I know, I know... I am 2 days LATE with this 'Living in the Middle' post. But, again, I say, better late than never...

Wow!! I MUST share with you what I learned TUESDAY in our Life Lessons Over Lunch session. We viewed our last session titled 'Canvas- The Way Of Glory'. It was eye opening and revealing! I will only be able to scratch the surface in this post...

Hopefully, I can do A LITTLE BIT of justice to Andy Stanley and Louie Giglio (the preachers) by sharing what I learned from them Tuesday...

They talked again about Living in the Middle with the GREAT 'I AM'!! Louie Giglio spoke about how AWESOME our God is and how INCREDIBLE it truly is that He gave up HIS MOST PRECIOUS POSSESSION for US!?? Yes, I put a question mark or two, because sometimes, I look at me and my life and what I chase after and what I worry about (and girls, you know I worry) and I think, 'You gave up your PRECIOUS Son for me?????'

Today, as I pondered this fact, I imagined if I was asked to give up my most PRECIOUS possession for a group of people. Not just ANY group of people, but people who spit on me, turned their backs on me, and broke my heart. Well, I came to the conclusion that in no conceivable realm could I give up what is most precious to me for a group of people who treated me like THAT! But, you know what....

The GREAT 'I AM' did just THAT!! No, really He did just that for...

- The boss who has treated you unfairly...
- The friend who no longer wants to speak to you for some falling out or another...
- The spouse who couldn't keep a promise to you or your children...
- The grown child who has seemingly turned his/her back on everything you taught them...
- YOU and ME, who are like little children in His eyes!!

The GREAT 'I AM' continues to amaze me with His love and grace for me. One more thing that was so VERY AWESOME about today's session is THIS...

Louie Giglio 'restated' the words to 'Here I am to worship'. Do you know that praise song? If not, the words are below...

Here I am to worship, Here I am to bow down, Here I am to say that you're my God.
You're altogether worthy, altogether lovely, altogether wonderful to me!!
I'll never know how much it cost to see my sin upon that cross!

Well, he put them in a 'new context' for us. Stay with me here.... In light of 'I AM NOT but I know I AM', he stated it from the perspective, of 'Here, 'I AM', to Worship'. In other words, we are not singing, 'Here I am...' as in 'OK, God, here I am to worship you. I showed up today and here I am worshipping you.' No, no, no, try this... "Here, 'I AM' to worship," meaning, "The great 'I AM', I am here to worship you, HERE in this place, in this moment." Here is little ol' me worshipping 'I AM'. The emphasis is NOT that I am here, but that 'Here, (I am NOT) is worshipping the great 'I AM'! I sang that song on the way home this evening (while I am sure I looked like a crazy woman driving down the road) and I thought about the 'new' context I was given this afternoon during the Canvas session and it gave the words and the song a whole new meaning to me.

Finally, Louie Giglio went on to say the line about 'Altogether lovely, altogether worthy...' Well, he said that (and I paraphrase here), 'Hey! We could stop at the word 'altogether' because that says it ALL! He is ALTOGETHER and He is the only one in the room who can TRULY say that.' We are definitely NOT altogether, no matter who you are. He is SO MUCH MORE altogether than we can ever hope to be!! (OK I may be speaking for myself here, because I am not 'altogether' most days, but you get the point.)

Isn't that SOMETHING??!!! 'Here 'I AM', to WORSHIP! You are ALTOGETHER PERIOD!!'

HE is the great 'I AM' and He is altogether, even on days when it seems my world might be falling apart. And, my dear friends, we all have those days where we fell like all of our efforts are falling apart before our very eyes.

Remember that HE IS the GREAT 'I AM' and He is ALTOGETHER, even when you and I are not the least bit together!

Here's to another week of 'Living In The Middle' with the GREAT I AM!! Here 'I AM', to worship!!!