.
Truth 4: The new life provided through Jesus must be accepted as a gift of love. We then spend the rest of our days discovering our desire to know God better, and we come to realize it's a desire whose satisfaction no shattered dream can thwart."

Also,
"God does want us happy; He's gone to great lengths to ensure our eternal joy. But the happiness He provides now is the strange happiness of longing for what we were designed to experience but must wait to fully enjoy. It's the happiness of serving a God we trust enough to let us cry today, knowing He has promised to wipe our eyes tomorrow. ...C.S. Lewis somewhere said that if we discover a desire within us that nothing in this world can satisfy, we should begin to wonder if perhaps we were created for another world. Jesus told us to lay up treasures for ourselves in heaven. Paul instructs us to fix our eyes on an unseen world, the one Lewis calls 'another world,' and to set our affections on higher ambitions than will ever be satisfied now. The message is clear. We are to become aware of better dreams and live for them, not only the better dreams of heaven but also the better dream available now of drawing close to God. When we discover our desire for God, we can live for nothing less."

And, last, you know when you have a CD but you only listen to a few particular songs and then one day you start broadening your horizons and realize that there are other cool songs on the album too? Well that happened to me. Read these awesome lyrics by Laura Story, especially with everything else I've been thinking about lately. :o)

When I'm at the point of breaking
At the place where I resign
When I'm at the stage of shaking my head
As I look back on my life
When I'm halfway thru the grieving
But not quite thru the ache
When I cannot see the ending
Or which road I'm supposed to take

And all I know to do
Is lift my hands to You

Take all of my life
All of my life
And make something beautiful
I open my hand and trust in Your plan
Make something beautiful
So all will see
Your work in me
As You make something beautiful

When I'm tired of pretending
And I can't recall my line
Do I saw I'm barely breathing
Or do I say I'm doing fine
I admit there is a yearning
For the hurting to subside
But not at the risk of missing
What You're doing in my life

And all I know to do
Is lift my hands to You