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.

Jars

Over the past weekend I attended a simulcast. Beth Moore, author of women’s Bible studies (published by Lifeway.com) and phenomenal speaker was the speaker. I have been privileged to go through several of her Bible studies (that also have dvd lessons), as well as hearing her in person twice (once on my birthday nonetheless) and this was my third simulcast.

Her passage was 2 Kings 4, which records the story of the widow who is about to have her children taken away into slavery because of debt. It is thought that the widow’s husband was the prophet Obadiah who hid the 100 prophets in a cave and fed them.  It is thought she had benefited greatly from her husband’s position as a prophet and was in debt because they had fed the 100 men for many, many days.

Elisha, as you might remember, asked her what he could do for her. Now I don’t know about you, but it seems rather obvious to me. She wants him to help her pay her debt so her children are not taken in slavery. His next question is, “What do you have in your house?” Again, to me it is more than a little obvious, she has nothing. If she had anything she  would not be in her current predicament.  She tells him she has nothing except a little oil in a jar.  He tells her to go to her neighbors and ask for jars. I love that he says, “Don’t ask for just a few.” She is to get many, many jars.

The very next story in 2 Kings 4 is of the Shunammite woman. She is wealthy and builds a room for Elisha on the roof of her house. Elisha is so grateful he has Gehazi (his servant) call her and ask what they can do for her to show their gratitude. The woman replies, “I live among my own people” which on first glance seems an odd answer, until you realize what she is really saying is she needs nothing.  Elisha doesn’t believe her and so he asks Gehazi what they can do. He mentions the woman has no children, and Elisha sends him to get the woman again and tells her in a year she will hold a son. Instead of excitement and happiness, she reacts almost angrily at Elisha saying in essence, “Don’t lie to me! Don’t toy with me!”

Beth labeled the two women “Girl A” and “Girl Z”. She said we all find ourselves in one or the other. Girl A need almost everything and Girl Z needs almost nothing. (Or so she thinks) One thing Beth said that struck me, as I almost piously thought I was Girl A, that Girl Z had needs, she just wasn’t letting anyone know. She was too afraid to ask for what she needed because if you don’t ask you won’t be disappointed.

On Sunday morning I had the thought, and I think it came from God, of putting out my own jars. Of asking my friends and neighbors for jars.  You see I have needs. You have needs. And maybe just maybe, if I’m real enough about my needs. You’ll be real enough about your needs and we can mutually meet each others needs.

Some needs are, of course, physical. Maybe we need money. Maybe we need $19.26 to pay for ballet shoes. Maybe our needs are emotional. Maybe we just need to feel appreciated, important, necessary.  Maybe our needs are spiritual. Maybe we need a spiritual breakthrough. Maybe we need out of our proverbial spiritual desert. Maybe we need a fresh breath of God on our lives. Maybe we just need encouragement to do what He is asking us to do.

I took a picture of two jars I found in my home and posted on facebook my need for jars, I even mentioned that I needed more than a few. I  have had some wonderful people respond with offers of jars.

I started wanting to do this as a visual reminder for me of Who meets my needs.

Yesterday though I began to wonder if God had bigger things in mind for my jars.  The thought occurred to me, the woman had a little oil in one jar.  She didn’t have an empty jar to star with, there was a little oil.

That seemed to be very important. It led me to think and ponder if my jar should have something in it. And what it should be?

I save all my change/coins, I could put a little of those in. I crochet, I could put a little yarn in.

Right now my jars are still empty because I have no idea what to put in my jar. I believe the thought and pondering was God, and for now at least He isn’t saying what little thing I should put in my jar. But you can be assured I’m going to ponder and wrestle this out until I have an answer.

Before I close this for the night, what is in your jar?

(If you’re interested in reading other women’s thoughts on the simulcast here are a couple of links. http://powerofamoment.com/2012/09/16/beth-moores-simulcast/ and http://torishaw.blogspot.com/2012/09/not-too-few.html )

Simply

Joseph Stowell was the seventh president of Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, IL. He is the current pastor at Harvest Bible Chapel in Illinois. And he is the author of several books, one of which is Simply Jesus.

Simply Jesus is quite simply the best book on walking the walk with Jesus.  It is a short volume (just 62 pages) that speaks loudly. It talks about how we experience Jesus. How we might know about Him, have some knowledge of His existence, His character but when the rubber hits the road we’re really clueless. We greatly crave a closer walk but find ourselves missing the boat.

We look at spiritual greats, Billy Grahm, Beth Moore, and others, and think they have the relationship with Jesus that we crave but because they are special God has poured out a double portion of His Spirit on them and we can never attain their level of spirituality, never gain the close walk with Jesus they have. It is reserved for those more spiritual than we are.

This book completely debunks that theory.  The close of chapter one reads, “Do you wonder if this is for you? Wonder no longer! He is at the door of your heart, wanting to come in for some serious fellowship.”

Another quote (and let me tell you, there are many excellent quotes in this short book!):

Stepping into a deepening experience with Jesus is something more than keeping short account with sin in our lives. It’s beyond that. It is about getting far enough beyond self that we can see Him more clearly and desire Him more completely. (page 14)

Another:

No matter how charming, witty, or profound we may be, we were not created to enthrall ourselves with ourselves for long periods of time. (page 17)

So true!! And honestly, if copyright laws allowed I could go on and on with the great quotes but then why would you have any reason to read the book yourself?

This book should be read by every Christian at the very least once a year and probably closer to 4 times a year or maybe 12.

So buy this book already and read it. Be inspired. Be Hungry knowing God will meet you and He’s bringing the feast that will fill your soul.

(I received a free copy of this book from the publisher for the purpose of review.)

Sweet

Some people are just sweet.  Its true.  Think about for a moment,  haven’t you found yourself saying,  maybe as you tear up,  “thay are just so sweet!” I’m not talking about babies and puppies either.
I mean honest-to-goodness human beings.
This past weekend I was blessed to attend a Living Proof Life event with Beth Moore.  My dear friend, Elsie went with me an we had a blast.  I must say,  or actually I don’t have to but it is my blog and I can say it if I want to and I do,  I was a little afraid of making the trip with just the 2 of us in the car.  Because you see,  I stink at small talk.  I mean,  I really stink at it.  I had no worries! Elsie is easy to talk to and there was virtually no small talk.
Back to sweet,  we had planned on staying with some friends of Elsie’s in their B&B but a family death had them leaving town the day we were coming in.  That isn’t the sweet part either.
The sweet part was when Elsie told me her friend had read a conversation we had about all the heavy blankets I have on my bed (another post,  another day) and she got out the flannel sheets,  washed,  dried and put them on my bed.  Isn’t that sweet!?!?!?! It was a little sad that she went to the trouble to do that and then we ended up at the LaQuinta,  but still it was very sweet.

Musings

This past weekend I was blessed beyond measure to be able to attend a Living Proof Live Conference in Casper, WY.  It was just what I needed.

I thought I’d share some of my thoughts from the weekend. Beth Moore‘s passage on Friday night was Acts 3:1-10.

Acts 3:1
Ninth hour = 3pm. Peter and John were at the temple complex at 3, the “hour of Prayer“. In Matthew 27:46 we read that Jesus died at the ninth hour, or 3pm. The time of prayer.  (oh and this just occurred to me, Jesus lives to intercede for us.) The ninth hour was also the time of sacrifice.

Healing of Soul and Body happens at the time of prayer. (Or when we pray we can expect healing. Maybe not always healing on our terms but healing all the same. )

I thought this was interesting, when it talks about the man being lame from birth it literally means, “in the womb”. So something happened while he was being formed so that he was born lame.

The beggar asked Peter and John for help, but not for what he needed. I do this a lot too.

Acts 3:4 “The looked intently at him…”
Hebrews 12:2 “Fix your gaze on Jesus…”
Acts 3:4, Jesus looks intently at us and says, “Look at Me!” when we look intently, when we fix our gaze on Jesus that is when we find healing.

As Beth Moore says:

“I am blonder than I pay to be.” And since my hair is not at all blond that is really saying something. I am often heard to announce, “I am very blond today!” Usually of course when I really screw up.

Like the other day when I walked into our pastor’s office, after staring at the rough draft of this week’s bulletin full of his arrows and notes to “move this here, and put that there” from the afternoon before. I couldn’t make heads or tails of it. I told him, “I just can’t remember where part 2 of the message goes. And does this song get moved here with this one? What about this song?” As soon I say that I can clearly see, reading the bulletin upside down, where part 2 of his message goes. Oh yes.  It goes right there  where he very clearly wrote, “Message Part 2″.  He then asked if I ever had trouble reading and following arrows.

Yes, he went there. And the only answer I had? “No, I’m blond.”  Now we all know I’m not blond…not really. But I think that just proves God has a huge sense of humor. All the blond qualities jammed inside a redhead’s body in one neat, slightly disheveled package. (Oxymoron, anyone?)

You know how everyone always says to learn from someone else’s mistakes? Well we can’t all do that. Sometimes we are called to make the supreme sacrifice for the betterment of our fellow man and be the someone else. Today, I made that sacrifice.

To make a long blog story, short…Please do not use your arm to stop the falling blade of a paper cutter. Bad things will happen.

Just trust me. You don’t wanna go there.