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If you want to start something you have approach the starting line. God help us for the people who in their “maturity” don’t need to begin at the beginning! Think of one who enters movie after the protagonist has already entered the rising action and is nearing the climax. The climax is then experienced as one who would experience life out of focus. It’s the exposition that brings the striking clarity and meaning. We must begin at the beginning! Why don’t we want the exposition, the rising action . The small, true beginning. The intense struggle before the victory. The people who become involved along the way. We want the victory but then have no idea why it matters or where to go next. Certainly not to a beginning. God wake us from lying to ourselves and humbly walk with you beginning to end.
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“True wisdom and real power belong to God;
from him we learn how to live,
and also what to live for.
If he tears something down, it’s down for good;
if he locks people up, they’re locked up for good.
If he holds back the rain, there’s a drought;
if he lets it loose, there’s a flood.
Strength and success belong to God;
both deceived and deceiver must answer to him.
Father in Heaven, that my heart wouldn’t waver in this pursuit overtaking my heart. I feel so far from true wisdom and real power, and yet remember how far you have brought me. I desire nothing but to become a real servant of God fitted with His true wisdom. I pray for your sovereign rule to joyfully fill my heart this morning, as each morning. That I would revel in the acting hand of God and not merely the outcome and how it affects me. That you would find my faced fixed toward you. You are working. I will yet bring honor to your name.
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We could at least be truthful before God and admit our weakness instead of reducing the requirement. -S.K.
I found myself in the Gospels (Vangeli) and pondering belief. Christ, upon being asked what men should do, (John 6) answered, believe in He who was sent. That is the requirement, believe in Jesus. Yet, many will habitually and continually make up stories about their weak belief being strong, instead of praying about their unbelief. I am admitting mine this week. God help me overcome my unbelief. “His power is very great for those of us who believe.”
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Isn’t it strange how every situation is an opportunity to become closer with God? Maybe it’s strange because it’s perfect. His work still continues but the verses below have become part of a prayer for the rest of 2008. I want to let every situation finish it’s work and get out of nothing prematurely. People say that change is the hardest thing to get into, the hardest thing to do, yet I find myself begging for change this day.
Praise God for trouble of every kind including distress.
Now I’m glad—not that you were upset, but that you were jarred into turning things around. You let the distress bring you to God, not drive you from him. The result was all gain, no loss. Distress that drives us to God does that. It turns us around. It gets us back in the way of salvation. We never regret that kind of pain. But those who let distress drive them away from God are full of regrets, end up on a deathbed of regrets. And now, isn’t it wonderful all the ways in which this distress has goaded you closer to God? You’re more alive, more concerned, more sensitive, more reverent, more human, more passionate, more responsible. Looked at from any angle, you’ve come out of this with purity of heart. And that is what I was hoping for in the first place when I wrote the letter.
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I have just completed moving andrewjump.com from typepad to wordpress and thus return to a regular habit of thinking out loud here.
|This is a whiteboard from my heart and mind to you|
Purity
One a Sabbath day when Jesus went to eat at the home of a leading Pharisee, the people were watching Jesus very closely. Luke 14.1
If you are a leader you will be looked at very, very closely. When put under the microscope of the crowd the only way to pass is PURITY. Jesus was completely pure.
The farther I travel in this life of pursuing Christ I am noticing how he continually magnifies the details of my life. I also notice the danger of solely focusing on these details and losing sight of the whole picture
“It has long been an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important” – Sherlock Holmes
Anything great is comprised of the most intricate attention to detail. I believe that in this generation attention to detail is seen as an afterthought amidst the precious striving for the next, the future, the big idea. A great work of art done in photoshop may have 1000 layers, but we see just the one. We are quick at discerning quality and what truely is good, slow at paying the price to be real. Being real is attending to each and every detail while mainting the focus and vision of where you are headed. We are quick to applaud the powerful sermon, the “right on” devotion, yet slow to live the change.
Let’s return to 1512 and Michaelangelo painting the sistene chapel. He was literally on his back for four years painting this masterpiece. Every day, for four years he would paint in a 3 foot area and over the course of these years must have moved the scaffolding thousands of times. His work covered 12,000 squarefeet! IMAGINE IT.
It’s a masterpiece because of the detail. It would take years to realize every detail placed in this work. Every detail placed painstakingly with his brush. The genius was being able to focus on the whole painting AT THE SAME TIME as being 1 foot away from the current piece he was working on. Without the context the brilliance is lost. But he succeeded, being wholely dedicated to the final outcome.
You can’t paint a masterpiece with a roller. (You can’t live pure simply taking care of the big stuff)
You can’t paint a masterpiece or live pure without relating this detail to all details and not just deal with the detail on it’s own.
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Is it worth it?
Well is it??
I am serious. Stop right now and as God, "Is it worth it?" Most likely two things will happen. One, you will know immediately the topic at hand. Two, you will know if it truly is worth it or not.
Now follow the guiding of the Holy Spirit.
You will be glad you did.
Andy
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face your difficulty. no matter how ugly, un-fun, disheartening or scary it is. Keep your face pointed towards it. There is no other way. Be disheartened, be scared, just don't turn away from it. If you look at it, you can do something. But if you look away it will do something to you.
If you decide to fight, you must decide to win always.
Andy
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I must confess it was about noon on Tuesday, in the midst of my 11-10 shift at Cafe Cortina, that I began to think about working at Starbucks this morning at 6:15AM. Yes, I know, It caught me by surprise too. I didn’t mean to, I promise. I was charging my iPhone and glanced at the home screen, only to think about my schedule for the week. Then an orange highlighted schedule, hanging dauntingly, menacingly even, behind the wall at 12&75 Starbucks flashed into my head. Ah. 6:15-10:45.
So I shrugged it off and continued the shift, praying through the day and seeking victory. I finished the shift, drove home and before I knew it my 5 alarms were going off as I woke up with the timed shower drill in full effect. Racing out of the house and cruise set to 70, I made it to work with 2 minutes to spare!
Except.
I didn’t work today. I gave my shift to my good buddy Ryan Thero, due to a recent promotion at Cafe Cortina. Perfect, Absolutely perfect! God just gave me an opportunity to really READ, Listen, and journal. So I did. For 2.5 hours. I can’t describe how absolutely amazing it was. My mind was fully there, not yet moved into the multitask, task-driven day ahead. And 3 pages written, espresso, coffee, liter of water from my REI Nalgene, beautful-glowing-striking sunrise, and a heart and mind filled with power from on High I realized God’s plan for this began working at least 18 hours ago.
How great is it that God creates opportunities to spend time with me? How profound! How incredible!
If I am watching, he creates moments all the time, maybe it’s 5, 10, 20 minutes. Maybe it’s an hour or a day. Maybe it’s a door to a new discipline of watching and praying, reading and listening.
What window did God open for you today?
Did you take it?
Will I take Them the rest of the day? Will I take them tomorrow?
Andy
“But waking up is hard to do….ooh”
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Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to His disciples: “The scribes and the Pharisees are seated in the chair of Moses. Therefore do whatever they tell you and observe. But don’t do what they do, because they don’t do what they say. They tie up heavy loads that are hard to carry and put them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves aren’t willing to lift a finger to move them. They do everything to be observed by others.
Matthew 23
Jesus speaks to the so called leaders of church, the ones who are supposed to be the examples, the one who are supposed to be servants of God. But there is a drastic difference between saying and doing. I have to ask myself Do I really do what I say? Do I follow Jesus like the Bible talks about, and serve others with compassion for God’s people? Do I talk with Jesus and tell others he is True? Do I compromise and take the easy way at home, at work, when no one is watching? Or does integrity and discipline mark my life?
Would others say that my life is marked by Love for God and love for others unconditionally? The pharisees were actors. fakers. wannabes. They faked themselves mostly. But one day the Bible says all will be laid bare. When no one else is around to impress is He truly my shepherd and do I have everything I need because of that truth? I WILL BE REAL AT ALL COSTS! The Lord is my shepherd I have everything I need.
Andy
