IS...THE

Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
—John 14:6

Just think: That little article 'the'? Without it, John 14:6 contains nothing significant.
But with that 'the'? Way, Truth, and Life takes on a completely different meaning.

Today, though, I am pondering on the 'is'.

We find oxygen in the stirrings of our hearts. When you engage in an act that breeds passion deep inside, like painting your thoughts or cooking a meal for someone dear. We catch a breath of fresh air, right there. Aah... Sadly, exceptional are the moments when your heart is arrested by a little girl's smile or the tug of a jazz song from that cafe by the corner. You stop to breathe? Or do you not stop enough? 

Perhaps you're one of the millions who hyperventilate through life. Barely getting enough air. We easily recognize how suffocating it feels to imagine a 'the' life, but we can't deny it IS THE best way to live. How do we walk in the Way, embrace the Truth, and live the Life with every breath? When we acknowledge Christ's claim, we have placed our lives in His hands once and for all. There is no more normal life, no more making the mundane from day to day. 

Why is Jesus 'the' ___ ? It's not:

Going to church = the Way.

Reading the bible = the Truth.

Doing good works = the Life.

Jesus is a person. He's THE One.

Him being Him makes you a BEloved.

Not just what he does/did/will do, it's who he is. That's what rocks your world.

He IS the Way. 

He IS the Truth.

He IS the Life.

In who He is, you breathe.

You breathe in who He is :)

He is the Way. Follow Him through the Land of Unlikeness; You will see rare beasts, and have unique adventures.
He is the Truth. See Him in the Kingdom of Anxiety; You will come to a great city that has expected your return for years.
He is Life. Love Him in the World of the Flesh; And at your marriage all of its occasions shall dance for joy.
~ Taken from Tim Hansel's You Gotta Keep Dancin'

May there be fresh air for you today, dear friends. And if you catch me blue in the face, remind me to inhale.

Heat + No internet = Studiousness

I thought to myself today: What reasons do people have to be in the library when it's 97F outside on a beautiful Tuesday? And:
1) Faulty internet at home.
2) Absence of interlinear NT.
3) Where else but AC-permeated Hubbard in this heat?
4) Wait for friends to get out of class to meet at the Elbow to head for life-changing Indonesian food.
5) Accumulate 'coolness' before the sweltering walk home.
6) All of the above.
7) Do blogposts like this while appearing studious. Very studious.

Enjoying:
1) Issues in Christian Mission History class: a-mazing stuff to learn from Xavier, Ricci, Valignano!
2) The fact that Bollywood celebrities are like deities in their society.
3) Sweatglands that did not forget how to function.
4) Ideas for the Lonely International Students Party, aka The Lisp. What, you too?
5) Paul the apostle is sarcastic with finesse - a tad too sarcastic?
6) A vision of century-egg with ramen noodles topped with golden-brown chopped garlic, a layer of kim, thinly-sliced chicken fillet and boiled carrots. Oh! Plus some sambal.
7) That you're reading this, possibly because you're indoors somewhere, looking studious. Very studious.

Obstinately obedient Today.

There is a need to shake off the dust of complacency and contentment. 

A burning of bridges, a breaking of bondages. 

A putting of hands to the plough, with no looking back. 

A breaking of alabaster jars that cannot be restored or replaced.

A giving up of reputation and security for others' eternity.

For every place and every people, God is raising up his Jeremiahs that will stand in obstinate obedience. Those who would each day enter in to prayer to understand what breaks his heart and even bind their own hearts to his so that they break along with his. 

That in the place of prayer comes forth golden prophetic voices, because they are forged in the furnace of yieldedness and brokenness. 

"God, that you would take my life if it would save this nation!" Those are the intercessors God is calling forth. And they are rising up. 

He is not blowing the trumpet. 

We are blowing it on his behalf. 

Jeremiahs, arise! Let a time of mourning precede the coming rejoicing.

Harvest is ripening, but his children are forgetting.

Not to us, O Lord, not to us!

He says, "I am preparing you for the harvest,

not tomorrow, not yesterday. It's Today!"

Would you enter into that place? 

Would you hear the Jeremiah call? 

Would you stand for the truth as you kneel for his mercy?

Would you wield the sickle and the trumpet, both in your hands?

Forge on, God, forge on we ask

Let your golden voices arise 

Across the lands, over the sea

Every inch covered with your holy glory

He is fueling the furnace, fanning the flames

He's setting hearts ablaze, and bellies on fire

These will be men and women who would ask, "Who am I? They won't listen to me."

And He will say, "Even if they won't listen, what is that to you?"

Go!

Pass through, pass through the gates!

Prepare the way for the people.

Build up, build up the highway!

Remove the stones.

Raise a banner for the nations.

I know what it's like to feel the strong burden of the Lord and shy away from it. I know many people like that. It's painful to bear and costly to walk out. I also know that in our lives prone to mundaneness and wanderings, there is a yearning that comes out of a deep, deep place - you don't look for destiny; Destiny finds you. God is calling for those who would live out of the box, beyond themselves. Totally dependent, totally desperate. We pray that many more would be obstinately obedient to that yearning - be the prophetic message others need to hear. Choose to be that Today.

Here am I

This Is True Life
Justin Rizzo

Oh the peace of pure abandon

Oh the joy of sweet surrender

‘Cause if I try and save my life I will lose it (This is true life)
But if I lose my life for your sake I’ll find it in the end (Give it all the way)

I have to give you everything
And then the yoke is easy
I have to give you everything
And then the burden is so light

And oh the peace of pure abandon
And oh the joy of sweet surrender

Life (happy holiness) is found in the letting go (joyful righteousness)
Joy (happy holiness) is found in the tearing of the heart (as I give it all away)

Your joy, your peace is found

God, everything about you is good and true. Who you are, what you do, everything about you - it's all good, it's all true. I don't want to live for myself while I promise to die for you. To be willing to die for you and your Kingdom's cause means also to live for your namesake, to live for those who bear your image. I've given up a normal life a long time ago, you know that, Lord. Even in the dark recesses of my heart, Spirit, you remind me over and over again...I can't forget. The broken pieces of the jar I crushed in the days past now lie on the ground still, next to my crown; the light of your truth is letting me see them in the shadows. Darkness looms, God, do you see the pieces? Has the nard lost its fragrance on you, and the purity of my vow long gone? No, Lord, I seek true life. If I had another jar, I'd do the same with it! God, but would you require another jar? Joy for your beloved, Lord, was your promise - I refuse to settle. Anything but normal! Oh, that I could preserve the fragrance lavished on you with sweetness that comes from constant and faithful surrender, the tearing of my heart. You know I would. That my state of brokenness marries the bliss of knowing you know me and I know you.

Yes, Lord, and amen.

(Take My Life - Chris Tomlin)
Here am I, all of me
Take my life, it's all for Thee

('David', Beyond Words musical by IFGF)
Many people are willing to give up their lives for people they love, but how many are willing to live for them?

(For This Cause - Hillsong)
I'm living for this cause
I lay down my life into your hands
I'm living for the truth
The hope of the world, in you I'll stand
'Cause all I want is you

May this be the anthem of my heart, as I walk here into eternity for your Kingdom's cause that sets others free as I bind myself to our covenant.

"I delight greatly in the LORD;

my soul rejoices in my God.

For he has clothed me with garments of salvation

and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness,

as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest,

and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

For as the soil makes the sprout come up

and a garden causes seeds to grow,

so the Sovereign LORD will make righteousness and praise

spring up before all nations."

~ Isaiah 61:10-11