Which Chair Are You In?

My take away from Pastor Franklin's message yesterday...

Which chair are you sitting in with your walk with God?

• Committed? Sold out the whole route totally committed to God regardless of what you see or what happens in your life.
• Compromised? You love Him, you gave your heart to Him at some point, but you're not sold out the whole route totally committed. It's not all that important to you to be in church every week - you're kind of okay with watching the services online in your fuzzy slippers.
• Conflicted? You're not walking the walk - even if you sometimes sort of talk the talk. You're not committed. Your coworkers are okay with telling off-color jokes around you. You don't flinch anymore at their words that blaspheme God's name. You're just living in conflict to His word.

These "chairs" should definitely make us stop and think. If we're not committed - we're not sitting where we should be!

Valentines from Jesus

Jesus does not send perfume

to linger in the air

instead He sends salvation, sweet

to show how much He cares.

He doesn't bring us candy hearts

in boxes of delight.

instead He always lets us know

we're precious in His sight.

He doesn't send out pretty cards

trimmed in shades of red

instead He gave His life for us

His precious blood was shed.

He doesn't hand out fancy gifts

like we would send to another

instead He sends a message clear

to always love each other.

He doesn't send us roses, pink

for all the world to see

instead He gave eternal life

...and that's good enough for me!

Thankful Thursday Prayer

Dear God, in the busy-ness of my days I sometimes forget to stop and thank You for all that is good in my life. My blessings are so many, and my heart is filled with gratefulness for the gift of living, for the ability to love and to be loved, for the opportunities I have to see the wonders of your creation every day, for sleep and water, for a mind that thinks and a body that feels. I thank you, too, for those things that are less than I would hope them to be. Things that seem challenging, unfair and difficult.

When my heart feels stretched and oh so empty and pools of tears form in these weary eyes of mine, still I rejoice that you are as near to me as my next breath. I know in the midst of turbulence I am growing and learning. In the silence of my soul, I thank you most of all for your unconditional and never-ending love.

Keep Calm and Carry On

Are things out of order for you? They are for me! Just when I thought things were getting better I got slammed to the floor (figuratively speaking) last week! What a mess things are in our lives right now. I just want to throw a fit and scream and cry and, yeah, I even want to jump off the mountain at times. (Only my really close friends will understand that last part, but it's okay, you get the picture.) I know I will get through this. Sometimes I get afraid I won't. I guess you do too, right? I get afraid the situation won't get any better, the pain will never leave, the depression will get worse. Stuck here in the pits surrounded by high walls, clashes of thunder and bolts of lightning I wonder will things ever get any better? Will this load ever get lighter? Will we ever get out of this pit?

YES!

As Max Lucado said, "Out of the lions' den for Daniel, the prison for Peter, the whale's belly for Jonah, Goliath's shadow for David, the storm for the disciples, the disease for the lepers, doubt for Thomas, the grave for Lazarus, and the shackles for Paul. God gets us through stuff. Through the Red Sea onto dry ground (Ex. 14:22), through the wilderness (Deut. 29:5), through the valley of the shadow of death (Ps. 23:4), and through the deep sea (Ps. 77:19)."

Through seems to be a favorite word of God's. (Isa 43:2)

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you:
And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you.
When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned,
Nor, shall the flame scorch you.

He doesn't say it will be painless. Have you wept your final tear or received your final round of chemo? Not necessarily. Will your unhappy marriage turn happy in a quick minute? Not likely. Are you exempt from any trip to the cemetery? God doesn't guarantee the absence of struggle. Not in this life. But He does pledge to reweave your pain for a higher purpose.

God will use your mess for good. We see a perfect mess; God sees the perfect chance to train, test, and teach the future. We see a prison; God sees a kiln. We see famine; God sees the relocation of His chosen lineage. We call it Egypt; God calls it protective custody, where the sons of Jacob can escape barbaric Canaan and multiply abundantly. We see Satan's tricks and ploys. God sees Satan tripped and foiled.

Life in the pit stinks. Yet for all its rottenness, it forces us to look upward. God's got this.

Keep calm and carry on!