good as gold

happy thanksgiving!

my stinkin adorable little cousin ty was wearing this shirt titled "good as gold" yesterday at yet another epic family gathering. after teasing him about taking my shirt, in light of the holidays, i started to wonder what i would define as "good as gold" in my life.

the movie "the blind side" (highly recommended) shows the life of a man named michael oher, and the story of michael oher smacked my heart across the face. as i heard the story of the well-to-do tuohy family that adopted michael, an extremely large black teenager from a rough background, i saw the gospel shining through. as the southern hospitality shook me, i identified myself with michael, a character in need of saving, one who is helpless and prostrate before the hands of a loving father to take me in. i see michael's "teddy bear" heart of willing acceptance of worth as good as gold.

in psalms 53:3 it says "no one is good, not even one" but at the beginning of time, everything was good until genesis 2:18 when God said it isn't good for man to be alone. how does that work? my conclusion is that relationships are a direct blessing from the Lord in both good times and bad. relationships are hard. people are broken and we'll disagree, we'll change our minds and people will break our hearts. but why? in no other life experience have i understood the weight of the gospel more than when i've loved people well and it wasn't returned.

when i think of my life, i'm thankful. i could make 100's of points on just how ridiculously blessed i am. friends, family, living in God's country, ministry, gifts, turkey.. it goes on and on but when i think of what i lack and want more than anything, i love listening to this song by hillsong called "the desert song". i find that what my desires are most aligned with is the line

"And this is my prayer in the fire, in weakness or trial or pain.
There is a faith proved of more worth than gold
So refine me Lord through the flames."

i desire a believing faith able to be refined in flames, one that allows me to truly believe in what i see is true. that on a cross over 2000 years ago, love was defined. that 3 days later, my fate was sealed to be one with eternal life.

i've been reading a book for about 4 months now titled "the ragamuffin gospel." read it. it's like getting drunk on grace every half page, you will see the cross and your position more clearly, God willing after gracing yourself with it's presence. that being said, I want to leave you with this brief insight on grace. God bless friends, happy holidays!

"we never lay hold of our nothingness before God, and consequently, we never enter into the deepest reality of our relationship with him. but when we accept ownership of our powerlessness and helplessness, when we ackowledge that we are paupers at the door of God's mercy, then God can make something beautiful out of us."