God's amazing power... and love

Gabriel, an angel apparently, said this to Mary the virgin mother of Jesus,

"Greetings, you who are highly favored! the Lord is with you."

I almost wonder if this is a joke of sorts, because on the surface it seems to mean that God is with her, but the angels next statement makes it clear that God is really WITH her... as in he is in her womb as a preborn baby!

It is very likely that she would have been a young teenage girl at this point in her life... What is striking about this is that Mary was never consulted about whether or not she would like to be the mother of Jesus. This is so hard to accept for us because we are used to being able to choose whether or not we obey God... whether or not we will follow him.

Imagine if this happened to you... how would you feel? Would you be scared?

How do you think Mary felt? how do you think her fiancee, Joseph, felt about his future wife suddenly becoming pregnant?

It is really hard for me to accept that my life completely belongs to God. I struggle with the thought that he has the right to do with my life whatever he wants to ... and that he doesnt even need to ask my permission...

How do you feel about that?

So tonight at Godsquad we launched the Five-Three challenge. 5 minutes talking to God, 5 Minutes reading a chapter of Luke 5 days a week... You should try it. Luke chapter 1 begins with this:

"Luke 1:1 Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, 2 just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. 3 With this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 4 so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught."

This is a great summary of what the Gospel of Luke is all about. It is an organized account of what happenned at the time that Jesus walked this earth... There were many things written about Jesus' life and the many people that it impacted. The book of Like is part one of a two part series.... the Book of Acts is part 2.

Luke is a great place to start if you want to know more about Jesus!

the Five - 3 - Challenge

This month take the 53challenge!
This is a simple committment to spend:
5 minutes talking to God
5 minutes reading God’s word (from Luke)
5 days a week


This blog exists as a place where you can post your thoughts and ideas... questions... answers... dreams... pictures... etc. Let the world know how you are doing with the challenge!!!

Living and Loving like Jesus...

Jesus life is hard to understand. On the one hand, the Bible speaks of him as God... unlimited... all powerful... all seeing... on the other hand he was human. To be human is to be limited in every way. How can the unlimited God become a limited human... nobody knows... but Scripture is clear that this is precisely what occured some 2000 years ago.
It’s a good thing it did... because humans needed a new way to live. His life can change our life. He knows what it means to be human... limited... alone... and yet he was the perfect example of how to live. For the last 2000 years people have been following him by learning to live and love like Jesus.