The Invitation

A certain man gave a great dinner and invited many. When the dinner was ready, he sent his servant to tell the guests. But they all began making excuses..... Luke 14: 17-18

The "Great Banquet Parable" is one of my favorite parables that Jesus taught. I like it for so many reasons. It is filled with numerous life lessons. Of course the most important being the invitation to join God's banquet table. But one thing that always struck me as interesting was the people who made excuses when they received the invitation. They went to great extremes to make up a reason why they could not attend the dinner. Or perhaps, they wanted to attend but they let other things get in the way.

This week Jeff and I were invited to dinner by a couple we both knew. The invitation came as somewhat of a surprise. Although we knew this couple on a professional level, I would say we were not close friends at all. Not that we wouldn't want to be friends, we just never had an opportunity to socialize with them outside of work commitments. I admire both of these individuals immensely. They are brilliant, highly educated people, who have achieved much success. I would say they are even considered "famous" in their respected educational and professional fields. To say I was a little intimated by them would be an understatement. So when we got the invitation I immediately began to think of excuses why I couldn't go. First, I didn't want to give up my only free evening of the week to have dinner with someone where I might feel uncomfortable. My schedule is a little crazy now with other commitments and I need that free evening to catch up on household chores. Then my insecurities started in overdrive...."what would we talk about? Their life experiences, numerous college degrees, and accomplishments made me feel so inadequate to even carry on a conversation. Then I wondered why they would even want to have dinner with me? What was the real reason? Do they want something from us? What is up?" .....Gena, always the skeptic....

But, finally we decided we would go. It would be rude to turn down the invitation and honestly throughout the week, I really felt God wanted us to attend this dinner.

So we went........and it was delightful! It ended up being one of the nicest evenings we have had in a long time. The couple was so hospitable. They went above and beyond to welcome us. I discovered they were even more wonderful than I thought and they were fun! The wife had prepared a lovely dinner. The food was an ethnic dish that I had never tasted and it was delicious! After dinner we continued to visit over dessert and coffee. We stayed much later than we thought we would talking about travel, politics, economy, education, family, and Jesus. We were able to share about our faith and they shared their faith. We were encouraged and inspired by their testimony. All and all... It was a great evening and it was just so much fun! We left feeling a little cheated that we hadn't got to know them sooner.

Which got me thinking, how many other times have I let my insecurities, my selfishness, my stubbornness stand in the way of something that God was calling me to do? How many times did God want to use me in a situation and I refused to be used. Or maybe it was something different. How many times did God not want me to do anything... He just wanted to bless me and show favor and just have a lovely evening of sweet fellowship with friends.....I know it has been to many to count. I'm so grateful we serve a God that continues to extend His love and grace to His children.

Oh Dear Lord, next time I give excuses about something you are calling me to do, remind me, if I will just be obedient to your invitation....... You will bless me more than I can even imagine.


"What a blessing it will be to attend a banquet in the kingdom of God" . Luke 14: 15

The Author Of My Story

God made my life complete
when I placed all the pieces before Him.
When I got my act together,
He gave me a fresh start.
Now I'm alert to God's ways;
I don't take God for granted.
Every day I review the ways He works;
I try not to miss a trick.
I feel put back together,
And I'm watching my step.
God rewrote the text of my life
When I opened the book of my heart to His eyes.

Psalm 18:20-24 The Message

I am so grateful that God is the author of a beautiful story for my life. I am so grateful for His love and grace. May the book of my heart always be opened to HIS eyes.

Day 50 of 2011

On January 1, 2011 my resolution, my goal, my desire, my plan…. whatever you want to call it was to have a deeper relationship with Christ in 2011. To seek Him more intimately, to grow in my faith, and to get to a place in my life that I would be so radically dependent on Him that He would do something so radical in my life that I could never do alone.

In summary, I wanted a Jesus year! The kind of Jesus year that Beth Moore describes in the bible study I started in January. She challenged us by saying that if you want to have that kind of year you are going to have to leave some stuff behind in order to get to a new place with Jesus, the kind of year that you quit being a control freak and you let Jesus do the driving and you sit back and enjoy the ride. She warned us to get prepared because with Jesus driving…not only would it be a wild ride, she promised it would not be boring. In fact if you are bored in any way – you are not in the will of God. Wow! Those words were exciting, maybe a little scary not knowing what is ahead but I was ready for my Jesus year! I was ready for my wild ride with Jesus! Or at least I thought I was ready…………….

The next week, I took a trip to the Florida with my family. We had a fabulous time on the beach. We ate delicious seafood, enjoyed the sights, swam, relaxed by the pool, and had great fun together. The weather was absolutely beautiful. In fact, we were so grateful that we were in Florida, because at that time, central Texas was going through one of its coldest spells of the year. We were all a little sad when it was time to pack up and come back home to the frigid weather. When we got back to the Austin airport we realized our luggage was lost and didn’t make it home with us. I stood in the airport waiting for the bags, my impatience quickly turned to frustration as the baggage carousel went round and round. But our bags never came and there was nothing we could do at that point except to go home and wait for our bags to be returned to us.

That evening, I was in my bathroom getting ready for bed. As I was still pouting about my bags, God spoke to me and said Gena you do not need one thing in that suitcase right now. Even if you had it, it is useless to you right now. That suitcase was filled with flip flops, swimsuits; sun dresses…all things you need on a beach vacation not a cold winter day. And just like that stuff in that suitcase you don’t need right now – there are some other things in your life that you don’t need either. If you want to take a wild ride with me this year you are going to have to get rid of some things. You don’t need all the material stuff, or the approval of others, you don’t need the false security that your job and money brings, and there are even some relationships that you are hanging on to that you don’t need. You and I can’t go on this wild ride together this year when you think you need all these other things. There is not enough room for that junk and me. All you need is me! All that junk belongs to someone you used to be. So upon that reminder, I dropped to my knees and confessed that yes, I had been hanging on to some junk along with unforgiveness, bitterness, fear, insecurities, and the list goes on and on…..But His grace is bigger than my sin. He will use our lives for his glory. I’m full of gratitude that He is my Redeemer!

Today I sit here almost 50 days into this 2011 Jesus year. I can say with all confidence that when I leave behind my junk and the things I think I “need”, when I stop weighing down the Jesus car with all my baggage, when I move over to the passenger side and let him drive……..oh how life gets so much better!! These past weeks have been so wonderful!! The places He has taken me, the people I have met, the beautiful scenery, the fun stops along the way, the wind of the Holy Spirit blowing my hair has all been indescribable!! And the best part is: Beth Moore was right. Riding with Jesus is NEVER BORING!!

Welcome to my blog!

Hello! It is official...I'm going to try blogging. Through the years I have blogged a little... mostly in my mind. Occassionly I would write down my thoughts on another blog I had. But mostly my blogging consists of reading other people's blogs. In fact, I believe some people would even call me a blog stalker! I do enjoy a good blog! So, I will attempt to blog. We will see how long I stick with it. It is hard to come up with something creative. I have a hard time coming up with a facebook status on most days. So, we will see how this goes.....