the call of a shepherd

'So I exhort the elders among you,

as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, 

as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed:

Shepherd the flock of God that is among you,

exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you;

not for shameful gain, but eagerly;

not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.

And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.'

1 Peter 5:1-4

Often, shepherds were overlooked. under appreciated. uneducated. 

and by all worldly standards, contributed very little to society as a whole. 

And yet, this is what Peter is exhorting the Jewish and Gentile Christians scattered throughout Asia Minor to be? 

Of course Peter is being allegorical here, using the very words his personal Mentor, Friend and Savior used throughout His time of teaching here on earth. 

Peter is not telling us to go and start herding sheep.

He is telling us to disciple others. 

This is not a suggestion or a good idea. This is a command for anyone in the fold themselves. 

"But Tiffany!" you say... "I don't have the gift of teaching or writing or speaking or...." 

and I smile and say, "neither do I friend. Neither do I." 

I teach and I write and I speak as the Spirit moves. It is God at work through me to act and encourage and disciple and teach. I am merely walking in obedience not to my own credit but to the credit of the One who requires nothing but willingness. That is what I do have. 

This does not mean that we must sell everything we have and exchange our lives for one in a foreign land speaking a foreign language and living in a grass hut. While this may be the call for some, this is not the call for all. But we are all called to disciple, mentor and shepherd others for the sake of Christ. 

God has called us to a personal relationship, not a private one. 

This is no small call. There will be times we are overlooked, under appreciated or feel ill equipped and inadequate for the task as hand. As we walk faithfully with our Shepherd however, it will become less about us and all about Him. 

If you have not yet accepted His personal invitation for a personal relationship, I can't encourage you enough to meet Him at the Cross. He longs to be gracious to you (Isaiah 30:18) and free you from the bondage that holds you. 

If you do have a personal relationship with Christ, I encourage you to walk faithfully with Him and intentionally set out to encourage another today. I pray that we as fellow heirs with Christ, would have a desire to love well today. As I raise my children, I will set forth to intentionally teach and train them to take hold of that which God has for them. The stage of life I am in, my home is my primary mission field and this is a great blessing to me. 

Where ever you are today, whatever your 'pasture', I pray that you would be an eager example of Christ and His redemptive love. Please pray the same for me. 

loved. 

tiffany  

Earth Day

Photo courtesy of visibleearth.nasa.gov

When I think of the most precious gifts I have been given, the first 'things' to come to mind are my husband, my children, my salvation... If I were to think in terms of earthly things, I would think of my engagement ring, my Bible, a handmade quilt... These things were intended specifically for me and for them I am eternally grateful.

When I stop to think about gifts, I realize that everything I have is a gift. The light in my eyes...the sounds that penetrate my eardrums and register in the auditory part of my brain for processing...the expanding lungs in my chest...the effective communication between my brain and my muscular system making movement and physical response a possibility... the list goes on and on.
I think of the gift of parenting ability, the ability to understand cause and effect of human behavior so as to effectively teach and train my children. The gift of fertility. The gift of laughter. The gift of music.

Everything I have, everything I am...every moment I have left on this blue planet...every breath left to take...every song left to sing....is a gift.

There are many times however that this truth fails to penetrate my heart and I live contrary to this critical understanding. I live ungratefully, critical of others, hard on myself, discontented and unhappy. When I forget that life is a gift, my eyes turn from the eternal to the temporary and I am quick to see the shortcomings and the things I think I lack. When I forget that what I have is a gift, I become a poor steward of that which I do have as I am always striving to attain that which I don't. 


Yesterday was Earth Day.
In society today, it seems as though the pendulum swings heavily one direction or another.
Either the human soul is bent in worship of this planet--sacred environmentalism and glorified animal rights are the hymns to which the heart sings--holding in highest regard, above all else, this temporary planet we are blessed to call home. It seems as though the rest of humanity finds their place in a spirit of indifference, figuring that 'my little efforts' will actually do little to nothing, so we continue to live in a state of poor stewardship and indifference.

I must admit that I have fallen into the latter. "At least I am not worshipping the created rather than the Creator" I self righteously think to myself. This is where the Spirit stops me.
Yesterday He spoke truth to me through the words of our pastor--words so aptly and appropriately spoken that I wished everyone could have heard.

I have never sat through a sermon entitled "Earth Day" and truthfully have always felt as though that is not really a topic for the pulpit. But as the moments ticked by and the Spirit spoke truth to my heart, I realized I was completely wrong. Our relationship with God will directly impact our relationship to this earth. As we look at Genesis 1, take careful note to see that the first words the Creator spoke to His creation were words regarding the gift of environment and the gift of Earth. 

'And God blessed them.

And God said to them, 

"Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over

the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and 

over every living thing that moves on the earth."

And God said,

"I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth,

and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food.

And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens

 and to everything that creeps on the earth, 

everything that has the breath of life, I have given every plant for food."

And it was so. 

And God saw everything He had made and behold, it was very good.

And there was evening and there was morning, 

the sixth day.'

Genesis 1:28-31

First, take note that God gave. This makes His creation a gift to us. A gift is meant to be cared for, appreciated and managed well. 

Be careful to not allow this appreciation and heart for stewardship turn your heart to worship, for how does one worship that which is he called to manage and have dominion over? Worship sets the soul in a place of submission--not dominion. Therefore, we must be careful to not worship, for by so doing, we are unable to have dominion over this earth and the affections of our hearts are being compromised. They are to be reserved for the Creator and the Creator alone. 

As Christians, as children of the Creator, ought we not be examples of stewardship? 

And yet, I often find my heart indifferent to throwing plastics in the trash, using plastic bags upon plastic bags and so on. 

As I live my short breath of a life on this earth, I refuse to allow my heart to worship that which is created, but I refuse to allow my heart to find its place in mediocrity and complacency. I will do my part in living a life thankful for that which I have been given...the Earth being one of them. 

So, to you on this beautiful new day...I pray that your heart will bow in humble adoration before the Creator and Sustainer and Giver of all good things. I pray that your heart will see the incredible gift of life and love and salvation that you have been given. I pray that your heart will cry out, 

"Be Thou glorified!" as you live your moments today. 

I pray that your gratitude will be reflected in good stewardship...of your relationships, of your resources, of your time and talents and of your small piece of this blessed gift of Earth. 

grateful. 

tiffany 

disappointed? a little....

"Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, 

because we know that suffering produces perseverance;

perseverance, character;

and character, hope.

And hope does not disappoint us because God has poured out His love in our hearts

by the Holy Spirit whom He has given us." 

Romans 5:3-5

As the miles rolled by and the distance between me and home grew shorter and shorter, I felt my prayers becoming more desperate, more weighted by the battle between good and evil, peace and dissension, joy and self pity. 

I found myself wishing that things were different, and initially, I found myself praying for the outcome that I wanted and the one I desperately hoped for. As I prayed however, I felt myself falling prey to cynicism and thinking, "Stop praying like this, you're only setting yourself up for disappointment." 

As I thought through this, with my husband's book on tape steadily filling our car with the even hum of the story teller's voice, I thought about what prayer is: prayer is the essence of hope. As I pray, I am surrendering before God in full hope that He hears and He will respond. I come away from prayer hopeful and yet, when He doesn't respond, the disappointment that follows can be a heavy weight to carry. Because I dread this heavy weight, my self preservation mode kicks in and tells me to just accept that things will always be this way and to stop praying for anything different. 

As much as that sounds fine to my cynical ears, the Spirit quietly calls my heart back to obedient prayer. 

Herein lies my struggle. 

I want to pray by faith, and I want to believe that God hears and answers and yet my prayers continue to return void and I am continually found reeling from disappointment angry with myself for even thinking to hope for something other than what has always been. 

For those of you still following this jumbled rambling session, 

I will first say thank you for listening. I appreciate your kindness. 

I will secondly tell you that my marriage and my children are greatly blessed and this post is in no way insinuating anything different. 

As I withdraw to my quiet closet of prayer, where my faithful God is gracious to meet me in spite of the baggage I drag in with me, 

He is just that, faithful. 

Paul writes in Romans that hope does not disappoint and at a cynical first glance, I would politely beg to differ. If only Paul knew how many times in my life, the well spring of hope and hopeful expectation has left me hurt and disappointed.... 

But, I believe God's Word is without error and so, I go back to the black words on my white, worn page and ask my faithful and gracious Lord to speak in a way that my disappointed heart will understand. 

I see my answer there, but it doesn't come until I have surrendered my own agenda of hearing from God what I want to hear and rather with a willing spirit, ask to hear what I need to hear. 

Where does my hope come from? 

As my eyes scroll over the words in verse four, I see that my hope does not come from prayers answered favorably. No, no...something much better, something not of this earth. My hope comes from character--HIS character--being developed within me. Here comes the part that I love and hate all at the same time--His character does not come through a peaceful walk in the park as I stroll through life savoring answered prayers according to my expectations. No, that would develop a self centeredness that would only lead to arrogance and He has something much better for me. My hope comes from the character that He develops within me as I walk with Him through the fire of suffering and disappointment. 

It is in knowing that although my sin nature dies hard, God is still at work and He loves me enough to say no to me. He loves me enough to walk me through the fire so that the very thing I am praying for--hope--will become my companion as I see evidence of His character growing within me. 

So...with my disappointed and yet hopeful heart, my prayer turns from

"please Lord....change this...." 

to

"thank you for the cross I carry. Grant me strength of character that I may carry it well and leave the fragrance of my Risen Lord in my wake. 

Amen" 

hopeful.

tiffany 

God alone

'For God alone my soul waits in silence,

from Him comes my salvation.

He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress;

I shall not be greatly shaken.

For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence,

for my hope is from Him.

He only is my rock and my salvation,

my fortress; I shall not be shaken. 

On God rests my glory;

my mighty rock, my refuge is God.'

~King David

Psalm 62:1,2, 5-7

For God alone my soul waits.....

Those are lofty words. 

Don't get me wrong, I long for God but I find that often my heart sings the tune of, 

"I long for God and _____________________" 

To be able to stand and resolutely say, "For God alone my soul waits" is a soul that is no longer of human origin, but has tasted and experienced the presence of the Almighty and as a result all of life is confined within that delight. 

The soul that sings "For God alone..." takes joy in the all sufficiency of God and says that He is all I need and all I want. 

The understanding of human kind, 

the companionship of others, 

the gracious acceptance of my fellow man....

they are all nice and great and good,

but if they will come at a compromise of the lordship of God in my life, I will pass thank you. 

Because my soul's greatest delight is in the Person and Presence of the Almighty God. 

It is when and only when I live my life with this desire that I am free to love the way God loves. When my soul's greatest satisfaction is in the righteousness of God, the need to be understood, served, loved, respected, accepted, promoted...falls away because I understand that I have all that and more within the shadow of His wings. He will uphold my cause for He judges righteously. 

As I love God wholly and stand in right relationship with Him, 

my marriage will be blessed.

my children will be blessed. 

As my soul cries out, "My hope is in You O Lord!" I am putting God in His proper place and human kind and human circumstances in theirs. My hope does not come from health--of body or relationships--my hope does not come in financial prosperity or academic endeavor, for all of those things are of temporary nature. 

When this understanding begins to take root in the inner recesses of my soul,

I will be freed from the need to be known and understood and recognized

because as I savor God, I will profoundly understand that I am known and understood by God.

and that is enough. 

what I need

During the course of any waking moment, there is a myriad of things that I find myself saying, either to myself in the quietness of my soul, under my breath is frustration or out loud to another human being.
These are things that I believe are true, and at the end of the day there may be some truth in them, but I as I sit in the stillness of my Creator's presence, I hear the words of my mouth and I stand corrected.

I need to get away.  I need to get more organized. I need to get up earlier. I need to go to bed earlier. I need to exercise more. I need to eat less. I need to read more. I need to lose five pounds. I need to get away. 

The list goes on.
You are no different.
I know this because as humans, as women, as mothers and wives and friends and mentors, we give of ourselves from the time our senses become aroused from sleep and the wheels of our minds start to turn in thought and consideration of the day that stretches out before us.
We are giving. We are doing. We are striving. We are planning. We are executing the plan.
The effective and proper execution of that plan depends wholly upon the resources we have...this is where the "I need..." comes into play.

While the needs we have in any given moment are valid and some may be healthy, the breakdown and the hangup often occur when we fail to see our primary need: God.

King David, a man who maintained order in a kingdom, wrestled with sin nature, and longed for God's heart to beat in his own chest, undoubtedly understood the weight of productivity, organization, accomplishment and all the other things that we ourselves carry through our days. As a result, when he writes, I listen--or should I say, what God has penned through his human fingers, I take to heart...

'Oh God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;

my soul thirsts for you;

my flesh faints for you,

as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

So I have looked upon you in your sanctuary, beholding your power and glory.

Because your love is better than life, 

my lips will praise you.

So I will bless you as long as I live;

in your name I will lift up my hands.'

Psalm 63:1-4

I need to cry out to God. I need to acknowledge God as who He is to me. I need to seek God, for without Him I am parched and weak. I need to gaze upon the face of God. I need to behold His power and His glory. I need His love for it is better than any attempt of love on my own behalf. I need to praise Him for who He is, and who He continues to be in spite of myself. I need to bless God. I need to lift up my hands in personal and corporate worship. I need God. 

When these words become true of me, all the other needs that I have will fall into their proper places, for the essence of all that I need begins and ends with God...with a fixed gaze upon the all consuming face of God, the beautiful and fulfilling Person of God. 

A.W. Tozer, a brilliant writer and man of God, wrote these words: 

'Indeed, Jesus taught that He wrought
His works always by keeping 

His inward eyes upon His Father.
His power lay in His continuous 

look at God (John 5:19-21). In full
accord with the few texts we have 

quoted is the whole tenor of the inspired
Word. It is summed up for us in the
Hebrew epistle when we are instructed
to run life's race "looking unto Jesus, 
the Author and Finisher of our faith" (Heb 12:2) 

From all this we learn that faith is not 
a once-done act, but a continuous 

gaze of the heart at the Triune God. 
Like the eye, which sees everything 

in front of it and never sees itself, faith
is occupied with with the Object 

upon which it rests and pays no attention
to itself at all. While we are looking 

at God, we do not see ourselves--blessed riddance. 
The man who has struggled to purify 
himself and has had nothing but repeated 
failures will experience real relief when 
he stops tinkering with his soul and looks 

away to the perfect One. While he looks 
at Christ, the very things he has 

so long been trying to do will be 
getting done within him. It will be God 

working in him to will and to do. ' (
The Pursuit of God p.90, 91)

Sweet Jesus,

Remind me of my Savior's words in John 15--

"Abide in Me and I in you....for apart from me, you can do nothing." 

Tune my heart to sing your praise today. Remind my ever wandering heart of my desperate need for you. As I live these blessed moments that you have given me today, I pray that my heart would desperately seek you, as in a dry and weary land. I pray that more than anything else, I would long for your presence and the beauty of your fellowship as I abide in You and You abide in me. 

Remind me that although I may set about to do great things, 

apart from you, I can do nothing--nothing of value anyway. For it is You, at work within me, that any good comes. 

Let your goodness, like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to thee. 

Turn my eyes away from myself that I may gaze upon you

and in that gaze, let me see myself for who I am and more importantly, may I see You for who You are and a result, may I truly understand what it means to live and love. 

By the blood of the Perfect Lamb, I pray, Amen. 

<><tce

a sober celebration

'And on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, 

his disciples said to him,

"Where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?"

And he sent two of his disciples and said to them, 

"Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. 

Follow him, and wherever he enters, say to the master of the house,

'The Teacher says, Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?'

And he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready;

there prepare for us."

And the disciples set out and went to the city and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover. 

And when it was evening, he came with the twelve. And as they were reclining at the table and eating, Jesus said,

"Truly I say to you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me."

...

And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, 

"Take; this is my body."

and he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it.

And he said to them, 

"This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many..."

Mark 14:12-18, 22-24

Imagine......

Thirty three years of wandering this dusty planet as a misunderstood, accused and disliked man, 

God--the Creator of the Universe, the Defender of the weak, the King of kings, Lord of all lords, the Giver of all good things--confined to a human body, the Creator becomming created...

was all coming together. 

The grand finale was about to begin. 

The groaning of creation longing for redemption was about to be answered. 

Christ was about to be delivered. 

betrayed.

beaten. 

mocked.

denied. 

stripped.

humiliated. 

crucified. 

The final players were being put into place as a God's beautiful plan of redemption began to unfold.

Humanity stood oblivious. 

Families made plans for their own celebrations. 

The food prepared. 

The tables set. 

People unaware of the Messiah for which they had long dreamed of was not only among them, but preparing to redeem them. 

A common man. An unlikely group of common men, with little in common except for their Teacher. 

A common celebration. 

An eternity changing, life redeeming, sin forgiving celebration was about to begin in this small upper room and culmiate near a common tomb. 

Sitting among the common was the Divine. 

Sitting and reclining with sinners was the Spotless Lamb of God. 

Those in need of redemption, dining with the Redeemer. 

unaware. 

It didn't start in this room. It didn't start in a stable, thirty three years prior. 

It started before the formation of the world. 

God set out to glorify Himself through the redemption of His fallen creation

through the blood of His Son. 

As they gathered around the table to celebrate Passover, 

undoubtedly Christ was overwhelmed with emotion...

knowing what lay ahead of him and knowing what lie behind, 

He humbled Himself, 

took the form of a servant and became obedient--

even to death. 

He took the bread, broke it as a symbol of his soon to be broken body on their behalf and shared it with the oblivious and undeserving sinners sitting around Him. 

He took the wine, poured it out and passed it around...

"This is my blood poured out for many..." 

Poured out for those that will choose to accept it 

and poured out for those that would choose to deny it. 

Poured out for the undeserving, the slefish, the lustful, the needy, the arrogant, the shamed, the fearful, the angry, the broken.....

poured out for you. 

poured out for me. 

There isn't a single life on earth that is not in need of this blood of the covenant. 

Tonight, as you dine, let the somber truth of tonight wash over you. 

Let Christ meet you where you are. 

Turn your eyes upon heaven, and gaze into His wonderful face. 

Allow the things of earth to fade away.

Take the bread and remember that His body was broken for you.

Drink of the cup, and allow the all sufficient sacrificial blood of Christ cover it all. 

All of your strivings. All of your fear. All of your shame. All of your achievements. All of your regret. All of your hopes. All of your dreams. All of the broken dreams. 

Whether you are a in beautiful church of stained glass or whether you are wandering with no place call home, Christ's body and blood was shed for you.

What will be your response? 

"Take and eat; this is my body.

Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." 

~Jesus Christ

Matthew 26: 26b,27b,28a

<><tce