Ya'll Watch This!

I honestly expect and hope that I will never do anything to be ashamed of. Whether I live or die, I always want to be as brave as I am now and bring honor to Christ.

Philippians 1:20

If you've ever wondered whether or not God has a sense of humor, look at the actions of some of humanity.  Humans aren't exactly noted for being the brightest or the sharpest.  We may have conquered travel to the Moon, but I've seen these same brilliant people bang their face while pushing the door clearly marked "Pull."

I had a professor in college who would fill eager minds with knowledge and when each class ended he would always remind us, "You reflect what you've learned here...don't embarrass me!"  

The Apostle Paul was a very proud man.  And, by all intents and purposes, had every right to be proud.  He was a Roman Citizen. He was born into the Tribe of Benjamin which was a HUGE deal.  He was a "Hebrew among Hebrews" which meant he and his family were pretty big muckety-mucks in their society.  Paul was also circumcised on the eighth day (as prescribed by Jewish Law), notice it wasn't the 7th day or the 9th day but Paul emphasizes the 8th day!  Paul had studied the Law of Moses and because of his strict adherence to the Law, he was made a Pharisee.  All these great things, yet he wanted to make trouble for the church so off he went to destroy the church of Christ.  God had to put a stop to this less than brilliant strategy.

Now look at the Apostle Peter.  Peter was a proud man.  He had the base education required of all Jewish boys.  Peter was a fisherman by trade.  He was wise in that it takes much wisdom to know where to throw your nets in order to catch the fish you need to survive.  But Peter was also among the "Ya'll Watch This" group.  Peter fell all over himself trying to impress Jesus or trying to avoid punishment.  Read about the exploits of Peter and if you don't chuckle a few times, you're not reading it right.

We don't like being an embarrassment to those we care about.  We don't want to bring shame on our family or group of friends.  But do we bring shame to the family of Christ by our words or actions or thoughts or intentions?  Worth a think?

 

And We Wonder Why We're Lost?

The Lord is good and does what is right;
    He shows the proper path to those who go astray.
He leads the humble in doing right,
    teaching them His way.

Psalm 25:8-9

When did we reach the point in life where we know everything?  When did we become so unteachable?  

Here's an observation, we are willing to learn as long as it follows the way we already think.  If learning something "new" is from another perspective, we tend to be wary of learning.

Notice that the Psalmist reminds us that "The Lord is good and does what is right."  God has never done wrong!  He has kept His promises to do what is good FOR us.  The fact that we don't like His methods doesn't bother God in the least, because, like a loving Father, God knows that what is best for us isn't always what we consider pleasant.

Next, the Psalmist tells us that "He shows the proper path to those who go astray." Hmmmm....let us ponder this for a moment.  Have you ever been shown the proper path to take, perhaps by GPS, and you decide you know a "shortcut" which took you way out of the way or even got you lost?  if you don't want to admit it, that's okay, just claim you know someone who has done just that.  You see, God shows us the proper path to get back to the path He has designed just for us.  But just because He's shown us the path to take, doesn't mean we are willing to take it.  

There have been times when I have messed up so badly that I could not figure out how to get back to where I needed to be.  God's way was to be completely honest, take the reprimand, and lesson learned.  Sometimes I followed that.......and then there were the other times.  Did my decision to follow my own way shut God up?  No a chance. Just sayin'.

Finally, the Psalmist tells us that "He leads the humble in doing right, teaching them His way."  The word "humble" here does not mean a person who is willing to get trampled by others.  The word, quite literally, can be translated "teachable."  Why?  Because only the teachable can be taught.  In order to be teachable, we must be humble enough to realize we don't have all the answers and understand that we aren't that smart or God wouldn't need to teach us His ways.

"Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor." - James 4:10

We must learn to be teachable!

Get Out Of The Way!

'For I know what I have planned for you,’ says the Lord. ‘I have plans to prosper you, not to harm you. I have plans to give you a future filled with hope.'

Jeremiah 29:11 

I hate rush hour traffic.  Don't judge! I am openly declaring a weakness of mine.  I ALWAYS manage to get stuck behind that one person who is bound and determined to keep 20 car lengths between them and the next car, and absolutely refuse to move over.  I daydream sometimes about being able to move them along or move them over whether they like it or not.  I just don't get it.  They don't seem to understand or care that there are places I need to be and behind them is NOT on my list of destinations. No matter how much I may rant, no matter how much I cuss (in my mind mostly), no matter what I do.....they ain't movin'.

To say I was frustrated and angry would have been a complete understatement.  I was stuck in a "ministry" job, hating every breath of life, having to smile and be nice to the "church folk" who seemed to take great pleasure in stabbing me in the back at every turn.  I felt as though I had more holes in my back than a spaghetti strainer.  I prayed and prayed and prayed that God would remember His promise that He has plans for me that will prosper me, not harm me, yet I felt like harm was being heaped on my with a backhoe.

Then...a very wise, Yoda-esque friend, who had patiently listened to be rant and spew, told me that when I was through trying to do God's job he would like to give me something to think about.  At first, I was offended that this person thought I was trying to do God's job.  Finally, I agreed to hear him out.  He said, "See those plants over there?  Go make them bloom."  I admit I thought he had been drinking, and told him that was not possible.  He said, "YOU can't do God's job because it's God's job and not yours.  God DOES have plans for you that will prosper you and not harm you.  Getting you there is HIS job, not yours!  YOUR job is to keep breathing, keep going, and keep alert for the door to open."

I went home even more frustrated, adding to that was the fact that I got stuck behind another "go nowhere" drivers.  Come to think of it, I could not even see the head of anyone driving...just some hands on the steering wheel.  But as I tossed and turned later on trying to make sense of it all, it dawned on me.  I really had been trying to push God out of the way and show Him how my life was supposed to go (according to MY plan).  

I got up, fixed some coffee, and started talking to God at 1:39am.  That conversation is still going on, but my perspective has changed from wanting to be completely in charge, to only having sporadic moments where I think I know better.  And have no fear, God is very quick to remind me that I need to remember who really is in control.  Good news is I'm still learning.  Best news is God really does have plans to prosper us and not harm us, because I have the best job because I got out of God's way.

How about you?

Buck Up Buttercup!

My child, do not despise discipline from the Lord,
and do not loathe his rebuke.
For the Lord disciplines those he loves,
just as a father disciplines the son in whom he delights.

~Proverbs 3:11-12

 

We see it every single day.  In fact, we may even be experiencing it first hand.  

 

• A child doesn't get what they want when they want it, so a meltdown ensues.  Parent(s) are embarrassed so much they give the child what they want.  Child learns THEY are in control of the household and the "parents" are merely there to provide every desire.

•  Child makes bad decisions throughout their years of growing.  Instead of holding the child accountable, parent(s) just make excuses and let their child "grow up" believing the world owes them and refuses to ever leave home because parent(s) still provide without any expectation and without any accountability and parent(s) continue to make excuses for their child.  Child learns if parents will buy their excuses there will be no accountability and someone else will always provide for them without the child ever having to provide for themselves. 

 Let's face facts, God can be a God of Tough Love!  And it's going to be uncomfortable when it happens, but God has a plan for each of us and will do WHATEVER it takes to accomplish that plan through you.

• God told Jonah to go preach repentance to the city of Nineveh.  Jonah decided that HIS vacation plans to Tarshish were more important and refused God's instruction.  Do you think God wrung His hands with worry and wept and made excuses and begged Jonah to "behave"?  NOPE!  God sent a storm to destroy Jonah's Cruise Boat!  Jonah guiltily admitted that he had refused God's instruction and was thrown overboard.  As if being thrown overboard into the sea was not bad enough, God sent a big fish to swallow Jonah and hold him inside for THREE days.  And if THAT weren't bad enough, after three days of smelling nothing but fish insides, the fish vomits Jonah out onto the beach.  Now, covered with fish yak and now sand, God tells Jonah to do what he was told in the first place.  God's Tough Love is tough but God's focus is NOT our comfort, but getting His message out.
• God got Pharoah to set the Israelites free from slavery, and the Israelites followed Moses through the desert.  Yet for some reason, after they had seen and experienced ALL that God had done from them (from bringing water to them in the desert, to providing food for them each day, to saving them from the bites of serpents), the Israelites decided they weren't happy with God's plans and made their own "god" to help them and guide them.  So God let the Israelites wander in the desert for 40 years (until that generation had died) before letting them into the Promised Land.

My point is this, God loves us beyond any measure we could ever conceive, yet He will use Tough Love on us.  Maybe it's time we learn from Him and love through guiding, discipline, accountability, and Tough Love, instead of listening to excuses, lies, whines, fake tears, and being fearful of our children getting upset or angry.  God is our Father and He disciplines those HE loves.  Who are we to declare God's way is "too harsh" for our children?

 

Parrot It Back!

And so the Lord says,
    “These people say they are mine.
They honor me with their lips,
    but their hearts are far from me.
And their worship of me
    is nothing but man-made rules learned by rote.

Because of this, I will once again astound these hypocrites
    with amazing wonders.
The wisdom of the wise will pass away,
    and the intelligence of the intelligent will disappear.”

Isaiah 29:13-14 

 

I'm rather unorthodox, in case you haven't figured that out by now.  And I also am guilty of having pet peeves (shocking, I realize).  One of the practices that absolutely drives me up the wall is when I hear people mechanically parrot back verses or prayers they have learned with the monotonous deadpan delivery of a dying robot.  

 

I hear people read or recite the Lord's Prayer with all the enthusiasm of rock, and I wonder if these same people have actually read (and understand) what they are parroting back or are they just saying words they have memorized.  

 

Let me ask you something, if you spoke to your friends with the same monotonous tone that your recite scripture, would they still be your friends?  Scripture is full of LIFE and Passion!  

 

On the other side of this coin are the people who claim to be believers, but the choose to act like anything but.  Take tithing, for example, according to the Law we are to give the first part of what we receive.  Yet we have people who will calculate to the exact cent how much tithe to give (if they give at all).  Giving should be with a cheerful heart, not because we just HAVE to give.  Let's put it this way, we HAVE to pay taxes, we should WANT to give our offerings.

 

When you stand before God, will you be welcomed because you followed the rules or because you lived life as God intended...with passion!  Is church dull and boring for you, think about why?

But I'm NOT A Workaholic!

Don’t wear yourself out trying to get rich.
    Be wise enough to know when to quit.

~Proverbs 23:4

I love my job! There's just no other way I can say it. God has finally shown me a niche where I not only fit, but love fitting into it.  I get to talk with people, offer counsel or perhaps a perspective.  I get to share with them from my lifetime of doing life wrong.  I get to build friendships.  I get to help others who might be struggling.  And I get to drink a LOT of coffee!

In my previous jobs, I could not wait to get home and leave work behind for a few brief hours before having to go "back to the salt mines."  Because I saw my job as just a means to get a paycheck, advancement was neither available nor encouraged.  In short, most every job I have ever held has been a job I dreamed of doing something else. Yet my job now is not a job because it is a joy!  I cannot even dream of doing anything else!

With having a joy instead of a job does have a downside (I heard you gasp).  When you love what you do, the risk of wanting to do it ALL the time is very real!  

One of the things I get to do is teach the New Hires about Law Enforcement Stress Awareness.  And one of the items we discuss is the fact that, while many Deputies work extra duty to make ends meet or for some extra money, no one can work ALL the time without burning out.  And I am having to learn to example the whole "don't-work-all-the-time" point.  You see, even when I am officially off-the-clock, I am still working, thinking about work, learning ways to do more and do it better, reading books about work, talking about work.  In short, I get paid to work X number of hours, but I have this habit of working well beyond the X and pushing more toward the Z.  

I have heard many times before that "the bosses notice when you put in extra hours."  I am slowly realizing that if I am doing my job to the best of my ability, then I will also set aside time to rest and recharge.  Let me give you the practical example that smacked me between the eyes: Your cellphone (and most people have them) works as it is supposed to when the battery is fully charged.  What happens when the battery drains?  You either have to recharge it or it will cease to function.  And we are no different!  We NEED to take time away to rest and recharge or we will cease to function effectively.

Think about it this way: God took a day off from creating this Earth and commanded us to take a day off as well.  Who are we to tell God we're too busy to rest?

Feeling A Bit Prickly?

The path of lazy people is overgrown with briers;
    the diligent walk down a smooth road.

Proverbs 15:19 

 

Ever know anyone who was better at making excuses than they were at actually accomplishing something?  What excuses have you heard?

• "I can't do this job because they just don't like me."
• "I got fired because the boss had it in for me."
• "I can't get my reports done because I just don't have time."
• "I can't......."

 

Let me give you a little piece of wisdom I had to learn first hand....excuses are like growing a hedge of thorns around yourself. At some point, people are going to accept that the thorns are no longer worth the effort of crossing to try to help you.

 

Want an easy life? Then just lay down and stop breathing, because God NEVER promised us an easy life on Earth!  Our time on this spinning orb is going to be dangerous, difficult, and a right royal pain in the back pocket.  So we can try to hide from the world behind our excuses, apathy, and prickly personality, OR we can take down the hedge, change our perspective (and our attitude) and get on with our job of living.  It's our choice.

 

Remember, when Jesus came, He loves us so much that He took away our excuses!  He healed lepers, which took away their excuses for keeping themselves separate and expecting others to take care of them.  He forgave sinners, which took away the excuse that "I'm not good enough."  He befriended the misfits and outcasts, which took away their excuse that no one wants to be around them.  He loved the broken hearted, taking away their excuses of being afraid of being hurt.  He promised us that on this Earth we WILL have troubles, but He also promised us that He would ALWAYS be with us, help us, guide us, love us, and already has a plan in place to get us through any trouble we may face.

 

Hiding behind the hedge of thorny excuses only proves that you have not met Christ and haven't taken the time to get to know Him!