Category Archives: alicia chole

God’s address. . .

“Craving hearts will never know satisfaction regardless how often or how much God provides.”

So tweeted my friend, Alicia Chole. I sat with her thought for a bit, knowing that her words are never casually written. Instead, she writes and lives from a deep well. After considering her contemplation, I probed her heart further with a tweet of my own:

“And so my question, how to rid oneself of the crave?”

Her response was what I expected . . . another probing truth that has captured my thoughts this rainy Tuesday afternoon. She writes:

“For me personally, one of the first steps is identifying my specific ‘address’ for interior contentment.”

Go ahead; sit with it all for a few minutes. Think about craving hearts and specific addresses. Think about satisfaction and interior contentment. Think about what it is you are craving and what specific ‘address’ is attached to that craving. And then, if you’re willing, ask yourself a question or two.

Does Jesus live in this place? Is this the home of his choosing?

If not, then, perhaps, a move is in store for you. Get to where to Jesus lives and watch your satisfaction grow—an inner soul-contentment no longer fueled by worldly provision but instead fueled by heaven’s dispensation.

Where are you parking your heart this day? It seems as if mine has been drifting as of late. I suppose I have a bit of Jonah inside of me, thoughts of Tarshish instead of Nineveh; thoughts of steering my own ship instead of taking a seat in God’s. A search . . . a craving that never knows a full measure of satisfaction, no matter how much or how often God’s provision rains down over me.

Today is a good day for a reroute. A right time to come home to Jesus, to live where he lives, and to drink from the cup that refreshes us both. I don’t want to finish this day unsatisfied, unfulfilled, and underwhelmed by the faith that I profess to believe. Instead, I want to finish this day firmly convinced and richly contented by the provision of a Father whose love for me knows no limits. Accordingly, I move toward Jesus. I park my heart at the front door of his heart, and I wait for this craving in me to let go . . . to die so that I might hold something better, something purer, something eternal that no longer empties me but, rather, frees me.

I invite you to come along, to join me at God’s address. There’s room enough at his table for us all. There’s grace enough to feed us as well. As always . . .

Peace for the journey,

***To view details about our special Christmas savings on books and free shipping for USA orders, click here!

a girl, her pink guitar, and a Sunday morning learnin’…

a girl, her pink guitar, and a Sunday morning learnin’…

I had a moment this past Sunday. Just a small one, but one big enough to linger throughout the rest of the day.

It happened while I was teaching a new song to the kids in my Sunday school class, Victory Chant. Per usual, I had written the words on newsprint and pinned them to the bulletin board. We talked through the song before hearing it for the first time, going over the pronunciation of unfamiliar words and the meaning behind the song. Satisfied that enough background had been covered, I cued the music and listened for their participation—those students who came with their parents to church that morning.

My students. The only kids under the age of eighteen in attendance. My kids… the only two sitting as audience to my instruction, well three if you count Preacher Billy. And I thought to myself,

Why in the world am I doing this, Lord? What’s the point? They get all of this at home. Besides, they’re not really listening. Why am I working so hard during the week to prepare a lesson when the only kids that come are mine and, sometimes, an occasional few others? Where are the crowds of yesterday, the audiences of many… my Tuesday night girls, my Sunday morning “ancients”? Why so few? Remind me again why this is important because right now, it feels more like obligation rather than adulation.

Like I said, a moment or two. A thought or two. A question or five… all cradled up within a single pause, and it was all I could do to finish the lesson. A lesson (oddly enough) about a doubting disciple requiring the proof of nail-scarred hands and a few words about “seeing as believing but blessed are those people who’ve never seen yet still believe.” People like us, living 2000 years beyond Christ’s resurrection moment—a people who’ve never “seen” the physical flesh of Jesus but who are devoutly tied to the truth of that moment in history.

The class ended. The earth didn’t shake beneath anyone’s feet, and my family moved downstairs for corporate worship where slightly more gathered in the pews for the 11:00 AM service. And there was a big hurt in my heart… an ample ache for previous ministry seasons now seemingly hidden, buried beneath the burden of hopes dreamed but not yet realized.

Did I miss it, Lord, what you seemed to be saying to me a few years ago? Did we miss it, Lord, what you seemed to be saying to us a season back? Where am I, where are we headed with this? This is hard faith, Father. This has been a hard year for us. How can I keep hope alive when all around me seems to be giving way to despair?

I wish I could say that God’s peace entered immediately into my soul, but it didn’t. Questions of faith usually initiate a wrestling out of thoughts before the Father prior to a peaceful conclusion being reached. This was the reality for most of my remaining Sunday. Wrestling. Struggling. Being mad and being sad. Feeling down and giving up. Wishing for more; expecting less. Thinking about yesterday; living in today. Wondering what’s the point of service if no one comes to be served?

And then I heard it… the point of my seemingly small, morning commitment.

Quiet at first, muffled behind wooden walls and closed doors. A strum of a pink guitar, and the voice of a pure angel named Amelia… trying her best make the out-of-tune strings fit the melody of a recently learned song.

“Hail Jesus you’re my King.
Your life frees me to sing.
I will praise you all my days.
You’re perfect in all your ways.

Hail, hail Lion of Judah.
How powerful you are.
Hail, hail Lion of Judah.
How wonderful you are.”

Her words weren’t perfectly matched with the correct ones, but her heart was… perfectly matched with the correct Word. She wanted to put some feet to her morning learnin’; in doing so, she put some feet to mine. She reminded me, again, of something Alicia Chole said a few seasons ago regarding all levels of Christian leadership:

“Focus on what is small not big; near not far.”

Small and near. My Sunday school class, my two kids, qualify. If they are the only ones who show up on Sunday mornings (per strong persuasion from their parents), then their hearts are ample, fertile soil to seed kingdom increase. When seen through those lenses, my teaching becomes less about mass production and more about investment into detail that will, eventually, harvest in larger proportion. I’ve got to believe this is what is at work here. Something I can’t see, but something that God sees. Something that is far beyond my current perception; something that roots at a higher level and that says,

No investment made on behalf of the kingdom is ever wasted. Every seed planted is a choice made for sacred increase.

I do believe this; I do fervently hold to the idea that our every interaction with another human being is an occasion for depositing the kindness, love, and truth of Jesus Christ. I try and adhere to this understanding, but there are times when reasoning gets cloudy. When God’s leading in the past—his thoughts regarding my “next”—seems slow in coming to fruition in my present.

So I step back today, again. I take a look around, breathe in the landscape of my life, and lean into the learnin’ of my Sunday. I hear the voice of a little girl in my mind; her name is Miss Amelia, but it might as well be Faith Elaine. Sometimes it’s hard to differentiate between the two of us.

A girl and her pink guitar and a God who is willing to be “sung” despite strings that are out of tune and words that sometimes get mixed up.

The melody is still the same. The heart is just as pure. And the Lion of Judah? Just as powerful and wonderful as he’s always been. Indeed, a moment this past Sunday. Just a small one, but one big enough to linger throughout the rest of the day.

I pray for the rest of my life.

Some of life’s most important ministry moments aren’t meant for the stage, friends. Sometimes, they’re best taught and lived in the smallness of a Sunday morning song. Perhaps you understand. Keep to it… keep seeding and living your difficult obedience, and I will do the same. God is faithful to grow the holy rest of it. As always…

Peace for the journey,

wisdom through words

One of the greatest gifts that has come to me over the years is often void of a price tag—at least not one calculated in dollars and cents. It may have cost the giver greatly because such a gift usually issues forth from a place of deep understanding often brought about through great suffering.

The gift?

Wisdom through words.

I’ve lived long enough with humanity and bared my soul openly enough therein to realize that not everyone within earshot harbors the gift of wisdom. A rare few possess its strength. I’ve developed some filters along these lines, carefully gauging my pursuit for depth of insight. I’m not quick to trust others with the “answers” I seek. That, in itself, has been a painful lesson to learn, for not everyone I’ve consulted along the way has my best interest in mind. Good intentions, perhaps, but not intention based on the absolute truth of the absolute God.

Thus, before consulting others for advice, I’ve learned to bring my concerns to the Father. He always has my best interest in mind. Accordingly, he has selectively allowed a few individuals to intersect my life with their Godly wisdom and influence. These are the people I trust with my heart… my best interest. Some of them I know personally; some of them I will never meet. Some have preceded me in death; some are currently living but not circulating within my physical realm of contact. All of them, however, share a common thread.

Wisdom through words.

Perhaps more than any other mode of “influence” that works in and through me and, therefore, eventually out of me is wisdom given to me in the form of words. A simple phrase woven with integrity and depth enough to solidify a change of heart—a new way of viewing life, doing life. When my personal perspective shifts in an alternate direction—a right and good direction (and I can almost feel it happening in real time as if a switch is being manipulated)—peace and assurance quickly find their way to my spirit. I am grateful for words that change me, and the more intentional I am about finding them, the more intentional they become about finding me.

I found some words not long ago; in turn, they’ve been working their way in me and through me, and hopefully out of me in some small measure. They came to me via one of my favorite authors, Alicia Chole. Her recent devotional book, Intimate Conversations, is chock-full of devotional pause and contemplative thought (two of my favorite pastimes). In one of her devotions entitled “Near Not Far,” she shares regarding some personal wisdom that arrived in her own heart at a leadership conference through the speaker, Dr. George O. Wood. His advice?

“Focus your vision on what is small not big; what is near not far.” [Alicia Chole, Intimate Conversations (Grand Rapids: Revell, 2009), 150.]

Read those words again slowly to absorb the depth of what God might be saying to you through them.

For Alicia, and for me, it means personally tending to those things, those people, who are within reach. Those activities and lives that can be physically touched by our immediate influence. It sounds relatively simple, “matter of fact” and, perhaps, an obvious approach to daily living. However, the true fact of the matter is that most of us don’t live there, don’t tend to the dailyness of our lives. Most of us live abroad—out there and unaware of the importance behind our everyday “things” and everyday people.

I can only write that last statement because I’ve lived that last statement. Time and again, my focus strays outward believing that the important “stuff” resides somewhere beyond the four walls and the small life that belongs to me. I’ve been a dismal failure in these regards in many seasons of my life. I’ve allowed the lure of “otherness” to rob me of the tangible moments that can best receive my influence—my wisdom and understanding. Otherness is just that. Other things, other people, other ministries, other opportunities that belong to others; not me.

That doesn’t mean I don’t engage with “otherness” when otherness presents itself as an option; it simply and profoundly means that otherness isn’t the driving focus behind my dailyness. Rather, current living, current situations, current people are. They are the stuff of my “small and near”—the tangible touches within reach intended for my greatest investment. When I take the time to devote myself to the “small and near,” then seeds are planted for a future gain that harvests “big and far.” I may not be around to see it all come to fruition, but my seeing it isn’t my goal.

Seeding it is. Doing the work of the kingdom, believing that what is sown today in the “small and near” matters for all of eternity.

It’s taken me a long season to get there… to come to a place of accepting the routine of my life that seemingly proffers more in the “small” rather than the “large.” But through the wisdom of others and the power of God’s Spirit living within me, I am moving closer toward accepting what my life has to offer me. And the last time I checked in with my life, it wasn’t half bad. In fact, it is quite good. Very good.

Wisdom through words.

How thankful I am for those who write them and who live them all the more.

May God continue to invest the power of wise words, his and others’, into our lives as we are faithful in our intentions to seek them out. Have a blessed weekend ministering to your “small and near,” friends. I’ll see you on the other side of mine. As always…

peace for the journey,

~elaine

PS: Hear a bit of Alicia’s heart regarding Intimate Conversations, and leave a comment regarding your “small and near” for an opportunity to win a copy of the book.

Paying Attention

“While he [Peter] was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!’ When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified. But Jesus came and touched them. ‘Get up,’ he said. ‘Don’t be afraid.’ When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.” (Matthew 17:4-6).

I didn’t want to go to sleep last night.

Not because I was scared of the dark but because in doing so … in succumbing to a night’s slumber … I was concerned about missing something. A Jesus kind of something. A something that sometimes comes to us in the deep of night when the rest of the world has kindly found its quiet so that we can find our God.

Last night I tossed and I turned and I thought about God. He was there, ever present before me and stirring my imagination in incomparable measure. I couldn’t shut him down. I didn’t want to, so I fought it. Vigorously. Painfully and willfully, until I could no longer force my flesh to the contrary.

My sleep was fitful; I had the “groggies” and the dark circles to prove it this morning as I rolled out of bed to prepare my heart for worship. But it was worth it. Who needs sleep when Jesus is on the brain? Who indeed?!

I’m not sure how I arrived at my late night wrestling, but I have a clue. Prior to going to bed, I spent some time perusing some of my favorite blogs. I came across this one. Its author always makes me pause. She’s eloquent in her delivery of her heart and never ceases to stop me in my tracks and make me think. Sometimes I cry. Sometimes I laugh, but most of the time, I simply read and absorb and speak my whispered “yes” to her pen and to my God.

It’s not that her life is overly fantastic. Like most of us, she’s a “day in, day out” kind of person. Her life doesn’t live on the stage nor does she wear a title of fame and fortune. She simply walks her days and writes her thoughts and allows her readers to join her on the road. Even though we’ve never met, I feel the tug of the thread that ties our hearts together despite the miles and choices that separate our journeys.

I thought a long time about my friend last night … about the connection that we share and why her words strike a chord within me. And in the midst of my pondering, just as clearly as I’ve ever sensed the voice of God speaking to me in my spirit, I heard him saying this…

Laura pays attention to life.

“What? Could you say that again, Father? I’m not sure I heard you correctly.”

Laura pays attention to life.

“What does that look like, Father?”

Like details. Like pausing long enough to consider the noises around her. Like being willing to bend to those noises and to pay homage to the moment. Like wrapping up all the truth of a single encounter and writing its worth with all the tenderness a heart can hold. Like finding me in the details. Like…

paying attention to life.

“Well then, Father, teach me to pay attention. Teach me what it means to bow to the moment and to live my life with a richer understanding that you can be found in each one of them.”

And with that, friends, my night’s contemplation began. A conversation with God. A face to face encounter with the only God who can be known and who longs for us to feel the rhythm of his heartbeat as we go and while on the road.

Paying attention to life. It starts for us even as it started for the Apostle Peter.

“Listen to him.”

When we do …

when we stop our mouths from running and our selfishness from needing,
when we refuse our agendas their consumption and our preferences their pleasure,
when we silence our minds from chaos and our determination from willful control,

then we, like the privileged three, will look up and see our exceptional and only Jesus in all of his glory, knowing that we have stood in the presence of sacred moment.

Paying attention to life. Stopping long enough to pay homage to a single moment. That is when we will see our Jesus unfolding his extraordinary kingdom into our ordinary everyday. And to hold that? To walk the soil of that kind of sacred sowing?

Well, for that, my fellow pilgrims, I will labor to fight sleep. I will entreat a night’s wrestling in hopes of receiving a Father’s beholding. I will toss and turn and struggle to override my flesh so that I can take hold of the face of God and carry his glory with me down the mountain into the valley below.

Oh, that we would fix our gaze in intentional pause before our God this day. How he longs to show himself faithful to each one of us when we do. Thus, I pray…

Father, help me to pay attention to life; stop me, pause me, push me and prod me to my knees and to my silence until I can no longer see me but only you in your extravagant splendor and holiness. Embed your glory within my frame. Splash the truth of your living witness all over me until I’m dripping wet with you, Jesus. Forgive me for thinking that my words, my agenda and my needs, are more important than your presence. Break through the clouds this day for my friends, and show them your glory. Penetrate the enemy’s schemes to steal, kill, and destroy, with the awe-inspiring and conquering witness of who you are. Surround our lives with your presence, and then move us forward in obedience to share your truth with a world that needs to stop talking and to start paying attention. You, alone, are worthy of our heart’s pause. Humbly, I concede mine to your revelation this day. Amen.

Copyright © May 2009 – Elaine Olsen

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PS: In honor of my friend, Laura, I would like to honor her with one of the give-away books, “Finding an Unseen God” by Alicia Chole. The other two winners (randomly drawn by my youngins’) are Joanne at Blessed and Sharon at Sit With Me Awhile. Congratulations ladies. Please send me your snail mail via my email, and as soon as I receive the books from Alicia, I will send them to you.

"Finding an Unseen God" by Alicia Chole (a book review)

In January 2008, I had a problem. Not a big one, mind you, but one large enough to force a fix-it. The problem? Not being able to leave a comment on Alicia Chole’s blog regarding her incredible book “anonymous: Jesus’ hidden years and yours” (you can read about “anonymous” by clicking here). At that time, her blog didn’t allow for “anonymous” comments. The solution? Create a blogger account so that I could leave a comment.

There you have it. The sole and initial reason for my entering into this land we call blogosphere (I’m not kidding). It was a simple doing motivated by a simple desire—to be able to communicate with an incredible author whose words had literally changed my heart, almost overnight. There was no immediate desire within me to create my own blog; I just wanted to express my thanks to Alicia for writing her heart so profoundly. Who knew that in doing so, the beginnings of my own “writing of the heart” would surface in a very public way?

God knew. And now you know, and I suppose I have Alicia to thank for that. So thanks, Alicia. But that’s not the fullness of what I want to share with you today. It only scratches at the surface of a deeper sharing. A sharing that springs forth from the treasure of Alicia’s newest book, Finding an Unseen God: Reflections of a Former Atheist.

I received an advance copy last Friday around noon. By 3:00 PM, I had finished my first consumption. I have since read it a second time so as to more fully absorb its truth and, therefore, be able to offer you a few reasons about why this book resonates with me. I’ve decided to take a “cue” from Alicia as to how I might most effectively put my thoughts into words.

Alicia concludes the book with the “five things in particular that this former Atheist really likes about God.”[i] I would like to share with you the “five things in particular” that this avid fan of Alicia’s writing really likes about Finding an Unseen God.

#1. The author.

Alicia is a woman on a mission to serve her God, her family, and her world through her many giftings and graces, in particular … her words. She doesn’t waste a one. She doesn’t write fluff; she simply writes the truth in a way that precisely cuts through the layers to root at the issue of understanding. As I’ve said before (at least a bagillion times), Alicia makes me want to be a better…

writer.
thinker.
mother.
seeker.

God hasn’t grown a more authentic and genuine story-teller than Alicia Britt Chole. She lives what she writes. She writes what she lives. That alone, is enough reason to read anything she’s authored.

#2. The subject.

Our reading choices are mostly mandated by personal preferences, many of them worthy for many different reasons. But as for me, I prefer the non-fiction truth of Jesus Christ over any other genre of literature. I’m not a big reader; for me to read an entire book in one sitting, the subject matter must be compelling. Finding an Unseen God is chock full of compelling and truth.

The “behind the scenes” coming about of Alicia’s faith speaks to the power and providence of a God who is ever-present and profoundly willing to weave the threads of a single life into a strong and powerful conclusion. Alicia’s life is a living-witness to that conclusion. For readers who are struggling with the “bigger picture”—with desperately wanting to trace God’s hands within a murky that currently clouds personal perspective—Finding an Unseen God sheds light and hope toward that end.

What God has done and is continuing to do for Alicia, God is doing for us … shaping perspective and hearts for his kingdom purposes.

#3. The needful knowing.

Many Christians balk at the word “atheism” and are tempted to run in the opposite direction when presented with its position. Why? Well, atheism is sometimes an “odd” fit with our religious speak. We are offended by it because it rubs against the grain of everything we hold sacred—our belief in Jesus Christ. Confronting the truth of Jesus Christ with the antithesis of that truth isn’t an easy swallow. Does that mean we should forego the discussion?

I don’t think so, nor do I think that our Father would have us avoid the confrontation. The Apostle Peter admonishes us toward that end…

“But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,”. (1 Peter 3:15).

You and I are the keepers of an extraordinary kingdom. Accordingly, we are commissioned with its worth, with its telling, with its defense, and with its love. How can we properly dispense its grace without confronting its contrast? Finding an Unseen God beautifully explains that contrast without all the academic trappings that can sometimes confound the process of understanding.

#4. The permission to unpack

I really like this one. Finding an Unseen God gives us the permission to unpack our faith before our Father. It quietly encourages us to examine our own foundations of truth—how we arrived at the point of believing what we believe. By following Alicia’s spiritual sketching along these lines, we, too, are confronted with the underlying challenge to frame our spiritual history.

#5. The conclusion of truth.

Finding an Unseen God leads to a convincing conclusion:

That in fact, there is an unseen God intent on being found.

Alicia arrives at that conclusion after many years of struggling through the questions that voiced to the contrary. I’ve arrived at the same conclusion. And although our journeys have walked through different strides to get there, both of us have conceded our hearts and lives to the One and Only God whose truth sows certain. Whose love measures endless. And whose grace weaves the threads of the most “unlikely” of us into a masterpiece worthy of the throne room of heaven.

The author. The subject. The needful knowing. The permission to unpack. The conclusion of truth. Five things I like about Alicia’s Finding an Unseen God.

Alicia’s life started with questions that led her to faith. My life started with faith that led me to questions.

Both of us (at 43 years old if I’m correct) have landed here, at this moment in time, applauding and lauding the Lover of our Souls and desperately desiring for you to know the same. We’ve been fashioned for the find, friends. God has commissioned our interior with a “need to know.” And one of the things that both Alicia and I find most likeable about our Creator is that he is the only God who can be known. This sets him apart from every other “god” in the universe.

“This is what the LORD says: ‘Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this:

that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,’ declares the LORD.” (Jeremiah 9:23-24).

Find your unseen God this day while he still may be found, and know him. He is the only worthy boast of our lives.

As always,

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[i] Alicia Chole, Finding an Unseen God (Minneapolis: Bethany House, 2009), 141.

PS: The winner of the bronze pearl earrings by Lisa Leonard is … Mary at Refreshmoments. Congrats Mary; please send me your snail mail via my email. But wait…

I have 3 autographed copies of Alicia’s book to give-away. Leave a comment, and I will announce the winners next week! Shalom.

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