enjoy life... session with francis

*Logan Hall... boldness, willingness of babysitter... the big picture
*don't miss God's creation and how amazing it is
*trust God ~ He knows.
*God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him." ~ John Piper
*love God's laws ~ Psalm 119
*His laws lead to life
*stop making His laws look like something that is a pain ~ show the joy of following His laws
*cookie... eating to the glory of God
*laughter
*look at what God made & how fun it is to follow Him
*that same God is in love with us
*love to talk about Him
*enjoy Him
*Luke 10:... 17-20... came back filled with joy
*the joy of knowing your name's in the Book of Life
*Ephesians 2:8-9
*we should have joy more than anyone on earth because our names are there
*imagine the impact of everyone living joy
*whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God

... those are my notes from Monday night, during our session with Francis Chan.

Francis came in that night and he immediately began to tell the story of this girl from his church who began babysitting for a family... I don't remember exactly how it all fit together, all the details, but he told about how this young girl knew that this family didn't go to church and didn't know Jesus. So she began inviting them to church. They eventually came and then pretty soon were inviting their friends too. Both families all became followers of Christ. Then one day (the day of this session), the little boy in the second family fell off his bike and ended up having to go to the hospital. He was hurt pretty badly, and as he was in a coma, the doctors said that there was something else wrong that had been hidden in his brain before that, and the fall from his bike wasn't the only cause of it all. Throughout the next couple of days, Francis would give us updates on this little boy, Logan Hall, and by his last session with us, Logan was still living, but the doctors had said that even if he did wake up, he would never be like he had been before. His family was having a hard time with the whole thing, as is to be expected, but they were so full of joy and peace at the same time. At one point, his sister whispered in his ear that either way, if he lived or died, it was a win-win situation, because if he lived, he'd have more life to live, and if he died... he'd be with Jesus. That is a huge thing. I think that so often we tend to forget what it's all about.

The reason that little girl could say that was because of the boldness and willingness of the girl who was babysitting for their friends' family, because she invited them to church and the Hall family consequently got invited afterwards. She could never have known the impact she would make through being willing to let God work through her. She didn't know what the big picture was, and we still don't know what the true big picture is... it is even bigger than the whole thing with Logan.

Francis took a package of cookies, opened it, and began to eat one. With his mouth completely full, he described to us how it tasted and just how much he enjoyed eating it... he commented on how amazing God is... He could have made us to soak up our food out of the ground like a plant, but He chose to make us to eat, and to enjoy it. He commented the same way on laughing. He was like "What is a laugh??" He laughed in several different ways, and commented that it is really fun to laugh.

Living for God is fun. What ever made us stop seeing the fun in it?! What makes us look at God's laws as something we have to follow instead of a joy? We focus so much on what we cannot do, instead of what we can and get to do, and on the blessings God has given us... why complain? The world is so full of complaining, instead of joy, and if we just learned to live in His joy... look at how different life would be! We'd see that abundant life, life to the full, is right here in front of us, and we're just too busy complaining to see it. Who really wants to go through life always searching for something to complain about? Not me! I'm too busy having fun with the blessings of God... make the most of it. God wants us to enjoy life. That's why He's given us all the senses we have. It is why He made us like He did. Enjoy it.