_Sunday, Barry talked about ‘what happens when the sun doesn’t stand still?’ I wrote this a few years ago. This is what happened when the sun did not seem to stand still….
In October 2003, we found out that we were expecting our first child. At that point, Barry and I had been married for 4 years and I had been trying to convince him that we were ready for children for all 4 of those years. Needless to say, I was ecstatic when we found out the news. In December, we went to our first doctor’s appointment. We saw a little tiny peanut shaped something on the screen and saw the tiny little heartbeat. From that point, we were in full planning mode: nursery decorating, name picking, stroller shopping, etc. Things were great, right? Not really.
_Dear Father,
You are AMAZING, POWERFUL, TRUE, WONDERFUL, and BEAUTIFUL. You provide me with more than I deserve and more than I could have ever dreamed. Why is it so hard to put all things aside besides You? Why is it so hard to de-clutter my mind? I am so tired of all the lies and the junk that I have believed and held onto for far too long. You do love me. Even as damaged goods, You love me. You have restored my life. I no longer have to walk as one who is defeated. I am a powerful and wonderfully made warrior for You. I do have a purpose. A purpose that is planned for and provided for by You, and it is good. No, it is perfect! I can contribute to the advancement of Your Kingdom. I do have something to offer. I can be successful and not live in fear of rejection and failure. With Your help, God, I can do anything. Help me to put away these lies and disbelief for good! Help me to live passionately and boldly for You – the way You created me to live. From this point forward don’t let me look back only forward to the promises You have in store. Give me strength Lord! Here I go…
-Nicole
If you have been at Mt Olive for a long time, you might have heard my testimony. (I am not a public speaker. My heart starts pounding so hard and loud I wonder if anyone can hear me. Public speaking is not my gift, so sorry if you had to endure it.) God placed this on my heart to this and did not let up. Oddly enough Pastor Barry even agreed to let me do this. It had to be a God thing.
I was born in Hawaii. I am a fourth generation Japanese-American. Grandma owned a Kona coffee plantation on the coast of Kealakekua Bay. (Say that fast 3 times.) My mom is originally from Japan and was raised Buddhist. My dad was born and raised in Hawaii. He was not a practicing Buddhist, but all weddings and funerals were at a Buddhist temple. You know the YMCA (Young Men’s Christian Association)? My dad was a boxer in the YBA, Young Buddhist Association.
After Barry’s message yesterday about how we should respond when the sun goes down instead of standing still. I thought that I would share a little more detail about one of the things I mentioned in last week’s blog. One of the miracles, a Sun Stand Still experience came when I was struggling through the despair and grief of my baby brother dying. It occurred just before the third anniversary of his passing. I had begun to see my God a little more clearly but I just hadn’t gotten to that place where I could truly trust; the place where I wasn’t “stuck” on the repeat cycle of my brother’s death. I was still caught up in my loss and what my family had lost. I received a phone call from someone I knew in the church. She was someone I liked and thought highly of, but not someone I would necessarily call a friend. We liked each other well enough; we just weren’t high on each other’s priority list. She called and asked me if I liked the band “Third Day”. I thought to myself what a weird thing to call and ask me. I do happen to love Third Day and in fact would rate them very high up on my favorites list. She proceeded to tell me that she had these tickets for a concert and asked me if I would want to attend with her. I was a confused and I’m sad to say somewhat suspicious. Speechless for a moment (those of you who know me, know this very rarely happens:-D), my brain was spinning trying to figure out what she really wanted, did she really mean to call me? I accepted her invitation after a few minutes of stammering around, she then told me she had purchased front row tickets and had meet the band passes. I am positive this is a joke or there is some “agenda” attached. I thought for sure she was going to tell me I now owed her $500.00 for the tickets or something along those lines. But, she simply stated that she had bought two tickets well advance of the concert and every time she thought about who to invite, I came to her mind. So she invited me, her treat. In my shock I didn’t pay attention to the date of the concert, until I got back to my desk and wrote it on my calendar. April 14th.
_In what seems like a former life, I was a public school teacher. Teaching strategy was a regular topic of discussion. One particular strategy was referred to as ‘teaching with the end in mind.’ In other words, figure out what you want the students to know and what you want them to do and then teach them to do it. Good idea, huh? Well, what if we lived our lives with the end in mind? When all this is over, what do you want to have accomplished? I titled this ‘I hope I waste my life’ because of Mark 14. This woman definitely was living her life with the end in mind. See what you think:
3/14/11 – Lord, Please forgive me for being so weak in the flesh last week. I lost hold on the big picture which is glorifying you! Every task I can do for you and your Kingdom is a blessing and an honor. Help me to stay focused on you this week. I love You and praise You. Thank you for my life.
I wrote this prayer in my journal at my weakest point during the renovation of our new building. I was just plain grumpy, tired, and selfish for a few days. I wanted my weekends back and I didn’t want to eat Mexican or Sonic again for a really, really long time. You ever have one of those moments where you feel sorry for anyone who comes in contact with you because at that moment your bad mood super cedes everything else. That was me.
Isn’t that the most triumphant statement! I can just feel my soul stir and want to shout when I hear “God Wins!”. God. Wins. It also makes me think back over all the times in my life that I lost sight of that truth. The times my circumstances overwhelmed me. The times I grabbed hold of what I felt or saw instead of the the truth, God Wins. Not just in the case of David vs. Goliath, not just occasionally, not just if He is really “feeling” it, and thankfully not just when I am good enough, strong enough, Christian enough and certainly not just in those times when I remember that He wins. God. Wins.
Five years ago on this day, April 11, 2006, I loved and trusted the Lord. I would have told anyone that I had a firm foundation, a great walk, true trust, the Lord was indeed “my Lord”. I had been healed and had seen people healed by the Healer. I knew that I knew that I knew that my God answers prayers and was in the business of miracles. I had no way of knowing that in a couple of days, April 14, 2006, my entire world was going to turn upside down. Everything I believed, I would no longer trust. That firm foundation? Crumbled. When I was most desperate for healing, there wasn’t any. When I believed, trusted and claimed a miracle…nothing.
First, when I drove up to the building Sunday morning, I couldn’t stop smiling! It was one of those ear to ear kind of smiles! I had seven months worth of memories flood my mind. I remembered the church being pink and run down and now it looked so ALIVE! I could see all the overgrown shrubs around the building and now it looked clean taken care of. I pictured the old rotten wood doors that closed off the building to people outside and now it looked inviting…like the building was screaming to people, “Come on in!”
Then, my heart began to dance when I saw the hospitality folks in their purple shirts greeting people coming through the doors, the KidMO folks inside ready to direct families and kids, the nursery workers with a happy smile making the parents feel safe, and the MiniMO folks receiving the little ones with great care and excitement! I want you to know that Mt. Olive has the most giving and service minded people in the area! I would put our people up against anyone, because the Mt. Olive folks get it! They understand that it isn’t about “us” but it’s about welcoming others in so they can find a place to BELONG and experience a life transforming relationship with Jesus Christ! In the words of Scott Smith, “The Mt. Olive people ROCK!!!”
Secondly, I knew, without a doubt, that the best is yet to come! Did you know that there was between 320 and 340 people there on Sunday? And that was just the first Sunday with the doors open! The worship band was on a whole new level. The congregation was engaged. You could feel the Holy Spirit moving in that place and in people’s lives and, at that point, I knew that this was just the beginning of the greater things to come…it was just the beginning!!!
I hope I will see you this Sunday. Remember, give an invitation and bring someone with you as we experience the GREATER things that God has in store for Mt. Olive and the River Valley!\
-Barry
High School was for me as it is for a lot of people. It was a time of trying to figure out who I am. Looking back, the scariest part is that there were a whole lot of us high school kids trying to figure out this ‘life’ thing out. And, of course, in our infinite wisdom, we trusted each other for guidance. (Sheesh! Talk about the blind leading the blind.)
Enter my old friend ‘T.’ He seemed to have it all together, at least by our very poor standards. He was tough and a little scary (sorry, dude…he’s reading this) but he took care of folks who got out of control or in trouble from time to time. (I think I still owe him a ‘thank you.’) He was also pretty mysterious. No one really knew about his family. His mom was never home. I remember a stepdad, I think. He occasionally talked about a brother who was somewhere. Once he accidentally shot someone. That made him even cooler and more mysterious. He had serious street cred. I always speculated that he was into some nefarious activity, but I wasn’t about to ask. Come to think of it, it’s sort of a ‘The Man, the Myth, the Legend’ kind of situation. And, as far as knowing Jesus? Well, that seemed like the last subject in the world you’d want to bring up with him. I suppose that there had been a ‘Who’s Who’ for ‘Most Likely to Be a Believer in Jesus,’ I wouldn’t have voted for him.
_I woke Sunday morning to my husband telling me we had slept through the alarm. I have to admit, history would have predicted this scenario: I would have flung the covers back, gave the silent treatment to my husband who obviously either didn’t set the alarm or turned it off and went back to sleep, and then slammed cabinets in the bathroom while getting ready. After more silent treatment in the car on the way to church, I would have put on a smile and proceeded with service that Sunday morning. I am ashamed to admit this scenario has played out more than a few times in my household – but not this Sunday. Guess what?! I jumped out of bed and said, “it’s ok, we will make it to church on time” and then I proclaimed very loudly, “THE ENEMY WILL BE DEFEATED TODAY!” as I ran myself into the bathroom.
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