The Butterfly Circus

 

The greater the struggle, the more glorious the triumph.”

-Mendez

The Butterfly Circus is a 20 minute short film, dreamed up and directed by a husband and wife duo. They truly did a great job, as evidenced by the film’s numerous awards and the fact that the film is now in the process of becoming a major motion picture. The story is set in the Great Depression, when roaming circuses and sideshows featuring “freaks of nature” were commonplace. Amidst a business that aims to exploit human beings for profit comes the Butterfly Circus, led by showman Mendez. They “run a different show”, a show that honors its performers and inspires the audience.

Our family has probably watched it at least 4 or 5 times, because we keep showing it to friends and families that come over for dinner. The story is truly inspiring, and analogies between Mendez and our Heavenly Father are clear.

If you haven’t seen the short film, I encourage you to watch it online!

11/11–The Day of the Singles

So I’m mentioning this about 9 months early, but it seems appropriate with Valentine’s Day coming up. I recently found out that November 11th is celebrated (or mourned, depending on the individual) in China, as Singles Day, due to the date 11/11.

Singles Day can be celebrated in a variety of ways – some people get married, others "use this date and this meaning to tell their special someone that they are the only ‘one’ in their heart" (http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/citylife/2006-11/10/content_729511.htm), some go on blind dates, and others celebrate the day with their single friends! When I heard of this idea from my friend, she told me singles would go out, essentially, on a date with themselves.

Good food tastes just as good when eaten alone!

This interested me, and has stuck in my mind, so much so that I already programmed a reminder into my phone for when 11/11 comes around! On that day I am planning to take myself out to dinner and a walk. All the things a couple would do on date, but with me, myself and I. Ha ha, I suppose some people would find that terribly morbid, but I will use any excuse to treat myself to dinner. Plus I find myself entertaining, he he. I am rather excited!

Take this suggestion and run with it.! There are a lot of different ways you could choose to spend this day. Not everyone is like me and wants to take themselves out on a date .

You might want to spend the night with some of your single friends – a dinner at home and games, reminding yourself of what amazing people God has blessed you with, even if none of them bear the title of your “Prince Charming” (or Princess, for any guys reading…)

If you’re already married, maybe you want to take that special someone on a date. You can’t go on too many dates when you’re married, and I’m not talking about a bunch of fancy-dress-up, drain-the-bank dates. I’m talking about hold-her-hand, enjoy-being-best-friends-too dates.

You might want to spend the night with God, reaffirming your commitment to Him – that He is the one Lord and God and Provider in your life.

You might want to spend the day with just one of your very good friends, or maybe you’ll be busy on that day, and just have a couple minutes at night to jot down a letter and a prayer for your future spouse.

How do you want to celebrate 11/11?

Indeed Beautiful

From Donald Miller’s book, Searching for God Knows What:

But today, the Rock cries out to us

clearly, forcefully,

Come, you may stand upon my

Back and face your distant destiny!

[Maya Angelou]

I love the line “the Rock cries out to us”. I think that is beautiful, for some reason, maybe because Jesus was like Maya Angelou’s mother in that He went around looking people in the eye to tell them they were beautiful, that He stood as a rock for them, a Being who, for the rest of their lives, they could look back to and hear in their minds, and envision in their memories,

     God saying to them the world had been lying,

                    and you are indeed beautiful.

-Donald Miller

Can I just be an Ostrich?

Life still hasn’t been so kind as to slow down for me – Just got back from a trip to Idaho that took three days – two days constant driving, one day… some more constant driving around land in Idaho. I’m working ALL day Thursday to Saturday and yet trying to figure out how to fit two interviews in…
Nanowrimo is just going to have to wait until next week, when I can hopefully catch up to the right word count. =P
So many blessings in my life right now, but so many things going on it can be rather overwhelming at times.

And yet right now I choose joy, because no matter what happens, I have this as my hope, firm and secure, that I am beloved and belong to God, and He who spoke and created light from the darkness sends His light to shine into my heart. (Heb. 6:19, 1 Jn. 3:1, Rom. 14:8, 2 Cor. 4:6)

“I have so much to do today that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer.”

-Martin Luther

Scariest

To me, the scariest thing in the Bible is the Pharisees. They were the most religious people of that day, thought they had it all figured out, and did everything right – on the outside. And yet Jesus said the most scalding words about them… turned away from them to focus on the dirty and outcasts.

It’s enough to send shivers down my spine. When we think we have it all figured out, do we?

Then he added, “Now go and learn the meaning of this Scripture: ‘I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.’ For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.”

-Matthew 9:13-

I don’t want to hear those words… (One Man, One Woman)

I wrote this a couple days ago when a guy said something about my appearance… I ran down to the rec room to get something and he called me sexy. I think he had been drinking, ha ha. But I came back to my room and my mind was in a turmoil, and I hated how those words made me feel… like a piece of meat, or an object, belittled and not valued…

So I wrote this down. “Those words” below doesn’t necessarily refer to “sexy”, could just be “beautiful”…

Okay I’ll stop talking.

 

 

I don’t want to hear those words.

I didn’t realize it til now, but when I dressed this morning, and looked at myself in the mirror as I made sure everything was perfect, I was thinking about those words, and hoping the eyes that saw me would think them, and maybe someone would say them, but now, as you grin at me and say the words I realize I wanted to hear, I just want to cover my ears and run away from your stare.

I wanted those words, I now realize, but I didn’t want them this way. I didn’t want how I looked on the outside – the way the sun shone on my hair and the way everything happened just so to make me look amazing – to draw the words from you, words flowing not from love of my character, but from a lust for my looks. I didn’t want you to say those words that you say to every pretty girl. I want to be special, set apart in your eyes.

Is it too much to ask, that you only look on me that way? When I see that lust and want for me in your eyes, is it too much to ask that I be the only one you desire?

One man, one woman. That’s how You created us, Lord, how You set forth marriage to be.

One man, one woman.

If I keep myself pure for one man – refuse to look on others in a way I should not, even as I now wait for what may never come – is there any guarantee there will be a man out there, waiting for one woman, that will be me?

I have set standards this world laughs at and does not respect. Our claims are opposites and cannot exist together – they claim happiness comes from being free, I hold to God’s promise that there is greater joy in being bound to one man.

You have set me apart, I will be set apart in all that I do. Now ends chasing after meaningless words. Now begins finding my All in You.

Whether or not my one man comes along, who will choose me as his one woman to be bound to him for life, I choose now to wait for him. And to stay pure for him.

Lost

Our internet’s been going down, and whenever it does work I end up checking my email, Facebook, taking care of my Travian village…. you know, all those important things. And then by the time I get around to my blog the internet’s down again.

So this is a post I started a week ago now…

On Thursday, our cashier Steve had a day off and went for a hike. The next day, he hadn’t come home that night and no one had seen him… they started the search and by the next day, Saturday, we were pretty worried! While I worked I thought of him… I was cashiering, and all of his words of advice he had given ran through my head. When I saw little kids, I thought of him because he loves to make faces at the younger children.

Praise the Lord, on Saturday afternoon they found him. The tension that had been in our cafe was released and a new feeling of joy flooded in. We kept saying to each other – “I’m so glad Steve is okay!” and “I can’t wait to hear his story!”

As it turned out he had been hiking from Rampart Ridge to Comet Falls – some of my friends just did that hike a few days before he did, or at least tried to. They lost the trail in the snow several times, and I saw their videos – sometimes they were walking on a steep slope that dropped quite a ways down.

Steve spent two nights outside, having broken his ankle and fallen into a ravine. He either landed in or crawled to a tree well, where he was protected from the wind and elements somewhat, but where the heat sensors from the helicopters couldn’t detect him. He packed smart and came away with only his broken ankle, a broken rib, and hypothermia. WOW. Praise God!

Being made in God’s image, the feelings we experience are feelings that God experiences also. In Luke 15 Jesus talks about that wonderful feeling after you’ve found something that was lost. He gives three examples -

A man with 100 sheep, who loses one.

A woman who loses one silver coin of ten.

And a man who joyfully welcomes back his son who has grossly insulted him, and returns broke, to work as a servant.

In all of these stories, there is something that is safe and secure, and there is something that is lost. There are 99 sheep, safe in the pen. There are 9 coins, still sitting where the woman left them. There is a son who never left his father, never stopping working for his father’s business.

Luke 15…29 He answered and said to his father, ‘Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. ³⁰ But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.’
³¹ “And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. ³² It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.’”

I can see why the brother would get mad – I would be pretty mad too, if I were in his shoes. But I’m also glad  God is so concerned with the lost… because I’m pretty sure none of us can say we’re always secure at home, like the safe sheep, and coins, and dutiful son. Prone to wander, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love… We can make a fuss over how many people were out there searching for Steve – but if I were him, I would want everyone and their cousin looking for me, too.

And that’s what God does. He pursues.

“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow (Hebrew word radaph - to run after (usually with hostile intent; figuratively (of time) gone by) — chase, put to flight, follow (after, on), hunt, (be under) persecute(-ion, -or), pursue) me all the days of my life.”

I’m so glad God’s nature is different than ours. We give up on people, break promises, and are unconstant. God, however, is faithful and trustworthy, and will not give up on us.

For thus says the Lord GOD: “Indeed I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock on the day he is among his scattered sheep, so will I seek out My sheep and deliver them from all the places where they were scattered on a cloudy and dark day… I will seek what was lost and bring back what was driven away, bind up the broken and strengthen what was sick; but I will destroy the fat and the strong, and feed them in judgment.”

-Ezekiel 34

 

“My people have been lost sheep.
Their shepherds have led them astray;
They have turned them away on the mountains.
They have gone from mountain to hill;
They have forgotten their resting place.
“ The children of Israel were oppressed,
Along with the children of Judah;
All who took them captive have held them fast;
They have refused to let them go.
Their Redeemer is strong;
The LORD of hosts is His name.
He will thoroughly plead their case,
That He may give rest to the land,
And disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.
-Jeremiah 50

 

“For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.”
-Matthew 18:11

 

The next time you find something you thought you had lost (or knew you had lost!), savor that wonderful feeling, and know that that’s what God feels when you choose to call Him Father, and return into His arms. For your return He throws a feast and parties.

If you walk away from God, and if you stop and choose to turn around, you have but to take a step – God will run the rest of the way to take you back into His arms.

“To Know and Be Known…”

It’s after one in the morning, and I’m still not sleepy. So here’s some of my thoughts:

 

A guy asked me recently if I thought it was scary that God knows everything… and really for me it’s not. Quite the opposite! I guess having grown up in a Christian family, I’m used to the idea that God knows my thoughts, everything about me that is hidden to the rest of the world… but really I’m more than used to it, I’m comforted by it.

Every person on this earth is so complex. You can live with someone since birth, for many years, and still be surprised by what they do. There are depths to each human being that are never fully uncovered or mined.

Parts of my inner self are exposed – through my blog, my diary, my writings, my interactions with friends, even my FB statuses. But those parts are only small parts of me. When I present my thoughts and myself to the outside world, I am restricted by language… but with God, He understands me completely. He knows the filth I think and do that no one else knows exists, yes, but He also knows… the times when I see something beautiful and no one else is around. The times my spirit is moved, and I’m alone. He sees “the depths of my hearts”, the dark places I don’t even know how to share with others.

He knows me better than I know myself.

And in the end, this comforts me. Because God knows me completely, but… He loves me boundlessly. His love for ME surpasses anything I could find on this world. Knowing everything, He is GOOD to me.
Wow, mind boggling, no?

I think it’s pretty much the most awesome thing in life.

Rest in the comfort of the thought that the One who knows you thoroughly, loves you strongly, and will carry the work within you through to completion.

“I Will Wait For You”

What a wonderful poem – this woman sums it up so well.

Wow.

 

Reblogged from: http://musingsofanarmchairtheologian.blogspot.com/

Beautiful Things

"You make beautiful things, You make beautiful things out of the dust..."

I believe heaven’s real. And I believe I’m going there when I die. So I’ve been keeping a mental list of things I want to see/ask in heaven… My lastest is that I want to see what the world looked like right after God created it. After He had placed man on it, and before we had bulldozed away entire hills or changed beautiful places – before we had done so much “civilizing”.

Yesterday at church Vince read Genesis chapter 1, and I realized I also want to see what it looked like when God created the earth… when He spoke the words, did everything spring into being in an instant? Did plants come up slowly, and unfurl across the fertile earth like a carpet? Did it take the whole day for Him to create each thing (not because He couldn’t have done it in a blink of an eye, but because He went slow and relished creating?) What did it look like when Heseparated the light from the dark? When He separated water from water, a great expanse between the two?

What did it look like when He created man? Did He have dirt under His fingernails? How did He do it? What did His face look like as He fashioned the intricate body of a human, then with His divine breath gave Adam a soul – special because God decided we would be special, and set apart from the animals because God set us apart.

Another question I have about heaven is, when we sing, will we all have wonderful voices, or will we have the same voices we had on earth, and won’t care what others sound like?

Some people have said that the questions we have here on earth won’t matter in heaven, and we won’t care anymore about asking them because we’ll be living in perfection and in the presence of a perfect God. Or that when we get there, we’ll know all the answers immediately.

Until I’m there I won’t know the truth, but I like to think we will still have the questions, and that God will sit down with us and listen as we ask, and spend long times talking to us and telling us the answers.

This one day – when I was having a terrible time, and You weren’t there – were You?

And He’ll tell us how He was there, and little things He had done to comfort us at that time. He’ll sit and chat with us for a long time (because after all, we have eternity, and I don’t think God will ever be in a hurry), and laugh, and teach us, and we’ll both rejoice that our relationship that was broken on earth, weighed down by our curse even after salvation, is now completely whole and wonderful.

The magic of the Bible, to me, is that everything in there is true. From God creating the world, to David ducking Saul’s spear, to Peter stepping out of the boat, to Paul sitting against the wall of a prison cell as he  writes letters. Every person in the Bible had a face, and a voice, and a certain laugh, and foods they loved, and an entire life full of memories. In heaven I want to see the faces with the names. Not only for those in the Bible, but for everyone through history that I’ve read about… And I don’t think I won’t care anymore about not seeing these people and things in heaven. I think God will sit down with me, and anjoy showing me and spending time with me.

I can’t wait.