These are a few of my favorite things. 2010 edition

These are a few of my favorite things... (I don't own them yet, but I sure would love to).

iPad. Every time I travel I want one of these a little more.

Not going to lie. I really want an iPhone 4.

I can't decide between these two

fabulous necklaces from Make

Pie not War.

I love, love, love this bedding from Anthropologie.

Now that I have mentioned stuff I will let you know that what I love most is quality time or words of encouragement. If you really want to make me feel special set a time to hang with me or drop me a note letting me know you appreciate me. Those two things will always be my favorite things.

Catch and Release Friendship

I am currently reading same kind of different As me for the second time. The first time I read it I flew through it reading it in one day. I loved it and its story resonated in my heart. The second read comes about a year later and have been slower. This time it is truly piercing my heart. It breaks at the story and the editing. It's outstanding. If you haven't read it you should. Start right now. I mean it.
About midway through the book Denver uses the phrase "catch and release friendship." Tears poured down my face as conviction went straight through my heart. I am by no means an expert in friendship. Most of the time I wonder how worth it friendships really are. I know I cannot survive without community and am grateful for those in my life who don't let me live without it, but most of my relationships start out as "catch and release." You see, I love befriending people who are new or in transition I just don't love maintaining those friendships. I plug them in, find them friends, get them connected, then I'm done. I'm out. I move on.
I was deeply hurt in friendships as a child. It seemed as though everyone walked out on me. I learned young that everyone leaves. As an adult I try not to get attached to friendships. I allow them to run their course and then release. I don't release people back into their old environment I make sure they are in a new and better one, but I release none the less. It seems the people who are still my friends are the ones who refuse to be released. Thank you for being that to me and for helping me to live my life in community. I know I cannot exist alone and cherish your love and friendship.
Lord, help me not to see friendships as "catch and release." Help me to be "a real friend. Forever."

I'm a fan of the Colts, but I'm devoted to Jesus

I am a huge fan of the Colts. This is a common knowledge fact about my life. I love that people think of me when they see something Colts related. I get texts and pictures from random locations when people hear about the Colts or see Colts paraphernalia. People have even started supporting the Colts just because of my passion for the team. Friendships have been formed and deepened around my passion for the Colts.

Tonight I got many condolence emails, text messages, and facebook posts. It made me realize exactly how much I'm identified as a Colts fan. While it's great to be known as a Colts fan I hope that even more I'm know as a fan of Jesus. I'm not going to lie, it's a little bit convicting. It's easy to be identified with a team because I can wear my Colts jersey, necklace, socks, and shoes. It's harder to show your devotion without outward appearances. I'd love to wear a Jesus robe and rock some Jesus sandals, but that doesn't really work. My horseshoe necklace shows I'm a Colts fan, but when people see my cross it looks like simple decoration.

While I'm sure many people in my life will forever remember me as the Colts fan I am, I hope I will be remembered even more as being devoted to Jesus. He is my everything and my all. I hope I can love like He loves and live like He lived. I'm a fan of the Colts, but my whole life is devoted to Jesus.

How He loves us

Sunday at church Neil ended his message by having the worship team sing "How He Loves" by David Crowder Band. It's a great song and I have been singing it all week. As I was listening and singing one line in the song was particularly troubling to me. It says "And we are His portion and He is our prize." I read that and get upset. How could I be His portion? He is my portion. He is my future, my all. How could I be that for Him. He is enough for me. He is all I need. There was something about the idea of me being His portion that seemed so wrong to me.

I decided to do some research ready to write David Crowder and inform him of his theological inaccuracies. I went to Bible.org and entered "we are His portion" ready to be proven right. The searched returned Deuteronomy 32:9. "For the LORD’S portion is His people; Jacob is the allotment of His inheritance." Wait. What? "The LORD'S portion is His people." How could that be?

Context is everything. Read around it. Surely you can still prove you are right. This verse comes at the end of Deuteronomy. The end of the second telling of the law. The end of the wilderness. The final words of Moses. This passage actually comes in the Song of Moses.

"One Old Testament scholar called the Song of Moses "one of the most impressive religious poems in the entire Old Testament." It contrasts the faithfulness and loyal love of God with the unfaithfulness and perversity of His people" (soniclight.org)

Verse 8 describes the LORD giving the nations their inheritance. He has given His people their portion. He has trusted them to care for what He has given them. "When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when he divided all mankind, he set up boundaries for the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel." (Deut. 32:8)

Then Moses goes on to describe us as The Lord's portion. We are His portion: His share, His part, His territory, His own possession, His allotment. We are His inheritance.
I am humbled. When I think of the Lord as my portion I think of Him as my hope, my future, my all. He is everything to me and all I could ever need. The idea that I could be anything like that to Him is overwhelming to me. Me- the Lord's inheritance? No.

Moses follows on in his song to describe how the Lord cared for Jacob. "In a desert land he found him, in a barren and howling waste. He shielded him and cared for him; he guarded him as the apple of his eye," (Deut. 32:10). Those are the tender words of how you would care for your inheritance. The rest of the song continues to describe how the Lord cared and protected His portion.

I know that God loves me. I've known that for as long as I can remember. I suppose there is a part of me that knows that with my mind, but somehow looks at His love as an obligation. Something along the lines of "I love you. I just don't like you right now." You can love without longing. You can love without placing true value on the object. That's not how God loves.

Most days I don't feel too loveable. I see my selfishness, my insecurity, my sin. How could that mess valuable? Yet I am valued by the King of the Universe. So much so that I am His inheritance. I am valuable to Him. When something is of value you guard it, you care for it. How He has treasured the nation of Israel and how He has treasured me. Oh how He loves us.

I don't know if this will hit anyone else upside the head like it did me. I encourage you to read through Deuteronomy 32 and think of how much you are loved by the Lord almighty. The way He loved and cared for Israel is the way He loves and cares for you. "What God has done in the past is a model and a promise for what He is doing and for what He will do in the future" (Dr. Allman).

He loves us, oh how He loves us.

He loves me, oh how He loves me.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJyW55AXJAk

An end is a new beginning.

I've been in seminary for 5 years now and it is quickly coming to a close. I will graduate this summer and begin the next phase of my life. It's exciting and a little bit scary. The whole world is open to me. I can go anywhere and do anything. Amazing and overwhelming. I'm starting the job search so if anyone has any thoughts or ideas please let me know.

For His Glory,
Rebecca

What is Destination Unknown anyway?

I've been talking a lot about Destination Unknown and realized that I haven't fully explained what exactly Destination Unknown is. Destination Unknown is a mission trip sponsored by my church (Northwest Bible Church) where we prepare for a mission trip and don't find out where we are going until the day we leave. We've been preparing as a team since November and leave February 15th. The purpose of the trip is to trust and serve the Lord with reckless abandon, joyfully serving Him and others wherever you go.
This is the second year my church has done this trip. Last year the group was divided into 2 teams. One team went to Memphis, TN and learned about re-neighboring and did a lot of work in the city. The second team went to Indonesia and spent time with missionaries there. They spent most of their time praying for the people there.
Not only do we not know where we will be going but we don't know what we will be doing. I'm excited for this step of faith and to see what God has in store. If you live in Dallas please come to Northwest Bible on Sunday February 15th at 9:45. We are having one service with a mission focus and that is when they will announce where we are going for Destination Unknown. We leave after the service. We will be keeping up with the trip at http://destinationunknown2.wordpress.com. Check it out.

Destination Unknown 2 - The stress sets in

So far I haven't experience nerves or tension about going on Destination Unknown. I've been excited about the whole process and ready for whatever was ahead. We had a great day of team training this past Sunday. We really bonded as a team and I am even more excited about going somewhere with these people. Then Monday happened and all the syllabuses started rolling in. I'm trying to get all my school work done early so I can go on the trip free and clear. I'm not missing anything big during the week I'm gone. It should be fine. I think the huge thing that is stressing me is that we don't know exactly how long we'll be gone. I could just be gone a week, but we have allotted 10 days. What if I'm gone the whole time? Will there be a point where the stress sets in while I'm on the trip? How far behind will I be if I have to miss 2 classes in a row? All that said, the Destination Unknown stress has finally set in. I suppose there should be some stress associated with going on a trip when you don't know where you're going. I'm still excited and ready for whatever God has in store.