Jesus Stays at The Hilton

Thank you for praying with me for a time to retreat to be with Jesus!

And THANK YOU to The Hilton Galveston and to Shelley for the incredible welcome, outsanding service and genuine care. I had a wonderful 2-night stay at The Hilton! A room to myself with a king-sized bed with a view of the ocean. What a gift! The Hilton Galveston was so accomodating - I hope you can visit there one day!

Check out my room and view!

YES. I. DID.

On my 48-hour retreat, God began to reveal to me and remind me how BIG He is. We hear it in church, we read it in the Bible, and there are quite a few songs about it in the "Mountain Music" playlist in my iPod. But we live in a society built in compartments and departments. Even our places of worship are categorized by religions, denominations, degrees of charisma and doctrinal policies. I don't think any of these things are bad. We're human. We have to create some kind of structure to make things work. We won't have the big picture, or understand the whole enchilada, until we go Home to our Father, so... while we're here, we make a way for us to live together as peacefully as we know how.

We manage life.

The one thing we cannot manage, cannot even begin to wrap our wee-little earthly minds around is God's unstoppable and everlasting Glory. Can I get a WHEEEEEEEE-HAAAAAAA!??! I don't even know what that sound was.... that's how good it is!

We grow up learning how to manage and how to compartmentalize to make things work. It's almost natural to try to file God's Holy-Awesome-Gotta-Getcha-Some-Of-That Goodness too. But it doesn't fit!

I was reminded on my retreat how hard-wired I am to limit, file, and compartmentalize. And that I'm about to fly to the other side of the world. (in approximately 73 hours) There's a good chance that, when I get there, none of my pre-made and probably color-coded file folders will fit the experience and the way God looks, loves, sculpts, shines and is there.

So I praised Who He Is. I sat with Him and delighted in Him. And, oh my, He IS indeed delightful.

I prayed to maintain an open heart, one that doesn't limit or compartmentalize Who God Is.

I prayed to have a heart of compassion that is available to love Him, seek Him and serve Him competely. With all that I am. All the time.

He gave me the word FREEDOM.

He reminded me that, by His blood, we are free. Free from death and free from playing in a works-based, sin-counting game we would never win - Just by accepting His grace. And that freedom that comes from accepting Jesus begins a lifetime of freedom that I think gets better and better as we let it.

It's a freedom that leads to an abounding ability to love and be loved and to know and be known. We've been given a free pass for a love that only gets bigger and better. It's up to us to stop limiting it.

It's like Jell-O. There's always room.