Follow the Leader

Feb20

“So don’t lose a minute in building on what you’ve been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others. With these qualities active and growing in your lives, no grass will grow under your feet, no day will pass without its reward as you mature in your experience of our Master Jesus. Without these qualities you can’t see what’s right before you, oblivious that your old sinful life has been wiped off the books” (2 Peter 1:5-9 MSG).

Some people think that once they have “asked Jesus into their heart,” that they’re done with their part of the bargain. They’re “saved” now and have that fire insurance. They think that’s all they needed to do.

Maybe that’s why so many people are turned off by Christianity: Christians don’t act much like Jesus.

Remember the childhood fame “Follow the Leader”? You had to do exactly what the leader was doing. Go where they went; hold your arms like they did; skip if they skipped. Do what they did. Act like they acted.

What a great idea. Let’s follow our Leader. I bet if we do, others will want to join us.

Today I’m thankful for:

39: a 3-day weekend

40: a son who likes to help cook

41: an approaching anniversary getaway with my love

Partnership with God

Feb19
I’m a tree hugger, I admit it. Born and raised in California, I saw recycling as a normal way of life and conservation as necessity.

I don’t like guns (and now I have a son wanting to go into the military, which I heartily support, and who is making guns a hobby, which I am forced to tolerate at this point.).

I hate sport hunting with a passion–but I’m not a vegetarian. I have a nice roast beef sandwich waiting for me in the fridge right now, in fact. Would it be bad to have it for breakfast?

I think animals should not be mistreated. But they are not human.

I like to visit zoos. I think they serve a rehabilitative and educational purpose.

I love animals, but I don’t rescue every stray I see.

I kill bugs in my house, but capture snakes that slither their way into my abode, and I set them free.

I hate to see land stripped for more subdivisions and shopping malls, but we buy cut Christmas trees.

My point is, I think, balance–hopefully not hypocrisy. When, in Genesis 1:28, God told us to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it. He really gave us management over all that He had made. And, like managers in industry, we can either prosper or run what is our responsibility into the ground.

I’m not a fanatic, believing that animals are on equal ground with humans. But good management says that I should care about those in my charge.

I turn off the water when I brush my teeth. I walk or ride my bike if the distance and task and timeframe allow it. I keep my thermostat at 82 in the summer and 68 in the winter. Do I do all that I can? Probably not. Do I do some? Yes. Do I listen to what the Holy Spirit is telling me to do? Hopefully in increasing measure.

I’d love your feedback and thoughts on this subject.

Thankful today for:
36: the beauty of creation
37. a quiet Sunday morning
38. a 20-year birthday celebration for our church

The Golden Rule

Feb18

“Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering” (Hebrews 13:3 NIV).

What would happen if everyone, and I mean everyone, followed the golden rule? Treat others the way you want to be treated. Can you imagine? It’s pretty unimaginable since we’re so used to not living that way.

The police and military would be unnecessary. I’m thinking there would be no national debt. Certainly no prisons or justice system. There would be no poor because everyone would give generously. Health would improve–both mental and physical. No greed, no crime, no selfishness.

Ahhhh, It would be heaven.

Oh yeah.

Heaven.

Thankful for:

33. nice weather for a family and friends bike ride

34. fresh made muffins

35. hot tubs

Shelter

Feb17

These are the things I find comforting:
My husband’s arms
My house on a stormy day
My slippers when my feet are cold
But mostly, no matter what, that God is in control. That’s very comforting.

Bad things happen. That’s a reality of life. Bad things happen to good people. That’s just a fact. It’s a sinful world. People
make bad choices, and we suffer the consequences of that. I have a friend whose son got drunk, drove, and seriously injured someone in an accident he caused. He has cut off all ties to his dad because he doesn’t want to be preached to. That’s very sad. And hard. But God is in control.

David and I miscarried three babies. How bad is that? I lost both of my parents within 16 months of each other. How much does that stink? Children die. Friends suffer from cancer. A faithful minister of the gospel loses his home. A family loses everything they own in a house fire. God is in control. And He weeps with us over our losses. But it’s a sinful world. Heaven awaits, do not despair. I don’t want to sound trite and say that these are light and momentary afflictions, but they are.

2 Corinthians 4:17-18 says: “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

Psalm 91: 1-2 says: “Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.'”

The shelter of His wings; the shadow of the Almighty. My God in whom I trust. I’m here for the long haul, fixing my eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of my faith. Are you with me?

Thankfulness list:

30. a 3-day weekend

31. the beautiful sites of America

32. freedom

It’s Too Hard!

Feb16

My younger two kids attend a private school (Trace Academy) that is unique in its operation: the entire school is run by parents. Every family is required to volunteer at least one and a half days on campus. If you do more than that, if the school’s budget can handle it, you get a break in your tuition.

I teach 2nd grade. I have 10 little yard apes: 8 boys and 2 girls. I never before saw myself as a teacher. One of the reasons we chose this school is that I knew I wasn’t cut out to homeschool. For my first 8 years at the school, I worked in the office and then as part of the team that helped manage the school. I am an administrator.

And then, through unforeseen circumstances, God put me in this position. He made it very obvious, or I definitely wouldn’t be here.

Due to the circumstances, if I I hadn’t been walking in the Spirit, bitterness would have been my response. I would not have been able to see what He wanted me to do. I would have said, like I hear so many times in my classroom, “I don’t get it! It’s too hard! I don’t understand!” But because I saw the situation through God’s eyes, I responded in the Spirit and so find myself leading this precious though precocious group of kids with joy. And some have even said I’m good at it. Imagine that.

First Corinthians 2:14-16 in the Message says, “The unspiritual self, just as it is by nature, can’t receive the gifts of God’s Spirit. There’s no capacity for them. They seem like so much silliness. Spirit can be known only by spirit—God’s Spirit and our spirits in open communion. Spiritually alive, we have access to everything God’s Spirit is doing, and can’t be judged by unspiritual critics. Isaiah’s question, “Is there anyone around who knows God’s Spirit, anyone who knows what He is doing?” has been answered: Christ knows, and we have Christ’s Spirit.”

Serve those who have wronged me? Ridiculous! (“If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head” Romans 12:20.)

Don’t hit my brother back? But he HIT me! (“Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord” Romans 12:19).

We see a child who would otherwise, or so we think, have no home, being adopted and loved by a gay couple. How can we say that is wrong?

We see medical “advances” being made using fetal tissue. How can we deny someone a cure for their disease by not allowing experimentation with fetal tissue? How intolerant and rigid.

“The unspiritual self, just as it is by nature, can’t receive the gifts of God’s Spirit. There’s no capacity for them. They seem like so much silliness.”

I don’t get it! It’s too hard!

“Spiritually alive, we have access to everything God’s Spirit is doing,”

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—His good, pleasing and perfect will” (Romans 12:2).

Thankful today for:
28. a mild winter
28. my Vista Church family
29. a group of moms with whom I can pray