Saturday, July 30, 2011

Hide and Seek God

I usually spend my Wednesday nights molding the minds of the fantabulous teenagers in Revolutionary Youth (I know it’s scary that they consider me an adult leader) but I had the extreme honor of spending two Wednesday nights during July with the fantabulous children of my church. (I fit in much better with 7 year olds than 27 year olds) On Wednesday night, I told my tots one of my favorite childhood stories before we began a night of crafts, relay games and egg hunts. (that’s right the EC has egg hunts in July) I shared the following story mostly because it was appropriate for the lesson but it also proved to all of the adults present that I have been the same for over 20 years.  When I was four years old, I was playing a game of hide and seek with my older sister Brandy.  (Not only was she the queen of hiding places; she was the champion of any game at the Garcia household.) After losing many times, I opted to be a sore loser and quit. Sometime later my imagination met up with my competitive attitude and complete stubbornness and I came up with the idea to hide under my dining room table. I knew my sister would never find me under the table because the chair legs almost completely concealed my identity. In my four year old mind, my awesome hiding place trumped the fact that I wasn’t actually playing hide and seek with my sister. I knew eventually she would look for me and when she did; I would pop out and claim the best hiding place in the Garcia household. As I waited for Brandy to find me, I took a siesta. (I still covet an afternoon nap) Three hours later I woke up.  Just as I was about to crawl out from under the table; I heard my sister. She was having a discussion with my dad explaining to him that she still had not seen me. I retreated to the safety of my dining room hiding spot with an overwhelming feeling of victory. I had finally outsmarted Brandy and this game of hide and seek would go down in the record books at Furbee Avenue.
The game definitely went down in the record books because when Brandy was telling my dad, “I still haven’t seen her” she wasn’t referring to the game of hide and seek I was playing with myself. She was referring to her role in the search party that involved my entire neighborhood.  As I was lying safely under my table playing with my imaginary friends, my family and my neighbors were frantically searching for me. After spending an entire day under my dining room table, I surrendered my hiding spot simply because Brandy came into the dining room to get her coat and I assumed that she was getting to play outside after dark and I wasn’t. (I didn’t play outside for a long time after that) When I walked into my living room and my dad saw my safely standing there; he embraced me for a long time and then the punishment began. My dad’s initial reaction is the same reaction we receive from God when we finally crawl out of our hiding places and stand before Him. When we hide from God, we are playing hide and seek with ourselves because we can’t truly hide from God. Not only is He omnipresent but He loves us way to much to turn away from us at any point during our lives. We can create the best hiding places from the truths of our lives but as we hunker down and hide from everything we desperately wish would fade away; God is right there hunkering down beside us. As we try to hide from everything Satan is using to keep us from experiencing the life God desperately wants us to have; He is saying: “Where will you hide my child, where will you hide?  As soon as we go in to hiding, we start searching for Earthly gains to fill the void in our hearts that only God can fill. We start fighting the only One we can never truly hide from. God knows our hearts better than we could ever dream to know them friends. He created us and He planned each step we take to get to our record setting our hiding places. God doesn’t have a search party because He never leaves us alone in our hiding places. He loves us with an unfailing love even when we try to outsmart Him and outlast Him. We can’t outsmart or outlast God because His imagination and competitive attitude go into overdrive when one of His children goes into hiding. God is prepared to spend entire days or even years waiting for us to come out of hiding but we don’t have to wait friends. God is standing right there waiting to embrace you. What is causing you to hide from God? What shelter provides false comfort?  He wants to replace all of your favorite hiding places with all of Him. He wants you to find comfort in His shelter not the shelters of this world. He wants to rescue your heart, soul, and mind so you can rest safely in Him even if your favorite resting spot consists of curling up on His lap underneath your dining room table.

Verse to remember:  Jeremiah 23:23-24 23 “Am I only a God nearby,”  declares the LORD,
  “and not a God far away? 24 Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them?”
   declares the LORD. “Do not I fill heaven and earth?” declares the LORD.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

My Yard is Always Open

It has recently been brought to my attention that I let people poop in my yard! While I can assure you that I most definitely don’t truly allow people to poop in my yard; I most certainly do have a problem with boundaries. The reference to keep your own yard clean came from a profound Christian author (and was brought to my attention by a profound Christian woman) who wrote a book about boundaries and how they should be applied to our Christian lives. I find great truth in this statement however, I don’t possibly have time to keep my yard clean because my time is spent making sure others don’t allow toxic waste to collect in their yards. I also find truth in knowing I could quite possibly have the dirtiest yard in the Eastern Time zone. I supported that truth when my clock went off at 6:30 this morning. I had agreed to babysit this morning simply because I didn’t have a single reason not to. I thought about calling an hour before I was scheduled to be there and use being tired as an excuse but I didn’t think it would go over well. As I was drinking coffee at an hour I hadn’t seen in months, I said “I will remember this the next time someone wants to use the bathroom in my yard.”  I remembered until I was at Wal-Mart looking for a specific bag of pretzels (and only a specific bag of pretzels) for my grandma and ran into an old family friend. Before I go any further, it is necessary to state that she addressed me as Aunt Jay and instantly commented on how adorable Hudson is. (keep telling yourself that as I continue my story) As we were talking, she asked if I would be available on Sunday August 7th.  Instead of saying for what I opened up the gate to my yard and said, “I should be after 12:00.” And that my friends is how I landed a spot as a judge for an upcoming pageant. (At least I have 2 weeks to transform into a girl who likes high heels and glitter) She tried to make the commitment I had just made seem more appealing by saying I would get into the fair for free all week. Little did she know, I was already getting in free all week because I had committed to making cotton candy in the 100 degree heat earlier in the week.
Clearly, I have a problem with boundaries mostly because I rid the word from my vocabulary when it comes to giving myself away for others but I somehow lived a huge portion of my life setting up boundaries when it came to giving myself away for Jesus. I grasped the do unto others concept and the love your neighbor like yourself commandment when I was a teenager but I didn’t fully grasp the God is all you need truth until a few weeks ago.  I would be contraindicating (PT word) my faith if I didn’t believe and live out that truth daily but I would be lying if I said I didn’t live it out with my own personal boundaries involved. Until a little girl melted my heart in the Dominican Republic (when I stop making cotton candy and painting toenails at 10:00 am I will catch you up on all of my mission trip babbles), I was completely guilty of allowing boundaries to exist between God and I. My boundaries weren’t necessarily forms of bondage but they most definitely were allowing Satan a small hold on my life.  I was choosing to see my life through the eyes of a God can attitude opposed to a God will today attitude. I trusted God with the circumstances of my life but I didn’t actively claim victory each day. I lived out my faith knowing God was in control opposed to expecting Him to be in control moment by moment. I prayed in future tense opposed to saying God today will be the day you perform miracles. I was waiting to see God move in the big areas of my life opposed to the small areas of my life. The only thing wrong with seeing God this way is that in doing so we set up boundaries to how He can work in our lives. Or we put Him in a box. (My biggest boundary in Christ) If we allow boundaries to exist within our relationship with Christ we are ultimately limiting His awesomeness. We are keeping our yards full of junk when He wants to come in and clean it up daily. The truth is we can’t contain God. We can’t build boundaries strong enough or tall enough to keep Him from loving us and seeking after us. Unfortunately, we can’t stop Satan from attacking us either…He is a ruthless lawn dumper. What boundaries exist between you and God? Have you put up walls within your faith because you have a God can opposed to a God will attitude? When we allow ourselves to set up boundaries in Christ; Satan is delightfully happy because we have trained ourselves to dirty our own yards. We have trained ourselves to expect or to be content with less of God. Open up the fence to your heart today friends. Tell God how much you need Him and how much you love Him and most importantly ask Him what boundaries in your life are keeping you from all that He has for you.
I can’t promise you that I will one day set boundaries in order to keep others from making my lawn a public dump site but I can promise you that I will daily dump the garbage Satan tries to use for boundaries in my relationship with God back in his yard. Hopefully, that will make my favorite profound Christian woman proud. (If not, I will remind her that at least I keep my room clean…I’m still working on keeping it “tidy”.)

Verse to remember:  Psalm 89

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Home Made Videos

Yesterday afternoon my brother-in-law Ryan sent me a video of my nephew rolling over during tummy time. I knew that Hudson had already rolled over at 3 weeks (he has my blood in him…did you honestly expect anything less) but since I live in a different time zone I hadn’t witnessed his amazing skills yet.  When I opened the video I instantly cried because I heard his sweet little whimpers and my heart ached for him. (And now that I have watched the video close to twenty times I know exactly when his whimpers and coos are the cutest) After I composed myself, I was able to take in the entirety of my first I phone home video of my nephew.  I know I am completely in love and completely biased but I am also a semi educated physical therapist and I know that his motor skills are advanced. I am not sure if it was love or pure amazement that led to me repetitively watching my nephew roll from his stomach to his back but as I was watching it for the third time my emotions turned from my nephew to my brother-in-law. (I wouldn’t be the best aunt in the world if I noticed daddy first) My emotions still consisted of love and amazement but this time I added an abundance of tears to the mix. My tears came as I listened to the encouragement and joy in Ryan’s voice as he coached his son, step by step, through the rolling process. As he videotaped a small event in his son’s young life; he was filled with such pride, happiness, and an overwhelming appreciation for what was occurring at the other end of the video camera. I can’t speak for everyone else who watched the video clip (or for Hudson’s parents who get to watch tummy time live) but I can speak for the most blessed aunt and sister in law in world. And to me, each time I watch the video I fall more and more in love with knowing this video is just the beginning of the amazement that will exist within my family. (and the beginning of my tears)
I don’t have a collection of developmental milestone videos in heaven but I am convinced that I have a collection of “rat wheel” videos in heaven.  I call them rat wheel videos because there is absolutely no way God doesn’t entertain heaven when I choose to run around in pointless circles opposed to running straight to Him. I run around in circles because I forget that God is completely in love and completely biased to His daughter. Because He loves me and because He is my biggest fan; He is on the other end of the video camera encouraging me to keep fighting and to keep trusting Him. He is giving me the instructions, strength, and encouragement I need to complete each step of my journey in Him. And when I am tired or become comfortable half way through a milestone in Christ; He won’t let me quit. He zooms in so He can see the struggle in my face and He says, “Look this way Jay its daddy.”  I may not always be able to see where I am going and I may lack the ability to grasp the significance of my developmental milestone in Christ but I can always hear the pride, happiness, and appreciation at the other end of the video camera.  When I hear my daddy’s voice everything else fades away. I forget that the world is telling me to quit and accept defeat. I forget my desires to step back into the rat wheel. I forget the comfort of my previous milestones. I forget the negative emotions involved during the hardest and most trying times of lives. I forget what it feels likes to face life without the support, strength, and comfort of my Daddy.  Jesus is the best life coach because not only has He already completed the milestones that we face as Christians but he completed them while living a perfect life. He faced every temptation, every trial, every emotion, and every possible rat wheel situation that we face today and His Daddy cheered Him on step by step all the way to the cross. And I can’t speak for everyone who knows the significance of the cross but I can speak for the most thankful child of God in the world. And to me, when He hung there He knew that His death was just the beginning of the amazement that would exist within His family.  We are all His family friends and He loves us so much. He is the most proud Father in the entire world despite what your home videos may look like. He doesn’t care at what age you take your first step in Him; He only desires for you to keep walking with Him when your legs become tired and your feet are worn. Are you walking with Jesus today? Do you feel the encouragement from your Daddy daily? Don’t wait another day friends. Roll over and focus on your Father’s step by step instructions  for whatever you are going through.  And when you are lying on your back cooing and pumping your legs indicating another successful milestone completed; your Daddy will say: “That’s my baby girl (or boy)” and you will have an abundance of tears in your eyes as you hear the pride and love in His voice.

Verse to remember:  Job 23: 10-12 10 But he knows the way that I take;  when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold. 11 My feet have closely followed his steps; I have kept to his way without turning aside. 12 I have not departed from the commands of his lips;   I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread.

Friday, July 22, 2011

Maple Syrup Messes

Since I have been a wee bit negligent with my blogging for the past month (there will be gifts of bribery for forgiveness to my faithful readers) I found it appropriate and necessary to include my grandma in my first blog back from hibernation. During my blogging hibernation, I spent an entire week in the Dominican Republic on a mission trip and was unable to talk to my grandma the entire time I was gone. Our lack of communication meant two things: One, we had set a new record for time elapsed since talking to each other and two, she had an entire week to make decisions without my voice of reason stopping her. I felt semi-confident that she hadn’t ordered numerous items from the home shopping network or given my phone number to the UPS delivery man while I was gone (both occurred while I was in Texas a month ago) but I knew the truth of her week long  vacation would surface on Sunday afternoon during our visit. And as predicted she slowly revealed the details of her week as we enjoyed our first slumber party of the summer. I knew I was in for a long night when she started a conversation with, “I have to tell you what I did.” As I prepared for my late night entertainment, she began telling me her cigarette dilemma that occurred while I was out of the country. One day she woke up and was dizzy and weak because her oxygen machine needed some new gadget so instead of driving to Smoker Friendly for her cigarettes; she called them to see if they could deliver them to her. My thought process of, “At what point did buying Misty Lights when you were dizzy and weak seem like a good idea” was interrupted by her telling me that Smoker Friendly actually brought her cigarettes! My next thought process was, “only my grandma could be the culprit of such a story” and again I was interrupted by her. This time she was ever so kindly telling me the story of how she melted the bottom of a maple syrup bottle on the stove as she was making pancakes. And my response was, “By any chance did the delivery man from Smoker Friendly clean up the syrup.”
My grandma’s week long vacation (she never really listens to my voice of reason but it helps when I am in the same time zone) left me scrubbing maple syrup off the kitchen floor and kitchen cabinets, while inhaling the sweet aroma of Misty Lights. And although I was very close to angry thoughts a few times (day old syrup is extremely difficult to remove), I was thankful that my grandma’s adventures could be cleaned up in one night. As I was going to bed on Sunday night, it occurred to me that almost one year ago, I too took a weeklong vacation. But unlike my grandma, my vacation didn’t begin with freedom; it began with a desperate plea to find freedom. Every single one of my thought processes ended in some form of bondage to sin and left me needing a voice of reason. Unfortunately, I had managed to tune out every voice of reason in my life except one. And even then when I listened I still tried to find happiness and satisfaction in my own maple syrup mess. Two days into my vacation with the Lord; I finally allowed the voice of the Holy Spirit to overtake my voice of reason. And His voice was saying, “You don’t have to do this on your own anymore.” His voice was saying, “I am the only answer to your maple syrup mess.” And my voice was saying. “You are all I need Lord.” In that moment, my thought process began and ended in Him alone and in my surrender began my rebuilding. A rebuilding that only occurred because of God’s grace; a rebuilding that still requires daily surrender to my personal thought process.  I wish I could tell you that experiencing freedom in Christ is a onetime decision but I can’t. But I can tell you that experiencing freedom in Christ can be a lifetime decision. A decision that will change your life by allowing you to experience the abundant spirit filled life God has planned for you.   If you want to experience that freedom today align your thoughts and desires with Gods. Take a stand and tell Satan that you absolutely refuse to give him one ounce of your heart, mind, or soul. Ask yourself at what point did removing God from your life seem like a good idea? And after have commanded Satan to flee and died to the desires of your flesh; listen. Listen for His voice and I promise you will hear Him saying, “There isn’t a maple syrup mess that I can’t clean up.”
In one year, His grace has given me many of my own stories to share. Each one of my stories may trigger some form of thought process inside your head that has you thinking, “Only Jay Garcia could be the culprit of such a story.” My prayer and desire is that at some point in your thought process, God interrupts you and says, “ By any chance do you see Me in her redemption story?” If the answer is yes, I haven’t been negligent to my eternal hibernation.

Verse to remember: 2 Corinthians 10: 4-5 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
Galatians 5:1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.