Megan Lebo

I read an article this morning in yesterday’s issue of the Tennessean that I found interesting and that I find myself agreeing with.  As a matter of fact it is something that I have thought about on a certain scale but could never really pinpoint exactly what the issue was, but this man said it well. 

FAITHFUL QUIT SECULARIZED CHURCHES TO PROTECT THEIR BELIEFS  by Paul Proctor

“The Washington Times reported last week what many of us Southern Baptists have known for some time: Evangelicals are ‘flocking away from chruches’ in ’significant numbers.’ 

In past columns, I have cited reasons I believer the church is in decline, few of which were included in the Times.  But instead of rehashing years of commentary on the subject, suffice it to say the reinvented church has become so much like the world, there is little left for anyone to come to anymore that they can’t find in greater quantity and quality elsewhere.

You see, today’s church is reproducing consumers and compromisers, not committed Christians – people who seek popularity for themselves, their interests, their pastimes, their churches and their leaders rather than being the ‘peculiar people’ God has called us to be in Scripture.  (1 Peter 2:9, Titus 2:11-14)

But we don’t want to be peculiar, do we?

No, we want to be popular.  We want to be just like the world around us so the world will like us and want to join us when, in fact, it is we who are joining them.

U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn, raised a big stink recently, calling Jesus a ‘community organizer’ in his promotion and defense of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama; and I would submit to you that this liberal perception and perversion of Jesus Christ has so infected the church today, even among conservatives, that our pulpits are now occupied more by community organizers than preachers of the Gospel.

Why do you think so many churches have done away with biblically and/or denominationally distinctive names and adopted the generic and begign term ‘Community’ to name themselves while the general attitude toward sin has become so blase?

Is it not to be more attractive to a fallen world and increase their market share in the community?  Is it not to bring people together regardless of their conflicting values, beliefs and religions?  There’s no biblical basis for this; and yet it has, in many respects, become paramount.

The one thing I did agree with from the Times report was that many of those leaving the institutional church today are not backsliders.  A large number of them are faithful and mature Christians who are being driven away by backsliding churches and their leaders.  They are protecting themselves and their families from a faith-destroying environment of covetousness and pragmatism.

Today’s churches have become so obsessed with results and relationships that they no longer have an interest in the things of God – only building community.

It sounds benevolent, doesn’t it?

And that’s just what community organizers do – they build community -which has absolutely nothing to do with repentance and faith in Jesus Christ – the one who said: ‘My kingdom is not of this world.’ “

“True religion confronts earth with heaven and brings eternity to bear upon time. The messenger of Christ, though he speaks from God, must also, as the Quakers used to say, ”speak to the condition” of his hearers; otherwise he will speak a language known only to himself. His message must be not only timeless but timely. He must speak to his own generation.

The message of this book (The Knowledge of the Holy) does not grow out of these times but it is appropriate to them. It is called forth by a condition which has existed in the Church for some years and is steadily growing worse. I refer to the loss of the concept of majesty from the popular religious mind. The Church has surrendered her once lofty concept of God and has substituted for it one so low, so ignoble, as to be utterly unworthy of thinking, worshipping men. This she has done not deliberately, but little by little and without her knowledge; and her very unawareness only makes her situation all the more tragic.

The low view of God entertained almost universally among Christians is the cause of a hundred lesser evils everywhere among us. A whole new philosophy of the Christian life has resulted from this one basic error in our religious thinking.

With our loss of the sense of majesty has come the further loss of religious awe and consciousness of the divine Presence. We have lost our spirit of worship and our ability to withdraw inwardly to meet God in adoring silence. Modern Christianity is simply not producing the kind of Christian who can appreciate or experience the life in the Spirit. The words, ”Be still, and know that I am God,” mean next to nothing to the self-confident, bustling worshipper in this middle period of the twentieth century.

This loss of the concept of majesty has come just when the forces of religion are making dramatic gains and the churches are more prosperous than at any time within the past several hundred years. But the alarming thing is that our gains are mostly external and our losses wholly internal; and since it is the quality of our religion that is affected by internal conditions, it may be that our supposed gains are but losses spread over a wider field.

The only way to recoup our spiritual losses is to go back to the cause of them and make such corrections as the truth warrants. The decline of the knowledge of the holy has brought on our troubles. A rediscovery of the majesty of God will go a long way toward curing them. It is impossible to keep our moral practices sound and our inward attitudes right while our idea of God is erroneous or inadequate. If we would bring back spiritual power to our lives, we must begin to think of God more nearly as He is.”

A.W. Tozer – The Knowledge of the Holy

Wow!  Its been a long summer and I haven’t written anything.  I don’t really have a good reason for not writing other than I’ve been in kind of a slump.  I’m in such a strange place right now and I’m having a hard time making sense of my life.  I graduated in May and was sure that I would have a job by now but unfortunately I do not.  I was so ready to be out of school and on with my life but now that I’m finished I’m having trouble coping with this reality. 

I’ll be real transparent.  Six years ago, when I first began college, I was certain that I would not finish.  I was so sure that I would be happily married and possibly have children and a career by now but instead I feel as though I have fallen back into the place I was before I even entered college. 

There are just so many things I do not understand!  I want to be angry with God right now!  I want to know why he seemingly took away my friends.  I want to know why he has with held from me the romantic relationships that I have so DESPERATELY desired.  I want to know why it seems as though everyone around me gains every opportunity that I have ever sought after.  I am a passionate person with such deep emotion and such intense longing for these things and yet these things are the ones that God has not allowed me to have.  At times I ask myself, “what is it that I am not doing?”.  Sometimes I feel like Job, looking at God and asking “What have I done?”.  I realize that I cannot possibly compare my situation with Job but the feelings are the same.   

It is then I hear Him speaking out of the whirlwind and knocking me to the ground.  “Who are you to question me?”  I think about Joseph, in Genesis, and all the things he had to go through before God raised him up for His purpose.  And what a GLORIOUS purpose it was!  O God!  That is my heart!  To be used to acomplish YOUR purpose! 

The waiting is so hard.  The lonliness is almost unbearable!  But even worse, feeling as though I have no purpose.  Yet, in the midst of the heartache and the turmoil I have to keep reminding myself that If my only purpose in life is to worship God in the privacy of my own bedroom, and to sing to Him in my own solitude, then I need to worship as if it were my last day in this world, and I need to do it with such joy as if I would never be happier or more peaceful than at that very moment.

“God cannot give us a happiness and a peace apart from Himself, because it is not there.  There is no such thing.”  – C.S. Lewis

So tomorrow my family and I, along with a group from our church, are leaving for Israel!  I cannot wait!  We as a family have been to Israel twice already, once on a tour, the second time to visit friends that God had placed in our life and now we are leading a trip with people from our church.  This has been a vision of my parents for a while and it has been so cool to see it all fall into place.  

I LOVE being exposed to other cultures!  We live in such a bubble here in the United States that it is really neat to see how people around the world live life.  

While over there we will visit the places like the Galilee, Jerusalem, Caesarea, and Meggido.  After the tour my family and I are going to be visiting some of our friends in other parts of the country.

I am so excited and I will hopefully be blogging some while we are over there to share some experiences.  If I am not able to there I will definitely write when I get back.  We would appreciate everyone’s prayers as we travel to a place that is somewhat unfamiliar.  Please be in prayer for our safety and just that we will have a wonderful time not only with the tour but in the time that we get to spend with our friends!

I will keep in touch!

One of my favorite times of the day is late at night after everybody goes to bed.  The world for the most part is still and tonight in particular the sky is crystal clear and the moon is almost full.  It is so bright that I am actually able to sit outside and write.  There are no lights and only the sound of distant cars.  This is when I am most at peace.  The distractions and constant activity of the day are replaced by shadows and stillness.  Once again this is when I am most at peace.  It is then when I hear God most clearly.  Some of my most intimate times with God have been experienced on my back porch in the middle of the night.  Sometimes I will sit and pray and afterwards I sit and wait for that glimpse of God.  Then as I wait in the stillness and the silence a breeze will move through the trees and as swiftly as it came it is once again silent. 

I love experiencing God in this way!

So I realize that its been a while since I have posted and I apologize for that .  I usually like to write about things that I feel can be beneficial or encouraging to all of you who read it.  A lot of times I write in response to things that I’ve read just or things that have got me thinking.  But heres the thing, I have recently finished with school FOREVER and so my brain has been in shutdown mode for the past couple weeks!  I haven’t wanted to think about much of anything.  I have spent my time just watching LOST and American Idol and spending time with my friends.    So thats my life everybody.  I am graduating from college next week!!!!  This is a very exciting time in my life!  I have been in school for six years and it has finally come to an end.  After graduation I am moving back to Nashville and I’m really looking forward to getting involved in my home church again.  I have a small short-term plan but I can’t really see past the end of the summer right now but I feel like thats ok.  My prayer now is that God will open some doors this summer.

So thats whats going on with me right now.  To those of you reading this in Nashville I look forward to seeing all of you again, and to everyone in Louisville…believe me, its gonna be really hard for me to leave.   But life is fresh and exciting right now and I really look forward to all thats gonna happen in the future!

I have decided to start posting some of my favorite quotes every once in a while. I love quotes and believe that sometimes one line quotes can be just as powerful and poetic as an entire sermon or a lengthy message. My first quote:

“If we do not gladly reflect God’s glory in worship, we will nevertheless reflect the glory of His justice in our own condemnation.” – John Piper

To me those words are very powerful! No matter what our choice in life, no matter what path we choose, in the end we will STILL glorify God even if it is through our own condemnation. Because in our condemnation an aspect of his character is displayed.

I recently read the book Paradise Lost by John Milton for one of my classes and one of the discussions that arose in class was the issue of why the fall had to happen. And one of the possible answers that was discussed was this: (Lemme see if I can explain it.)

God is unchanging. He always has and always will be and is the same now as he has always been. Parts of his character consist of Justice and mercy. He IS justice and he IS mercy. If we as man had not fallen then those aspects of his character would never have been displayed because there would be no need for justice and no need for mercy.

So tying that back to my John Piper quote, God’s glory is displayed in everything that happens because He demands it and is the only one that deserves it!

So, my subjects as of recent have been on a more serious and intellectual note. But this time I want to talk about something a little less intense. So here it is: I currently have my first American Idol crush! I know, I know. Your probably saying, “Come on Megan, your 24, aren’t you a little old for this?” My answer…yeah probably. But cut me some slack, this is the first time!

I don’t watch American Idol every year but when I do I don’t like to start watching until the top 12. Thats when it gets good. So during the first episode that I tuned in for this guy comes out and starts singing Eleanor Rigby (one of my favorite Beatles songs) and at that moment I was in love with David Cook! And every week since he has just done a stellar job. I absolutely LOVE HIM!! I kinda feel like I’m in high school again. He is so talented and hes definitely got that “look” that I like. His ability to be creative and original with the songs is great. Hes got an edge and an excitement to him that just draws me in with every performance.

So, there it is. My American Idol crush. I have actually really enjoyed this season. I really like that they have let the contestants play their own instruments. It shows the extent of their talent and allows for more versatility.

Here are my predictions for the final 3:

David Archuleta (who is THE MOST adorable human being I have ever seen! And the voice that comes out of that little body is just incredible!)

David Cook (For reasons I have already mentioned)

Syesha Mercado (She has a beautifully smooth voice. Very talented) If Syesha is not the one that makes it then I would have to go with Brooke White.

So there you have it everybody!

I being one reserved in the offering of my affections can only envy those who so freely give. I have nurtured jealousy all my life, wanting that which has not yet been given, with hopes that my hurt feelings and perseverance would eventually be rewarded.

The desire for that which is not mine, like the waves on a shore, rise up and consume my heart and mind, drowning that which was righteous and pure. Then as swiftly as it came in it recedes and I am once again at peace. It’s a constant fight between good and evil that takes a toll on my mind and leaves me feeling used.

Out of pain flow pleasant songs

Redeeming that which once was gone

Far be it for me to say

I would have chosen another way

For out of pain the saints do cry

It wasn’t pain for which we died

But better that the source would be

A life which once walked blamelessly

Penance once I held as mine

Now ransomed penance considered Thine

MML