Category: Uncategorized

There’s been a whole lot of this in my life lately.

My firstborn – my 6 pound baby boy – is tackling and being tackled. He owns a helmet and knows about defensive plays, and I have to watch as boys built like men drive him to the ground.

Needless to say, my prayer life has changed.

He loves football, but this is his first year. Most of the other guys have been out there before, so he’s had a lot of making up to do. He’s had to learn positions and plays, and he also has what we’ll call a significant size deficit. (He’s a year younger than everybody on his team, so the poor kid is easy to pick out of the crowd.)

At this week’s game, though, this happened.

He got one of the two golden game coins. After each game, the coaches choose both an offensive and defensive player to receive recognition. And my baby boy got one.

Now, listen. He didn’t score a touchdown. He didn’t catch a pass. He didn’t do anything for which his name would be in lights.

He just did his assignment.

He was told to block, so he blocked. Play after play, every time he was in, he tried to block whoever was in his path. Nothing fancy, nothing worthy of a highlight reel. He just blocked. He just did his assignment.

When that coach announced his name, though, I swear to you I got a lump in my throat and wanted to yell (but didn’t) “THAT’S MY BABY!”

Isn’t that the goal we all have for our babies? To do their assignments? I don’t know yet what God’s purpose is for that child. I know it’s going to be amazing, and I know it’s going to be specific, but I can’t tell you what it will be. Chances are high his name won’t be in lights, and chances are high he won’t be world-renowned. Regardless, though, I just want him to do his assignment. I just want him to know what he’s been told to do and to do it. Period.

Sometimes I forget this applies to me, too. Just today, I was scrolling through Instagram after work, and I saw post after post of amazing, unique, and attention-worthy things people had accomplished while I was working. It made me jealous, and it made me want to do what they were doing. But you know what? I have an assignment, and my assignment is not what they are doing. For now, my assignment is to cherish and raise up the young adults in my classroom. So that’s what I’m going to do. My name may not be in lights, and I may not be world-renowned, but that doesn’t mean my assignment is any less important.

If a blocker doesn’t do his assignment, neither can the play-makers. If I don’t do my assignment, neither can the play-makers I’m charged with influencing. My assignment matters. It may not always feel like it, and there may be days I wish my assignment were different, but my assignment in the right-now matters right now.

Sometimes, our assignments must be done in the rain.

It doesn’t matter what the conditions are. It might be raining, and you might be tired, and you might be praying for the clock to get to the final seconds. The assignment matters even then, and sometimes most especially then. When you understand the importance of the task you’ve been given, you keep going even in the rain. You keep blocking even when you’re tired. And, sometimes, you might just get the golden coin that reminds you your assignment matters.

A Prayer as Our 21 Day Fast Ends:

“God, we’ve been through a lot these past 21 days. There have moments of enlightenment, times of frustration, and nonstop reliance on you. It’s not easy to give up things that are such a normal part of life on this planet, and whether it was food or Facebook, substances or sleep, we all set aside something to hear from you more. We all abstained from something to grow closer to our Sustainer. As this time of deliberate separation from the world comes to a close, we pray that the real results are only beginning. We ask, God, that what you began in us during these 21 days will grow and multiply in ways we cannot imagine. Many of us were praying specific prayers, and we ask you to show us the specific answers we seek. Many of us were looking for breakthroughs, and we ask you to show us the paths we couldn’t see before.

Add caption

But we’re also praying something else, God, and we’re courageously asking it. We’re asking you to show us both something about ourselves and something about you that we didn’t even know would come through this time. We’re asking for a divine revelation that completely takes us by surprise. Remind us that you are bigger than we dare think, and teach us that you can do more in us than we even know to ask for. Begin it even now, Lord. Sweep us off our feet, and leave us in awe of who you are.”

Today continues our 21 day series on setting ourselves apart for Christ.

Do you ever just need a time-out from your life? Do you ever wish you could press pause and freeze the action around you while you catch up?

Time is in short supply for many of us, and a 24 hour day just doesn’t cut it (if you really feel that sleeping is necessary).

So much is asked of us that it sometimes seems impossible – truly not realistic – to get it all done and still maintain sanity.

Here’s what I’ve discovered about time.

First – you cannot do it all. There really is a limit on your time, and only you can know how much is too much. Learn to say “no” and be unapologetic about it. The Lord has given you the ability to discern what is realistic and what is crippling. Ask Him, listen, and don’t be afraid to turn down what you cannot do.

Second – time spent with people is always better than time spent on tasks. I am a list maker, and I can create tasks to do like nobody’s business. Tasks are important and often must be done, but your friends and family need to take precedence over your to-do list. Make it a priority to step away from the to-do’s and just be.

Third – you cannot be set apart for Christ if you don’t set apart time for Him. Although you may have a jam-packed schedule from the alarm to the pillow, no minutes are better spent than those spent with Him. Meditating on His Word and spending time in prayer can transform the rest of your minutes into ones that feel well-spent.

We all have the same number of minutes in our days. Even when it feels like we don’t, we have a say in how we spend them. Invite Christ in to your every moment, and even the busy ones will be filled with His purpose.

Sometimes I wonder if Christians are irrelevant to the unbelieving world because we remove ourselves so far from it.

We recite one of our favorites, that we are to be in the world and not of it, and yes, that is true. But while we’re in the world we can’t just sit back on our velvety cushioned pedestals and rain down judgment and condemnation. We can’t see the problems plaguing very real people and rest on our laurels.

What does it say of our faith when we have every comfort the American Dream can provide but our brothers and sisters around the globe are slaughtered for the very same faith? What message do we send when scores of refugees are fleeing imminent death, but we refuse them aid? What is revealed of our God when His people are best known for rejection, isolation, and materialism? What message does the world see when churches squabble with each other over minor issues such as contemporary music versus traditional hymns (and we do so by passively aggressively posting articles on Facebook rather than having actual conversations with actual people)?

People – real people – are starving to death and dying of preventable diseases and are being persecuted for following Christ, and all of that happens while we American Christians shoot daggers in each others’ backs (ignoring life and death issues and heaven and hell issues) because we can’t believe someone would dare wear blue jeans to church instead of starched shirts and ties.

No wonder so many people think we’re crazy.

How about this for setting ourselves apart?

Let’s do what Jesus said. Let’s love Him and love people. Let’s help those who need help and encourage those who are hurting and lift those who are down. Let’s be light in darkness and salt in tastelessness and hope in despair.

Let’s give our extras to those without, and let’s think of how we can show love rather than show why someone’s wrong.

Let’s be like Jesus, for Pete’s sake.

We make Christianity about a million little things it was never intended to be about. We strain out a gnat but swallow a camel and forget that love covers a multitude of sins.

corstina.blogspot.com

Love God and love others.

The greatest commandment – the simplest one – and the one that we almost never follow.

Really want to set yourself apart today? Love. Just love.

In our 21 day journey of setting ourselves apart for Christ, I’ll be sharing prayers we can ask individually and corporately. Today’s will be a prayer of thanksgiving.

For the next two days of our 21 day journey in setting ourselves apart for Christ, I’ll be sharing prayers we can ask individually and corporately. Today’s will be a prayer of confession.

For the next three days of our 21 day journey in setting ourselves apart for Christ, I’ll be sharing prayers we can ask individually and corporately. Today’s will be a prayer of adoration.

Today’s Prayer: “Lord, I rarely stop just to tell you thank you for your work in my life. Sadly, too often I overlook it because I’m so accustomed to it. I have somehow let the presence of the Maker of the Universe become commonplace, and I’m so sorry for that. So today, God, I just want to praise you. You have been the one constant in my ever-changing life, and I can look back to moment after moment that you have orchestrated to be for my own good and the good of your kingdom. I am in awe when I stop and consider – meditate on – how you have worked. It’s unbelievable that you love me, are jealous for me, and make plans for me. When I feel insignificant and unimportant, all I have to do is remember that the One who knew me before I was born knows me now and loves me still. You are all I need, and I can say that with confidence because there have been times you were all I had. Stop me in the ordinary moments, God, and remind me of your amazing presence in them. Every day of my life, you have been in control, and as my days continue, I pray that my eyes will be open to seeing and trusting all you will do.”

shadyandkatie.com

For each of of the next 21 days, I will be sharing specific ways believers can set themselves apart for Christ through prayer, fasting, and intentional focus. Today continues”setting yourself apart by…”

thecheeriotrail.com