at His feet

you have to really love someone to rub their feet.
think about it.
feet aren't the cleanest of the body.
yet Mary of Bethany, with her beautiful, just washed hair...(probably the kind of hair you see on
all the shampoo commercials).
she kneels down and kisses His feet.
and you know His feet where dirty. He even tells the host "you didn't offer water to wash my feet".
so there He sits, dirty feet from walking in the dust.
and she kneels down face to feet.
it puts a whole new perspective to "how beautiful are the feet of Him who brings good news" doesn't it?
there she is, weeping over His feet. letting the tears streak the dust on his precious feet.
it must have been a down pour of tears, to wash His feet with her tears, to clean them from the debris of the day.
you really have to love someone to wash their dirty feet.
when she was satisfied that the dust was gone, she begins to dry them with her hair. I don't think she did it gently either. she really tried them. her hair became the towel. her hair absorbed the tears and the dust until the feet where clean.
ahh
and then
she reaches into her pocket, or maybe a satchel and pulls out this little jar. the alabaster box. this extremely costly, fine textured, maybe translucent gypsum or maybe white marble.
alabaster was very expensive, and if a person bought an alabaster box, it was only used for very important purposes.
so the box itself was costly.

but the oil inside was even more so
perhaps a years wage or worth inside
and she dumps it.
she pours it out all over his just cleaned feet
you really have to love someone to waste extravagance on their feet
she risks it all
she gives it all
she waste it all
on His feet
do we?
do we risk it all
do we give it all
do we waste it all
at His feet..

anger + passion = red

What do you think of when you hear 'red' ?
Do you see it ? the color ?
does it bring up emotion or a feeling?
I don't know why, when I hear 'red' it makes me think of anger.
You know, that red face you get when you are trying to desperately not be angry ? Being red hot mad ?
I think of red walls, red bricks, red blood
I also think of passion.
Valentines day, red roses, red dress....red...
What if we put the two together?
anger and passion =
red
that is like double red
But then my heart sees red in its truest form
the red angry beating
the red angry nails
the red angry mocking
the red angry flesh being ripped
we even call this 'the passion'
how could something so horrific be called passion?
how could He endure ?
because it was passion. He saw red. He saw the red love of passion.
We are the joy (red) that was set before Him
He took the anger, the passion of hatred so I could receive His passion of red love
Red has become my favorite color

five minute worship?

today the challenge from a fellow blogger to write on worship for five minutes.

perfect. worship is my passion.

also perfect since I am in the middle of organizing and planning the School Of Worship for City Gat Lancaster!

so my heart is very full with what is worship.

what have we made worship?

it is really those songs we sing?

is it really those sold out concerts from world renown worship leaders?

is it really what happens for 20 minutes before a brief message on sunday?

I am thinking....

not.

worship when first mentioned in the word with Abraham was all about posture.

for Mary, it was all about waste.

when was the last time I postured myself to waste time on God?

worship was first mentioned when Abraham said, I and the lad will go yonder and worship.

up til that point, worship wasn't even mentioned.

how did they worship?

they laid down.

they wasted some time, just being face down in the dirt.

how would that look if on a typical worship set at our churches, we poured out rocks and dirt and said "ok, time to worship! lay face down!"

yet, maybe that is what is needed.

there wasn't any music involved at all.

in fact David said he had to train his musicians how to worship.

wouldn't that imply that they already knew how to music..but not worship?

he had to take the music out and teach them to worship

then we come to mary.

how wasteful to drop all that perfume on someones feet.

for her, it was her whole life. all her wages in one bottle.

the 'church' or crowd even yelled..this is disgusting, a waste..we could have made money on that little alabaster box !!

ohh..my friend..

worship is costly.

and it is all about waste.

wasting my precious time on him

wasting my wants and desires to do things, and to just drop at his feet.

what some call waste, I call want.

I want to waste it all on him

this is worship

no music

no band

no lights, lazers or fog machines

just waste

me, poured out

how about we take these next five minutes and waste it on Jesus

stop.

drop.

and waste.

 

 

 

 

 

stewing..

God woke me up this morning with the word, steward. I know that in our Christian lingo, we understand that to steward something is to manage it, or to take care of. So if I am stewarding my finances, I am managing the money God has provided for me. In the Bible, it tells us that people were stewards, or that they were in charge of certain aspects of helping the owner.

But I felt like and feel like God has given us a huge responsibility as stewards, not only with finances, but with everything.
We are to steward our family, our jobs, our friends, our relationships, our time with God. If I do not steward my time wisely, I will always be wasting time.

So then I started to break down the word. To get more meaning. Stew. ard. Stew. ing. Stew.
I started to get a deeper revelation of what it looks like to stew things.

Here was my thought: If I am making a stew, I put raw things into a huge pot and cook for a really long time right? If I tried to eat the stew uncooked, raw...I would probably get sick. Stew takes time. A really long time. To get that perfect blend or flavors. Seasoning and softness. So put this into our daily lives. How am I stewing my time with Jesus. With friends. Do I expect it all to be great before it has had time to stew?

Stay with me here. Think about it. Do I put the same stew(ing)ard time into my relationship with God, with Jesus, with His word, or am I living the fast food mentality? Am I letting His word stew in me, letting the fire produce the amazing fragrance and aroma and the softness and tenderness ? Am I stew(ing)ard my friendships ? Am I letting them take the time that is needed for the fullness of flavor ? Or am I throwing it all in the pot, turning up the heat and expecting it to be good. That will only burn it and ruin it. I have had many friendships that turned out this way. Too much fire, too much heat, and it ruins it. Stewing takes time, lots of time. It takes the right amount of constant heat, or seasonings. You know what I mean.
Are you beginning to get a different picture of stewarding?
I am. I am now thinking of my devotion time, my study time, am I letting it stew or rushing it? My friendship, am I letting them stew overtime...letting the heat bring out the best of flavor. My family, My God, My relationship, its all about time, stewing, letting the fire or heat produce the best possible result.
My friends, it is time to make stew.