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Archive for March, 2009

Heaven

Posted in Heaven, tagged on March 21, 2009| 1 Comment »

There are five teachers that work together in one classroom, a lead teacher and 4 assistants. Two attend churches that are more contempory-charasmaticish, one attends the Luthern church, one a King James only Bible  baptist church, and one a Southern Baptist. We were talking about heaven yesterday and what we thought it would be like. One thought there would be no eating, another thought there would be no pets. Would we have houses that would be decorated, or would we know pets we had on earth? I know, a real theological discussion, huh? Maybe not, but it was fun to banter back and forth about our own perspectives of how heaven might be like. I love talking and dreaming about heaven. Here are a few things that scripture says…

Ps 2:4 The One enthroned in heaven laughs
Ps 78:24 he gave them the grain of heaven
Ps 105:40 satisfied them with the bread of heaven
Matt 18:10 For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven
Mark 12:25 they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven
Acts 7:55-56 looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
2 Cor 5:1-2 we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven , not built by human hands. 2 Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling
Rev 4:1 door standing open in heaven
Rev 19:14 The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean.
Rev 21:2-5 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” 5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

These are just a few things heaven will be like. There a ton more scriptures that describe heaven and what it has and will be like. I am blessed to work in a situation where we can banter back in forth in a healthy and non-threatening way. We can learn from one another and grow with one another. Sounds a little like heaven, huh?

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Trust

Posted in Transparency on March 14, 2009| 2 Comments »

The topic of trust has been on my heart a lot over the past several years and really coming into more focus the past few weeks. Here are a few definitions according to dictionary.com… 

1. reliance on the integrity, strength, ability, surety, etc., of a person or thing; confidence.
2. confident expectation of something; hope.
3. a person on whom or thing on which one relies: God is my trust.
4. the obligation or responsibility imposed on a person in whom confidence or authority is placed: a position of trust.
5. charge, custody, or care: to leave valuables in someone’s trust.
6. something committed or entrusted to one’s care for use or safekeeping, as an office, duty, or the like; responsibility; charge.

All of us has struggled with trust at one time in our life. We have all been burned by people we thought we could trust. We have also not been trustworthy for other people. Honestly, I find myself in a place of not trusting people right now. I am sure there are people who do not trust me. I don’t have a confident expectation, reliance , or surety in people.

I can say I do ‘trust in the Lord with all my heart and lean not on myown understanding; in all my ways acknowledge Him, and he will make my paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6.  I have had to rely on the Lord because I do not understand so many things that go on in life.  Psalm 9:10 states, ” Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.” I have spent enough time getting to ‘know’ the Lord and His ways that I can trust Him. The word ‘name’ in this context means essence, nature, and character.

But is this enough? Is it enough to trust in the Lord? Do we need to get into a place where we trust other people? Yes, yes and yes. If we do not fully put our trust in the Lord we can not fully trust people. God is ultimately the one who ‘covers’ our backside when things go wrong. The very foundation of my life depends on my trust in the Lord and my knowing and experinceing who He is in a very real and practical way. But how do I translate my trust in the Lord to be able to trust other people? This is where I tend to get ‘stuck’ and find myself right now.

What exactly do I not trust about people? Right now I think it boils down to people being ‘keepers of their word’, not betraying me when I have entrusted my heart to them and not being taken advantage of. When someone says they are going to do something–I want them to do it. Not just talk about it or say all the right things–but do it. I want people to hold in confidence the things I confide in them about. I don’t want them going to others and saying, “Oh, Annette is dealing with such and such” without getting my permission. I guess it’s the persumption that I’m okay with others sharing my stuff with others just because I tend to be transparent in the things I talk about that erks me. Don’t know if that made sense or not but…

Anyway, I still have a lot to stew about on this subject, but at least it’s a start. There will probably more to come on this subject.

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