"I Surrender!"... Do I Really Mean It?

I Surrender All, Take My Life... these are a couple of songs we sing at church. You know, "Take my life, Take all of Me, Take everything, It's all for You, Take my dreams, Take all my fears, Take Everything, It's all for You", but what happens when He actually takes you up on the suggestion? What if one morning you wake up and you have no job, no place to live, your dreams have been taken away and all that is left is just you, your family and God, with no clue what is going to happen next? Will you still stand firm and say, "It's all for you, take everything I am" or will you suddenly be angry with God and pout and blame Him for your lack of faith? Trust me this is more challenging than you think. In today's economy with unemployment rates sky high and housing almost impossible to find it's easy to ask God what His motives and plans are. However, we must remember that the Lord gives and takes away; that His ways are higher than our ways and that He promises to never leave us or forsake us. So, my challenge to you is this, when you sing these songs think about what you sing. Do you really surrender everything to Him? Is everything that you do really all for Him? Or are you just caught up in the moment?

Why the Valley is Best

I was reading in Matthew, Mark and Luke the account of the transfiguration of Jesus. Here you have Jesus up on the mountain with his three closest friends and disciples: Peter, James and John. They fall asleep while he has this transformation. They wake up just in time to see Jesus totally transfigured...in clothes "shining whiter than anyone coul bleach them". He's standing there with Moses and Elijah. What an awesome sight! As an American, I can't even imagine who would have had to have been standing there to have any kind of comparison for which I can relate. But Peter, wonderful Peter, responds probably how I would have. "It is a good thing that we are here. Let's build three tents (one for Jesus, one for Elijah and one for Moses)"(who cares about James and John or even Peter himself). And let's never leave this place. Let's stay here and worship!" Jesus tells him that there is work to be done in the valley and that they can not stay there. How many times in our walk with Christ do we want to stay on the mountain and not go back down to the valley. How many times do we come back from a convention, a conference, a prayer service and think, "This is good. It is good to be in the presence of God. I am going to stay here forever. I am never going back to the valley." And God says, "There is work still to be done. It's time to go back to the valley. Back to the people and places that don't care about God or His purpose or plan. Back to people who need a Savior." I don't understand why people always want that mountain top experience over the valley. I've been to the mountains. From a distance, they are breathtaking (and when you are on the mountain top, it's breathtaking in the fact that the air is so thin). But, when you start to get close to the summit, it really isn't so beautiful. The terrain is full of crags and rocks and there really is no life at the very top. No animals, no plants. The valley is lush and green and full of life. The valley is where it is at. Jesus is glad when we want to spend time with Him up on the mountain, but the valley experience is where it is at. It is where we truly grow and produce the crop of His harvest. My prayer is that I can see the Jesus in the valley experiences of life and see the beauty of the valley experience for what it is.