The Challenge

Last night’s Bible study was awesome. We read from the second chapter of Titus… Verses 11-14. Here it is in the New Living Translation:

For the grace of God has been revealed, bringing salvation to all people. And we are instructed to turn from godless living and sinful pleasures. We should live in this evil world with wisdom, righteousness, and devotion to God, while we look forward with hope to that wonderful day when the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, will be revealed. He gave his life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us his very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds.

And here it is in the Message:

God’s readiness to give and forgive is now public. Salvation’s available for everyone! We’re being shown how to turn our backs on a godless, indulgent life, and how to take on a God-filled, God-honoring life. This new life is starting right now, and is whetting our appetites for the glorious day when our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, appears. He offered himself as a sacrifice to free us from a dark, rebellious life into this good, pure life, making us a people he can be proud of, energetic in goodness.

What an awesome challenge. This incredible life-saving grace is a free gift to me, someone so wholly unworthy of saving – but He loves me anyway. There’s nothing I can do to make Him love me any more or any less. I was born loved, I live loved, I will die loved.

But grace isn’t something I can take once & be set for life, never again considering the miraculous rebirth I’ve experienced – I have been commanded by God, my Creator, to exhibit outward signs of this radical inward change I’ve undergone… so I need to look at the way the world lives & make up my mind. Who am I, and who am I living for? I need to identify my shortcomings and my faults & deny the selfish urge to live a way that glorifies me. Keith used a phrase my daddy loves to use: living with “a sense of urgency”. We should live with that sense of urgency, like this is all we have (because if you haven’t realized it yet – this is, in fact, all we have), to grasp every opportunity to glorify God in our daily, mundane lives.

God created me with tasks in mind, already set forth for me to encounter & complete. Everyday, when I wake up, I have a decision to make: who am I living for today?

Keith brought up this verse in Ephesians 2:

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Again: nothing I do or say will make Jesus love me any more or any less. I haven’t been saved so I can live a life about Aimee, I have been saved to do what I was created to do. I am a living masterpiece… a breathing, singing, crying, laughing, shouting, blogging work of art that God pieced together to accomplish His plan.

How AWESOME!

To be upright in my living, to act righteously, to deny my self, to exhibit self-control, to wake up in the morning asking Jesus, “What can I do for you today, Lord? What’s your will for me today?”
This is what I’m called to do. That’s my challenge.

Wicked.

xxAimeeCait

Maundy Thursday

Jesus knew that the Father had put him in complete charge of everything, that he came from God and was on his way back to God. So he got up from the supper table, set aside his robe, and put on an apron. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the feet of the disciples, drying them with his apron. When he got to Simon Peter, Peter said, “Master, you wash my feet?”Jesus answered, “You don’t understand now what I’m doing, but it will be clear enough to you later.”

Peter persisted, “You’re not going to wash my feet—ever!”

Jesus said, “If I don’t wash you, you can’t be part of what I’m doing.”

“Master!” said Peter. “Not only my feet, then. Wash my hands! Wash my head!”

Jesus said, “If you’ve had a bath in the morning, you only need your feet washed now and you’re clean from head to toe. My concern, you understand, is holiness, not hygiene. So now you’re clean. But not every one of you.” (He knew who was betraying him. That’s why he said, “Not every one of you.”) After he had finished washing their feet, he took his robe, put it back on, and went back to his place at the table.

Then he said, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You address me as ‘Teacher’ and ‘Master,’ and rightly so. That is what I am. So if I, the Master and Teacher, washed your feet, you must now wash each other’s feet. I’ve laid down a pattern for you. What I’ve done, you do. I’m only pointing out the obvious. A servant is not ranked above his master; an employee doesn’t give orders to the employer. If you understand what I’m telling you, act like it—and live a blessed life.”

Church of England-style servant evangelism. That’s mint.

xx Aimee Cait

Whoa.

“We live in such a way that no one will stumble because of us, and no one will find fault with our ministry.

In everything we do, we show that we are true ministers of God.

We patiently endure troubles and hardships and calamities of every kind.

We have been beaten, been put in prison, faced angry mobs, worked to exhaustion, endured sleepless nights, and gone without food.

We prove ourselves by our purity, our understanding, our patience, our kindness, by the Holy Spirit within us, and by our sincere love.

We faithfully preach the truth.

God’s power is working in us.

We use the weapons of righteousness in the right hand for attack and the left hand for defense.

We serve God whether people honor us or despise us, whether they slander us or praise us.

We are honest, but they call us impostors.

We are ignored, even though we are well known.

We live close to death, but we are still alive.

We have been beaten, but we have not been killed.

Our hearts ache, but we always have joy.

We are poor, but we give spiritual riches to others.

We own nothing, and yet we have everything.

Oh, dear Corinthian friends! We have spoken honestly with you, and our hearts are open to you.

There is no lack of love on our part, but you have withheld your love from us.

I am asking you to respond as if you were my own children. Open your hearts to us!”

…Jeepers. Can you feel him hurting for them? That’s empathy. Man oh man. That’s just wicked.

More on this later…

xx Aimee Cait

Immeasurably more…

There are nights when I’m reading through Papa’s Bible and I find a sweet spot. In certain books, in certain passages, I’ll come across all sorts of marking in my Papa’s careful handwriting. Whole blocks of scripture are underlined, key words are circled, important phrases have been highlighted. It’s like coming across buried treasure… this is what my grandfather found useful, important, praise-worthy. This is what was worth underlining.

Welcome to Ephesians.

There are certain verses that I just have to read out loud. You have to speak these verses in order to feel their impact, for them to resonate in your mind, for them to dig their way into your heart. I was on the phone with my friend Jonny, and I read this out loud to him:

“I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”

AMEN indeed! Do you realize that you belong to a God that can do more than you could ever imagine asking of Him?! That our God is so POWERFUL, so AWESOME, so MIGHTY… We can’t even think up challenges for Him to overcome that would even begin to demonstrate his true capability! He is Lord! That’s who wakes you up in the morning, who hurts for you when you’re lonely, who rejoices when you are glad. This is God.

I admit, I’m feelin’ a bit nerdy about how much this passage gets me psyched… but that passage just sets a fire in my heart. I literally cannot hide my joy in knowing that my God is SO much bigger than I could ever begin to comprehend, that the love that carries me from day to day is deep and wide, that God wants me to know the depths and width of that love that I might begin to fully understand it… jeepers. If that isn’t exciting, man, re-sensitize yourself! (Yes, for the purposes of this blog, I invented a word.)

Anyway. That’s my bit for the day.

I love you — I’m praying for you — keep me in your prayers & your thoughts — the week’s only just begun!
AND HAPPY THANKSGIVING HOLIDAYS TO MY AMERICAN BROTHERS AND SISTERS!! I love you!

xx Aimee Cait

Just in case you’re unaware…

God is awesome.
Found this psalm last night, and just fell in love with it.

Psalm 116, verses 1-9

I love the Lord, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy!
Because he turned his ear on me, I will call on him as long as I live.

The cords of death entangled me, the anguish of the grave came upon me;
I was overcome by trouble and sorrow.

Then I called on the name of the Lord:
“O Lord, save me!”

The Lord is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion.
The Lord protects the simple-hearted; when I was in great need, he saved me!

Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the Lord has been good to you.
For you, O Lord, have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before the Lord in the land of the living.

How is that?
For YOU, O Lord, have delivered my soul from death! My eyes from tears! My feet from stumbling… that I may walk before YOU in the land of the living!

This is the mighty God of heaven and earth — the compassionate, loving, all-powerful Lord that I just can’t hide my love for!
Oh, friends… my life is anything but boring.

Me on my walk to work this morning! Consider me bundled — it is WELL cold outside!

Hope everyone is doing well, is having a good first half of the week, and is happy and joyful!

I love you more than all things! I’m praying for you!

xxxxxxxx Aimee Caitlin

Youth

This verse was brought to my attention (for the trillionth time) this Sunday:

“Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.” — 1 Timothy 4:12

We have so much to offer, and so much to say and do. What we think, the way we think — it all matters, regardless of whatever self-deprecating dogma we’ve chosen to subscribe to. If we choose to seize this incredible opportunity in front of us — think of what might happen. Think of the change that might come about. Do I have a passion to see my generation become something more than lost sheep? Do I have a deep, burning desire to see change happen in an awesome way? I do. I have such an intense need to see something move. I want my generation to wake up and see how empty this all is without something to live for. If this is all there is to life… if there’s nothing more than me and you and this earth, why wake up tomorrow?

Later on in the same passage in 1 Timothy, this is said:

“Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.“

If that doesn’t get you pumped, you need to check your pulse, because that’s awesome.

I’m so ready to be in England, I feel like I’m about to jump out of my skin. All of this has built up to 11:05 AM on Thursday, August 30th of 2007. I’ll get on that plane, and the adventure of my life begins.

Are you stoked?

Visionary

“As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

Found this verse underlined in my Papa’s Bible. This Bible is my study Bible of choice… mostly because I miss my Papa, and having his Bible makes me feel like maybe I’m like him… and also because he was a minister of the Southern Baptist persuasion and he thoughtfully underlined SO many verses – I like to think of it as the Good Stuff edition. So anyway. I read this verse and just thought, “Wow, what a Charles Gwaltney verse.” Every time I flip through these pages, I’m peeking into my Papa’s life, searching for what he found helpful in times of need. I love that as I read, I’m learning more about my grandfather, and about the God that he devoted his life to.

OK, done bein’ sappy. More in a minute.

Graduation ‘07

Congratulations, Class of 2007!
I’m so proud of all of my graduate BFFs. Might I say, you looked quite attractive in your caps and gowns. I wish you the best of luck in whichever direction you’re heading, and I’m praying that God blesses you abundantly as your life unfolds before you. Again, I’m proud of you!

“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”
Romans 12:1-2, The Message

A Cheerful Giver

Remember this—a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop. But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop.

You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.”

And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others. As the Scriptures say, “They share freely and give generously to the poor. Their good deeds will be remembered forever.” For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat.

In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you. Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous.

And when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will thank God.

So two good things will result from this ministry of giving—the needs of the believers in Jerusalem will be met, and they will joyfully express their thanks to God.

As a result of your ministry, they will give glory to God.

For your generosity to them and to all believers will prove that you are obedient to the Good News of Christ. And they will pray for you with deep affection because of the overflowing grace God has given to you. Thank God for this gift too wonderful for words!

From The Inside Out

So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
Romans 12:1-2, The Message