[ random thoughts ]

This week, I've been especially thankful for a few things:

• Clarity.
  
• Rest.
  
• God showing up.
• Restoration of joy amidst the ordinary.

It's been really great to experience the constancy and trustworthiness of God's provision this week.

More later. It's late.

Love you all.

Jessie

[ my chains are gone, i've been set free ]

John Piper has written this important book entitled Don't Waste Your Life, published a few years ago by Crossway Books.

Sharon and Susan talked a lot about John Piper when we were freshmen at Muskingum. In fact, a few books of his had been pretty monumental in Sharon's life, especially when she studied abroad in Argentina.

I am beginning to see why Sharon and Susan respect Piper's books.

Piper's passion for seeing hearts turned toward whole-life display and worship of God in all His glory is really cool. Check this out:

An American Tragedy: How Not to Finish Your One Life

I will tell you what a tragedy is. I will show you how to waste your life. Consider a story from the February 1998 edition of Reader's Digest, which tells about a couple who "took early retirement from their jobs in the Northeast five years ago when he was 59 and she was 51. Now they live in Punta Gorda, Florida, where they cruise on their 30 foot trawler, play softball and collect shells." At first, when I read it I thought it might be a joke. A spoof on the American Dream. But it wasn't. Tragically, this was the dream: Come to the end of your life -- your one and only precious, God-given life -- and let the last great work of your life, before you give an account to your creator, be this: playing softball and collecting shells. Picture them before Christ at the great day of judgment: "Look, Lord. See my shells." That is a tragedy. And people today are spending billions of dollars to persuade you to embrace that tragic dream. Over against that, I put my protest: Don't buy it. Don't waste your life. (pp. 45-6)

Piper has a knack for honesty, to be sure.

Does that make you feel uneasy at all? I'm only 20, but it makes my stomach turn a bit.

Joe has written a song about chasing after God rather than this ideal 'American Dream,' whatever that may look like, and lately, a few of us at school have been talking and thinking seriously about what it means to live radically for Christ in our lifetime.

All of it may seem idealistic now, being in our early 20's with no bills or kids to take care of or careers on our plates, but I'm beginning to realize more and more that maybe that doesn't matter; that perhaps our lack of experience in the 'real world' is actually a beautiful thing, and that young age doesn't always equal ignorance.

I get this feeling sometimes that I have a lot of stuff -- material and otherwise -- to share, and if it's all God's anyway, my life, especially after college, has to -- just has to -- look different. Really different.

You know, the Cross-centered, Christ-exalting life may be a lot tougher and painful than we have been brought up to believe, if indeed we were nailed to the Cross with our Savior and are commissioned now to be ambassadors for Jesus.

But yet...God has redeemed us for His ultimate glory, and we can boast in the Cross as the "blazing center of the glory of God."

By Your wounds we are healed
By Your wounds we are saved
Mighty is the power of the Cross

The Cross changes everything.

It transforms my skewed perception of my desires and needs; it crashes the tower I've constructed for myself; it points me directly toward God, who in His glory has rescued us from our foggy visibility -- straight into reality-sight, found only in the real, living God.

Let's give Him our all.

[ fall break ]

8-ish hours 'til home -- woohoo! :)

It's been 2 months or so.

I'm going to write a bunch this weekend, I think. I've had some ideas for creative nonfiction over the past week or so. I'm looking forward to getting that onto paper (well, a Word document, or maybe this blog).

Seeing my parents, John and Josh, Sara, Mere and a few others will be really great too.

Keep serving Jesus.

Jessie

[ raise your voices to Jesus Christ ]

God rescues us from self and launches us into His big plans for this world.

I'm just really in awe at His protection and provision tonight.

More later, probably once I'm at home for Fall Break.

[ not our will but Yours be done ]

I decided to stay in after Primetime tonight, which has turned out to be a really good thing. I'd like to think that I'm 'on it,' if you will, when I'm with a group of people -- it's just the way I tick, I guess. Tonight, though, it's been refreshing to have some time alone, handing over the 'me' tendencies to God once again and being reconciled to Him.

Lately I've been wanting more and more to step forth in self-forgetfulness. It's hard. If I fail to take up the power of the Spirit, every part of me cries out from the flesh:

Be affirmed.
Do 'okay.'
Press on.
Bring yourself together.

It's more recognizable to me now, I think, because God has been putting my heart at rest about things: relationships, ministry, school, His plans beyond this place. It's evident because lately there's been more of an immersion in life with relationships as the context -- with Joe, but also in this hall, in Life Group, growing friendships. You get the idea.

I think these hard things are more apparent when missional community is being developed because we begin to have a glimpse through God's eyes -- His eyes and big-time desire for redemption and people being pulled toward His glory. And when we are basking in self, His nature alone will crumble all of our construction efforts: the crew we've assembled, the blueprints we've drawn, the plans we've rationalized for ourselves.

I want this self-forgetfulness thing because there's students here who need a lot less of me and so much more of Him. The relational gospel of Jesus pushes past my 'me' crap because of its power, but it'd be helpful if I could allow people to experience Him by getting the heck out of the way.

I read an archived article on Boundless this afternoon when I was working desk, and it had this beautiful last paragraph or so. This is good:

Friendships that are marked by the gospel of the kingdom, formed out of fidelity to a biblically-informed worldview, are ones in which care more to be serve than to be served.

That is actually from an article on dating, but it seems to speak pretty loudly for self-forgetfulness and gospel-centeredness. The two go hand-in-hand, I think: as we move beyond self by living outwardly, we open ourselves to the Spirit's leading in our life.

God yearns for those around us to know Him, to experience freedom in Him, to see His working in this world. The most unselfish thing we can do is to allow them to experience the joy that comes from pursuing the heart of our Creator. (John Piper stuff. He's the real deal.)

So, yeah. I have a lot of praying to do about this. God provides in big ways, though, interceeding for us through His Spirit and urging us to press on toward His glory.

Jessie

Oh...this morning I was watching Rod Parsley on TV. (About this time last year I wrote a commentary about tattoos and him, blah, blah, blah. It was kind of a crappy commentary, to be honest, but whatever.) Anyway, my heart softened a bit today. There was a young woman on his show talking about mission work in Sudan. Whoa. Praying for the nations is big. I can't even begin to fathom God's heart for these people.

I hope God will take me overseas short-term or long-term sometime in my lifetime. I mean, why not?