FlowerDust.net | Anne Jackson

Weekend Thought: DANG!!!!!!!

this one cut straight to my core.

Regarding the Sabbath: “It’s hard to preach about a commandment The Church doesn’t keep.”
– Dr. Matthew Sleeth

(the entire message: download here)

weekend thought: follow up on “should trust be earned?”

i am not a very trusting person. some of it’s baggage from the past and things over which i had no control. some of it’s because there have been times in my life when i have not been trustworthy. i love observing people. you can learn a lot that way. if someone speaks badly of another person when they’re not around, i usually think that they’ll probably speak badly of me when i’m not around.

a few years ago, i was very hurt by someone who i trusted, a lot. recently, i’ve written about how it still impacts me today. because of this person’s actions, i find myself guarding my innermost dreams and hopes…fearful they’ll be trampled on by another person. and honestly, my heart just can’t take it anymore.

i wrote about that situation in my book, and wrote about how forgiveness is a decision i needed to make…but trust was something that needed to be earned.

and friends? i had to go back after sending my manuscript to my editor and change that.

because i am beginning to believe that trust is not something that needs to be earned.

please hear me…this does not mean that we are allowed to make stupid decisions and be gullible. but when i carefully read and studied on 1 corinthians 13:7, it basically says “love believes all things.”

in the greek translation, this reference of love is agape love. the kind of love we are filled with when we become believers. the self-sacrificing kind.

agape love believes all things.

so, what does “believes all things” mean?

believes (greek: pisteuei) literally means this: to think to be true, to be persuaded of, to credit, place confidence in.

and all things (greek: panta) literally means this: each, every, any, all, the whole, everyone, all things, everything.

i had to look even farther for the context here, as at a simple glance it seems that without question, we should believe everything. which doesn’t make sense given all of the wisdom the bible says we’re to pursue.

one commentary i read summed it up beautifully….

LOVE puts the most favourable construction on everything, and is ever ready to believe whatever may tend to the advantage of any one character. And when it can no longer believe well, it hopes whatever may excuse or extenuate the fault which cannot be denied. Where it cannot even excuse, it hopes God will at length give repentance unto life.

do i give people the benefit of the doubt? and when i can’t…do i truly hope the best for them, through christ? or do i dwell on the assumed, or even obvious shortcomings or someone…holding my own agenda close so that i, in my own power, can protect it?

just some thoughts for the weekend…

weekend thought: what is influence?

a friend of mine was talking about mother theresa yesterday…how she was significantly influential, but “to influence” was never her pursuit…” she only wanted to love and care for the sick, the unloved, the least, the dying. to allow the actions of jesus to be expressed in her everyday life.

it made me think of this quote from an oswald chamber’s sermon:

“The people who influence us the most are not those who detain us with their continual talk, but those who live their lives like the stars in the sky and “the lilies of the field”— simply and unaffectedly. Those are the lives that mold and shape us.

If you want to be of use to God, maintain the proper relationship with Jesus Christ by staying focused on Him, and He will make use of you every minute you live— yet you will be unaware, on the conscious level of your life, that you are being used of Him.”

i pray to be this kind of influencer.

sometimes we need a reminder

Amazing grace
How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost, but now I’m found
Was blind, but now I see

‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear
And grace my fears relieved
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed

My chains are gone
I’ve been set free
My God, my Savior has ransomed me
And like a flood His mercy reigns
Unending love, Amazing grace

weekend thought…prayers

Ok, so by now you’re probably sick of this whole Mad Church thing…sorry. As my husband and dear friend Andrew will tell you, it has been consuming every waking moment I have to get this site up and running correctly by July 2! They have been most tolerant of me and my “excuse me, I have take this call/email/whatever from my ‘database guy’” escapes from our outing tonight.

Anyway, this weekend I have about 50 people testing the three surveys and they are all really complicated surveys as far as database stuff is concerned. A few prayer requests…

-Please pray we can work through the errors we get and that this will be ready to go with no problems on Monday! Some are going through great but for some reason, others aren’t.

-My database guy is working tirelessly on this so he needs your prayers too. It keeps storming here so that has also been affecting connectivity.

-Please pray for the healing that will come from this book and for those who will take the surveys.

Other than that, I appreciate your feedback and support! I am going to take a blogging break this weekend to rest and organize some things. I hope you all have a lovely weekend and I know your prayers will cover and protect this project!

long weekend

This weekend is going to be long, and dare I say, relaxing? All I plan on doing is reading a few books and a tackling a little bit of freelance. Friday I was only in the office long enough to check my email. Today, I have no plans; tomorrow, no plans; and Monday, my family is coming over for a little memorial day cookout and to experience Chris’ and my new digs (we moved a couple weeks ago).

I have 3.20 books I plan on completing this weekend. Have you read any of them?

1) Finish “Being the Body” by Chuck Colson. I have about 80 pages left.

2) “Confessions of a Pastor” by LifeChurch.tv Pastor Craig Groeschel. This book landed on my desk yesterday, courtesy of Terry Storch. [edit: done.]

3) The Organic God by Margaret Feinberg. This book also landed on my desk yesterday, courtesy of my boss, Bill. She has spoken at some conferences he helps organize, and I get the privledge of meeting her in the fall.

4) I Sold My Soul on eBay by Hemant Mehta. You can meet Hemant at FriendlyAtheist.com, but after skimming this book, Chris’ impression of it (and his actually conversing with Hemant some), I am really looking forward to reading an intelligent and respectful view from an atheist on the American Church.

So, those are my plans…How are you spending your Memorial Day weekend?

Weekend Thought…two things

What are two things that just get you fired up? That make your heart rate soar and your adrenaline flow when you are confronted with them? The things you would fight for regardless of how foolish you looked, or how alone you stood?

Mine are injustice and disrespectfulness.

What are yours?