How Great is our God

I will exalt you, my God the king;
I will praise your name forever and ever.
Everyday I will praise you and extol your name forever and ever.
Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;
his greatness no one can fathom. Psalm 145:1-3

This weekend I observed something that brought tears to my eyes; a widow who had spent the last year battling with her husband as he fought cancer raising her heart in worship at his funeral.

God is greater. That is what her action spoke of so loudly, God is greater. It is strange how I lose focus of the greatness of God. He is GREAT, VAST and ALL POWERFUL, in our deaths and in our lives God is greater. We are part of His great plan not the other way around.

I know this is not a revelation of great wisdom, as my thoughts seldom are but it is a thought of continuing impact on my heart. A woman whose beloved has passed on, whose teen children are mourning, whose life has been permanently altered raises her hands in surrender and worship. Because God is greater.

This puts everything into perspective, all things fall short of God's greatness and therefore our worship of God's greatness should be placed at the highest level of importance in our lives. Everything else, all the worries and stresses of life, is secondary. Worship is primary.

How Great is our God.

Glass

There is glass in this world.
You can't see the glass until you run into it - your's or someone else's.
And when you do - when you run into it like a child roaring into the kitchen from the yard for some icecream only to find the patio door is closed and you did not stop-
It hurts.
You and the glass...both hurt.
You smart with embarrassment that people are laughing and fussing...
all you really wanted was icecream.
It was hot and you were filled with the blinding joy of icecream.
And the glass vibrates and smudges.
Do not smudge my glass - it is clean and perfect - Do not smudge my glass
If you do they will notice
They will look closer - And if they look they will see
They will see beyond the glass into my messiness.
You slide down the glass with a thud - thinking that you didn't know, didn't care about the glass....
You cared deeper - you were thrilled by the possibilities that were inside.
Thrilled by the wonder: Chocolate, Vanilla - gasp Neapolitan!
And now, you, and by you I mean I, maintain the glass - protect it.
Forgetting the loss of joy or the embarassment that the glass causes ...
You, and I mean I, no longer run with glorious abandon into mystery
You wait and walk away ...
Or maybe you peer in when no one is looking.
I say rip open the door and suffer the consequences!
You, I mean I, will fight the war of the glass in this world.
Fight the windex people and let the world see your stuff....
Ok -
Maybe just a crack...
But you, I mean you, have a better chance of getting inside if my glass is open just a crack rather than sealed tight...
Right?
And I will open your glass door which you have cracked...
And then maybe we can stop washing our windows.

Raindrops keep fallin' on my head and soon my eyes will be turning red...falalala la la la la la la

It is raining today. It rained yesterday and will most likely rain tomorrow. I like this whole rainy experience. Though this weather tends to make me not want to work. There is something about a soft persistent rain that makes me want to make a cup of strong coffee, light a fire and just be. I love how rain gives you such a soft chill that you appreciate the joy of warmth so much more. Or how people slow down and huddle together - I love watching people right before the walk out the door. They all seem to move towards one another, strangers and friends alike, share a last moment of warmth before they all dash to their cars.

I especially like rain in Saskatchewan. I like that our drainage systems are less than perfect leaving lots of puddles for me to jump in on the way home...(Oh, come on like you don't like to hop into the odd puddle) and I like that no one carries umbrellas. It makes things a little more soggy and shows us the beauty of dripping imperfection.

So I am sitting here watching the rain - thinking about how tempting a nap would be. And at the same time stressing about things that don't need to be stressed about. See the rain helps me realize this - (don't ask me how).

I am preparing to leave. Leave a group of Youth who I love. A church that I love and a job that for some inconceivable reason I don't love. It is hard to end things like this, because it is not like anything I have walked away from before. This feels so unfinished.

But I will go - to Japan actually. I am spending 6 six weeks with MBMSI doing the ACTION program hoping that in the midst of it God will give me some direction. And maybe a good place to nap with a view of the rain. (Just a note if you want to help me with support - I'm ok with that...just lemme know....)

I am excited for ACTION though - so excited. Excited to be on a team. Excited to give and grow. Excited to learn and walk with my steps closer matching those of Jesus.

I'm in a nice melancholy mood today, if you find it confusing or annoying blame the rain. But in true honesty I am finding it hard to leave a place that was so hard to stay in. Such an irony.