Denny and I just returned from Nashville. I had an appointment with an advertising client of mine Friday afternoon, and then Friday night we went to the Louise Mandrell Christmas Show at the Opryland Hotel. The show is AWESOME! Our friends, Matt and Christy are in it. Matt emcees it, and Christy is the “featured” performer.
After the show we went out with Matt and Christy and had such a good visit with them. While there Christy was talking about a new song that she has written that is based on 2 Kings 3.
I didn’t remember that particular passage of scripture so Christy gave me a Bible lesson right there in McDonalds. I LOVED IT! And I want to share it with you.
The King of Israel, The King of Judah, and the King of Edom set out to fight the King of Moab. After seven days they had ran out of water for both them and their animals. So, Jehoshaphat, King of Judah says, “Isn’t there a prophet of the Lord somewhere around here who can consult God for us?” And the three kings end up going and talking with Elisha the Prophet, who has this to say:
2 Kings 3 16-19 “He then said, "God's word: Dig ditches all over this valley. Here's what will happen—you won't hear the wind, you won't see the rain, but this valley is going to fill up with water and your army and your animals will drink their fill. This is easy for God to do; he will also hand over Moab to you. . .”
Will you allow me to go refer back to my previous post where I stated this:
“here’s to doing what I don’t understand.”
These three kings had already been out for seven days. They (and their animals) were out of water. I’m sure they were exhausted, and God tells them to dig ditches?
To provide water is an easy thing for God to do. He tells them so. He could provide it anyway he chooses. But the way he chooses is to have these guys dig ditches. Here’s to doing what I don’t understand.
His ways don’t always make sense to me. But I do trust Him, and I know that His way is the best way because He is ALWAYS FAITHFUL.
They dug the ditches, and God kept His promise. They got water. And the Lord gave them victory over the Moabites.
I know what the Lord is calling me to do. . .is He calling you to do something?
Here’s to digging ditches.
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Here's to Doing What I Don't Understand
This month I had an article in the "P31 Woman" magazine. The article was called "Be Alert For Signs of His Presence", and basically talked about listening to and obeying God's promptings.
What I have found time and time again, is that often times when God calls me to do something, I don't "get" it. Often times, on the front end, I really don't understand why I have to do what He's asked me to do. A lot of times after it's all over, it will then make sense. But not always.
I'm writing about this right now because He's doing it again. At least if I'm hearing Him right, He's doing it again. Asking me to do something and I don't really understand why I have to. But because I love Him, and because He's asked me to do it, I'll do it.
"Lord, I don't even know if I'm hearing you right, but I know what I feel like I'm being led to do, and it's not something that I would want to do on my own, so why is the desire still there if not from you?"
Have you ever felt like that before? I have. Like the time HE told me to tell a complete stranger that I loved her. You can read about that here.
I'm encouraged to know that others can relate to this as well. This week another blogger left me a comment, so I hopped over to her blog to read her post, and in it she talked about how the Holy Spirit prompted her to give some towels away...and she thought "how strange". But she did it, and in the end she found out why.
I liked our Preacher's sermon this past week, when he was talking about being obedient to God's call on our lives. John mentioned that as we reflect back on a life of following God, that one might say, "well Lord, it wasn't what I had planned, but it certainly wasn't boring." Amen to that. Following God is anything BUT boring!
Thinking of that reminds me of an analogy that my friend Jill wrote about this week on her blog. I encourage you to hop over there and read it.
And in the meantime, here's to doing what I don't understand.
"Obedience is easy when you know you're being guided by a God who never makes mistakes." Corrie Ten Boom
Acts 8:29 The Spirit told Philip, "Go to that chariot and stay near it."
Acts 11:12 The Spirit told me to have no hesitation about going with them.
What I have found time and time again, is that often times when God calls me to do something, I don't "get" it. Often times, on the front end, I really don't understand why I have to do what He's asked me to do. A lot of times after it's all over, it will then make sense. But not always.
I'm writing about this right now because He's doing it again. At least if I'm hearing Him right, He's doing it again. Asking me to do something and I don't really understand why I have to. But because I love Him, and because He's asked me to do it, I'll do it.
"Lord, I don't even know if I'm hearing you right, but I know what I feel like I'm being led to do, and it's not something that I would want to do on my own, so why is the desire still there if not from you?"
Have you ever felt like that before? I have. Like the time HE told me to tell a complete stranger that I loved her. You can read about that here.
I'm encouraged to know that others can relate to this as well. This week another blogger left me a comment, so I hopped over to her blog to read her post, and in it she talked about how the Holy Spirit prompted her to give some towels away...and she thought "how strange". But she did it, and in the end she found out why.
I liked our Preacher's sermon this past week, when he was talking about being obedient to God's call on our lives. John mentioned that as we reflect back on a life of following God, that one might say, "well Lord, it wasn't what I had planned, but it certainly wasn't boring." Amen to that. Following God is anything BUT boring!
Thinking of that reminds me of an analogy that my friend Jill wrote about this week on her blog. I encourage you to hop over there and read it.
And in the meantime, here's to doing what I don't understand.
"Obedience is easy when you know you're being guided by a God who never makes mistakes." Corrie Ten Boom
Acts 8:29 The Spirit told Philip, "Go to that chariot and stay near it."
Acts 11:12 The Spirit told me to have no hesitation about going with them.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
The Office Bible
A few weeks ago, someone brought a Bible into work. There’s a little pathway that we use to cut across from one side of the building to the other. It’s a high traffic area, with a desk in it, and the Bible was placed on that desk.
It has been very interesting to me how much that Bible has stirred up. I found it quite entertaining that the first week it was here, every morning I came into work, the Bible was placed on MY desk. I have no idea who kept doing that, or why. But it made me chuckle to come in each morning and have “THE Bible” on my desk. Each time I would take it back and put it on the desk in the walk through area. And each time I would randomly open it to a certain page.
Because it’s a high traffic area, people just can’t seem to leave it alone. I cannot tell you how many times I’ll be sitting at my desk, and then all of a sudden hear someone reading from this Bible. Due to the fact that it’s the King James Version…it sounds quite funny to hear my co-workers speaking in that “language”. You know, imagine sitting at your desk doing your work and then all of a sudden hearing, “Thou shalt be visited of the Lord of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest and the flame of devouring fire” Isaiah 29:6
The other day one of my bosses picked it up and brought it over to my office, sat in a chair, and started reading to me from Acts 20. I stopped him and said “do you care if I update my Facebook status to say, “listening to my boss read me the Bible…”? Funny.
But what he read to me actually caused us to dive into the scripture. He was trying to figure out what it meant, so we looked it up in some easier to understand translations, and others from the office got involved in the conversation as well, and it was GOOD.
Today, I walked into my office and the Bible was on my desk with a note attached that said, “translate this for me”…and a particular passage was highlighted. Though the note wasn’t signed, I recognized the writing. So I went to the one asking the question and said, “I’ll get back to you on that.” I then asked, “is this a scripture you’ve always wanted to know about, or were you just walking by the Bible, and pick it up at random to that scripture.”
He said, “yes, I just picked it up and read it at random”.
So, I write this just because I’m amazed at all that this Office Bible has stirred up, and the random Bible study that it is causing. And I’m witnessing that the “Word of God is alive and active”. Hebrews 4:12
It has been very interesting to me how much that Bible has stirred up. I found it quite entertaining that the first week it was here, every morning I came into work, the Bible was placed on MY desk. I have no idea who kept doing that, or why. But it made me chuckle to come in each morning and have “THE Bible” on my desk. Each time I would take it back and put it on the desk in the walk through area. And each time I would randomly open it to a certain page.
Because it’s a high traffic area, people just can’t seem to leave it alone. I cannot tell you how many times I’ll be sitting at my desk, and then all of a sudden hear someone reading from this Bible. Due to the fact that it’s the King James Version…it sounds quite funny to hear my co-workers speaking in that “language”. You know, imagine sitting at your desk doing your work and then all of a sudden hearing, “Thou shalt be visited of the Lord of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest and the flame of devouring fire” Isaiah 29:6
The other day one of my bosses picked it up and brought it over to my office, sat in a chair, and started reading to me from Acts 20. I stopped him and said “do you care if I update my Facebook status to say, “listening to my boss read me the Bible…”? Funny.
But what he read to me actually caused us to dive into the scripture. He was trying to figure out what it meant, so we looked it up in some easier to understand translations, and others from the office got involved in the conversation as well, and it was GOOD.
Today, I walked into my office and the Bible was on my desk with a note attached that said, “translate this for me”…and a particular passage was highlighted. Though the note wasn’t signed, I recognized the writing. So I went to the one asking the question and said, “I’ll get back to you on that.” I then asked, “is this a scripture you’ve always wanted to know about, or were you just walking by the Bible, and pick it up at random to that scripture.”
He said, “yes, I just picked it up and read it at random”.
So, I write this just because I’m amazed at all that this Office Bible has stirred up, and the random Bible study that it is causing. And I’m witnessing that the “Word of God is alive and active”. Hebrews 4:12
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
What a Great Prayer
God, I've heard what our ancestors say about you, and I'm stopped in my tracks, down on my knees.
Do among us what you did among them.
Work among us as you worked among them.
And as you bring judgment, as you surely must, remember mercy.
Habakkuk 3:2 (The Message)
Do among us what you did among them.
Work among us as you worked among them.
And as you bring judgment, as you surely must, remember mercy.
Habakkuk 3:2 (The Message)
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Bite my tongue...honor God
Here Here to the 7th Grade Girls Basketball team who had an awesome year. They ended their season 23 and 2 (or somewhere close to that). Here's what I know. They had a ton of games and only lost two. Their last one being in the Sectionals.
I have never really watched basketball until this year. Growing up, our family was a football family. I have two older brothers who played football, so I've been to A LOT of football games. And every Sunday afternoon, during football season, you could find us glued to the TV watching games.
So really, this was the first time ever that I watched much basketball, and I really enjoyed it. However, one thing that I noticed about basketball that I don't like is this...it seems like the calls that the refs make, makes more of a difference in basketball than it does in other sports.
Like for instance, we could have played the exact same game last night, and had three or four calls gone our way, the outcome might have been different. I'm not making excuses. I'm just saying I never realized how much the refs can affect a game. You know that they definitely missed some "traveling" calls when our whole crowd roared at once when the unchecked fouls happened. Seriously. It wasn't like just one person saw the missed call. You would actually hear a unified roar from the crowd because everyone saw it. And if everyone saw it, how could we, the fans, be wrong? Answer: we probably weren't. It was probably indeed a missed call.
So, how should we respond to that? Well, I can tell you that emotionally I never like it. The missed call does not make me happy. But what I know is, to respond with an overly rebellious verbal response cursing the refs would not be God honoring. Does God care? I think He does.
One of the hardest spiritual pills that I've ever had to swallow, is the spiritual truth where God says that I have to submit to authority. It's hard because, as you know, sometimes those who are in authority make mistakes. Sometimes they make bad decisions. Sometimes they do or say things that we think are seemingly wrong, or stupid. At my job, I have to submit to my boss. He is the one in authority. Whether I like his "calls" or not doesn't really matter, he's the boss and I'm not. I don't think that means we can't have a voice...but we need to make sure that when we voice our opinion that we do so in a respectful manner. Why? Because God said this:
"Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every authority instituted among men" 1 Peter 2:13
So why does it not honor God for us to "cuss" the refs? Because guess who the authority is on the court. The referees are. They have been put there, on the court, to maintain order.
So what do I do? Well, if I see a missed call, I sometimes can't help but have that immediate initial reaction. That immediate gasp that cries out, even non verbally, "c'mon ref!"
But I try my best to refrain from draggin' it out, hanging on to it or bad mouthing them (EVEN if they deserve it, I do my best to refrain.)
Why do I chose that? well, to be honest it's for two very real reasons. One is, I video taped a game early on in the season, and as I watched the video I could hear myself yelling at the refs, (ha) and quite honestly it hit me like a ton of bricks. I did not like the way I sounded.
The second reason is because I believe with all my heart that God stands up for the man (woman) that honors Him. And for me to "honor" the refs, honors God.
Now having said that, let me say this, I am not perfect in this. And it is something that I have to keep in check at all times. And I know that even after saying this, there will probably be times at games when I slip up and get mouthy. But as the words begin to roll off my tongue may I be reminded to do the right thing...bite my tongue, honor God.
Psalm 39:1 I said, "I will watch my ways and keep my tongue from sin;
Proverbs 10:19When words are many, sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise.
I have never really watched basketball until this year. Growing up, our family was a football family. I have two older brothers who played football, so I've been to A LOT of football games. And every Sunday afternoon, during football season, you could find us glued to the TV watching games.
So really, this was the first time ever that I watched much basketball, and I really enjoyed it. However, one thing that I noticed about basketball that I don't like is this...it seems like the calls that the refs make, makes more of a difference in basketball than it does in other sports.
Like for instance, we could have played the exact same game last night, and had three or four calls gone our way, the outcome might have been different. I'm not making excuses. I'm just saying I never realized how much the refs can affect a game. You know that they definitely missed some "traveling" calls when our whole crowd roared at once when the unchecked fouls happened. Seriously. It wasn't like just one person saw the missed call. You would actually hear a unified roar from the crowd because everyone saw it. And if everyone saw it, how could we, the fans, be wrong? Answer: we probably weren't. It was probably indeed a missed call.
So, how should we respond to that? Well, I can tell you that emotionally I never like it. The missed call does not make me happy. But what I know is, to respond with an overly rebellious verbal response cursing the refs would not be God honoring. Does God care? I think He does.
One of the hardest spiritual pills that I've ever had to swallow, is the spiritual truth where God says that I have to submit to authority. It's hard because, as you know, sometimes those who are in authority make mistakes. Sometimes they make bad decisions. Sometimes they do or say things that we think are seemingly wrong, or stupid. At my job, I have to submit to my boss. He is the one in authority. Whether I like his "calls" or not doesn't really matter, he's the boss and I'm not. I don't think that means we can't have a voice...but we need to make sure that when we voice our opinion that we do so in a respectful manner. Why? Because God said this:
"Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every authority instituted among men" 1 Peter 2:13
So why does it not honor God for us to "cuss" the refs? Because guess who the authority is on the court. The referees are. They have been put there, on the court, to maintain order.
So what do I do? Well, if I see a missed call, I sometimes can't help but have that immediate initial reaction. That immediate gasp that cries out, even non verbally, "c'mon ref!"
But I try my best to refrain from draggin' it out, hanging on to it or bad mouthing them (EVEN if they deserve it, I do my best to refrain.)
Why do I chose that? well, to be honest it's for two very real reasons. One is, I video taped a game early on in the season, and as I watched the video I could hear myself yelling at the refs, (ha) and quite honestly it hit me like a ton of bricks. I did not like the way I sounded.
The second reason is because I believe with all my heart that God stands up for the man (woman) that honors Him. And for me to "honor" the refs, honors God.
Now having said that, let me say this, I am not perfect in this. And it is something that I have to keep in check at all times. And I know that even after saying this, there will probably be times at games when I slip up and get mouthy. But as the words begin to roll off my tongue may I be reminded to do the right thing...bite my tongue, honor God.
Psalm 39:1 I said, "I will watch my ways and keep my tongue from sin;
Proverbs 10:19When words are many, sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise.
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