Blessed Beyond Measure

"For some people a reward is like a red or a gold ferrari. They often think in static terms, like the best the Creator can come up with is a car that needs an oil change. Reward, in Jesus language, is always a dynamic presence in reality." -Rob Bell, Mars Hill Bible Church

I've struggled since I started the blog, and for that matter joined Facebook, to keep my left hand from knowing what my right hand is doing. The idea of publicly declaring what you're doing with your life seemed, and still does sometimes, narcissistic. Starting a blog with such a theme as 'spending yourself' has lead me to question my motives for doing things more than once. Fasting from blogging has come up, but I've promised to update you regularly with my happenings, so whether you're really reading this or not, I'm going to. Maybe I'm rationalizing, but I hope that writing about the opportunities I'm blessed with has become a bit of a ministry in itself.

I say all this because it weighs on me sometimes, and especially upon hearing Rob Bell's recent sermon on Matthew 6, "Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven." But as I started to feel convicted Rob said the line at the top about God's reward being His dynamic presence. I may not have a ferrari, or any personal transportation at all, but God's presence and love are so apparent in my life.

Of all the people that God uses as conduits of His love, two scenarios stand out this Christmas season:

Last Sunday, I had the really fun privilege to Skype-in to Mosaic Christian Church's service and tell them about my work here and their mission trip next summer. Among people's reactions to the surprise, the warmth of their reception, and sharing a prayer with my hero--Jim Elliott, one of my favorite parts was being called "Mosaic's missionary." And just last week they proved those words weren't idle by sending extremely generous Christmas gifts. Mosaic, thank you for allowing me to be your missionary; it's an honor, a pleasure, and a blessing.

The angel in my life this Christmas, and always, is my lovely momma. Not only is she my confidant, counselor, recipe book, friend, mother and POA but she's also been a bit of an elf for the past couple months rerouting dozens of gifts and cards to and from me via Kentucky. In her devotion to serving altruistically she made the ultimate sacrifice of stepping on the scale to weigh some text books I wanted sent, before she remembered she had postage scales she could have used. Thanks Mom, I know you don't want announcements with trumpets, but your offering has been part of my reward!