wonderful words of worship

I was reminded of this hymn this morning. I love this rendition so much I wanted to share.

expanding 140 characters

Yesterday in the Abounding Hope study I've been following as part of Hello Mornings we read 2 Timothy 1:6-7.  If you've been around the church for any amount of time you've probably heard this passage, it gets a lot of air time.

6 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, 7 for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. (2 Timothy 1:6-7, ESV)

Maybe it's just me but usually when I hear or read verse 7 the focus is that we do not need to fear because we have the gift of the Holy Spirit. And that's true.

In this reading my thoughts shifted to the part of the verse following the "but" where we are told what the spirit has given us instead of what we are freed from. We are given a spirit of power, love and self-control but what does that really mean especially in light of the focus on fear (or lack there of) in the first part of the verse?

Thinking about power, love & self-control given to us in relation to our fears. Thoughts? #rise4him #hellomorningsesv.to/2Tm1.7
— Sara Rojas (@SarilloRojas) April 10, 2013

I was finding it hard to get my thoughts down to Twitter's 140 characters. Theologian I am not, but I'll expound anyway. Hopefully not to our detriment. I have not taken the time to do any depth of study, just so you know.

For the sake of background, these verses come in the first part of a letter from Paul to Timothy. He has just spoken of the great faith of Timothy's grandmother and mother and here encourages Timothy to grow his faith.

Back to the verse and my tweet. How does being given power and love and self-control relate to our tendency to fear? It's human nature to lean into fear when we're faced with something new or something we can't perceptibly control. When we were called into grace we were given the Holy Spirit and our human foundation of fear was replaced.

Before I get too theoretical, how can I specifically relate power, love and self-control to fear?

I fear what the future holds. The Holy Spirit will give me the power to do what I'm called to do or go where I'm lead even when it's difficult.

Those around me disagree with me, they hate or mock me, they are hard to love. The Spirit living in me will allow me to love them in spite of myself.

In any given situation I feel overwhelmed, unable, alone, scared. God has given me self-control to battle these emotions and lean into the truth not the lies that barrage my mind.

Again, these are just my morning thoughts not any great exposition on the passage.

Spring has sprung

Somewhere.

Not here.

This is what we've got going on up in these parts.









Doesn't look too Springy to me.

This was yesterday late afternoon. There's at least another inch now.

Change and Comfort

I'm not a big fan of big life changes. As much as possible I like to stay in my comfort zone. Let me stay with the familiar and please don't rock my boat.

I don't think I'm alone in these feelings. I would venture a guess that I'm even in the majority. I mean, who likes to head out to stormy seas in a boat full of strangers? It can be hard enough to keep the boat afloat in the harbor. Even if what is on the other side of the water looks really inviting the trip to get there is so intimidating that we'd rather just stay put.

Changing the way we do things, where we live, how we think is hard. However, if you're following Christ in this life undoubtedly there will be a time when he asks you step out into the unknown and trust that He's got good waiting for you on the other side. The trip might be scary it might involve hard work and tears it might even take you to the bottom of the ocean but you, and I, can be sure that the sovereign hand of God will never ever ever leave you.

Are we willing to trust God enough to set sail? Are we willing to say, "Yes, I'll leave my harbor behind and follow you through the high waters because I know I'm in your hand and there's no better place to be."?

His grace is sufficient.

His love is unfailing.

His mercies are new every morning.

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you.
Isaiah 43:2 

a cuppa

I've been working on this post about comfort zones and it's just not coming together right so, I'm going to tell you about coffee instead.

I like coffee.
A lot.
Maybe too much.

I'm not quite sure when this great affection was birthed. However, somewhere between late night papers in college and the arrival of a second child we became good friends. My favorite gift this Christmas was a programmable coffee maker so that when I stumble downstairs in the earlyish morning all I have to do is grab a mug and go. (I only go as far as the couch, don't imagine me all that getting out the door early or anything.)

I'm not really a coffee snob, I don't have to have a particular brand or roast or type of bean and honestly I didn't know I could tell a really good coffee from an average one until last fall. That's when I tried Avodah Coffee for the first time.

Friends, if you like coffee you must, I repeat MUST try this brand. It is sooooooooo good. I kid you not. This is not  a coffee you will drink just for the caffeine. You will drink it because you didn't know coffee could be so good. And you will plan trips to your friend's house because you found out she still has some Italian Roast waiting to share with you. You will sip and dance with joy (that last one might be a little over the top, I'll stop now).

Avodah Coffee is not just good coffee though, they support four different charitable organizations with a portion of the proceeds. I like that, it's like icing on the cake or a scone with your coffee (preferably one from the bakery up the street but that's a different post). They're also really nice and have cute kids.

As LeVar Burton would say, "You don't have to take my word for it". Go get to know Avodah and try it for yourself.

This is not an affiliate post and I'm not receiving anything for it. I honestly love this coffee and what they stand for in their business practice.

one evening

I'm searching unsuccessfully for a quote in a book I just read.
He's writing an email.
One child is flying off the couch.
Another is crying because the flying child won't play school.
The third is singing "Rock and roll, oh yeah!", pants-less.

We look at each other and smile.

I find my quote.
He's still working on the email.
One is the smooshing monster.
Two are laughing uproariously and running through the house.

We wonder how we got to be so blessed.

I sit to type.
He goes to make a phone call.
The chasing turns to climbing.
The climbing turns to fighting.

It's definitely bedtime.

new real food cookbook

I was hoping to write more of a post about this but have not had the time to do so. That being the case here's a quick intro to the new cookbook by Katie Kimball at Kitchen Stewarship.  It's called Better Than A Box: How to Transform Processed Food Recipes into Whole Food Favorites and it's on sale right now but the good deals only last until tomorrow (Friday) morning. I've got a couple of her other books and have had much success with the recipes (a few exceptions included but I think those were my fault).  In fact this morning my son and I are enjoying some yummy pumpkin muffins from the Healthy Snacks to Go cookbook.

The PDF version can be purchased at the Kitchen Stewardship site for $1.99. It's regular price will be $16.95 so folks that's a steal.

Of if you prefer Kindle you can purchase Better Than a Box on Amazon right now for $0.99.


(This post contains affiliate links and personal opinion.)