the parable of the taxi driver

During my recent adventures, I got to do something I've yet to do: ride in a taxi. And during this taxi ride, I was reminded of what God desperately wants from us.

but first.....

I would like to acknowledge that I AM the person who

tries to get to know my waitress while dining at a restaurant

and I AM the person who talks to the cashier at the grocery;

I have been made fun of for all this but now you'll see why...

As I buckled my seatbelt, the taxi driver turned to me and asked if the music he was playing was ok to play with me in the vehicle or if I'd like him to change it. He was playing southern gospel, my pappy would have been proud.

Now I mean no offense or harm but "I saw the light", "In the sweet by and by" and "when I get to heaven" aren't exactly what tickles my musical taste buds; but I saw the heart behind this taxi driver, HE didn't want to offend ME.

It was clear this man and I were going to have an interesting time while together because I could barely understand him and I think he couldn't understand me at all. (all this time I thought I didn't have a southern accent...) At some point during the ride it came up that I work for Christ for the Nations Institute, and as I'm learning, here in the Christian communities in Texas people are well aware of CFNI.

He asked what I do ("do you have a title or importance?") and I said that I worked getting international students in the country to attend CFNI and keeping all their paperwork to KEEP them here. To be honest, I wasn't even sure if this man heard me considering he was BELTING out every lyric that played; but oh he heard me. He became overjoyed and said "that's GREAT that's GREAT! God will bless you for helping people come here". 

I asked this man if he attended a church and he said that he and his family went to an Indian Pentecostal Church. (now that's a first, ever heard of one of those?!)

Something my parents have started doing is asking

their server at restaurants if there is anything they can

pray for them about. So in this moment, I felt

led to ask this taxi driver if there was anything

I could pray for him about.

You know what he said? He had failed the bar exam and was taking it again in July.

Did you hear that? 

This taxi driver was an educated man who went to

 law school in India and was taking the bar exam again

 to practice law here in Texas.

you don't know ANYTHING about someone

until you ask.

EVERYONE has a dream,

and like you & I,

EVERYONE has spent

time doing something that wasn't

their "dream" during the waiting

period.

The story ends with me praying for this man right there 

in his car, and as I prayed for him

it was precious to me that he began

to cry out to God in both his

native tongue and in English.

So make fun of me for talking to my waiter,  or the cashier or the nail tech.

But if we don't show the Love of God, who will?

If we don't pause our daily lives to inquire about others,

are we showing the Love of Christ?

"no one has ever seen God,

but if we love one another,

God lives in us and His love

is made complete in us"

1 John 4:12  

how to set your cubicle on fire.

sometimes you just have frustrating days at work, school, home, etc...


yesterday was one of those days. most times you can't even pinpoint ONE THING you are getting frustrated with, it just all seems to jump on your back like a barrel of rabid monkeys.


when I got home last night, it was all I could do to hang my coat up before breaking into a
 snotty-crying-(as dane cook would call it)-"i did my best"-pity party.


I was upset about something I think is quite common,
 I felt forgotten and insignificant.

Like the children of Israel, 

I was delivered  and set free 

into this new season and I haven't 

even been here a week and I was 

upset about all I felt I gave up coming here.

*side note: I am more free now with no 

furniture than I ever felt when I was

living "my own life" and felt I had everything.

"was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? what have you done to us by bringing us out Egypt? ...it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert" (Exodus 14:11-12)

 Did God have me give up a comfortable place using my gifts and being affirmed on regular basis to work in a cubicle being frustrated by tons of information I don't understand nor truly have a passion for?!

NO.

So HERE is how to set your cubicle on fire:

(or your house, your desk, your deep fryer)

go into it today and think:

1. Who was here before me?

2. Who will be here after me?

3. Am I stupid for thinking God doesn't know what He is doing?

(YES!)

Let me tie this all together:

I may be sitting in cubicle working 

through mounds and mounds of international

paperwork, but WHERE

am I sitting?

The ministry I work for

is the birth place of Kari Jobe 

and more specifically her most famous song,

"Revelation Song".

God didn't bring me hear to die, or to smother my gifts & talents

under a pile of I-20s, I-539s and I-90s!

You aren't flipping burgers because God doesn't care about your dream,

you are there BECAUSE of the plans God has for you: 

it is THERE that God will either

a) teach you something vital to your destiny

b)connect you with someone who will launch you into your destiny

c) all of the above!

Go set your 

cubicle,

home,

desk,

fry station,

on fire today by purposing to see what 

God IS doing

what God HAS done

and what God WILL do through and after you.

by the way,

I saw an interview last night

where Kari Jobe originally turned down

"revelation song" the first time she heard

it . what if she hadn't given it 

a second chance and seen it through 

God's eyes?

 

parable of being a whore

it is STUPID crazy to think of just how different a year ago  was.
it's stupid crazy to think of what i've walked through this year with Jesus...and even some without Him...


I've spent some time as a whore, and whether you recognize it or not...so have YOU.

let me explain...

did you know that the Dictionary defines a whore or prostitute as two things: (besides the definition we already know)

1. a person who willingly uses his or her 

talent or ability in abase and unworthy way,

 usually for money.

2.to put to any base or unworthy use: 

to prostitute one's talents.

another version of this definition says

"to put oneself to an unworthy use"

do you hear that?

 when we don't see ourselves as God sees us,

when we put ourselves to an unworthy use,

when we don't use our gifts to the fullest ability,

we are being a whore.

but you know what? the Lord is the ultimate builder and restorer. 

but in order to restore something, it must first be in pieces.

" I will pour her stones into the valley

and lay bare her foundations.

all her idols will be broken to pieces

all her temple gifts will be burned with fire.

i will destroy all her images.

Since she gathered her 

gifts [possessions] from the wages of prostitution .."

(micah 1:6-7)

i don't know where you are but here is where I am:

I feel like I've been stripped

 of everything I've known

the past year.

But the desire of the heart of the Father 

is that we be used to our fullest potential.

He is a dreamer, a BIG one ,

who wants to see those come to past in His loves.

so sometimes we find ourselves stripped.

sometimes we feel naked and like we've lost everything we had;

relationships, finances, job security, vehicles, independence.

what have you lost?

take heart, God is wiping out all reminders of your former life in which you didn't live up to your full potential. So that He can start fresh with you. It hurts but the gain will blow your mind and cause you to not think twice about what you think you've lost.  

wait and see what you are about to gain.

what seems like wreckage now,

will one day be know as a new beginning...