Which Sailor Are You?

This morning I was awakened by that stirring feeling.   It’s the kind you get when God really wants to show you something.  It’s a “Come, let Me show you something” type of call that speaks to your heart and not your head.

And, those are the best calls.  AT&T cannot reach out and touch someone any better than God can!

I said last night that I needed grace.  And although that is true, there is something that God showed me I need so much more.

Look at Matthew 14:22-32 with me….

Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go

on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. 

After he had dismissed them, he went up on mountainside by

himself to pray.  When evening came, he was there alone, but the

boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the

waves because the wind was against it.  During the fourth watch of

the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake.  When the

disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. 

“It’s a ghost!” They cried out in fear.

But Jesus immediately said to them, “Take courage.  It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”

“Come,” he said.

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.

But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried, “Lord, save me!”

Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him.  “You of little faith,” He said.  “Why did you doubt?”

And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down  Then those who were in the boat worshiped Him saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

Which sailor are you?  Are you often the one who stays in the boat because you fear too much?  I know that I am very much like those other sailors.  I need FAITH!!!

I want to be Peter, but I fear the failure.  And not trying is so much safer because at least you don’t say, “Oh, I failed at that.”  Not trying is my safety net.

Or is it?

I think Peter was THE ROCK as Jesus said.  He went for EVERYTHING he could in life.  Sometimes it got him in trouble, but God still saw his heart.  And knew him to the very core.

I look around my house and my waves are massive in my mind….clutter, laundry, dishes, toys, yesterday’s mail, third grade schoolwork, last weeks newspapers.  I attempt to organize it during the day, but in the end, I fail.  So it gets ignored for a while, until I can’t stand it again.

What if I’m going about this the wrong way?  What if I’m looking too much at my waves, and not looking enough at the One who made them?

What if I could keep my blinders on and focus on Jesus and HAVE FAITH that all things DO work for good for ME because I LOVE HIM and I am CALLED for HIS purpose.

Not my purpose.  HIS!!

I think so many times we are so busy that we forget how big God is and that He cares about every little detail.  I think we lose faith so easily.

My son, Ben, has come downstairs and sat in my lap.  He has just informed me that he wet his bed!  Talk about little details.  So I guess this is where my test begins!  LOL!

Let’s make a deal; just for today, let’s focus on Him and the blessings He’s given us.  In faith, let’s remember the waves are not as big as God and decide that we can walk on the water.

Then, report back here and hit the comment button to let me know how your day went.

Good faith (not luck) Sailor!!!  Talk with you soon; I’ve gotta go change some sheets!

 

It Boggles the Mind

It was bound to happen, sooner or later.

My daughter, who is 2 months away from turning 9, went to school yesterday with makeup on her face.

I didn’t see it until I was helping her out of the car with her backpack in the carpool line.

“What is THAT?”  I asked her.

“What?” She answers.

“You have makeup glitter on your face!” I told her.

“I don’t!!” She denied she put anything on.

It was OBVIOUS she was not telling the truth.  She has “that look” on her face when she lies.

I’m in the carpool line searching frantically for a handiwipe.

Found them!  AHA!

I wiped it off.  She continued telling me she didn’t do anything.

Later that day, I picked both the kids up and we went out for ice cream.  I broke the news to her.

“No Disney Channel for 3 whole days….No TIVO of any Disney programs.”  And I took the play makeup away.

Surprisingly, I didn’t get as much objection out of her as I thought I would.  I thought I would get the dramatic, award winning tantrum.  But I didn’t.

So, today since we were not doing television, I decided to get a few board games out.  One ended up being Boggle Jr.  We had never played before.

So we sat down with both the kids and played.  Ben did the 3 letter words, Rachel spelled the 4 letter words by looking only at the picture card and not the letters.

The game went pretty well.  Until Rachel forgot how to spell bowl.  She could not think of the W.

Then, THE Oscar/Emmy Award winning tantrum struck. 

She was angry at herself for missing that word.  She was frustrated and started screaming, “I hate myself, I’m stupid!”

Thank God my sweet husband had the day off and heard all the commotion.

We explained to her that everyone makes mistakes.  We also pointed out to her that the voice she was listening to was NOT the voice of TRUTH.  It was the voice of the Enemy.  We told her that it is important for her to remember who she is and WHOSE she is.

So many of us adults face that too.  It’s like the Casting Crowns song, “The Voice of Truth”:

“But the voice of Truth tells me a different story,

The voice of Truth says do not be afraid…”

“After all the voices calling out to me….I will listen and believe the voice of Truth.”

It boggles my mind that even at this tender age I see my child face the decision of which voice to listen to.  Does she listen to what God whispers in her ear or does she listen to the lies that Satan gives her?  Lies like “you are stupid,” and “you’ll never get it.”

As long as I am able, I will pray that she and her brother hear the voice of Truth and choose to follow it.

Who are you?  WHOSE are you?

I’m not Mrs. Greenthumbs!

I’ve got a confession to make.

I’m not good at gardening.  I admit it.  I’ve killed every plant you can name, including a cactus!  I could kill a plastic houseplant!

There was once a time when I could keep something alive for more than just a few days.  I thought it would be neat to try to grow strawberries when my husband and I were first married.  I put a pot of a strawberry plant out on our 2nd story apartment balcony.  And, gasp, they grew!  And they were the most delicious strawberries I ever ate in my life.  All because I grew them.

 That was 13 years ago.  That was in Nashville, TN.  Before kids and life in the big city.  This is now, and my now is without chloraphyl.

I don’t know what came over me the day my daughter tried to convince me to grow peppermint.  I was told by the vendor, “it’s very hearty, it will take over your backyard if you plant it and leave it alone.”

So I left it alone.  But in the house.  I didn’t want it taking over my backyard. Rachel would try and water it, and it lived for about a month and a half.  One day, it looked sicker than my plastic houseplant, and so my husband did the honors.  Into the trash it went.

I was grilling outside tonight and found that I do have a very good collection of stuff I can’t identify in my backyard.  There is a spot where there is a strange mushroom type looking thing underneath the grass in spots.   A tree used to be there, but we took it out because it blocked our view of the swings and play area. The grass is healthy, not brown, but the strange stuff that grows beneath it looks like an alien plant.  It looks like a cross between a brain and something you’d have a janitor come clean up. Eew!  It won’t go away. I pull it up, by what little root there is, and it comes back.  I can’t figure out what it is and it drives me crazy!  I took it to a home improvement place that sells plants.  Their master gardener was stumped. He told me to burn the area and hope it does not return.  I am NOT setting my yard on fire in the middle of August—what was he thinking!?

As I found that alien stuff today while grilling, it occured to me that sometimes sin is like that.  You think everything is fine and it looks that way on the surface.  But underneath, something ugly and a bit sinister is growing; festering.  You pull it out, it comes back.

I am so thankful that when God looks my way he sees the surface and the ugly underneath and He loves me anyway!  Through Christ, I am that lawn that has no weeds, brown spots, or alien mushroom life-forms! 

His love makes me realize that I don’t have to be cleaned up or without blemish to come to Him.  I just have to come—just as I am.  I don’t have to get my act together before I can seek Him.  I just have to seek Him.

So, I’m not Mrs. Greenthumbs.  That’s okay.  I can enjoy the gardens around me.  And trust that the True Gardener loves me anyway.

How about you?   Do you find yourself trying to clean yourself up before you seek Him? Hit the comments button and share your story with me.

Can your life change because of a song?

I believe a person’s life can be changed forever because of a song.  This happened to me. When I was 13, I had an experience at summer camp.  I heard a song called ”Sing Your Praise To The Lord” by this woman I had never heard of before.  Amy Grant was her name.  This was 1982.  I grew up going to church and I believed in God but I never knew about a relationship with Him.  I found this song really “cool” because it was the first contemporary Christian song I had ever heard. It was not the typical church hymn. 

That song was written by Rich Mullins.  He was a great songwriter.  And, in my mind, that one song he wrote changed my life.  It introduced me not only to “Christian Music”, but to his music.  

One night I was listening to a Christian radio station in San Antonio and I heard a DJ come on and talk about God and the real relationship you could have with Him.  I was a teenager, hurting from regular teenage things, and I needed this love that would accept me.  That night, I made the decision to follow Jesus Christ and ask Him to be Lord of my life.  Tonight, as I am DJ-ing here at KSBJ the song “Hold Me, Jesus,” by Rich Mullins plays, it hits me:  I have a wonderful opportunity to impact someone’s life the way that DJ and that song impacted me.

Rich Mullins was a man of introspection.  By that I mean he could put words together and hit you where you live.  Just look at these words from his song, “Hold Me, Jesus.”

  Well sometimes my life just don’t make sense at all
When the mountains look so big
And my faith just seems so small

So hold me Jesus ’cause I’m shaking like a leaf
You have been King of my glory
Won’t You be my Prince of Peace

And I wake up in the night and feel the dark
It’s so hot inside my soul
I swear there must be blisters on my heart

So hold me Jesus ’cause I’m shaking like a leaf
You have been King of my glory
Won’t You be my Prince of Peace

Surrender don’t come natural to me
I’d rather fight You for something I don’t really want
Than to take what You give that I need
And I’ve beat my head against so many walls
Now I’m falling down, I’m falling on my knees

And this Salvation Army band is playing this hymn
And Your grace rings out so deep
It makes my resistance seem so thin

I’m singing hold me Jesus ’cause I’m shaking like a leaf
You have been King of my glory
Won’t You be my Prince of Peace

You have been King of my glory
Won’t You be my Prince of Peace

I fight constantly.  I don’t mean that I am always arguing with my hubby or friends; I mean I fight God.  It’s a struggle because I know I am called to be salt and light and there are days when, quite frankly, I don’t want to do it.  “I’d rather fight you for something I don’t really want than to take what you give that I need.”  I need His grace.  Yet I beat myself up about mistakes that I make.  I need peace. Yet I stay up an extra hour to watch a crazy television show that I know won’t add any value to my life.  (I mean, really, What part of reality television is our reality?)

So this is my little tribute to Rich Mullins.   He died in a car accident in 1997.  You know, the world only had him for a short time.  Heaven’s got him forever; I look forward to hearing the music he’s making there!  

What song has changed your life?  Hit the comments button, and tell me!

 

Just Add Vinegar?

I read a devotion to my kids this morning about obedience.  In it there is a story of a little girl who follows a recipe for cake.  This cake has a little vinegar in it.  The girl doesn’t understand why a recipe would call for that, but she obeys and puts it in.  Later, her daddy says, “What makes this cake taste so good?”  And she replies, “Vinegar!”  The lesson goes on to say that many times God puts something in our lives and asks us to obey, but we often don’t understand why.  Why did a guy I dated in college die from hemophilia at the age of 20?  Why did I go through such a difficult bout of depression when I was engaged to be married?

This lesson about vinegar challenges me.  There are times in my life that things go sour and I think, “Ugh! Why can’t this just stop?” 

Today is one of those days.  I want to go to the KSBJ 25th Anniversary concert, but I can’t go if it is raining because I have to go with my kids by myself.  My husband works late tonight and can’t attend.  Going anywhere in the rain by myself with the kids is not a great idea!

I wanted to spend a fun day at home with the kids.  We were going to put on a puppet show.  Instead, I got two very fussy, bickering children who can’t seem to go 10 minutes without screaming or saying, “Meanie! You are a meanie!”  Several time outs later, and I feel like I could be a meanie!  Sigh, I am a good parent only through God’s grace.  Yet somedays they really test me!

Then I realize there is a reason for the vinegars of life.  It is to compliment the rest of life.  Honestly, what is a salad without a good salad dressing?  Or a brisket without a good barbecue sauce?  And how can anyone treat a sour load of laundry?  Vinegar!  1/2 cup of vinegar, wash again, and life is as good as new!

Now, excuse me while I deal with my 4 year old son.  He’s screaming, “Meanie!” at his sister again!

Chocolate Vinegar Cake

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

2 cups cake or all-purpose flour

Sift above together into a mixing bowl.  Melt 2 squares bitter chocolate.  To the dry ingredients add:

1/2 c shortening

1 1/4 cup cold coffee in which 1 tsp. baking soda has been dissolved plus 1 tsp vanilla

Mix slowly until the flour is all wet, add melted chocolate and 2 whole eggs, beat 4 minutes. 

Have pan buttered and oven heated and then add 1 tablespoon vinegar.  Stir just long enough to mix it into the batter and IMMEDIATELY pour into pans (loaf cake–9×12 inch or so) and put right into the oven as the leaven begins to work (as soon as the soda and vinegar get together).  Bake 35 minutes at 350 degrees, until the cake springs when lightly touched with a finger.