The Dinner Table
“When you call, I won’t refuse. Each new day, again, I’ll choose.”
On the last night session of the Thirsty Conference, we shared in communion. Louie Giglio talked about how lucky we are that communion is a dinner table – it’s not a conference table or a work bench. It’s a dinner table. Where we sit. Where we share. Where we allow ourselves to be served.
One of the greatest stories of the Gospel is the story of Jesus washing the disciples’ feet. He took off His outer garments – the robes that showed him to be a rabbi, a leader – and He knelt and washed the feet of his followers. In that simple act, He showed that leadership is only great when it is simultaneously humble. And then He broke the bread and poured out the wine, and the men in that room had no idea that it would be that body and that blood that would release them; free the nation of Israel; save the world.
“In the chaos, in confusion, I know You are sovereign still. In the moment of my weakness, You give me grace to do Your will. So when you call, I won’t delay. This my song through all my days.”
One by one the Thirsty attendees stood up and made their way to the aisles and sides of the auditorium to receive communion. David Crowder and Shelly Giglio and Matt Redman and Francis Chan and other leaders who’d come to the conference to share their gifts of song or sermon, stood holding the bread, the wine. I sat there for a few minutes, overcome with gratitude. As I walked toward the offering, I passed several of my fellow volunteers, a few of my friends, and there is something so precious in reaching out to feel the brush of a hand of someone who is feeling exactly what you’re feeling in that moment. To share in the knowledge that we are redeemed! Not just saved. Not just rescued from hell. But redeemed!
John Piper says that if you simply fear hell – which you should – but if your motivation is fear of hell, and you picture a heaven without Jesus, are you really saved? Who cares about heaven if Jesus isn’t there?! What would be the point? Why would I even NEED forgiveness, unless that forgiveness simply serves as a road to share eternity with my Creator?
“There is no one else for me. None but Jesus. Crucified to set me free, now I live to bring Him praise.”
And as a way to recognized that awesome forgiveness – our being put back in right standing with God – we celebrate and partake in communion. I ate the bread and tasted the wine and I savored the sweetness of salvation. As I walked back to my chair, Chisty Nockels began singing “None But Jesus,” a song I treasure and adore. I stood in the back of the North Point Community Church auditorium, arms outstretched and with full voice, I joined her in praise; joined her in singing a song to our Savior.
“All of my life is in You Lord. All of my hope, all of my strength. All my delight is in you Lord. For evermore.”
No, there is no one else for me. None but Jesus. He was crucified to set me free and now I live to bring Him praise.
“None But Jesus,” by Brooke Fraser.
Mommy & Me
As she was driving me to the Sarasota airport last month, just before dawn, she told me how hard it is, missing me. “I’m happy for you,” she told me, “I’m happy for your life.” But she said that she misses me terribly and that when we’re together for a few days – as we were in Florida – she remembers just how much.
I feel that way too when we’re together. I forget that I don’t see her every day; that we live more than 500 miles apart. I get used to talking to her, seeing her, saying good night to her before I go to sleep. It’s one of the greatest things about being single – the fact that I can still belong to her in the way that I do. I know that will change when I get married; it’s good for that to change. When my cousin got engaged this winter, though her mother was overjoyed and thrilled, there were still tears. “Will you still come and crawl in bed with me in the mornings when you spend the night here?” she asked her. But it’s still sad to think about. For so many years it was just the two of us, in that four-bedroom home that used to house a family. For so many years, she was my first phone call when something happened, good or bad. It’s an adjustment now that it’s changed.
He could have chosen anyone to be my mother; given me anyone as a parent. But He chose her and it’s not a hyperbole to say that I am eternally grateful.
His first Sunday back at Bethlehem Baptist after the death of his father, Dr. John Piper said that we often view our children as gifts, when it’s often true that it’s the opposite. It’s our parents who are the gift.
I carry you in my heart, she told me. I carry you. In my heart.
Mmm, cupcakes
There is little in life that can’t be cured with cupcakes.
(For all you locals, these are from the Buttersweet Bakery in beautiful downtown Hapeville, Ga. The owner even came in early to make them special for Jennifer’s birthday. That is local service!)
Courtship
Because he’s responsible business MBA guy, he thought it was important that we have long-term travel schedule. So yesterday he sent me a (color-coded) Excel spreadsheet with all our solidified and tentative travel plans through early 2008. There was even a color for every Viking home game. (He had season tickets even when he was still living in Atlanta. I’ll get to experience the entire Viking tailgate/game experience at the end of September when they play their biggest rivals, the Packers. I’m both excited and afraid. This weekend, one of his friends told me that they have to heat the keg to keep it from freezing. Y’all.)
I love that about him – the organization, the fact that he’s not afraid to make a schedule in PRINT about all the weekends he wants to see me, up until the new year even. But what I loved the most is that he titled it A and Hannah’s Courtship Plan.
Does he get me or what.
Thirsty
Last night I volunteered at night one of the Thirsty 07 conference at North Point Community Church, and though it is much, much (MUCH) smaller than a Passion conference, and with an entirely different energy, it was still a gift to be there and it was an insightful night, to say the least.
“After all our hands have wrought, He forgives
Oh the glory of it all is He came here, for the rescue of us all
That we may live”
Oh the Glory of it All, David Crowder Band*
During the night’s main session – before Francis Chan began his message – Louie Giglio got up to tell the attendees about the Do Something Now campaign. Do Something Now was new at Passion 07 and though the Passion staff had no idea what to expect, they were convicted with the opinion that a crowd of Christians shouldn’t gather without the world knowing it. That we shouldn’t gather without impacting the world (not that we can’t, as we do all the time). During those four days in January, and in the days since, the 20,000+ college students, volunteers and staff reached deep to donate and/or pledge more than $1.3 million to Passion’s world partners. (Including Blood:Water Mission, to which my friends and family gave more than $3,000 to build a well in an African village that currently has no access to clean, potable water.)
The single beneficiary at Thirsty 07 is One Verse – an organization that translates the New Testament to unreached people groups. Currently there are approximately 2,000 unreached people groups in the world who have never had a Bible in their native language. When he was telling us about One Verse, Louie said that we shouldn’t give just out of human compassion. We reach out to the least and the last in the name of God because it’s called WORSHIP. Worship isn’t just singing songs or raising hands (though it is certainly those things as well). Worship is when we take the songs we sing outside the building! Worship is doing work in His name that makes Him happy, simply for the fact that it glorifies Him and gives Him joy. What more could I do with my life than to aim to make the God of the universe happy? Why would I ever want to spend my time on anything trivial or meaningless again?
“We come rejoicing and singing
And crying out toYou
Can you hear the Holy Roar?”
Holy Roar, Christy Nockels
It is the cry of my heart that He break it. Break my heart, Oh God!
So I signed up to sponsor 100 verses and chose Acts 9:1-11:9. I chose that segment because it includes the story of Saul’s conversion – one of the all-time greatest stories of redemption and sin-covering grace. Paul’s story shows us that Christ uses us where we are; He takes us with all our baggage and all our insecurities and all our weaknesses. Saul thought he knew the truth about Christianity until he was confronted with the Truth of the Christ. When I read Paul’s letters I get weak. I am laid low by his humbleness; by his unwavering commitment to write words of truth, words of compassion to the early church – to people who believed in the resurrecting power of the blood, but for whom letting go of their old ways was often challenging. (Isn’t it always!) They ran the gamut – from the hedonistic to the legalistic – but Paul’s love for them all, his desire that they may live a life glorifying to the God who saved us, is evident in every word breathed into him by our Creator.
“Life flows from God… to all across the world. Creation is His!” You are God, Charlie Hall
When Francis Chan stood up to give his message he said that he’d ended up changing it after hearing Louie’s message earlier that morning. (Which I regrettably missed what with working my full-time job and all.) Instead Francis ended up speaking about humility using the example of Moses, who it is written was the most humble man on Earth. (Numbers 12:3) Moses was the only human being on the Earth to whom God spoke – not through visions or riddles or dreams – but in a conversation, as between friends. The Bible tells us that God opposes the proud, but that He pours His grace out on the humble. Humility is tricky, especially in a culture such as ours that cherishes high self-esteem and pride in one’s work. It can even become a trick of pride to try and be humble. “Look at how humble I am!” Francis said that humility was a hard lesson for him to learn. He used to think it meant self-pity or self-degradation. “Oh, I’m not a very good teacher. I’m not funny. I’m no good.” Francis said he finally understood humility when he realized that being self-deprecating was still being self-centered and prideful. And when he spoke badly about himself, he was actually speaking badly about his Creator.
When Moses told God that he wasn’t a very good public speaker, the Lord admonished him saying, “Who made your mouth?” (Exodus 4:11)
Humility is the absence of thought about oneself! My small group recently completed a study by Beth Moore that dealt a lot in the topics of pride and humility. Beth is fond of saying that you can either get on your knees and humble yourself before God or He will do it for you. One way or another, humility will come to every Christian.
Jesus said that the greatest commandment is to love your God with all your heart, mind and soul and the second is to love your neighbor as yourself. He said that ALL the law hangs on these two commandments. (Matthew 22:36-40)
It all comes back to that.
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Compassion
