Kingdom Living

I'm recognizing that a life lived in light of the Kingdom of God is the only way to abundant life-- the life God created us for.
I don't ever want my life to be about anything other than proclaiming the goodness of God and the person and work of Christ. I desire deeply that people would look at my life and see Christ. That they would see his redemptive work and transforming power in my life-- the dying of my old self and the renewed mind toward that of Jesus Christ.
I get discouraged and frustrated to hear of friends who find life with Christ merely an association to him, and not a radical, intimate communion with Him. He created us to be entirely engaged with his work, with the expansion of his reign and rule here on earth... that his kingdom would come to earth as it is in heaven. I want to be apart of that. I want the people i love to be apart of that. To live in community and relationship that would propel each other toward the cross of Christ and the movement of His kingdom to the ends of the earth. I have found joy and purpose. Life Abundant. And i found it in the center of this call on my life and in community with people who desire the same. I'm not settling for anything less.
"But one thing i do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." Phil. 3:12-14
As i follow hard after Christ... i'm asking people to follow likewise.

Summer Reading

This summer i've read more books, that i've actaully wanted to read, and have therefore enjoyed, than ive been able to in a really long time! They have really contributed to the work Christ has done in my life this summer... and since transformation is crucial, i thought i'd pass along the titles.
Don't Waste Your Life, John Piper-- it's an easy read, yet deeply challenging. Not to live for what the world esteems as important... but that the Cross of Christ would direct our steps and to live for the supreme glory of God is what we were created to do.
Prayer, Philip Yancy-- this book is a humble and straightforward attempt to understand and reveal the truths about prayer and the prayer life of a follower.
Strong Women, Soft Heart, Paula Rineheart-- this book hit me right between the eyes. It's a convicting and deeply compassionate look into the heart of a women... the hurts we've experienced and how often we let those hinder the joy created us for, and damper our ability to love others as Christ has loved.
Walking With Christ, John Eldrege a intimate look at the life of a man and his attempt to practice the presence of God over the course of a year. The prayers, thoughts, convictions, and life stories of how God is intimately involved in our daily lives and how he desires only joy for us. That requires wholeness, in HIm, and holiness in our ways before him.

I recommend all of these to you... they are amazing!!

When A Cow Wakes You Up

So every July ranchers bring their cattle up to the National forest... i guess to let them eat and get all fat before sausage season. So we knew they were coming... and i was prepared. They told me that hundreds and hundreds of cows would be traveling the road... but i didn't think it would be as entertaining as it actually was!!
On wednesday... the day before i knew they were coming... my family and i were driving out of the valley... only to come across them already on the move.


So... they only got a little bit up the road that day! Good thing...
But... thursday morning... July 10th was the day everyone prepared me for. We had set up fences and everything...
So my family left around 7am... and i went back to sleep. At about 9 i woke up to a harmonious mooing from my window. Yup. the cows were here. I jumped out of bed to make sure the fence was closed... too late. They had already broken through our makeshift fence... and we now grazing our pond, and everywhere else. There were a lot. Hundreds. Quiet the scene!!
So i shooed off a few to find that they are easily scared : ). Anyway... i chased off probably like 50-60 cows yesterday. In my basketball shorts and my rainbows... not to cowgirl... but that's alright! It was funny. Here's the video i made... right after i woke up. Hence the low manly voice! : )

The McGee Ranch

This weekend some girls and i went into town to stay at the McGee ranch... you know to get away from our ranch for a while!! We had a great time... just getting out in town, eating and shopping... it was really nice! We got to the McGee Ranch... and it was AMAZING!! I will have pictures for you soon...
So we got to go horse back riding at sunset... it was my first time! It was amazing... after an awkward mounting... i was off! Not as hard as i thought it would be! We then got to go ATVing... which was amazing as well! I was joking around that it was my dream date... but with 3 sistas and a grandma!! But still wonderful nonetheless! We stayed up talking to this wonderful couple... everything from horse racing, to their love story... while eating ice cream! Mr. McGee used to be a pro football player and coached college football for a while... but now own a horse ranch and races horses!! It was such a restful nite! I loved it! The room i was staying in looked out over the ranch and the rocky mountains... it was breathtaking!! That sunday morning we got up early to go horse back riding before church... it was great!! Except for losing my camera! :( I got going in a pretty fast trot... and it fell out somewhere! So we looked for it for a while but had to go eat and get ready for church... so we just prayed that we would find it!
AND THEY DID!! Mrs. McGee and the McGee kids went out to walk around and pray for it... and they did! Hidden in the tall grass... undamaged and everything!! SO WONDERFUL!
So... when i get it back... i will have pictures for you! It was a great weekend!!

I almost died today...

This morning Mary, Jessie and I went on a hike on the Alpine Trail. Since Jessie and I have been learning how to drive stick... Todd let us take the camp truck up there!! It was my first time driving stick... up a mountain road. A little nerve wrecking... but we made it. It was such a perfect day to hike!
So... the trail was pretty intense. The first time we hiked it we only made it maybe 1/3 of the way up... and the next 2/3 were pretty steep and rocky. We were panting pretty hard... but we heard the view from the top is extraordinary, so we were set on making it to the top! So we did... and as we were reaching the top, we noticed a smaller, offshoot trail to some rock formations. We decided to check them out! WOW!! The view was extraordinary!

So... these rock formations... Jessie started to climb over to them... and thought that we could probably work our way around them... and if we could... the view from the other side would probably be pretty amazing. So she started over. And made it... and i could just watch her... so i followed suit.

What i have to mention is that the rock was really gravelly. It was really loose... so we were slipping around a lot. So.. i was taking it slow and i made it over to her. Then... i wanted to move over to where she was sitting... around the corner of that ledge... so i put one foot on a "steady rock" and then grabbed a rock with my hand to pull myself up and around. Well... both of these thought to be steady rocks crumbled in my hand as i pulled myself up... and both gave way. I the guess natural tendency for such things is to throw your body in the opposite direction... so that's what happened. And i landed... somewhat planted on steady rock. I laughed pretty hard... and Jessie thought i almost died. Well... i kind of almost did. The drop below where we were climbing was steep... but i guess a tree might have caught me! haha!
So as we were sitting up there... and after my heart stopped pounding and my hands stopped shaking... i looked over at Jessie and was like " I think my Mom just might kill me if she knew where i was right now! "
haha...



It was a good morning!!

The Voice of God

Hearing, and recognizing the voice of God is hard for me. I am not good at being quiet, and therefore my life, more often than not, is filled with noise. People, computers, music, running, busyness, studying... you name it. You can ask the people closest to me... i hate to be still. Even when i was young i would wake up early, get all ready and just wait for something to do. This "noise" has muffled the voice of God in my life.
So here i am in Colorado. 13 miles off the highway on a dirt road... nestled in a valley surrounded by mountain peaks. It's very quiet up here. So quiet that the deer don't even run away when i run past them on the road!! But, surprisingly, I'm enjoying it!! I knew i needed it... and now I'm soaking it all in. It amazing how once you remove the noise, intentionally, how quickly you begin to hear the Lord.
So the Lord is speaking. In powerful ways, showing me the things that he desires for me. One nite as i was praying, he gave me a vision. The vision was me standing in the midst of all the people i love the most. All of my relationships. And he started to pull me away from them. To where i was standing as if in space, looking down at a world, filled with all the people i loved. And he asked me, "Sarah, would you still worship me if i took all of those relationships, all of those people, away from you? Would i still be enough for you?" WOW! Here i was praying for people, that they would find intimacy with the Lord, and he goes on to ask me to give them up. WHAT? I laid there... scared. I heard the voice of the Lord clearly. But how would i answer that question? With all of my heart i desire to be able to say, hands down, that i would give them all up for the Lord... but it would be so hard. Some of them easier than others, but my family for instance, i don't know, in the depth of my heart, what i would do if he asked me to give them up. So i asked him "Lord, but why?" And he was gentle to say, "Sarah, i am not asking you to give them up, but i am asking you to love and cherish me, alone, enough that all of those people could be taken away from you and you would still worship and adore me."
The Lord is speaking to me... clearly, about specific things. He is preparing me for his work. And that includes showing me, gently, that he desires that i come to the place where i would drop my net, leave my dead to bury the dead, and follow hard after him. That i would count it all a loss to follow and know him. It's a hard calling, but i desire to be used for kingdom purposes... and that means dying to myself that Christ might live in me, completely.

The Importance of a Godly Man

So most of you know that i am working at a family camp this summer. And we just finished our first week long Family Camp. It was wonderful. We felt the Spirit of God present, and God showed up in powerful, powerful ways.
We had seven families come up this week. 14 adults and 30ish kids. Several of the dads we're pretty new believers. Several couples were struggling... a lot. Close to divorce and on the edge of giving up. Some burdened by the pains of the world so much, they came simply seeking to get away from life for a week... so we prayed. We prayed that God would show up and transform these marriages and families. That the love we have for Christ, and as a community of believers, would rub off on the families, to serve and love and encourage them. As the week went on, i could see a change. As they opened up to each other, they began to spend more time with each other. Eating together, hiking together, sitting together, hours on end, in the lodge talking about things that matter! It was extraordinary. God was on the move.
Friday nite is our long nite. Couples are encouraged to share what the Lord has done over the week; in their lives personally, in their marriage, and in their families. I wasn't present in the session but what i heard was radical. God showed up in these marriages. And this is what i saw.
God created the man to lead, to be the head of the family. Not just to lead, but to be the head of his family as Christ is the head of the Church. He was created to be passionate about the glory of Christ, to love and know his word, and to dedicate his life to further the kingdom of God. What i saw this week, and I'm sure will continue to be impressed upon me this summer, is that the husband was created to lead his family. Though it sounds simple, and redundant... i saw the transformation and power of a man working it our practically in his family. As couples were sharing what the Lord had done this week, i realized that the movement of God in the life of the man toward Christlikeness, leads it's family toward true life in Christ. One man confessed his dark sin from years ago and repented. Acknowledging that his sin had damaged his marriage and his family, he begged his fellow believers to hold him accountable to his desire to move his family into the center of the will of God. Freedom came to him. Unity to the marriage and purpose for his family. God broke his bonds of complacency and hardness to sin. One man finally felt the call of God to his family to missions, a promise that his wife had clung to for years. The Lord removed the shingles from his eyes, softened his heart to the AIDS problem in Africa, and he heeded the call of God to mission for his life, and the life of his family. The obedience of the husband encouraged the heart of his wife and moved his family forward into the will of God.
A Godly man, as head of a family, and to lead his wife, is crucial.
In a marriage. A wife desires him for direction. For unity of purpose. She needs him for protection. That he would love his bride as Christ has loved, and continues to love HIs. Such a marriage is radical to the world, and its love is contagious.
In the family. A family needs the dad for direction. For unity of purpose and focus of direction. He points them either towards Christ or distracts them from Him. The power of a family, to do the will of God, starts with the calling of God on the man to lead his family toward Christlikeness and servitude.
I have seen a picture of how a Godly man effects the life of a family. It starts with his personal relationship with Christ. Trickles down into the passion and unity in a marriage. Then trickles down into the family. Loving their kids, pointing them toward Christ. That the family unit would be able to be used by God to further his kingdom. That the kingdom of God would advance because the world would see a radical difference in how the family loves. How each member loves Christ, how the couple loves and sacrifices for each other, how the couple loves their family, and then how the family, as a whole, love others. That Christ would be glorified and his kingdom come.

I'm not married. As most of you know. haha... hope that didn't shock anyone! : )
But, I am dedicated to living my life for the kingdom purposes of God. To adore Christ and magnify him to my world. Nothing less than that. I don't particularly need a man to do that. But, if and when God brings me to the place of marriage, to uniting myself to another person, i want him to have that same focus. And nothing less. I have seen the power that comes when a man is following hard after Christ, who desires to love his wife and lead his family in that same goal. I think that is what God created the family to be.
No wonder it works so stinkin' well!