created to love Him...

Our culture is in an identity crisis. We don't know who we are. We don't know why we're here. We don't know why we were created. We live with our eyes on the ground, with limited sight and perspective, just trying to be happy, do good deeds, resist temptation. All of this doing and spent energy without realizing that the Lord wants His people to know Him, to understand His heart. He created us out of desire for communion and fellowship with humanity. But we've lost vision of God's high vision for us. Instead, we're trying to find our own purpose in life.  In that searching, aspects of our identity have been found and magnified to become our only identity. Our sexual identity is a prime example of this. All of us are sexual beings, God created this to be a PART of who we are, but it is most definitely not ALL that we are, or even the major part of who we are. But it's been exponentially exaggerated to become all that we embrace or all that we make known t...

The doorway into knowing God, or the knowledge of God, is the awareness that what you think you know is nothing compared to the reality of Him. Who is God really? The one who cannot be contained or fully defined by our limited human minds reveals Himself in the Word. But is He even contained or fully defined there, or is His Word only the beginning? Psalm 113:5-6 says, "Who is like the Lord our God, who is seated on high, who looks far down on the heavens and the earth?"  God can be unnerving because we can't define Him. He defies definition. He's outside of our world. This verse states that God has to humble Himself to behold the things in our universe. He's transcendent, and when we get glimpses, have moments of beholding Him we don't the words in our limited language to articulate Him.  I've grown up in the church my entire life, particularly one church my entire life. I remember well in my late teens, twenties, even into my thirties having this concept...

  My family, and many others from Redeemer, just returned from the Holy Spirit conference at Green Lake, Wisconsin. This conference is a lot of work for Michael and I, and so many others who contribute to make it happen, that many years I feel too worn out or task oriented to show up to this conference with much level of expectation. God always does incredible things as we gather here year after year and, if nothing else, our times of worship are so sweet. People come hungry, ready, hearts engaged to have Jesus seen and heard. It's the easiest "arena" so to speak to lead worship in. This week...was a new ballgame for me. In all of my busy-ness, God met me. In all of my organizing and leading, God provided so many moments of stillness to hear Him. He brought clarity and direction for me. He put words in my heart, understanding for His current transformation happening within me. He worked on the foundation and building of my faith and my purpose - personally, within my fami...