February 4: Be The Right Kind Of Crazy

Affirmation: Instead of telling people what they want, tell them who they are. (This includes yourself❤️)
You are:-God’s incredible creation.-Loved immensely and intensely.-Courageous, Compassionate and Connected -Talented, gifted and capable-Kind, loving, and thoughtful -Handsome and Beautiful 

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Ponder: Continue to memorize Psalm 121. Read over line by line. Copy into your journal or onto a notecard to carry with you. Make it personal.

(*I chose this Psalm because Douglas memorized it when he was 8 years old, & hospitalized with rheumatic fever for 28 days. Parents were not allowed to stay overnight with their children then…nights were long and very dark. This Psalm was Douglas’s prayer each night as a reminder that he was not alone in that dark hospital room as an 8 year old.)

”I lift up my eyes to the mountains— where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip— he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord watches over you— the Lord is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all harm— he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.“

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭121‬:‭1‬-‭8‬ ‭NIV‬‬

https://bible.com/bible/111/psa.121.1-8.NIV

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Catching Whimsy by Bob Goff

                       Feb 4

Be The Right Kind Of Crazy 
Two demon possessed men coming from the tombs met Jesus. They were so violent that no one could pass that way. “What do you want with us, Son of God?” they shouted, “have you come here to torturous before the appointed time?” Matthew 8: 28–29.
When Jesus arrived at various locations by the Sea of Galilee, it wasn’t long before big crowds showed up. Jesus sometimes paddled out in a boat to teach, and other times He went up a hill. On one hillside, He famously taught about how people listening could be like the lights in the world and how a city on a hill could not be hidden. It wouldn’t be a reach to imagine He gesture toward the only city on a hill nearby, which was straight across the lake from where He was standing. That city was called Hippus and was part of 10 Greek cities spread across a couple of countries, referred to collectively as the Decapolis.

Just below Hippus, there were a couple of violent, crazy men hanging out among dead people and pigs. Dead people, pigs, and non-Jewish people they called Gentiles were huge triggers for the Jewish people, who had strict laws about not being around things they considered unclean. These guys represented all the bad stuff and more. They were also demon possessed, so there was that, too.

The religious people thought Jesus‘s message was just for the Jews, so when Jesus sent the demons into a herd of pigs and cured the men, it was a big deal. What the history book show is that these men went on to carry the message of Jesus not only to the Jewish people, but also to everyone else. This was the flag-in-the-sand moment, when Jesus‘s message spread from Hippus to the entire region, and it all started with two crazy guys Jesus healed in the cemetery on the side of the lake.

Jesus doesn’t just pick fisherman who can’t get the nets on the right side of the boat. He uses people as unlikely as me and you and two crazy guys to carry His message to the world. Even if you are not living in a cemetery full of pigs by a lake, God has uniquely picked you to carry His message.

Bring the right kind of crazy to everybody around you today, and trust that through you, God will impact the world. It has happened before. Just ask two guys standing by the lake.