Back in the Saddle

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So I took a "little" hiatus over the holidays from my blog.  Hours got a little hectic and time ran a little short.  Between the lack of time and the chaos, I needed to take a little break.  However, when the holidays were over...and I did have the time to start it up again, I ran into one of the problems that I tend to run into a lot.  My "get-up-and-goer" was just not functioning properly.  A downfall of mine that goes as far back as I can remember.

When I'm doing something, I'm on fire, I'm gung-ho, I'm full-bore into it...sometimes succeeding, sometimes not, but always giving it my best.  However, when I stop, getting started again has just always been hard for me.  This goes back to homework days, relationships, dieting, and sadly, even my spiritual walk.  For example, at times I will pray relentlessly and for whatever reason, I take a break and it's just hard to get back into it.  Sometimes I'm studying like crazy, the Spirit is educating me, I'm growing, and then I just kinda get out of it and get complacent for awhile.  It's not ever how I want to be, but it's my reality...a personality flaw that I just have to deal with.

The way I see it though is that we are always given a choice.  If I know it's a flaw and yet, choose to do it anyway, I am stumbling.  Once a person has stumbled, they can choose to either lay there and let the rest of the racers trample all over them or they can get up and get right back in that race with the goal of getting closer to the front.

That's how I want this venture to be seen.  I'm going to start this blog back up again and I'm going to try to put my heart into it.  For all those (if anyone) who choose to read it, I hope that it is uplifting, a little humorous, helpful at times, or simply just entertaining.

Just remember that we all stumble and we all fall.  Do we lay there or get back up?  God wants us to get back up.

James 3:2~ For we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well.

Hebrews 4:15~ For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.

I'll take both, please.

The other day, I noticed two signs hanging on a fence.  One read, "Save Money--Yes on C" and the other, "Keep Your Right to Vote--No on C."  I couldn't help but wonder why the people that are so dedicated to making our city, state, and country a better place to live and who "care so much" for the people don't create a proposition that allows me to Save Money AND Keep My Right to Vote.  Is it really wrong to want both?  The funny thing is... I saw an ad in the mail for and against the same proposition and nowhere in the ad could I actually find what the proposition was about.  That's when it hit me...what a sad statement it is; the disregard for the intelligence of the voters that is being displayed.  When it's assumed that all that's needed to get the vote is to put up colorful signs without any explanation at all.  What bothers me more is that they're probably using past experience as the basis for their assumptions... so I guess that means they're probably right.

Don't be afraid to educate your self...and don't be afraid to want both.

Philippians 4:8~  Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.

Just Call Me Norman

I was watching an episode of Star Trek once in which Captain Kirk and a man named Harry Mudd had to outsmart an android.  Kirk told the robot (Norman) that everything Harry says is a lie...at which point, Harry tells the robot that he is lying "right now."  As Norman tries to process this thought, he overloads, his head begins to smoke and eventually shorts out.  (This scene is found about halfway through the above clip.)

Today, I saw a commercial come on TV in which a candidate for governor said that they were going to lower taxes, create jobs and improve the schools and then added that their opponent was a liar.  Immediately following this commercial was another commercial from the "opponent"... THEY stated that THEY were going to lower taxes, create jobs, and improve the schools and again, finished with a similar statement about how THEIR opponent was a liar.  As I tried to process this, my brain overloaded, my head began to smoke, and eventually, I shorted out.

Proverbs 24:28~ Do not be a witness against your neighbor without cause, and do not deceive with your lips.

My Dirty Dishes

I walked into the kitchen, turned on the light, and discovered that it had happened once again.  During the night, my very fertile, dirty dishes had found a way to reproduce; completely filling up the sink and covering my counter.  The forks, like rabbits, are particularly out of control.  I've not been able to figure out exactly how it is that I do the dishes at night and yet, am never caught up.  I used to think there was some strange black hole that the dishes secretly entered through, but I've decided to assign the black hole theory specifically to the never ending supply of dirty laundry that accumulates hourly.  Moving on...as I prepare to conquer the never ending supply of dirty dishes again, I think to myself what life lesson comes with this?

Allow me to flash back a little and explain a thought pattern I developed a long time ago while sitting at Christmas dinner with my family.   I am able to look at food or something related to food and glean a life lesson, thought-provoking truth, or spiritual analogy from it. For instance, life, like food, tastes great when it's done right, but when overcooked, it loses its flavor.  Another example?   We often approach life in a similar way to how we approach vegetables and healthier foods, we know we're better off when we eat what is good for us, but we're willing to sacrifice our health for temporary satisfactions.  So what life mystery was uncovered through my ongoing battle with the dirty dishes?  Simply put, dirty dishes multiply because I choose to make them dirty again.  They are a reminder that when I try to fix something myself, it's never completely resolved.  However, it also makes me happy to think how perfect God is...He is the only One that is capable of cleaning something or someone in such a way that it never has to be cleaned again.

Acts 10:15~ Again a voice came to him a second time, "What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy."

A Stressful Dream

DSF: Heaven's Gate
Originally uploaded by Phota

I had a pretty intense dream the other night. I met a woman who was lost and confused. She was looking as if in a daze, so I approached and started to talk with her. As the conversation progressed, I realized that she was truly lost. I tried to give her the only directions I knew. I explained to her how we are all sinners and we all need forgiveness and that by accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior, she could be saved, forgiven and have eternal life right away. Her response was that she had heard this before and really felt a tugging in her heart to make the decision, but that she wasn't ready yet. She got in her car and drove away. As I watched her leave, her car was sideswiped by a diesel truck and immediately burst into flames. The next thing I knew, I was standing at the end of a hallway as an observer. I watched as she and her two children walked down the length of the hallway. She was stopped by a figure who said to her children, "You guys can go on by." But to her, he said, "You're going to have to turn and go the other way." She asked, "Why do my kids get to go on without me?" The figure told her, "They were never given a true opportunity to make the decision themselves, so the decision was made for them." To which, she asked, "What decision?" He responded, "The decision to ask for God's forgiveness." She quickly replied, "But I was going to ask! I just wasn't ready yet!" To this, the voice responded as if it were crying, "And you were going to be forgiven as soon as you asked, but you waited too long."

At that moment, I woke up feeling as if I were completely stressed out about something. I started trying to interpret what exactly I was supposed to do with that dream. I started making a mental list of the people that I have told about the salvation of Jesus Christ that haven't yet accepted Him. I know I can't force anyone to believe, but nobody knows when they'll have their last opportunity. So, if I have any message to take from this dream, it's to relentlessly pray for those you love...that they will open their hearts and let Jesus in.

Luke 11:9-10~ "So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened."

I Got Ripped!

I had the opportunity to take my son on a school field trip to the zoo this week.  We got to see all the different animals... with all their different features.  It got me thinking...What if Evolution were true?

The concept of evolution is that over some ridiculous amount of millions or billions of years, our bodies kept developing into something better... from one generation to the next; to the point of the bodies we have now.  I think to myself, "What a rip!"  I mean if we were all once fish and I developed into something better than a fish, then why is it that I can't still breathe underwater?  And if my current body is  better than the fish, then why is it that if you were to put me and a shark in the water together, I'd be the one that was eaten;  I'm supposed to at the top of the food chain, right? Or, another thought, if I kept getting better with each generation, then why did birds get wings, but throughout MY childhood, I had to WALK to school?

So fish swim, birds fly, owls can see at night, cats always land on their feet, and all I got was stupid opposable thumbs.  I'm thinking, keep the thumbs! I'd rather be like the lizard that can grow its tail back...it sure would have made it a lot easier for me to count to 20 instead of always getting stuck at 15!

So, for those of you that want to put your faith (yes, FAITH) into a theory that says that long ago, lightning struck a puddle of goo, we crawled out, and became what we are now, then you should really set your expectations higher.  'Cause I'm thinking that these bodies are mediocre... at best!  I'll put my faith in creation, because the new body that I've been promised, has GOT to better than the one that's falling apart now.

Genesis 1:26~ Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."

Look Inside!

I knew a girl once when I was a kid that used to sit on my chest, pin my hands under her, and slap my face until I'd cry.  Needless to say, I used to think she was so mean.  This same girl, in the backslidden part of her life, did just about every horrendous thing imaginable that might define a "bad teenager"....and I mean EVERYTHING!  And so, people simply decided that she was just a bad person.  As an adult, she was accused of a crime and arrested.  I clearly remember just about everyone (including her family) trying to figure out why she did it even though she claimed that all the accusations weren't true.  In recent years, this same girl had an unfathomable situation take place that literally tore her family apart.  And predictably, everyone again turned their back on her and her family because she didn't follow their advice and just move on with her life.  Sadly, I've watched this girl get judged more harshly for any "incorrect decision" than any other person I know.

Now the other side of the coin:  the very same girl that made me cry, went out and threatened two boys within inches of their life that if they were to ever bother me or hurt my feelings again, it would be the last thing they would remember doing.  You see, in her heart, she was a protector and a bodyguard and nothing was going to hurt me...except her of course! 

As for the backslidden years?  I often hear people say that they are in too deep, they've done too much wrong, or it's too late, and they can't "come back."  Well, this girl has proven that it is possible to overcome any past lifestyle or mistake and become an example that anyone is "save-able."  You see, in her heart, she is a survivor and the epitome of strength. 

The accusations that were made against her were dropped, because they simply weren't true.  This began a drastic turnaround in her life that started her down a road of doing God's will.  In fact, she is the only person in my own backslidden years that relentlessly stayed on me; asking me when I was going to clean up my life and get right with the Lord.  And yes, I fought her on it, tooth and nail.  It was her persistence that inspired me to recommit my life to the Lord.  You see in her heart, she knows what's right and wrong and does what it takes to get it done.

Finally, the family that was torn apart?  Well, she could've done what the world and everyone around her told her was acceptable and just left; avoiding all the harsh judgment and criticism the ignorant and selfish still give her to this day.  Instead, she took the tougher road and decided that her family was worth fighting for, and that, through God's strength, her family would be restored.  To this day, God holds that family in His hand as a solid unit.  You see, in her heart, she is faithful, not to the world and its opinion, but to God and His will.  To this day, she still gets a harsher judgment put upon her; mostly for her past, sometimes for the present and other times just because of her personality.  But I don't believe that you could find a better heart in very many people alive today, because who she is inside is beautiful and I can see that and I know God can see it too.  Knowing someone on the outside is not really knowing them at all.  I'm glad I know this woman.

1 Samuel 16:7~ But the Lord said to Samuel, "Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.