Long Time, No Blog.....

Ok, I have been doing a lot of reading, thinking, and just wondering lately. There are three things I can not seem to shake lately and I thought I would get them off my chest...

1. What is God's plan for me? I have been giving that a lot of thought lately. I want to know what God's will is in my life. I know God will show me exactly what it is when the time comes....I even feel he might have already started showing me, but for some reason I want confirmation. Is that wrong? Am I crazy? Help....anybody....


2. Are we taking time out to pay attention to God like we should? I read Velvet Elvis and wanted to know more about what things were like in Jesus' time. Rob Bell highlighted some Jewish beliefs and customs that made me want to understand more. So I checked out a book Rob Bell recommended...."Jewish Spirituality" by Rabbi Lawrence Kushner. He brought out a point about God and Moses. In Genesis, when God talks to people, there is no doubt they were talking to God, except when Jacob wrestled the mysterious person (God/Jesus/Angel). But, when God first appeared to Moses it was in a burning bush. The Rabbi pointed out that Moses did not see the bush and run towards it, however he studied the bush and realized it was not being consumed by the fire and found that interesting enough to take a closer look. It was in that closer look that Moses talked to God. What if Moses had just passed it off as another burning bush? What if Moses did not pay close attention to the fire? What if I didn't stop and look for God everywhere? What if God wanted me to watch Him that closely? What if God wanted me to focus on Him like that?

3. Do we reach out to non-christians like we should? The Rabbi told a story that he said was legendary to Jews... It was about a rich man not paying attention during a message at the synagogue and kept dozing off. The man thought he heard God(It was actually the people in the synagogue chanting Leviticus 24:5-6) tell him to bake twelve loaves of Challah (A twisted egg bread) and place it in the ark in the front of the synagogue. The man did as he felt God wanted. A couple hours after he did this a poor man, who so happened ;) to be the janitor, prayed to God for food. When he cleaned the ark he found the bread. To make a long story short this went on for twenty years, at which point the Rabbi caught them and chastised them for doing this saying "God does not eat Challah or bake Challah" When the rich man asked if they should stop the Rabbi responded:

"No. Each of you, look at your hands. Yours," he said turning to the rich man, "are the hands of God giving food to the poor. And yours," said the rabbi to the poor man, "also are the hands of God, receiving gifts from the rich. God can still be present in your lives. Continue baking and continue taking. Your hands are the hands of God."

Wow. My hands are the hands of God. Wow.....speechless. I never looked at it that way before....Am I being God's hands to everybody? Am I meeting the needs of others?

God, thank you for the opportunity to be your hands...may I do them justice, for I know I am not worthy.