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09/29/2010

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60 Seconds

I recently watched the movie Leap Year for the first time. It wasn’t the best movie I’ve ever seen, but I found that one quote remained pounding in my brain. Anna Brady is a city girl trekking across Ireland in a pair of $600 stilettos, just to give you an idea of what kind of character you’re dealing with here. At one point in the movie, her escort asks her what she would take with her if she awoke to find her house on fire and only had 60 seconds to grab something and get out. At that particular point in time, she doesn’t have an answer.

Flash forward to the final ten minutes of the movie: Anna is back in America celebrating her engagement to her boyfriend of four years. She has felt completely out of place since her Irish escort took her on the adventure of a lifetime and turned her world upside down. She pulls the fire alarm just to see what her fiance would do with his 60 seconds. The next scene finds her back in Ireland recounting her 60 second experience to the man who had planted the question in her mind. Her words were close to (if not exactly) this:

I realized when my 60 seconds came that I had everything I ever wanted, but nothing that I really need.

I think this is a huge problem in our world. I believe that the reason most of us never achieve our fairytale romance is because we’re not willing to wait for the one we truly need. We long for an instant fairytale – one that develops in the short amount of time it takes to read the book. We rush the process, forgetting that there are often large spaces of time that pass between the “once upon a time” and the “happily ever after.” Just like Anna from the movie, we rush against time and all odds into a future that may not be right for us. After everything she suffers throughout the course of the movie, she discovers she was never meant to be Mrs. Sloane, but “Mrs. O’Brady Callaghan.”

I want to encourage you to take a step back, look at your life, and ask yourself this question: Where will you be when your 60 seconds come?

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Rebekah Roper

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09/22/2010

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The Romance of Dance

The other night, I had the most romantic dance with the most amazing guy. I was alone in my room, the lighting was low, and the shadows on the wall reminded me of a song I had danced to long ago. My heart longed to return to that moment. So I did. I began gently swaying to the melody in my soul when I had one of those “Once Upon A Dream” moments. Suddenly, I realized that I was not alone. It was one of those moments when God’s Presence was so strongly evident that I could hardly breathe. And something about that Presence makes me want to dance. I went from swaying in His gentle embrace to spinning in the wonder of His love. And of all the dances I’ve ever shared with Jesus, this was without a doubt the most amazing, spiritual, romantic moment we have ever shared. By the time that dance ended, there were not two beings in that room, but One. Jesus and I had become One. I hope that doesn’t sound crazy to you.

I’m suddenly in this intensely passionate, romantic relationship with Jesus. Not that I wasn’t before, but every relationship has its high places and its low places, and I’m back in one of those high places right now. The flame in my heart has been rekindled as I came to this realization:

Jesus and I are One.
He arouses every sense I have (including a few I didn’t know about).
We have “a song.”
I can call on Him whenever I need Him.
Not only does He know me, but He “gets” me. He understands the things no one else does.

God has filled every need I would naturally attempt to find in a relationship, and I think it was meant to be this way. I’ve heard single girls say that they are sick of hearing people say that Jesus is a substitute for a husband, and I can emphasize with that. The married women all get to be The Bride of Christ too, so the whole “Jesus replacement” thing just isn’t cutting it. But I’m more tired of hearing that statement put the other way around. I’m tired of seeing people turn their husband, or boyfriend, or “significant other” into a substitute for a relationship with Jesus. Maybe it’s not that people are trying to cram God into your “guy-hole,” but that you are trying to cram a guy into your “God-hole.”

I recently read a Christian dating book in which the author stated, “I’m tired of ‘dating Jesus’ …and I think the feeling is mutual.” I cringed. I understood the point she was trying to make. It was the whole “Jesus is not a substitute for a man” argument all over again. But I don’t think Jesus gets tired of “dating” you. The Bible tells us over and over again that God is a jealous God. Why would He ever tire of spending time with you? And while it’s okay to want a “real” date every once in awhile, don’t let it consume you. A man will never be able to fill both your guy-hole and your God-hole. But God… Well, He’s big enough to handle both of them. So lose yourself in the magic and wonder of His dance.

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Rebekah Roper

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09/15/2010

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HELP! My Coworkers Think They Are Fairy Godmothers!

I thought I moved here to work for Advancing Native Missions, but then I was let in on a secret and found that I’m working for Advancing Native Marriages. It’s one thing to desire a fairy godmother who will come prepare you for a ball; it’s entirely different to have a bunch of older, married men trying to find a husband for you. Remember that whole “when the timing is right” thing? Well, now is not the right timing. I’m not ready for someone to shove Prince Charming through the doors of this office building.

When I encourage young women to move “beyond waiting,” I simply ask them not to look for Prince Charming, but to let their Prince stumble upon them; but for me personally, I’d like Prince Charming to hold off for a couple of years. For some reason, I can’t seem to beat that into the heads of my coworkers. They seem to think that it’s their God-given duty to find a husband for me.

“We’ll find you a young pastor in South East Asia…”

Well, that’s going to be a long-distance relationship.

“I know this missionary in Ukraine…”

Are you going to move him over here?

“This is our friend from Texas. He has a son…”

Why is everyone trying to send me away?

“There must be a large pool of young men in your church…”

Yes, I live in a college town. No, I’m not out looking for a husband.

And my personal favorite: “Don’t you think your life would be better with a significant other?”

(Pardon me while I burst out in a fit of laughter.) The thing is, I already have a “significant other.” His name is Jesus and He is the only Person who will ever give my life significance. So, people, stop pushing your cheap imitations at me; I already have the real thing.

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Rebekah Roper

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09/08/2010

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Recognizing the Disguised

I walked in the door of my aunt’s house, but hung back where my two-year-old cousin couldn’t see me. My hair was a wild mess and my face was painted a combination of brown, tan, and orange. That’s what happens when you score a part as a monkey in The Jungle Book. I was afraid Leah wouldn’t recognize me, so I stayed back in the shadows and began speaking before she could get a glimpse of my face. I finally worked up the nerve to approach her. When I said her name, she turned ever so slowly to look me in the face. I braced myself for crying and screaming. Face paint is scary to such a small child. I held my breath as Leah’s eyes connected with mine and she released a great, big… laugh.

She was laughing. She knew exactly who I was, and she was quite tickled by the fact that I resembled a monkey. Even though my face was difficult to recognize, she at least knew my voice, and that was enough to make her two-year-old brain put the pieces together. I was impressed by her knowing, actually. I had watched adults pass me, never realizing that they knew the girl behind the face paint. Yet Leah knew my voice well enough to clearly see me in a form that she might not have expected.

God often shows up in strange forms – like a burning bush or a Messiah who did not come to bring physical freedom. He has appeared to me in the form of friends, strangers, children, and the fantastical Prince Charming. I can take one story and compare it to the story I’ve read in the Bible time and time again… and I see God in a new light. He becomes the Best Friend, the Lover, the Prince of my dreams… He becomes more and more real every time He appears in a brand new (and very real) form to me. I’ve learned to hear His voice in the midst of other voices and therefore, I can recognize when He is speaking to me.

The God of the universe is speaking to you as well. He is all around you. The God of disguises does not have to be a mystery. When you cannot see His Face, you only need to know His Voice.

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Rebekah Roper

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09/01/2010

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Moving on – Living Freely

Change. Doesn’t that word just make you want to cringe? There is something about stepping outside the boundaries of the familiar that makes people uncomfortable. The simplest changes can sometimes feel like the biggest deal, and we start to freak out. Let me clue you in on something here: happy endings don’t come to the person who is unwilling to pursue them. If your life was to go on without changing from the normalcy of today… Well, that’s one boring life you are leading. Little changes are good; big changes are even better.

Just like Belle had to release the desire “to return to the life that she knew lately,” you and I must release our desire to shrink back into the comfort of familiar. It seems strange to me that so many of us desire that fairytale romance and adventure while so few are willing to take the risk necessary in pursuing it.

It all began with a change. Belle found herself captive in an enchanted castle, Cinderella dared to venture outside the home that was her prison, Ariel traded her fins for a pair of legs (talk about change)… What would have been the outcome of Beauty and the Beast had Beauty never dared to enter the castle and actually meet the Beast? Where would Cinderella be today had she not chanced to attend the ball? And would the Little Mermaid have ever been satisfied if she had never attempted to walk on land? Where will you end up if you do not take a step outside your comfort zone and open your heart to the adventure that beckons you beyond the nearest horizon?

Go ahead and take the risk. Take that uncertain step into the shadows of the unknown. Grip the hand of the God who has promised to walk this journey alongside you, and chase the dreams that are stirring in your heart. Move on. Live freely.

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Rebekah Roper

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08/25/2010

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Sacrificed Dreams

So, here’s my main problem with the Little Mermaid: She gave up everything to pursue one thing. And she failed. But of course Disney never told it that way because, heaven forbid we fail. We can’t tell a story where the ending is not what the heroine expected. Surely her dreams could not have been wrong.

Personally, I tend to favor Hans Christian Andersen’s tragic version. Happily-ever-afters are great, but I think we sometimes need a little bit of reality sprinkled into the situation. We’re human. We fail. And things don’t always turn out the way we might have imagined in this fallen, broken world.

While love is sacrifice, I think we sometimes sacrifice too much. Some things were never intended to be sacrificed. Your dreams were not meant for someone else to fulfill. If your “prince” requires you to sacrifice the passions of your heart, I’m not convinced he is truly the man God has for you. Yet we women are all too willing to give everything we have within us if we can only secure the love of an earthly prince. News flash: you already have the love of a heavenly One.

There is something to be said for sacrifice and compromise. They’re necessary at times. My grandma wanted four kids, my grandpa wanted six. They ended up with the grand total of five. Compromise. Sometimes it is necessary, but other times it is extremely harmful. Don’t give up the big dreams in order to chase after the little ones. I’ll leave you with this final thought from Robert Cornuke and Alton Gansky’s book, The Bell Messenger:

Old men die, that’s what they do. They eventually die from withering bodies, but they also die from dreams that never come true.

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Rebekah Roper

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08/18/2010

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And He Waltzed With Me…

I was reading a fairytale story one day when the words seemed to jump off the page as they tugged at the strings of my heart. I related all too well with this damsel in distress as she sat, heartbroken, on the floor. She was tired of giving her all and still being overlooked, cast aside, neglected. As she sat, utterly alone in the dark, I felt her pain… And then I realized I wasn’t alone. I glanced up from the page I was reading to see a Man standing there. I looked down at His outstretched hand and I knew, without words, He was inviting me to dance. For some reason I cannot explain, I was unable to refuse. Continue reading →

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Rebekah Roper

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08/11/2010

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Story-Toppers

“So, the other day I went fishing with the kids.”

“Oh yeah? Ever been deep-sea fishing?”

“Well, yeah. I went once.”

“Really? Ever rode a whale? ‘Cause I rode a whale.”

When I heard this announced from the pulpit a few weeks ago, I couldn’t help but laugh. The speaker had been sharing about pride and those people who just have to be a little better than everyone else. Story-toppers, he called them. I want to be a story-topper. Not because of pride, but for the sake of adventure. I want to be able to tell all these wonderful, adventurous, true stories about the places I’ve been and the things I’ve done. Even silly things. I want everyday life to be a glorious adventure. In Steven James’ book, Story, he has a little quote that says:

I told my friend, “Only children get excited over watching a butterfly.”

Then he turned to me and said, “So does God.”

I don’t know about you, but I’m the type of girl who gets excited over butterflies. In fact, I almost hit one driving down the interstate the other day and it gave me a mini-heart attack. I think butterflies are absolutely breath-taking – as in, I still get that childish gasp of wonder when one flutters across my path. Continue reading →

Beyond Waiting

Category Archives: Factual Follow-up

60 Seconds

The Romance of Dance

HELP! My Coworkers Think They Are Fairy Godmothers!

Recognizing the Disguised

Moving on – Living Freely

Sacrificed Dreams

And He Waltzed With Me…

Story-Toppers

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