Featured Articletag:www.virtuousreality.com,2010:/articles//42010-07-01T14:34:41ZMovable Type 3.34The One - real or fantasy?tag:www.virtuousreality.com,2010:/articles//4.3742010-07-01T14:00:00Z2010-07-01T14:34:41ZOk... (deep breath)...let's tackle this issue of "The One". The fairy-tale "One". The "One" God has created just for you, who's out there looking for you if only you'll wait long enough. I just had a great, spontaneous conversation with...Jamie Lambhttp://www.virtuousreality.com
"For in him we live and move and have our being."
That last quote is what I think we're looking for in men but it can only be found in Jesus. We want to be so close to someone that we move together through life like we're dancing. We want to lose ourselves in someone so we never feel alone again or have to go through life by ourselves. The great news is, that's exactly what He's offering. Throughout the Bible Jesus calls, "Come to me, seek me, follow me, trust me, lose yourself in me and I will make you whole." He says "you are Mine, whom I created for Myself". How sweet is that? Don't those sound like the words you might hear from the love of your life? They are; we just need to start believing it and ask Him to show Himself to us.]]>
Contributing to the destruction of Mileytag:www.virtuousreality.com,2010:/articles//4.4692010-06-02T05:09:21Z2010-06-04T01:19:42ZI'm sure that by now most of you have seen Miley's new video, but I'm not going to post it. The video isn't really the point of this article anyway - she is. Miley the person. Miley the child of...Jamie Lambhttp://www.virtuousreality.com
Galatians 1:10, Paul says that we can either live for the approval of men or of God, but not both. Once our goal is to please the world we stop being a servant of Jesus.
We also know from what Jesus taught that we will live this life as either a slave to the world or to Him, so if we've chosen to try and win the world, we have by default chosen to be its slave. And where God is a good and loving Master, the world has only our destruction in mind. When you look at it that way it makes perfect sense that Brittany and so many others have fallen so hard. That's what the world does to people.
The question now becomes, how do we stop contributing to the mess and start being a force for good in this world of idols and small gods? We have got to stop worshiping the famous and start praying for them. Understand that Miley is just a young woman caught up in the lies the world feeds all of us, and start begging God for her freedom. He knows her completely and loves Her as deeply as He does all of His kids so let's start acting like family and step up on her behalf. I believe that God is at work in her, but she's in a bigger battle than she probably realizes so let's fight for her when she can't fight for herself. The applause of men is a much more dangerous drug than most people realize, and once someone is addicted to it, it's hard to see the need for rescue.
We might also need to do an inventory of all our stuff to see how deep our worship of people might actually be. Do you have posters all over your room and do your clothes and accessories advertise an obsession with anyone or anything other than the God who deserves all your affections? Do you spend more time praying for celebrities or gossiping about them and stalking them online?
God doesn't have favorites and He doesn't assign value to people according to their talents or their beauty, only people do that. Instead He looks at our hearts. Can you imagine how beautiful it must be to Him when one of His girls battles in prayer for the soul of another who is in trouble? ]]>
Kisses from Katietag:www.virtuousreality.com,2010:/articles//4.4662010-05-01T14:00:00Z2010-05-05T22:07:01ZDo you want to see what it looks like when someone follows God with all their heart? What it really looks like to be a disciple? Then you're going to want to meet Katie. Before I send you off to...Jamie Lambhttp://www.virtuousreality.com
"Anyone who comes to me but refuses to let go of father, mother, spouse, children, brothers, sisters—yes, even one's own self!—can't be my disciple. Anyone who won't shoulder his own cross and follow behind me can't be my disciple."
And then there's this:
"Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You're not in the driver's seat; I am. Don't run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I'll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self. What kind of deal is it to get everything you want but lose yourself?" - Matthew 16
What He wants is all of us; nothing held back. He asks us to love Him so completely that we trust Him with this life He's given us instead of selfishly holding onto it and trying to make it what we want it to be. His expectation is that our love for Him makes our affection for others look like hate and that we be willing to give everything up, even the things we cherish most, in order to follow Him. I know that doesn't sound so appealing when you just read it...but when you see it in action, like in Katie's life, you'll get so jealous for the relationship she has with Jesus, and for the adventure she's on, that you might just start thinking about really following Jesus on His terms instead of your own.
We are so blessed in this country, but instead of being thankful and offering everything back to the Lord for His purposes we have become dependent all we have, and it has become our greatest handicap. We have traded a life of trusting in God for what seems to us a safer life of trusting in people and money and power and things and our own abilities. What we seem to forget is that God loves to use the inadequate and unfit. God can accomplish the impossible with the least qualified people because those people tend to be the most humble, realizing that they have nothing to offer and praying desperately for Him to do His thing. He chose a murderer to lead His people out of Egypt, a prostitute to welcome His people into the promised land, and an unmarried young girl to mother His Son. All He's looking for is a heart that is totally His - "For the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His" - 2 Chron 16:9.
My hope in sharing this with you is that you'll see that God can use anyone who truly loves Him, regardless of age, to do some beautiful, incredible things. Your life won't look like Katie's because God has so many wonderful stories up His sleeve, but imagine getting to be part of just one of them. I'm also hoping that if you're hung up on boys, or your appearance, or the stuff you have...or want, or any of the things that tend to sideline us and keep us from being useful to God on this earth - that this will encourage you and be a wake-up call of sorts. That you'll see what's possible for those who trust in the Lord. That you'll be humbled and inspired. I have been. Look at what God can do with just one of His girls who loves Him more than anything else.
Click here to read The Journey, Katie's online journal. Go back to the early entries in 2007 and read all the way through, because if you don't you'll miss important bits of the beautiful journey the Lord has her on. I pray that each of us loves Jesus so much that we hand our whole lives to Him and say "I'm all yours. Do whatever you can with me. Help my life scream to the world how amazingly glorious You are!"
As Katie says at the end of her July 28, 2008 blog "LIFE TO THE FULLEST - it exists. The choice is yours."]]>
Stiletto Armytag:www.virtuousreality.com,2010:/articles//4.4602010-04-01T16:58:25Z2010-04-03T17:06:40Z By Natalie Witcher I have some amazing girlfriends. The kind of girlfriends that would come over in a moments notice if I needed them. The kind of girlfriends that would listen to me talk about the same thing over...Jamie Lambhttp://www.virtuousreality.com
By Natalie Witcher
I have some amazing girlfriends. The kind of girlfriends that would come over in a moments notice if I needed them. The kind of girlfriends that would listen to me talk about the same thing over and over. They listen to me whine about bad hair days how lame my clothes are. They are the girlfriends that have my back against myself and my enemy. The enemy. You know...the devil. What a pain that guy is.
So, these girlfriends can look a lot like an army. An army wearing the latest sandal, but still, one kickin' group of chicks. I have had many times when I needed them to go into battle with me against something in my life. Whether it be sin or just circumstances, they put on their camouflage stiletto and hit the floor in prayer. Sometimes it looked like this.
Joab saw that there were battle lines in the front of him and behind him; so he selected some of the best troops (read chick army) in Israel and deployed them against the Arameans. He put the rest of the men under the command of Abisai... and deployed them against the Ammonites.
Here's what Joab said to Abashi, "If the Arameans are too strong for me, then you are to come to my rescue; but if the Ammonites are too strong for you, then I will come to rescue you. Be strong and let us fight bravely for our people and the cities of our God. The LORD will do what is good in his sight."
Turns out all the bad guys went a runnin'. (2 Sam. 10)
We need to be girls who recognize we are in a battle. Not a battle that we can see, but one against the devil and his groupies. The good news is is that we have armor we can wear. If you have to, imagine it pink camouflage, but use your imagination! We have the armor of God (Ephesians 6). We have a breastplate of righteousness, meaning we have protection over our hearts. We have a helmet of salvation that is secure over our minds. We have coverings for our feet that make us ready to tell others about Jesus. We have a giant sword which is the Word of God to use against the enemy. We have a buckle of truth that straps around us and hold everything in our lives together.
But, did you notice? There is nothing to protect our backs. That's where we come in for each other. That’s where girlfriends show up to be some of the best friends God has given you. Select some of the best chicks you know and "deploy" them against the enemy in your life. That means that you tell them what is hard for you. Maybe you have a hard time not gossiping. Or maybe you are really struggling with someone and you just don’t like them. Maybe you’re having a difficult time with your parents, siblings, coach, or teacher. There could be so many things that girlfriends can help you pray through.
You can even say to them, "If the enemy is too strong for me, come help. If he's too strong for you, I'll be there. We've got to be strong! God will send the enemy a runnin' for us too!" Once you’ve established some prayer sisters it’s time to trust them with those hard things. There’s nothing better than a fashionably dressed prayer warrior in stilettos!
The enemy better watch out for your Stiletto Army.
About the Author: If waxy chocolate donuts were a food group, Natalie would be the first to make them part of every meal. But, since they aren’t, she’ll keep her head about her and “feast” on what truly is important—the Word of God. She is a mom of three and a wife of one. She’s a friend, mentor, movie lover and is convinced that when ever a lazy thunderstorm rolls in that God ordered it just for her. Raising her own girls gives her a front row seat to watching God do great things in the lives of great girls! She prays that every girl reading this online magazine will find everything they need in Christ!Author Links
Natalie Witcher @ Blogspot]]>
Following Jesus to Haiti and backtag:www.virtuousreality.com,2010:/articles//4.4492010-01-30T00:57:55Z2010-03-04T18:17:56ZAnd we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. - Romans 8:28 (NASB) This is the verse I keep thinking about since...Jamie Lambhttp://www.virtuousreality.comAnd we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. - Romans 8:28 (NASB)
This is the verse I keep thinking about since we got back from Haiti with Jakob & Isaak. (Short recap - Last month I went with my friend Sharla, to the Dominican Republic and Haiti, to help get her 4-year-old Haitian twins out of there and home to America...and we made it.) The last four years have been a walk of faith for her with these boys, filled with one rescue after another, each one arranged by a loving God who is, every day, working all things together for good.
The fact that Isaak is even alive today is proof that the Lord's plans will always win out over the plans of men. He was abandoned as a newborn in the hospital, and since nobody was paying for him the hospital refused to care for him, so he was starved and left in the same diaper for two weeks. When a group of doctors on a medical mission trip found him (still in the hospital), he weighed just over two pounds, was too weak to cry, and the infection from the diaper had eaten through his skin and you could see his intestines. Now, he's a very active, very smart little boy who moves like the Tasmanian Devil (the cartoon one) but comes to a screeching halt whenever there's a baby to hold. Miracle #1.
Five months after Isaak was rescued, his brother Jakob ended up in the hands of the same people who rescued Isaak because his mother didn't want him anymore. What are the odds that the boys would be able to grow up together with that kind of beginning? Miracle #2.
Then there's the long, drawn out process of adopting Haitian kids, which is bad enough when they're in an orphanage and ready to be adopted, but when they've been abandoned and have no paperwork to make it all easier, it becomes one more mountain to climb...or move. Enter El Shaddai (which means God Almighty), and one massive earthquake in Haiti. If you've been following the earthquake in the news, then you know how devastating it has been to hundreds of thousands of people, but what you don't necessarily know is how many lives have been changed for the better because of this big nasty event. We have this really limited view of the world around us and generally only see the obvious or whatever jumps out at us screaming...like the suffering caused by earthquakes and tsunamis and big stuff like that. But there's always so much more happening under the surface that we can't see, and that's where faith comes into play. God asks us to believe that He is always good and always in control and that He will continue to work miracles and care for His people all the way to the end of this earth and into eternity. So now the boys are in America (or Merka, as Jakob calls it) with Mom, on humanitarian parole, instead of stuck on an island waiting for two governments to get it together so they can be free. Miracle #3.
And here we are...two grown women, two hairy cats, and two very busy 4-year-olds, in America, all living at my place while they get settled and look for a home. It's a beautiful thing. What I love most about this story is that I have gotten to watch the God of everything wonderful pull off the impossible to rescue these boys and put them where He wants them. Don't get me wrong - I'm not saying that God caused the earthquake just to get these boys to America; what I am saying is that in the very worst of circumstances and nightmares, God is always busy, doing His thing, and working the situation out for good. If your world seems to be falling to pieces, ask Him to help you see His hand in everything, and to show you that He's there, guiding, and loving, and arranging all things for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purposes...and it might be worth asking yourself if you fit that description. He doesn't make this promise to those who are just slightly interested in Him and mostly want to do their own thing.
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What I learned from Breannatag:www.virtuousreality.com,2009:/articles//4.3722010-01-02T02:25:57Z2010-01-02T20:25:27ZIt's the end of 2009 and I'm sitting in the Denver airport feeling a sense of urgency for you guys and for myself. Can you feel it too? I feel like big things are happening all around us but we're...Jamie Lambhttp://www.virtuousreality.com
Let me tell you a little about my cousin's daughter Breanna. When she was twelve she was rushed to the hospital with a high fever that turned out to be stage four brain and spinal cancer.
For the next two and a half years she and her family fought that thing with everything they had, and the rest of us prayed and prayed and prayed that Jesus would heal her, but instead He came and took her home when she was fifteen. Fifteen. We never think that we might only have a few years on this earth and then it will be over, we tend to think that we'll have a long life and don't really consider the end much, but what if the end is next week? What Breanna did with her last few years was truly brave and beautiful, because she took the opportunity God gave her and did the work He had planned in advance for her to do. She asked almost every person who came into her room if they were a Christian and tried to talk to as many as would listen about this Jesus that she loved so much. Sitting in a hospital bed, blind and bald, that girl kept her eyes on Jesus and tried to love the people He had placed around her. She even said at one point "If my getting cancer brings even one person to Jesus it will have been worth it."
We won't know until Heaven the effect her short life had on all the people she met but I know she heard "Well done my good and faithful servant" when she finally met God face to face and her life has been a challenge to me ever since. The truth is that Jesus doesn't owe us a long life or a happy marriage or cute kids. He doesn't owe us an easy life or a good life or even the breath it takes to get through this one day. Each day is a gift from Him to be used either selfishly or for His purposes - we get to choose. So with that in mind I'm planning on living this year as if it's my last. I want to think each day that I might not see the next day and then live a life that I won't be ashamed of if Jesus were to show up tomorrow.
Feel free to join me if you haven't already made plans for 2010 :)]]>
The God of Galaxies and Marblestag:www.virtuousreality.com,2009:/articles//4.3922009-12-01T14:00:00Z2009-12-02T00:59:27ZI am the one who made the earth and created people to live on it. With my hands I stretched out the heavens. All the stars are at my command. - Isaiah 45:12 My dad sent me an e-mail the...Jamie Lambhttp://www.virtuousreality.com
I am the one who made the earth
and created people to live on it.
With my hands I stretched out the heavens.
All the stars are at my command. - Isaiah 45:12
My dad sent me an e-mail the other day with the following pictures in it - hang with me here, this stuff actually deserves the adjective "awesome". The first shows just the planets in our galaxy and their size compared to our sun. For the record you could fit 1 million planet earths inside our sun.
This one shows Antares, the 15th or 16th biggest star in the night sky, and how it compares to our Sun.
Keep in mind we're only looking at our own galaxy here, so within this gigantic neighborhood we call the Milky Way, Earth is already so small it can't be seen. Now if we step outside of our own galaxy for a second (or a bazillion light years) to check out the neighbors, there are literally countless other galaxies out there stretching beyond what we can see with even our greatest telescopes. Here's a small glimpse of that:
Source: Hubblesite.org
Ok, one more and then I'll tell you what God showed me. Here's a close up of one of the darkest spots in the picture - you might think there's nothing out there, but you would be wrong.
More galaxies, more universe, a small glimpse of what eternity looks like. When I saw that last shot I heard very clearly in my head "My God plays with galaxies like they're marbles"...and He could. The God who loves you and me so much that He shrugged off some power and crammed Himself into a tiny human body in order to rescue us all, has the ability to easily grab a handful of galaxies, including ours, and play a little game with them. On that scale, we're not even visible anymore and yet this same God can tell you exactly how many hairs are on your head and how many grains of sand there are on the earth. He manages to care about every little thing going on here while spinning whole solar systems that we're not even aware of. I can't find the words to paint Him big enough, but in my head and in my heart He gets bigger and bigger each year and I'm only just getting started.
We tend to think so highly of ourselves and get so caught up in our problems and disappointments, but if we could only see Him more clearly, all of that would fall away and we would stand in awe...or fall over dead. We're literally nothing compared to Him but in His beautiful mercy and unfailing love He has chosen us as His bride and that should define our whole lives for us. The God whose birth we celebrate this month has the ability be both infinitely big and infinitely small without ever losing any of His glory. I can't even make myself talk to someone who smells bad some days, and yet He came down and mingled with a bunch of worms (don't yell at me, I'm quoting Isaiah) for 33 years and loved us to death.
This Christmas let's think about what it means that God became flesh and lived among us. That's far more amazing than what we tend to focus on for Christmas and Santa's got nothing on Jesus.
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. - John 1:14
For more amazing pictures of what God's doing in the Universe check out www.hubblesite.org. Here's one of my favorites - I like to call it the Eye of God.]]>
A letter to Shelbytag:www.virtuousreality.com,2009:/articles//4.4332009-11-02T05:02:03Z2009-11-03T02:08:03ZSweet Shelby...you have been deceived. Every month you write in and I read your prayer requests and my heart breaks a little because I can see where you're headed and it's a miserable, dangerous road you're on. I know because...Jamie Lambhttp://www.virtuousreality.com
Sweet Shelby...you have been deceived. Every month you write in and I read your prayer requests and my heart breaks a little because I can see where you're headed and it's a miserable, dangerous road you're on. I know because I walked that road a little...not when I was your age but later in life and it led to some of my biggest mistakes and hardest battles. There is this huge lie that gets preached to women (young and old) in this world that if you could only find the right guy everything would fall into place and you would be happy. Even our church and our parents can sometimes feed that lie without realizing it.
The truth is that the only person who will ever really make us happy is Jesus and if the devil can get us to replace Him with someone else, a boyfriend or husband maybe, then he wins and we lose our soul in the process. There is no "perfect guy" out there who God has created just for you. He created each of us for Himself, and although there might be someone out there who would compliment you well, Jesus is the only one who can complete you and give you peace. You say that you've tried Jesus and He's not working but I think that maybe you haven't really tried Him, you've just done the church stuff. And I think that maybe you feed this desperate desire for a boyfriend and sex with what you allow your mind to daydream about, and the books and movies you put into your head. I could be wrong. I could be totally off base, but my own experience has taught me that I can't get frustrated with Jesus for not making everything better when I spend more time pursuing my own lusts and dreams than I do Him.
I wish we could go get lunch or coffee and I could ask you some questions. Like what do you think about most? What kind of stories do you dwell on in your own time and do they preach something other than Jesus as the greatest love you will ever know? You (and a ton of other girls walking around today) have bought the lie that a physical relationship with a guy is better than an intimate relationship with Jesus and you said that you have already decided to sin when the opportunity presents itself. You said in one of your recent posts that you're planning on having sex before you get married because you think that's the only thing that will make you feel better, but before you actually do it I want to encourage you to change your mind and throw yourself completely at Jesus.
When I was in college I gave myself away cheaply to a guy who said all the right things and promised he would stick around forever...except he didn't. He just stuck around until he was tired of me and then moved on to someone else and I was left heartbroken and in worse shape than when he first came along. It took years for God to heal the damage that relationship caused and He's still working on some fears that took root because of that one rejection. Our hearts are not made to thrive on abandonment and unfaithfulness so when we give ourselves away to people who use us and then leave, it destroys us bit by bit and only Jesus can put back together what others have shattered. Why do you think God says over and over and over in the Bible that He's loving and faithful - that He'll never leave us or abandon us? It's because that's the kind of love we are created to run on and that's what we're all so desperately looking for. Any boy who will take advantage of that need in you for his own gain isn't acting out of love but out of selfishness and I promise it will end badly.
I know you're hurting and tired of it. I know that you want the pain to stop and for life to get better. Jesus is the only One who can do all that and more. He can give you a joy and peace that doesn't go away no matter what happens in your life and He's the only one who can honestly promise to be with you every step of the way. Please don't give up and give in to the lie you're believing, it will lead to more hurt and despair than you're dealing with now. Instead, try throwing out everything that stands between you and Jesus and start replacing the lies you're believing with the truth. Dig through your Bible and find everything God says about Himself and ask Him to help you believe it. And ask Him to show Himself to you...so you can see for yourself how amazing He is. The devil prowls around like a lion trying to destroy everyone he sees but God is so much bigger and stronger than him. Don't give up and remember you're not alone. There are a lot of us praying for you!
Love
Jamie
Follow up to "The Question"tag:www.virtuousreality.com,2009:/articles//4.4312009-10-01T14:00:00Z2009-10-01T14:34:09ZIf you're wondering what question I'm talking about check out the blog from September 18th and if you have time, read the comments. I had asked if you guys thought it was possible to really love God first and most...Jamie Lambhttp://www.virtuousreality.com
blog from September 18th and if you have time, read the comments. I had asked if you guys thought it was possible to really love God first and most and your responses were so encouraging to me. Not because I don't think it's possible (I do) but because I had begun to think that most Christians don't think it's possible or even important anymore. We are such an idolatrous nation because we have so much and it all tends to pull our affections away from God until we can't even see Him anymore. We obsess about our money and our stuff and our relationships instead of obsessing about the only One who actually deserves that much of our attention. I can't help but think of what Jesus said to the church in Laodicea in Revelation 3 and it scares me because it sounds like He's talking to us.
Thank you to everyone who wrote in. For sharing your thoughts and your experiences and for being honest about your own struggles and doubts when it comes to loving Jesus more than anything else. What I heard over and over in your comments was that it's hard...so hard, but definitely possible because our God isn't out to frustrate or tease us, so if He commands us to do something, then it's possible...but only with His help. And if He made it the first and most important commandment, it's because it's the very best thing for us. I know from experience that when Jesus is my greatest treasure, all of life is better, easier... brighter. There's a peace and joy that follows me wherever I go and nothing seems too big or too scary.
Some of you said you don't think it's possible to love God with everything or that only the great ones achieve it. I want to encourage you to keep fighting for it. There are no "great ones" selected by God to love Him most, He offers it freely to all of us. There are just those who take Him up on it and those who don't. Those who fight to hand over everything we love and trust Him with the outcome, and those who cling desperately to their stuff or their people, not trusting what He'll do with them. I think that might be the biggest obstacle in this battle. My friend Adisyn once said her biggest fear was that if she trusted God with her life He would "screw her over" and I think everyone in the room nodded in agreement. We seem to have this idea that He's out to break us or ruin us, so as long as we don't make eye contact and we keep a death grip on the stuff we love, then things will work out better. The truth is that everything in this world disappoints eventually. Every relationship ends badly, because even in the best of situations one of you will die first and it's going to be miserable. Every thing we own will end up in the junk pile or destroyed. So if God is the only thing that doesn't disappoint, then we're fools to give our hearts to anyone or anything other than Him.
I know I'm not there yet. I don't think I love Him with my whole heart, soul, mind and strength but I do know that I love Him more than I did last year, and the year before that, and way more than I did 10 years ago. Right now I think I can honestly say I love Him more than anyone or anything else in my life, and I've never felt so free. So each day I pray that God will help me lay down my life and follow Him. I pray that I look more and more like Him and less and less like me, and that He helps me to do all that He's commanded. The greatest, fullest life is the one lived by God's rules, not my own, so I pray, trusting that "with man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." (Matthew 19:26)]]>
The truth about Princessestag:www.virtuousreality.com,2009:/articles//4.4212009-09-01T14:00:00Z2009-09-02T04:44:01ZA few weeks ago a friend told me "I'm starting to think that all the positive self esteem junk I've gotten all my life has done a lot of harm". She went on to say that growing up in this...Jamie Lambhttp://www.virtuousreality.com
A few weeks ago a friend told me "I'm starting to think that all the positive self esteem junk I've gotten all my life has done a lot of harm". She went on to say that growing up in this world with everyone patting her on the back all the time and telling her how great she was just encouraged her to focus on herself and think she was better or more important than everyone else. It also taught her that it was more important to please the people around her and get the positive feedback than it was to live to please God regardless of what others thought. Interesting.
This lines up with another train of thought that's been chugging through my brain - we'll call it the Princess Express. What I've noticed is that a whole lot of us have been raised with the mentality that we're God's little princesses and that we're very special and important. I have two problems with this. First, it's not biblical. God doesn't waste time in the Bible telling us how great we are (because it's not true) but over and over and over He talks about how good and faithful and loving and compassionate HE is...because that's what's really important. In Isaiah 41 God calls Jacob (or all of us) a worm...not a Prince or a King or a sweet wonderful boy. And in the book of Hosea He tells the story of how Hosea (who represents Jesus) marries and rescues Gomer (who represents all of us), a woman who cheats on him over and over, has children with other men, and breaks his heart countless times. So the truth is that we're not good people by any stretch of the imagination but God is wonderful above and beyond anything we can understand. Believing that we're princesses like we think of them gives us a much too important view of ourselves and puts us mentally on the same level as God. If He's the King and we're His daughters then we're all royalty. The logical outcome of this way of thinking is that we end up believing we deserve what Jesus did for us. I've talked with young women who even go so far as so say that they've done their part in playing by the rules (church, youth group, small group, etc., etc...) but God has failed them because things aren't working out like they hoped. Now it's up to Him to fix things by doing what they want. After all that's what their dad would do.
My second problem with this mentality is that we obviously haven't paid attention to what life is really like for a princess. Have you ever read about the life of Princess Grace of Monaco or Princess Diana? They gave up everything to marry into the royal family and things just got harder from that point on. How about looking realistically at the Queen of England or other royalty who have sacrificed their own desires and dreams to serve their country and people. How about Esther in the Bible? I wouldn't trade places with her for anything but God made her Queen to save His people and she gave up everything she ever wanted in order to obey. If you read about the good ones, their lives are about sacrifice and service for the good of others. It's definitely not about feeding their own ego, getting whatever they want, and making everyone bow down and serve them. Jesus came as the King of Kings and showed us what royalty really looks like. A true King will die to save his people and the greatest King who ever lived did just that, even though His people were totally unfaithful and killed Him in the end. If you want to consider yourself a princess because you're an adopted child of God then by all means go ahead but please strive to be a princess that looks just like her Father instead of Hollywood's version.
We will never really see how incredible Jesus is if we never see ourselves for what we really are. Repentance is a HUGE part of following Jesus and people who think they deserve the price He paid for them tend to be pretty unrepentant. They're the ones who at the end of the day can't think of even one sin they committed that they might need to talk with God about. Let's remember that at best we're a bunch of worm princesses and for some reason the King of everything loves us enough to rescue us from ourselves and teach us what it really means to be a child of The King.
Set apart, not separate tag:www.virtuousreality.com,2009:/articles//4.4112009-07-21T16:02:47Z2009-09-01T17:23:11ZI've recently gotten thoroughly frustrated with some behavior that people think is "Christian" but it's really not, and I'm starting to see why people might think we're a bunch of jerks. I believe that if you play the game long...Jamie Lambhttp://www.virtuousreality.com
What a freak show", and "He was the scourge of our society". The problem with that is that Jesus would never, under any circumstances that I can think of, refer to someone as a freak show. And it was the scourge of society that He liked to hang out with because they needed Him the most. So if He was walking the earth in 2009 He would have been friends with Michael Jackson and held out a hand of hope to him instead of calling him names and spitting on him. Only the Pharisees and legalists sat in self-righteous judgment on everyone else and it absolutely drove Jesus nuts. When it all comes down to it we're all just as messed up as MJ seemed to be, the difference is we don't wear it all on our faces and we aren't in the spotlight where every stupid mistake we make is broadcast to the entire world.
I also recently received a comment from someone who disagreed with me on an issue that stated (my paraphrase) "we have no business supporting or engaging in this world because God has called us to be separate". Again, people might think that's a christian attitude but it isn't. The Bible says we are set apart by God as His people for His purposes BUT we are supposed to be engaged IN the world, we're just not supposed to become LIKE the world. How is that supposed to happen if we look down our noses at all the "sinners" (as if we weren't just like them) and pull back into safe little "christian" cocoons where we never have to engage the world on anything? How will anyone who is truly lost see the amazing benefits and freedom that come with knowing Jesus if those of us who truly know Him aren't out there showing them? Any argument against engaging the world for the sake of Jesus is lost completely when we look at the life He lived on this earth. He came not just to save us from ourselves but to show us exactly how we're supposed to live the life He has given us. He hung out with prostitutes and outcasts, and the diseased and crippled. He didn't insulate Himself from them and live as safe a life as possible while calling them all freak shows and losers.
I am sick and tired of listening to people who call themselves "Christians" harp on the rest of the world for not living up to their standards. The world can't be expected to live up to standards it doesn't believe in. It's like expecting a snake to act like an eagle and then getting all judgmental when it can't. We've got to knock it off and start living what we say we believe, not just for our own sake but for the sake of the world around us. Step one - love God more than anything else in this world, step two - love my neighbor (whether he's Michael Jackson or the neighborhood bully) as much as I love myself. Jesus said everything hangs on those two commandments. One of the biggest complaints people have against Christians is that we're a bunch of hypocrites, and as long as all we do is clump together, talk big, and sit in judgment on the world, that's all we really are. I don't blame anyone for not wanting to join that group...matter of fact I don't want to be part of that group either. I would much rather be the real deal.]]>
Totally Worth Ittag:www.virtuousreality.com,2009:/articles//4.4082009-07-01T22:57:02Z2009-07-02T05:01:01ZI was talking with a friend the other day who's going through one of the hardest times of her life and she asked me if Jesus is worth it. Is He worth hanging in there when you just want to...Shawna Petersonhttp://www.virtuousreality.com
From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 'For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.' - Acts 17:26-28
You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back from captivity. - Jeremiah 29:13-14]]>
Confessions of a Former Mean Girltag:www.virtuousreality.com,2009:/articles//4.4022009-06-02T05:06:06Z2009-06-03T03:33:46Z"We've come a long way, God" is all I could think as I sat and watched the home video of myself celebrating my fifteenth birthday. I could not believe the horrendous attitude. It was as if I thought that I...Shawna Petersonhttp://www.virtuousreality.com
"We've come a long way, God" is all I could think as I sat and watched the home video of myself celebrating my fifteenth birthday. I could not believe the horrendous attitude. It was as if I thought that I had arrived and the world revolved around me. Now I am not opposed to birthday party fun or the person with the special day being treated special. But there is a definite line that can be and was crossed for me. I could not believe that such a girl existed. I was so obnoxious, it amazed me that I had friends at that party. And not just one friend that could put up with me but several who all seemed to enjoy my company, adding fuel to my destructive fire.
That girl on the video sure looked like me but who was she? Where in the world did she come from and more importantly who in the world did she think she was? She was beyond obnoxious. A better description is self-centered. The thing that really got me was all the hard work that my mother put into making me a special birthday cake. When the time came to sing and blow out the candles, I wanted no part of it. In fact, I blew out the candles before she was finished singing and walked out of the room. I pierced my mother's heart. The only thing I cared about was me. I had relationships that benefited me. I did things that benefited me. I was very shallow.
Why do we do that anyway? In my case it was because of pure insecurity. I was desperate for people to like me, is anyone relating to this? I was determined to make myself look the opposite of what I really was.
I had always known that I gave my parents a hard time growing up. I was a wayward child of sorts but I did not realize the extent of it until that defining moment. I was caught on tape, no denying it. It reminded me of what the Bible tells us in Jeremiah 17:9 that, "the heart is deceitful above all things, who can understand it?"
God grabbed a hold of me several years ago when I was finally serious about giving Him full access to cleaning up my heart. We went through a time where He slowly showed me the ugly things that did indeed reside in my heart. Over that period, God slowly removed them one by one as He showed me that true security comes from Him alone. It was a hard process but it was well worth it because in the end came true freedom. I know there are still things that need to be cleaned up but God reminded me of this verse, "So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord-who is the Spirit-makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image" (2 Corinthians 3:18, NLT).
God changes us little by little so we can be changed into his glorious image. Oh, to glow for Him. That is all that I want at this time in my life. In the end, it was nice to see the transformation that had taken place since my fifteenth birthday. God definitely will not allow us to remain the same. He does want us all to reflect His glory.
If a video camera was taping your life, what attitudes and behaviors would it reflect back to you? What steps are you taking to reflect His glory? Is there anything that God needs to work out of you? Why don't we all ask God to "Search our hearts" as David did? God will reveal anything that needs to be changed in us. If you are a former mean girl like myself or know one,
take heart, God will not let that behavior stay forever. He is in the transformation business, for "He makes everything beautiful in its time" (Ecclesiastes 3:11).
By Angela Parsley
Refresh My Soul Ministries at refreshmysoul.com
A Year With Jesustag:www.virtuousreality.com,2009:/articles//4.3942009-05-01T20:00:00Z2009-05-02T01:22:24ZLet me tell you a little story about the last year of my life. It's been amazing, more than I could have imagined, and it never would have happened if I hadn't stepped out in faith to follow Jesus. Once...Jamie Lambhttp://www.virtuousreality.comOnce upon a time there was a girl named Jamie (nice to meet you) who worked at a church and tried and tried to do everything right and live a life that was good enough for...well for everyone actually. She would have said she was doing it for God but I think really she was doing it more for herself and public opinion than anything else. You see, it's always been important to her that people do the right thing, and she tried her best to do it herself as an example. The problem was that no matter how hard she tried she kept noticing that there was this junk in her soul that kept coming to the surface. So she would push it down and work harder. And the harder she worked to control herself and her life, the more frustrating it got because what Jamie didn't realize is that we have minimal control over ourselves in this life and absolutely none over anyone else. No matter how hard she tried to push down the bad and make herself perfect she never seemed to be gaining any ground and sometimes (horror of horrors) she actually seemed to be moving backward. Little issues that she thought she had dealt with already would rise to the surface at the worst possible times and take over until she thought that maybe... she might just be... hopeless. Maybe this was never going to work out for her. Maybe she wasn't actually the child of God she thought she was and she should just give up. (It was a lie but sometimes, when things are dark, it's hard to tell the lies from the truth).
Then in May of 2008 a miracle happened...except it didn't look like a miracle. Miracles sometimes start out looking like something regular or even bad, and at first this one just looked like loss. Loss of a job she had loved and a paycheck she counted on. Loss of some friends and a safety net that kept her life comfortable and easy...or so she thought. I should tell you that two of Jamie's favorite things about God is that He always knows her better than she knows herself, and He can always see what's really going on in her life and what needs to change in order for her to live the life He has planned for her. So early in 2008 Jesus whispered in her ear "Follow me" (an invitation He whispers to everyone He loves dearly) and for once she actually did just that. She stepped away from everything safe and comfortable and known and walked into the world with just His hand to hold and the smallest grain of faith that everything would be ok.
OK doesn't even begin to sum up the last year. I think the joy Jesus must feel when one of His kids finally decides to hand over their life and trust Him with the whole thing must just be skip-worthy. That's not a real word, but you know how it is when you're so happy about something that you have to jump around and skip to release some of the thrill? I think He must feel that way when we let go of our own dreams and expectations and grab His hand so He can show us His. Which is very much what it felt like when I stopped fighting Him and started following. It felt like we took off in a sprint so that He could show me new and exciting things. Things in the Dominican Republic, Mexico City, China, Belgium, Paris, and England. He introduced me to people, food, and cultures I never knew existed. He showed me Big Ben and the Eiffel Tower. We traveled on motos, trains, planes, buses, subways, and trams. And every step of the way, whether I was traveling alone or with friends, He was right there with me. Never in my life has His constant companionship been so incredibly real and joyful to me, and I finally understand that He is and will always be the love of my life. He is the only One in the world who can fill me up and make me whole. To expect that from anyone or anything else is ridiculous and futile. I know that the true Happily Ever After begins when this life is over and we step into the real one with Jesus, and that in this life there will be sorrow and suffering, but for the first time in my life I can honestly say that He, all by Himself, is more than enough for me. Nothing this world has to offer, from a husband and family to comfort, stuff or fame can ever be as satisfying as Jesus is to my soul.
My prayer for all of you is that you pursue Jesus with your whole hearts and don't give up until you find Him. He really does blow everything else out of the water. ]]>
Guarding your heart from even your friendstag:www.virtuousreality.com,2009:/articles//4.3902009-04-01T14:00:00Z2009-04-01T14:17:02ZAbove all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. - Proverbs 4:23 Have you ever been so hurt by a friend, someone you used to call your bff, that you thought something was wrong with you?...Jamie Lambhttp://www.virtuousreality.com
Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. - Proverbs 4:23
Have you ever been so hurt by a friend, someone you used to call your bff, that you thought something was wrong with you?
You're not the only one. I'm seeing this more and more out there and I'm thinking we need to talk about it. I used to think the verse at the top was just about romantic or dating relationships but it isn't. Some of the biggest hurts in my life have come from my closest friends and happened partly because I thought I didn't need to guard my heart with them. I think what happens is that we make a new friend and we get all excited about them and because it's new and fun we lose ourselves in the friendship and let this person become more important to us than anyone else. Then, because they're the most important thing to us, we become dependent on them and open up our hearts more than we should. I honestly believe that there are places in our hearts meant only for Jesus. It's like a throne room where He sits and holds our hearts safe in His hands. A place where He alone is God and no one else is qualified to sit. And when we get rid of the guard on those places and let others take over, we set ourselves up for a world of hurt because people are by nature selfish and make terrible gods. We have a tendency to use others because it's fun for a while and then move on to someone new who's more fun, and the person left behind is stuck trying to pick up the pieces and figure out what went wrong. From my own experience I can say that the pain that comes with being dumped by a friend can be just as bad as the pain that comes from being dumped by a boyfriend.
So what are we supposed to do? How do we have healthy friendships and love our friends well but still guard our hearts? The truth is that only Jesus can keep us on track when it comes to relationships. If I'm more invested in a relationship with Him than I am with anyone else, then He sits in a position to guard me against even myself. The verse at the beginning tells us that our heart is the source of a joyful life, and a heart that's been beaten and stomped on isn't able to sustain a healthy life. Here are some clues that you've given someone else too much control of your life and your heart:
- You find yourself so strongly drawn to someone that you think about them all the time and you've lost interest in everyone else.
- You have to stay constantly connected by text, e-mail, phone etc. and if they don't respond immediately or pick up when you call you assume the worst and get anxious and depressed.
- Your relationship is highly physical even to the point of making those around you uncomfortable.
- You've lost yourself so much in the friendship that you've done things you always said you wouldn't.
- You feel anxious and depressed when you can't be together, or when your friend chooses to hang out with someone else.
- You're constantly trying to manipulate every situation so that you can be together, even to the point of lying to your parents and other friends.
Those are just a few but if any of those are ringing warning bells in your head, you need help to get some boundaries back in place and steer things in a healthier direction. If you don't, one or both of you will end up getting hurt and it won't be worth it. Start talking to Jesus about it and then get someone else involved who really loves you, like your parents.
Anybody out there know what I'm talking about?
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By Natalie Witcher
I have some amazing girlfriends. The kind of girlfriends that would come over in a moments notice if I needed them. The kind of girlfriends that would listen to me talk about the same thing over and over. They listen to me whine about bad hair days how lame my clothes are. They are the girlfriends that have my back against myself and my enemy. The enemy. You know...the devil. What a pain that guy is.
So, these girlfriends can look a lot like an army. An army wearing the latest sandal, but still, one kickin' group of chicks. I have had many times when I needed them to go into battle with me against something in my life. Whether it be sin or just circumstances, they put on their camouflage stiletto and hit the floor in prayer. Sometimes it looked like this.
Joab saw that there were battle lines in the front of him and behind him; so he selected some of the best troops (read chick army) in Israel and deployed them against the Arameans. He put the rest of the men under the command of Abisai... and deployed them against the Ammonites.
Here's what Joab said to Abashi, "If the Arameans are too strong for me, then you are to come to my rescue; but if the Ammonites are too strong for you, then I will come to rescue you. Be strong and let us fight bravely for our people and the cities of our God. The LORD will do what is good in his sight."
Turns out all the bad guys went a runnin'. (2 Sam. 10)
We need to be girls who recognize we are in a battle. Not a battle that we can see, but one against the devil and his groupies. The good news is is that we have armor we can wear. If you have to, imagine it pink camouflage, but use your imagination! We have the armor of God (Ephesians 6). We have a breastplate of righteousness, meaning we have protection over our hearts. We have a helmet of salvation that is secure over our minds. We have coverings for our feet that make us ready to tell others about Jesus. We have a giant sword which is the Word of God to use against the enemy. We have a buckle of truth that straps around us and hold everything in our lives together.
But, did you notice? There is nothing to protect our backs. That's where we come in for each other. That’s where girlfriends show up to be some of the best friends God has given you. Select some of the best chicks you know and "deploy" them against the enemy in your life. That means that you tell them what is hard for you. Maybe you have a hard time not gossiping. Or maybe you are really struggling with someone and you just don’t like them. Maybe you’re having a difficult time with your parents, siblings, coach, or teacher. There could be so many things that girlfriends can help you pray through.
You can even say to them, "If the enemy is too strong for me, come help. If he's too strong for you, I'll be there. We've got to be strong! God will send the enemy a runnin' for us too!" Once you’ve established some prayer sisters it’s time to trust them with those hard things. There’s nothing better than a fashionably dressed prayer warrior in stilettos!
The enemy better watch out for your Stiletto Army.
About the Author: If waxy chocolate donuts were a food group, Natalie would be the first to make them part of every meal. But, since they aren’t, she’ll keep her head about her and “feast” on what truly is important—the Word of God. She is a mom of three and a wife of one. She’s a friend, mentor, movie lover and is convinced that when ever a lazy thunderstorm rolls in that God ordered it just for her. Raising her own girls gives her a front row seat to watching God do great things in the lives of great girls! She prays that every girl reading this online magazine will find everything they need in Christ!
Author Links
Natalie Witcher @ Blogspot]]>
And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. - Romans 8:28 (NASB)
This is the verse I keep thinking about since we got back from Haiti with Jakob & Isaak. (Short recap - Last month I went with my friend Sharla, to the Dominican Republic and Haiti, to help get her 4-year-old Haitian twins out of there and home to America...and we made it.) The last four years have been a walk of faith for her with these boys, filled with one rescue after another, each one arranged by a loving God who is, every day, working all things together for good.
The fact that Isaak is even alive today is proof that the Lord's plans will always win out over the plans of men. He was abandoned as a newborn in the hospital, and since nobody was paying for him the hospital refused to care for him, so he was starved and left in the same diaper for two weeks. When a group of doctors on a medical mission trip found him (still in the hospital), he weighed just over two pounds, was too weak to cry, and the infection from the diaper had eaten through his skin and you could see his intestines. Now, he's a very active, very smart little boy who moves like the Tasmanian Devil (the cartoon one) but comes to a screeching halt whenever there's a baby to hold. Miracle #1.
Five months after Isaak was rescued, his brother Jakob ended up in the hands of the same people who rescued Isaak because his mother didn't want him anymore. What are the odds that the boys would be able to grow up together with that kind of beginning? Miracle #2.
Then there's the long, drawn out process of adopting Haitian kids, which is bad enough when they're in an orphanage and ready to be adopted, but when they've been abandoned and have no paperwork to make it all easier, it becomes one more mountain to climb...or move. Enter El Shaddai (which means God Almighty), and one massive earthquake in Haiti. If you've been following the earthquake in the news, then you know how devastating it has been to hundreds of thousands of people, but what you don't necessarily know is how many lives have been changed for the better because of this big nasty event. We have this really limited view of the world around us and generally only see the obvious or whatever jumps out at us screaming...like the suffering caused by earthquakes and tsunamis and big stuff like that. But there's always so much more happening under the surface that we can't see, and that's where faith comes into play. God asks us to believe that He is always good and always in control and that He will continue to work miracles and care for His people all the way to the end of this earth and into eternity. So now the boys are in America (or Merka, as Jakob calls it) with Mom, on humanitarian parole, instead of stuck on an island waiting for two governments to get it together so they can be free. Miracle #3.
And here we are...two grown women, two hairy cats, and two very busy 4-year-olds, in America, all living at my place while they get settled and look for a home. It's a beautiful thing. What I love most about this story is that I have gotten to watch the God of everything wonderful pull off the impossible to rescue these boys and put them where He wants them. Don't get me wrong - I'm not saying that God caused the earthquake just to get these boys to America; what I am saying is that in the very worst of circumstances and nightmares, God is always busy, doing His thing, and working the situation out for good. If your world seems to be falling to pieces, ask Him to help you see His hand in everything, and to show you that He's there, guiding, and loving, and arranging all things for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purposes...and it might be worth asking yourself if you fit that description. He doesn't make this promise to those who are just slightly interested in Him and mostly want to do their own thing.
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Keep in mind we're only looking at our own galaxy here, so within this gigantic neighborhood we call the Milky Way, Earth is already so small it can't be seen. Now if we step outside of our own galaxy for a second (or a bazillion light years) to check out the neighbors, there are literally countless other galaxies out there stretching beyond what we can see with even our greatest telescopes. Here's a small glimpse of that:
Once upon a time there was a girl named Jamie (nice to meet you) who worked at a church and tried and tried to do everything right and live a life that was good enough for...well for everyone actually. She would have said she was doing it for God but I think really she was doing it more for herself and public opinion than anything else. You see, it's always been important to her that people do the right thing, and she tried her best to do it herself as an example. The problem was that no matter how hard she tried she kept noticing that there was this junk in her soul that kept coming to the surface. So she would push it down and work harder. And the harder she worked to control herself and her life, the more frustrating it got because what Jamie didn't realize is that we have minimal control over ourselves in this life and absolutely none over anyone else. No matter how hard she tried to push down the bad and make herself perfect she never seemed to be gaining any ground and sometimes (horror of horrors) she actually seemed to be moving backward. Little issues that she thought she had dealt with already would rise to the surface at the worst possible times and take over until she thought that maybe... she might just be... hopeless. Maybe this was never going to work out for her. Maybe she wasn't actually the child of God she thought she was and she should just give up. (It was a lie but sometimes, when things are dark, it's hard to tell the lies from the truth).
Then in May of 2008 a miracle happened...except it didn't look like a miracle. Miracles sometimes start out looking like something regular or even bad, and at first this one just looked like loss. Loss of a job she had loved and a paycheck she counted on. Loss of some friends and a safety net that kept her life comfortable and easy...or so she thought. I should tell you that two of Jamie's favorite things about God is that He always knows her better than she knows herself, and He can always see what's really going on in her life and what needs to change in order for her to live the life He has planned for her. So early in 2008 Jesus whispered in her ear "Follow me" (an invitation He whispers to everyone He loves dearly) and for once she actually did just that. She stepped away from everything safe and comfortable and known and walked into the world with just His hand to hold and the smallest grain of faith that everything would be ok.
OK doesn't even begin to sum up the last year. I think the joy Jesus must feel when one of His kids finally decides to hand over their life and trust Him with the whole thing must just be skip-worthy. That's not a real word, but you know how it is when you're so happy about something that you have to jump around and skip to release some of the thrill? I think He must feel that way when we let go of our own dreams and expectations and grab His hand so He can show us His. Which is very much what it felt like when I stopped fighting Him and started following. It felt like we took off in a sprint so that He could show me new and exciting things. Things in the Dominican Republic, Mexico City, China, Belgium, Paris, and England. He introduced me to people, food, and cultures I never knew existed. He showed me Big Ben and the Eiffel Tower. We traveled on motos, trains, planes, buses, subways, and trams. And every step of the way, whether I was traveling alone or with friends, He was right there with me. Never in my life has His constant companionship been so incredibly real and joyful to me, and I finally understand that He is and will always be the love of my life. He is the only One in the world who can fill me up and make me whole. To expect that from anyone or anything else is ridiculous and futile. I know that the true Happily Ever After begins when this life is over and we step into the real one with Jesus, and that in this life there will be sorrow and suffering, but for the first time in my life I can honestly say that He, all by Himself, is more than enough for me. Nothing this world has to offer, from a husband and family to comfort, stuff or fame can ever be as satisfying as Jesus is to my soul.
My prayer for all of you is that you pursue Jesus with your whole hearts and don't give up until you find Him. He really does blow everything else out of the water. ]]>