too powerful

So right now, I am sitting the CCCC computer lab, because I got bored and came here an hour early. I'm listening to a little Bon Iver, which is pretty legit. Check out Skinny Love, if you haven't listened to them before.

Its raining right now, and its dark outside. It just reminds me of how I cannot wait to get my glasses because I hate driving at night and I hate driving in the rain, and I can barely see road signs as it is...so I was legit nervous as I was driving.
I was literally quoting scripture the entire time, haha. I love the rain when I'm safe inside and I'm just listening to it, because its peaceful...but being out in it, is not quite as much fun.
like I used to hate the ocean because when I was little I was on my knees chilling at the very edge of the water where the waves would come in and out...and one time a big wave came up and i put my head down and it was so strong that I couldn't pull my head back up for a while and it scared me so bad. Like I didn't really start liking the ocean until a few summers ago when I went with my Epicquest group after I went to Russia.
I don't know what it is about a lot of water... I don't know. Nature scares me. Its beautiful to look at and experience, unless it goes wrong... when nature attacks, thats the scariest thing ever. You can't do anything to stop it. Its where things go above man's ability to make things right.

I kinda like that though. Like even if man has all this technology and all this stuff that supposedly is going to fix us all and be the next best thing, the very original "awesome", the earth that God created, has so much power in itself that you can't even begin to stop it. Can you stop an earthquake? Can you stop a tsunami? Can you stop a hurricane? No, you can't. and over and over again in the Bible they refer to God by comparing him to the earth. Mountains, thunder, all sorts of things.
So it kind of puts in in perspective for me to think about God in the same way that I think about the earth. You cannot stop God. He is too strong, too powerful. You may try to do all you can to resist him, but you cannot leave his presence unaffected.
How beautiful is that?
How perfect is that imagery?
maybe thats where the fear of God comes into play. That deep reverence...but maybe even a literal fear. A nervousness that knowing when God comes you cannot be unchanged. Its too magnificant.
How great is that.

I think far too many people view Christianity as a passive faith. Full of love, grace, mercy, and good deeds...which is definitely true, but at the same time it is full of POWER. Thats whats been missing from today's Christianity. People are not recognizing the awesome power of our God. They are not seeing that God has the power to transform by his power alone. Its not just about God loving someone so much that they finally feel accepted. Its God's power to take a dying man and make him whole. To take a sinner and someone so lost in their own ways that they are far too stubborn to listen to man's reason...to take that person and turn him into a man after Gods own heart. To protect, to save, to rescue... those are active words. Those are fighting words. and I think God is desiring us to start treating our salvation as a tool. As a weapon. to have a warrior mentality. what good is our faith if we keep telling people cliche things they don't understand without showing them something they know is real...without giving them that opportunity to understand that God is WORTH being served. Its not about loving everyone and being good so we get to heaven. Its about living above reproach and emulating Christ in order to be a platform that others can look to and see a life transformed by God. to see someone who is living abundantly, someone who is seeing breakthrough in their life. Someone who is filled with joy and power. Someone who is completely content regardless of their situation. That person that you don't hear complain about every act of injustice. Life. is. unfair. thats how it is. Everyone can recognize that. things happen that we don't understand, but that is just all the more reason to put your hope in God, because then you might have the shot of making it through. You might be able to stand strong while those around you crumble in their disappointment and anger.

You know!?!
I don't know why I'm just going on this tirade. I've just been thinking...Bon Iver is good reflecting music :] and so is the dimly lit hallways of an almost empty CCCC. This blog was pretty random. It wasn't so much about me... I don't know. I think whenever I used to write blogs in the past all of them happened when God put something on my heart to share. something where I was reaching out and sharing. This whole blogging experience has been about me just getting my voice out and letting out my thoughts. So I guess it was just a matter of time before I started preaching on this thing. :]

hmmm...kinda like standing in an empty church preaching to empty pews, but hoping someone will overhear from the room over and be impacted.
kinda like that :]

-Rachel