Faithful.

Faithful:

1. Strict or thorough in the performance of duty: a faithful worker.

2. True to one's word, promises, vows, etc.

3. Steady in allegiance or affection; loyal; constant.

4. Reliable, trusted, or believed.

5. Adhering or true to fact, a standard, or an original; accurate.
(dictionary.com)


I had another wonderful conversation today, in another wonderful day.  And I'm not just saying that.  Sometimes I feel like when I say that to people (that I had a wonderful day, or that the last three months have truly been wonder-filled), they don't believe me, or they think I'm lying.  Or maybe that I have everything figured out or am trying to appear perfect.  First, please believe me, and second I am not perfect.  God is seriously just so good to me.  And I pray that tomorrow is full of wonder for you as well.

That is exactly what my conversation was about; God's faithfulness.  I've talked a lot about that word, "faithfulness", and I decided that it was time to whip out another definition.  I think it's a word that people in the church use a lot.  And people in divorce courts, but that's a different kind of faithfulness.  Unfaithfulness, possibly.  But the kind of faithfulness that I have grown more and more passionate about in the last several years about is God's faithfulness.  There is nothing like it.  It's really incomprehensible, I think.  And I also think the word has lost some meaning.

I mean, he never breaks his promises, he can be trusted with anything, he is so passionate about people, and his love, power, grace, mercy, & justice are so constant.  And he does this all at the same time!  I mean, I can barely walk and and chew gum at the same time.  Actually, I can barely walk, period.  ; )

I just think it's so cool to be able to hear how God has been so good to so many other people around me.  It's something that I think we need to be reminded of, and often; we are not the center of God's universe, and yet he sees us.  It's sort of a paradox, isn't it?  He sees each person in the universe both individually, and he sees people collectively at the same exact time.  He values each person, gives lavishly to each person, and knows each person better than anyone else will ever know them.  And, at the exact same time, he is loving-kind toward everyone collectively, and longs for us to live in community with one another.  Life isn't about "me", or even "us", but "I" and "we" are still seen by such a huge God.  A God who has never been seen by our eyes; the God that keeps everything in motion.  He is so generous with his love, and his provision is perfect.  His plan is often deeply hidden, and it is only revealed second by millisecond. 


I was thankful to be able to celebrate this with others today.  

I am making good on my promise to myself to go to bed earlier this evening, and I'm so looking forward to watching the sun rise in the morning.  That in and of itself is evidence of God's extreme faithfulness.  All wrapped up into one giant eggroll called Psalm 92.  (v. 1-5)


"It is good to praise the Lord
  and make music to your name, O Most High,
proclaiming your love in the morning
   and your faithfulness at night,
to the music of the ten-stringed lyre (or piano)
   and the melody of the harp (or guitar).
For you make me glad by your deeds, LORD;
   I sing for joy at what your hands have done.
How great are your works, LORD,
   how profound your thoughts!"

Ordinary.

I felt like a real human being tonight.  Wanna know why?

I wore jeans for the first time in THREE MONTHS! Ahhhhhhhhh!  It felt so good.  I never thought I would hear myself say that, but it felt so good to wear real pants.  An ordinary thing that just had new life to me.  Other new clothing items I wore shall remain nameless.

In other news, I have no idea how I happened to start going to bed so late... it just snuck up on me.  It probably has something to do with the fact that I haven't had to get up early in quite some time, and when I finally snuggle into bed and start thinking about my day, it's pretty late.  Tonight's even later because I just got back from a Superbowl party at my church.  It was lots of fun, and not just because the food was amazing.  (I really do love food.)   The game was fun to watch... (I never really liked football until this past year.  I watched the Greenbay vs. Chicago game in the fall with my dear friend JWo, and I just started liking it.  Pretty sure Chicago won that game.  Pretty sure I am the worst kind of football fan ever.  Whoever wins...I like them.  That's pretty awful of me, huh.)

But it was also fun to meet new people, and have good conversations.  One of the things in my life that I have always enjoyed is meeting new people.  Everyone is different when it comes to this, but I think that even that in and of itself is really a good thing.  I really appreciate people who are reserved and quiet, and I appreciate people who are outgoing and talkative, and I appreciate people in between.  I think we need all of the above. 

One of the highlights of the night was getting to talk to someone who had made a commitment this year to spending more time serving the poor in his community.  It was so cool to hear how God has been teaching him what it means to rub shoulders with people who live in poverty.  He shared about how he has been learning so much from the people that he has been able to share meals with, and how humbling it was for him to be able to have great conversations with people who live with next to nothing.  And then, yesterday, the students at Marquette University in Milwaukee (where I was volunteering with InterVarsity), held an urban project for their community.  60 students handed out 120 meals to people in their community that needed them, and I think that they realized that so many of the people that they were eating with weren't that different than them. 

I just think it's so cool that this was such a theme in the weekend, amidst so many different things; that God is teaching myself and others what it means to serve.  To value what our society has deemed invaluable.  To view people as Jesus views them.  I so look forward to being able to brush shoulders with the people around me that Jesus highly values, and I'm so thankful that I have been able to do that in the past months.  I know I've posted a lot of C.S. Lewis quotes (I just really connect with him...), but he once said that we need to:

"remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship."

I don't post this as though a reader might be hungry for fame or acknowledgment, or to suggest that you would want to worship another person, but to simply remind myself that:

"There are no ordinary people."