"Maggie's Poem"

They read this poem in church this past weekend. So beautiful, and such a great reminder that we truly are the body of Christ, and people notice how we live this out in the world....

Maggie's Poem

Do you know,
do you understand
that you represent
Jesus to me?

Do you know,
do you understand
that when you
treat me with gentleness,
it raises the question in my mind
that maybe he is gentle, too?
Maybe he isn't someone
who laughs when I am hurt.

Do you know,
do you understand
that when you listen to my questions
and you don't laugh,
I think,
"What if Jesus is interested in me, too?"

Do you know,
do you understand
that when I hear you talk about arguments
and conflict and scars from your past
that I think, "Maybe I am just a regular person
instead of a bad, no-good, little girl who deserves abuse?"

If you care,
I think maybe he cares --
and then there's this flame of hope
that burns inside of me,
and for a while,
I am afraid to breathe
because it might go out.

Do you know,
do you understand
that your words are his words?
Your face,
his face
to someone like me?

Please be who you say you are.
Please, God, don't let this be another trick.
Please let this be real.
Please.

Do you know,
do you understand
that you represent
Jesus to me?

"The Super Bowl Gospel"

Yesterday was the Super Bowl....and as per usual, I half-heartedly watched and halfway understood the game, and really didn't care who won (although, based soley on geographical location, I rooted for the San Francisco 49ers :) ).  Before the game, I had heard a little bit about Ray Lewis and his story and knew that he was a Christian who spoke openly about his faith.  At the end of the game though, he made the comment, "If God is for us, then who can be against us?" Great verse....entirely out of context. The mixing of religion and sports is something that's always kind-of irked me, but I could never really pinpoint why, much less put it into words.

An article was written by CJ Stephens in Relevant Magazine just a few days ago about this very topic, and I thought it was so good (and put together far more eloquently than I ever could have)  http://www.relevantmagazine.com/current/nation/super-bowl-gospel

I loved this quote: "The problem here isn’t that faith and sports can't coexist. The problem is that too often faith is used to justify sports accomplishments rather than faith transforming the way that sports are played." It's not that faith and sports don't belong together at all...it's how they come together that we need to be aware of.

And beyond the arena of sports, I felt that there was so much that was applicable to just every day life. Just as in our lives, our faith isn't a means to justify when we are successful--what happens then when we fail??

Our faith is to transform us. As human beings on this earth, our faith should transform how we live and how we approach life's situations and circumstances--regardless of of whether it goes down as a Win or a Loss in the record books.

Words.

Let this be my prayer....that my words would not be destructive to the hearts and souls of others. But instead, that my words would be life, that my words would be truth, and that everything I say could only point others straight to You. Start a fire in my heart, Lord.

♥ c