Israel/Palestine admin on 01 Jul 2005 04:39 pm
Nostalgic at Heart
Well I dont have too much time, but to those faithful blog readers of mine I thought I would send a quick update before things get hectic with site seeing. We just arrived in Jersalem and will be here for 4 days and then off to 10 days in Egypt, Jordan and Sinai.
So the last few days I have been thinking alot about comfortable complacency. Why is that it literally takes a serious situation or some type of dramatic event in our lives to get us to see perspective, in Gods eyes? What I mean is this, we are coasting along and everything slowly starts to move towards cruise control, then it is a year later when we realize how fast the time has gone by and we are just breathing, not really living. Now I strongly admit, it is easy for me to say, since I am the one on the other side of the world being blasted with cultural perspective left and right. But it is just what I am thinking about and thought i would throw it out there. I look back at my year as President on Student Council and can now see how many opportunities I missed to live life and not just breathe. So many people to pour into, that I squandered cause I was too busy. I got caught up into the swirl of it all and missed so much. I wish something could of smashed me in the face long ago and forced me to see how complacent I was getting. It is this complacency that is a breeding ground for sin and a heart which is not sensitive to HIS will. So hear I sit asking myself what areas of my life are complacent? What areas have I become so comfortable in, that I dont need to trust or acknowledge God? I tell you friends, in our Western culture and Western lives that is the daily battle. I fear coming home for the fact that I will have to again pick up that fight. I have loved living life on the edge the last month here. The stories from Morocco are crazy. Looking back, I cant believe some of teh things we did. But it is that pioneering spirit and that radical attitude that I want to maintain and keep when I come back. I hope that in many ways it finds a new home in my heart. Well that is just food for thought.
Jersusalem is going to be an experience of a lifetime. I feel that our trip is once again, just begining. There is so much to see and so much to learn. The excitement is new all over again.
I will keep you posted and in a few days tell you about all that we have seen.
on 01 Jul 2005 at 4:58 pm # Lee
you are so right…i have definetly been thinking about complacency lately. it is something that has crept more and more into my life, and something that i have just recently made an effort to acknowledge and stop…thank you for your message, INSPIRING!!
on 02 Jul 2005 at 2:38 pm # leslie
Hey Jamie-
Your words ring true all the way out here in semi-rural MN…Just last night I was doing something with some old friends that I haven’t seen in five years…and it felt so empty…and I was reminded of what I have been given and how scary it is that I have all the choice as to what I am going to do with it. Character formation and life courses are decided minutes at a time. I don’t want to forget that ever. These last couple of weeks have been thematic for me on this whole subject of complacency. Gary Haugen (IJM director) was on the radio all this week talking about IJM and he said something that stuck. He says that God longs to rescue us from the mundane. He wants to share with us the miraculous coming of His kingdom into the darkest of places around the world but we’d rather be rich, comfortable and safe. I will keep you in my prayers as you discern what the adventure looks like for you…and pray that God would preserve us both from what opportunity can take from our ultimate purpose. In the meantime, I am wrestling with how this series of minutes, these present demands on my time, these relationships that I invest in are to impact the person I am becoming and the mission I aim to serve…because I think that’s where the battle is…in these minutes..not months from now or years from now…so thank you…sorry for the long windedness…this whole idea is something I’ve been talking about here too…safe travels to Jerusalem. I will leave you with the words of Sandra McCracken in “In Between”
We have lent our aid, and left our conviction for the cause of the day, and this progress mission.
In the dust behind, we leave the black and white, and the bottom line is gone without a fight.
No ice, no flame no place to stand, no one to blame. No Ice, no flame, rescue me from the in between.
You believe what you choose, and search for spare change, there are no rules, and the diamond waits in the wings.
No ice, no flame no place to stand, no one to blame. No Ice, no flame, rescue me from the in between.
Even sunday strangers, romancing the people, smiling at the dangers beneath the golden steeples, cynical compromise in everyday broad daylight, the marriage of faith and lies.
-Leslie