Come again?

I saw these on church signs, CHURCH signs.

 

Even Jesus had a fish story.

(I.e: it’s okay to lie because Jesus did. Uh. Sorry, but no. He didn’t.)

 

God couldn’t be everywhere so He made mothers.

(Not even gonna try)

 

Does anyone else see a problem with this?

Strong-Willed?

I don’t think so.

You see I was just visiting Mr. FullCup for lunch when a co-worker of his (and a friend of mine) gave me a little quiz. By little I mean not overly large. But it did have 40 questions.

The quiz was on whether or not you are a strong-willed wife. I very calmly and politely took the 2 sheets of 8.5×11 paper from her, quickly scanned the title and promptly said, “No.” Not “no, I won’t be participating” but “No, I don’t need this because the answer is most definitely not.”

And Mr. FullCup smirked. Yes, he did. He smirked.

I guess the guest on Focus On The Family today was talking about this quiz and my dear friend had to find the dern thing and print off a copy for me.

For me?? Really??? Is she out of her ever-livin’ mind? Well probably but that is quite beside the point because you see, Mr.FullCup smirked about it.

I read the quiz and let me tell you, I don’t qualify.

Well, except there was the one question, “I feel exhausted because I seem to be doing everything myself.”  I mean I’m not exhausted all the time unless you count from the time I open my eyes in the morning until I close them at night as being all the time.

It seems I think I’m the only one who can really walk the girls to piano and ballet lessons. I’m the only one who can cook supper.  (But that’s only because I have Jimmy Johns on speed dial.) The only one who can really do the laundry, including hanging clothes outside. Do the dishes? Oh yeah, as long as it’s daylight, I’m the only one who can get them done. (Now when the sun goes down, I’m simply to exhausted to care if they’re done or not. ) I am the only one who can sweep the floor, vacuum, mop, water plants, homeschool, teach the fifth grader math and grammar, and spelling and history, and science.  I am the only one who can raise my children as I see fit. The only one who can teach them the things of God.

Sheesh I’m exhausted just typing all that out. No wonder I’m tired much of the time. (And no wonder I just yawned.)  But you know what? I don’t have to do it all. I don’t. I’m not called to do it all.  God has blessed me with people in my life and in my family who are more than capable and more than willing okay we’ll stick with capable to help when I ask.

And the hard things I am called to do, the things that are my responsibility, He promises to be there to help me. He promises that if I exchange my burden for His, if I take His burden in exchange for my to-do list (that I never get around to making anyway because it would scare me), He promises a lighter burden. He says, “Come to  me, all who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Matthew 11:28-29)

Friends, that is good news! We don’t have to think thoughts like, “If I don’t do it, no one will.” We don’t have to live our lives exhausted every second. We don’t have to be a slave to our schedule, or to-do list, or phone, email, facebook, etc. We don’t.  No, we are free to rest.

I think that is what I’ll be doing the rest of the day…and hopefully the rest of my life. What about you?

Just Thinking Outloud

That would make a really great name for a blog…but alas I’m happy with the one I have. Although I’ve thought I really should have named my blog, “Another dumb girl”, which was my first nickname…I guess.

You see when I was born my uncle was in the second grade. As the story goes, the day after I was born was show and tell day for that particular second grade class. The teacher stood there before her students and asked my uncle, “Do you have anything for show-and-tell today?”

My uncle stood, feet spread far apart, fists jammed into his pockets, and said, “Yeah, I got summthin’ ta say, my sister had another dumb girl.”

Of course he denies it to this day, but the teacher was so touched (probably by the sheer silliness of it all) remembered it and told my grandmother.  Now that I think about it, this is the same uncle who many years later would drop a 10-pound weight on my head.  But that is another story for another day.

This morning I was reading a devotional (that I promise has nothing to do a dumb girl, or dropping weights on heads of dumb girls) and one of the verses they recommend reading was Genesis 50:20. You’re familiar, I’m sure, with the back story. Joseph has been sold into slavery, his brothers go to Egypt to get food because they are starving to death. Joseph eventually reveals to them that he is Joseph. In Genesis 50, Jacob had died and the brothers were still fearful of Joseph and wanted to be sure he let them live a nice long life.

In verse 20, Joseph says, “What you meant for harm, God meant for good.”

I got hung up by the words “God meant”. I stopped and began pondering what those mean. God meant…

God meant it for good. Does that mean “God caused it”? Or does it mean more like Romans 8:28 that God used it for good?

Now I know God is sovereign and nothing happens to His children without His permission, I guess my question this morning is this:

Did God cause the brothers to sell Joseph into slavery so good would be the result? Or did God merely allow them to sell him because He could make good come from it?

Maybe it’s all just semantics and really it’s both.

I think when someone meant to do something they intended all along for it to happen. It was their plan. But when they use something that happened for another purpose I think it’s different. They didn’t mean for it to happen it just did.

So did God mean for Joseph to be sold for good, or was Joesph sold into slavery and God used it for good? I know God knew from before time immemorial that Joseph would be sold and it wasn’t a surprise at all.

I was hoping by the time I reached this part of my outloud thinking, I would have thought my way into an answer…but alas I haven’t.  I’m no closer to knowing which one it was, but I do know it really doesn’t matter and my curious mind will have to let it rest.

Life

For the first time in a long, long time I have no book reviews to do. At least I don’t think I do. I am reading a book or two or fifty, but I’m in the process of reading them. I have learned that publishers generally want you to read the book before you have read the book.

But since I have no book reviews you’re stuck with the thoughts in my head.  I don’t know whether to tell you to check your twitter account, facebook, the stock market, or stay here and suffer the consequences.

Well with a thought like that how could you possibly leave?

On Sunday our pastor used Ephesians 5. He reminded us we are to walk in light and also to walk in wisdom.  He brought out that we are to walk in light because we were once darkness but now we are light. We aren’t THE light, that is Jesus. But we are light. We are to shine our light brightly and not hide it under a bushel basket. We aren’t supposed to attempt to put it out. We are supposed to live in such a way that our light shines and when people see us they really see Jesus.  When we do that we’ll have to be prepared to give an answer for the hope we have or the light we spread.

But that isn’t all we supposed to do. We are also supposed to have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. We are supposed to have no fellowship with them; we are to expose them and we are not to speak of them.

So, why do we?

We not only fellowship with them, we refuse to expose them and we speak of them loud and long.  Why?

I have noticed a movement in the church that says we are not supposed to ever tell anyone what they are doing is wrong. Why? Is that not exposing the unfruitful deeds (works) of darkness?  Im Florida, failure to tell your neighbor his house is on fire is illegal. Why would you not tell your neighbor that? It’s a pretty important thing to tell your neighbor, especially if he is inside his house.

Why do we not tell people what sin is and what the cure is? Hell is a lot more dangerous than just your house being on fire. But if we don’t tell others we are condemning them to a life apart from God forever. And forever is a very long time.

We also aren’t even to speak of them. We aren’t to name the things people do. Why? Because it’s shameful. For many of us, not only are we speaking of it, we’re practicing the very same things. People, this should not be! Have we no shame? Have we really forgotten how to blush?

I am not at all saying we are to let the world “go to hell in a handbasket“. Not at all! I am saying we are to be light, exposing dark places. Those dark places inside of us and in the world. Now we aren’t to beat the world over the head, “You’re a dirty rotten sinner and you’re going to hell!” We are to walk in love, in light and in wisdom.  We are to be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks us about the hope we have. We are not to keep it to ourselves. Light was meant to be shared!

So go share your light today!

Ephesians Online Bible Study….Join Today!

Ephesians: Discovering Your Identity and Purpose for Christ.
<strong>Join the online Bible study (4/15 -5/7) with Sue Edwards! And invite your friends to join you.

Between April 15 – June 17 Sue Edwards will be posting weekly on the Year of Discovery Facebook Page and interacting with groups and individuals around the country going through the study at the same time. Women will be able to discuss the study with each other and ask questions via Facebook.
Completing each lesson requires about one-and-a-half hours. Readers still receive in-depth Bible study but with a minimum time commitment. For those who desire a more thorough study, including an opportunity to learn more about the history, culture and geography related to the Bible, Edwards has provided “Digging Deeper” questions. Answering these questions may require outside resources such as an atlas, Bible dictionary or concordance and challenge readers to examine complex theological issues and differing views more closely.
More about the Ephesians study: This insightful Bible study uses the example of Paul’s church in Ephesus to show readers how they can be victorious Christians, living in God’s Word, and free from sin. Part of the discovery series, the Ephesians edition includes tips for either individual or group use, inspirational sidebars and short, 3-5 minute teaching videos.

Purchase a copy of Ephesians and join the on-line Bible study today.

If you join the Ephesians Bible Study – add this button to your blog: (just copy the code and paste it into a blog post or your blog sidebar)
“Ephesians” Online Bible Study – JOIN ME!
<center></b><a href="http://www.facebook.com/DiscoverTogetherSeries"> <img alt="Kregel Sue Edwards Revelation Bible study" src="http://litfusegroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/EphesiansBibleStudybutton1.png" height="200" width="200" /> </a></center>

The Poor

I’ve been reading a lot of books about helping the poor. It’s a good thing. We are commanded in Scripture to help the poor, the widows and orphans. In my reading one question keeps coming to mind repeatedly.

Who are the poor?

Now it might sound like I’m asking the same question the rich young man asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” But trust me, I’m not. I’m not looking for loopholes. I’m not looking for ways around the command. I think we first need to define the poor so we can know how to help them.

Some think the poor are only those like this:

from http://www.lancegold.blogspot.com

Black skinned and in dire need of food. Yes, they are poor, the live every day in abject poverty. They go to bed hungry, they wake up hungry. They aren’t able to go to school because they don’t have food, school supplies and might be needed to carry a heavy workload at home. To many people, this is the poor people.

But what about people like this?

from http://www.forbes.com

Could this man be poor? He obviously isn’t lacking in financial resources. He looks like he has every thing he needs. If we look only on the surface of things though.

The poor are not only those lacking in financial resources. I contend every single person alive on planet earth are in some way, shape or form poor.  With that in mind, I believe our focus on helping the poor, meaning those living in poverty, is too narrow.

If we broaden our focus to see that all men are poor and work to help them in whatever their needs are we are fulfilling the command.

It is very easy to see the poor as only those lacking financial resources because it’s easy to throw a few dollars into a collection plate or give to an organization that works to eradicate the poor. It’s a little harder to actually get our hands dirty investing in someone else’s life. It’s not easy to get involved with those who are needy.

We are all needy. We all have the cure for someone else’s need. Those of us who love and serve Jesus have exactly what someone else needs. Are we sharing it? Are we helping the poor if we leave Jesus out of the equation?

I contend that we aren’t. If we merely help the poor and ignore the needs of those who don’t look poor around us, we aren’t really doing what Jesus commanded.  If we help but don’t share the great love of Jesus, we aren’t doing enough.

I’m not at all saying we have to be “doing” all the time. I am saying when we realize the great gift we have, that Jesus alones meets all our needs, and we don’t share Him with others we aren’t helping. We’re keeping our lamp under a bushel basket.

I know there are some who are steeped in a legalistic gospel based on what we do. I’m not doing that. I’m saying our love for Jesus should extend to His people and the people of this world. Out of our love for Him should naturally outpour good works for Him. Not because it’s legislated from a pulpit, or the pages of a book or even this blog.

So how about if we start praying for eyes to see the needs in others? Even if they look “rich” in our eyes. Even if they don’t look like they need anything. Maybe what they just need is someone to notice them. To befriend them. To talk to them. To pray with them.

And yes, let’s not forget those who are starving for food. But so many are starving for something.

Understanding Trust part 2

A few weeks ago I traveled to a friend’s house in a neighboring state. It had been too long since we had been together and we were both determined to make a visit work.  The morning of our first (and only) full day together, she backed out of her garage and bumped my van. I text Mr. FullCup to contact our auto-body man about it and see if he could fix it.

The next afternoon about 3 hours into a 3.5 hour drive home I noticed my “service engine soon” light came on. A few miles down the road I realized I was only driving 50mph in a 60mph zone. I had been using the cruise and tried to reset it many times but it just wouldn’t reset.  I was dumbfounded.

The first stoplight I came to was red. When it turned green, my van was very very slow to go through. I took out my phone at the next stoplight that was also red and called Mr. FullCup, telling him to call our auto-mechanic because there was something really wrong.

Now realize a few months ago we put in a rebuilt engine. About 10 days before this, our van had been in the shop for something I don’t understand. I was frustrated with the whole deal.

The next day, Good Friday, our van was in the shop. The diagnoses? The transmission was toast. The cost of repair by way of putting in a used (not rebuilt!) transmission was more than we could conceive of.

We were faced with a few options. Fix the van or not. If we fixed it we would be putting a significant amount of money into it, knowing we had already put more money in than the van was worth. If we didn’t fix it, we would need to purchase another mode of transportation. And we just got out of debt. The way it looked to us, it was a debt either way. We haven’t saved enough to pay for the repairs or a new/different van yet.

Talk about a dilemma. I was praying God would see fit to drop a newer, fewer mileage car into our laps. (I’ve found I’m allergic to debt.) Mr. FullCup was of the mind to repair what I thought was a sinking ship. You know, you patch one hole only to spring a leak somewhere else. Where do you draw the line and say “no more”?

We both prayed about. We prayed for wisdom and an increase in our trust. I confess I was not happy with what I felt God was telling me. Not happy at all.

You see I started to see that God knew that Wednesday morning the next afternoon my transmission would give up the ghost (in a manner of speaking). I’m not at all saying God made my friend hit my van and dent it. Not at all, because frankly I don’t know. I do know Joseph was sold into slavery which could be a bad thing, but God used it for good.

We heard that my friend would not have  deductible on our van since her liability coverage would pay for all the repairs. We were again (and I’m going backwards a bit here) faced with a dilemma. Do we use the insurance money to repair the van or do we junk the van and use the insurance money to help get a new(er…to us) van.  I was leaning towards the latter. Mr. FullCup towards the former.  (It’s how we operate really.)

So back to the praying. I couldn’t get the thought that He knew it would happen. He also knew what the estimates on our van would be. He knew they would provide enough money to pay for both the body work and the transmission.

Funny thing. When I finally told Mr. FullCup my thoughts, they were exactly like His thoughts.

Sigh. We knew God was in it and He was speaking. When I returned a call from State Farm, I was told they go above and beyond the cost of just the repair.  In short, this van is our only mode of transportation with an engine, so when it is in the shop we are car/van-less. Stranded until it is repaired. Not so this time.

Yes, indeed God is in it. He is directing. And yes, if I’m completely honest I’m praying and hoping the insurance looks at the cost of the estimates and says “you know what? We’re just going to total the van”.

But either way I will have seen God work. And that is a trust builder!

Understanding Trust

from http://legacyproject.human.cornell.edu/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/trust.jpg

Lately I’ve been confronted with all the times God uses the word “all” in His Word.  I’ve read the word a million times in His Word, but only recently have they started to stick out in my mind.

For example, just the other day I was reading Proverbs 3:5, because I grew up Baptist (heehee) I can’t think of or say Proverbs 3:5 without adding verse 6. In those two short verses God uses the word “all” twice. Once in each verse.

Yeah, I’m a rocket scientist in my spare time.

Trust in the Lord with ALL your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In ALL your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight. (emphasis mine)

I think so often we forget we have to trust Him with all of our heart. We think as long as we’re trusting Him and acknowledging Him, He is obligated to make our paths straight. He is required to make sure we don’t go astray, that we don’t get lost along the way. Our paths can’t be too twisty, bumpy or have too many curves and absolutely no switchbacks.

It just doesn’t work that way because of the little word “all” in there. It doesn’t matter what version you use, what language it was translated from, all means all.  Absolutely every last one. No one is excluded. Nothing is left out. All is all.

If we are not fully trusting, if we’re leaning on our own understanding even a little, if we’re refusing to acknowledge Him in some area of our life, He does not have to make our paths straight. Does that mean if we trust Him with all our heart, if we don’t lean at all on our own understanding, if we acknowledge Him in everything, our lives will be perfect and problem free?

Not on your ever-livin’ life. Paul penned in 2 Timothy 3:12, “all who would live godly lives in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” and Jesus says “the world hated me so it will hate you too.” (John 15:18) So it won’t be a perfect life. But we are assured that He will guide us, He will direct us. We will know we are on the right path. It means when we experience the ups and downs of life on this spinning planet we know God is leading. We don’t have to sit back and worry that we’re on the wrong path, that we’re going the wrong way.

I know I don’t always fully trust Him with all my heart, it is my desire. Oh how I want that. And I know that He takes the trust I have, sees the desire to trust fully, He hears my, “LORD, help my unbelief!” cries and He does! He increases my trust. Every time I have to completely rely on Him and I get to watch Him take my little and make it big, my trust grows. That is grace. Because He doesn’t have to do any of that. He does because He loves. He does because He desires my trust. And He knows I’m just human, not that I’m using it as an excuse at all. But He knows I’m not infallible, I’m feeble. I’m weak. I’m prone to wander. But when I, through my studying and communing with Him, come to a fork in the road and I ask Him which way to take. He answers. And He is pleased when I listen to His voice in my ear saying “this is the way, walk in it.” He is honored when I obey. He grows my faith through my obedience.

And that, folks, is good news!

Plugged In?

Wednesday mornings I attend a ladies Bible study at my church. We just started a Beth Moore study, the brand-newiest-one on Deuteronomy. I have been studied with this group of ladies since Spring 2000. We’ve studied a lot, we’ve shared a lot, we’ve cried a lot, we’ve done a lot of life a lot, we’ve loved a lot. But most importantly, we’ve grown a lot. Some ladies have left and others have joined but still the study goes on.

We started with Kay Arthur‘s Lord series. We each had homework every day and our “message” was delivered via cassette tape that had to be flipped over half way through. I remember the first time we had a man delivering the message in place of Kay. We thought it odd and didn’t like him near as much as Kay. Not that he was bad at all, just not what we were used to. Over the years we moved to vhs tapes of the messages as we ventured out and away from Kay Arthur. Not that we stopped liking her, we just moved to other things and yes, we do still use some of her material.  Now we’ve moved to dvds with surround sound.

Which leads to technical problems on occasion. Like this past Wednesday. I walked in the door thinking of all the things I needed to before study started. I had to walk around and greet each lady and hopefully make her feel welcome and give her a reason to smile. I had to make the coffee because that’s what I do. Some ladies can teach, some can sing, I can make coffee. I was also contemplating whether or not I’d need to make copies of the video session notes for anyone that did not yet have a book.

So as you can plainly see, my mind was completely preoccupied with “necessary” actions. But when I walked in the door all of those flew right out of my mind when I heard a friend say, “Good! You’re here. You can fix it.” The tv was not talking with the dvd player, or maybe it was the other way around. Maybe both weren’t speaking to the other. I don’t know. All I know for sure is jumping across the screen was the words, “No Signal”. I first asked if they were both on the same channel. At home we had gone over a month thinking our vcr/dvd player was dead when all we had to do was change the channel on our tv.

No one knew. I tried getting the channel to change on the tv and it was a no go. So obviously that wasn’t the trouble. Next I tried changing the input on the tv. The ladies told me they had already tried all of those and nothing fixed it.

About this time I noticed a cable hanging from the back of the tv and asked, “What’s this for?” I was told it was to hook a laptop to the tv. Ahhh so that’s not it. I’m overhearing two ladies talking about who they can call and deciding to try to call the associate pastor. When they tried they first only reached his voice mail, but on the next try he answered. He wasn’t all that helpful. I’m not being rude and honestly I can’t remember what exactly was said because I was puzzling why it wasn’t working.  It was recommended that we call the church’s IT guy. I was the only one who had his number so I called him and he wasn’t available.

I decide if that cable went to the laptop that was right there, why not just use the laptop? I took the disc out of the dvd player and put it in the drive of the computer. Only it wouldn’t play. About this time the associate pastor comes and switches the input from “PC” to “HDMI 1″. I told him I had the disc in the computer and so to try the player again we’d need to eject it.

The computer would not give up the disc. Apparently it likes Beth Moore also.  It was only after struggling and wanting to bash the computer into next week, that we realized the batter was dead and the power cord had a short and wasn’t charging. I finally get the green light on the power cord to come on and quickly the pastor ejects the disc.  (I did tell him I would be extremely dead if we couldn’t get the disc out. The secretary, who was also in there by now, and I were making plans to make a fast getaway and go for coffee, pretending we had no clue.)

Another man in our church came to help also, and it was him who noticed the dvd player was not plugged into the tv. The cable I had seen hanging down the wall actually was supposed to be plugged into the back of the dvd player.

I felt a little more than a lot stupid until the IT guy sees me after Bible study and asks if it was plugged in. I told him the story blaming a Sunday School teacher for unplugging it and not plugging it back in, the IT guy smiles at me and tells me I’m sadly mistaken. It wasn’t the SS teacher, no, it was the associate pastor who had unplugged it.

Just like the tv did not receive the signal from the dvd player because it was unplugged, we don’t receive a signal from the Holy Spirit when are spiritually unplugged. We neglect the Word at home during the week, we fail to pray, and we are disconnected from our life source. And we wonder why life doesn’t work.

We need to get plugged back into the power source.  It’s more than just going to church on Sunday, it’s how we live every day. We need to take every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ. We need to keep short accounts with God. We need to confess our sins and repent. By repent I mean we have to turn from our sins, even our personal favorites. We need to exchange our life for His life.  We need to deny ourselves, we need to say with Paul, “I have been crucified with Christ” and live like it.

It’s not easy, not at all. Our old sinful nature hangs on and loves nothing more than tripping us up and making us obey it. It desires what it desires and it wants it now. Whenever we give into the flesh, we will find a disconnect with our true Power Source, we will disconnect from the God who created us, who loves us infinitely more than anyone else.

One of my favorites

God‘s Everlasting Love

31 What then shall we say to these things? pIf God is for us, who can be1 against us? 32 qHe who did not spare his own Son but rgave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? sIt is God who justifies. 34 tWho is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—uwho is at the right hand of God,vwho indeed is interceding for us.2 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,

w“For your sake xwe are being killed all the day long;

we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

37 No, in all these things we are more than yconquerors through zhim who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:31-39, ESV)

 

(copied from http://www.esvbible.org/Romans+8/)