Running our Sacred Intersections

Running our Sacred Intersections

“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” (Philippians 3:12-24).

A sacred intersection.

There’s been one this week.

Between your brokenness and mine.

And while I didn’t plan on it, I’m not surprised by it. Why? Because brokenness yields brokenness. Whatever we’re speaking about, teaching about, walking and talking about, we do so hoping that someone else will resonate with our words. Otherwise, that’s all they will ever be. Words … void of purpose and with the hopeless float of nothingness. But when our words are spoken from a pure place—a place that harbors and collects the truest truths of our journeys—then they breathe with a clarity that strikes a chord in others who are walking a similar path.

That’s what I was after when I shared with you the prompting that had been swirling around my heart for the past couple of weeks. As I approached my blogging anniversary, I had a thought that, perhaps, God was calling me to share the story of my “letting go” of my childhood home, my prodigal years, and my father’s reaching love therein.

There was very little planning that went into my re-telling of that event. I just grabbed Billy and the flip ultra and told him that we needed to do a little video message. No notes. No polish, just shootin’ from the hip and the heart. It’s the way that I do most things, especially when it comes to my many words.

How could I have known at the time that my words … my prayer … would come back upon me in full measure and in surprising and unexpected ways? I couldn’t have known; thus, I didn’t expect. Yet within a few hours of verbalizing my heart, my “inbox” was flooded, not only with your comments, but with more personal pleas for notice … for prayer.

It matters not the details of those requests nor the places, both far and wide, from which they came. God simply allowed them their landing in my lap, and I am undone with the prospect of what it all means. Let me unpack that a bit.

Pain is a powerful tool for reaching other people. When others know that you’ve walked pain through to the other side of healing, they become more willing to talk about their own journey of sorrow. Pain speaks a language all its own, and when you’ve become proficient with its “speak” because you’ve fully worn the consequences of its truth, you become a conduit for receiving the pain of others.

It’s a gift of sorts. Both to them and to you. When God allows the witness of your brokenness to intersect with the lives of others who are currently trying to fight their way out of the rubble, both parties receive the gift of God’s magnificent grace. You are allowed to use your pain for God’s greater purposes, and, subsequently, they are allowed the vision of a greater purpose for their pain.

I think this is what the Apostle Paul had in mind when he penned the following truth:

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.” (2 Corinthians 1:3-5).

Thus, a sacred intersection.

Thus, your brokenness and my healing co-mingling on the road of life this week, all the while hearing my Father’s voice ringing in my heart with a question that directly relates back to the prayer that I prayed with you on Tuesday. Hear now a portion of the unscripted request of my heart as recorded on the video…

“Father in heaven I thank you for this glorious day of celebration that brings my life into the lives of your daughters and your sons, Lord. I pray, Father, that the words of my mouth, not only this mouth but the words of my pen would reflect you all the days of my life … that something in my life could be found pleasing to you and that you would run with it God.”

He’s running with it, friends. Apparently, he’s found something pleasing—something purified solely through the atoning work of his cross—and he’s decided to run with it. His question back to me?

“Will you run with it, elaine? I’ve given you this intersection between your brokenness and the brokenness of others. Will you run with it? Will you be the evidence of things unseen? Will you stand as my witness with your words and your prayers and your follow-through while others choose their silence over involvement? Will you contain my witness within the comfortable parameters of the righteous or will you allow me a voice via yours to those who have yet to be clothed with my majesty from on high? Will you run with it, elaine, or will your words float hopeless and void of purpose? This is your sacred intersection, elaine. Will you run with me and see it through?”

How would you answer? What do you do when the brokenness of your past catches up with you in order to be the blessing for someone else’s pain in the present?

I tell you what I am doing and will continue to do. I receive it, all the while believing that our intersection is part of God’s great design for both of our lives. I take its gracious landing onto my lap and hold it with all the care of heaven. I run with it, all the way to my Father’s feet and place it before him as an offering. I intercede for your healing. Your wholeness. Your turning toward home and finding the truth of who you are meant to be in Jesus Christ.

Will you do the same, friends? Run with your Father and see things through to the end? Your brokenness doesn’t necessarily breathe like mine. God has tailor-made an avenue of ministry for you because of it. Thank God for it; don’t minimize its worth in your life. Find your healing through Jesus Christ and then allow him his further hand in the matter. He has taken hold of you for a specific and everlasting purpose—a purpose that directly links you with the lives of others who are walking in similar stride.

We need not fear the exposure of our bad, our shattered and our defiled. God doesn’t condemn us because of our brokenness. God heals us so that we can bring his healing to others through our restoration. There is no shame at the cross of Jesus Christ. There is only freedom in the truth of its witness.

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A sacred intersection for all mankind. Between God’s brokenness and ours. A powerful pain that continues to reach … to teach … to take hold and to transform all of that which is shattered into a conduit of lasting and final significance.

Run with it, friends. Run with Him … all the way home to receive the prize for which God has called you heavenward in Christ Jesus. Together, we can do this thing. I count it a joy to intersect my life with yours for our Father’s great and mighty purposes.

In the name of the Father who planned us, the Son who saved us, and the Holy Spirit who keeps us as such, Amen.

Copyright © February 2009 – Elaine Olsen

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PS: The winners of Watermark’s “A Grateful People” are: #15 Laura and #79 Beth E.

Thanks to everyone for playing along this week and for your wonderful support of peace for the journey. I look forward to sharing another year’s worth of words with you; perhaps this will be the year in which many of us could gather together and have that cup of coffee, diet coke, or latte. Now that would be something, wouldn’t it?! I’m asking God for this specific happening. Shalom.

A Year’s Worth of Peace…

Please note daily updates below for the rest of the week…

I can hardly believe that a year’s worth of my living has been chronicled (at least in part) upon the pages of this canvas that I call “peace for the journey.” It’s been a good season of salt and light via your words and encouragement of me. Thank you from the depths of my heart.

I will leave this post up all week and add a prompt for your comments each day. Please note: comments will accumulate throughout the week, thus enhancing your opportunity for a win. Simply answer the prompt, and your name will be entered into the giveway. I will use random.org to select the winners.

Again, it is my privilege and my joy to serve you in blogland. Feel free to contact me anytime via my e-mail link in the sidebar. If you can think of any ways that I can do it better, please let me know. I look forward to continuing the walk with you in the days to come. As always,

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Friday giveaway and update and lingering thoughts…

1. The winners for Sarah Young’s “Jesus Calling” are #38 Lori and #64 Edie. Congrats girls. Please email me your snail mail.

2. Our final giveaway for Watermark’s A Grateful People will be announced on Saturday morning. Still time to add a final comment to this post, which brings me to my final thought…

3. Write whatever you want! Maybe tell us what’s going on over at your blog. I’m exhausted. I’m now officially over myself and all my “blah, blah blahing” on the video and will get back to the pen in short order. Seriously, this has been an extremely busy week for me; my head is spinning in wild and wooly directions all at once, and I can barely catch my breath at times. Thanks for playing along, even if you aren’t winning some of my favorite things. I would trade them all (except for the Bible) to simply have the occasion to sit and chat with you for awhile … face to face! Have a peaceful weekend full of rest and Jesus, and if that doesn’t seem possible, seek Jesus (whatever that looks like for you) and the rest will come. Shalom.

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Thursday giveaway and update: the winners for the Holman Bible Dictionary are #46 Melinda and #18 Shane. Congratulations ladies. I know you will enjoy the treasure and the teaching from this book. Please snail mail me your addresses. Today’s prompt for Sarah Young’s Jesus Calling (announced on Friday morning…sorry for the earlier oops) is as follows:

What is the one thing you know to be most true about our God as it pertains to your most recent season of living?

I look forward to reading your thoughts. God bless you in your Thursday. Shalom.

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Wednesday giveaway and update: OK…a few things I’ve learned in the past 24 hours:

  • I’m a hand talker.
  • I’m a hair toucher (thanks for counting Joy).
  • My flip ultra does a great job picking up crunching leaf noises.
  • Our operating budget at “peace for the journey” is zero; thus, you get what you get friends.
  • Last but certainly not least, I’ve got some of the best bloggie friends in the world. You have graced me with your words of support and encouragement, and I am blown away by your friendship.

Now…onto the winners of the NIV Study Bible. Congrats to KelliGirl (#22) and Kristen (#24) selected by randominteger as the winners. Girls, please snail mail me your addresses, even if you think I have it. If you don’t need the Bible and would rather someone else receive it, please let me know.

To win a copy of the Holman Bible Dictionary (#2 on the list of elaine’s favorite things), please finish the following prompt with your thoughts in the comment section:

“The day that Jesus interrupted my life with the truth of who he is … ”

Winners will be posted on Thursday morning. Remember, comments accumulate throughout the week. Shalom.

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Tuesday giveaway: Please leave your comments below to win the NIV Study Bible. I will announce the winners on Wednesday morning. If you’ve never commented before, but would like to enter, simply click on the word “comment,” leave your thoughts, and sign in as an “anonymous” contributor. Shalom.

A Worthy Knowing

*Please note update below post…
“For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” (1 Corinthians 2:2).

For all of the ways that we could spend our words this week, what is more worthy than spending them on the truth of Jesus Christ? For all of the things that we could share with the world, whether at home, at work, at play, or on the cyber canvas that you call your own, what is more important than the boast of Jesus Christ?

We will think of them … ways to spend our words and our time accordingly. Some necessary. Some less than. But when this time next week rolls around, we will have recorded a solid seven days’ worth of lip service to our life’s walk. And for all of the ways that our lives will require the investment of our words over the next week, none is more important than the ones that we will invest on behalf of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

None.

Yes, there will be those necessary occasions that ask for less—occasions that don’t call for the Jesus talk. But all of them, every last one of them, require the heart of a Jesus walk. When our “necessary” doesn’t require our words, we still write a story. Their witness speaks even when our words remain silent.

The Apostle Paul resolved to know nothing except the message of Jesus Christ. He was a learned man, schooled and versed in the pharisaical way of doing life. Still and yet, no amount of book learning could prepare him for the task that he was ordained to do. It would take something far greater, far grander and more spectacular to shape his heart for the kingdom mantle he would be asked to wear.

It would take an illumination from the heavenlies—a moment of brilliant awakening where the shattering truth of the “Word made flesh” would shatter the lie believed to the contrary.

Paul received his moment of brilliance, leaving him blinded by the revelation of just enough great and quite enough grand and over the top spectacular to forever alter his destiny. No longer would he rely on his formal training or his former understanding for doing life. Instead, his formal and his former would concede their pride to the new and humbled way of a crucified life.

The lifestyle that once earned Paul’s persecution and ardent disdain would now become the life that he would embody. And while we may not fully grasp the revelatory depth of Paul’s brilliant moment in the sun with the Son, if we know Jesus Christ as Lord, then we, too, have been called to a new and humbled way of living.

It’s a living that shifts our focus from me to Thee. At least it should. And if it hasn’t, if for some reason you’re still thinking that your me is bigger than your Thee, then may I suggest to you that a humbled walk under the brilliant light of God’s Son might serve you well this week? Not so that you can feel more guilty and more discouraged about your life as a Christian, but rather because it is time for the truth of Jesus Christ to take its rightful place in your heart and, consequently, in the way that you do life.

The way that you walk life. The way that you speak life and move through the paces of your day so that when you come to a week’s end, you do so being spent on behalf of something that matters rather than something that doesn’t.

Jesus Christ is that something. Everything else is just extra. Not necessarily bad, just extra. I don’t know about you, but I want my extra to be built upon something solid and real and lasting. Otherwise, when the extra fades, there’s nothing but empty. And friends, I’ve spent a whole lot of my life doing empty—investing my many words and my many doings in a way that literally says a whole lot more about me than him.

Time to grow up and to put the language of my childish ways behind me. Time to realize that my words are not my own. They were bought with a price, and therefore should be spoken according to the blood that was exacted for the freedom of their saying.

Thus, like the Apostle Paul, I resolve to know nothing else but Jesus Christ and him crucified. He is the knowing that has shattered my world with just enough great and quite enough grand and over the top spectacular so as to forever alter my destiny. He is the foundation that I want beneath my extra so that when the world comes knocking this week my responses are anchored in the truth of who he is rather than in the lie of thinking that I am anything apart from him.

Without Jesus, my words ring hollow. My life lives empty. My light burns dim. My time spends wasted. My story reads vacant. With him?

Words come to life. Lives live full and lights burn with the intensity of heaven’s illumination. Time spends wells and our stories become the stuff of lasting and kingdom significance. And that, my friends, is the worthy ending of a well lived week. May we each one, walk toward such a sacred conclusion with every step that we take and with every moment that is ours to write. Thus, I pray…

Help me keep focus, Lord, on the stuff that matters. Fill my heart and my mind with the foundational truth of your gospel, and keep me humbled with the witness of your crucified life. Forgive me for thinking that I am more, thus assigning you your less. I must become less, and you must become more. Be the anchor that holds my extra. Be the fire that burns my pride to ashes, and be the Spirit that blows them accordingly … in line with your will and for your fame alone. You are worthy of my words, Lord. Sanctify them toward your mighty and perfect end. Amen.

Copyright © February 2009 – Elaine Olsen

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Friends, please be sure and join me all week! There will be some give aways incorporated into daily posts beginning tomorrow. Shalom.

Why I Loved My Day…

“From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the Lord’s name is to be praised.” (Psalm 113:3).

It’s nearly a new day.

Nearly.

Before I say good-bye to January 30, 2009, I wanted you know that I loved it … this day given to me simply because God’s grace allowed it.

By his breath, he has sustained me and measured my steps accordingly. Not because he had to, but rather because he delights in giving good gifts to his children. And while every day should be chronicled with my glad tidings and thankful cheer, most of them slip by without notice and without applause.

I should do better with my gratitude. Not because I have to, but rather because it is my privilege to do so. Thus, allow me a moment to tell you what I loved most about this day.

    • It wasn’t the trip to Raleigh to pick up the “Esther” books at the Lifeway store or the new Meredith Andrews CD that I managed to sneak into the pile at the check-out counter.
    • It wasn’t the extra visit to Kohl’s where I was able to pick up a good bargain on a black jacket.

 

    • It wasn’t the stop at Andy’s on the way back into town for the $4.99 cheeseburger special, complete with crispy fries and a diet coke.
    • It wasn’t the trip to Wilson to watch my senior son play basketball, although he did make my heart skip a beat or two.

 

    • It wasn’t the Parker’s barbeque or the accompanying hush puppies while on my way to Wilson.

 

  • It wasn’t even the return of my college-age son who’s been MIA for three weeks now, although he’s always a good punctuation to a weary week.

No, the best part of my day wasn’t measured by the doing and partaking of all these things. Indeed, they were good, and I loved them each one. But what made them even better, what made them cause me to sit back and find a moment or two or even ten of thankful pause, was the fact that I shared them all with the man I call husband. The man who took my hand a season back, along with the hands of my two young sons, and promised to take care of us all of the days of his life and ours.

It’s not our anniversary. Today is not a day of any calendared significance in the lives of Billy and Elaine. It was simply a day that we shared with one another, rather than living our separate identities as is so often the case.

We laughed together. We walked together. We ate together. We worshipped God together with our new CD’s. We cheered together. We even yelled at the game officials together. We rode home together. We close this day together.

Together is a good way to spend a day. It’s a good way to love a day. It’s not always been the way I walk my days, but today? Well, today I did better at loving and at being in love. Today I stepped in rhythm with the man who’s been keeping pace with me for nearly twelve years now.

Not because he has to, but rather because he delights in being God’s good and gracious gift to me.

I didn’t deserve his love. There are times when I’m most confident that he doesn’t deserve mine. Still and yet, we choose to do love … to live love … to fight for our love because we love the life that God has given us together.

Indeed, I am a blessed woman who loved her day. I hope you loved yours. If not, there’s still time. Another day rests within your reach. Find someone you love and do some doing together. Let not today slip by without your notice or without the applause of your gratitude. This is the day that our God has made for you. He’s entrusted you with its unfolding.

Live it well. Love it better. And do it all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is your sacred privilege to do so.

As always,

~elaine

 

Benedictions

Benedictions

“Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you.” (2 Thessalonians 3:16).

The call came in just a few minutes ago. 7:48 AM, per usual. Normally, I catch the call, but the phone was hiding elsewhere. There was nothing new about his message. Just his voice reminding me that he had safely made it to his destination.

“Hey, momma. I’m here at school. Have a good day. Love you. Bye.”

His words interrupted my train of thought—a train hunkered down and in the middle of 2nd Timothy and the apostle Paul’s chains. I looked up for a moment and tearfully echoed my response back to my son with an outstretched hand extended in the direction of the answering machine.

“Love you too, baby. Go with God today. Be with God. Let him be your light.”

He couldn’t hear me. But God could, and between the two of us—me and God—a message of peaceful intention was instantly carried from this mother’s heart to the heart of her child, despite the ten mile chasm between us.

With those few words of exchange, albeit spoken into the air and without the benefit of a face to face communication, my thoughts have shifted from Paul’s chains toward the pondering of something else.

Paul’s benedictions.

From Romans to Hebrews, and every book in between, Paul concludes his teaching letters with a benediction—words of blessing and final encouragement. Words like…

“Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ,… to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen.” (Romans 16:25-27).

“The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. My love to all of you in Christ Jesus. Amen. (1 Corinthians 16:23-24).

“May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” (2 Corinthians 13:14).

Words like that. And even though the recipients of said words, both then and now, didn’t hear them as I imagine Paul voicing them while he wrote, God did. God does. And between the two of them—Paul and the Holy Spirit of God—a message of peaceful intention has been carried from one saint’s heart to another, despite the 2000 year chasm between us.

Paul understood the power of a blessed benediction. He punctuated his “hard” teachings with words like grace and peace and love. And while we may not fully understand the depth of all that Paul was trying to say within his letters, it is easy for us to receive and to get our hearts around his endings.

As it was with Paul’s “sincerely’s” and “postscripts,” so it is with ours. Thus, a question or two.

How goes it with the blessed ending of our words? The crescendo of our communications? The climax of our conclusions? The closing of our conversations?

How do we punctuate our exchanges with humanity? When others walk away from our wordy embraces, do they walk away with grace and peace and love? Or do they walk away with something to the contrary? With … confusion … sorrow … bitterness … nothingness?

When we close our letters, when we finish our phone calls, after we spell check our emails and polish our correspondence into ship-shape, when we conclude our meetings (whether in the boardroom or around the kitchen table), when we finally reach the end of all that we’re trying to say…

how will we say it? Furthermore, will we say it, or will we leave our words dangling in mid-air, hoping for their soft landing and subsequent understanding but not giving much thought to their conclusion?

Benedictions. They are ours to give, ours to write and ours to speak. When we refuse them their voice, we’ve spoken less even though God intends for us to speak more. His more—his words when we’ve finally come to the end of ours.

It’s not all about the preacher’s moment. We think it is. After all, benediction is a bulletin word—a “holy” kind of word that follows the sermon. But you and I, we are a holy kind of people bringing God’s truth to this world. Our lives are intended to read as a sermon. And when we get to the end of it, a little grace and peace and love is the perfect punctuation to a well-spoken … a well-lived … life.

I don’t want my words or my life to conclude with confusion and nothingness. I want my benedictions to read everlasting and on purpose so that years from now, they will serve as a lasting memorial from my heart to the generation of hearts who are coming up behind me. They may not hear my words now, even as I voice them while I type, but between the two of us—me and my extraordinary God—I believe in their preservation.

May they always be found worthy of such sacred perpetuation. Thus, I pray…

Benedict my life with your sacred punctuation, Father. With your words of grace and peace and love. May the utterings of this mouth and the overflow of this heart be used to point others to the cross. Never let my busy forsake the blessing of others. Instead, remind me to finish well—my conversations and my life. Let the conclusion of my words be filled with the conclusion of your truth, and let your truth be the grand conclusion of the conversation that I now carry in my heart. Amen and amen.

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PS: My benediction to you this day via the words of the Apostle Paul as found in Hebrews 13:20-21.

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