R-71 -- You signed for it to go on the ballot. Now VOTE!!!

Ever since I got my ballot in the mail I've been a little afraid. Churches had a mass-movement to sign the petition to put Senate bill 5688 on the ballot. And people signed R-71 en masse. But I don't think everyone was aware of what exactly they were signing -- I wasn't at first. The Referendum only accomplished putting this bill on the voting ballot by getting enough signatures. It did not change any decisions that have been made. In order to make the bill pass or not pass people now need to vote - on, or before November 3, 2009.

If you are a registered voter, please don't forget to exercise your rights this November! If going to a voting location is too much trouble, you can request an absentee ballot from http://www.piercecountywa.org/pc/abtus/ourorg/aud/elections/voterservices/vbmrequest.htm. (The form takes about ten seconds to fill out!) If you don't receive your ballot in time for Pierce, you can go and vote at a polling location. Find the list by clicking on "Polling Places" on http://www.piercecountywa.org/pc/abtus/ourorg/aud/elections/main.htm. King County votes entirely by mail now.

I received this blog post in an e-mail this morning -- extremely timely. I am re-posting it, as it gives a perspective of both sides. (Read the comments.) All I will say about it is that I wish the first one-word comment was not there. I do not endorse it or agree with it, and am reluctant to put a link to that in my post. But the rest of the stuff is pretty good and is worth reading, so please do. And then please vote.

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2009/oct/25/persecuted-should-know-better/#comments

Thankful

I have been blessed with two wonderful small groups where every week I have a chance to spend time with beautiful people, open up to them, hear them open up, and pray. And for the past several weeks these groups have been nothing but a constant reminder of how blessed I am to have what I have. Hearing about other people's struggles has filled my heart with overwhelming gratitude for having almost a perfect life. And even though Thanksgiving is a month away, I just want to share all the things that I have been thankful for lately and the stories -- no names mentioned -- that made me more aware of those blessings.

I am thankful for my family, and especially for the fact that they are close. There isn't just one prayer request that came up in recent group discussions where someone asked for unity in the family, restoration of the family, and more open relationships with parents, siblings, and spouses. There is an overwhelming sense of wanting to belong with the people that are most dear to our hearts. There is a yearning for security and stability in relationships with a unit that is supposed to automatically accept you as you are, but often does not. It's not that I wasn't aware of the fact that my family is a blessing before. But lately I have been extra thankful for it. Perhaps the only completely open, accepting, and secure relationship that I have is with my family. I know that I belong there. I know that my home is a place where I'll be taken care of and accepted, no matter what! And home is only an hour away. So I can tap into that security literally at any moment that I want! My family is what I value most, and I can't believe that I am the one who was blessed to have that relationship in the middle of the world where people view it as an exception.

Another thing I'm thankful for is my apartment. I'm thankful that it's cozy, warm, safe, and secure. I'm thankful that I can afford it. I'm thankful that my landlord is normal. And I'm thankful that I'm at a place in life where I can have a space that is entirely my own and that I love coming back to every day. Both of my prayer groups lately have had people struggle with finding a good living situation. Some of them went through waters and fires to find a suitable place to settle down. Others have been looking for compatible roommates and struggling with deciding or even finding an honest person to live with. Their prayers made me way more appreciative of something that - I hate to admit - I took more for granted at first. By His grace, God has made the transition from my parents' house into my own so smooth and painless that I thought that this is the way it always works. And I'm just overwhelmingly appreciative of this now that I see what people go through just to find A place to live -- not to mention a place they love, like I love mine.

I'm thankful for my job. As much as it's not a dream job, I have to admit that I get it pretty easy. Within certain restrictions, I am pretty much on my own time. I've been blessed with a supervisor that people only wish for -- the kind that protects his team and looks for resources to aid them in their work instead of nitpicking on every mistake and micromanaging every step. The amount of work that I do can often be overwhelming. But at least it's not the kind that I have to worry about before going to bed at night. And an overwhelming amount of work is much better than no work. Especially in this economy. My position is secure. I have no reason to worry about being fired. My benefits are excellent. And my department is for the most part awesome -- I get along with everyone. I respect our director and am learning a ton of things from him, as well as from my supervisor. And the pay, although not exactly anybody's dream salary, is more than enough to pay for my bills, trips, and entertainment without getting into debt. I hear people praying for situations that seem insanely overwhelming to me. Bosses that yell and don't deal with glaring issues. Situations that are unethical, at the least, which supervisors choose to close their eyes on. Unfair compensation, unreasonable hours, and unfathomable co-workers. All those thing just make me extra thankful for what I have but often don't value.

I am thankful for all the Christians who surround me. I see people who struggle with loneliness and don't have that resource available to them. I got depressed on Monday. That feeling only lasted for a couple hours. And the reason for a quick recovery from something that people struggle with for years is a community of Jesus -loving people who were praying for me or were just there to talk to me and surround me with love. God centered fellowship made me snap out of it faster than anything esle could have. But there are so many people out there who don't have that! They don't have people they trust and can be open enough to pray with. They don't have unjudgmental understanding, and support. All they have is an overwhelming avalanche of emotions to deal with all on their own -- a difficult task at the least! I've been blessed with an incredible amount of people through whom God pours out His love on me in a competely tangable way! And I'm very thankful for that.

I feel cradled in God's arms. I feel like He takes care of me really well, and sometimes seemingly much better than of the people around -- although I KNOW that it's not true because He loves EVERYONE. I don't deserve it. But I am out of my mind thankful for it.

Katy's Essay

My friend Katy allowed me to repost this. It's an essay she has written for one of her bible school classes. It can most definitely relate...

"Hindrance of the gospel in the Slavic Church"

"What is the purpose and mission of the church on earth? Is it not to be Jesus’ hands and feet? In His everlasting mercy, God brought many Slavic immigrants to the United States for a better chance at life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The question now is: What is the purpose and mission of the Slavic Church in the land of the free? It should still be the same. However, through my experience of growing up in such a church, I have realized that it has lost focus of this mission. It has forgotten the Spirit and character of Jesus’ teachings. He preached salvation through grace, not works, and that one cannot achieve a state of being “good” because everyone is in dire need of repentance. Jesus entrusted us with the Great Commission, teaching that the church must be missional. It must go out and tell people about Him in the community, city, and the world (NIV Acts 1:8).

Jesus said, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (NIV Matthew 28:19). When people from the former USSR immigrated to the United States, they started Russian-speaking churches because it was the easiest thing to do. This in itself is not a bad thing. I understand that people who move to another country often have difficulty fitting in. It makes complete sense to gather together with a community that is comfortable: from the same country, culture, and language. However, it becomes a major problem when a church like this stops being missional. I have seen this happen far too many times. A group of Slavic believers gather as a church, and get so caught up in themselves and their traditions that they forget the community that God has placed them in. They become a stagnant church, a church that only serves itself. Because of its traditionalism, which easily develops into a religion of its own, the Slavic Church, perhaps unwillingly, becomes very segregated against people who are not like it. Growing up in a church like this, I looked down on American Christians because I was led to believe that the majority of American churches were not true Christians based on the fact that they did not honor God like we did by their outward appearance. This separation from those who are not like it, resulted in the church not being mission-oriented in its community. The Slavic Church must concentrate on being missional in the community where God placed it and accept everyone like Jesus did through grace. The church must become a church that Christ wanted it to be – His hands and feet.

Jesus’ vision for His church can be summed up in the word, “grace.” Grace teaches that God loves us in spite of what we do, not because of it. He demonstrated His love by dying for us while we were yet sinners (NIV Romans 5:8). Therefore, we are at this time the recipients of His love unconditionally, even though we are sinners. It is in no way about what we can do to earn God’s love. A mentality that I have seen in the Slavic Church strongly believes in salvation through obedience to the law and tradition. In essence, the belief states, “If one follows the rules that we have established, God will love them. However, if one does not follow these rules, God will not love them.” This contradicts and belittles God’s grace. Not only is it not true, but it is deceiving, misleading and a hindrance for the gospel. One elderly lady, a member of a Slavic Church in the area, told me once, “You will not get into heaven because your ears are pierced and your makeup is excessive.” However, in Galatians 2:6, I read: “God does not judge by external appearance.” In Jesus’ day, the Pharisees were obsessed with following the law to the dot. If they were doing the right thing, why was Jesus so upset with them? Why did Jesus justify his disciples for “breaking the tradition of the elders” and eating with unwashed hands (NIV Matthew 15:2)? He said that it is not what goes in the mouth that makes one unclean, “but the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man ‘unclean’” (15:17). He was infuriated with the Pharisees for focusing so much of their attention on the outward, which ultimately did not matter, and completely overlooking the inward, which was utterly important. All of these rules and traditions put forth by Slavic churches are precisely what hinder the gospel. How is one supposed to come to Christ if they are told about a God who loves them conditionally, depending on how good they are? This mentality is what the Slavic Church constantly battles with. I am not calling the church to completely stop doing works because “faith without deeds is dead” (NIV James 2:26). However, it is grace that should be the motivation to works, not faith alone. What compels us to respond with action, is realizing that we, who are undeserving, are loved by a magnificent God.

Everyone is a sinner. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (NIV Romans 3:23). No one measures up to God’s standards of holiness and purity, except through Jesus Christ alone. This is precisely why grace is so important. The gospel teaches that there are bad people who choose to repent and bad people who choose to stay unrepentant (Mark Driscoll). Legalists believe themselves to be righteous and justified by their actions. Jesus disagrees. He calls them “hypocrites” and “white washed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean” (NIV Matthew 23:27). This self-righteous mentality makes them painfully exclusive, which is the very opposite of Jesus’ gospel. It results in them pushing people further away from the gospel instead of opening their arms to offer acceptance like Jesus did. They do open their arms to people. But those people must look a certain way as well as agree to adhere to certain rules and traditions in order to be accepted. Their acceptance of people is very conditional and not in the least all-loving. Jesus is inviting everyone to be a part of the church. Who are we to think we have authority to decide if some people are better suited to be the church than others, solely based on whether or not they fit the parameters we set up for them; parameters that we somehow come up with and then add to the Bible? It is like the words of the song that say, “Jesus paid much too high a price for us to pick and choose who should come” (Casting Crowns “If We Are the Body”).

The Slavic Church in the United States has gotten carried away in religion and has forgotten its first love for Jesus. The church has ceased to be missional and continues to unwittingly turn people away from the gospel because of its standards of “holiness.” The legalists who fill the church ignore and belittle grace by trying to attain God’s favor by works. They arrogantly view themselves as “good” people because they follow the law. This is a very dangerous position to be in. This attitude is the reason why people have stopped coming to Christ through the Slavic Church. It is the biggest hindrance to the gospel and it must be stopped. There is nothing more disgusting than a church that does not live out what it preaches. A church like this brings condemnation upon itself. It is time to let go of the traditions and legalism. They are not working. It is not worth it to be holding on to a culture while turning people away from Christ. It is all about Jesus. It is not about religion, but about relationship. Instead of doing everything to hinder the gospel, let us do everything to open the way for Jesus to be glorified! Nothing else matters."

The Things Obstructing God's Voice

I've been thinking about this post for about a week but haven't had time to write because of an overwhelming backup at work. But now I'm all caught up, and finally back to writing. The topic that God has placed on my heart has been prompted by an uncomfortable situation that forced me to analyze and re-evaluate a few things in my life. For a little while -- maybe a week or two -- I stopped reading my Bible. Have no misconceptions -- this HAS happened before. But ever since my dedication last November, whenever routine takes over and I don't read, it feels suffocating. It literally feels like someone has cut off the source of energy from me and I slowly lose my strength. I hunger for the word and especially for the fellowship with God that it allows.

Ironically, right during the time of my rut a friend invited me out for coffee. The friend is not a believer, but expressed excitement about hearing more about God during text messaging the night before. This made me uber-excited, perhaps a little too soon, because the next message completely threw me off. "If I respect your faith, will you respect my decision to be an atheist?" How would you respond to that? With little time to think, and knowing that I can only reply correctly with the help of the Holy Spirit, I said a quick prayer and listened. Sure enough, an answer came in a few seconds. But they felt like a lifetime. And during the tiny delay that almost threw me into panic I realized that there were a bunch of things occupying my mind that were completely in the way of God's voice!

After analyzing this situation, the meaning of the verse "All things are lawful, but not all things edify." (1 Cor. 10:23) came to me in a brand new light. Growing up in a traditional Russian baptist church, I was used to strict rules: don't smoke, don't drink, don't dance, don't listen to music, don't wear short skirts, don't watch TV. Unfortunately restrictions never really came with convincing explanations about why those things aren't supposed to be done. And naturally, without an explanation, the rules were followed only by those who never question what they're told or are deathly afraid of upsetting their parents. (A good thing. Until you are stuck in the rut of legalism and miss the whole point of Christianity.)

I am positive that for everything restricted there are millions of good reasons. But one of them especially stood out to me that night. Like trying to listen to a sermon on a radio frequency that is far away and is being used by another station closer, all the things that are addictive or just not edifying obstruct our connection with God. The music we listen to, the movies that we watch, the books that we read and the magazines that we look at, all contribute to a huge salad of thoughts that occupy our mind. The more influences there are, the more difficult it becomes to distinguish which one is speaking at which time. And the reason that it's important to stay away from all those influences as much as possible, is the ability to hear and recognize God's voice quickly in situations when you're put on the spot.

God is always faithful. He never fails to give us wisdom in an emergency. He often speaks in unexpected ways through mediums that we might think are already too familiar to get anything out of -- songs, places, people. But in order to show His faithfulness and love to others, we need to be filled with Him. We need to be read-up, prayed-up, worshipped-out, and constantly alert. We also need to stay away from anything that obstructs His voice and quickly repent once convicted, before any small sin puts a wedge between our relationship with God and draws us further and further away from His love. Only then it will be easier to instantly recognize His voice in difficult situations, and truly show His love to others out of the overflow of it in our own lives, without compromising principles, values, and convictions.

The Absense of God

Julia thanks for sharing this. It gave me goosebumps... I love you girl!!!

Grace... Again

Sometimes I feel like an idiot. I can tell that God is talking to me, and I can even tell what the main theme of His communication is. But I have trouble applying it to my life and specific situations because it seems... well.... not applicable! He also seems to speak in global themes for a short amount of time. In the beginning of this summer He was speaking about restoration. Last spring it was prayer. The end of August I clearly heard about using time wisely but couldn't make out exactly for what I'm supposed to use it. Now it's grace. And there is no bigger topic than that in my life.

The reason why I feel stupid is because I thought that whatever there was to know about grace I knew because I lived through it (a ridiculous statement, I know). And now I can clearly tell that God is reminding me about it, but I don't know if something will happen for which I will need it again or whether I need to use some on others. Or if it's just a friendly reminder: there's this topic that you, as My child, need to know about and always remember. Here's a review... Has anyone else ever had that happen in their walk with God? You'd think that He would keep talking until I got exactly what's up. And He does do that when I need answers for specifics in my life. But not when it's global themes like this. THIS He likes to switch around all the time. He spends maybe a month to a month and a half on a topic and then changes it up. And I don't know why!!! I remember the topics for a long time, as you can tell. I just don't know where exactly to use them or whether I'm supposed to at all. But back to grace.

Growing up in a Christian home, I've always been aware of the word. I understood it in my mind as a concept applicable to sinners. I never really tied it to love until God drove the point home in the way that I least expected. But that's the best thing about grace I guess. You never expect it. I really wish that I could share all the details of my experience with the world, but for fear that it might be taken the wrong way, I will stick to general concepts and lessons learned.

I have sinned against God once again, and once again I was remorseful and wallowing in guilt because of what I've done. But the worst thing was that I didn't feel like I had the power to truly carry out my promise, once again, to never repeat that sin. God knew it too, and in my heart, I knew that there would be repercussions for what I've done. I also sensed exactly what it was going to be. I'd have to give up one of the ministries that I was involved in -- the one I loved the most and it appeared unthinkable to drop. Months passed, as God graciously prepared my heart and mind for the realization that it will truly happen. Once I settled with the thought that I will have to leave, He carried out His discipline and took that ministry away. But the people involved didn't exactly act like instruments in His hands. What the people thought I'd done wasn't true in the slightest bit. A lot of slander and gossip was involved, as they acted exactly like the people from Psalm 68:26 "To the one You have punished, they add insult to injury; they add to the pain of those You have hurt."

Through my walk with God I knew that the only thing that matters is where I stand before Him rather than what the people think. Thoroughly confused though about what I've really done and what others were saying I've done, I ran to Him fully expecting, ready for, and open to condemnation, rebuke, and judgment, since that's what the people around me were expressing. What I unexpectedly found instead was a shower of grace poured out on my life through my personal reading and through the sermons I heard at all sorts of different churches and services. The message I got was loud and clear. I love you. I know about all of the sins that you have committed and will commit. And I've loved you even before you were born all the while knowing about that. That's why I sent My Son to take your place. I don't love you any less when you have sinned or any more when you don't. I am your father, and although I discipline you, I will ALWAYS keep loving you the same way, regardless of your actions against Me. When you take one step back towards Me, I will run to you and embrace you in My loving arms to comfort, protect, and provide for you. I'm glad you returned to Me again, and all I want to do now is show you My heavenly love...

Of course that made me realize how grace works on an entirely different level. And I guess a healthy reminder never hurt anyone. I'd like to thank my Mars Hill small group for inspiring me to write about this. And Katy. Girl you've been a blessing in my life on more than one occasion and I'm just extremely happy that I can somehow be involved in what God is doing in yours, because it's incredible. Keep living out his word, and truly acting as His instrument, because it affects others in ways you can't even imagine.