Lately I have been struggling with some things that a friend of mine pointed out to me as spiritual warfare. Things that I never used to struggle with or that I haven't struggled with in a long time are rearing their ugly heads! Recently, as I talked with this friend about some of these things, she reminded me that Satan is not at all happy with me right now and with the journey I am on. And he will try anything, anytime, to derail me on my way to Brazil. And she's right! So I've been trying to be more diligent and do what 1 Peter 5:8 says. "Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." Now I've always thought that analogy was interesting. Lions attack sick or young animals. Or those that have strayed away from the flock or herd. They strike when the animals are alone or not alert. Peters warns us to watch out for Satan when we are suffering or being persecuted. When we focus on our troubles we often feel alone, weak, helpless, and cut off from other believers. And we forget to watch out for danger. It's in those times that we are vulnerable to Satan's attacks. But, in reality, there is no rhyme or reason to when Satan chooses to attack. For instance, today I had a really great day. I'm studying through the book of Ruth with a couple friends and this morning I went to a coffee shop to do a bit of reading and had a great time with God. I was reminded that I am Yahweh's image bearer! And I took that with me for the rest of my day and "meditated" on what exactly that meant for me. I think that because I had such a great day with the Lord I must have let my guard down a bit. Because I was blindsided by "the enemy" tonight at worship rehearsal. Of all places! A place where one would think one just might be safe from temptation, right? Not so much. No one, and no place, is immune from being Satan's playground. Thankfully I had a great day and I recognized this temptation the moment it reared it's ugly head and was able to not dwell on it. But it really opened my eyes to what it means to be alert. I like what 1 Peter 5:8 says in the the NLT - "Stay alert!" It's not enough to just "be alert" at certain times when we think Satan might attack. We must STAY alert! At all times! And the only way to do that is to stay close to Jesus' side. Good reminder for me today...
Maybe you're reading this and recently, or not so recently, you've found yourself in a place of temptation and you gave in. Believe me I know all about carrying that burden of guilt. But I want to remind you, as God so often reminds me, that you are forgiven! Do not let the enemy torture you for one more day. We all have things that we deeply regret doing, things that we struggle with, or that we wish we could do over. The God I serve does not see me this way. He sees me as pure and clean...through the blood of Christ. He ransomed me. The dictionary defines ransomed as, "to deliver especially from sin or its penalty; to free from captivity or punishment by paying a price." My favorite attribute of God is that He is my Redeemer. I simply love that word! We have been redeemed (bought back)! And what He used to buy us back and free us was His blood. That is what God sees when He looks upon me. His Son's blood covering me...I've been redeemed!
Thursday, October 23
Tuesday, October 21
Random Pics
Here are some pics from my recent adventures. Click on each picture to go to the album.
First...my trip to support my friend, Tim, in his American Idol endeavor. He made it through 3 rounds and missed Hollywood by one round! They have no idea what they will be missing this season...
Next...the promised pics of the rooms Julie and I painted and bordered...
And finally...the infamous Chicago Marathon (minus the puking pics)...
First...my trip to support my friend, Tim, in his American Idol endeavor. He made it through 3 rounds and missed Hollywood by one round! They have no idea what they will be missing this season...
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| American Idol |
Next...the promised pics of the rooms Julie and I painted and bordered...
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| Painting |
And finally...the infamous Chicago Marathon (minus the puking pics)...
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| Chicago Marathon 2008 |
Fire, Jello Shots and Puke
Did I get your attention? That pretty much sums up my weekend at the Chicago Marathon a couple weekends ago. I went along with Ryan and Julie as Ryan was running. It was his 6th marathon. We arrived in Chicago around 10:30pm on Friday night and has just gotten settled in our hotel downtown when we heard sirens. We quickly realized that there were 5 or 6 fire trucks and police cars stopped at our hotel. Then we heard the announcement..."This is the Chicago Fire Department. The fire has been extinguished. We will be returning control of the hotel over to hotel management shortly. Please remain in your rooms." That was the gist of the announcement that we heard. And AFTER this announcement the fire alarm went off. We were like...do we leave? do we stay? we were comfortable so we stayed. I roamed the halls a bit because I was trying to get a better view of the fire trucks below and the window in our room was blocked by an awning. Exciting night.
Saturday we spent the day watching the Iowa game on TV with some friends of their in the area and then later that afternoon we headed to pick up Ryan's race packet. We spent some time walking around the booths that were set up there looking at running shoes and running clothes and all things "running". Julie and I even tried a "cube of energy" that was the nastiest thing I have ever eaten! We affectionally dubbed it our "jello shot". It was literally in the shape of a cube and the texture was sort of gummy bear but stickier (and worse) and the worst part about it was that it was cola flavored! I determined after eating this that only cola should be cola flavored...
That night Ryan wanted to veg and watch football on TV and Julie and I didn't so we headed out for a "date". We both had headaches and were starving so we set off in search of somewhere to eat. We went to two places that each had a wait of an hour and we didn't want to wait that long so we decided to just go to a movie and get popcorn. The only movie that we were in time for was "Fireproof" so we bought tickets and then discovered the concession stand had hot dogs and nachos so we got that to eat. We hadn't been in the movie long when I could tell Julie wasn't feeling feel. I kept asking her if she wanted to go and she kept saying "no, I'm alright". I knew she wasn't but she can be stubborn sometimes. (Love you, Jules!) Let me interject here that before we set off on our quest for food we stopped in at Walgreens to get some cold medicine...and they put it in a bag. This turned out to be the best decision we made that evening because after a short time into the movie Julie was puking into said bag! Needless to say, we left the movie.
The next morning was the marathon. We had 3 or 4 pre-arranged spots where we were going to try and see Ryan but we only ended up seeing him at the very beginning and at the very end. He ran faster than he anticipated and we missed him at the other 2 spots. Long story short here...he cramped up and once he crossed the finish line had to go to the medical tent. He was there for 2 hours so I left Julie there with him while I went to check us out of the hotel. I booked it 17 blocks through downtown Chicago, got us checked out, got all out bags and stuff to the car and got back to pick them up and we headed out of town. We hadn't been on the road more than 30 minutes when Ryan was also puking into a plastic bag. Wow...I started to get a complex!
All in all it was a very interesting, and very fun, weekend! I can't wait to spend a week with them at Disney World in November! What more can they throw at me? :-) I have pictures (none of the puking) but don't have them uploaded yet. Stay tuned for that...
Saturday we spent the day watching the Iowa game on TV with some friends of their in the area and then later that afternoon we headed to pick up Ryan's race packet. We spent some time walking around the booths that were set up there looking at running shoes and running clothes and all things "running". Julie and I even tried a "cube of energy" that was the nastiest thing I have ever eaten! We affectionally dubbed it our "jello shot". It was literally in the shape of a cube and the texture was sort of gummy bear but stickier (and worse) and the worst part about it was that it was cola flavored! I determined after eating this that only cola should be cola flavored...
That night Ryan wanted to veg and watch football on TV and Julie and I didn't so we headed out for a "date". We both had headaches and were starving so we set off in search of somewhere to eat. We went to two places that each had a wait of an hour and we didn't want to wait that long so we decided to just go to a movie and get popcorn. The only movie that we were in time for was "Fireproof" so we bought tickets and then discovered the concession stand had hot dogs and nachos so we got that to eat. We hadn't been in the movie long when I could tell Julie wasn't feeling feel. I kept asking her if she wanted to go and she kept saying "no, I'm alright". I knew she wasn't but she can be stubborn sometimes. (Love you, Jules!) Let me interject here that before we set off on our quest for food we stopped in at Walgreens to get some cold medicine...and they put it in a bag. This turned out to be the best decision we made that evening because after a short time into the movie Julie was puking into said bag! Needless to say, we left the movie.
The next morning was the marathon. We had 3 or 4 pre-arranged spots where we were going to try and see Ryan but we only ended up seeing him at the very beginning and at the very end. He ran faster than he anticipated and we missed him at the other 2 spots. Long story short here...he cramped up and once he crossed the finish line had to go to the medical tent. He was there for 2 hours so I left Julie there with him while I went to check us out of the hotel. I booked it 17 blocks through downtown Chicago, got us checked out, got all out bags and stuff to the car and got back to pick them up and we headed out of town. We hadn't been on the road more than 30 minutes when Ryan was also puking into a plastic bag. Wow...I started to get a complex!
All in all it was a very interesting, and very fun, weekend! I can't wait to spend a week with them at Disney World in November! What more can they throw at me? :-) I have pictures (none of the puking) but don't have them uploaded yet. Stay tuned for that...
Tuesday, October 14
Part of the Picture...
I've seen this video before but came across it again tonight on God Tube. It's a good reminder that God is God and I am not...
Friday, October 10
Above and Beyond
I'm working part-time at Kohl's right now as a cashier and so far I like it. Except for the fact that they want us to really push people to get their credit card. Which I hate doing...so I usually don't push it too much. Anyway, the other day I had a lady come through my line and she purchased a Spiderman watch for her son - who couldn't have been more than 2 years old. After we finished the transaction she stood at my register and said to her son, "Jimmy (names have been changed to protect the innocent), do you want to wear your new watch?" And she starts to take it out of the packaging. I'm thinking, "Lady, can you do that at home?" when she says (again to "Jimmy" but while glancing my way), "We need to make sure it works before we leave." Like I know something she doesn't know about Kohl's selling Spiderman watches that really don't work. She looks at the watch and says, "Oh that's not the correct time" and then says to me "do you know how to set this?" I say no but there are probably directions on how to do that. Implying that she needs to do this at home so I can wait on my other customers. Oh no...she then proceeds to dig the instructions out and smooth them open on my counter as she begins to read. I'm fed up by this time so I take the watch, look at the buttons, and proceed to set the watch for her...while she continues to read. When I'm finished she says, "Oh, is it working?" No thank you for helping me or anything! Just "is it working?" I say, "Yes, all the watches that we sell work." She just said, "Oh", and she left. I guess some people think the world just revolves around them...
Saturday, October 4
Scars of Life
A friend of mine sent this to me in an email and it really encouraged me so I thought I'd share it with you...
Some years ago, on a hot summer day in South Florida , a little boy decided to go for a swim in the old swimming hole behind his house. In a hurry to dive into the cool water, he ran out the back door, leaving behind shoes, socks, and shirt as he went. He flew into the water, not realizing that as he swam toward the middle of the lake, an alligator was swimming toward the shore.
His father, working in the yard, saw the two as they got closer and closer together. In utter fear, he ran toward the water, yelling to his son as loudly as he could.
Hearing his voice, the little boy became alarmed and made a U-turn to swim to his father. It was too late. Just as he reached his father, the alligator reached him. From the dock, the father grabbed his little boy by the arms just as the alligator snatched his legs. That began an incredible tug-of-war between the two. The alligator was much stronger than the father, but the father was much too passionate to let go.
A farmer happened to drive by, heard his screams, raced from his truck, took aim and shot the alligator.
Remarkably, after weeks and weeks in the hospital, the little boy survived. His legs were extremely scarred by the vicious attack of the animal. And, on his arms, were deep scratches where his father's fingernails dug into his flesh in his effort to hang on to the son he loved.
The newspaper reporter who interviewed the boy after the trauma, asked if he would show him his scars. The boy lifted his pant legs. And then, with obvious pride, he said to the reporter, 'But look at my arms. I have great scars on my arms, too. I have them because my Dad wouldn't let go.'
You and I can identify with that little boy. We have scars, too. No, not from an alligator, but the scars of a painful past. Some of those scars are unsightly and have caused us deep regret. But, some wounds, my friend, are because God has refused to let go. In the midst of your struggle, He's been there holding on to you.
The Bible teaches that God loves you. You are a child of God. He wants to protect you and provide for you in every way. But sometimes we foolishly wade into dangerous situations, not knowing what lies ahead. The swimming hole of life is filled with peril - and we forget that the enemy is waiting to attack. That's when the tug-of-war begins - and if you have the scars of His love on your arms, be very, very grateful. He did not and will not ever let you go.
Some years ago, on a hot summer day in South Florida , a little boy decided to go for a swim in the old swimming hole behind his house. In a hurry to dive into the cool water, he ran out the back door, leaving behind shoes, socks, and shirt as he went. He flew into the water, not realizing that as he swam toward the middle of the lake, an alligator was swimming toward the shore.
His father, working in the yard, saw the two as they got closer and closer together. In utter fear, he ran toward the water, yelling to his son as loudly as he could.
Hearing his voice, the little boy became alarmed and made a U-turn to swim to his father. It was too late. Just as he reached his father, the alligator reached him. From the dock, the father grabbed his little boy by the arms just as the alligator snatched his legs. That began an incredible tug-of-war between the two. The alligator was much stronger than the father, but the father was much too passionate to let go.
A farmer happened to drive by, heard his screams, raced from his truck, took aim and shot the alligator.
Remarkably, after weeks and weeks in the hospital, the little boy survived. His legs were extremely scarred by the vicious attack of the animal. And, on his arms, were deep scratches where his father's fingernails dug into his flesh in his effort to hang on to the son he loved.
The newspaper reporter who interviewed the boy after the trauma, asked if he would show him his scars. The boy lifted his pant legs. And then, with obvious pride, he said to the reporter, 'But look at my arms. I have great scars on my arms, too. I have them because my Dad wouldn't let go.'
You and I can identify with that little boy. We have scars, too. No, not from an alligator, but the scars of a painful past. Some of those scars are unsightly and have caused us deep regret. But, some wounds, my friend, are because God has refused to let go. In the midst of your struggle, He's been there holding on to you.
The Bible teaches that God loves you. You are a child of God. He wants to protect you and provide for you in every way. But sometimes we foolishly wade into dangerous situations, not knowing what lies ahead. The swimming hole of life is filled with peril - and we forget that the enemy is waiting to attack. That's when the tug-of-war begins - and if you have the scars of His love on your arms, be very, very grateful. He did not and will not ever let you go.
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