Reflections and Responses

It's amazing to think at how different life is for John and I this Christmas compared to last Christmas. Christmas can be a time of nostalgia and reflection as one year comes to a close and minds begin to spin, dreaming and plotting out courses and goals for 2011. A few things that are different for the Harpers at Christmas 2010 compared to 2009: - We live in Atlanta versus Cumming. - We are involved in Passion City Church. - Our family has expanded (hey, we got a cat, that counts!) - We both work at different places than we did last year. - We are busily preparing for Passion 2011 this year, where we will be as soon as Christmas has passed. - John's family is joining mine for one big Christmas lunch this year, which is a blessing. - Our families have both experienced various job and life changes. - John joined a hunting club and bought an old truck that allowed him to spend many happy mornings in the woods doing what he loves. - We were affected by wonderful memories we made i...

I kind of feel like I have been living the last few weeks on autopilot. Do you ever feel this way? My days have been so full that I'm just going through the motions, sliding (more like racing) from one activity to the next, but not fully present anywhere that I am. I almost feel like I have started a mental countdown in my head for everything that I do (ex: Christmas and Passion 2011), and I'm watching time as it passes by rapidly instead of BEING in and seizing every moment. I'm enjoying moments, but I'm letting them happen to me instead of approaching life proactively. Living this way has a numbing effect, making me not fully aware of everything around me. I'm just existing and floating from one moment to the next without really synthesizing anything mentally. I don't like to live this way. I wonder if it is a defensive mechanism I have put up in order to avoid being overwhelmed by the many things that are happening around and to me. I told a friend the other ...

I really dislike how it's not okay to be "not okay" in our culture. Let me explain. In the Bible, some of most inspiring key players (say, David and even JESUS!) struggled and had low low's. As He was dying, Jesus asked God to take the cup from Him, if it was His will. He was struggling. It was a low low. Fast forward to 2010, and somehow our culture completely shuns brokenness. In fact, we assume someone is weak or has a flawed personality if they are down. Most of the time, we don't even ADMIT when we are struggling because we fear how others will perceive us. We fear rejection, gossip, and that others will think badly of us if we admit we are dealing with sadness, fear, depression, or sin. The enemy loves it when we keep our seasons of struggle hidden from others. Evil thrives in the darkness. When we don't tell anyone about our struggles, we isolate ourselves and basically wilt, receiving nothing to alleviate our pain. When we are honest about struggles, c...

“Gratitude is the inward feeling of kindness received. Thankfulness is the natural impulse to express that feeling. Thanksgiving is the following of that impulse.” - Henry Van Dyke I stumbled upon these words from Henry Van Dyke this morning and was taken aback. His explanations of these similar words are poignant, though I was challenged by the truth that "thanksgiving" is a verb. Merriam-Webster is in agreement with Van Dyke in his treatment of the word as an action. It is defined there as: "1. the act of giving thanks." In our (sometimes warped) culture, thanksgiving is way more about receiving than giving anything. On Thanksgiving (the holiday), we receive excessive amounts of food while also receiving a few days of vacation from our livelihoods. Most of us feel very grateful toward God in our hearts but do not act on our feelings or truly GIVE thanks. I challenge you to pray about thanksgiving (the word in general and the holiday) and ask God how He wants you...

Atlanta has been exploding with colors over the last few weeks. The leaves are absolutely astounding - crimson, yellow, and fiery orange. I have really appreciated the beauty this year and realized how much this landscape screams of the glory of God. There is much irony in the fact that leaves are the most beautiful when they are dying. I see an obvious paradox in the God-breathed and God-glorifying death of the leaves and the concept of dying to self as a believer. Jesus said in Luke 9:23: "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me." We glorify God the most (elevate Him; praise Him, draw attention to Him) when we say no to our selfish desires, "dying" to our flesh and yielding to God's best for us. We glorify and radiate Him when we die to our desire to be great/famous/popular, to our sinful desires, to our desires to control our own lives. When we die to the idea of making ourselves the leader of our lives...

Imitating Christ’s Humility 1 Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. 5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature[a] God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature[b] of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross! 9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and ga...

It took longer than usual for me to fall asleep last night. I don't know what exactly kept me awake - the buzz of the Braves game John was watching in the living room, or me dreading my exercise class in the morning, or what - but my mind began wandering. I was reminded of a stage I went through in the fourth grade. I would wake up in the middle of the night and not be able to fall asleep every single night for what seemed like months. Every time this happened, I would creep across the hall and stand at the foot of my parents' bed and announce that I couldn't sleep. Eventually, my parents set up all kinds of activities near my bed to help me get back to sleep. I remember reading "chapter books" and listening to Seal's "Kissed by a Rose" on my boxy black CD player in the middle of the night, hoping that these soothing activities would do the trick. Usually they did. Eventually my parents confronted me gently and said that I really didn't need to c...