Dalayna Dillon

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Sitting in Starbucks, and this elderly couple comes in so cheerful. They order and then sit down together. The husband goes and gets his wife’s drink and brings it to her with a loving and almost playful smile, obviously so happy that he has spent the last years of his life with her and is just as happy to spend this afternoon with her. It just struck me once again the depths of love between people who haven’t just ‘fallen in love’ but have stayed in love; who have held onto love; decided to love. A love that has history. Just like the history of our country, there are some really good, promising times, but then there are times of war, or severe job loss, of deep depression; there are hard times in any history. Having that history with someone, just sitting near them, there is no need for words. There is so much they could talk about; so many things they could reminisce about; things they could wonder about with ‘what if’s’, but they don’t even need to say the words, they know the other so well that their presence is enough conversation.

Observing this couple brought a smile to my face and (let’s be honest) tears to my eyes seeing such a deep love, that after years of marriage, this afternoon just sitting together is as much an expression of love as the day they committed themselves to each other through marriage.

Apologies are a powerful thing. We often think that an apology won’t do the job, that we are too much in the wrong and would rather avoid a person than swallow our pride and admit that we were wrong. No an apology can’t fix a problem, but it can bring healing, closure, and freedom (shout out to 7:14 Youth)  to a person’s heart. Do it… apologize. It really is never too late.

The wicked flee though no one pursues,
but the righteous are as bold as a lion. (Proverbs 28:1 NIV)

Bold as a lion, wow, that is quite the characteristic. How different would we be and live if we were as bold as a lion. A lion is called the king of the jungle, the top of the food chain. Lions walk about boldy with no fear of any predator. nothing and no one can intimidate or belittle them.

We are like those lions. We should have nothing to fear; no fear of predators attacking us because we are stronger, we are the top of the food chain, because God has elevated us far above. And NO ONE can intimidate or belittle us.

Many times when we are faced with a tough situation that we don’t know how we will get through to the solution, we have come up with a phrase of encouragement for ourselves: “If there is a will, there is a way”. We comfort ourselves and put our minds to ease by saying to ourselves we have to want it enough, have enough determination, and enough will power.

Hmmm… If there is a will there is a way.

I was thinking about this, seeing as how I have said it numerous times in my life, and I realize that it is precisely that kind of thinking that gets me into situations that I cannot get out of. I, we, have to realize that if it were just up to our will and determination to get things done, we will fail every time. Not because we are incapable of doing some things, but because that mindset supports a life independent from God. Big and small, God wants us to look to him as the answer for every situation and circumstance.

That being said, let’s rephrase that initial statement to

Because of God, there is a way.

Luke 1:76-79

“And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you
will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, to give his
people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their
sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun
will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and
in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.”

I have read and listened to the Christmas story several times this
year, trying to keep it fresh in my mind and truly grasp the concept
of this miracle that we celebrate, but I decided to go through it
again and this portion of the story grabbed a hold of my heart. You
see we celebrate the miracle of Jesus’ birth, but there was another
miracle that shortly preceded Christ’s birth; that was the miraculous
birth of John the Baptist. John was what some people today call a
surprise baby; an unexpected blessing; not a mistake but a miracle.
His mother was unable to have children, but God gave her a son even in
her old age. The passage that I quoted above is actually what John’s
father, Zechariah, said and prophesied over his son.

This passage did not grasp my attention because it was building up
John the Baptist, because he was an ordinary man that God used in
extraordinary ways; no, this passage captured me by the description of
God’s plan of salvation. John was chosen to be a forerunner for
Christ, to prepare the way for Christ to come. John’s “job”, as
prophesied by his father, was to give people the knowledge of
salvation through the forgiveness of their sins. Sounds pretty common
to us, we have heard the terminology plenty throughout our life,
however, this was something brand new to the people of the New
Testament. John was chosen to spread the word, “Salvation is not
earned or granted through sacrifice, but through Christ’s
forgiveness.”

Even us today, we know that the only way to receive forgiveness is
through Christ, but we have so many other hoops in our minds that we
try to get people, and even ourselves, to jump through, thinking that
there is a lot of work to receiving salvation. Listen to this:

“…to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the
forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God…”

We are not saved by any other method but by the mercy of God. He chose
to give us what we do not deserve and not to give us what we do
deserve; to provide a means of salvation through the birth, death, and
resurrection of our Lord.

“…by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on
those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet
into the path of peace.”

Again, many times it is the believers who are putting people through
hoops, leading them through steps and methods to earn and receive
their grace and mercy from God, but this passage shows us that God is
sending it down, and has sent it down, “to shine on those living in
darkness”. What? Salvation isn’t just for the believers?! Luke 19:10
says, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.” God
wants to “guide our feet into the path of peace”; he wants to bring
light to those who are in darkness, for no other reason but his mercy.

Like John, we have the same calling to the same mission. That means
all those who are on a mission to bring people under the law are not
on the mission that God has called us to. He has called us to a
mission of mercy, grace, love, peace, and forgiveness; GOD DOES NOT
WANT TO CONDEMN, HE WANTS TO FORGIVE. What an awesome mission to be
united under! Let us realize the true goal, the true mission, and the
true- one and only- God; his birth that began the out-pouring of
salvation. Let us be like John, a forerunner; John went out before
Christ physically came into the world, we also are running ahead,
spreading the knowledge of salvation before Christ again comes to the
earth.

This is it!

I stood looking around my room tonight, thinking about taking some things down off of the walls, and it hit me again in a new way- I am not going to be doing this again, hot gluing things up and then having to pry them off. I know that we have all been saying this a lot lately, but it is just surreal. Then comes the thoughts of, what now? Where am I going to live? What am I going to do? I am going to have to start all over, meet all new people, adjust. “God, how am I supposed to know what you want?”

Sometimes I find myself questioning God, as if He hasn’t already gotten everything figured out or He is going to do something wrong. It’s humorous, but I think we can all relate, it is a whole different thing when it is our lives and our futures that is out of our control. Almost like being a backseat driver. When we decided to answer the call into ministry, we decided to take the backseat and let God be the driver; “Whatever you want, God, I will do it; I will go where ever and do whatever!” The road through the years of college have been pretty straight. There have been some curves and pot holes, but pretty much it has been a clear shot to the graduation line. Now we are hitting the rough drive, like driving in a storm; not quite so comfortable now is it?

I have personal experience of driving in storms. It can be really scary when it is raining or snowing so hard that you can barely see the road in front of you. Before you know it you are hydroplaning into the meridian on the way to Denver (shout out to Josh, A.J., and Danielle :) ). And it is always the people who aren’t driving who know what the driver should do to stay on the road and drive safely isn’t it? Well, they think they do anyways. On the other side, I know how annoying it is to have to listen to people shouting instructions, “Brake! Follow the tail lights! Use 4-wheel drive!” Yea, I think that God knows the feeling too.

This Psalm gave me a new perspective: 

“I will be glad and rejoice in your love, for you say my affliction and knew the anguish of my soul. You have not handed me over to the enemy but have set my feet in a spacious place.”  Psalm 31:7-8

I can sit back and let God be in control and know that the route He is taking ends at the perfect destination. No matter what we may go through to get there, He hasn’t and won’t abandon us on the side of the road, but He wants to take us to a spacious place, or as the ESV says, a broad place.

This reminds me of the prayer of Jabez from 1 Chronicles 4:10.

“Jabez cried out to God of Israel, “Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.” And God granted his request.”

Our loving God wants to enlarge our territory; He wants to broaden our borders. I know that like Jabez, I want God to enlarge my territory so that the words I speak will not be limited by the number of people that hear them, and the people God uses me to touch will not be limited by the number of people present, but that there will be a ripple effect. I want to be used for something great! It doesn’t have to be great in numbers or in recognition and prestige, but great results in the kingdom.

Seniors, God wants to set your feet in a spacious place. Don’t be discouraged or confused if it looks smaller than the “place” you imagined, but be anticipating the moment when the walls disappear and you enter into the arena of your future. 

Love you all!

I was recently introduced to the song, “He wants it all” by Forever Jones. I really appreciate the message of this song and it truly is a challenge to whoever listens to it, so be challenged!

There’s a voice that cries out in the silence,
searching for a heart that will love him,
longing for a child that will give him their all,
give it all, he wants it all

And there’s a God that walks over the earth,
searching for a heart that is desperate,
And longing for a child that will give him their all,
give it all, he wants it all

And he says, love me, love me with your whole heart
he wants it all today
serve me, serve me with your life now 
he wants it all today
bow down, let go of your idols
he wants it all today 
He wants it all

Oh! Whole-hearted devotion, let that be us! He wants us, but do we want to give ourselves completely to him?

I had to write a topic paper that posed the question, “In your opinion, can the presentation of sexuality in programs and movies you chose influence the behavior of viewers?” After doing quite a bit of research on the topic, I feel quite strongly that it does influence us in a significant way. Here is the paper that I wrote with the conclusion that I came up with:

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            From a young age, our generation is introduced to media and all that is included in it. When they begin to grow they are encouraged to watch educational shows, such as Sesame Street, The Wiggles, and other Disney Channel shows. They are immersed in media from that age on, therefore they are open to whatever shows are being aired on television. Aside from television we have movies. Movies are our source of entertainment. If we want something to do, we pop in a movie. If we want to hang out with some friends, we will head to the local movie theater. It is hard to know what is going on in the world without being somehow connected to television and other forms of media. How does all of this content affect us as viewers? I believe that anyone would admit that what we watch does affect our thought life.

Let’s look at some proven statistics. There are an estimated number of 109.6 million homes where there is a television present, and kids spend about 4 hours a day watching that television. A study done by Huston and Wright from the University of Kansas claim that children spend more time watching television than in any other activity except for sleeping. Here are some statistics that concerned me: 54 percent of kids have a TV in their own bedroom, and 44 percent of kids say they watch something different when they’re alone than with their parents (25% of those kids choosing to watch MTV). So what are these kids watching? According to Nielsen, the top TV shows for 12-17 year old girls were American Idol, The O.C., Will & Grace, and One Tree Hill. The top TV shows for 12-17 year old boys were The Simpsons, Malcolm, and The O.C.  Another statistic that was shocking to me said that ABC’s Desperate Housewives is the most popular broadcasting network television show with kids aged 9-12. That was shocking to me because I would never watch that show let alone kids who are at an age where they are forming who they are personally and sexually.

According to Lynn Pike, from the department of human development and family studies at Missouri State, we begin to recognize our sexuality at a young age. In the beginning it is simply out of curiosity. Between the ages 5 and 7, a child will begin to question the difference between male and female. This seems like a very young age, however when we take into consideration a child’s environment that plays into this time frame, we can see how the exposure through media can greatly impact them. In a sample of programming from the 2001-2001 TV season, sexual content appeared in 64 percent of all TV programs. Those programs with sexually related material had an average of 4.4 scenes per hour. Talk of sex is more frequent, 61 percent, compared to the overt portrayals, 32 percent. One out of every seven programs includes a portrayal of sexual intercourse. This statistic is from 2001, I can assure you that these statistics have only grown from that point, (Pike).

A study of 1792 adolescents ages 12-17 showed that watching sex on TV influences teens to have sex. Youths who watched more sexual content where more likely to initiate intercourse and progress to more advanced noncoital sexual activities in the year following the beginning of the study. Youths in the 90th percentile of TV sex viewing had a predicted probability of intercourse initiation that was approximately double that of youths in the 10th percentile. Basically, kids with higher exposure to sex on TV were almost twice as likely than kids with lower exposure to initiate sexual intercourse, (Parent’s Television Council). This study, along with all of the others that have been done should frighten us greatly. As parents and future parents this should be a wake up call. While we cannot completely shelter our kids from all of the media in the world, we can protect them by arming them with knowledge. By keeping them informed of what all of this content in the movies and TV shows really mean, why it is wrong in the context that it is in, and why they do not need to be watching it and allowing their minds to dwell on it, we are really empowering them and keeping them from sexual bondage. As ministers, we must look at these statistics and find yet another reason that it is so vital to pour into the teenagers who are facing this temptation every day of their lives. Finally, as adults, we must set a good example. Even though we have the knowledge and the spiritual maturity to know that this sexual behavior is wrong, we have no need to be watching this kind of content either. Why do we need to? It is only conforming our minds to this word.

“Since, the, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” Colossians 3:1-2

There are so many advocates in this day and age. Everyone is shouting what they are for and against… Religion, equality, politics, freedom, individuality, sexuality… But where are God’s advocates? Where are the people shouting out for God? When I say shouting out for him, I mean shouting out and advocating on His behalf. To do that would require knowing what God is an advocate for… Love…love… Hmmm looks like that covers them all. What are you an advocate for? If not for love, then you are probably your own advocate.