Reality TV, Infants and Jesus.

I cannot tell a lie, I love reality TV. (even if it's more like scripted television just with less airbrushing)  I also enjoy semi-reality shows like "Unwrapped", showing the origin of some of our favorite foods; or "How It's Made", showing how every day & extraordinary things are made. I enjoy researching, google-ing and generally figuring things out. Thus I've been going back to basics in regards to my relationship with the Creator. 

What I've found are some foundations for my relationship with Him based upon Isaiah 43:10:

"So that you may know and believe me 

and understand that I am He"

Know: in Hebrew: Yada: 

(this word in Hebrew has a TON of definitions so I chose a few key ones)

"to know intimately, to recognize ,

[God] to be revealed"

Believe: Aman: 

"to trust in, rely upon"

* when you examine the verb pattern in Hebrew,

Aman  expresses the basic   concept of support

and is used in the sense of a parent supporting a helpless infant*

Understand: Tavun:

"the verbal root (Banah) means to build,

so in order to build or construct something, 

we must be able to understand the process"

It's becoming obvious to me that in my quiet time, there is a theme that keeps appearing: recognizing the work of the Lord in my life:  depending on Him entirely and understanding His love so that I don't get discouraged with my process. When you feel like you've continually been stripped (whether due to poor choices or life happenings) the only thing you can do is seek to the see the greater process at work in order to preserve your sanity.

In short, I believe that this day and every day the Lord desires that we work to be able to recognize him, rely on him like an infant would a parent and seek to understand the process we are walking through in order to understand what He is building and designing in us.

" For everything, absolutely everything,

above and below, visible and invisible...

everything got started in him 

and finds its purpose in Him"

Colossians 1:16 (MSG)

"You repair all that we have torn

and You unveil a new beginning in our hearts

and we stand grateful for all that has been

left behind and all

that goes before us""

(" Mended")

Bert and Ernie

"Guess who's back, back again..."

MC's back! tell a friend!

I want a friend like Bert and Ernie were friend; they were always there for each other and for goodness sake Ernie was comfortable enough for Bert to see him while in the tub with his rubber ducky! (hold the jokes)

I believe the heart of the Creator in designing each of us was designing us with the innate need to have friendships and not just friendships but intentional, deep friendships. We were never created to be wolf packs of one.

The Word provides multiple great examples of intentional friendships but I wanted to focus on two:

David & Jonathan

Noah & his sons

I believe covenant (unconditional)  friendships (relationships in general) are made up of two things:

1. Vulnerability

2.Grace & Favor

Let me show you how I've come to this conclusion. In 1 Samuel 18:3-4 you see the friendship of Jonathan & David modeled which becomes a great model for the type of relationship we were designed to have. You see Jonathan first show incredible grace and favor to David.

" And Jonathan made a covenant with David

because he love him as himself.  

Jonathan took off the robe he was wearing 

and gave it to David, 

along with his tunic"

(verses 3-4)

David was in no way royalty (at this point in time)

and did not deserve this robe that signified royalty.

I believe relationships (all types) go through

ebbs and flows; at some point one partner 

is pouring into the other and vice versus.

Because Jonathan loved David as himself,

he identified an opportunity to show him grace & favor.

Now onto the part of relationships (friendship or otherwise) that is most difficult for most people, including myself: vulnerability. This is a personal struggle for me because it's always a piece of cake to be around people when life is peaches and cream, but when I'm covered in mud and struggling I usually keep to myself. We make deeper connections with people when we let them see our pain; our fear is that they couldn't love us if they really knew us when in fact because they really know us they can love really love us. 

In Genesis 9:20-23  you see Noah, obviously a man of 

greatness and great accomplishment (a freaking ark!!!); but like us,

his life and choices sometimes got messy.

We see in these verses that Noah drank some wine and  

proceeded to get drunk to the point where he laid

down in his tent NAKED AS A JAY BIRD.

In that moment he was vulnerable and because of the 

relationship he had established with his sons,

instead of pointing out his vulnerability it says

"But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid

it across  their shoulders; then they walked in backward

and covered their father's nakedness"

(verse 23)

We see Jonathan's vulnerability with David in verse 4, 

" [he gave] even his sword".  

In that day, it was unusual for a man to be without his weapon, 

his source of protection and yet Jonathan became vulnerable before David. 

I want to be a friend who shows 

grace, favor & vulnerability,

so that my relationships will be all 

that they were intended to be.

I don't want superficial friendships,

I want intentional ones.