My eyes ever on Jesus' face.

"Keep my eyes ever on Jesus' face." 

I woke up this morning with these words in my mind and heart. Something about them just resonated with me. It may be the fact that I'm in awe of this simple phrase. What does it mean to keep my eyes ever on His face and His face alone. There are so many distractions in my life: car troubles, lesson plans, friends, family, graduation, the future, the past, my insecurities...the list goes on and on. Some of these distractions are blessings from God and His wonderful provisions, but some come from my own fallen nature and are not from God at all. How do I keep my eyes on Him when I'm stressed and can't see through 'til tomorrow? It feels like such a big idea, but when I really think about it, it is pretty simple. When I say 'simple', I don't mean easy. I just mean that through my own overthinking, the idea of simplicity gets muddled and tarnished. It really is as simple as focusing on God and allowing Him to rule my life and my relationships. It's days like this when I'm sitting in Panera writing lots of lesson plans that He reminds me of my time in Swazi and what I learned from it. My life was not easy when I was there, but it was simpler. I spent my days serving people and giving myself to those around me. What I didn't understand when I was there was that I actually got more than I gave. The wonderful relationships of my team and of the people there filled me to the brim with gratitude. The closeness I felt to Christ was something I long to replicate. It wasn't a "God high" that you usually hear about when talking about mission trips; it was something better. It was a lifestyle focused around God and not around my busy schedule. It was simplicity at it's best. He was the center of my life and my eyes were fixed on Him daily. Why can't I do that here? Why does my God time depend on my school work and my level of exhaustion? I dealt with situations in a completely new way and I saw clearly for the first time in my life (or so it seems). 

I used to ask myself the question, "What can it hurt?" in reference to various situations. Instead of asking that question, I began asking these ones: "How does this make me a better person and follower of Christ? Would this be something that God would plan for my life or is this my own plan and flesh getting in the way?" As I'm getting older, I'm realized how many insecurities exist in my life and relationships. I take heart in the fact that there are absolutely no insecurities in my relationship with Christ. Yes, I mess up daily, but I know that He is there to catch me as I stumble and to correct my path. It's not only learning from your mistakes that's important, it's not repeating them that is the most important part. 

The lyrics to the song 'Lord of Lords' by Hillsong have been running through my mind all day and I find them inspiring. They put my life in context and give me renewed passion and motivation to seek after Him because I'm where I am now to bring Him glory.

Beholding Your beauty 
Is all that I long for 
To worship You Jesus 
Is my sole desire 
For this very heart 
You have shaped for your pleasure 

Purposed to lift Your Name higher 

Here in surrender 
In pure adoration 
I enter Your courts 
With an offering of praise 
I am Your servant 
Come to bring You glory 
As is fit for the work of Your hands 

[Chorus 1:]
Now unto the Lamb 
Who sits on the throne 
Be glory and honor and praise 
All of creation resounds with the song 
Worship and praise Him 
The Lord of lords 
[ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/b/brooke_fraser/lord_of_lords.html ]
Spirit now living 
And dwelling within me 
Keep my eyes fixed 
Ever on Jesus' face 
Let not the things of this world 
Ever sway me 
I'll run 'til I finish the race 

[Chorus 2:]
Now unto the Lamb 
Who sits on the throne 
Be glory and honor and praise 
All of eternity echoes the song 
Worship and praise Him 
The Lord of lords 

Holy Lord 
You are holy 
Jesus Christ 
Is the Lord 

[Chorus 3:]
Now unto the Lamb 
Who sits on the throne 
Be glory and honour and praise 
Call all the sinners to join in the song
Worship and praise Him 
The Lord of lords

Here's the link to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFkY5-Xp710

I guess I should get back to my lesson plans because as much of a pain as they are, I will do them for His glory because He has put me in this profession and with these particular children for such a time as this and I will do my best to bring Him glory. 

...Let not the things of this world ever sway me. Keep my eyes focused on You alone, Lord. 

Baby Elephants

Before I start this, I should admit that I am the biggest National Geographic/Animal Planet/any other nature show fan. Go ahead, call me a nerd or geek or whatever. I embrace it! =)  I love being able to see animals in different settings including their natural settings. We are surrounded by such natural beauty in this world. I mean we try to harness it by putting beautiful animals like a lion in an enclosure just to see it whenever we want. We're fascinated by it. There was a show on NatGeoWild (yes, it's a channel and you should totally check it out) last night that was doing a special on the Serengeti. It showed hundreds of amazing animals that all live in a relatively small area compared to the continent of Africa. Obviously, since going on a safari in Swaziland, I've been even more curious about African animals because I've seen some close up. Too close for comfort for some...just a side note, if you're ever caught in between rhinos and elephants who don't really like each other and your car stalls, I think you're totally allowed to have a little freak out. Not that I did or anything... ;) ANYWAY, I was watching the special about the Serengeti and I found myself taken with the diversity of animals and the circle of life (you should have seen that coming..) that occurs in Africa in particular. I was thinking of the differences of the animals' lives to that of humans when they showed a clip of a baby elephant taking it's first steps. I couldn't help but laughing at the baby elephants standing up and falling back over and even being pushed over by their older family members - my brothers totally pushed me over as a toddler, I know they did! After literally dying of laughter for about a half hour and looking up countless Youtube videos of baby elephants falling over as they try to walk, something occurred to me: elephants and humans are similar in some ways and different in some other ways (size being one...). The mother elephants helped their babies to take their first steps and used any method to help. My favorite was them using their trunk to lift up the baby while it got it's feet under it. It was so stinkin' adorable! Then you had the other members of the herd who would come over and so nicely knock the baby back over onto the ground. One thing I noticed was that the more the baby got knocked over, the quicker it got up the next time. It learned to adapt to hurdles and hardships just like we have to as well. We do it on a higher thinking level, not just when we're learning how to walk, but it's similar. We come across a hurdle we think we can't get over until we realize we're already over or it or we're crossing it. For me, Christ is the mother's trunk that helps to support me while I'm getting my feet back under me. He has been there through everything in my life and He's who I can count on to always help me through every situation. He's always encouraging and while there are still people and situations that push me over, with His help, I will always get back up. Only I could make a connection between baby elephants falling over and God...this is what Africa does to you, people!

If you want a good laugh search baby elephants learning to walk on Youtube. To get you started, here's a few:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAvnZ8fQawc

Start at 1:16 to miss the actual birth...TIA (this is Africa - a phrase commonly used on my trip to Swaziland because some situations, you just couldn't explain any other way!).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=oQ8R3EyIjQs