His Character

God is incomprehensible.

He is nothing but perfect.

The majority of my learning curve this summer has all come back to an acknowledgment of how great our God is. How much He loves us. How endless His sovereignty is. How matchless His goodness is, and how fully present He is at all times and in all places. I find these attributes of our Creator as mind-bottling. Honestly, have you ever sat down and tried to contemplate how much God exemplifies perfection?

Who is like Thee among the gods, O Lord?

Who is like Thee majestic in holiness awesome in

praises, working wonders?" ~Exodus 15:11

Part of the program includes everyone at the Destin project to read the book "The God You Can Know" by Dan DeHaan. This book has forced us to think about God's perfection and how He reveals these characteristics to us.

DeHaan writes, "The deepest thought a person

can ever have is his conception of God's character."

So far, I have found this pursuit to be difficult because chasing after God's character and trying to understand it is consuming. It's demanding of everything...it's a pursuit not to be taken lightly. There are no shortcuts in trying to unveil the perfection of our Creator. DeHaan introduces to the reader this idea of the comparison method.

For example, if I think God has shown love to me as I understand love, then I praise Him. If God has provided wisdom as I understand wisdom, then I praise Him. While serving dinner at a vacation bible school this week I thought of the example of service that God gives us. The time we invested was wonderful, but doesn't even touch the extent of Christ's example of service. It unfortunately isn't me praising God on His terms, but only to the extent of my own personal understanding.

These thoughts have really rocked my world because the person that I am wants my faith to be organized like my file cabinet or color-coded closet. (Yes, you can laugh.) It's against my nature to want to be a part of something that I can't control on my own. In fact, sometimes I avoid situations all together when I don't have control in them. My d-group this summer has experienced my obsession with having a 'game plan' at all times.

But it's not about me having control, rather it's about God being honored.

When we pursue God, longing to know His perfect nature, He is glorified.

On Sunday at church the guest preacher, Thomas Young, challenged us when he spoke "Every time that we encouter Christ, we leave changed. When was the last time that you had an experience that you couldn't handle? An experience that you couldn't simply journal about or explain to others? When did you last consume His glory?"

Am I asking for my faith
to simply be managable? or something that is
all-consuming?

As I make the decisions this summer to become equipped for a lifetime of chasing the cross, I am reminded that this chase is never over. The more we learn about God the more we realize the greatness of Him.

 He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. ~Hebrews 13:8.

It will take us our entire lives and eternity to grasp God's character and His perfection.

Pursuit of Holiness

My summer at Kaleo (a Greek word, meaning 'to be called') is nearly half way over! It seems like yesterday that I flew in, met my roommates, and settled into ‘fake’ home here in Niceville. This last week I think that it has started sinking in that I’m actually in Florida, that I’m actually surrounded by these incredible people, and that I actually get to live this life!

This last Tuesday one of the staff members, Brandon, gave an incredible, rather convicting, talk on holiness. The definition given for holy was to be set aside, comparable to the fine china in our homes that are set aside in beautiful china cabinets.

Brandon pointed out that the word holy is the only word repeated three times in a row to describe our Lord. “…Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty-the one who always was, who is, and who is still to come.” ~Revelation 4:8

Obviously, God has called us to be holy beings; He longs for us to be set apart and allow Him to use us the way He desires.

When holiness consumes us, we want nothing
more than to serve God.

Reading in the book Velvet Elvis, Rob Bell offers up some awesome thoughts on the holiness that surrounds us. The one that has stuck with me, especially at work these last few days, has been that everywhere is holy ground. Because if God created it, it’s holy. It is not a matter of us as humans creating holiness, but rather a matter of us opening our eyes and acknowledging that we continuously walk on holy ground.

God’s holy creation is already established, but we show up.

It traces back to the Old Testament when Moses is asked to take off his shoes on top of the mountain because God tells Moses he is on holy ground. Since reading this book, each night before going to bed I capture the ‘holy moments’ of the day. Conversations, people, prayers, blessings, or trials that help me to acknowledge God’s presence are written down in my journal. It’s so awesome to go back through and read these and just revel in how God moves in our lives, sometimes nearly unnoticed and sometimes in the most drastic of ways!

In all Brandon gave 7 reasons why Holiness in our Media Matters:

1.) Entertaining unholy thoughts is sinful
2.) When you sow to the flesh, you reap corruption
3.) It undermines God’s #1 method of sanctification-renew the mind
4.) A lack of Holiness limits our usability
5.) A lack of Holiness hurts our influence with God in prayer
6.) Worldly ‘Mindness’ hurts our intimacy with God
7.) The Fear of the Lord should drive our pursuit of holiness

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of the world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, you will know how good and pleasing and perfect His will really is. ~Romans 12:2