Friday, September 19, 2008

The 24th Thing I Love.

#24 - I LOVE in depth Bible study.

If you've never participated in a Bible study where you watched meaning scream into your heart from a few verses (or even a few words), you are missing out. You read a verse that seems pretty straightforward, or maybe boring, or maybe over your head. Then you begin to break it down. Maybe you look up the Greek or Hebrew words to find out what the author was really trying to get out. Then you watch the Scripture literally come alive before you, tugging at your heart, waking up your mind, giving you a glimpse into a meaning and understanding you never could have imagined from a few tiny words.

It is incredible the way that no matter how deeply you delve into the rich treasures that lie within Scripture, you can always go deeper the next time. You can always see something new that you never saw before. And as God reveals his purpose and character in the Bible, we shift from seeing it as a rule book to seeing the most beautiful love story ever written, motivating us to live from the inside out. "We love because he has first loved us." 1 John 4:19

These pages, so full of life, beauty, and meaning, were written for me! They are to be kept close to my heart, treasured like a middle school girl treasures her first love note. But where human love will fail us, the One who wrote us this love letter is always faithful, and he loves us more than we could ever dare to hope. His love letter is full of truth as well as love, without trite promises and unrealistic vows. Every thing he said in the Bible... he can back it up. I hope you will take a few minutes to go deep into a scripture today and fall in love with the Bible and with God.

P.S. If you want to be part of a Bible study like this, drop me a line and I'll do what I can to help you find one in your area!

Thursday, September 18, 2008

25 Things I Love

So, I'm stealing this idea from Tara-Leigh Cobble, a girl I've never met but feel like could be one of my best friends. She is doing a blog series on 25 things she loves, in no particular order. So I am going to do the same.

#25 - I LOVE my friends.

Again, let me reiterate that these are in no particular order, because my friends would be much higher than number 25 were they ranked!!

God has given me the most amazing, incredible friends anyone could ever ask for. If something bad happens in my life, there are dozens of people I know I can call and rely on to love me, listen to me, pray for me, and point me to Christ. Praise God. I couldn't live this life without them. Many of you live entirely too far away, by the way.

One of you (I don't know if you will read this or not) may be feeling like you let me down. But let me tell you that I cannot even begin to comprehend the love that God has given me for you. As long as God continues to forgive me, I pray that he will give me the grace to do the same. All I want in this world is for you simply to come home to rest in the arms of Christ. I'll be here when you do.

"If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!" Ecclesiastes 4:10

"My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command." John 15:12-14

"Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another." 1 John 4:11