Am I too comfortable?

I wanted to share a quote from one of the books I'm reading, called the Silence of Adam by Larry Crabb.

I wonder if the central passion that rules our culture today is the passion to make life work. We think it should work: if not life in general, then certainly our lives at any given moment. We should feel good about ourselves, enjoy friendships, make a decent living, find a doctor who can cure us, and receive respect from our peers...

We are so shortsighted.

Why? Why are we drawn to small-picture living and uninspired by the chance to be lifted up into the bigger picture that God is drawing?

I wonder if we have, in our day, lost the excitement and drama of our calling: to reveal the unseen God by the way we live, especially by the way we relate to one another. The single most important truth about people is the truth most easily ignored: that we bear the image of God. As image-bearers, we are called to tell his story with our lives, not to tell our stories with his resources.

By neglecting that truth, the calling to be like God has been reduced to a whisper, and the invitation to make our lives work better is being given with a shout. ... The truth about revealing God to others through our lives has been reduced to religious rhetoric that receives our token assent. Meanwhile we go about the 'real' work of getting our lives together and making ourselves comfortable. We prefer practical help over a higher call to live by design.

Reading this passage last week convicted me of my desire to be comfortable and to focus on myself. It is so easy to get caught up in the world's mentality of working hard for a career, buying a house, raising a family, building up your 401k and looking towards retirement. We really have everything available to us that we need to be comfortable, and yet that is not what God has called us to.

The church I grew up in, Orangewood, changed their vision several years ago to "For Christ and His Kingdom, It's Not About Us." I appreciated that and how it reminds me to look outside myself. It was neat to see the church reach out more into the community and have a big impact there over the next several years. God is really using them in Maitland, Eatonville and greater Orlando. Over the summer, Jamie and I changed churches here in Atlanta, we are now attending All Souls Fellowship in Decatur, which is a plant from the church we were members of for 6+ years. We are joining All Souls next Sunday and are excited to be getting more involved.

One of the things we mentioned soon after visiting was that it made us uncomfortable (in a good way!), challenging us to view things differently and to look outside of ourselves. The church is very active in the city of Decatur, both in official ministries as well as members of the church serving in various ways. We are very excited to begin serving with them in the near future.

Changing churches was anything but a comfortable decision, we had a wonderful community of friends at Intown, and have now transitioned to a place where we know very few people, are beginning to attend a community group and are seeking to know others and be known there. I realize that takes time and I have been encouraged recently as the Lord has answered many prayers as we are beginning to have fellowship there.

I pray that as we seek to "reveal the unseen God by the way we live, especially by the way we relate to one another" with those that we meet at All Souls, and those that we work with every day, that God would be drawing us closer to Him and that we would be revealing His story rather than trying to tell our story with His resources.

Not For Sale

I finished reading this book a few weeks ago and I've been wanting to post on it ever since. If you have not heard about this book, it is definitely something you should read. The book is about the current state of the global slave trade. The author and his wife discovered that many of the people who worked at their favorite Indian restaurant were actually enslaved by the owner. The author was so shocked to find out this still occurred, that he spent time traveling the world and discovered how prevalent human trafficking really is today. Each chapter highlights a different country and one of the issues of slavery they are facing, whether sex/prostitution, bonded labor, child soldiers or another type. Each chapter also offers hope though, it includes a story of someone who has made it out of slavery there and profiles at least one organization in the country that is fighting that form of slavery.

It was a really difficult book to read, I cannot believe that these things are still going on in the world and even in the US. Shouldn't this have been eradicated somehow over the last several decades? It was so hard to read the stories of the survivors and what their families and friends suffered through, as well and how the law enforcement actually did more to help the traffickers that those enslaved in many cases. The stories of the abolitionists were really inspiring though, in the chapter on Cambodia, they featured the IJM office where my friend Lisa actually works. They also touched on the Invisible Children organization working with child soldiers in northern Uganda.

Our friend Sara, who is from Italy, was describing the other day about seeing eastern European women all over the streets in the bigger cities there and how they are selling their bodies to attempt to pay off the debts they owe to the person that brought them to Italy. There is a chapter in the book that focuses on Italy and it was really interesting to get a first person perspective on how true and prevalent this really is.

I heard from someone else that Atlanta vies with Las Vegas for the most trafficked individuals in the US, and I was really shocked at that statistic. The fact that I live in a city where a vast majority of trafficked persons enter the US and I really have no idea that it is going on, is very discouraging to me. There are several organizations in the city that some local churches have begun partnering with, so that is very exciting. Jamie and I are trying to figure out where to go from here, now that we are more aware of the return of the global slave trade.

Below is the link to the Not For Sale Campaign where you can find out more and get involved.

www.notforsalecampaign.org

A Different Perspective

My friend Lisa works with the International Justice Mission (IJM) in Cambodia. She was in the States over the summer and shared about the work they are doing with children who are sold into prostitution there. She shared this quote with us and it gave me a different perspective on the beatitudes, so I thought I'd share it here for you to read as well.

“Blessed are the poor…
not the penniless,
but those whose heart is free.

Blessed are those who mourn…
not those who whimper,
but those who raise their voices.

Blessed are the meek…
not the soft,
but those who are patient and tolerant.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice…
not those who whine,
but those who struggle.

Blessed are the merciful…
not those who forget,
but those who forgive.

Blessed are the pure in heart...
not those who act like angels,
but those whose life is transparent.

Blessed are the peacemakers…
not those who shun conflict,
but those who face it squarely.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for justice…
not because they suffer,
but because they love.”

-P. Jacob, Compartir, Santiago, Chile, “Bread for Tomorrow - Praying with the World’s Poor”

Draft Day

Labor Day weekend is Fantasy Football Draft Weekend for the Doran family (Jamie's mom's side of the family). Her brother Pat has been doing this for years and Jamie's dad, uncles and cousins also participate, along with several of Pat's friends from all over. Jamie and I have never gone up for the weekend as neither of us participate in the draft, but this year decided it would be fun to go.

We got to hang out with her grandparents and aunt Barb, with her cousins Will and Sam during the day. It was a fun afternoon of just hanging out, watching football and enjoying being together. For the actual draft, they rent out a room at a building in the town they live in and setup tables in a U shape with a big piece of paper on the front wall for each team. The winner from the last year gets a trophy and the loser gets to sit on the rolling toilet with all of the previous last place finishers' names on it! They go around the table selecting players, to fill up the 19 spaces on each team. For those of us not participating, we hung out in the back of the room, laughing and catching up. It also involved throwing the football around with her cousins, and taking lots of pictures.

After the draft itself, we moved over to the condos where we were staying for the after party. It was fun being outside, laughing and listening to lots of music. On Sunday morning we all gathered for breakfast at the golf club in her grandparents' neighborhood. After saying goodbye, we headed out of town to make it back to Atlanta in time for church that night. We had a lot of fun being with them in Tennessee as we hadn't been there in a while. We are looking forward to making it back up there in the Fall!

A few more pictures can be found here: www.nathanasmith.com

Worship and the Sabbath

We sang this hymn last night at church and I really appreciated it. It was to a different tune than I'm used to and it really helped to draw me into worship last night.

Jesus, Lover of My Soul

Jesus, lover of my soul, Let me to Thy bosom fly,

While the nearer waters roll, While the tempest still is high.

Hide me, O my Savior, hide, ’Til life’s storm is past;

Safe into the haven guide; Receive my soul at last.

Other refuge have I none, I helpless, hang on Thee;

Leave, oh leave me not alone, Support and comfort me.

All my trust on Thee is stayed, All help from Thee I bring;

Cover my defenseless head; In the shadow of Thy wing.

Thou, O Christ, are all I want, Here more than all I find;

Raise the fallen, cheer the faint, Heal the sick, and lead the blind.

Just and holy is Thy Name, I am all unrighteousness;

False and full of sin I am; Thou art full of truth and grace.

Plenteous grace with Thee is found, Grace to cover all my sin;

Let the healing streams abound; Make and keep me pure within.

Thou of life the fountain art, Let me take of Thee;

Spring Thou up within my heart; For all eternity.

Shayne preached from a passage in Isaiah and though he didn't specifically preach on these two verses, they stood out to me as something I was thinking about that afternoon.

Isaiah 58:13-14

"If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the LORD's holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, then you will find your joy in the LORD, and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob. The mouth of the LORD has spoken."

A friend I was talking with on the phone that afternoon ended our conversation with "I hope you enjoy the rest of your Sabbath." Sometimes I struggle with how to actually rest from work and set the day aside for the Lord. After church (or before right now), too often it feels like another Saturday afternoon, where I can run errands and get things accomplished. I do take the day off from working for my actual job, but often not from working around the house. Growing up we never ate out on Sunday, something I always thought we intentionally did so we wouldn't make others work on the Sabbath. I'm curious, what are some practical ways to observe the Sabbath now as the whole day, rather than only time at church and some time reading and praying? I love in the verse that it says when you do those things, you will find your joy in the Lord.

A Fun Saturday in July

Yes, I know, it is already September, but I wanted to post about our fun Saturday driving all over north Georgia and metro Atlanta. It was the last Saturday in July and my friend Will was getting married.

The wedding was up near Dahlonega, at a ranch/camp in the mountains. It was a morning wedding, so we had to get up really early and get on the road to make it in time. It was an outdoor wedding, which was beautiful there, but by 11/11:30 am, it was getting pretty warm wearing a suit. Regardless, the ceremony was fun and then we moved up into the main building for the brunch buffet as the reception. The food was SO good! They had tons of eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns, several other things, and then waffles, crispy, warm waffles! For some reason they were what impressed me, I expected them to be soggy from sitting in the warming tray, but it was not the case. Back to the reason we were there though, we hadn't met Will's fiance yet, so it was fun to meet Laura even though we didn't get to talk to her long. We also were able to catch up with some friends who have moved or go to a different church now. I'm glad we were able to be there to celebrate with them.

We found out earlier in the week that Jamie's uncle and aunt from Tennessee were going to be in town for the weekend and wanted to figure out a way to make it to see them since we had evening plans and they were leaving on Sunday. It meant heading out from the wedding and driving to her parents' house in Powder Springs (if you aren't from Atlanta, these are about 2 hours apart). We made it there and got to hang out with them for a few hours, chatting and playing the Wii. I got schooled in bowling even though I started out strong the first game. I did beat Jenn pretty good in tennis though, so that was fun. We had a lot of laughs and were glad to hang out with them as we hadn't seen them since the wedding.

Our evening plans consisted of Lawn Game Day, a fun afternoon/evening a group of us came up with so we could play bocce, badminton, horseshoes and cowboy golf. We ended up only having the first two options, but had a blast. We played with the Monster Badminton set my sister gave us a few years back and it was hilarious. We all jumped in the pool afterwards and cooked out for dinner. It was a really fun time to be outside and hanging out with friends. Our friend Lisa who works for IJM in Cambodia showed up in town and surprised everyone by coming as well, it was great to catch up with her too.

It was a really fun Saturday, though we were exhausted at the end, having been in the car for almost 200 miles and 4.5 hours, but it was so worth it to be able to do so many fun things in one day!

* For some reason the pictures seem a little blurry this time, if you click on them they are better quality.

Jeans Day

We got an email at work earlier this summer announcing that we could wear jeans on Fridays up until Labor Day weekend. Now I was able to wear jeans at my old position at the radio stations, so this wasn't really a big deal to me, but now that I'm at the corporate office, where the dress code is a little stricter, this brought woo-hoo's of joy out of people's offices down the hall. It is remarkable what this one little thing can do for people's morale and general spirits at the end of the week. Everyone was walking with an extra spring in their step those first few Fridays as we entered the building. You could see it on their faces that they were more relaxed. We received an email this past week that because of the good response and to thank the employees, they have decided to keep it for good and make "Jeans Friday" part of our corporate dress code. Hooray!