Learn Through Me

It is Five-Minute Friday. A one-word prompt and five minutes to write. Today's prompt is

LEARN

Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge?

Brace yourself like a man; I will question you,

and you shall answer me.

Job 38:2-3

"What did you learn?"

"The sun rises and the sun sets. Between the days, lie the nights, silky and soft, distant stars punctuate the heavens, each rising and setting, rising and setting."

"Any fool know this. What did you learn?"

"Mountains ascend and they fall. Ocean waves travel without wind, soaring in mighty crests and collapsing upon land. Currents glide through the deep, slide through the deep, carve tunnels of change through the deep, stirring the great waters of the world.

An imperceptible shake, an impatient blink. "Not these. These are known. What did you learn?"

"Green things grow, they twine, they stretch, they establish roots into the earth and thus anchored, they reach for the light. Seas swarm with life of all shapes and sizes. Life that swims, that floats, that crawls across the ocean floor. Beasts of the land roam wide plains, cross turbulent rivers, bathe in calm pools and sleep in leafy bowers. Segmented creatures scurry and squirm, spin webs of great beauty, and flutter on jeweled wings. Birds, large and small, fly and soar through the skies, cloaked in satin feathers and warm down. Fur and skin, claw and tooth, antennae, feelers, mandibles, eyes and ears. The earth is filled with such as these."

"And...man? What did you learn of my children?"

Confusion.

"Wars and poverty continue. I have seen pockets of kindness, acts of unselfish love. I feel mankind's jealousy, anger, bitterness. I hear your children's prayers. Their pleading. I hear groaning both in pleasure and pain. They eat and they sleep. Some more and some less. What do you want me to tell you?"

Silence.

"There is nothing new under the sun."

"Then you must look beyond the sun. 

Do not be afraid. 

I am the First and the Last.

I am the Living One; 

I was dead, and now look, 

I am alive for ever and ever! 

And I hold the keys of death and Hades. 

Learn through me."

Pick Me...

But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, 

because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, 

blown and tossed by the wind. 

James 1:6

Pick me - pick me - pick me -

The words are an unending loop I can't quite contain.


Interviewing is kind of fun and kind of not.  Fun because I honestly like people.  I like to get to know them - I want to figure out what makes them tick, their passions, share their experiences.  I like to watch people - make them smile - gauge their eyes as they talk about family, or friends, or their favorite movie.  I like to listen to their voices - the timbre, the accents, the music, the way they put words together.  So, interviews put me in the path of people.


But on the flip side, while I'm enjoying people, they're evaluating me.  My resume.  My skills and knowledge.  And let's face it, my personality.  And I want them to like me.  And in this economy, when you interview for a job, there's usually more than relationship and experience on the line.  It's a JOB.


I went on an interview today.  Yes, I could definitely use the job.  Yes, I am qualified and certified.  But, for the first time in I don't know how long, I want THIS job in THIS place.  Because THIS place is really making a difference, and I want to be in the middle of that.  And the interview was different than any others in my experience.  It was all about RELATIONSHIP.  And about who I am - underneath the degrees, underneath the experience, underneath the career.  And that was hard.  Because underneath all those things - I still don't feel like I'm good enough sometimes.  I still feel like the kid on the schoolyard who's not the fastest, or the best - the kid with the wistful face - don't let me be the last one picked.


Yes, I prayed before going.  Yes, I've been praying - telling God I know He knows what He's doing (but I'd love a hint or clue just the same).  Yes, my head knows that I AM good at what I do, but..... No, I won't know until next week.

So until then,

pick me - oh Lord help me trust you - 
pick me - thank you for all the blessings you always give - 
pick me - is this the one - 
pick me - help me follow you - 

pick me - oh!  It's not all about me, it's picking the right person for this place that's making the difference - 

oh God, if it's me, let me be ready to do a good job, if it's not me, then continue to guide and direct me to Your right place and Your plan.  And thank You for helping me stop the unending loop...

Linking with:

Thought Provoking Thursday

Storm

God’s voice thunders in marvelous ways;

He does great things beyond our understanding.

He says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth,’

And to the rain shower, ‘Be a mighty downpour.’

So that everyone he has made may know his work.

Job 37:5-7

It rained again.  The weather reports were all over it - news about being under a tornado watch - severe thunderstorms.  Warm amoebic colors - red, orange, yellow - wound their way around the map on the television.  Counties and towns scrolled across the bottom of the screen.  Take shelter, take care.  It's coming.  Wind and water.  Coming our way.

We drove through it, my daughter and I, on our way home from meeting new friends - new friends with her syndrome, her age.  New friends for me - other parents - friendly, caring, knowledgeable.  On our way home from a good time with good people.  Through a storm.  Lightening flashed across the sky - long threads splintering against the blackness.  Beautiful.  Dangerous.  Headlights reflected on the pavement; painted lane lines disappeared in the water and reflection.  Trees swayed.  Big trees - rocked and swayed - bending with the gusts of wind.  The storm passed us, traveling north as we headed south.  Home.  To shelter.  Safety and sleep.

Morning felt like rebirth.  Air scrubbed clean by wind and water; it felt heavy, saturated.  The grass, a wet, thick, velvet carpet of deep green, was crowned with diamond droplets of moisture.  Trees stood proudly, taller than before the storm, pruned by the wind, pruned of dead branches, trunks darkened in contrast to the multitude hues of green leaves.

We drove through it, my daughter and I, on our way to a community event - a 5K sponsored by my school.  Through the aftermath.  Trees were down in places, laying across the ground with great rootballs and clinging mud.  Branches lay like litter - in the yards, on the road, in the parking lots.  The temperature had dropped.  It was cool, refreshingly cool, and the sky was clearing, and the sun was coming out.  A good day for community.

I took pictures before the race.  Pictures of flowers and trees - the growing things - the green things - the colorful-spring things.  The tulips bravely held their raggedness up to the new morning sun - torn by the storm - petals strewn on the ground below.  Grace, redemption, healing.  Azaleas shyly opened impossibly-colored buds - a party of brilliant blossoms.  Saturated, satiated, full.  The air, the earth, had been cleansed, made new.  They had been drawn through the wind and the rain, pulled through the storm - like sheep through a valley... And they had survived - strengthened.  It felt like rebirth.  Beautiful.  Dangerous.

Heavenly Father, thank you for taking us through the storms in our lives.  Thank you for rebirth. Remake us - beautiful and dangerous - your children for your glory.  

Universe Fellowship

This is a picture of one of the sculptures designed, and created by the youth from Bob's Diner.  You can read about this unique youth group by clicking on this link.

.

When the morning stars sang together 

all the sons of God shouted for joy...

Job 38: 7

Fortunately for me, I get to accompany my daughter to her youth group meetings.  She started attending  when we lived in Texas.  Fort Hood has an amazing, active group of up to 100 middle and high school youth, who attend Wednesday night meetings each week.  They call it Bob's Diner.  It is a different kind of community in that it's military - people come and go.  In fact, the leaders make it a point to let the kids know that they are always in transition.  At any time, about one-third of the youth are getting ready to PCS (the military member is making a Permanent Change in Station) away from Fort Hood , have recently PCS'd to Fort Hood, or are actually holding steady.  The kids were really good at welcoming new faces, at fellowshipping, and accepting one another.  They were wonderful with my daughter.  

Imagine being the leader of a group this size and this fluid.  Imagine trying to channel all of that energy, and youthful creativity, and curiosity, and impulse...  The couple in charge did (and continue to do) a great job!  First, they truly love the kids - each and every one of them.  They share their gifts with the youth - he, as an artist (kids from Bob's Diner made the statue in the picture under his direction), and she - as a musician.  She leads a Bob's Diner praise band composed of some very talented kids... They share their passion for Jesus.  

So, this morning, I was thinking of God's speech in Job - the poetry and majesty of Chapter 38.  You can read it here.  And when I came to the verse about the morning stars singing - I thought about a video played for us one Bob's Diner night.  It combines all of the gifts and passion of the youth leaders in a format that held all of our attention that night:   How Great is Our God!!!

Here's the thing.  I love how there's someone out there - Giglio who pulls the technology of YouTube and SETI and even an ipad mashup app, with praise and worship, together to present to someone like the youth leaders at Bob's Diner.  I love how the leaders at Bob's present this to us; kids and parents who live in transition.  I love how it combines science and the Bible.  In relationship.  Everything falls together, works together.  Kind of like fellowship.  Yeah, universe fellowship.  I like that.

God of the Heavens, thank you for praise and fellowship:  in art, in music, in groups like Bob's Diner.  Continue to guide and bless your messengers and leaders.