Thankful Thursday #3

Ooops! I missed Thursday... where did this week go!?

Today, I'm thankful for grace.  Costly grace.

I am reading Dietrich Bonhoeffer's The Cost of Discipleship (slowly but surely) and his words have challenged me to meditate on the cost of God's grace towards me.

"Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but he made himself nothing, taking on the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.  And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." (philippians 4:5-8)  [did you catch that or did you just read it?  Jesus Christ did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped. in order that he might provide a way for ME to know God.  Wow]

grace is receiving something one does not deserve.  (not to be confused with mercy, which is NOT receiving what you DO deserve).

Bonhoeffer writes, "Grace is costly because it compels a man to submit to the yoke of Christ and follow him; it is grace because Jesus says: 'my yoke is easy and my burden is light.'"

Redeemed at high cost.

Christ paid a debt he did not owe because I owed a debt I could not pay.

The thankfulness that wells up in my heart when I think about that - i mean, really think about it - it can't really be put into words and yet here i am trying.

Sometimes I just listen to this song.  and think. and usually cry.  and it feels good.  to think about the Lord and all he's done for me.  (p.s. it's not the best version, but that's youtube for ya)

Forever thankful,
Renee

Good to Great in God's Eyes

Good to Great in God's Eyes by Chip Ingram, proposes that the human desire for greatness is God-given, that God designed us to want greatness.  People want to be great professionals, careers, husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, athletes, scholars, artists, musicians, etc...  Chip writes, "But when  ask believers if they watn to be great Christians, they seem to be afraid to answer the question.  They become unassuming and deferential, concerned that an ambition to be great in this most important aspect of life would seem arrogant.  Yet what's the alternative?  Should we aspire to be mediocre Christians?  Is it prideful to want to honor God with lives of great faith and excellent work?  Even after spending 3 years with Jesus, the disciples didn't seem to think so.  They argued about which of them was the greatest, and though Jesus had to redefine greatness for them, he didn't tell them they were being unspiritual or arrogant because of their...desire to be great.  Instead he laid out a clear but counterintuitive pathway that 11 of the 12 eventually fulfilled.  And their greatness, as they followed that pathway, turned the world upside down in less than a century."

Ingram goes on to suggest God loves it when his people achieve greatness for God's glory and that our purpose of glorifying God "isn't served well by mediocrity." 


He clarifies that "great" Christians aren't more loved by God and that great works have nothing to do with salvation.  "These principles are, however, an opportunity to fulfill the highest and best purposes God has for your life.  Great athletes don't spend years practicing because they have to; they do it because they have a dream.  Christians who want to live the average Christian life can do so almost by default.  None of the practices in this book are required for that.  But those who dream of eternal impact in the kingdom of God, who envision crossing the finish line as one of God's great saints, are motivated to do whatever it takes to be used powerfully by God... If the honest desire of your heart is to stand before God one day and, like Jesus, tell him, "I have brought you glory here on earth by completing the work you gave me to do" (John 17:4), these 10 practices will make a huge difference in your life."



The chapters are set up to work well with small group discussion, although I read it on my own and really gained a lot from it.  If you read it, let me know what you think!

Desiring greatness for God's glory,
Renee

Photography Class

I've kinda always liked taking pictures and I really enjoy scrapbooking -  not because i feel like I should document stuff, but I just really like putting all those pages together.  Remembering fun moments. with people I love.

anywho, our church was offering a 4 week intro photography class so I decided to borrow my parents old fancy schmancy camera and learn how to use it since none of us really know how.

after the 1st class last week, I was sold.  There are so many cool things this camera can do and I had no idea.

So during week one, we learned about "metering modes."  (after going around the room and introducing all 50 people... ay ay ay).  But these "metering modes",  from what I understood control the amount of light that the camera picks up in the scene.  Like I said, there are 50 or more people in this class and everyone had different cameras of course.  So I kinda sorta found my metering mode instructions but really had no idea how to change them.  And never really figured it out.  which you will see from my pictures.  yikes!

Our assignment was to take a picture of someone who is backlit.  You know, when the sun is behind people and it messes up the picture.  There's a way to fix that with these secret metering modes. How exciting!  But like I said, I couldn't really figure it out on my camera.  The thing I thought was changing these metering modes did not fix the picture.  In fact, it created pictures like this.

yeah. like i said... yikes!

But I took a bunch of pics anyway.  And I found a secret dial that did change some sort of number on the viewfinder, which changed the lighting in some way because I got all these different pictures... (standing in the same spot at the same time for about 5 or 10 minutes)

And the one that I think is lit the best (but still not great)...

isn't my subject a hottie?

conclusion: I intellectually comprehend what the camera would do if I could figure out how to change these secret metering modes.  But alas, I have no clue how to do that.  Also, I'm pretty sure if I left my camera in "auto" it would have done a better job.

i think i have earned myself a D- for this week.

tomorrow, perhaps I will find out where to find the secret metering buttons!?

Philosophy of Biblical View of Immigration

Ben and I are taking a new-people intro class to the church we've started attending in Lincoln.  They gave us a booklet that has several ministry philosophies written by the church elders.  (i.e. philosophy of leadership, ministry to the poor, children's ministry, discipleship, Biblical instruction, service, worship, etc...)  We didn't really discuss it in class, but it was given as extra info if we wanted to read it.  Both Ben and I found their "Philosophy of Biblical View of Immigration" particularly helpful, especially since it's such a hot-button issue right now.  So, here it is... word for word.  If you don't have a Bible on hand, google the references to read the short passages while reading this not-so-short article.  The scripture references they've included are helpful!  (Italics emphasis throughout is mine)  I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on this philosophy!

"The establishment of La Iglesia Berea, the Latino ministry of Lincoln Berean Church, and LBC's involvement in helping establish ethnic churches in the state of Nebraska, raises several important issues, not least of which is the debate over undocumented immigration, in purely political terms.  When questions surrounding immigration arise, one tends to adopt the stance of one's own political party.  Christians need to think differently.  Our default position on matters of immigration should not be those of our political party of choice.  We are required first and foremost to respond to immigration issues from a perspective shaped by biblical principles rather than the current political rhetoric which is often based in misinformation, fear, and self-interest.  In cases of conflict between any particular political perspective and a biblical perspective, the biblical perspective must override one's political allegiance.

A number of biblical principles and themes guide the Christian's understanding of how one should respond to the issue of immigration.  First, immigrants of image-bearers of God and objects of God's love.  As image-bearers, immigrants posses both inestimable worth and full moral status, and thus, are to be treated accordingly.  How we treat those, including immigrants, who image God, is an indication of what we think about God.  Their immigrant status (whether legal or illegal) neither diminishes their image-bearing nor the degree to which God loves them.  They are our equals.

Second, the Bible is filled with stories of people who were outsiders and foreigners whether exiles, refugees, or immigrants.  The nation of Israel itself lived in foreign lands (Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, etc...) and suffered abuse at the hands of the host nations.  The stories of Joseph, Ruth, Daniel, Esther, and others portray the difficulties of living in a strange land.  Many forget that Jesus was an immigrant for a time in Egypt with his family (Matthew 2).  The Christians to whom Peter writes (1 & 2 Peter) were displaced people not only spiritually, but socially and politically as well.  The Christian experience is also depicted in scripture as a story of being a foreigner and outcast in this present world with all the accompanying dangers Hebrews 11:13, 1 Peter 1:17, 2:11).  The immigrant's story is our story and Christians should be in the best position to identify and sympathize with their plight.  Part of the reason God requires his people to care for the foreigner is because that was their experience (i.e. Exodus 23:9, Leviticus 19:33-34).

Third, God repeatedly issues commands to his people to care for and love the foreigner, outcast, oppressed, and marginalized.  God's covenant with Israel required them to treat the foreigners and strangers among them as one of their own and to care for them (Leviticus 19:33-34, Deuteronomy 10:18-19; 14:28-29; 24:14, 19-21; 26:12-13).  The prophets frequently warned Israel of coming judgment for not honoring this requirement (i.e. Amos, Micah).  Under the new covenant [new testament] it is not different.  Jesus (re)issued the obligation to love God and our neighbor with our whole being (Matthew 22:34-40).  In Jesus' explanation of who our neighbor is, he used an example of an outcast (Luke 10:25-37).  Beyond our general responsibility to show love, compassion, and care for all the marginalized among us, the Christian is given a special responsibility to care for fellow Christians (Romans 12:9-13; Galatians 6:9-10).  Many, many immigrants we encounter today are followers of Jesus and part of the family of God to which we belong.  We, the church, are responsible for their welfare.  One of the indications that we are followers of Jesus is our love for others who likewise follow Jesus (John 13:24-25; 1 John 1:3-11).

Fourth, the consistent biblical teaching on love and justice focuses on others and not me.  The love that God expressed toward us and that we in turn are to express toward others is one that seeks the best interest of the other person (Philippians 2:3-4).  Moreover, at the heart of the biblical concept of justice is the idea that justice is accomplished when we disadvantage ourselves for the advantage of the community, particularly the least well off.  Justice is not solely making sure my rights are protected or someone gets what they deserve for breaking the law (though those have their place). Justice is done when we sacrifice for the least well off.  Consider God's justice in disadvantaging himself (the Incarnation) for the advantage of all of us who are desperately needy people (Philippians 2:5-8).  We may be most like God when we bring about justice.  Putting aside our "rights," resources, and privileges to aid those in need, including immigrants, is what God calls "good" and what he requires from his people (Micah 6:8).

Fifth, Christians are to be good citizens and honor their governing authorities and respect their laws (Romans 13:1-7; 1 Peter 2:13-17).  Jesus modeled this for us (e.g., Mark 12:13-17).  But, this does not require blind adherence to any law passed on by governing authorities.  Laws that go counter to God's commands, principles, and values are not binding upon Christians (cf. Acts 4:8-20; 5:27-28).  Certainly laws requiring violation of one's commitment to follow Jesus do not have force upon the Christian.  Christians must give serious thought to whether and what extent current immigration laws are unjust, and whether they require Christians to act and support actions that are contrary to God's desires as to how we are to treat immigrants.  We must recognize that the church and the government have two different missions.  The mission of the church is to announce the Gospel of the Kingdom to all people and work for God's Kingdom making disciples of Jesus (Matthew 28:18-20).  There are no boundaries or preferred groups of people.  The mission is global and the final authority is God's rule.  The aim of the state is to look after its own citizens ensuring their protection and well-being through legal, economic, military and institutional means.  The mission is local, or national, and the final authority lies with the agreed upon laws of the state and those who enforce them.  While ideally the two missions should work together, this is unlikely in a fallen world.  Though we respect the state and its mission, in cases of conflict between its aims and the church's, the Christian must give allegiance to the mission of the church.  For example, if the state or national government passes a law requiring churches to report undocumented immigrants in the midst or lose their tax exempt status, the church should not obey that law, but continue to carry out its divine-given mission of welcoming, loving, ministering to, and supporting those undocumented immigrants in its midst. 

It is through this biblical grid that the church as a whole and Christians individually must consider how to respond to immigrants and the immigration issues that confront us.  The church is called to treat immigrants (image-bearers of God living in very difficult circumstances) with love, compassion, mercy, and justice exactly as God has treated us, and because as "strangers in this land" we can identify with their plight.  We are to look after their best interests.  The church also has a special responsibility to those immigrants who are of the "household of faith" to use its resources to care for them.  They are part of our family and fellow co-heirs with Jesus."



Seeking God's heart for immigrants,
Renee

random thoughts

1. I've been measuring the time by Husker games.  Last week - Washington.  This week - Wyoming.  Next weekend - Wisconsin.  I live in Nebraska.

2. 2 no-shows to piano lessons this week.  1 was a miscommunication.  The other... still haven't heard from him.  Calling someone after they don't show is super awkward.  "uh. hi.  i thought we had scheduled for you to come at 3:00 yesterday?"  I usually say "I thought" because sometimes i'm wrong :) like when I called the lady who I thought didn't show. and she clearly told me she would be in Missouri and we'd start the next week.  ay ay ay embarrassing.  I've thought about calling people to remind them about their lessons at first. but I'm not their moms so i decided against it.  Dilemma - both of yesterday's no-shows came for a free trial lesson, took new books, and scheduled a 2nd lesson to come back.  They'd pay for the books and rest of the month's lessons at the 2nd lesson, which they didn't show up to.  wah wah.  this system has yet to screw me - usually people just forgot and show up the following week after i call. with $ in hand.

3.  My piano studio has some diversity.  Ages 4-69 and everything between.  I have a couple non-white students.  Also, big families, small families, Jehovah's witness family, rich old ladies, families on tight budgets who are SACRIFICING to give their kids piano lessons.  I admire that.  both my parents and my husband's parents sacrificed to give kids piano lessons in times of financial hardship.  it's worth it.  always.  i will never change my mind about that.  find the $20 every week and make it happen.  [stepping off my soapbox]

4. I finally finished Good to Great in God's Eyes by Chip Ingram.  I had put it on the backburner for a few weeks, but it was so good.  Read it!  Determine to be a GREAT Christian, not just a mediocre one.

5. I read this article about the gender-inclusive NIV Bible.  Didn't even know there was such a thing.  Personally, I think it's ridiculous.  Spending that much time and $ to publish a translation of the Bible that changes the words around to make girls feel better about the fact that most of the pronouns are "he."  come on now.  Plus, it's a little like saying, "God I know you are God and inspired the Scriptures to be holy, living, and active, but you are out of touch with the 21st century, so we need to help your Word by changing the 'his' to 'theirs.' Hope you don't mind."  It just seems like if the God of the universe inspired the author to say "he" or "brethren" we can just jump on board and understand it universally applies to people.   good gracious.

6.  Some of the things people feel free to write in blog world have the jaw-dropping shock effect on me.  For example, people will get into heated "discussions" by commenting back and forth.  on the internet.  i think, you would never say that in person.

7.  i habitually lock my car... after i park it... in the garage... that is attached to my house... and opens automatically from the inside only.  what can i say?  city girl.


Feeling random today.  hope you don't mind!!

Cheap Food!

A recent endeavor of mine is seeing how cheap we can eat while still eating food we like.  i.e. I know we could eat for about $5.00/ week if we ate pasta w/ jarred spaghetti sauce every day.  But let's face it, that is not going to happen any time soon.

Mission: eat a variety of meals, try new recipes, bake snacks for students, and still keep it in our budget.  our tight budget.  

Added challenge: I am usually teaching from 3:30ish until 6:30 or 7:30.  We share one car so I go pick Ben up from school when I'm done w/ lessons and then we head back home for dinner.  It's 7:30 or 8 by that time... so the other part of this mission is finding food that can be prepped ahead of time i.e. when I have time to make it in the morning.  (and I'm definitely not complaining about this at all.  we like our schedule and our 1 car.  just learning to adjust cooking accordingly.)

Things I'm trying/ learning:

1.  I make my menu plan for the week (or for 2 weeks) based off of the Hyvee (grocery store) 3 day specials & get everything else at Walmart.  if chicken is on sale, we eat something with chicken.  if beef is on sale, beef it is.   Usually more than one main meal ingredient is on sale.  I plan what I'm making around that & use similar ingredients across the board.  This doesn't take as much time/ planning as I thought it might. 
2.  Walmart brand is usually cheaper - even when I have a coupon for the regular brand.  The only things we are particularly choosy about are cereal, orange juice, butter substitute, toilet paper, and probably some others that I can't think of right now.  Everything else, we get generic.  And all those things, I buy only with coupons.
3. Stack manufacturer coupon with store coupon with sale.  Bingo!  This doesn't happen very often and I don't spend a ton of time couponing, but when it does, I feel great :) 
4.  buying fruits and veggies that are in season is cheaper than, for example, trying to get pineapple and watermelon in January in the midwest.  it is what it is. 5  frozen fruit for smoothies goes a long way - snack, breakfast, or lunch!
6. yogurt in big container instead of little ones.
7. i am trying to snack on the fruits and veggies that are in season rather than junk food.  junk food is SO expensive.  seriously $3 for a bag of chips or 33 cents/ lb of bananas.
8. Leftovers. [happy sigh]  Ben eats leftovers almost every day for lunch so we don't buy a lot of lunch food (deli meat, bread, etc...)
9. Soups go along way on the budget :)
10.  I try to make things that call for ingredients we already have around - like marinaded chicken with oil, vinegar, herbs, or cheese, eggs, etc...
11.  i try not to make another trip until we are out of food. seriously.  we go through all the pasta before I go back to the store.  Some people buy in bulk on the sales.  For just the 2 of us, I've found that it makes more sense to only buy the things on my list for that week's meals and eat until it's all gone.  If I plan for 5 days of meals, but we end up getting dinner with friends one night and eating a frozen pizza, then we just keep using what we have until it runs out.  i think this saves us a lot of money.  although i can see how this strategy might change with little ones around.  [also i think we waste less food this way]
12. some meals are cheaper than others. and we don't go over in food budget for the month.  so sometimes we eat tuna casserole, spaghetti, or pancakes.  :)
13. we don't keep a lot of fun drinks around.  wah wah.  i love fun drinks - juices, teas, coffees, sodas, all of it!  Ben likes pop too!  but we just don't really buy it.  Lemonade on sale in the summer and OJ.  other than that, it's just coffee and water around here.  And the cheap maxwell house coffee that comes in a big container on sale for $8. Not the 1lb of dunkin donuts coffee that is $10/bag.  little changes go a long way.
14. we pay cash for food.  as I count it out at the register, I am very aware of how much we are spending on food, and how much we are able to spend on food... and how big of a difference a couple bags of chips and a couple 12-packs of soda makes.
15. Don't eat out.  We are minimizing the amount we eat out.  i.e. PB & J with an apple on the go when we're rushing out the door to small group instead of fast food.  Peanut butter = $3.  Jam = $3.  Bread =$3.  PB&J lasts about 3 months around here... those containers are huge!  Bread every other week at most.  So, $24 for 3 months of PB & J on thursday nights or $12 minimum for a stop at Jimmy Johns. The math is easy.  The discipline is NOT!  This is new for us and we are not even close to mastering it... just working on it one week at a time. 

not sure why I felt the need to share all this.  sometimes it helps me to organize my thoughts by just getting them out on "paper"... or on keyboard.  also, i think cutting $50 a month from groceries is $600 a year.  and most people in the circles I run with could use the extra $600.  

happy shopping and happy SAVINGS!!

-Ren

Thankful Thursday #2

overwhelmed with thankfulness.  that is my heart's emotion lately. 

Today I'm thankful for a small group.  When we first got married and started going to The Moody Church in Chicago, we joined a young couple's small group that was really wonderful.  It was fun to meet other young newlyweds and get some advice from people who had been married more than 3 months.  It was fun to make new friends together.  When we decided to move to Lincoln, we prayed & believed God would lead us to a great new small group - a group of young couples to challenge each other spiritually, have fun with, hang out with, enjoy new seasons of life with.  We visited a small group last week and REALLY enjoyed it.  So, back again we go today.  We both think it's the group for us.  Friendly, welcoming couples.  People we have things in common with and differences to keep things interesting.  6 other couples who love Jesus and seem fun!  guess we'll find out.   we're going back tonight :)

thankful,
Renee