the lesser passions

ah...here we go. after weeks of lurking and reading, reading and lurking, i finally take the plunge into a blog-a-licious world. i've been blogging for ages, but not here, so i'm new to you guys, anyway. i guess all that you really need to know about me is that i love to stir things up. in a good way. love to discuss things that i am passionate about, and i must say there are many subjects that fall under that category. hence, the title of this particular blog:)

some time ago, a friend of mine, knowing that i love max lucado's books and writings, gave me a card with a quote of his on the front. it's a quote that reminded her of me...and of the many conversations that we have had about seeking the deeper things of God...the passion that fuels the fire of our spirits and drives us absolutely mad, all at the same time. if you don't mind, i'm gonna share the quote with you.

"....God rewards those who seek Him. not those who seek doctrine or religion or systems or creeds. many settle for these lesser passions, but the reward goes to those who settle for nothing less than Jesus Himself. and what is the reward? what awaits those who seek Jesus? nothing shortof the heart of Jesus."

wow. well, for me, that's it. those words have been my challenge for many years before i ever read them...before mr. lucado ever penned them. i have found myself being so stirred, so unsettled, so completely and totally CRAZY with spiritual thirst, that i have been forced to settle for those lesser passions...the ones that are 'acceptable' to other churchgoers..the ones that don't get us in trouble when we talk about them..the ones that don't challenge those that you are with and bring with them an uncomfortable silence that eventually forces you to change the subject or walk away with the 'unsaid' hanging in the air, like a bad smell.

to put it plainly...i have settled for the lesser passions to SURVIVE.

but, as is always the case and the now-familiar pattern...the lesser passions do not satisfy the hunger or quench the thirst. and here i am again..in this place..this valley of indecision. do i want to survive? or do i want to allow this fire to take me into the depths of who Jesus really is...the HEART of Jesus?

in either case, i will burn.

The Cross.

i've been doing a lot of thinking since last night, and these couple of excerpts from Max Lucado's The Cross keep rolling through my mind:
The ropes used to ties his hands and the soldiers used to lead him to the cross were unnecessary. They were incidental. Had they not been there, had there been no trial, no Pilate, and no crowd, the very same crucifixion would have occurred. Had Jesus been forced to nail himself to the cross, he would have done it. For it was not the soldiers who killed him, nor the screams of the mob: it was his devotion to us.

God on a cross. The ultimate act of creative compassion. The Creator being sacrificed for the creation. God convincing man once and for all that he would give anything, pay any price to save his children. He could have given up. He could have turned his back. He could have walked away from the wretched mess the world became, but he didn't.
God didn't give up.
we sing so often about this "amazing love"...yet do we even have an inkling of how amazing it truly is? i can't even begin to fathom the depth of such love....much less begin to love others in the same manner. wow.

Just saying hi

Hi guys,

I just am making a post to make sure I'm doing it properly. I'm used to threaded newsgroups, which it appears this is not.

Threaded meaning someone posts, and other people reply to it and whatnot.

Bleh... I can't make a post without something good to say. Hang in there Tim. I know you were really not looking forward to the military stuff you're doing this week. Look for the sun through the clouds. If you can't find the sun, we'll be here to cheer you up afterward :)