love

When you look up into a tree in Lesotho, you are likely to see a nest that is shaped like an inflated balloon, hanging down from the branches.  They are the nests of the weaver birds.  The nest looks like a highly crafted house that only can come from an engineer wired brain.  The creation of the nest is a story of love.  The male weaver bird spends days constructing a nest that would be perfect for his partner.  He searches for the right branch to build it on, the right twigs to create the balloon like structure and he makes countless trips flying from the ground to the nest constructing the intricate piece of art.  When he is finished he goes out to find his female counter part.  She then flys to the nest and looks it over.  If the nest is not up to her standards, she rips it apart in seconds, right in from of the male weaver bird.  Why would she do that knowing all the care and time that went into constructing the perfect house for her?  Why would she take a home of love and destroy it, because it didn't fit her style?  I am a female weaver bird.  God spent countless hours constructing the perfect place for me to live.  He knew exactly what I needed and put it all in one place, but every time I sin, I take his beautiful creation and I destroy it in front of Him.  But because of His deep love, he takes another stick and starts rebuilding again.

I have been thinking a lot lately about the love of God.  It is an amazing thing.  God loves me 100% and no matter how good I am or how much I strive to become better, He already loves 100%.  God's love is so big, so deep and so real that I could spend every second of the rest of my life studying it, and I would not know everything about it.  Ephesians 3:17-19 says, "And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."  Our brains are not big enough or complex enough to understand it.  That is the amazing thing about God's love, it will never end.  God's love will never run out or stop, no matter what I am facing in my life.  Every second of everyday God picks me up and places me on His big lap and wraps His almighty arms around me.  With ever breath I take, He gives me another one, just because He loves me.  Every night I enjoy His beautiful sunset with the magnificent colors stretching as far as my eye can see, all because He loves me.  And in the morning He proves His faithfulness, by bringing the same colors back again through His sun rise, only because He loves me.  

There is something beautiful about Lesotho that allows me to see the amazing love of God.  Whenever I am here, I am reminded that God's love will never leave me or run out.  One of my favorite hymns says,

"Could we with ink the ocean fill?
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade;
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky." 

Take a second right now and think about that...REALLY, JUST STOP AND THINK.  If all the water in all the oceans was ink and someone used it to write about the love of God, they would empty the ocean before they were done.  That, my friends, is love!!!

Today I walked out into the play yard and a six year old girl came walking up to me.  I put my hands out and her tiny little body glued itself to mine.  She literally was choking me with her hug and she wouldn't let go.  I sat down with her for 30 minutes.  There was no exchange of words.  There was no silly BG hand shake.  There was only one very tight hug.  At times in my life, I want walk up to God and I wrap my arms around His big neck and I just hug Him.  I don't have any words to impress Him with or explain how I am feeling.  I don't want to boast my achievements for the day, I want to hug Him.  

A few months ago my friend and I wrote a song about love.  (I should really say my friend wrote 98% of the song, and I wrote 2%, but none the less it was a joint effort).  The chorus first verse says, 

"This is a different kind of love song.
About a love no man can comprehend.
A love that can't be sown in roses,
but instead was shown by thrones upon a head."


For many years, God's people have been a female weaver bird.  They take what he has created for them and destroy it, because of pride and selfishness.  But God over looks all of that an sent someone else to pick up the broken pieces and put it all back together.  Why did God send Jesus?  Was it to prove His power over us?  Was it to prove to us that we made a big mistake? No, it was because He loved us (John 3:16).

I want to encourage you all to take a 9 minutes and watch this youtube video.  I have used it many times in ministry, but this weekend I spent A LOT of time having it on repeat.  Quiet your life for 9 minutes and allow God's love to overflow in you.
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgzXXKjaPZA)  

HE LOVES YOU BECAUSE HE LOVES YOU. BECAUSE HE LOVES YOU.

BECAUSE HE LOVES YOU. BECAUSE HE LOVES YOU. BECAUSE HE LOVES YOU
BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT HE IS LIKE.