November 18, 2004

• Yogurt unleashes a story.

  
  

   

  
  

  My opening sentence for sharing at a college fellowship in Davis on Friday night will be about sharing good yogurt.  You know how it is, when you get a taste of something super-delicious, your natural reaction is to dig a spoonful and shove it in your friend’s face.  You hear good news, you shout it from the rooftops.  You find a treasure, you share it with your family.  That’s how it is, to me, with the Good News.  I found something super-awesome, so let me tell you about it!  Let me tell it to the world.  Hopefully, Friday night, yogurt will unleash a compelling story that will cause these Asian Americans to cross the waters and take an adventure of faith this summer.

  
  

   

  
  

  Prayer unleashes the power of God.

  
  

   

  
  

  Sometimes I really wrestle with the Scriptures.  Is it indeed true that in Christ, we have power…?  The Bible says that incomparably great power belongs to those who believe.  But when I read these words, I wonder how come I don’t experience it on the daily basis?  I find myself asking, “Lord, what does this power look like, feel like, taste like?”  How do I gain access to this power?  If I pray hard enough, long enough, squeeze my eyes together tight enough, then will I be able to experience that power?  I would be a sad Christian if I let these words and truths and promises pass me by without investigating further.  This “incomparably great power” sounds great!  Oh Lord, please show me what you mean!  Somehow I have a feeling it has something to do with prayer – that it is prayer that unleashes the power of God.  But I’m not exactly sure how.

  
  

   

  
  

  Good writing unleashes the feelings of the soul.

  
  

   

  
  

  Writing sometimes feels to me like trying to straighten out a wrinkled sheet of paper or trying to beat the dust out of a floor mat.  You have to wrestle and work with it until it comes out clean and smooth and to your heart’s satisfaction.  I often write until all the words fall in a harmonious sequence, so much so that you can anticipate the rhythm while you read and hear the music while you listen.  If the words can draw a picture and the audience is able to take in the words without being aware of the separate words and separate sentences and without feeling the primitive halting and jerking that is the result of the novice at his pen, then it is a well-written piece, worth my while.  It has achieved its purpose of unleashing the feelings of the soul. 

  
  

   

  
  

  Confession unleashes the joy that exists in the heart.

  
  

   

  
  

  There’s something about bringing trespasses and feelings of guilt, shame, disappointment, doubt and bitterness into the light that sets us free.   When we bring out into the open the lie that we must live with these things, we are no longer oppressed.  We realize that they are lies.  And suddenly we are able to walk in freedom – the freedom that God has already granted us in Christ Jesus.  So rip apart those sins and bad misery that bind you.  Confess and acknowledge out loud, and the joy that exists deep in your heart will be unleashed! 

  • 9:06 pm
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