Jesus is Building Me a Cathedral

"Sometimes I feel like I’m building a cathedral. I didn’t carve the stone or lay the foundation or design the curves of the concrete arches sweeping octagonal to the domed roof, but if I run the gauntlet of stinging nettles down the path carved into the bush and through the trees – past the three-room schoolhouse, past the woven “honey box” whirring in the treetops with its cloud of African bees, over the miniscule canyons tunneled by endless caravans of marching ants – I can see the masonry of the prayer chapel and, between the eight arches, the windows and doors made by my hands. Criss-cross curves of stirrup strap steel set to trap the light between their lines. Balance of aesthetic and functionality, strength and beauty.The pieces I have contributed are only a fraction of the whole, and an imperfect one at that – I am no master builder – my tiny, flawed addition to the house of prayer in the woods. But, more than with most other work, save perhaps when I write, this crafting of windows and doors and candleholders feels like a praise, feels like a prayer offered with every fire-fixed weld, every bend of steel...I inhale the atomized string and candlewax and the supplications soaked in the sweat-stained stonedust and watch my prayers rise up to God with the smoke." *

Sometimes I feel like I am building cathedral too, Andrew.

If I run a gauntlet of stinging nettles down the path that I have carved, you find tragic stories and heartbreak, you find 60 kids at a public park singing Justin Beiber songs and throwing water balloons at each other, you find awkward moments in a highschool hallway, you find yourself all the way in GA next to a policeman after being chased by a woman in Uhaul truck, you find fears of fathers and mothers, fears of peers, fears of a future that seems nonexistent, you find ignored phonecalls, you find highschool girls who are searching for Jesus. You find pure brokenness. Then you find that this path goes up and down, sideways and twisted, backwards and forwards, over canyons and tunnels that were so carefully and intricately placed in those positions to make the beautiful steeple that is reaching the hands of Christ. The pieces I have contributed are next to none, but I am the one he has given a small tool to carve and perfect the design that he has so wonderfully made. My flaws are not flaws at all. And the pieces that were once broken are slowly mended together in a design that I can't yet see, as I look up to its infinite rise into the heavens to reach His hands. And the sweat that drips from my brow, stains the wood to make the beautiful and smooth cathedral that praises and glorifies my Savior. I am a Young Life leader at Opelika highschool and Jesus is building a cathedral there.

I'm watching my prayers rise up in the smoke and watching him answer them, as he grabs each request with his fingertips.

*My wonderful brother, Andrew, wrote this caption about his time in Sudan, working for World Harvest. He's a beautiful writer. Follow his blog here: http://shaughnessyinsouthsudan.wordpress.com/

Bottomless Coffee

Life is just so exciting, y'all.

Right now I'm eating the most delicious plate of blueberry pancakes and cheese grits and have a bottomless cup of coffee in my hands. That in itself is incredible to me--bottomless coffee? Had to think about that one for a second, didn't ya?  I just mean, this one cup of coffee that I payed for will be refilled today as many times as I want it to be refilled! It's shocking and wonderful all at the same time. And y'all, I will be taking full advantage of this little feature--it happens to be exam week and I have officially camped out in this spot for the day, and possibly week.  It's like I'm the honorary guest at Chappy's and I'm getting special privileges. Rocks. You know what my favorite thing about coffee at breakfast is, though? You always drink coffee before your meal (note that, kids) and it kinda just gets you excited and ready for everything you're about to take in. Blueberry pancakes is a lot to take in (especially these gems) but it's like the bitterness and simplicity of coffee contrasted to the sweetness of everything in the blueberries and pancakes makes me feel like I just ate a meal with Jesus. Mmm! Love it. That's kinda how I feel like heaven's gonna be too. Most of y'all know how much I love talking about heaven so I apologize for those of you who have heard my repetitive rants about this, but I just think life is so cool and there are so many things I love right now that heaven is just going to be that much more sweet and wonderful and nothing makes me more excited than that.

This morning I finished off some passages in Genesis and I love verse 18 of chapter 49: "I wait for your salvation, O Lord." There's something peaceful about that phrase. Life is exciting, sure, but we all know there's some heartaches we have to go through too--he talks about that too a little bit later in chapter 50 where he talks about God's providence, "as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones." The comforting part about that phrase is that all that life is is waiting for our salvation and his deliverance and we can wait in peace for that. God's awesome for making life so dang cool when it's something as simple as that, but that's just another representation of how great his grace is. It's cool to think about our lives and about the lives of people in the bible and how God's grace has been so prevalent in those too. Mary, for example--one of my favorite people to talk about in the bible: she was beautiful in every way that any woman could be and was chosen to be the mother of Jesus, the Christ. But what' I forget a lot is how what she did was only great because of who Jesus is. All she did was have a baby! I am by no means downgrading how beautiful a woman Mary was, but this is how all the things we do are. God gives you passions, desires, excitement, and gifts so that you can do his tasks for him and represent him and his kingdom in its most beautiful form. That rocks.

Christmas lights, diet coke, warm socks out of the dryer, my roommate's ridiculously beautiful singing voice, coffee and pancakes...I love all these things and I also love that we get SO much more of that in just a little bit when he let's us come hangout with him in heaven.


"You're the God of this city, the Lord of this people...there is no one like our God. For there are great things still to be done in this city." -God of This City, Chris Tomlin song lyrics