A Trip Down Memory Lane

Since the arrival of the digital age, I've become REALLY bad about "printing out" pictures and putting them in photo albums. I have them all saved and chronologicalized on my computer and I will print some to frame, but the random snapshots of life are on my computer and not in paper form. Today I found a box full of old pictures. It was actually a recipe box full of pictures, which tells you exactly how much cooking I really do. :) Anyway, as I sat there I found pictures from lots of different time periods in my life. I found some from the summer after my freshmen year of college when I worked with my home church as their children's intern. These kids are now going to prom (Yikes!). I found pictures of when I was children's intern the next summer at Crossroads in Marshall. These kids are now in high school getting ready to drive. (Double Yikes!) I found pictures of when it snowed in Marshall while Jared and I were dating. Pictures of me trying on wedding dresses with my mom. And my favorite one was of the girls in our youth group. For my birthday one year, they sent me on a scavenger hunt throughout the church and parsonage (our first house). While I was "scavenging" they had transformed the youth room into a romantic dinner for two. Complete with a dozen red roses, a framed picture of Jared and I at the youth Rangers game, candles, and even name cards. It was the funnest time! They were so proud of their hard work and it was such a sweet thing for them to do for me!

It got me thinking about all the people we've met and all the places we've been. We've served in several different churches both as singles and as a married couple. We've moved in several houses and several cities, but the impact that people have made on our lives is irreplaceable. We may not get to visit with those people as much as we'd like, but the memories and their testimonies have impacted our lives forever. The lives that they lived and the ministries they've had, have in turn affected our lives and our ministries. I just think that that's amazing.

We're all so different and all from different walks of life and in different seasons of life, but the one uniting factor was, and still is, our love for the Lord. That may be the only thing we have in common with a lot of people, but it's amazing how that love can unite even the most different of people. And isn't that what the church is supposed to be about? Not all the same people, of the same color, of the same economic status all coming together. But different people, of different tribes and tongues coming together to proclaim the name of Jesus!

I'm starting something new that I've never done before. Maybe you have, but I haven't. We talked in Sunday School this morning about fasting. What is it? What is the purpose of it? Why don't we do it anymore? In discussing these things, we basically came to the conclusion that it is biblical, we should do it, and the reason we don't is because it requires a level of sacrifice and discipline that is unpracticed and frankly unwelcoming. We are accustomed to "cheap grace" where everything is easy and we leave out the hard stuff. I am beginning a fast (of what I'm not sure of yet) to fervently pray for our church. Not just the church, but the people, the finances, the ministry that we do, the ministry that we don't do, etc. This morning Jared preached about how giving isn't a financial issue, it's a heart issue. I think fasting is the same thing. It's not about "not eating". It's about removing things from your life so that you are more devoted and dependent on God.

So my hope is that through fasting, I will become closer to the Lord and that He will be my sustenance. Maybe there's something in your life that needs removing too. I challenge you to begin this journey with me.

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." Hebrews 12:1-2

~Elizabeth