WARNING!

I love Thai food. So last week when I found a few packages of Pad Thai spice on clearance for thirty-seven cents, it was clearly a no brainer, I put them in my cart and took them home.
I was pretty pleased with the flavor of my random find, so after dinner, as I read off the list of ingredients to see just what was in this little bargain, I was surprised to see a "WARNING".
WARNING this package contains anchovies.
I knew you used fish sauce in a lot of Thai cooking, I just wasn't thinking anchovies.

I get that the connection between an anchovies WARNING on a package of Thai spice and my own personal struggle with grasping my inability to deal with the things my heart has seen over the years can be or should I say.... a stretch of the imagination.

Yet, at this time, I feel compelled to post a warning for those who may not understand the cost of finding your passion.
For me, the battle is for my heart to remain tender with the ability to love.
I mean the kind of love that can change a persons heart. The kind of change the will make them question behaviors and direction and ultimately draw them closer to Jesus.
As I try to fit in my own skin dealing with things I have been thinking about over the past few weeks here is a sample of a "WARNING" for those who are considering yielding to a deeper calling.

WARNING:
You won't be able to eat enough to fill the empty ache in your gut.
There is no pill to take for the pain in your heart.
There isn't enough rest to avoid being overwhelmed.
There isn't enough chocolate to sweeten the bitter taste left in your mouth.
There isn't enough sun block to help you not be burned by the injustice you have seen.
There isn't enough alcohol to drown the sorrow.
There are days your thoughts are no longer your own.
You will never be able to buy enough stuff to fill the void you feel for those in need around you.
White noise has an all new meaning.
There will never be enough medicine to bring healing to the sickness in the soul of a nation.
There is no magic answer, cure or pill that you will be able to produce in your own strength.

So if you think for one second you can do this thing on your own, you should really reconsider what you can and can not do in your own strength. It will be important that in our willingness to yield, you ask yourselves if you are willing to be what Desmond Tutu called "wounded healers".
A people that have an empathy or an authority on a specific pain.
A heart willing to forgive, a heart that is tender, a heart that will not betray you.

If you have come to a place that you are willing to say yes to all of the above and accept the WARNING to be something that you believe to be a "God" thing.
You will be given a measure of grace and peace that will be beyond your ability to comprehend.
You will have an understanding of the scripture "deep calls to deep" and yet you may not have words to explain to others the things you now know to be true.
You will also be given a new understanding of just who Jesus is.
You will understand that you can't go very far from his feet before you start to feel like you just can't "do it" any more and some how when you are seated at his feet you can do anything that he has placed deep with in your heart to do.

Maybe you don't like Thai food, but I do hope that you will consider living a life full of passion.