Notes // doodle & draw

I sketched the above drawing during the 6:30 PM Sunday night service at Journey Church in Bend Or.   I love the fact that a page labeled "Notes // doodle & draw" is included in the program that is handed out to each person as they arrive to church.  It is very freeing to my artistic spirit to be encouraged to fill the page with images and notes during the service.   Today, I found myself feeling very thankful for the church that my family calls home, and the people that are working to live out Journey's simple yet powerful mission:

Mission (what God has called us to):
Transform the world – starting in Bend on a journey through faith, hope, & love in Jesus.

Purpose (how we accomplish our mission):
Love God. Love People.

Journey believes the church is the local expression of the face of Jesus. The way the world will see God will be through Jesus Christ living in and through us. The core values are found in the thoughtful living of each member of the Journey Community. Our mission comes from a place in the Bible where love is being described. The writer (Paul) says, “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:13 NIV)

Read below and reflect on, "Love" the way God designed and intended it to be:

1 Corinthians 13 (NIV)

13 If I speak in the tongues^[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³ If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,^[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
⁸ Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. ¹¹ When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. ¹² For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
¹³ And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Faith without works is dead

 ^{Faith is a gift to be shared.  If it is hidden away, buried, or masked, it is wasted.  Faith without works is dead.  The action is a direct result of God using the faith that he has given you to bless others.  I found these thoughts rolling through my head as I sketched the dead forest above.  I found myself thinking that faith, if not exercised,  may spoil, rot, or even disappear.   I began to ask myself the hard questions.  What have I done lately to exercise my faith?  When was the last time I stepped out of my comfort zone in my pursuit of Christ?  God's simple answer is "Patrick, open your eyes and I will show you the need that is all around you".  I pray today that I would see others with God's eyes and that my Faith would be exercised.}

^{James 2:14-25}

¹⁴ What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? ¹⁵ Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. ¹⁶ If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? ¹⁷ In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

¹⁸ But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”

Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. ¹⁹ You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

²⁰ You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless^[d]? ²¹ Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? ²² You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. ²³ And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,”^[e] and he was called God’s friend. ²⁴ You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.

²⁵ In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction?²⁶ As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

Patience

I had the opportunity to share with Olivia while traveling from Chicago to LA a few weeks ago.  I had been reading James in my bible and sketched the above drawing.  When I finished I felt God's tug on my heart to give the drawing to Olivia, the passenger sitting next to me, and share with her what I had been reading in James.  She told me it was exactly what she needed to hear and it opened the door for a rich conversation about her 74 years on this earth.  I am thankful for that conversation and pray that Olivia continues to grow in her faith.

James 1:2-8

²Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³ because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. ⁴ Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. ⁵ If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. ⁶ But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. ⁷ That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. ⁸ Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.