Open Doors... When Love Came Down

I have been pondering open doors lately…

Open doors that are spilling forth their warm inviting glow to the world outside. Their beautiful light beckoning you to come one, come all. Doors that are open to new possibilities... Open to new friendships.

Open doors…

There are moments when our churches doors were open and they came.

Seeking help.  Seeking comfort. Seeking a ride, an ear to hear their story, heat from the cold, hope from despair, life from death…

All because of open doors.

Am I an open door? Am I approachable no matter the person?

I remember those nights when they have wandered in.

The wife whose husband left her with no money, and no home.

The teen with his scars bared for all to see and who had nowhere to go.

The young woman pregnant, stranded, and exhausted from walking.

They were each met with open doors.

They were each plunged into the warmth and love of Christ.

Are our doors open?

When Love came down. 

He chose to come as a helpless babe. He came poor and with nowhere to stay, and sadly the doors were all closed, but He was the HOPE for us all.

He is the Open Door for each and every one of us to reach the Lord of Lords. He was God’s very own hand outstretched to each of us.

The greatest gift resided in an unwanted package. 

Poor and humble, yet he was a threat to kingdoms on high and to the religious authorities of the day. 

They sought to extinguish His flame here on earth.

Our  Jesus, 

our Open Door, 

calls us to be open doors as well…

To the least of these…

Matthew 25:34-40

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 

For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat,

I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink,

I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

“Then the righteous will answer him,

 ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

 Let us be open doors without prejudice and without hindrance; with open arms letting the warm light of love spill forth welcoming them in.

This will require our time; our schedules to bend.  Our wallets will open, and our hearts may break, but there is great hope and beauty that can be found in relinquishing the “me” of our life’s focus and becoming the open door that Christ called us to be.

Hope is found there.

You may even meet Jesus in the eyes of those you minister too…

Will you join me each day in this prayer?

Lord you are amazing. You the creator of the Heavens and the earth; the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, who came down to dwell with us here. 

You did not come in your riches and power, but as a poor and helpless baby.

 You experienced the hurts and the needs of our world despite the fact that you would receive no thanks or great accolades while here, 

only horrific abuse and a brutal death sentence.

You willingly died and sacrificed yourself for me. You loved me even though I would willfully turn away from you. 

You are my open door to a life abundant and free. A Life ever-lasting with you. Help me to remember each day that you have given me your ministry.

 Help me to have your eyes to see those needing your open doors. 

Give me the love and compassion to be your hands and feet.

To speak your words of love and grace with my actions as well as with my words.

 Help me Lord to be an open door for you.

2 Corinthians 5:18-21

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 

that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. 

We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

The Case of the Missing "Christmas Gimmies"

“What do you all want for Christmas?”

I stammered…I found my mind racing for an answer. This should be simple right? Who doesn’t have a Christmas list yet?

“Ummm… Uh… the girls might like some clothes?”  Well that was weak.

Click Here to see what happens next! 

(Did I save my children from getting only socks and underwear?!)

 I am so excited to be guest posting over at the amazing BibleDude.net. (They are a fantastic group of bloggers that live out their words and faith.

Please take a moment and click HERE to check out the cure our family discovered for the "Christmas Gimmies", and leave a comment if you have any ideas of your own as well.

See you there! :)

If I get some extra time I will be posting soon some of the new and old traditions we are adding in with our Christmas celebrations this year. 

God Bless you and yours!

A Beautiful Mess

Studying God’s word incessantly while fasting can really mess with you.

So can a mission trip to a developing country or a homeless community.

A switch has been flipped and like a fan clearing smoke from a room, the fog is clearing and I am finding myself consumed by God’s words and His very heart.

There’s a sweet ever-present conversation happening between us now that’s deep, intimate, and sometimes painful.

In short, it’s really rearranging my life, my dreams, and my goals; this Christianized American dream I was so busy chasing.

Isaiah 58 (NIV)

 ² For day after day they seek me out;
    they seem eager to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that does what is right
    and has not forsaken the commands of its God...

How did I rationalize your call and heart away while serving within your church walls for so long?

 I, the professed, “hater” of all things watered down have apparently watered down Your very gospel in my own life. Forgive me. Oh Jesus, please forgive me.

So now I am a mess. It feels like a beautiful mess, but a mess none the less as I slowly, but surely try to unravel the threads of the American dream out of my life; out of our family’s life. It sounded so noble and normal and yet I find it extraordinarily base and empty now.

⁶ “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
    and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
    and break every yoke?
⁷ Is it not to share your food with the hungry
    and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
    and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

My dear hubby and I find ourselves re-thinking even the basics in the assumed rules of engagement for the American church.  This repetitive call from your Word is not to be saved for a few events peppered throughout the year, but weaved into the very fabric of our day to day lives.

There is a great blank canvas in our future now as You, oh Lord, wash the plans we had painted on it away. We find ourselves with baited breath and fervent prayers awaiting Your next brush stroke.

⁸ Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
    and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
    and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
⁹ Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
    you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.

Jesus you fill my heart with wonder and joy, but these come tinged with grief and remorse compared to where I was before.

So here I am. I am a mess for You. Yours for the taking and amazingly I discover that you chose me first a long time ago.

 I am not the last one picked for a game of kick ball, but your treasured pick because You have already chosen what you will do through my mess. You, who make all things beautiful.

Ecclesiastes 3:11

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.