ME, Me, me, you, You, YOU.

There's a name I am extremely familiar with.  So familiar in fact that I'm kind of over it.  The name is "Me".  A few years ago my staff team had a joke regarding a band we had heard rehearsing.  We kept hearing the lead singer say, "Can I get a little more me in the mic?"  "Can I get a little more me in the monitor?"  "A little more me, please?"  Over the past little while I have been listening to the Lord say to me, "This life is not all about you."  Don't get me wrong, I know He adores me.  I know He cares and pursues.  But I've seen too much of ME over the years.  Recently I went on a cruise.  The cruise was a gift and one night while watching the sunset I was thinking about Jesus and wondering what if He had come to Earth with a "ME" mentality.  How different life would be.  I think about Philippians 2 and how He made himself nothing and humbled himself to death and not just any death, but death on a cross.  And the Father gave him the name that is above every other name.  A name greater than "Me".  A name greater than Obama or George.  A name greater than Osama or Haggard.  A name greater than Billy Graham or Mother Theresa.  Greater than Tim Keller or Larry Crabb. A name of the one that one day I will have the joy of seeing face to face.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kma2VTeTuoE

I've realized more lately that my longing for Home has increased.  For years I have wrestled with this strange sense of sadness and restlessness that usually comes everyday around the hours of 5PM-8PM.  I've often attributed it to winter, a draining time in ministry, singleness, whatever is about ME.  My sweet sister even made me a hilarious CD several years ago called, "5 to 8" with lines from Christmas Vacation, dance music, and a variety of entertaining musings.  Well people, I've had an epiphany (which most of you would say "duh" to).  I think no matter what happens in my life, dreams fulfilled, a life lived to the fullest, community, etc. that I will always have that slight sadness or restlessness.  Why? Because it is a very real reminder that I am not Home yet.  It reminds me that there is a greater invitation Jesus offers to us than just having a "good life".  I think I would be bored.  So this invitation continues..............

As I think back over 2010, I could not be more grateful for the journey and the process.  The first half was brutal and the second half involved a skip in my step and a song in my heart.  Crawford Lorritts says, "Sometimes your hope has to be threatened in order for it to be strengthened."  True dat, Crawford.  I wonder what invitation Christ will extend to me in 2011?  Will I lean into it?  What reminds you that you are not Home yet?  Above I copied a youtube video of a song I literally have been hopping around to all day.  Pretty funny sight when one is wearing an ugly black boot for leg issues, but nevertheless it is a powerful song.  I can't wait to worship face to face with Him and with YOU beside me.