I know that title doesn't make any sense . . . let me explain:
My 3-year-old is oh so great at unintentionally teaching me lessons.
In an attempt to curb her fondness for shaking salt and pepper into my dining room candles, I told her that the Bible says to "Flee from temptation!" (My translation of 2 Timothy 2:22)I told her that means if she knows she's not supposed to be doing something then to run far, far away from it!
A few days later we were in the kitchen. She started to pick up an open container of water that I had told her numerous times to leave alone. I cast a glance at her, she put it down and immediately ran across the kitchen until she was practically standing on my feet. When I asked her what she was doing she said,
"I'm fleeing the tation!"
What a GREAT visual! As children of our Heavenly Father how often He must wish we would just "flee the tation" and run straight to Him. (And, like my daughter did to me, it wouldn't hurt to get so close we're practically standing on His feet as well!)
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Monday, March 30, 2009
3: Mighty to Save
You may have heard the song "Mighty to Save" recently on the radio or in church. I first heard it in preparation to attend a women's praise night about a year ago and it immediately spoke to my heart for many reasons.
One of those reasons is there is a loved one in my life whom I have been pleading with the Father for over the last couple of years. I beg Him to speak to her heart, to open her eyes, to allow her to fully feel His love.
In short - to save her.
I assume the song was inspired, in part at least, by Zephaniah 3:17:
I get the "save" part . . .I think I forget about the "mighty" part.
There is nothing too hard for the Lord. He is mighty beyond compare. Just the other day I ran across these verses that speak on the Lord's mightiness:
Now, the only beach I've spent much time on is the coast of Texas and I don't think that much counts. I've seen the Pacific from the beauty of Long Beach and soaked my toes in the Atlantic off Cocoa Beach. But I don't think the gentle, rolling surf is the "great waters" the Psalmist speaks of.
Remember the tragic tsunami several years ago that devastated lives and property?
Now THAT is an image of "great waters" and "breakers of the sea".
And, although the tsunami obviously brought tragic circumstances, think about the sheer power behind such a thing.
That is the power of the Lord's mightiness.
And that is the power He has to save.
Mighty to save, indeed.
(And if you've never heard the song, or want to hear it now, here it is:)
One of those reasons is there is a loved one in my life whom I have been pleading with the Father for over the last couple of years. I beg Him to speak to her heart, to open her eyes, to allow her to fully feel His love.
In short - to save her.
I assume the song was inspired, in part at least, by Zephaniah 3:17:
The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.
I get the "save" part . . .I think I forget about the "mighty" part.
There is nothing too hard for the Lord. He is mighty beyond compare. Just the other day I ran across these verses that speak on the Lord's mightiness:
Mightier than the thunder of the great waters,
mightier than the breakers of the sea -
the LORD on high is mighty.
Psalm 93:4
Now, the only beach I've spent much time on is the coast of Texas and I don't think that much counts. I've seen the Pacific from the beauty of Long Beach and soaked my toes in the Atlantic off Cocoa Beach. But I don't think the gentle, rolling surf is the "great waters" the Psalmist speaks of.
Remember the tragic tsunami several years ago that devastated lives and property?
Now THAT is an image of "great waters" and "breakers of the sea".
And, although the tsunami obviously brought tragic circumstances, think about the sheer power behind such a thing.
That is the power of the Lord's mightiness.
And that is the power He has to save.
Mighty to save, indeed.
(And if you've never heard the song, or want to hear it now, here it is:)
Sunday, March 29, 2009
2: Offensive
(If you missed my previous post I'm trying to do 100 posts in 100 days . . .This is big #2. So far so good - ha!)
This morning in church I heard a new thought on how God regards my sin:
Offensive.
Ouch.
I hate offending people. I will bend over backward to make sure I have not hurt feelings and am quick to apologize once I realize my mistake. My soul remains unsettled until any little ripple in my pond of relationships is smoothed back to still waters.
I know God hates sin. I also know He lovingly extends grace, mercy, and forgiveness at the asking. But I never thought about my sin offending God.
That seems to make it much more personal. Deserving of much more than a half-hearted "I'm sorry, please forgive me". The thought of offending my Lord, who has done so much for me, breaks my heart.
It also makes me love Him even more for never harboring my sin - my offensive sin - against me.
"Blessed is the man whose sin the LORD does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit." Psalm 32:2
This morning in church I heard a new thought on how God regards my sin:
Offensive.
Ouch.
I hate offending people. I will bend over backward to make sure I have not hurt feelings and am quick to apologize once I realize my mistake. My soul remains unsettled until any little ripple in my pond of relationships is smoothed back to still waters.
I know God hates sin. I also know He lovingly extends grace, mercy, and forgiveness at the asking. But I never thought about my sin offending God.
That seems to make it much more personal. Deserving of much more than a half-hearted "I'm sorry, please forgive me". The thought of offending my Lord, who has done so much for me, breaks my heart.
It also makes me love Him even more for never harboring my sin - my offensive sin - against me.
"Blessed is the man whose sin the LORD does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit." Psalm 32:2
Saturday, March 28, 2009
1: Here I Go
The other day I was watching Beth Moore on Life Today (love it, love it, love it). She said something that resounded with me so deeply I knew the Spirit was behind it. I'll won't share the details but the result is me feeling a renewed sense of purpose toward this blog.
Fuzzy feelings and renewed purposes are great and all but then sometimes you actually have to DO something about it. This is where I wanted to stick my head in the sand.
One hundred posts in one hundred days.
That's what I feel led to do right now and, let me tell you, I tried to get out of it.
I tried renegotiating the terms (maybe just a few times a week, that's okay enough, right?). I tried ignoring. I tried playing the "too busy, too tired" card.
Funny how the Lord doesn't take me up on my excuses very often. Hmmm. He has a thing about that, huh?
Anyway.
Then I got down to why I was trying to scoot around this challenge:
What if I fail? What if I don't make it? What if I have absolutely nothing to say?
To challenge myself, keep it private and fail is one thing. To announce to whomever frequents this little bloggy and then fail to follow through is another. It's not as easy.
Hmmm. Seems the Lord has a thing about that, too. Go figure - challenging me to grow and not making it easy. (Why do I get the feeling the Lord must just laugh out loud at me sometimes? Isn't the point of a challenge to be, well, challenging? Sheesh.)
Soooooo. Here I go. One post down, ninety-nine to go.
Fuzzy feelings and renewed purposes are great and all but then sometimes you actually have to DO something about it. This is where I wanted to stick my head in the sand.
One hundred posts in one hundred days.
That's what I feel led to do right now and, let me tell you, I tried to get out of it.
I tried renegotiating the terms (maybe just a few times a week, that's okay enough, right?). I tried ignoring. I tried playing the "too busy, too tired" card.
Funny how the Lord doesn't take me up on my excuses very often. Hmmm. He has a thing about that, huh?
Anyway.
Then I got down to why I was trying to scoot around this challenge:
What if I fail? What if I don't make it? What if I have absolutely nothing to say?
To challenge myself, keep it private and fail is one thing. To announce to whomever frequents this little bloggy and then fail to follow through is another. It's not as easy.
Hmmm. Seems the Lord has a thing about that, too. Go figure - challenging me to grow and not making it easy. (Why do I get the feeling the Lord must just laugh out loud at me sometimes? Isn't the point of a challenge to be, well, challenging? Sheesh.)
Soooooo. Here I go. One post down, ninety-nine to go.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Venting
Stand back. I'm about to get all political . . . lol!
I normally don't address this kind of stuff on this blog but I cannot stand it any longer!
This whole AIG bonus mess has me SO frustrated. I finally had to turn off the news last night for the sake of my sanity.
To me this seems fairly simple (and this is how I understand it but someone correct me if I have the facts wrong):
-Edward Liddy: CEO of AIG came in AFTER the government gave over the bailout money and AFTER the contracts permitting the bonuses were given. Lay off him people! He's taking a salary of $1 a year and has no stock options in the company. He was brought in to clean up a mess the government helped create and now the government is making him the bad guy.
-Goverment: Oh, I am so tired of the government pretending they had no hand in this. It was their job to write in exclusions for these bonuses when they gave the bailout money. They didn't. Their fault. It's probably a good idea to read the bill before you pass it. I'm just sayin' . . .
-Workers who got bonuses: Not saying they did a great job. Not saying they're free and clear from this mess. But the bonuses were in their contracts and it was up to the government to do something about that before they gave the bailout money. Oh for goodness sakes, please don't release their names to the public. These people are getting death threats and that would be disasterous for them and their families. And the tax idea is ridiculous. You can't take people's money because you don't like how they got it . . . especially when you gave it to them in the first place! (Ahem - government).
Okay.
I feel better.
Thanks for letting me rant.
I now return you to your regularly scheduled blog.
I normally don't address this kind of stuff on this blog but I cannot stand it any longer!
This whole AIG bonus mess has me SO frustrated. I finally had to turn off the news last night for the sake of my sanity.
To me this seems fairly simple (and this is how I understand it but someone correct me if I have the facts wrong):
-Edward Liddy: CEO of AIG came in AFTER the government gave over the bailout money and AFTER the contracts permitting the bonuses were given. Lay off him people! He's taking a salary of $1 a year and has no stock options in the company. He was brought in to clean up a mess the government helped create and now the government is making him the bad guy.
-Goverment: Oh, I am so tired of the government pretending they had no hand in this. It was their job to write in exclusions for these bonuses when they gave the bailout money. They didn't. Their fault. It's probably a good idea to read the bill before you pass it. I'm just sayin' . . .
-Workers who got bonuses: Not saying they did a great job. Not saying they're free and clear from this mess. But the bonuses were in their contracts and it was up to the government to do something about that before they gave the bailout money. Oh for goodness sakes, please don't release their names to the public. These people are getting death threats and that would be disasterous for them and their families. And the tax idea is ridiculous. You can't take people's money because you don't like how they got it . . . especially when you gave it to them in the first place! (Ahem - government).
Okay.
I feel better.
Thanks for letting me rant.
I now return you to your regularly scheduled blog.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Better Than Yo-Yo
Tonight I'm camped out on the couch watching some musical production on PBS. Not my usual thing but I just can't stop watching this program because the music is indescribably beautiful.
By far my favorite piece involved the featured trumpet player, an acoustic guitar, a piano and the amazingly talented cellist Yo-Yo Ma.
I LOVE the cello. (I've always wanted to learn to play - we'll see if that happens) The music that instrument produces at the hands of a gifted player such as Yo-Yo Ma makes my heart leap.
However, it boggles my mind to consider that if the best things in this life are a shadow of the perfection that is coming (1 Corinthians 13:12) then even the most amazing earthly songs are imperfect reflections of what we'll hear in Heaven.
Zephaniah 3:17 says:
What must God's song sound like? I cannot even fathom that thought. I long to hear it but have a feeling that my human ears wouldn't be able to comprehend or stand the beauty.
One more thing to look forward to in Heaven . . . being in the presence of our Father and the ability to hear His voice singing over us. Can't wait for that :-)
By far my favorite piece involved the featured trumpet player, an acoustic guitar, a piano and the amazingly talented cellist Yo-Yo Ma.
I LOVE the cello. (I've always wanted to learn to play - we'll see if that happens) The music that instrument produces at the hands of a gifted player such as Yo-Yo Ma makes my heart leap.
However, it boggles my mind to consider that if the best things in this life are a shadow of the perfection that is coming (1 Corinthians 13:12) then even the most amazing earthly songs are imperfect reflections of what we'll hear in Heaven.
Zephaniah 3:17 says:
The LORD your God is with you,
he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
he will quiet you with his love,
he will rejoice over you with singing."
What must God's song sound like? I cannot even fathom that thought. I long to hear it but have a feeling that my human ears wouldn't be able to comprehend or stand the beauty.
One more thing to look forward to in Heaven . . . being in the presence of our Father and the ability to hear His voice singing over us. Can't wait for that :-)
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