I don’t watch the news or read the newspaper.   If you are at my house and you hear CNN, CSPAN or any sort of news anchor coming from my TV, something is terribly, terribly wrong and you should seek medical attention for me immediately. 

I’ve never really understood the point of the news.  Why do we feel the need to report occurrences of the worst of humanity?  What fascinates us about the downfall of society or the antics of celebrities?  What captivates us about seeing devastation and disaster?  It’s all just sad and depressing.  Don’t we have something else to talk about? 

There is a plus side to the media mania.  In our desperate search to stay on top of things, many cool tools have been development.  Take for instance my favorite discovery for 2010:  RSS Feeds. 

RSS Feeds are what I consider golden nuggets of technology.  They allow you to subscribe to blogs (yay!) and news headlines (boo!) on various sites.  So, you can open your e-mail and get the latest blog post (yay!) or headlines (boo!)  from the sites you love without having to leave the comforts of your own inbox. 

There are no bookmarks to click on.  I’m sure that’s considered cruel and unusual punishment in some countries.  You don’t have to open your internet browser and type in the website.  Who does that anymore? No Google searches because you just can’t remember that website address.  That is so 2009!  It’s the epitome of internet laziness and it’s brilliant. 

I’m sure my lack of concern for current events shocks some and saddens others.  I realize I’m one in a minority of people who had rather be completely oblivious and happy than to be aware and miserable.  But may I be so bold as to suggest that happy and oblivious is the way God intended us to live our lives?  After all, wasn’t eating from the tree of knowledge what got us into this mess?  (Genesis 2:17) Thanks Adam.  Thanks Eve. 

It was never God’s intention for us to know everything.  We were supposed to leave that up to Him.  He’s in the business of omniscience – not us.  That is a burden we were never intended to bear (Romans 11:33-24), but you wouldn’t know it by looking at us with blackberries and iPhones glued to our ears, computers on every desktop, TVs in every room.  When will we learn – it’s not our job to be omniscient?  Our job is to know God and to trust Him with the rest (Proverbs 2:1-6).

At church today, Pastor Calvin challenged us to know our testimony, and to be able to communicate it clearly in less than one hundred words.  Sounds tricky, yes?

I don’t know about you, but to me, “testimony” can be so heavy, so overwhelming.  For a long time I thought of a person’s testimony in the context of a formal presentation of “How I Became a Christian.”  And there are certainly times where that full-blown version is appropriate, and maybe necessary.

Several years ago, another pastor lessened my anxiety about testimonies, saying it was really just a story about how the Lord has worked/is working in your life.  That’s true, and it was a little bit helpful, but …

I still wrestled with this idea that ordinary people (like me), with ordinary conversion stories (like me), lacked the ability to relate to – and intrigue – someone who was considering the Christian life.

Let’s just keep it real: when someone (like me) starts their story with, “I grew up in church, and when I was twelve years old …” that is the beginning of a total snooze-fest testimony for me.

Part of a powerful testimony is the change component, right?  Evangelists being paid to share their testimonies seem to have conversions on the heels of a terrible accident, an illness, a loved one’s death, a rock-bottom moment in substance abuse.  No doubt about it, those are the powerful befores and afters that get people excited!

On the other hand, when someone’s been living the Christian life since they were seven, we can all rejoice that they were saved at such a tender age, but don’t you want to know their story didn’t end then?  Don’t you want to hear that they’ve somehow been changed for good along the way?

Don’t get me wrong, I tear up just about every time a little one gets baptized.  Praise be to God, and thanks in large part to praying and diligent parents, those testimonies are real, and no less miraculous than ones that happen to people who are 21, 52, or 87 when they make a life-changing decision about Who’s in charge of their lives.

And that’s the rub: children being baptized is a beautiful thing, but where’s the zing in their story?  Where’s their opportunity for extreme transformation?  After all, when I was twelve and publicly confessed my belief in a living God, I wasn’t exactly living a crazy rebellious life, from whence I would make a supernatural U-turn away from the dark side!

I admit that I’ve often thought of what a boring story mine is, and I’ve wondered how a story like mine, when shared, could possibly interest someone enough to give them a better understanding of the Christian life.

Isn’t that just like Satan?  To trick God’s people — whose stories might not be the dramatic ones you hear at revivals and Christian conferences — into thinking that their stories can’t have an impact for the kingdom?

So, while my story might not be dramatic on the outside, it has everything to do with the work the Lord has done – and continues to do – on the inside.

(Cue the word counter.)

There was a time in my life when I thought that being a Christian – and obtaining the Lord’s favor – was a privilege reserved for the morally superior:  those who followed rules; always made “right” decisions; made their parents and families proud; and were considered “good” people by others.

In my quest to become morally superior (and make no mistake, stumbling all over the place along the way), I landed myself instead on the top rung of the Ladder of Morality, looking down my nose at other people in judgment and self-righteousness.  It wasn’t pretty.

These days, I’m still a work in progress, but the Lord has been gracious to teach me that His love is one that extends to all people, no matter if they’ve followed all the rules, made all the right decisions, won the approval of their families, or carry baggage that exceeds the morally acceptable weight limit.

He loves everyone passionately, and He commands us to do the same.  That’s our (my) challenge every day.

Sigh.  I couldn’t do it in less than one hundred words.  I’ll have to work on that.

In the meantime, be encouraged in your story, no matter where it falls on the ordinary scale.  There are other ordinary people waiting to hear it!

 I like make-up.  I like a thick, black mascara …

… and I like a deep, red lipstick.

It’s a healthy little pop of drama in the life of someone who has a low tolerance for drama.

For fun tonight, Nikol and I are going to have make-overs by Julie Hewitt. 

Her product line is pretty fabulous.  Check her out sometime.

Being made over every now again is nice.  It’s new.  Updated.  Fresh.  You feel like a million bucks, walking out of that salon, even if it’s just for a fun dinner with the girls.

The greatest make-over we can ever enjoy, of course, is the new life we receive through Christ.  I love that the Bible tells us so plainly, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

The Greek word for “new” in that passage is kainos, and it means fresh, unused, unworn, and better yet, unprecedented!  Isn’t that thrilling?  When you become reborn in Christ Jesus, you are novel.  More uncommon, unmatched, and unparalleled than anything you’ve ever been previously, or anything you could hope to be on your own.  Glory to God.

The LORD did some pretty spectacular renewal in the Old Testament, too.  Israel?  Yeah, they had dropped the ball big time.  The nation’s sin and profanation of God’s name was heartbreaking to God (who wouldn’t be, after their antics?), but He still promised good to them: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you” (Ezekiel 36:26).  He pledged their restoration both spiritually (v. 26), and then externally through prosperity (vv. 29-30).

And, on a side note, He is clear that it’s not for Israel’s sake – goodness knows they didn’t deserve His mercy – but for His holy name’s sake (Ezekiel 36:22).  I love it when He gets in a jab.  In truth, of course. 

So next time you sweep on some of your favorite eye shadow, or purse your lips to spread the glossy goodness, remember God’s goodness in His making us over, one new heart at a time.

P.S.  This is Nikol.  I hijacked Robyn’s blog post because I know she wouldn’t put this in here.  She has an awesome blog herself.  Check it out.

Over the last several years God has given me a conviction to be transparent with people.  Some people think I share too much.  I’ve been accused of worse, but the way I see it, there are too many folks walking around this planet with masks on acting like everything is fine when inside they are hurting.

The enemy of this world likes our masks because they isolate us.  They keep people at a distance because we fear what others might see behind our mask.  Perhaps they might find fear or anger, maybe they’ll find weakness and shame; they might realize you don’t have it all together; perhaps they’ll find pride or arrogance, or they’ll discover the hurt or bitterness that you’ve kept locked in your heart for years or decades.

As a Christian, as a follower of a God whose very essence is truth, I find it is my responsibility to take the mask off.  To let people see what a real walk with God in this broken world is all about.  And I’ve discovered the most extraordinary thing about taking off your mask:  once you remove yours, people feel safe to do the same, and you find that you aren’t alone.  That’s when healing can begin.  When love can replace the shame, the hurt, the fear, the bitterness, the fill-in-the-blank emotion deep within us that locks us away.  It’s when community can be built – not only with others – but with the God of the universe.  For without transparency there can be no trust because trust must be built on truth.

So, in the spirit of full transparency I want to confess that I’ve been struggling with fear.  It’s a suffocating fear.  A fear that grips me in my soul and won’t let go.  Though the words may change, behind it is always the same question, “What if it turns out God isn’t real?  That He doesn’t talk to us?” The thought terrifies me.

I can hear the gasps now, “What did she say?”  “Isn’t this a site about learning how to have a real relationship with God?” Yes.  It is.  But questioning God’s existence is part of the journey, isn’t it?  Struggling with the fear that maybe He isn’t real is part of struggle through the murkiness of this world.  As humans, we want to see things before we believe them, but faith with sight is not faith at all (2 Corinthians 5:7).  We have to have faith despite our fears.

Obviously, I wouldn’t have this site if I didn’t think God was real.  In my heart I know that I know that I know that He’s real.  And He is.  But I wouldn’t be honest if I didn’t confess that there is still that darkness that lurks around the corner.  The darkness of fear that threatens me.  The darkness of “What if?”

So, what do I do with the what ifs?  I give them back to God.  I confess it – this fear that He isn’t real.  I know it’s not from Him (Romans 8:15).  I know it’s from the enemy.  This war isn’t against my flesh.  It’s a war being fought in the heavenlies (Ephesians 6:12).  It’s a war being fought for my very soul, and it’s a battle that has already been won (John 16:33).

I have a theory.  (Well, I have lots of theories, but one in particular that goes along with the topic of fear.)  I have a theory that if you fear something – that very thing – is the thing you should do.  Now, I’m not talking about standing head-to-head with a grizzly bear and challenging him to a wrestling match or playing chicken in the middle of the road with an 18-wheeler. I’m talking about taking a risk.  Looking back at my life, it’s when I risked doing the very things that I was afraid to do that I found the most freedom because fear binds.   Overcoming fear frees!

To free ourselves from fear requires action.  It requires experiencing the very thing we fear. Which, by definition, is a scary place because bad things could happen.  But good things can happen too.

What I want is so much more than to know that God is real.  I want to experience a real God.  There is a difference in knowing and experiencing.  I can read something and have knowledge, but until I experience it – until I risk putting my faith into what I’ve learned – I can’t really testify to it.

You see, I want to experience for myself who God is and that He is faithful.  That He speaks and that He is good at His word.  I’ve trusted Him with my eternity, and I want to testify that He’s not just a God of me when I die, but that He’s a God of me as I live this journey called life.  I want to know that there is more to God that what’s after this life.  (Can anyone else hear the distance sound of Steven Curtis Chapman’s song, “More to this Life” in the background?)

I want to know that I can experience Him like Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  Have conversations with Him & see His glory like Moses.  Know His heart and see His promises fulfilled like David.  Hear His voice and see His deliverance like Daniel.  Walk with Him and experience His love for me like John.  And testify to his mighty works and His ability to redeem and transform me like Paul.  And eventually – yes, eventually – look in the mirror and slowing start to see Jesus’ image and not my own.

So, I’ll continue to believe in God despite my fear because if I don’t I will never know what it is like to truly know Him and experience Him.  I’ll never know that He keeps His promises if I don’t believe in them.  That’s a risk I’m willing to take.

So, what are you afraid of?  Maybe it is time to take a risk.  Go ahead.  Do it.

Take the mask off.
Bid on the job that you are afraid you might not get.
Move somewhere God is leading you.
Talk to a someone you’ve never met.
Apologize to the person you think could never forgive you.
Tell that person you love them.
Trust that God is real and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him (Hebrews 11:6).

The only thing you have to lose is fear but what you can gain is freedom!

“The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.  Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”  – Deuteronomy 31:8