Greetings! Hey Guys! Happy November! Welcome to Issue # 1. Hold on to this one, it just might be worth a fortune one day! Well, an introduction feels like solid place to begin. Radiance…the title came indirectly from Ezekiel, where he’s taken into this vision of the Lord and likens the glory of God to the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds to a rainy day and he can’t stop talking about His radiance. Later on as I mulled this over, I felt God show me how He never has to turn off or dim His radiance to draw near to us. So, as we hang out with Him, what happens? We feel the fire; we shine just as He does. This first issue is basically about that. We’re gonna look at glory and a new way of looking at it, we have a really deep piece on the battle for purity, we talk about my best (and worst) topic – Missions…you know what, I should just let you get to it!
Peace, Love & Joy,
Joanne
I was driving home a couple of days ago and if you know me, you know I am that girl everybody will know has arrived because her stereo is blaring so loudly, apologies all around! Anyway, I really have fun driving. I’m either worshiping or I’m screaming my head off to Skillet of We as Human or I’m laughing over how ridiculously off key I sound. Anyway, it had been one of those drives, and as I pulled into my driveway, I thought, man, this must be glory. When God showed Moses His glory, this must have been it. God showed him all the joy and laughter, the fun He would lavish on His children for all eternity. If that moment was comprised of some of the moments I’ve experienced alone, that would have set Moses aglow, because I’ve had some pretty surreal moments. Can you imagine all the moments everyone in the word experiences all packed into one second of God passing before you? As I look around since then, I see it so much more. When I’m in class or at Church and some random guy can’t contain himself and screams “JESUS”, that’s glory! When students living on nothing but a prayer give to someone in need that has to be glory! When you drive to Church, you see people in bright yellow safety vests and an even brighter smile on their face, rain or hot shine, that has to be glory! When a group of guys
meet a homeless man and minister to him and give him a place to stay for the night, not knowing anything about him - that has to be glory. When 600 people in one room play rock, paper, scissors at the same time, boys v. girls, and it all comes together somehow and everybody’s laughing and dancing, that has to be glory. When your teacher grabs a flag and dances across the stage during worship, that has to be glory. When a room full of people from all walks of life and all corners of the earth come together & seek the Lord with all their hearts as one, that has to be glory. The simplest definition of “glory” I’ve ever come across is Paul Manwaring’s teaching that God’s Glory is His goodness. His goodness is everywhere! Glory must be joy & fun & pleasure in all He’s given us. Glory must be His goodness revealed and experienced. Glory is a verb; it’s all eternity pointed in one direction – like sunshine through a magnifying glass. I realize, even as I listen to Kim Walker-Smith sing “Show Me Your Glory” in the background, that we’ve probably already seen it in small doses every day. We just need to know when to look.
- Nov 2014
Driving down the same dead-end route hoping to get to a different destination is an obvious exercise in futility and sadly, over the years, it’s become the foundation of my identity. The spacious way and the wide gate is where I find myself walking, each time thinking I learnt my lesson, I’m stronger now and I’m ready for whatever comes. Boldly telling the enemy, “You want a piece of this, come and get it.” He does and he wins the battle. In the midst of the fight, I think of Him. Him who owns every piece of me, Him whose face I turn away from, Him whose open arms I ignore. I hide my face in shame; I dig deep into the darkness to find cover from the light that always breaks through. I can’t stand the brightness that hurts my eyes every time as they struggle to adjust. If only I’d stayed in the light in the first place, then maybe it wouldn’t hurt so much.
wash my dusty feet, but isn’t it time to get some shoes? I can come out guns a-blazing as much as I want, but I have to understand when it’s time to retreat. When it’s time to wave the white flag, turn around, get back on the ship and sail away. To realize that the war has already been won and my battles are self-sought, self-propagated and self-lost. Maybe the crux of the matter is that I look for life everywhere else but from Him who gives it in abundance. Maybe I haven’t fully believed that the narrow path does lead to life. Maybe it’s time I did. Maybe it’s time I realized no one compares to Him. That He’s the only one who can satisfy me. That my plan is nothing compared to His. That He really truly has me and I can’t close my eyes and pretend He doesn’t and that my actions don’t break His heart. So I say with the same boldness I had before,
Finally, I dig deep enough and the darkness swallows me. I desperately need the light, I long for it, I crave it, but I can’t move. Not again. I can’t keep doing this. I don’t deserve freedom. I don’t deserve warmth. I definitely don’t deserve those hands always reaching out to me.
“I quit, you can have this, I don’t want it anymore. If you want a fight you’ll have to wrestle on your own Because this isn’t my battle, My war’s already been won.” – Nov 2014
The choice has to be made. The door has to be closed. The foothold has to be sawed out. He’ll
I love God with all my heart. He has really made Himself known to me in amazing, fun ways these past few months. I fell in love with Him even more when I read (Hosea 2:14-20 [NET]) where God speaking of this woman who'd totally ignored what God had offered her and went instead to worship other gods. In the process...God says, However, in the future I will allure you; I will lead you back into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to you. From there I will give back your vineyards to you, and turn the “Valley of Trouble” into an “Opportunity for Hope.” There you will sing as you did when you were young, when you came up from the land of Egypt. “At that time,” declares the LORD, “you will call me ‘My husband’; you will never again call me, ‘My master.’ For I will remove the names of the Baal idols from your lips, so that you will never again utter their names!” At that time I will make a covenant for them with the wild animals, the birds of the air, and the creatures that crawl on the ground. I will abolish the warrior’s bow and sword – that is, every weapon of warfare – from the land, and I will allow them to live securely.” I will commit myself to you forever; I will commit myself to you in righteousness and justice, in steadfast love and tender compassion. I will commit myself to you in faithfulness; then you will acknowledge the LORD.” (personalized) How could you not fall in love with a God like that? You want to be perfect for Him, you want to somehow make Him realize that you're worth it, that you're worth Him. I'm no different, I worship, I sing, I write songs, I sign up for ministries and auditions, I volunteer, I create, I write unheard sermon after unheard sermon. I tell people about His love. I try to somehow pay Him back for all His goodness and make it up to Him – the fact that I ever stepped away. The truth though, is that He hasn’t called us to make it up to Him. He’s called us to love Him back. That’s it. That’s how lucky we are. We basically got everything for free. We never have to pay Him back. It would be futile to even try. All He wants is our love. There’s no recipe or formula to love. Love just is. Nobody teaches you how to love, you just do. You show up, day after day, you stay committed. You learn His voice and listen when He speaks. You love Him back. We get to love Him back.
- Nov 2014
Music For our 1st music review, I get the pleasure of introducing you to the phenomenal, creative genius, Hunter Thompson. This is pretty cool as well because Hunter’s new and 1st full length album, “Swan Song” is coming out December 2nd. Hunter is one of the artists in the Bethel Music Family. He’s well known for his song, “My Dear” which he wrote as a student at Bethel, and it got picked up, which shows just how talented he is. Isn’t that one of the most fun songs ever by the way? Since then, he released an EP, “Gabriel Kansas” as well as being featured in a couple more Bethel Music albums.
“Gabriel Kansas” is the definition of painting a picture with your words. The lyrics present incredible images that leave you wondering how in the world his mind ever came up with these pictures. Musically, each track boasts of intricate creativity and uniqueness. The vocals are beautiful and will transport you into the heart of every story. You cannot listen to this album and not get lost in it. It’s 5 songs, 22 minutes, and they will be the best 22 minutes of your day. Make sure you get it and also be on the lookout for Swan Song, coming out December 2nd! For more information, check out bethelmusic.com - Nov 2014
We have this saying in Kenya, “Najivunia kuwa Mkenya”, which means, “I’m proud of being Kenyan”. That pride has been shaken some in my American journey. It presents some epically awkward moments being from, for lack of better words, “a mission destination” country, living in a place that daily sends out missionaries. The thing is, when I think of Kenya, I think of beautiful golden sunsets. I think of fertile red soil that grows some of the best produce, tea and coffee in the world. I think of the beautiful flowers that make their way to weddings and dinner tables across Europe. I think of the millions of people pounding the pavement at 6am every morning in Nairobi heading to work. I think of my friends who own businesses and support the economy. I think of my friends who work in Church and daily transform lives around them. I think of 14 strangers coming together and refusing to board a bus in unity because the conductor decided to hike the fare. I think of the thousands of tourists that land at JKIA every day and say, “Jambo!” I think of the fact that I can trace my ancestry basically all the way up to creation. It’s hilarious to hear some of the perceptions perpetuated by the media here, for a split second, I wonder, “whoa, how did I make it out alive?” I went to these “hospitals in the bush” and drank un-bottled water my entire life, yet, here I am. In America, I’ve had to come face to face with my Kenyan-ness. I’ve had to learn to not take offense from some genuine, well-meaning people. One thing I’ve refused to do though is accept it. The last thing I can do as a Christian in the Kingdom is accept it. There are some incredibly beautiful parts of my heritage that I would never change, but there are parts that we recognize and aim for
growth. If there’s one thing Kenyans are great at, its resilience and growth. I’m not attempting to write the book on missions, but to offer a different opinion. The business world has a leg up on the Church when it comes to developing countries. Businesses invest in promise and potential while the Church invests in problems. We see it in the way we talk. To promote missions, we talk, “support our missionaries, they’re in Africa, whoa!” In that single “whoa” you’ve expressed the need to feed death/disease/warlords/poverty central! Take a business like Toyota for example, in one ad they ran back home, a beautiful car rallies across sandy dunes and as it skids stylishly to a halt, the tag line is “Made for Kenyan Roads!” Have they acknowledged the problem, yes, but they found a way to make me feel honored, like, wow, Toyota actually designed something just for me, I think I’ll get it. There’s a lot more I can and will say about this topic, but I think honor is a good starting place. It’s not just “poor Africans” that need the gospel, it’s the middle class that actually hire these poor people and control the economy, who can actually provide a long-term solution to their problems; it’s the rich people that actually fund the “warlords” and the “bush clinics.” Trust me, both exist, wealth and privilege and most of those people are trying to figure out who they are because the world tells them one thing but they know they are another and they need the Kingdom presented in a new light. As we prepare to go on missions, discover the beauty of your destination. If you have no vision of beauty & promise, what exactly are you planning on leading people into?
- Nov 2014
Updates! It’s been incredibly fun putting together this issue. It’s always been my dream to start a great ministry, speak and teach, have a fancy website full of resources, travel the world and sow into hearts. A magazine was never on my radar, but necessity sometimes is the mother of invention! Here’s where necessity comes in. I am currently in 2nd year at this amazing school called BSSM. I do not exaggerate when I say this place saved my life. I got to come here when my life back home was falling apart. I had gotten delivered from pretty severe depression and experienced the Holy Spirit through watching Jesus Culture and Bethel TV for about a year and a half back home. Still, I was caught in this selfdestructive cycle and God opening the doors and allowing me to come here, it really saved my life. Over the past year, I have come from being a shy, wallflower, wondering how she could ever step up to the plate and whether she would ever fully belong, to being who I am now. I have never felt more valued than I do now, not just by people, but within myself. I value myself. That sentence still sounds weird to me because of how little I’ve said it before this point in my life. I’ve met some incredible people and made some incredible friends. I’m not allowed to work in America, but to stay active, to use my degree & learn, I help out with Marketing for a couple of ministries that I LOVE, and I do it also simply for the joy of serving these guys. Financially though, it’s been a ride, to say the least! God has provided so faithfully over the past year through my mom, but because of timing & necessity, I feel like it’s time for her to take a break and let Daddy God foot the bill for a while. In a practical way, I wanted to do something different and writing felt right for me. My dad was a writer before he passed away and I’ve been a blogger for 3 years now; it’s in my blood. I wanted to give people who were thinking of investing in me, a tangible return for their investment – hence a monthly magazine! This is just a taste of what I want to do and accomplish in this world. This is 10 pages made from an old PC that hangs every couple of minutes and up until recently would crash every time I loaded heavy graphics. There’s a lot more in me, and to get to it, I need champions on my sidelines. People to come alongside me because I have no idea what I’m doing or where He’s leading me and I don’t want to carry it on my own. I need investors to be the physical hand of God for me. I want to go on ministry trips and give generously to other people’s trips and drive to volunteer or to pick people up without asking them for gas money and without thinking about how I’m going to fill my tank up. In the words of Banning Liebscher, director of Jesus Culture & one of the men without whom my life would not be the same, “there are people as good an investment as me, but nobody’s a better investment than me.” So, I would love it if you would prayerfully consider sowing into me. Prayer warriors for my mom & I, gifts & surprises, checks in the mail, debts paid off, estates and inheritances, monthly pledges, free groceries or clothes, haha, it all works! Please email me for more information joanmainaworks@gmail.com, or find me on Facebook – Joanne Maina.
All material Š Copyright 2014 - Joan Maina unless otherwise stated. Pictures adapted with permission from Morgue File.