So Much Thanks

BUYING FRUITS AND NUT FROM A NAZARE STREET VENDER

You know it easy to be full of thanks on those warm sunny days when you have nothing to do but enjoy life. It's easy to say thank you when things are going my way. It's easy to count it all joy when time are good. But that is not the case a lot of the time. In fact it might be the case less than half the time in my life.
Every year this day of Thanksgiving comes around for America. And every year I have to stop and take a look at my life and think about being Thankful. I can imagine that with the economic situation in America this year there were a lot of people that were thinking about what they had to be thankful for this year. I hope that even if this has been a difficult season for you or your family, that you found something to be thankful for.
Our family had one of those hard life moments the day before Thanksgiving. While at the Corner Stone Academy, putting on an event called "Africa Day", we recieved a phone call from the states. A phone call from the states at 10:00 am is not good news most of the time. It was not good news. Paula's 102 year old grand father had pass away. And so we went into the Thanksgiving holiday under a dark cloud. We knew this would probably happen while we were over here, but it's harder to live it than imagine it. Roy lived a good life and at 102 he was probably ready to go hang out with Jesus. So that part was sad but not the hardest part. I think what was hardest for Paula was that she wasn't going to get to be with her family during this time. At the holidays, right after her grand daddy had passed away. And so we are left with that thought again. What do you do with thanksgiving when your not feeling all so thankful. Well here's a few things we are thankful for.

Thank you for keeping us afloat and supporting us even when the economy isn't doing great.
Thank you 5th grade 9:30 class for the care package that we recieved before Thanksgiving.
Thank you for the e-mails of encouragement.
Thank you that my friend Suz has gotten a clean bill of health and the cancer is in remission.
Thank you for the Hardy family who came over and shared Thanksgiving with us.
Thank you that we have a church community that really shares all things in common.
Thank you for my family and their health.
Thank you that the weather has been so nice for so long.
Thank you that Grand Daddy is hanging out with Jesus.
Thank you for the euro/dollar being closer in exchange rate.
Thank you for this crazy life.

I could go on and on, but I won't. Please keep praying for us and know that we are Thankful for you and will miss you this holiday season. Be Thankful and Be Blessed

Glory

This last weekend the core leadership team for the Lisboa Matrix traveled up to Nazare for our yearly leadership retreat. It was a time to gather together for work, fun and healing. We went with the expectation of growing together and looking at the direction we have been headed in as a church. What we discovered was our Glory

This weekend we looked at ourselves through the Father's eye. Who am I in your eye Father. How do you see me? There is a mythic reality that John Eldridge talks about in his book "Waking the Dead" that deals with the deep truth about who we are. It's a truth that sounds to good to be true. It is a truth that sleeps in us. A truth that must be awakened. A truth about our heart. It is a truth that calls us to be transformed from death to life. This truth comes in three parts.

1.Your Heart is Good.

2. You are in a Battle for your Heart the Heart's of others.

3. You have a Glory and that Glory is needed.

We entered into this search for our Glory this weekend. Zac gentlely walked us into the the shadowed waters of our heart. He asked us to listen for the Father's thought's about us. Spoke about Ireanus' quote "The Glory of God is man fully alive" Strectched us to think about how we think about our heart. Think about the fact that scripture says God has given us a new heart. And then he sent us out to listen.

I didn't have an explosive burning bush experiance, but there were things that I heard, felt though about and received. When we returned we shared and listened to how the Father might have shared or spoken to each other. And then I started to enter into my Glory.

Showing your Glory can be unnerving and almost embarassing, but it is how we enter into a full life in/with Jesus. As we processed our Glory and I asked, "Father, how do you see me? What is my Glory?" I remembered two seperate instances where people had spoken to me or had given me verses about a certain way they saw me. This is what they said, (get ready it really is out of this world), you are like David. WHAT!?!

The first time Scott Frazer gave me that Glory I thought, wow cool. Wish I was David. I mean King David rocks! But let's be real I am me. The second time was this summer at our CONNECT time for CAI. I had someone I respect a whole lot tell me. "You worship like David." Boy that felt good, and that's how I feel when I worship, but I know me. I'm a fake. I wish I was David, but let's get real. But it felt good to hear it. Then this weekend I realized that what is needed is my Glory and that my Glory is the new name my Father gave me. DAVID! Warrior, Poet, Lover and King.

Do I sound like I'm over the top here. Is it arrogent to think God would name me David? Is this really my Glory? Am I truley "A man after God's own heart" (I almost typed I don't know) but YES! I am. And I am going to dance, fight, pray, love, and create with the same heart of passion that God put into David. I am going to scream from the roof tops that my Glory, your Glory are needed in this epic battle. I am going to call out the broken hearted, and the chained and set them free from their shadowed hearts. I am going to reveal their Glory so that we can see them transformed. See them transformed like everyone who came into contact with Jesus. For it was not a yolk of slavery that Jesus came to bring, but freedom and life. Abundant life. Transformed life. You might have been Peter the fisherman, but now you are The Rock and I'll build my church on you. You might have been John, but now I call you Son of Thunder. You might have been Saul the murdering one, but now I call you Paul the Apostol. Jacob, you are Isreal. It all sounds so grand, to good to be true, but it's the mythic reality of being a child of God. A friend of Jesus.

Be what you were created to be. Let the Glory of the one who lives in you shine. Let all the world see it, that they might honor the Father who has given you your Glory. Fight for each others Glory, for each ohters hearts.

Be Blessed and Live in Your Glory