And God said "Before I shaped you in the womb, I knew all about you. 
Before you saw the light of day, I had holy plans for you: 
A prophet to the nations—that's what I had in mind for you." But I said, "Hold it, Master God! Look at me. I don't know anything. I'm only a boy!" God told me, "Don't say, 'I'm only a boy.' 
I'll tell you where to go and you'll go there.
 I'll tell you what to say and you'll say it. 
Don't be afraid of a soul. 
I'll be right there, looking after you." Jeremiah 1:5-8, The Message.

Limits. We all put limits on who we are, what we are able to do, and what we will accomplish.  There are some moments in life where we become so aware of our fragility.  And within those blips of time, is when greatness just seems SO out of reach.  So we use limits as a way to cope with who we are. Weak. Unaware. Human.

We also use limits to cope with who we are NOT. I'm certain that a few years ago, somewhere in the back of my mind I told myself, "I'm not business-minded... so I'll probably NEVER own a business."  Foot currently in mouth.  Limits are a way to make us feel better about the talents, the gifts, the courage, the resources that we don't have.  They feel like a warm hug, but then you're left feeling so cold.  Feeling without.

Limits are designed to put restraints on us, so that's what they do. It's simply a false hope. But thank God for the Hope of Glory.  Thank God for His Word that speaks much more greater things about us, and thank God that His Word is TRUTH.  From Genesis to Malachi to Acts to Revelation, God's Word is pointing at me, at you. We're in the midst of a crowd, and His Word is pointing and saying---"Yes.... yeah... you!". Perhaps we don't believe it, but YES, He really is pointing at us! 

The great thing about the word 'inheritance', is that it is a spin-off of the word 'inherent', which is defined as "involved in the essential character of something or belonging by nature or habit."  So, what was promised to me is ALREADY inside of me.   Because of Christ connecting us to his Father, we are limitless.  There is no need to worry about who we are not, or what traits or gifts we don't have.  We don't have to be like Jeremiah and say "Hold it, Master God! Look at me!" The great thing about it, He has already looked at us, from the beginning to eternity.  And He knows what's deep down inside of us. Now, we must embrace the journey of taking the limits off, and uncovering a great inheritance...

Yes.... yeah... you!

FIF.

Home. Workplace. Gas station. McDonalds. Whispering on the phone. Bible Study. After Bible Study. In the grocery store aisle. In an email. In front of children.  At a football game. On Twitter. In a prayer. In heated discussion. Across the street from the neighborhood bar. In the outfit chosen for the day. On a stage. In a small room. In the public restroom. In a text message. In the church parking lot. Walking down the street. Looking up at the sky. Taking another breath.

For the Lord your God IS a consuming fire, a jealous God.  Deuteronomy 4:24
Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God IS Love.  1 John 4:8

When love is truly Love, it is contagious. The Love of God is viral in its best form. But when it occupies our hearts, it takes on a different, less authentic form.  The less room we leave for God's Love, the more it's stifled...the less it spreads, the less we represent Him.  The less/more our hearts reflect His, The less/more Love will overflow out of us.

Today, let's remember: to you, to me.... God can only be God, a flame ready to consume us, THE Love without comparison or full description.  The truth is, He will spread with or without us.  But Jesus made plain which option was best...

So look again at those places/situations above.  Is God's Love in us being spread in these scenarios?  How often do you forget the power, the influence and the extraordinary effect His Love can have on people in ordinary moments?

Let's talk on the FIF.

It's not Monday anymore... but you get the point.  :)  COMMENT!

Music by Foreign Exchange: "If She Breaks Your Heart"

I think when there is a happy cry, God laughs in joy. Happy for His child, happy that His child is finally getting it. Getting Him.

Saturday morning, I got in my car and turned the key in the ignition. Sat there for about ten seconds.  Suddenly, the floodgates of my heart were unlatched, and slowly in an increasing fashion, my eyes began to pour out tears of joy.  Couldn't see past the blurry, warm worship of my eyes.  

About 30 minutes before this moment, I was wrapping up a VERY major client presentation for Firstfruits Creative... the first of its kind.  I wasn't exactly nervous, but I was anxious to see and hear the feedback.  And as I sat in the presentation with words coming out of my mouth, it was almost as if I could hear nothing but see everything.  See smiles.  See pages turning.  See nodding heads. See light bulbs flickering above heads. See God, the artist, writer, the creator... God the movement.

It's an amazing moment when your purpose meets the present, and you're sitting there watching it happen.  It was in that moment (and a few others this past weekend) that I realized that FFC is not just this hybrid of ministry & business for clients to be blessed through.  It's a gift God gave to me FOR me, to know Him and to see His beauty clearer than ever before.  Although the gift is to give to others, many times we--us who are called and chosen to a specific purpose in Christ-- forget that WE were the first recipients of the gift.  A free gift pointing us toward freedom...an even closer relationship with Him.  

So in the car is when it hit me: the delayed reaction of overwhelming peace, joy and excitement.  The delayed reaction to His greatness. The clients unanimously voted for the bundle of projects to go forth, and I had nothing to do with the outcome.  Couldn't remember what I said, or who I shook hands with.  All I could do is rest in the fact that God is _(you can fill in the blank)_ and that I still had time to make it to my next destination.  :)

Tell the FIF what you know about delayed reactions...

"And they brought to Him (Jesus) a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and they begged Him to lay His hand on him. And taking him aside from the crowd privately, He put His fingers into his ears, and after spitting touched his tongue.  And looking up to heaven, He sighed and said to him, "Ephphatha," that is, "Be opened."  And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. And Jesus charged them to tell no one. But the more He charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it..." Mark 7:32-35

FIF-approved Monday listening: a Cross Movement classic.

On a blog where sight & vision is mentioned more often than anything else, it's important to remember it's usually WHAT we hear that affects HOW we see. How we see the world, ourselves and ultimately who God is.  And when Jesus, the Word of the living God, commanded that the deaf/mute man's ears "be opened", I can only imagine that at that moment, this man heard EVERYTHING in a new way.  What would we hear if we let Jesus open our ears all over again??

More reflections:
-- To make this man whole, Jesus took him away from the crowd. It was not that He needed to. Not only did Jesus want no glory, but it was in this private time with that the Lord intended to foster relationship with him.  In summary: intimate time with Jesus = Relationship with Him = Healing = Wholeness.  Let's stop walking or running away from being alone with Jesus.
--The noise of the crowd can push us closer to losing our focus.  Having Jesus stick his fingers inside our ears is better than walking around Times Square, rockin' a $100 pair of Bose earbuds with the volume all the way up. He drowns out the sound. But when we let other things into our spirit/our ears...when we let the noise of the crowd--the temptations distract us from Him drawing us closer, this is when we become deaf, once again.  We gotta keep our earbuds in, and always be ready and willing for God to open us up.

All in all, it's a miracle. The brand new mercies of Christ and His Father's love that draw us back to Him once again-- for Him to sigh (to breathe), and to speak. EPHPHATHA.

Don't forget-- COMMENT & SUBSCRIBE!!

(College Week was put on pause... So no need to panic, the FIF will be back in school soon.)

Here's a truth.

When God is changing you, you begin to look at things, at life, at people, and at Him differently. When you decide to change yourself...well, we all know that never ends well.

The concept of evolution (not talking about the ape-to-human kind *wink) is a mainstay within God's well of infinite creativity. Everything He has made is always changing. Yet nothing is ever the same, as in comparable.  No one ever has the same set of ideas. We all are always at different places, with different gifts for different seasons.   Our individual uniqueness ebbs and flows at our own special rate, set by our Father.  Herein lies the complexity of God--although all different, we are ALL still made in His image and likeness.

And this is why I looked at something as simple as a bowl of beans, and stared in awe. Although I did not analyze or measure any of them individually, I knew that none of these had the same exact hue, shape or size.  And they never will.

Texture. Hue. Personality. Laugh. Vision. Mission. Size. Mannerisms. Divine Calling. Actions. Tone of Voice. Purpose. Ambition. Make-up.

For people or for organizations, we must always remember that anything that isn't God or His Word, is always and eventually changing, as well as never exactly the same as anything else. This enables us to be more free in the way we receive difference or newness.  In Firstfruits Creative's case, we remember that a ministry or an organization's mode of operation is steadily evolving. This can change something as small as the composition of a flier, or as large as a primary branding strategy. So when in the role of designer/photographer/consultant, being open (and eager) to the involuntary evolution of a client, is extremely valuable to the quality of the work.

So where is the FIF going with all this change talk? You know where we're going... :)  Are we too hard on others, on our churches, or perhaps even too hard on ourselves? Do we attempt to impose similarities on situations?  Do we feel everyone (even those at a HIGHER level) should be where we are, when we are-- spiritually, socially or emotionally?  Are we frequently opposed to change? Or why do we get exhausted with difference?  God created difference...and even makes the difference come alive in different seasons.

How creative is THAT?

So here I was cleaning up the kitchen on a lovely Monday afternoon.  I had already decided that taking out the trash was needed.  So here I go with bags in tow, opening the back door and going outside.

Looking back on it, I now see this moment in slow motion.  Upon the third step I take outside, the door shuts on its own.  The wind must've blown or something.  I hear the familiar sound.  I look back at the door, while praying to the Lord.  I reach to twist the knob of the door...and indeed, it is locked.

In 60 seconds, I went through the full spectrum of emotions. Instantly I laughed at my stupidity, in shock and then I thought about it.  From my mind, panic permeated throughout my body.  My heart began to hurt.  A couple tears came out while I thought, "I AM so stupid".

So here I stood outside.  No keys, no phone.  No spare key under anything, no (nice) neighbors home.  Sat down and collected a few mosquito bites.  It was just me and my messy hair looking up at the sky.  The clear, beautiful sky.  Then I felt a breeze.  It was God.  He was reminding me.  

And the more I looked at this clear blue sky and felt this perfect 75-degree weather, the peace of God began to overwhelm me.  It definitely didn't make sense. But He was smiling upon me and He was reminding me.  It could have been raining terribly, some random huge & hungry dog could have found my backyard, or it could have been 100 degrees outside.  

Even in my mistake, the conditions were favorable ultimately because of grace.  Sometimes we get so consumed in overanalyzing the present circumstances caused by our past mistakes, that we often look past the grace and presence of God in those same moments.  Sometimes our panicking and self-condemnation gets the best of us, and we forget who the Lord is--an all-comforting, all-forgiving, all-gracious, all-loving God.

So He reminded me.  And I laughed, thanking Him for being Him.  An hour & 45 minutes passed before my mom pulled up in the driveway and found me leaning against my car.  In that time, my "mistake" was translated into a recognition of God's grace, and ultimately a time of wonderful communion.   Oh yeah, and I re-learned to never go outside either without my keys, or without both locks unlocked... :)

If only we could take every time we make a "mistake", large or miniscule...and dive into the deep ocean of His grace, without hesitation!  No need to panic when we know that conditions are always favorable....

All over the US, there are thousands of churches that have faces just like this.
And they're called "storefront" churches.

They don't have a website or a twitter page.  You can't download any of their pastor's sermons via podcast. And chances are, if you love the "praise & worship" musical genre, you won't recognize any of the songs they sing inside of a storefront.  And yes, storefront churches are in urban areas so most of the people who attend ARE African-Americans.  No racial or socioeconomic diversity here.

I'll never forget storefront churches because my faith was framed in one. Before he became a pastor of his own congregation, my father was an Assistant Pastor at Willing Workers #2 Church (YES, there was a #1...lol), an old storefront in St. Louis on Dr. Martin Luther King Drive.  No more than TEN people attended this church on any given Sunday, and that's including my family of four.  And though this was nearly 20 years ago, I can still smell the dust inside this tiny sanctuary.  I see the white paint cracking off of the benches--I remember picking it off when I got bored.  And most of all, I remember this old lady named Mother Rose, who sat on the opposite side of the church, no more than 10 feet away. Every Sunday before praying, she'd sing the same song:

"He never has left me alone
He never has left me alone
By night and by day
He is with me, all the way
He never has left me alone"

And now as a woman of God...now understanding what she meant every time she sang that song---I cry like a baby every time i sing it.

I know that SO many believers have never stepped into a storefront.  Many wouldn't be caught dead in one.  I look at many of my friends, and know that they have been spoiled by the megachurch/digital-church culture, which has sometimes caused us to worship church/technology/data, more than God.  We want the lights, camera, and action, but some storefront churches struggle just to turn the lights on.  We want the mass choir and praise & worship medley, when in a storefront, all you may get is the deacon singing hymns and Dr. Watts.

And the truth is that the spirit of God is in these places no less than a 10,000-seat church in the suburbs (i've been to more anointed storefronts...).  But as pride-filled, fleshly Christians, we feel that we can only be blessed in ministries that are growing in the most obvious ways--financially, socially, musically, etc.  Why do we feel this way, when the Word says different?

As a Christian creative on Twitter, I see other Christian creatives talk about these wonderful and innovative projects they're getting into for these HUGE churches...that really don't need any more help.  God is there, leadership is content, the big screens are working...what else is there?  I mean, I will never knock creative people who are about advancing the Kingdom of God.  NEVER.  Maybe it troubles me because as a child, I sat in a storefront and experienced God. As an adult, I see these churches still struggling to keep up because they don't have the money/resources to reach their own level of greatness.  This burdensome feeling is in part why Firstfruits Creative was birthed.  To promote Christ everywhere...there's so much work to be done.

So YOU, yes YOU. Do you know any churches, urban or otherwise, with an average Sunday attendance under 50??  If so, send me their information or send them mine.  I would be privileged to work with them (at a low-cost rate) and consult them on taking their ministry to a new level.  

We could go on, about how the fragility of a storefront church is a metaphor for a lot of things spiritually. :) But that would take waaay too long. Tell the FIF about your storefront experience.