Get Outta Here…

09 Thursday Feb 2012

Posted by Seeking Peace in grace, Kylie Bisutti, renewal, restoration

Do you know Kylie Bisutti? She’s been a Victoria’s Secret runway model and I must admit she can conjure up some thoughts strutting around in her lingerie. I’m a Kylie fan but probably not for the reason you would first think. I didn’t say she “is” a VS model, I said she’s “been” a VS model – past tense. She gave up the gig she had dreamed of because she’s been reading the Bible and was convicted she needs to save her body for her husband (I imagine there are Christian single men sending her their information right now) that she hopes to have one day. var gaJsHost = ((“https:” == document.location.protocol) ? “https://ssl.” : “http://www.”); document.write(unescape(“%3Cscript src='” + gaJsHost + “google-analytics.com/ga.js’ type=’text/javascript’%3E%3C/script%3E”)); try { var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker(“UA-12356560-1”); pageTracker._trackPageview(); } catch(err) {}

Restoration. Renewal. Kylie is finding it through her study of God’s word. It’s amazing what the Spirit will do within us when we get into God’s word. We can read Lucado and Yancey and Chan, we can listen to Andy Stanley, John Piper or Joel Osteen (I’m throwing that one in for a good buddy of mine) but none of those can do what actually reading the Bible and letting the Spirit work on heart and mind can do to us.

I’m a Kylie Bisutti fan and hope she will maintain her desire to serve God and openly share her faith. It’s something I can learn from.

Grace and peace.

More R & R

08 Wednesday Feb 2012

Posted by Seeking Peace in God's image, grace, reconciliation, renewal, restoration

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First, let me say that I have written two good blogs that come up as gobbley-goop and it’s making me want to get the baseball bat out. One of them was what I thought to be the best post I’d ever written and how I wish I could remember how I said what I said. Oh well…back to mediocrity…

I’m stealing a tweet from Josh Ross to use as the basis of my post. “Words like restore, redeem, reconcile and renew indicate a prior condition that was good. We were created in God’s image.”

I’m using that in a lesson I’m teaching in June because the idea of being created in God’s image has been something I have learned to grow on over the past few years. I bring Genesis 1:27 up in many, many conversations with people because they, like me, have this feeling we can not do enough, be good enough, not whatever enough and I never thought of myself as being made in God’s image.

I have heard so many conversations about self-esteem, self-image, self, self, self that I think I became conditioned to always look at myself the way others saw me. Now, I just want to point others to God when my appearance (in whatever fashion) comes into the conversation. When I’m living right and doing things to help people, I want to point to God and give him glory as my Creator. When I’m living wrong and doing things that hurt my relationship with God, I want to point to God and give him the the glory as my Redeemer and Savior. I don’t want people to see Jeff, to see my image, to see my self-esteem, to see my brilliance and greatness (quit laughing at that last part), I want them see a reflection of God and nothing more.

Grace and peace to you.

The Fine Line

17 Friday Jun 2011

Posted by Seeking Peace in God's desire, God's plan, grace, peace, under attack

≈ 3 Comments

It seems so often in life there is a fine line between so many things. I’ve often tried to find the line and see how close I could get to it before crossing and there have been many times I’ve blatantly stepped across it without much concern for where my path was headed. Maybe the things I think are co-existing on a fine line really have a chasm separating them and I just can’t see it…but it’s the way I see it at the moment.

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Yesterday, I was reminded that there is a fine line between using the word of God to build up and strengthen and using the word of God to be the judge of another person’s heart and actions. I was handed a Bible and asked to read a scripture by someone who doesn’t know me or my heart or my burning desire to know God better. I was handed the Bible and asked to read the scripture because this man thought it would convict me of something he thinks I’m very wrong about and that he wanted to call me out, in his own way, to come around to his way of thinking. Now, I’m completely open that he may be right and I may be wrong in the sense that it is something I will pray about and ask for God’s direction, but today I don’t feel I am crossing any lines with God. I’m also open to the fact that he is convicted by what he believes and in that sense I appreciate he would share his concern for me. On the other hand, I do not appreciate how it was done or the fact that he doesn’t appear to want to know anything about me and my thoughts on the matter.

The most telling part of the morning to me was this – as soon as I knew he was there, I knew he would confront me and I immediately prayed that God would simply hold my tongue and I would remain silent. I didn’t want to get in a verbal battle and I didn’t want to go into collision mode (meaning I would collide with him like a jet propelled madman as I’m apt to do at times), I just wanted to be silent and let God work in that moment, whether on him or on me. I had the strength of restraint that came from something greater than me and in that moment I was confident I was turning my heart and mind over to God.

I know the day will come when this man will approach me again to share his views and I believe I will be fully prepared to answer him with what I am convicted God is revealing to me and in that space, I’ll pray that God speaks to us both to know him better, to hear his desire for our lives and to live in either agreement or disagreement with the knowledge that each of us will seek God to furthest reaches of our being.

Grace and peace to you.

Facebook Ranting

09 Wednesday Feb 2011

Posted by Seeking Peace in Facebook, grace, mercy

≈ 5 Comments

There are several things I like Facebook and quite a few I don’t. I like seeing some old friends and reconnecting. I like some coupons I get, flyfishing destination ideas and knowing what’s new at gogo gumbo. What I particularly don’t like is some of the ranting I see by people who then turn around and post scripture and put on the Christian face. The reason I don’t like it is because it reminds me of me, of how I have acted in the past, of how I still act at times and of the miles to travel to be who I want to be on this earth.

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I do not want God to take on a “fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me” attitude because he wouldn’t tolerate me very long. I do not want God to start shouting out my flaws to all who can hear because He will be busy and I will be thoroughly embarrassed. I do not want God telling me I will have to earn His trust back every time I fail and then have that earning process completely subjective to His whim. I’ll never get His full trust back if I have to earn it. Yet, I have treated people that way and done those things at times.

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I’m better about such things today but not perfect. I want to be better about it today than I was yesterday and I want to be better at it tomorrow than I am today. I want to be more and more and more like God each and every day I’m still on this earth. God, help me, restore me, renew me, lead me. Make my life yours, make my words yours, make my actions yours.

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Grace and peace to you.
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Fighting Disappointment

15 Wednesday Dec 2010

Posted by Seeking Peace in disappointment, God's love, grace

≈ 1 Comment

An interesting weekend it was. I spent some time with old friends and the topic of disappointment was prevalent in each conversation…one that was full of pain, another that was full of hope. Trying to do what people wanted me to do has often left me tired, frustrated, mad and longing for something different while the fear of disappointing them has left me exhausted and often wanting to be isolated. It’s a fear that has played to my programming that says my performance is what matters and if I don’t perform to expectations, I lose. I lose their love, friendship, respect, status. The kicker is, I’ve rolled that over to my relationship with God too.

Looking at myself, the things that disappoint me are things that don’t happen in my image of they way it should be. The Longhorns football season, the World Series, the girl who wouldn’t go out with me in college, the friend who didn’t go with me when I wanted them to. Disappointment comes when things don’t match the way I see it and then I cast that on to someone else. The Longhorns and Rangers didn’t want to lose, the girl had her eyes on someone else she felt was a better match, the friend had another option that was more in line with what he wanted. When I disappoint someone, it’s not because I did something wrong as much as it is that their desire and expectation is something different than my own. Yet, when I know I have caused disappointment, the fear and pain of losing my standing with them, of letting them down, of causing pain stays with me. For days. For weeks. For years.

A dear friend told me the other day that God doesn’t get disappointed. He knows the number of hairs on my head. He knows me inside and out and better than I know myself. He has no misconceptions about me, no beliefs about me that aren’t true. And, even though I don’t always do what His will for me is, He continues to love me and continues to be open to me coming back to His hope and direction for me. When I choose something that pulls me away from Him, he isn’t disappointed but stable. My status with God doesn’t drop. I don’t have to try harder, I don’t have to start over. He just keeps loving me as I am.

At least that’s what my friend told me.

I’m going to try to begin living in that better. I’m going to try and quit worrying so much about disappointing people that I push them away. I’m going to try and start living at peace with my decisions and quit realize that grown ups are grown up and can deal with their own feelings. I’m going to try and remember that God loves me as I am, not as He imagines me being or as I imagine myself…just as I am. I’m going to try.

Grace and peace to you.
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