Update #77

“But you are a special people, a holy nation, priests and kings, a people given up completely to God, so that you may make clear the virtues of him who took you out of the dark into the light of heaven.” 2 Peter 2:9

Rebecca, 'Teju, Annie and me - GNO (Girls Night Out)

Once in awhile God speaks to me in pictures – moving pictures – like a little film. I don’t get them all the time so when they do happen they are special to me. The one I “downloaded” last Wednesday was about a boy and ballerinas.

I was standing in a wide white framed doorway. The room in front of me I presumed to be a living room of an upper end home – the floors were of golden hard wood with an expensive deep toned Indian rug on the floor. Very nice, but comfortable looking, chairs and a couch in a deep moss green were arranged nicely on the rug and around a dark wood coffee table. Natural light streamed in through a large bay window to my left.

What caught my attention was not the luxury of the room; the original paintings on the walls, the gauzy curtains on the bay window, the silk covered cushions on the furniture and window seat, the crystal on the end tables, or the marble of the fireplace…it was the young boy facing the right wall.

The right wall had a low white mantle running the length of it – about the height wainscoting would be. On the mantle were two identical, dark, ornately carved wooden boxes that were perched on short legs. There was nothing else on the wall – no paintings – nothing – it was blank. The dark boxes and the light wall were in stark contrast.

The boy appeared to be about 8-10 years old; a clean cut brunette in navy short-pants and a white polo-type shirt. He was staring intently at the boxes.

He lifted the lid of the left box. Inside it looked like a little girl’s jewelry box – except in red velvet. Where the little figure would usually be spinning to the music was a ballerina, but she was slumped over. The little boy cocked his head to the side and listened – the little figure was whining, complaining, and navel gazing about her situation. He shut the lid. He dropped his hand to his side and shook his head as if to clear it of all the negative things he just heard.

His focus then turned to right box. He tentatively raised the lid. The box, inside, was identical except for the ballerina – this one wasn’t slumped over – she was jumping, spinning, waving her arms, kicking her legs in the air, doing cartwheels, flips, summersaults as well as continually singing, shouting, and praising God. After about 10 seconds he shut the box, then opened it again, watched, shut the box, opened it…watched, shut, opened, watched, shut, opened – sometimes for a few seconds, sometimes for minutes at a time. He laughed, giggled, and at times mimicked what the little figure was doing. He was engrossed.

I felt myself smiling; watching the little boy’s reaction to the ballerina. Then I heard a powerful voice behind me…“Which box would you rather open?”

The film stopped. In less than ten seconds God communicated something very powerful to me…He relishes our praise! To answer the posed question, I would rather open the second box, thank you very much! I would rather receive praise, glory, honor, admiration, accommodation, applause, acclamation, commendation, and kudos rather than whining, disapproval, condemnation, blame, criticism and complaints coupled with murmuring…wouldn’t you?

Natural questions come from this: “What does God see when He opens your box?” “What does He hear?” “What does He receive?” “Does what He see, hear, and receive cause him to want to repeatedly visit you over and over and over again?” “Does He want to visit again and again just to see what you will do and say?”

What kind of “ballerina” are you? Are you the right (sided) one?

Updates:
Living – I am living with my relatives, but the Johnsons have made an offer on a property in Los Gatos (close date October 28th) and so I may be moving in the next few months. Check out the blog for details http://campus.inst.net/
Work – training is finishing up and our “training weekend away” (which I am in charge of) is September 19-21st. Then we transition into the venture cycle and travel season…
Travel – most likely heading to Indonesia the 6th of November through just after Thanksgiving…then home to Seattle for Christmas.

Requests:
Housing – a little space somewhere close to the Johnsons will soon be needed! I would love a little cottage all to myself!
Work – for the “training weekend away” I still need a few leaders and have an overwhelming amount of travel logistics to coordinate. I would really appreciate (covet) your prayers!
Purpose – I am working on making intercession more prominent in the rēp culture as well as help influence the overall viewpoint to be one of praise. This is harder than it seems – people, as a norm, think prayer is boring and are real whiners!
Relationships – the dating relationship I was in ended (see what happens when you finally post their picture on your blog!)…but God is REALLY good – I had the opportunity to be involved in some really cool “God stuff” over the weekend that reminded me who my first love is!
Financing - If you are interested in contributing, please see ‘Contribute’ at http://www.repurposing.biz/ on the left of the page, or visit http://www.denaandrews.blogspot.com/ and read the footer for additional info.

Dena

PS Happy Birthday to Kelley and “Rhonna”