Oh my God.

"God is bigger than the boogie man. He's bigger than Godzilla and the monsters on TV." Did you ever watch Veggietales? Well if you did I'm sure you have heard that song. This week's topic was The Nature and Character of God and our speaker was Scott Freeman. Scott is the one who will be "leading" my outreach in Costa Rica!!! (I'll talk a little bit more about outreach towards the end of this post, you'll just to wait!) So the first thing we learned was the difference between nature and character. Genesis 1:27 says that we are created in the image of God, so we are like Him (not equal to Him but like Him.) But in what ways are we like Him? At first glance, would you say we are like Him in His character or nature? Let me tell you the difference. His nature is His power and His character is His personality. Do you know now? We have His personality. Think about all the different people you know and all of their different personalities. They are all a reflection of the character of God. Does that tell you just how BIG  and complex our God is? How about a couple examples just for clarity? God's nature is that He is Alpha and Omega, sovereign, and infinite. Sound like humanity to you? I don't think so girlfriend. How bout His Character? He is love, kindness, and compassionate. Ah... there we go. That's what we are called to be. We were made to be gracious, loving, lovely, and full of compassion. God is the only one I know that has these qualities ALL the time but this is the example we are called to live out. But lo and behold, mortal man screws up. A lot. Sometimes I think I see more screwing up when I look at humanity than I see of mercy and love. Let's be honest, ain't nobody perfect. But you want to know something great? God uses screw ups. And big screw ups. Take a look at David (knocked up a man's wife and then whacked off the hubby) or Abraham (knocked up the maid and then abandoned them while they were banished in the dessert.) Can you think of any others? I bet you can. What about Peter? What about Paul? What about Adam and Eve? Get the picture? Do you ever feel like beating your head against a wall? I feel like that may be the most common feeling I have. I don't know about you, but I beat myself up for everything. But God NEVER stops loving us. Ever. We will always need His forgiveness but I don't think we realize just how willing He is to extend His grace. I don't think I realize it. We are not capable of understanding this divine and limitless grace. We are so finite and everything in us is programed to hang onto every little last thing. Know what I mean? How long does it take you to forgive someone? For me it's far too long.  I struggle extending grace to people. But I am not God. I am not like Him in this aspect. Isn't it encouraging to know that no matter what you do (no matter how "bad")  God will not, cannot, love you any less. If God is so gracious towards us, why are we so hesitant to extend any grace to ourselves? God uses imperfect people to glorify Him, we just have to remember it is a process. Just remember that God made us. Do you know why He made us? Most people say to worship or serve Him. And although this is true, He created us for relationship. He designed us for relationship with Him. We worship and serve Him because we have been in relationship with Him. When we begin to grasp who God is, we cannot help worshiping and serving Him. God just wants to hang out with us and Jesus made a way for that to be possible. And maybe you've heard all this before. I have. During my DTS and throughout high school (at a Christian school) and in church. But even if you've already "heard it all," a refresher never hurts. We will never fully understand who God is, and it is always beneficial to hear a talking about it again. Scott wanted to leave us with two principles, if we did not learn anything else, he want us to remember this: God is BIG, and God is GOOD. So, how bout that outreach? Well, I'll be going to Jaco, Costa Rica to help Scott Freeman and his family pioneer a new ministry. Jaco is a small beach town that is filled with evil and injustice.  Prostitution, alcoholism, and abuse are rampant in this tourist town. Men fly from all over just to indulge in fornicating. Sound like a need to you? Sounds like it to me. My friends Samantha, Lisa, Robbie and I will be heading there in April to come alongside the Freeman's ministry. We will be running a community development program to try to united the churches within this community. Please begin to pray for us. We are going to need it. We will need spiritual covering and finances in order to be able to go and minister in Jaco. I don't know about you, but I'm REALLY EXCITED!! 


Quote of the week: "But God could be funny at a cocktail party when listening to a good God themed joke or when the crazies say He hates us and they get so red in the head you think they're 'bout to choke. God could be funny when told he'll give you money if you just pray the right way and when presented like a genie who does magic like Houdini or grants wishes like Jiminy Cricket and Santa Claus." - Laughing With by Regina Spektor