In my search for "BALANCE" between remembering the "PAST", living in the "NOW", and being propelled towards the "FUTURE", I regularly find myself in a struggle. I struggle to remember the lessons I've learned from the grace I've experienced? I struggle to live in the now of daily dying to my own wants and ways of doing things? I struggle with being propelled into the future at what seems like lightening speed? Any one of these 'tasks' could be overwhelming in and of themselves, but I find myself grappling with all three at one time. It can become exhausting.

In an attempt to escape the reality of life I watched a movie the other night called "Autumn Hearts: A New Beginning". In the movie the main character, played by Susan Sarandon, is a 50 year old medicated woman still dealing with the pain of being a camp survivor from 1940s France. Without spoiling the movie for you, there was a time at the camp where her "protector" played by Christopher Plummer, hands her a journal and asks her to write down all of the names and dates of the people that came through the camp, "because someone has to remember." The young girl took her assignment seriously and from that moment on she remembered all the social injustices that were brought to her attention. This continued through out her adult life. She had files filled with all the social injustices she had researched over the years. It became such an obsession that she wasn't able to function in her own life. She was so afraid that if she didn't remember ... no body would ... and "all those lost souls would be forgotten."

Christopher's character visits Susan's, in a picturesque setting at a lake side ranch in Canada. He realized what she had been doing all of the years since they had been separated at the camp and the broken state it had left her in. There comes a poignant time in the movie where he apologizes and says: Instead of teaching you to remember, I should of taught you to live. That simple phrase really gripped my heart!

Yes ... we can remember the past. Yes ... we can live to die. Yes ... we can look to the future. But what is life ... if we don't truly LIVE? I don't want to be constantly looking over my shoulder at what has already been. I am thankful for God's grace and where He's brought me from ... but it doesn't have to consume my existence. He has taken my sins and has forgotten them. They are as far from his mind as the East is from the West. I am thankful for and embrace the cross daily ... but it doesn't have to be a heavy burden that I carry on my own. I don't have to search out things to slay in my life. He will show me what he wants to work on in his time. His burden is light. I don't want to fear the future and all that it has for me, my family, my friends. I am thankful that he knows the plans he has for me and I don't have to be paralyzed, afraid that I am going to move out side of his will. I am HIS child.

It is so easy on this journey to get sidetracked on things that don't lead us towards LIFE ... the life that Christ has for us. We are so busy remembering, dying, searching for the future that we forget that He calls us to LIVE, to LOVE and yes ... sometimes even LAUGH!!!

I want to teach my children not just to remember but to LIVE! I want to teach my children not just to die but to LIVE! I want to teach my children not just to look to the future but to LIVE! Today ... I will choose to LIVE!

WE ARE MOVING!! That is not an easy thing to wrap my mind around. We've lived here in Branson for over 12 years. This is where our children were raised. This is where we have so many memories ... though not all pleasant ... they are our memories. The reality of life is that we don't always find a place to call "HOME" and live out our days creating relationships, doing ministry and building careers around that one location. But is "HOME" really a location? Or is it just a state of mind? Aren't we all just on a journey towards "HOME"? Should we really ever feel at rest in a physical location or is our rest found in the presence of our God? In his presence ... "the things of earth will grow strangely dim". Today, I choose to not look at the chaos of the "THE MOVE", but to live in the knowledge that this is not my "HOME".

In a day and age where the "church" either seems dead and stagnant or searching for the newest manifestations/signs and wonders where is the true transforming power of the Living God? I've been reading "Fresh Power" by Jim Cymbala. He was recounting the experience of the Upper Room where the Holy Spirit was imparted to those that waited upon the Lord. Without getting into a debate over the hot topic of the gift of "speaking in tongues" Jim emplores the reader to focus on the main point of the passage: "God by his Spirit enabled ordinary men and women to do and say things beyond their natural abilities. They became supernaturally empowered. There was no human explaination for what was taking place."

When was the last time that we've seen God work in and through us, beyond our own abilities? When was the last time we experienced something fresh and life changing that spilled over into the lives others and brought transformation? Can we say that God is moving in our lives in such a way that those who encounter us experience an insatiable hunger for God?

Thanks be to God that "the Holy Spirit is still greater today than all of our shortcomings and failures. He has come to free us from the restraints and complexes of insufficient talent, intelligences, or upbringing. He intends to do through us what only He can do. The issue is not our ability but rather our availability to the person of the Holy Spirit."

What is it that God is wanting to do through me ... through you ... if we would wait before Him and allow Him to fill us with His power? The manifestation of His presence in our lives would be the indelible transformation of our lives and the lives of those we come in contact with. That is a true life filled with the Holy Spirit! I want to live a life that can't be explained away!

Think on it!

The last couple of days I've been preparing my heart for this Sundays service. The scripture for Sunday is found in Matthew 11: 28-29: "Come unto me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

In doing research on the historical context of this passage of scripture I found that "different rabbis had different sets of rules, which were really different lists of what they forbade and what they permitted. A rabbi's set of rules and lists, which was really that rabbi's interpretation of how to live the Torah, was called that rabbi's yoke. When you followed a certain rabbi, you were following him because you believed that rabbi's set of interpretations were the closest to what God intended throught the Scriptures. And when you followed that rabbi, you were taking up that rabbi's yoke."

"The intent then of a rabbi having a yoke wasn't just to interpret the words correctly; it was to live them out."

In light of this context, what a beautiful picture for all those that seek Truth. Are you weary and worn, trying to live up to a standard that is placed on you by mans interpretation of the Law? Does your walk of faith seem to be so burdensome that you don't know how you will make it another day? Jesus is saying to those who are weary and burdened, "Come unto me and I will give you rest." He is beckoning us to take upon His yoke of learning for He is gentle and humble in heart. He is saying, 'come to me and learn of me' and in that 'you will find rest for your souls'.

Jesus' intention was not for our walk with Him to be burdensome and heavy. His ways of living out the Word are to bring life, rest and peace to our souls.How often have we bogged ourselves down with an unnecessary, overbearing list of rules? Jesus said, "I have not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it." He was essentially saying, "I didn't come to do away with the words of God; I came to show people what it looks like when the Word is lived out perfectly, right down to the smallest punctuation marks." He is our perfect example of the Word of God lived out. For He is the Word.

Learn of Him and have rest for your souls today! Think about it!