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.

How I live

This past Summer my girls and I were forced out of our home by the plumbing in my home. We traveled a few hours east to my sister-in-law‘s  house and camped out there for two weeks. Since I never leave home without a book, I took several with me. One was a book by Liz Curtis Higgs. It was a Bible study on the life of Ruth, the Moabitess (you can read my review of it here.)

When I finished that book, and some other non-fiction books, I started browsing the reading plans on YouVersion. I love YouVersion. I have the app on both my smart phone (that is occasionally decidedly not smart) and my nook tablet.  When I saw they had a plan to read the Bible completely through in 90 days, I was excited.

I immediately started the plan and as of right now, I am almost finished. Don’t let the “read through the Bible in 90 days” shock you, using YouVersion’s plan, you actually read through the Bible in 88 days. Every 30 days they give you a day of rest and have no scheduled readings.

I know why they do this,but really it’s completely unnecessary. I skipped the last day off and just adjusted the dates.

I have read through the Bible several times over the past years. For some reason though this one has really opened my eyes. It’s not the plan, but the Spirit who planned for me to read at this time.

Several things hit me afresh. I didn’t necessarily learn anything new but I have realized a new important truths. Truths I had either forgotten or just completely ignored.

One of those truths is how important how I live my life in Jesus really is. There are those who say, “Don’t worry, if someone chooses not to accept Jesus, they aren’t rejecting you. You aren’t responsible for their choice.” Which is true to an extent.  If I am sharing the gospel with someone and they choose not to place their trust in Jesus and His sacrifice for them, if they choose not to believe Him, I am not responsible for that.

But I am held responsible for how I live my life. I bear a huge responsibility to be the aroma of Christ in the world. I am to show His love, His light, His presence to the world.

If I am not living like I should, the world will notice and I will be held responsible. If the world sees me living just as they live, doing just what they do, how is my light shining? How am I showing them a better way? How am I showing them the hope I have? The joy I have? 

I’m not. I’m hiding my light under a bushel.

I find it so hard to be consistent. To always live like I believe I am a loved, chosen, adopted child of God. There are times and days my flesh jumps up and takes over.

I find it to be a very fine line between being real in my struggles and desiring to appear perfect in the eyes of those around me. If the world knew I struggled with an issue, and it came out, would that in any way mar their perception of Jesus?  If I hide my sinful struggles will they ever think they are worthy to come to Jesus for healing?

I need to just live my life, struggles and all, in front of the world in such a way that they don’t see me, they see my Father.  I need to know that I have to live my life differently. I am free to enjoy all of life in Christ, but if in my freedom and in my choices, I offend someone, or cause them to stumble, if my choices cause another to have a bad taste about Christians in their mouth, I am sinning.

Just as an ambassador for the United States represents the United States in other countries, I represent Jesus in how I live.

It’s a heavy responsibility and one that requires daily, moment-by-moment, prayer. A responsibility that can only be accomplished with Him. I can not do it alone.

Still Got It.

Liz Curtis Higgs has done it again. She has written a book that is life-changing, not just because she’s an incredibly talented author, (she is!) but because she combines her great talent with her Greater God.

Her latest offering is a book/Bible study on the book of Ruth, The Girl’s Still Got It. It is almost a phrase by phrase study of the biblical book of Ruth.

This book opened my eyes to this short, sweet little book in the Old Testament. I learned things I hadn’t known before, and many things I hadn’t thought of being possible.

For example, the word/phrase “kinsman-redeemer” is the same word translated as Avenger (of blood)  in Deuteronomy.   For some reason that thought won’t leave my mind. I like it.

The book of Ruth isn’t just a love story; it’s the love story. It’s a picture of God wooing His bride, drawing her into His embrace, and whispering words of comfort and assurances. You’re Mine. You’re safe. No one can take you from My side. It’s God revealing His steadfast nature through Boaz, an earthly ancestor of His beloved Son.

Maybe that’s the simplest definition of faith: sitting tight. Waiting without fretting. Trusting without second-guessing. Believing without demanding proof.

If you’re looking for a great Bible study, I can’t help but highly recommend you “Take a walk with Ruth and the God who rocked her world” Which just happens to be the sub-title of this book.

To whet your appetite, watch the video below.

 

I received a free copy of this book for the purpose of review from Waterbrook Press.

Healthy Living

Do you ever wish you could eat healthier?  I’ve noticed several people will tell me they wish they could eat healthier while shoving a candy bar in their face.  I really want to tell the that isn’t the way to do it. But I usually refrain.

And keep a few friends that way.

I’ve not always been so health conscience. Twenty years ago I was living on Otis Spunkmeyer muffins (chocolate chocolate chip) and diet pepsi. I didn’t cook at all. I ate out twice a day and I didn’t make healthy choices.

I didn’t exercise either. Unless you counted walking to work while eating an Otis Spunkmeyer muffin and drinking diet pepsi exercise.

I have completely changed. I now rarely dine out. I gave up Diet Pepsi about 18 years ago. I cook more and people say it’s good. I don’t eat white refined flour or sugar. I use whole wheat flour and honey.  I exercise. I walk, run, ride a bike.

I have started reading anything I can get my hands on about a healthy lifestyle because I think it is important to take care of God‘s temple.  Annette Reeder and Dr. Richard Couey have written a Bible Study on this subject.

It’s fascinating! I learned so much about health. I learned that while I always knew diet pop/soda/coke was not good for you I learned more about the why in this study.  The authors touch on all the food groups in the food pyramid, which isn’t called the food pyramid anymore.

They talk about exercise and that other bad word….sugar.

If you’re looking for a Bible study for the summer and you’re wanting to join the healthy food bandwagon, get this book and grab some friends. You won’t be sorry at all!

 

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

Dern Raindrops

 

Mr FullCup’s office held a banquet a few weeks ago and one young man confessed he didn’t know who BJ. Thomas was. I was shocked. I was crestfallen. I thought everyone knew him.

It shouldn’t have surprised me as much as it did, I realize that now. I should have gotten a clue when I’m hearing 80s pop on oldies radio stations, or in restaurants. I will never forget being in the grocery store a few years ago, I heard a song I knew and walked around the store longer than needed just so I could hear the whole song. I commented to the girl at the check stand and she said, “Yes, I love the oldies they play in here.”  I think she was 12.

I picked the above song for a reason and it wasn’t so I could tell the story of the young man not knowing Bj Thomas. Not at all.

Have you ever noticed how God seems to put things in your path that honestly you’d really rather He not? Ever get rained on when you’re studying storms? I am going though a book by Kay Arthur, As Silver Refined. It is a Bible study (and thank heavens for my Bible study babes, because I would have quit a long time ago) on how we deal with trials in our life. How we deal with the times we aren’t sure God knows what He is doing to us. When we think God is intent on one thing….our demise.

Even when we know He isn’t. It feels like He is.

Can I be honest? When I signed up for this study, my life was going along pretty good. I had no major complaints. No real “big” problems. If I remember right, my biggest problem was my ability to either remember to brush my teeth in the morning or put on deodorant but not both.

But since starting this study, I’ve had my share of rainy days. I have been inundated with situations that have caused me to question my God. Not in a bad way. But I’ve had my share of crying out to Him, my times of searching desperately for His hand, of longing to feel His hand, His presence and finding instead mostly darkness.  It isn’t that He has left me, or I’ve left Him, it just feels like He’s in heaven celebrating with someone else while my world seems to get harder and harder.

Please don’t think I’m having a pity party and you weren’t invited. I’m not having a PMM (Poor Me Moment). I have had times of sweetest fellowship with Him, times when He was closer than my own skin. Times I know I’m safely tucked in His everlasting hands.

We have embarked on a mission field in our own home and we have invited the world in. Maybe we shouldn’t be surprised, and maybe we really aren’t all that surprised when the world acts like the world. But even knowing it doesn’t make the pain of it any less.

We have had to deal with things lately that really we’d rather not have to deal with right now. We’ve had to make rules we haven’t liked. We’ve had to enforce them. We’ve had to agree to protect our own children and their innocence at what one might say was to the detriment of another.

We’ve had sin brought into our homes. We’ve had to make some hard fast rules on what is allowed in and what is not allowed in.

For some, even for some believers, it might not be a big deal. It might be thought that we’re too strict. That it isn’t real anyway so what’s the problem?

The problem is “to him who knows to do right and doesn’t do it, to him it is sin.” To allow something in our home that is wrong, even if we are the only ones who think they’re wrong, is sin.

Anyone else have raindrops?

From this to that in 0.003 seconds

Do you ever have times when you’re just not at all hungry? In fact you’re so not hungry the mere thought of food, either preparation or contemplating consuming, makes you nauseous? I was there yesterday. I went 17 hours being so not hungry I didn’t eat.

I know. I know. Not the best thing to do. But honestly. I wasn’t sick. I just wasn’t hungry. I ate a peanut butter burrito around 4 and wasn’t hungry again until about 11 this morning.

This morning in Bible study we touched briefly on the need for us to sit in silence, in the quiet and wait expectantly for God to answer. We talked about how we live in a microwave society, we want it now, actually now isn’t soon enough we want it last week. We also live in a very noisy society. The traffic is noisy. The animals are noisy. Inside our homes it is noisy with either the radio, cds, telephones or the television.

We’ve forgotten how to be quiet. Quiet is unnerving for us. It scares us. Because when it’s quiet we have time to think and ponder and often we don’t like what comes to mind.

We claim on the one hand to want to hear God speak to our souls. To show us His will and His way. But we’re afraid He’ll tell us something we don’t want to hear or do. So we try desperately to drown out His still small voice.

But you know what? C.S. Lewis said it best when he said, “Pain is God’s megaphone to rouse a deaf   world.” Hmmm…ever wonder why we’re so often in pain? Maybe it is because God has tried the still, small approach and found us unreachable.

It isn’t that God doesn’t know when we’re listening. He knows everything. It isn’t that He doesn’t know what it will take. I think it is more God wanting us to listen to Him because we love Him and want to obey Him no matter what He asks us to do.

For the times though that we don’t respond that way, He can and does use any means possible.

I am not saying if we will just cultivate a time of quietness, of solitude with God that we will have no more pain. Not at all. But the more we learn to cultivate those virtues the more we will trust the loving hand, the more we will know the heart of our great God.

One of my favorite verses has to be Psalm 46:10, “Be still and know that I am God.” I recently received a copy of the Common English Bible and I love the way this verse reads, “That’s enough! Now know that I am God!”

What are some ways you are developing a quietness with God?

Week 两

Duo, Two, Deux take your pick.

The second week of life with Catherin started off with a bang…and not in a way that was necessarily good.

Sunday morning we’re all at church and the worship time has started when I spot Catherin across the aisle from me with one of her Chinese friends. Normally that wouldn’t be a problem except she hadn’t said she wanted to sit with her friend and I just think children need to sit with an adult in church. Especially when they are only 11. So I very nicely told her we were sitting over here.

And she giggles. I tell her again, she giggles some more. I tell her again, a little more firmly and she looks me in the eye and says, “NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” crosses her arms over her chest and looks the other way.

Anyone care to guess what I thought and felt about that? Any idea what I did next, in the middle of church with a defiant 11 year old child? I gently took her arm and hissed, “Catherin, we are sitting over here!” Her friend was invited to sit with us.

The two of them either chattered or slept through the service. Mr. FullCup took care of the whole thing during their lunch. And we haven’t had that happen again. But then again, we haven’t had church again either.

Monday…Catherin went to school and the day was without mishap. And I am forever grateful.

Tuesday, we had a meeting of the host families and Chinese sponsors where a lot of thinks were ironed out. Things like; in America we wear clean clothes every day. And your undies have to go through the wash. If you need  more you’ll need to tell your host momma/dad that you need more.  We listened as the Chinese sponsors told the students what their host parents said was not a suggestion but was in fact what they had to do. Then the all the girls went to piano lessons.

Wednesday was crazy. I had Bible study in the morning, followed by a webcast. The girls had school in the afternoon and then AWANA at night. I’m thinking the fact that Catherin is from a communist country is coming out loud and clear. She’s isn’t against our going to church, but when we got to AWANA I heard her complain to Ariana, “Church? again??”

Thursday the cold I’d been trying to get all week hit with a vengeance. When Russ dropped Catherin off after school I was told there was no school on Friday.

Friday, we all went to the radio station in the morning then Mr. FullCup took all three girls to the church with him when he went up in the afternoon.

All in all it was a better week with fewer times of panic.

Sin for a Season.

“…gonna get the good Lord to forgive a little sin

get the slate cleaned so he can dirty it again

and no one else will ever know…”

 

I just finished a Bible study on the life of David. It was only six weeks long, so by no means exhaustive, but I’ve walked away from it with a new realization that there is no thing as “personal sin”.  I’m not saying all sin is corporate but it’s not personal.

All of my actions and reactions affect more than just myself. When I sin it’s not a personal thing. I may think so. I may believe that what I do in secret, remains in secret and affects no one else.

An example, and I am in no way saying smoking is a sin.  I see smoking as being amoral, or neither moral nor immoral. I could talk about our bodies being a temple of the Holy Spirit and as such should be taken care of. But smoking is no more a sin than over-eating.

I digress.

I have heard smokers argue that their smoking affects only them. It is something they do, it is their choice and no one else can tell them not to because it’s not affecting anyone else.  Only with all we now know about second hand smoke, we know that isn’t true.  Smoking affects everyone we come in contact with.

Sin is the same.  David’s sin with Bathsheba affected not only himself, but Bathsheba, Uriah, Joab, Eliam, Absalom, Nathan, David’s unborn child. When David sinned by counting the Israelites his sin affected 70,000 Israelites.

Just like dropping a stone in the ocean, we never see the end of the ripples of sin. My sin affects not only myself, it affects those I live with and others around me. Even when I think no one knows.

And sin always has a consequence. Always. Even the sins we are sure no one knows about. God has a way of revealing them. Or we do. You see we’re not as good at hiding things as we think we are. We’re still trying to cover our sin with fig leaves, and well those tend to reveal more than they cover.

When David committed adultery with Bathsheba, he thought (or I’m assuming he thought) if he could get Uriah to think it was his baby, no one would know. When  that plan backfired, he thought if he got rid of Uriah, no one would know. How silly he was.

How silly we are.

I think next time I’m tempted to sin, thinking no one will ever know, I’ll remember that Jesus died for my sins PUBLICLY. For Him it wasn’t a personal thing.

 

(lyrics at the start from Sin For A Season by Steve Taylor)