Get Your Head Into the Game

I just can’t make this stuff up!  This is just way to funny, odd, out of nowhere that I just have to write about it.  Good thing this blog is read by people who already know that the bubble on my level does not quite hit the center and  they love me anyway. So here goes.   On 10 -18-12 I posted a blog titled Oops there goes another rubber tree plant . . about ants based on Proverbs 6:6

Proverbs 6:6  Go to the ant, O lazy person. Watch and think about her ways, and be wise.

There was one fact about ants that I have been thinking about ever since.  Odd I know, but true.

“In certain ant species, the soldier ants have modified heads, shaped to match the nest entrance. They block access to the nest by sitting just inside the entrance, with their heads facing out like a cork in a bottle. When a worker ant returns to the nest, it will touch the soldier ant's head to let the guard know it belongs to the colony.”   http://insects.about.com/od/antsbeeswasps/a/10-cool-facts-about-ants.htm

That was just too good to let pass so I did some more reading.  (I LOVE GOOGLE)  Guess what!  There are other scientific sites that actually verify that certain ants actually use they heads to block the nest entrance from predators.  This is not like the commercial that reminds us that we can’t believe everything we read on the internet.  This stuff is real. 

Here’s what else I have found.

“Supersoldiers are produced with some frequency in at least eight Pheidole species found in the southwestern United States, generally in areas also inhabited by predatory army ants. Pheidole species apparently have evolved different strategies to deal with army ant raids; for example, while some species evacuate their nests and flee, others stay put and rely on supersoldiers for defense. When army ants attack, supersoldiers block nest entrances with their large heads, preventing invaders from penetrating the colony. The giants also use their extra large size to intimidate and fight off the enemy.” http://www.sciencefriday.com/blogs/01/10/2012/supersoldier-ant-evolution.html?series=2

In a laboratory colony, a Cephalotes rohweri soldier demonstrates how she uses her massive head to block the nest entrance. She is essentially a living door. http://www.alexanderwild.com/Ants/Taxonomic-List-of-Ant-Genera/Cephalotes/8714635_7JRV9K/837313118_iaHZU#!i=837313118&k=jsdXn5g

Where exactly am I going with this you may well be asking.  Intercession.  Anyone who knows me even just a little can verify that all roads lead back to prayer in some way in my mind.  

Soldier ants use their heads to plug the entrances to their nests and keep intruders from gaining access.

She is essentially a living door

How cool is that - a living door!

Ezekiel 22:30 “I looked for someone who might rebuild the wall of righteousness that guards the land. I searched for someone to stand in the gap in the wall so I wouldn't have to destroy the land, but I found no one.

As I close out my blog for 2012 I leave you with this thought - it is time we get our head in the game and become living doors.  It is time to pray.

An Indiana Jones Christmas

This is pretty much my mind’s eye picture of Christmas.  There is Mary with her newborn son while Joseph stands close by looking down on her with eyes of love.  Shepherds are kneeling close by with expressions of wonder and joy on their faces.  Cattle and sheep are lying quietly nearby watching all that is going on.  Then I add to that the Hallmark moment scenes of a loving family all gathered around the beautifully decorated tree and the Folgers coffee moment of the sister waiting up for her brother and mom and dad quietly coming down the stairs watching as their daughter says that her brother is her gift this year.  My eyes tear up and I want those moments, but I wonder if this is an accurate depiction of that first Christmas?  I wonder if that is how Joseph and Mary felt or if it was more like Indiana Jones in the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.  Indiana stood on the edge of the cliff with seemingly no possible way to get across and retrieve the Holy Grail to save his father from death.  Let’s look at the story.

Luke 1:26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, 27 to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David. 28 Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!”  29 Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. 30 “Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God! 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. 33 And he will reign over Israel  forever; his Kingdom will never end!”  34 Mary asked the angel, “But how can this happen? I am a virgin.”  35 The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God.

Let’s freeze frame that moment and talk about Joseph and Mary at that moment in time.  The Bible says that she was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph .  So how did that moment in time look to Mary and Joseph. 

When a Jewish young man wished to marry a particular young woman, it was customary for the prospective groom's father first to approach the girl's father with the proposal of marriage.  The two men would discuss this possible union including the price offered by the groom for the bride.  If the girl's father agreed to the suggested amount, the two men sealed the agreement with a toast of wine.

At that time the potential bride then entered the room whereupon the prospective groom proclaimed his love and asked her to be his bride.  If the young woman wished to be his wife, she accepted his proposal at this time.  The validation of the agreement made by the engaged couple was the presentation of a gift by the groom.  He offered it in the presence of at least two witnesses.  As he gave the gift, usually a ring, he said to his intended bride, "Behold you are consecrated unto me with this ring according to the laws of Moses and Israel."

The young man prepared a marriage contract (or covenant) which he presented to the intended bride and her father.   Included in this was the “Bride Price ", which was appropriate in that society to compensate the young woman's parents for the cost of raising her, as well as being an expression of his love for her.

To see if the proposal was accepted, the young man would pour a cup of wine for his beloved and wait to see if she drank it.   This cup represents a blood covenant. If she drank the cup she would have accepted the proposal and they would be betrothed. The young man would then give gifts to his beloved but before leaving the young man would announce, “I am going to prepare a place for you and  I will return for you when it is ready."   The usual practice was for the young man to return to his father's house and build a honeymoon room there.    He was not allowed to skimp on the work and had to receive his father's approval before he could consider it ready for his bride.   If asked the date of his wedding, the groom- to- be  would have to reply, "Only my father knows."

Meanwhile the bride would be making herself ready so that she would be pure and beautiful for her bridegroom.   During this time, she would wear a veil when she went out to show she was spoken for and that she has been bought with a price. The betrothal was binding and could only be undone by a divorce with proper grounds, such as the bride being found not to be a virgin.

When the wedding chamber was ready the bridegroom could collect his bride.   He could do this at any time so the bride would make special arrangements.   It was the custom for a bride to keep a lamp, her veil and her other things beside her bed.   Her bridesmaids were also waiting and had to have oil ready for their lamps.  When the groom and his friends got close to the bride's house they would give a shout and blow a shofar to let her know to be ready.

 The typical Jewish wedding took place at night.  As soon as any members of the wedding spotted the moving torches signaling the groom's approach, their cry echoed through the streets, "The bridegroom is coming."  The Wycliffe Bible Encyclopedia tells us, "Mirth and gladness announced their approach to townspeople waiting in houses along the route to the bride's house."  Upon hearing the announcement, the excited bride would drop everything in order to slip into her wedding dress and complete her final personal preparations for marriage.

So on the day the angel appeared to Mary what was Joseph doing?  Joseph was preparing to be married.  Joseph was engaged to Mary.  Joseph would have dreamed of their wedding day just as any young man looks forward to their wedding day.  Mary and Joseph were engaged so the bride price had already been set and paid.  Mary and her Father had accepted the bride price and signed a contract of marriage.  The only way the contract could be broken would be if the young woman was no longer a virgin and then the punishment by the law was death by stoning.   Joseph was a carpenter so I am sure he immediately went back to his father’s house to work preparing a place for Mary and him to live and begin their family.  Because Joseph was a carpenter, I am sure he took extra pride in the room that he was preparing.  Each cut of the saw measured not once but twice.  Each new board placed with precision.  Maybe he fashioned their bedroom set.   I wonder how many times he went to his Father and asked if he could go and bring Mary to the home he had prepared.  I wonder if his friends came by to check out his progress and to ask how soon the celebration would begin. 

Now Mary had told him she was pregnant.   Matthew 1:19 says “Joseph, her fiancé, was a good man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly.”

 On this day Joseph did not believe the story that Mary had told him.  He probably felt hurt, disappointment, maybe a sense of betrayal.  His reputation was destroyed.  He was now being asked to raise a son that was not his.  How his heart must have broken.  I wonder if he was angry.  It was within the law for him to have Mary, the one he loved and was preparing a home for, stoned to death.  Joseph stood on the brink of disaster.

And what about Mary’s feelings on the day Gabriel appeared to her.  What were her dreams for her wedding day?  The bride price had already been paid – she was betrothed.  I wonder how often she took out her wedding dress and looked at it – tried it on – thought about her wedding night.  I wonder if she imagined her new home with Joseph and what he was preparing for her.  I wonder if her heart beat with excitement as she thought of hearing the shout and her bridesmaids gathering their torches as she went out to meet Joseph.  I wonder if she thought about her life with Joseph and the family they would raise together, but now she was pregnant and the child was not Joseph’s child.  When she told him, Joseph had left her alone.  Mary was standing on the cliff saying this is impossible. 

Joseph and Mary  both stood on the brink of what seemed to be disaster.  It was the end of their hopes and dreams.  The end of the life they had thought they would have, BUT that is not the end of the story.

Joseph took a leap of faith.  Matthew 1:20 As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit.

Think about this.  Joseph was not a prophet who was used to having God give him dreams.  Joseph was not a priest.  Joseph was your everyday Joe – a carpenter.  But he took a leap of faith. 

Matthew 1:24  When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.

Mary took a leap of faith.  Luke 1: 38 Mary responded, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.” And then the angel left her.

So what do you think about the first Christmas – manger or Indiana Jones?  Maybe Christmas is not so much like the beautiful nativity set where everything is neat and tidy and everyone looks peaceful. Maybe the first Christmas was never meant to make us think that life would be filled with beautiful Hallmark moments, but rather heart stopping leaps of faith that would change the world. 

Maybe the Christmas story is meant to give us hope when we stand on the edge of our life cliff and we look at the future and we say there is no way possible to move forward.  If you are not standing on the cliff today you probably have in the past or you will in the future or you know and love someone who is teetering on the edge.  I encourage you to share the Indian Jones Christmas story this year.  When we step out in faith God will make a way and change us and the world in the process.

A Heart of Gratitude

Psalm 100 Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.  2 Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing.  3 Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.  4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.  5 For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.

Thanksgiving is tomorrow and the pumpkin pie is cooling on the counter, the pecan pie is in the oven, and I am overwhelmed by God’s goodness and faithfulness to me.  I have enjoyed reading the posts on facebook as my friends have stopped to thank God for one thing every day in the month of November. I have so much to thank the Lord for this year. 

One of my favorite quotes is “Gratitude fills the heart when the gift has been understood and wonder fills the soul when gratitude is expressed to the fullest.”   R. Zacharias

Psalm 100:4 says “ Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise.”

Gratitude will be followed by wonder as we allow praise to flow to the One who has blessed us. 

It is amazing to me that with God we never reach the end of who He is, but He continually draws us deeper and deeper into His love.  Thanksgiving gets us through the gates but then praise ushers us into His courts.  

Just a Reminder

• The poorest 5% of Americans are richer than 68% of the world’s inhabitants.
• If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep, you are richer than seventy five percent of the people in the world.
• If you can attend a church or synagogue meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture or death you have the freedom that three billion people in the world do not have.
• At least 80% of humanity lives on less than $10 a day.
• Almost two in three people lacking access to clean water survive on less than $2 a day, with one in three living on less than $1 a day.
• Millions of women and children spend several hours a day collecting water.
• Some 1.8 million children die each year as a result of diarrhea caused by unsanitary water.
• In 2005, the wealthiest 20% of the world accounted for 76.6% of total private consumption. The poorest fifth just 1.5%.
• A mere 12 percent of the world’s population uses 85 percent of its water, and these 12 percent do not live in the Third World.
• 10.6 million children died in 2003 before they reached the age of 5 (same as children population in France, Germany, Greece and Italy).
  
  It is so easy to focus on what we don't have.  I challenge you today to make a list of the top ten ways you are blessed.  

Passwords

Passwords are driving me absolutely and completely crazy!  Every single account I have requires me to come up with a user name and then the dreaded password to protect me.  Protect me from who or what??  I know that there are some really important big wigs who are managing multimillion dollar accounts, doing business that ranks up there with James Bond, or who know top secret information that they would have to kill me if I found out, but come on I don’t even do my banking on line!  Even still I am told not to use the same password for every account because then if my secret password is hacked, I have allowed entry into all of my accounts.  Do I really care if you get into my Pinterest account, my crocs account, or my Mary Maxim account.  Would the world come to an end if you knew my facebook password, my church prayer leader password, or my epatterns password?   None of them have any credit card information on them.  Why does my blog need a secret password?  I thought I wanted people to find my blog.  But I am compliant and scour my little brain trying to come up with some cute little password that I can remember forever.  Now if that was just one password I might be okay, but that is not reality.  I have a lot of accounts and that means I have a lot of those cute little passwords that I thought I would always be able to remember that I have forgotten.  So then to try and remember every password I have ever dreamed up, I am told to be sure I write them down BUT NOT in a word document on my computer.  Oh no!  If someone hacks my computer they now have access to all of my secret private passwords.  So I write down all my super-secret passwords on a plain white piece of notebook paper.  Where is that plain white piece of notebook paper?  I can’t remember!!!!!!!!  When I am even older and even more senile and I am just rambling random words or phrases, write them down because they will  be all those super-secret passwords I have been trying to remember and you will have access to a wealth of prayer and crafting accounts.

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I will have to say that God frequently makes me laugh and when I read Psalm 89: 15 – 18 I just had to shake my head and laugh. It was one of those ROFL moments.   “Blessed are the people who know the passwords…”  Now that is just funny!!!  After I had ranted and raved because I could not remember a password and then went through the process of resetting the password and finally gaining access to MY account, I read that people who know the passwords are blessed.  God had me hooked so I continued to read.

Ps 89: 15 – 18  Blessed are the people who know the passwords of praise,

who shout on parade in the bright presence of God.

Delighted, they dance all day long; they know

who you are, what you do—they can’t keep it quiet!

Your vibrant beauty has gotten inside us—

you’ve been so good to us! We’re walking on air!

All we are and have we owe to God,

Holy God of Israel, our King!

The not-so secret password that grants me access into the King of Kings is "PRAISE" and God just wrote it down in plain sight in His word for all of us to know.  We are now eight days into November and I have written the password “PRAISE” on my heart and on my mind and just to be safe there is now a lime green post-a-note on my refrigerator (a place I frequent often) that says "PRAISE".  I am praying that we will all remember the not-so-secret password that allows us to enter into the presence of God and all He has to offer.

Tell all your friends that the password is "PRAISE".

Let’s Get Real

There is just something satisfying about having the real thing.  I think any sane person, if and when given the option of having the real thing or a fake, would take the real thing.  The real thing is better quality, more valuable, and to be desired.  Women, given the choice between a real coach purse and a fake coach purse will take the real coach purse and I would have some serious questions about the woman who would not. Maybe you could care less about a coach purse, but if someone is going to give you one – take the real one!  We would rather have a smaller, but real, diamond ring than a great big fake cubic zirconium.  We would rather have an authentic antique than an expensive reproduction.  Real homemade ice cream made with real cream is way better than ice milk! We want the real deal!  We want the definition of real - genuine; not counterfeit, artificial, or imitation; authentic.

So what strange thing grips my mind when I think about myself?  I suddenly lapse into momentary insanity and I am much more likely to desire the fake.  Why do I suddenly think that my fake personality is superior to my real personality?   Why do I think my pretend life is somehow more interesting and better than my real life?  Why do I suddenly choose the fake over the real?  For some reason I am afraid that no one would want the real me.  I am afraid that the genuine me is not good enough and that a fake is somehow better.  Maybe it is because I am listening to the standard the world is giving me as real.  According to their standard, I should be taller, thinner, better educated, and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.  So when I can’t come even close to that standard with my real life, I fake one.

In Matthew 16 Jesus asks Peter who people were saying He was and then He presses Peter as to who Peter says He is.  We all remember that Peter then makes the declaration that Jesus is the Son of God.  After Peter declares without hesitation who Jesus is, this is what Jesus says to Peter.

Matthew 16:18a (MSG) And now I’m going to tell you who you are, really are. You are Peter, a rock.

Once I declare Jesus as my Lord, then Jesus tells me who I really am.    According to Jesus the “real” me is loved, accepted, secure, beautiful, indispensable, and so much more. That battle between the fake sold by the world and the real offered by the Lord rages within each of us.  I am tired of settling for the fake and I hope you are too.  I am determined to be real.  The world is a master at marketing fake ID’s and selling us a cheap imitation of who we truly are when Jesus offers the genuine; not counterfeit, artificial, or imitation; authentic real deal. 

“Generally by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby.  But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”  The Velveteen Rabbit

Let’s not wait until our hair is gone, our eyes can’t see, we are loose in the joints and shabby.  Let’s start a movement of living the genuine; not counterfeit, artificial, or imitation; authentic real deal life that Jesus offers us today.  Let's show the world that loved, accepted, secure, beautiful, indispensable, and so much more is way better than anything the world has on the market.

Oops there goes another rubber tree plant . . .

 Have you ever had one of those days when you think your life is small and has little or no meaning?  Ever feel like what you are doing doesn't make any difference to anyone?  Ever think that what you are facing is too big for you to handle?

Then grab your Bible and look up

Proverbs 6:6  Go to the ant, O lazy person. Watch and think about her ways, and be wise.

Considering the ant has helped me turn my wrong thinking right, so I want to share some facts about ants that you are welcome to fact check. 

“In many ways, ants can outwit, outlast, and outplay humans. Their complex, cooperative societies enable them to survive and thrive in conditions that would challenge the individual. Here are some fascinating facts about ants that just might convince you they're superior to us.”

1. Ants are capable of carrying objects 50 times their own body weight with their mandibles.  Ants use their diminutive size to their advantage. Relative to their size, their muscles are thicker than those of larger animals or even humans. This ratio enables them to produce more force and carry larger objects. If we had muscles in the proportions of ants, we'd be able to heave a Hyundai over our heads!  The real strength of an ant, or any insect for that matter, lies in its diminutive size. Generally speaking, the smaller the critter, the stronger it will be. It's physics, plain and simple.  The tiny ant has a strength advantage because of the ratio of surface area to volume.  An ant need only lift a small measure of its own weight relative to the strength.

Matthew 19:26  Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible.”

2. Soldier ants use their heads to plug the entrances to their nests and keep intruders from gaining access.

In certain ant species, the soldier ants have modified heads, shaped to match the nest entrance. They block access to the nest by sitting just inside the entrance, with their heads facing out like a cork in a bottle. When a worker ant returns to the nest, it will touch the soldier ant's head to let the guard know it belongs to the colony.

Ezekiel 22:30 “I looked for someone who might rebuild the wall of righteousness that guards the land. I searched for someone to stand in the gap in the wall so I wouldn't have to destroy the land, but I found no one.

3.  Acacia trees employ a complicated mutualism with ants to fend off large herbivores, like giraffes and elephants. Across the African savannah, Acacia trees offer shelter to three species of biting ants that live in their swollen thorns. The ants drink nectar from the base of the Acacia leaves. Should an elephant try to enjoy a snack on the tree's tender leaves and twigs, these highly territorial ants swarm the offender, driving the elephant away with vicious bites en masse.

Isaiah 54:17  no weapon forged against you will prevail,  and you will refute every tongue that accuses you.  This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and this is their vindication from me,” declares the Lord.

4. The total biomass of all the ants on Earth is roughly equal to the total biomass of all the people on Earth.

How can this be?! Ants are so tiny, and we are so big! But scientists estimate there are at least 1.5 million ants on the planet for every human being. Over 12,000 species of ants are known to exist, on every continent except Antarctica. Most live in tropical regions. A single acre of Amazon rainforest may house 3.5 million ants.  http://insects.about.com/od/antsbeeswasps/a/10-cool-facts-about-ants.htm

2 Kings 6:16-17  He said, “Don’t worry about it—there are more on our side than on their side.”   Then Elisha prayed, “O God, open his eyes and let him see.”  The eyes of the young man were opened and he saw. A wonder! The whole mountainside full of horses and chariots of fire surrounding Elisha!

You and I may seem small and our lives insignificant, BUT the truth is that with God we can move mountains, stand in the gap, drive off the enemy, and change the world for the glory of God.  We are not alone, but are a part of a heavenly army that is unstoppable.
  

Next time your found, with your chin on the ground

There's a lot to be learned, so look around

Just what makes that little old ant

Think he’ll move that rubber tree plant

Anyone knows an ant, can’t

Move a rubber tree plant

But he's got high hopes, he's got high hopes

He’s got high apple pie, in the sky hopes

So any time your gettin low

Stead of lettin go

Just remember that ant

Oops there goes another rubber tree plant!

Cahn/VanHeusen

Stay Healthy!

Beware!  It is that time of the year – the dreaded cold and flu season. The flu season seems to creep in around November and haunts us until March.  What happens in those months?  Nothing really sinister just that in those months our weather changes and we aren't able to get the vitamin D we need from the sun and our windows and doors are sealed against the cold air which makes the air in our homes drier. Then add the fact that kids are back in school crowded together in small class rooms sharing pencils, glue, scissors, and anything else you can imagine.  Now you have the perfect recipe for colds and flu.  I am trying to be proactive and get outside in the fresh air as much as possible, exercise every day, drink lots of orange juice, and I went and got my annual flu shot.  Take that dreaded cold and flu!

There are times in my spiritual life that I am more susceptible to getting spiritually sick.  There are those seasons of my life when change comes and my time to be with the Lord is stolen away.  There are times when I close myself off from others who would encourage me.  I become spiritually dry.  Unlike the physical, the spiritual man needs to be around others who will build him up. Bam!  You have the perfect recipe for the spiritual mulligrubs.   I know because I have had those times when I had no energy, no motivation, and I felt tired and run down.  I have had those times when spiritually I just wanted to stay in bed and hide under my nice warm covers.  Maybe I should try and be proactive in my spiritual life, as well as, my physical life. I think there are several things we can do to help prevent the spiritual blues.

Proverbs 17:22  A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.

One of the easiest remedies for the spiritual blues is to laugh.  Studies have shown that laughter actually relaxes the body.  One of those deep belly laughs can actually relieve stress and relax your muscles for up to 45 minutes. Your immune system is known to respond to laughter.  A good laugh has the power to decrease stress hormones and increase immune cells.  Your infection-fighting antibodies are thrust into high gear making you more resistant to disease.  Your body’s natural feel-good endorphins are released to give your body a sense of well-being and can actually help relieve pain.  One of those good laughs can increase blood flow, improve how your blood vessels function, and even help protect you from a heart attack and other cardiovascular problems.  Children do not have to be told to laugh it just comes naturally.  Studies have shown that kids laugh about 400 hundred times a day and as adults that number drops to 17.  That’s right I said 17.  I think we can do way better than that!

Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!

Rejoicing is a preemptive strike against spiritual sickness.  When I feel down I need to rejoice.  When my soul feels sick, I need to rejoice.  No matter how bad I want to stay in bed and hide from the world, I need to rejoice.  The key to this rejoicing is that it is in the Lord.  I rejoice because He is my redeemer, my friend, my healer, my provider. I rejoice because the Lord is loving, kind, and good.  I rejoice because I am His daughter and He loves me, accepts me, and thinks I am wonderful.

Nehemiah 8:10  And Nehemiah continued, “Go and celebrate with a feast of rich foods and sweet drinks, and share gifts of food with people who have nothing prepared. This is a sacred day before our Lord. Don’t be dejected and sad, for the joy of the Lord is your strength!”

Isaiah 12:3  With joy you will drink deeply from the fountain of salvation!

Every day we should be feasting on the richness of God’s word and drinking from the wells of salvation.  We should be sharing God’s love with those who have nothing.  Just as in the natural I can take steps that will help ward off colds and the flu, I can take steps to stay spiritually healthy. 

Your prescription for today

1.  LAUGH!  You say you have nothing to laugh about.  Find something.  Watch reruns of "I Love Lucy."  Go to a park and sit and watch kids play.  Go to the zoo and look at a walrus.  Read a joke book. Laugh more than 17 times today.

2.  Rejoice in the Lord.  Make a gratitude list.  Tell the Lord why you love Him. 

3.  Feast today on God’s word and drink from the wells of salvation.

Inch by Inch

How long does it take the average person to go eighteen inches?  On your mark, get set, go.  Grab that high priced mathematical calculator and plug in some of those magical formulas and give me the answer down to the millisecond. How long could it possibly take?  One quick step and it is done.   The buzz words of our society are quick, easy, buy it now, one click shopping.  No waiting is music to our ears.  We like the drive through, on-line buying and shipped for free to our door.   So the answer to how long it should take the average person to go eighteen inches would be the snap of  your fingers, the blink of your eye, the swoosh of a hummingbird’s wings.   No time at all!

But wait, not so fast.  They say it is approximately eighteen inches from your head to your heart.  For over 50 years I have had the knowledge of God’s mercy in my head and yet, that truth has not completely found its way down those eighteen inches into my heart.  For over 50 years, I have had the glorious truth of God’s amazing grace and forgiveness firmly planted in my head and yet, I still do not walk in the freedom that I would know if that truth was totally transferred into my heart.  Now some might say that those are deep theological matters that it takes years to fully appreciate.  I can buy that, but what about the simpler things like don’t worry, no need to fear, or don’t judge.  I have not even managed to master the full eighteen inches in those areas.

    

Like I said, you would think that moving God's truth eighteen inches would be a quick and easy process.  Not so!  Satan does not care how many church services we go to or how many times we read our Bibles cover to cover.  He doesn't care how many Bible studies we go to or even teach.  There is no problem at all until we begin to ask the Lord to move the truth from our head to our hearts.  Those eighteen inches then become a battlefield.  We find God’s buzz words are patience and perseverance.  We hear the words wait on the Lord.  We discover Matthew 7:8  For everyone who keeps on asking receives; and he who keeps on seeking finds; and to him who keeps on knocking, [the door] will be opened.  

So today I am asking the Holy Spirit to come and tutor me.  I want to move some truth from my head to my heart today.  How long will that take?  As long as is required.  

Not a Normal Harvest

It is once again harvest time in the Midwest.  My small gravel country road is transformed into a parade route for green and red, and an occasisonal yellow, combines headed to a harvest field.  It has always been one of my favorite times of the year and my mind has always reflected on the words that Jesus had to say about the harvest. 

This year has been different.  With an early spring, seeds were in the ground early.  Depending on the day they were planted determined whether the 4 inch deluge of rain we received would cause the seed to rot in the ground or emerge with the return of the sunshine.  Some fields had to be replanted early in the season adding time and expense.  Then day after day of scourching 100 degree heat baked the ground and crops were stressed.  Drought became the reality as state after state went without rain.  Late summer storms with high winds swept across corn fields with devastating results.  Whole fields were flattened while others had patches here and there that were down.  Because of the high heat and low moisture, large ears filled with kernels are not to be found.  Instead, short stubby ears with corn spotted on the cob are the norm. Black mold covered stalk after stalk.   In short, the harvest field this year where I live is not the normal harvest field I have known in the past.

So do you even bother to harvest these fields?   Any farmer will never question that the harvest will come in, but harvesting  fields where half the stalks are on the ground and the other half are bent over will require some adjustments.   How do you harvest ears of corn that should be 8 or 9 inches long, but are only 5 or 6 inches long. Believe it or not that is a problem. There have to be adjustments.  There will be a lot of adjustments on the chains and belts.  The head of the combine will be set as low as possible so rocks and bad terrain are going to be a problem.  s.  Hot, dry, dirty fields are always a recipe for fires so caution will be taken to make sure equipment stays clean.  This year combines have an added feature called a corn lifter (those are the yellow attachments) to help lift the stalks off the ground and into the combine head. Yes, this year’s corn crop will be harvested but adjustments will have to be made.  In order to harvest this year’s crop “slow” will be the watchword.

 I think back on what the harvest fields of souls looked like when I was a little girl and I wonder if I need to make some adjustments.  According to Wikipedia married adults now divorce two-and-a-half times as often as adults did 20 years ago and four times as often as they did 50 years ago... between 40% and 60% of new marriages will eventually end in divorce.  Added to that the concept of obsession with body image as a motivating factor for excessive fasting did not emerge until the mid-1960s, and it was not until 1980 that body image disturbance was formally included as a diagnostic criterion in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders published by the American Psychiatric Association.   According to www.save.org between 1952 and 1995, suicide in young adults nearly tripled.  As a child I cannot remember anyone who died from cancer.  There may have been, but today every child is probably aware of the dread of cancer.  When I was young I had never heard of cutting, but today it is not uncommon to hear of teens cutting. So many lives are bent and bruised.  So many feel diminished and insignificant.  So many feel like the potential they dreamed of has been greatly reduced or eliminated all together because of the economic downturn.  So many have fallen into the traps of Satan.  So do we even bother to try and bring in this harvest?  Yes and a thousand times YES.

Matthew 12:20  A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he has brought justice through to victory.

My prayer today is that the Lord of the harvest will give me wisdom to bring in the bruised and the broken.  My prayer today is that I am willing to make whatever adjustments required to make sure that the harvest is brought in before it is too late.  

Which End is Up?

If the funnel represents your life, do you view your life from the little end to an ever widening expanse or is your life becoming smaller and smaller?  As I age, I am on a quest not to shrink and become smaller and smaller until I quietly disappear.  Physically that may happen because I started out at not quite 5 feet tall.  If I follow after my Grandma, you will not be able to see me behind the steering wheel in a few years, but I digress.  I am not talking about my physical stature.  I am on a quest to keep expanding and growing and evolving spiritually until the world can no longer contain me and I find myself with Jesus in the immensity of His Kingdom.  That's right - you read that sentence correctly - I am on a quest to keep expanding and growing and evolving spiritually until the world can no longer contain me and I find myself with Jesus in the immensity of His Kingdom.  As with any quest, this is not an easy task.  Society paints the picture of aging as something to be avoided like the bubonic plague.  Something to be avoided at all cost and offers botox, liposuction, hair transplants, face lifts, and 100 other ways to stay young.  Seventy million baby boomers (my generation) are predicted to go from spending $80 BILLION  dollars a year to $114 BILLION dollars a year by 2013 in order to ward off the aging process.   This may shock some of you, but society does not always get things right!

I am delighted to say that God has a different perspective all together.  From His perspective we start out small and shriveled as a newborn baby and move on from there.  The day we meet Jesus and give Him our small shriveled lives, He immediately begins to expand us in ways we never thought possible.  What if we spent our time and money developing our spiritual body? 

Instead of looking at life as a narrowing funnel, see it ever widening to choose the things we want to be, to take the wisdom we’ve learned and create something.  Liz Carpenter

Don't Believe Everything You Think

I am alone.  I am afraid.  I want out.  I can barely make out shapes.  Nothing looks familiar.  Everything is hazy and clouded in dark shades of gray.  I try to move but I can’t seem to find my footing in this dark place. I try to find a way out, but I am surrounded by insurmountable obstacles.  I am a prisoner in . my. own . thoughts.

There are days when I allow myself to be a prisoner of war in my own mind.  I allow the enemy to hold me captive and torture me with fear, uncertainty, and lies of hopelessness and worthlessness.  I succumb to his intimidation and cower at his feet.  I am frozen like a marble statue in my thoughts.
The other day on facebook I read this saying, “Don’t believe everything you think.”  I wrote that down on a sticky note and put it on my computer.  Sometimes the simplest things make the greatest impact on me.  I want that sticky note stuck to my forehead.

 Our minds are a battlefield for good and evil.  Our minds are an entry point for Satan to gain a foothold from which he can infiltrate our entire life and reduce us to mindless zombies. The truth is that I am not Satan’s prisoner.  The truth is that I have been set free.

Don’t believe everything you think - Believe what the Word of God says..

The truth is that I am not alone.  

Hebrews 13:5b because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

The truth is I do not have to be afraid.

Psalm 27: 1 - 3 The Lord is my light and my salvation—    whom shall I fear?  The Lord is the stronghold of my life—    of whom shall I be afraid?  When the wicked advance against me to devour me, it is my enemies and my foes who will stumble and fall. Though an army besiege me,  my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then I will be confident.

The truth is that I do not have to allow my thoughts to paralyze me.

John 8:36  So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free.  

Today I choose to apply the truth of God's word to my life. 

2 Cor 10:5b  

bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,

Eyes on the Prize

Friday July 27, 2012 has a big red circle around it on my calendar.  Actually, there should be a blue, yellow, black, green, and red circle to represent the five parts of the world that will gather together in London for the opening ceremonies of the 2012 Olympics.  Yes, the Olympics are only eight days away.   I can hardly wait to watch as the top athletes from around the world gather together to compete.  

Of course, I want to watch gymnastics star, Jordyn Wiebe, and the swimming rivalry between Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte, but I will also watch wrestling, archery, and trampoline and anything else that I am able to tune in.  It doesn’t really matter what the sport is, I am captured by the commitment, dedication, and perseverance to a goal.  It is all glamorous and exciting and enthralling.  The games will begin and the eyes of the world will be on these athletes who have reached the pinnacle of their sport and now compete to see who will win the coveted gold medal and stand on the podium as their country’s national anthem is played  and all of us sitting at home in our pajamas cry.  All the long hours of practice, all the disappointments, all the injuries, and all the setbacks that had to be overcome were endured for this glorious moment. 

But then we begin to hear their stories. We hear the raw struggle to survive the process. Stories like those of  Lopez Lomong who  was born in a small village in South Sudan.  He was abducted at the age of six.  He nearly died in prison but managed to escape with three other boys who ran for three days through treacherous terrain until they finally crossed the border into Kenya. Remember he was six!  Lopez would remain in a refugee camp for ten years and then was resettled in the United States through the Catholic Charities Lost Boys of Sudan project.  Running would remain a part of Lopez’s life through High School and college.  He went on to be the division 1 NCAA indoor champion at 3000 meters and the outdoor champion at 1500 meters.  On July 6, 2007 he became a naturalized citizen of the United States.  In 2008, he would be on the US Olympic team and carry the flag in the opening ceremonies in China. In eight days Lopez will once again be entering the Olympic arena running not just for gold or the United States but also for the Sudan and all those who are still living under the oppression of civil war.  His running has taken on a higher calling.  Now he runs not only for personal achievement, and national pride, but for the greater good of mankind.  He runs for those he left behind but has not forgotten.  He runs for all the boys still lost in the Sudan.

The stories are why I love the Olympics.  The courage, sacrifice, perseverance that has been extracted in order to attain a goal inspires and overwhelms me.  I am amazed at the depth of commitment these men and women exhibit.  It is then that I hear the voice of Paul in 1 Corinthians 9:24-26

Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! 25 All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. 26 So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing.

Then it hits me - I am called to be a runner in the Olympics of life.  I am called to be a runner on a quest to receive a prize that will not fade away but is eternal.  I am called to overcome every obstacle that would keep me from obtaining my eternal prize.  Heaven is my Olympic stadium and Jesus awarding me the crown of righteous is my podium moment.  I am called to get up off my couch, out of my pajamas, quit crying about how hard everything is and grasp hold of the reason I am called to run.  I am challenged by Lopez to look beyond my self to the greater good of mankind.  I ask myself where I can make a difference here and now as I run toward the prize.     

2 Corinthians 4: 16-18  So we're not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There's far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can't see now will last forever.

As I focus on my eternal goal, I am made aware that nothing I suffer is in vain.  Everything that God allows into my life is for a purpose.  No sacrifice too great and no discipline too severe.  There is nothing that will keep me from obtaining my crown. 

1 Corinthians 15:58  With all this going for us, my dear, dear friends, stand your ground. And don't hold back. Throw yourselves into the work of the Master, confident that nothing you do for him is a waste of time or effort.

Anyone who thinks the way of the cross is glamorous and easy is just watching from their couch on the sidelines of life.  Those engaged in the struggle to reach their eternal goal know how discouraging and wearisome the way can be.  They also know that there is no greater call in life than to know Christ and to spend eternity with Him.  It will be worth it all when we see Jesus.   

2 Timothy 4:7-8   I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful. And now the prize awaits me—the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on the day of his return. And the prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look forward to his appearing.

Until then

Eyes on the prize!

The Voice

Have you ever thought that your voice may be speaking louder than your words?  What am I talking about you ask?  Check this out -

 “The fact is, everyone's voice is distinct. Just as each fingerprint is uniquely yours, so is the human voice and speech pattern. We may not realize though that the quality of our voice speaks louder about who we are as it reveals certain aspects of our personality.” http://lloydluna.tigblog.org/post/16893

And this -  “Your voice can reveal many things about you. Just by listening to you people can discern your gender and age. They can also ferret out your true feelings by paying attention to the tone of your voice. You can choose the words that you want to say, but the tone of your voice can still reveal what you really feel.

Voice can also reveal things about your personality. It not only shows your level of confidence while you speak, but also reveals what kind of person you are. In a study, experts discovered that extroverts usually have a louder and faster tone while introverts have a softer and slower tone. They also discovered that people tend to like listening to a voice that sounds similar to theirs.”  http://watercoolerselling.com/cooler-talk/what- your-voice-reveals/

Maybe that is why I am fascinated by the TV show “The Voice”.  It is a singing competition with the twist that the judges sit in chairs that look like a turtle shell that wraps around them as they face backwards so they cannot see the contestant and only judge the audition on the basis of their voice.  When they hear a voice that stirs them, they turn to face the contestant.

Do you remember Susan Boyle?  She was a singing contestant on the British show Britain’s Got Talent.  She walked onto the stage and no one anticipated anything special to come from this unassuming middle aged woman whose hair had not been styled and wore a simple modest dress.  And then she began to sing “I Dreamed a Dream” and every jaw in the place dropped.  Her voice was angelic and powerful.  Her appearance was transcended by her voice.

I wonder if I do that with God?  I think of God being the Good Shepherd.  I think of Elijah hearing God’s voice as a whisper.  Maybe I make God way too small and tame and maybe like the people did not expect anything great from Susan I don’t really expect the miraculous from God. That got me thinking and wondering if God’s voice would cause me to turn?  Does God’s voice make people turn?

Job 37:4  After that comes the sound of his roar; he thunders with his majestic voice. When his voice resounds, he holds nothing back.  5 God’s voice thunders in marvelous ways; he does great things beyond our understanding.

And Job turned.

Exodus 19:16  On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled.

And Moses turned.

Psalm 29:3 The voice of the Lord is upon the waters: the God of glory thundereth: the Lord is upon many waters.

4 The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.

5 The voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars; yea, the Lord breaketh the cedars of Lebanon.

6 He maketh them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a young unicorn.

7 The voice of the Lord divideth the flames of fire.

8 The voice of the Lord shaketh the wilderness; the Lord shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh.

9 The voice of the Lord maketh the hinds to calve, and discovereth the forests: and in his temple doth every one speak of his glory.

And David turned.

There will be a day when God’s voice will be heard by all the earth.  John gives us a preview of that voice.

 Revelation 1:10-13 It was the Lord’s Day, and I was worshiping in the Spirit. Suddenly, I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet blast.

And John turned.

God’s voice roars.  His voice thunders with majesty.  His voice thunders in marvelous ways. His voice resounds and holds nothing back.    His voice is like the sound of many waters.  His voice is powerful.  His voice breaks the mighty. His voice divides.  His voice shakes the earth. One day, like John, we will all hear His voice.  Not His still small voice.  Not His loving Shepherd’s voice, but His irresistible powerful voice that is like a trumpet blast summoning all mankind, the great and the small, the rich and the poor, to behold the Lion of Judah and the Captain of the Host.  We will all turn at the sound of His voice and fall to our knees in awe and worship our conquering King. 

And mankind will turn.

Blessings

Dr. Louann Brizendine, clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco states in "The Female Brain"  that a woman uses about 20,000 words per day while a man uses about 7,000." Funtrivia.com

So I have approximately 20,000 words every day.  Think about that - 20,000 words every day.  Now that is a lot of words I am floating out into the universe.  Back in March I blogged about taking trash talk from my vocabulary which has freed up a lot of words for me.  So in a time when all the talk is about shortages, I am dealing with a surplus of words at the end of my day.  Now I will have to say that I find this new found surplus exciting.  What should I do with all these extra words I have to speak every day?

Simple deductive reasoning tells me that I have this excess because I have eliminated negative words so it naturally follows that positive words should fill up the void.  The word blessings sounds old and antiquated, but maybe it is a word that needs to make a comeback.  Remember those bell bottom pants they came back.  Headbands, scrunchies, and even blue eye shadow made a comeback so I don’t think bringing back the word blessings is a wild idea at all. What is the definition of blessing you ask - bless•ing   noun 1.the act or words of a person who blesses.

Think about it, or maybe to put you in an Old Testament frame of mind, – Selah. The Old Testament is filled with word blessings. How many times recently has someone spoken a blessing over you?  Has anyone ever spoken a blessing over you?  How many times today have you spoken blessings over someone else?  I don’t know about you but I think I know exactly where my surplus words should go.  I need to start using my surplus words as blessings.  Listen to this blessing. Deuteronomy 28¨1 -6 “If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully keep all his commands that I am giving you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the world. 2 You will experience all these blessings if you obey the Lord your God:  Your towns and your fields will be blessed.  Your children and your crops will be blessed.  The offspring of your herds and flocks will be blessed.  Your fruit baskets and breadboards will be blessed.  Wherever you go and whatever you do, you will be blessed.”  Talk about putting your surplus words to good use.  WOW what a blessing!!!

The New Testament gives us some good examples of using our words to bless.  Romans 1:7  To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his holy people: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Those words of blessings are spoken over and over in the New Testament by Paul. 

Mother Teresa said this, "There is more hunger for love and appreciation in this world than for bread."

I think this is the perfect way for me to use my surplus words.  I think you will be amazed, as I have been, the impact that just a few words of blessing can be to someone.  For some, it may be the bread that sustains them for one more day.  Take these next 31 words as my words of blessings to you today. 

Numbers 6:24-26“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace. ”’

Crafting With God

  I love crafts and you know what?  I have done many crafts and I have learned you need to read the instructions.  If you don’t have instructions how do you do it?  Well, you can’t can you?  Well are lives are like crafts because we have many pieces and God is putting us together.  If you don’t have God then you don’t have instructions.  If you want instructions here is how you get them.  The Bible is like the instructions if you don’t have the Bible you don’t have the instructions. 

  God is in control like the instructions are.  So you have to let God be in control.  You also have to take your time.  Like you have to take your time with God and let Him use all the parts.  Don’t lose parts like losing the instructions of the craft then God can’t finish.  You know if you only have half the craft done it looks wrong if you don’t let God finish then you will look weird.  You might be missing kindness, forgiveness, or helpfulness. 

   You never know how beautiful your craft is until you finish it so you have to finish.  You never know how beautiful you are until God finishes.  I made a heart necklace and every time I look at it I think God’s love is like a heart.  God can do anything and He makes our hearts look beautiful.

  

Crazy Trippy Things

Recently in my life, I have experienced many "crazy trippy things".  It started happening shortly after my relationship with God had gotten stronger.  I then realized that things were signs left by God, to tell me that He was there for me, and watching me.  Now many skeptics may believe these "signs" are just coincidence and don’t think anything of such events.  Although, when going into the day with the mindset that God is always there, many new possibilities will open up.  This is because of the simple fact that once you let God into your life, you will not only be much happier, but He will let His presence be known.  The first thing that happened to me was a simple, common problem.  I had lost my phone.   After about an hour of frustration, I exclaimed "please God just let me find my phone".  Immediately, I heard something under my recliner -- I had already checked under it several times.  I went to go check it out, and there it was, it had dropped right out from the bottom of the recliner.  Now I realize that this may not be a very profound event, but all that follows in such a short time frame, is worth thinking about.  Just the very next day, I had finals.  I had struggled in my Spanish class all year (I had been taking a higher level Spanish class).  I prayed before the test, not expecting help from God, but just asking and sure enough, the "butterflies" in my stomach went away, my clammy hands loosened up, and I became incredibly focused.  I felt as if I had super powers.  I ended up getting a good grade on the test bringing me to a C in the class.  A couple of days into summer, I was at work with my buddy, landscaping.  I had just received my payment when on my way home I realized it had fallen out.  Most people at that point would freak out.  They would frantically retrace their steps.  Instead, I let out a sigh, gave a small prayer, and calmly walked back with my friend, almost immediately after I had prayed, the money was in the middle of the sidewalk lying as if it was a present.   Now I am at my grandmothers, now those of you who know my grandmother (Judy) know that she is a bird fanatic.  She had recently acquired some orioles on her land and they hadn’t visited in quite some time.  She had told us about how she wanted them to come back.  The first thought that popped into my head was "they are back", that was followed by many others including "why did I think that?", and "how do I know?” I hadn’t seen them, and to this day I still haven’t.  I didn’t say anything so i wouldn’t get my grandmothers hopes up in case the orioles wouldn’t have come back, but almost immediately my grandmother exclaimed "the orioles, the orioles".  And I knew, it wasn’t just some random thought, it was reassurance, AKA a sign that God is watching over me. In Matthew 14:31 it states “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”  I thought that this related to me and the orioles.  I should not have doubted the presence of God, just as all of the people in the world that say "God just give me a sign" should not deter from the many signs that He gives them.  Overall, in life, you are not to ignore what you are given, so why would you ignore God's "signs".