Good is as it Gets

Christians: Happy Go Lucky, Brainwashed
I often wonder if some people think of Christians as some sort of Happy Club that is nothing more than brainwashing which makes you forget you have problems once you believe in Jesus. The image that comes to mind is that of a Stepford wife, happily slaving away working at the church bake sale and spouting out scripture verses that try to explain away every difficult situation without ever admitting that life itself, is sometimes not always great. But this depiction could not be further from the truth.

The Seriousness of Our Plight
The truth is Christians also face difficult lives. We’re unhappy about the same things that non-Christians are too. I hate paying taxes, and I grumble about people who take a parking spot in front of me. I sometimes get depressed over personal issues and I occasionally get irritated with my boss (okay, a lot). And I too am angered and hurt when I lose someone to death, especially someone who didn’t deserve to die.

But death is exactly what we all deserve. The Bible says that the wages of sin are death (Rom 6:23). Repayment for the sin that entered the world when Adam and Eve ate from the tree that God said not to, is death.

Why Do We Deserve Death?
It’s hard to understand why God would say that we deserve death. After all, we didn’t sin in the Garden of Eden that was Adam and Eve, not us. But it’s because of Adam’s sin, that we are now born into sin’s curse. Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned, Romans 5:12. It’s because of this curse that life is difficult to live through in this world. Genesis recounts that God said to Adam, …cursed is the ground because of you, through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. (Gen. 3:17) There it is in black and white, and we can’t expect life to be any different. Life is tough!

People Do Good, Even the Non-Christian Ones.
Despite the fact that life is difficult, it’s still encouraging to see people want to do good. Something in us is moved when we see people reach out and do good for each other. When I see celebrities or well known people giving their time to work with impoverished nations to bring clean drinking water, or teach a village education they’ve never had-that’s good! But good works are nothing more than just good works. Do they give advice, provide protection? Does doing good bring financial security? Can good works help us escape death and enter eternal life in heaven? Not hardly. How often do we hear of good people in trouble? Even celebrities experience marital problems, depression, drug use, or financial ruin. These things can happen to anyone, no matter how much good they’ve done.

Why Not Just Do As Santa Claus Says?
So why not just be good for goodness sake? Because actually, we ourselves are not good, so how can we do good? And what we think of as good is not that great. Our standards are incredibly low, compared to God’s. Next, it’s hard to be good! It takes effort to serve others without tiring, so if we are to be good, we’re going to need something besides sheer will-power and lots of money. And more often than not, without the power of Christ, our good becomes self-serving and counter-productive to actually doing good for others.

In the book of Matthew, we see a story about a rich man who asks Jesus about being good. In the middle of his teaching ministry, a rich man approaches Jesus and eagerly says, Teacher, what good things should I do to get eternal life? (Mt 19:16)

This sounds like a logical question even to us today; God, what should I do to be good? I want to be good. Good is popular. Good is getting a lot of credit lately. Oprah does good. And people like it when you’re good. It warms hearts and brings people together. And for the most part, isn’t that what religion is about, how to be good? Isn’t good--well, good?

The problem with the idea that being good --is good enough is this:

We’re not good.

Not even close.

We’re Not Good?
We’re not good because we’re terribly flawed and let’s face it, you cannot make good stuff from flawed stuff. As mentioned above, we are all born into sin because of Adam’s downfall. Because I am born into sin, my natural state is to do wrong. A great description of this comes from an author I read that said:

We are sinners because of our nature; it’s not just that we commit sins. I have a pet, and he barks because he is a dog. It’s in his nature to do so. (Speaking In Doctrines, Posted by C-LOS - October 29th, 2010)

I love where the author says; it’s not just that we commit sins that makes us a sinner. This is a key distinction here, because so many people are fooled into thinking that doing good=being a good person. We must accept that we are flawed and imperfect people. I’ve never met a person who can claim perfection in anything, and we seem to be content with that as a society. As Christians, we should be quick to agree and point out that even knowing Jesus Christ doesn’t change this. We will always be flawed and desire to do sinful things in this world, it’s in our nature to do so.

God’s Standard is Too High to Achieve.
The second problem with the idea that being a good person, is good enough, is that God’s standard of good, is impossibly high. God is perfect and without sin. We are not perfect and sinful. God’s standard is perfection. We are imperfect and incapable of reaching that standard. Isaiah knew this when he lamented in his book, We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags.
So because good is such a lofty goal in the eyes of God, we could never hope to even reach the first few steps towards it.

Psalm 53:2,3 says, God looks down from heaven to see if there are any who understand...EVERYONE has turned away..there is no one who does good, not EVEN ONE.

Romans 3:12, all have turned away ...there is no one who does good, not EVEN ONE.

This is reflected in the response that Jesus gives to the rich man from the Matthew passage when he says, Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only One who is good.

Jesus then goes on to get at the heart of the rich man’s issue. He lists the requirements of living a good life in the eyes of the Lord, living by the commandments. To which the rich man responds, I’ve done these since I was a kid, what else should I do? At this, Jesus cuts straight to the heart of his failures and announces that if he wants to be perfect, he should sell all his valued possessions and follow him. To which the man walks away sad, and incapable of doing. So often we think that we are willing to do good, but our flesh is incapable of really living up to God’s complete standards.

God is perfect.
We are not.

But, I See Good People.
How can the Bible say that no one is good, if I see people who are non-believers doing good all the time?
Apart from God, we might feel inclined to do good works. But again these works do not offer us eternal life, and apart from God, we will be incapable of sustaining goodness. The article from Speaking In Doctrine also gives a good explanation on why;

[because we are all sinners, we don’t naturally seek]… after God but [we] may do a great job seeking after the benefits of God. For example, someone may want peace in their life and attend church activities but do not want to repent from their sin. Their seeking is lead by a self-fulfilling desire rather than a desire to honor God. True God-seeking will only come when our heart is changed by the Holy Spirit and are given new desires. (Excerpt from, Speaking In Doctrines, Posted by C-LOS - October 29th, 2010)

What is Really Good Then?
If the goal of being good is to enter the kingdom of heaven, then we cannot expect a perfect God to allow us back into eternal life without repayment of the original sin. Doing so, would prove God unjust and unholy. Our God is just and He is holy, and therefore requires payment for sin. This payment has been made for us, through the death of Jesus Christ, a perfect life sacrificed. Through one man, God banished us from eternal life through the disobedience of Adam. And through one man, God in the flesh as Jesus Christ, he also redeemed us re-entrance. John MacArthur, a well known writer and minister once said that there are two religions in the world: human attainment and divine accomplishment.
All other religions in the world trust in some degree in human merit for salvation. Only Christianity understands that man is imperfect and only capable of reaching God through the gate of the only man to reach God’s standards.
The difference between doing good as a non-Christian and doing good as a Christian is that the Christian good works are the inspired deeds of a life striving to please God first and not man. The fruits of love and service come as a by-product from accepting and seeking after a life lived pursuing Jesus as the gate into heaven. Doing good works never gains our entry into heaven, because we are not good, our standards are too low, and we are incapable of sustaining good intentions. Instead, eternal life in heaven is given by the grace of God; a free gift from the God that understands us, because He created us. The grace to enter the kingdom of heaven because of who God is:

Good.

Encouraging Words

Dear Child,

I know your worries, I know your frustrations and I know that you are putting your best effort into doing what I’ve told you in my word. Never tire of pursuing me, though your body and mind continuously grow fatigued. Stick it out- month after month, day after day and minute by minute. I see your efforts and I know what your sacrifice means. Hold on to my words and never worry that it’s all for nothing-- it's not. No small act for my sake is insignificant to me, despite the fact that people around you don’t notice. I notice. I see your restraint, I see your service and I hear you when you cry out in sorrow, “How much more can I take?”

Remember that you are not fighting against only mere men, but your battle lies in the supernatural realm as well, so it should come as no surprise you that with every step closer to me, you find it harder to continue among this world. Continue to arm yourself with my truths, for truly they are the only weapon that prevails, but you must know them to use them.

My way is freedom. My way is life. And My way is the good way. Even though you may stumble along the way, I will never leave you. Know that in the most difficult moments of your life, I weep with you for the tiresome journey and my greatest encouragement will come as you ascend the hill on the other side. I promise it is not for nothing. The greatest glory is soon to come. While your actions can never garner your entrance into heaven, your willingness to walk the road with me by your side makes it possible for you to have power to persevere and eventually overcome. You only need call my name.

I love you my child more than you can possibly know and in those moments that you consider the easier path, or the one more difficult…I see you. My Holy Spirit is your advocate constantly refilling you with abundant energies, multiplying your efforts, rely on Him.

Hold on.
March On.
Live On.
For one day this world will be but a shadow of what is to come.

Teach your children, even though your tired.
Say no to gossip, even though it’s tempting.
Serve each other in love, with no desire to prosper yourself.
Sacrifice yourselves for my sake so that one day you will be counted among those who climbed, clawed, and cried their way through this life for the sake of Christ.
Well Done, my good and faithful child. Be Brave.

I Know, I Know

… I'm certainly not claiming to know everything, but what I do will save your life.– MercyMe, I Know

What a great line for every evangelitical Christian to remember as they head out the door every morning.

First, that we don’t know everything. Some of us are better educated than others, some of us have vast collegiate or theological knowledge and some of us are just average everyday people—trying to raise a family, and live the way Jesus has asked us to. But God likes to use those of us who are limited in some way. His glory is even greater when he makes something out of what seems to be nothing. So never discount yourself as insignificant- in the eyes of God, you are perfect to be used by Him.

And second, that what we know can save lives! More than CPR, more than a skilled surgeon, more than stop, drop and roll.

For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. Matt 16:25

There is nothing more powerful to save lives, than the power of knowing Christ. And within each Christian is this information to save others.

If you were walking through the forrest and saw a man laying on the ground dying of a poisonous snake bite, and you carried the anti-venom in your pocket--wouldnt you rush over to save his life with it? I bet most of us would.

But the world will try to fault you for sharing this life-saving information.

The world will portray you as biggoted, callus, arrogant, and judgemental for speaking the truth about Christ.
The world will scoff that Jesus is not the only way to heaven.
The world thinks we are narrow minded to assume that only people who believe in Christ are allowed to heaven.

But what we know is the truth.
That everyone is allowed into heaven, when they enter through Christ, who said;

I am the gate. John 10:79

So while this working mom who never went to college certainly cannot claim to know very much about life outside of teenagers and hourly wage jobs, I do know this:

Jesus is the bread of life. John 6:48
Jesus is the light of the world. John 8:12
Jesus is the true vine. John 15:1
And Jesus is the way, and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through him. John 14:6

Remember that what you know, could save someone’s life today.
Truth.

A Joshua Kind of Dad

My husband is a Joshua leader. Which is funny, because he also shares his name with Joshua from the Bible.

When I met Josh, he was not very versed in the Bible, and to be honest I was not either. But, I at least knew some basic Bible stories that my Josh did not. So when my husband dedicated his life to Jesus and began to serve more, he curiously asked me one night who the Joshua of the Bible was because he wanted to know the origins of his name. I still have the email I sent to him one day referencing this site. I told him that his name means "God Saves" and is related to the name Jesus (Yeshua-Joshua). But beyond that information, I still didnt really know what or who his name was a tribute to.

Funny, I have several things in my home that have this verse on them:

But as for me and my House, we will serve the Lord. Joshua 24:15

This year, as I've mentioned before, I studied the life of Moses in BSF. And here's what I know now of Joshua. Joshua was a young man who had enormous faith at an early age. He demonstrated courage against the crowd during a moment of truth before the first attempt at entering the promiseland. And though in his life he made mistakes, God continued to work in him. Because of his great faith and trust, God appointed Joshua as leader to the Israelites after Moses died. Great faith in God first, earns great responsibility and the priveledge to do great works.

This past weekend was Father's Day and I recieved a devotional that talks about having a Joshua 24:15 dad. And as I read it, I realized what a coincidence and blessing that I am married to a "Joshua man".

I'm so blessed that my Josh lives out similar principals to the Joshua of the Bible. He gives up many things in his life to trust in the Lord. He is patient with me and the girls when we're not easy to lead. He makes mistakes, certainly. But his priorities are fixed on God first, and himself later.
He is a model of the Joshua 24:15 verse, placing service and attendance in our church above other things in our house. He has turned down careers that take away from his time in serving the church, and our daughters have heard, "You are expected to attend church on Sunday, no excuses" more than once. His leadership is both godly and compassionate and he's not afraid to go against the crowd when it comes to popularity.

I sent Josh a note thanking him for being this kind of leader in our home.Have you thanked the Fathers in your life for being great leaders this week?

My own dad has a stone plaque in his office that has remained with him as long as I can remember. It says "Any man can be a dad, but it takes a great man to be a Father" Semantics aside, the quote speaks to the fact that it takes more than just a physically able body- to be a great leader to a family. It takes a man led by God to Father a family the way our heavenly Father does.

I love you Josh Harris and I'll follow if you promise to lead.
.
.

My Life As An Offering

What does it mean to follow Christ day in, and day out? This morning I received a devotional, it was from the Message translation.

So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—Your sleeping, eating, going to work, and walking around life—and place it before God as an offering. Romans 12:1

My life as an offering? How do I realistically do that? I know I don't want to offer a “ho-hum” existence as an offering to God. I don't want to offer a day that I barely roll out of bed, grumble to my kids about work, spend the day waisting time, and end up back home parked in front of the TV while I think about how depressed I am lately. What a terrible offering!

I want to offer my best to Him! And doing that means living with the highest integrity and honor. It means I am honest and trustworthy in all that I do. I don’t cheat on my time clock at work or on my income taxes. It means that I don’t tell lies, even small ones that seem not to hurt anyone. It requires me to take care of things that are trusted to me. It means I care more about teaching my children the word of God than watching TV. It means I can say no to temptations that previously had a hold on me. It means I help others before I consider helping myself. And it means I resist grumbling and focus my attention on the will of God in every part of my day. It means that I live a life worthy to offer before our most Almighty, Holy, God.

Wow.
THAT there sounds like a very tall order.

Let me be the first to say, I do not live this life all the time. Some of those things are easier than others. My selfish nature pulls at me constantly to be self-serving and sometimes untruthful. How, in the world (pun intended) does one do all these things all the time? It sounds like you would need to be down-right perfect!

The key I’ve found, to simply have a willing heart and faith in Christ Jesus. When I am honestly willing to live my life as an offering, Jesus is willing to strengthen me to live this way.

I once spent several days agonizing over the fact that I couldn’t increase my faith in God to provide. I was wrought with worry over whether or not I understood why He provided, and IF He would or not. I felt guilty when I thought I was not following Christ to the best of my ability.
But one night while I was getting into bed, the Holy Spirit brought this thought to my mind:
You may not be capable of increasing your faith, but all you need to do is believe that He will increase your faith. Christ is within you, you only need to have enough faith to believe that HE is capable. Can you do that?

It was the most joyful thought for me. That revelation that I didn’t have to believe in myself. I only needed to believe in Christ to do the work in me. Yeah, I could do that.

Our world is conditioned to think that God helps those who help themselves. This idea is wrong and doesn't appear anywhere in the Bible.
The reality is that God helps those who cannot help themselves, and He’s done that work through Jesus Christ.

I cannot live a life worthy of offering to God. But Christ within me lives that life. My job is to trust in Him to do this good work. Philippians 1:6

Love you guys!!

ASK

I’ve been in my current new job role for about 3 months now. Last week I encountered that moment when I’d asked a lot of questions to one particular person over and over, and then...had another question to ask her. I pondered,
“Should I wait until tomorrow so I can space out my questions a little? Or should I go ahead and ask now so I can finish this project today??”

People at work will often tell you,
“...and if you have any questions- just ask!”
but really I think they mean
“You can ask me questions 2-3 times, but after the 5th question, I’m going to roll my eyes at you and think to myself ‘what a moron’”

I’ve been on both sides of the scenario so I always try to remember to reply with a cheerful attitude and a helpful answer, after all I understand what it’s like. But even I still can't help sometimes thinking “OH MY GOSH! this must be the 5th time I’ve answered this question to you! Aren't you listening?” (sorry new trainee)

Why do we do that? I guess it’s just human nature. Some times our reactionary responses are indeed that~ reactionary! Like when someone cuts you off in traffic and it makes you really mad and you yell at them! (even though you have a Grace Community Church sticker on your rear-window) or when you cry out "WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MY CLEAN KITCHEN FLOOR- ARE YOU BRAIN-DEAD?!" to your children when they've just walked in with muddy shoes. Sometimes we just can’t help responding to loved ones with a snarky attitude.

I was thinking about this later on my car-ride home, and realized how glad I am that God does not respond to us the same way! When we have questions, He REJOICES that we ask! He doesn't roll His eyes and say
"Kasey, Kasey, Kasey....how many times do I have to tell you. YES- I will provide!!"
When I say another prayer, he doesnt turn to someone next to him and say
"Oh no, it's Kasey calling in a prayer again. I'll just let her leave a message, and call her back later"

Quite the opposite in fact. When we ask of God, it’s as if he is sitting on the edge of his seat just waiting for us to say to Him
“um, God…I have another question…” and He jumps up and down shouting "YES! YES, YES...I HAVE AN ANSWER FOR YOU MY SON!!"

God is always eager to answer us.
Matthew 7:7 says, ASK, and you will receive.
James 1:5 says, If any of you lack wisdom, let him ASK of God.
James 4:2 says, ..you have not, because you ask not.

The Bible is filled with numerous scriptures that say “ask me. Just ASK!!”
God wants our dependence on Him.

He wants our dependance because; when we try to solve our own problems, or answer difficult questions, or resolve conflict on our own, we are in essence...sinning. Adam and Eve’s fall from Grace began when they assumed they could resolve a problem without God’s counsel. And what a disastrous result that was.

I feel as if I have found a loophole with this information! I pray for everything now! Some people might think I'm crazy! My day kind of goes like this:
7:45 am - God, we do not have meat for dinner tonight, would you please help remind me of this later.
8:15 am - God, me again, hey- my car is making a funny noise, can you help bring situations and wisdom to me on how to get it fixed?
8:16 am- Hi God, I know I just hit you with that car request, but I have another question—why did Moses strike the rock instead of doing what you asked? Just curious.
9:27 am - Ooops, God I have a meeting at 9:30- help me be focused enough to gather my thoughts and materials in time! PLEASE!!
12:30- God, I am so glad I get to spend my lunch hour with friends today, please bless this food.
1:20 pm- God…God, God. There’s that woman again, you know the one who makes my workday so difficult by micro-managing me. Can you please help bring peace between us….cause I can’t stand her.
5:15 pm - God, Oh…another thing…..I’m feeling really lonely lately, can you help bring some more time to spend with family and my friends.
8:45 pm - Dear God, bless my children and family.

10:30 pm - God, Oh yeah….one more thing.
Thanks.

Me and Dubbya

I stopped into the Mardel's book store a few weeks ago and low and behold, look who I ran into! I was pretty surprised to see him shopping, really. But he was a very nice man, even agreeing to take a quick picture with me. (what luck that we also found a backdrop of the White House to stand in front of!)

www.georgebushimpersonator.com
Check out his book,
My Life as Bush: And My Heart for Imitating Jesus

Inspired

I've read, heard, and listened to a number of really inspiring messages these past few weeks, and I thought I would share some snippets of them with you. Enjoy!!

A little light is stronger than the dark.
-Nicole C. Mullen, Baby Girl

"...I don't think any church has ever been relevant to culture, to the human struggle, unless it believed in Jesus and the power of His gospel. If the supposed new church believes in trendy music and cool Web pages [to relate to people more] then it is not relevant to culture either. It's just another tool of Satan to get people to be passionate about nothing."
-Donald Miller, Blue Like Jazz

"There are times when faith and common sense do not align. [But] I'll be a fool for you, a simple-ton who's seemingly naive, I do believe you came and made yourself a fool for me."- Nicole Nordemon, Fool For You

"...launching a business in this climate is challenging but with the help of friends and our saviour we know it is a matter of time." - Bryce Finnerty, with regard to his awesome new business www.sticviews.com

"My own encouragement is also up to me." - Sheryl Pepple, on Accountability

"Stop worrying about what you don't have, and make use of what I've already given you." - God, to me through His Word

"Sorry you had such a rough morning...If there is anything that I can do please let me know." - My husband

"...I would never have bought anything just because it was practical, wouldn't show soil, or was guaranteed to last a lifetime." Erma Bombeck, on If I Had My Life to Live Over

"I preach for a living and if you don't have a critic, you're probably not saying anything." - Mark Driscoll, Mars Hill Pastor

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder....not Truth.

Josh and I are taking part in a class called The Truth Project. It's a really cool intellectual look at discerning truth, summed up by the phrase "Do you really believe that what you believe, is really real?

Below is a reply I wrote to a discussion about the question; Why is truth absolute, and not relative?

Josh and I discussed this at home. I picked up a cup that was pink and said, "This cup is pink, that's true."
However, Josh is colorblind and to him the cup looks brown. But-just because he sees the cup as brown, does not mean it IS brown. The truth about the color of a cup is NOT relative just because we both see it different ways.
The truth is that the cup IS pink. Why is the truth NOT relative?

Because the truth of what colors are- was established by an authority on color (whoever that was.) Just because Josh's truth is that he sees the cup as brown, does not make it brown. It is pink because the authority tells us it is.

That's what we have in life too. Just because we see something one way (even if it really DOES look that way to us) does not always make it so. I think this is also illustrated in Proverbs 3 when it talks about leaning not on our own understanding. Some truths in this life, are going to SEEM hazy to us- while others may be more obvious. Yet in all things, we should trust in our authority-God and His Word, we are His creation, after all. To trust in a weaker authority who did not create us, would seem crazy.

What makes it identifiable as truth, is what The authority says about it. The key is to know who The authority is.
When we believe in God as the creator, we are believing in Him as our authority and ALL that He establishes with it.

But that begs the question that, could there be multiple authorities?

Josh is able to tell me that cup is pink, because he's learned how to distinguish colors based on what they should be. His truth is adjusted so that he knows what it SHOULD be, even if it doesn't feel right to him. He has agreed with the authority on colors and because of this, he lives an easier life. When he sees a red light, he doesn't pursue through the intersection because it doesnt look like red to him, (forget the positioning of lights for a minute). He submits his will to the "Color Authority" b/c his life hangs in the balance of knowing that the color red, as the authority sees it-means stop. It is truly red even though he doesnt see it as red.

Congruently- when we recognize the ONE TRUE authority on life, and act in ways that submit to that authority, our lives are also lived in better harmony. The authority on truth in living has set the rules in place before we were here.

**on a side note, to see how a colorblind person views the world- check out this link
http://colorvisiontesting.com/what%20colorblind%20people%20see.htm

I am second.

This is a great website of testimonies.
I am second.

Patience

Why is it so hard to be patient? Patient with our children, patient with each other, patient- especially with God.

Being impatient with God, is like saying to Him "I don't trust your timing".
I understand that God gives me exactly what I need, when HE knows that I need it. But sometimes it is such a challenge to stop trying to figure out when that is, or why, or how.

I resolve to believe that all I know, I know, because God has intended me to know.
I will not ever know more than the minute-est fraction of what God knows.
(thank goodness!) and the truth is, God doesn't need me to know when or where His intentions will be fulfilled. For me, He is sufficient. For Josh, He is sufficient. For my family, and friends and neighbors- God is sufficient.

God told the Israelites, as they wandered through the desert "The Lord your God has blessed you in all that you've done...you have not lacked a thing" (Deut 2:7) However, there were times that they did go without food, hungry. So what does God mean that we will lack nothing....if they did in fact go without food?

I think the answer is that we need to change our focus on what specifically we need-God in His whole completeness provides ALL things to us, not only our needs physically, food, shelter, clothing- resources, but also disciplinary actions as well as love. When we can resolve that we are not going without, b/c we believe what God has told us, then and only then can we see the lies that Satan whispers to us "you need this to be complete, you have to have that to get by" as what they actually are about - Worthless tin, shabby and meaningless stuff- not needs.

God is still sufficient today.
He meets all my needs all the time.
In His time, which is perfect.
Thanks God.

You're Invited!!

I spoke with a good friend by email today. And in response to some of her comments, I was moved to suggest this metaphor for why it's important that we actively seek God's counsel (be it from the Bible, fellowship, Church or any of the ways God has set forth for us to commune with Him.) I thought it was really neat to hear from God this way, so I thought I would share it with you too.
________________________________________________________

Let’s say someone sends you an invitation to a party that you’ve been dying to go to. It's a legendary party thrown every year, everyone always talks about and now you've been invited to go! You are so excited. All the expenses are paid and it's going to the most carefree and wonderful time of your life. There's no limit to how enjoyable this party will be!

You pull the invite from the mail box, (it's a gorgeous envelope even!) you bring it inside... but for some reason you decide that you don't need to open the invite to read it.

Why?

"Ehhh....there's no need to read it." You tell yourself.
"I know the person who sent it to me, and I'm certain I can figure out how to get there!"
There are directions right inside the envelope, but because you know the person who sent it, you decide that you already know the details and how to get to the party.

"There's no need to read the invite, because I've heard other people who are going, and they'll give me a ride there!" (Even though you feel some apprehension about riding with some of these people who tend to get lost on their way to grocery store..that doesn't bother you.)

"I know the invite is probably pretty and all but it's really not neccessary for me to read it because I've already "Googled" the map on how to get there, and we all know that Google is never wrong." You reassure yourself.

So because you're relying on information about the party from other sources such as yourself, your friends, and Google- you decide that seeing the actual invitation isn't too important. Confident with your decision you leave the unopened invitation on the table by the door, and you go on with life until the day of the party.

What IF

What IF this year the host has decided not to throw the party at their house as they have done in past.
What IF instead they’ve rented the most amazing room at the most elegant hotel in Hawaii to throw the party this year.
And what IF this year the host has decided that because you give so much of your time and effort to help others in need, YOU are going to be the most celebrated guest.

You're a good person because you give up your money to help others in need, you donate money to many charitable institutions. You also spend a lot of your time working to help others who are less off than you. This year the committee wants to show their appreciation for all this hard work by celebrating you at the most exciting party of your life!! The host even knows you so well, that he remembered how much you hate surprises, so he wrote it all down in the invitation, just so you would be sure to attend.

However, you didn’t open the invite.
The details of all the grandeure were not revealed to you, because WHY?
You already knew how to get there, and you left the beautiful envelope sitting on the table.

Sadly, the day of the party arrives. Banners are hung with your name on them, guests are awaiting the excitement to begin, and yet...you never arrive.

You miss the party and all the appreciation that was planned for you, because you thought you knew all the details already.

What a bummer.

See....what IF, you don't know everything about how life will end? What if you go through life assuming that you know about heaven, and God, and how you should act to be recognized in the afterlife? What if God sent you His instructions for how to get to heaven, but you never read it? Wouldn't that be a bummer too?



What if you had a really good friend, who knew this was all planned for you, and she didn’t tell you to open the invite? That's what makes me want to speak to you about this.

I encourage all my friends to seek Christ in all times, to take a second look at what they're believing to be true, because... What if they’re wrong? It’s a huge gamble.
I don’t have any clue how long eternity is….but it feels like it's taken me a long time just to get to 33 years of age…so I imagine eternity is way more of a problem if I’m going to have to live with the consequences of my choices for that long.

Do Fun.

I like, no…I love to laugh. Big belly laughs that eventually bring tears to my eyes. It’s kind of an addiction in fact. If I find a comedian that really makes me laugh, I’ll stop at nothing to see everything he/she has ever said. In college I use to rent videos of a certain comedian that was always so funny. One of his random jokes was “You ever notice that mice have no shoulders? You put a necklace on a mouse, it slides right down to his waist and he thinks it’s a belt. What does he care, he’s a mouse!”

But I’m older now and so is this comedian who is way too political to be funny not to mention that I’m more sensitive to the numerous F-bombs he uses too. But still, I am always on the hunt for people who can make me laugh out loud like he once did.

My daughter shares the same sense of humor and appreciation of a good laugh too. It’s comforting to have someone else that laughs hard enough to make you choke, when you are around people who are just snicker-ers. Recently we discovered a Christian comedian, Tim Hawkins and was offered the chance to see him live. What a treat. He is so funny, and clean! His humor ranges from over the top loud and crazy to genius song writer (b/c he makes up- new words to well known songs. My favorite is Hey There Delilah – a song about Samson’s wife. Check it out on GodTube.com) We purchased a video by him and our family has seen it so often that we use his punch lines as our own.

Jada and I are so desperate for a laugh, that one day we invented our own brand of fun. A nice little game we like to call Kid Tap© (yes, that’s a copyright logo…b/c I think after writing about this game, that it might take off, like Duck-Duck-Goose, or the Telephone game. No one knows who invented those games.)

Kid Tap© is a game born out of a cheap day at the mall with my girls. I was looking for an indoor activity to do one Saturday, and since the girls had not seen the Galleria Mall, took them there to do some window shopping. We stopped in the weird “foreign” stores to see fountains spewing dry ice smoke, curly bamboo stuffed into odd shaped pots, and little statues of fat men. We also pointed out funny skaters on the ice rink below, and spent a few frantic minutes in the American Girl store oogling all the miniature items for dolls that will never use them. All in all, it was a fun day- for free!

On the way back to the car, we passed the kid area where several hundred sock-footed kids were clinging to huge shiny plastic replicas of jungle caves, trees and animals. I heard Jada groan, as I said yes to Jyllian’s plea to play, while she pulled off both shoes and bounded across the foamy floor into the mix of kids. Jada and I took a spot on the squishy long bench that encircles the toy area. At first we just watched the kids, and laughed at several who were climbing up a large palm tree in the center. We then began to take bets on who would reach the top. This then turned into bets of other random happenings.

“I got $50 bucks that little round head boy in red will get knocked over and cry within 2 minutes.” (hey...DON’T JUDGE ME! I didn't knock him over. But he did cry. )

And after several kids ran by knocking into our knees and stepping on our feet- Born was the great idea that became a fun game for all:

“Hey, let’s see how many kids you can tap, running by. For every kid you ‘tap’ you get a point. Ready- Go!”

And then every kid that ran by, we took delight in sticking out our foot to "tap" them as they breezed by, running full speed. The game is challenging- b/c #1 you can’t actually TRIP the kid…that’s just mean and not our goal (besides, parents don’t like to see other adults doing that to their kids.) #2. It’s weird to see another adult trying to “tap” your kid. So it has to be a sneaky game. And #3 kids are a little surprised by it too, but that's what makes it funny.

At one point the score was 4 -2, Jada winning when a small kid who had probably stepped on my foot 3-4 times already…stood right in front of me. I got so excited at scoring…that I tapped him a little too hard with my foot…and he turned around and looked at me with a face that made us bury our faces in our hands and howl with laughter- tears streaming down both our cheeks. At this a few others started to notice. But no one said anything….so we continued to add rules.

5 points if you tap an adult, 4 points if you tap a child on the head, no one can tap the same kid more than twice.

Finally, Jyllian tired of the play area- and we were ready to leave. She noticed that Jada and I seemed to be having way too much fun, and asked what in the world were we doing. I casually explained the game to her, through snorts and laughs while I put her shoes back on her feet. Then we stood up and Jada said “okay, tie breaker on the way out.”

Jyllian quickly stood up and ran around tapping all the kids heads in the area on the way to the door, which no one paid any attention to, b/c she was just another wild kid like the rest of them. Cheater.

When we were on our way to the car, Jada grabbed my arm and said "Oh my gosh mom, that was the most fun I've had in a long time! I can't wait to tell my friends, we are so funny! I'm glad we came here today!"

Some might raise an eyebrow and suggest "that I contemplate what I am teaching my own children by inventing such games that exploit the slightly non-PC treatment of other young children." And to that I would say,

"Ah Lighten up! You're no fun!"

I Am

Okay, I know it. My blogs tend to be long-winded stories and it's possible that most people just don't care to read that much about me. I've noticed that many more people are brief, concise, and to the point (is that redundant?) I'll try to adopt this practice, not all the time, but a little more often at least.

The other day I listed out all the things I am currently, just to see it all in front of me in black and white. It was a good exercise, I recommend it to everyone.

I am a:

Mom, Best Friend, Girl Scout Leader, Sister, Church Group Media Coordinator, JCPenney Administrative Assistant, Daughter, Aunt, Cousin, Amateur Photographer, Nursery Volunteer, Christian, Student, Grandchild, and a Wife.

Your list may be longer or shorter than mine, the comparison is not the point.

I think the exercise is just a good indicator to ourselves to either say

"Wow, I'm doing way too much!" or "Is my life making any difference for anyone else?"

One thing I've noticed as an indicator in the Christian life is best summed up by a quote I heard; "Are other people better or worse because their lives bumped into yours?"

Eliot Mooney

This is one of my favorite video clips that I have seen.

Baby Eliot, 99 Balloons.

Share Truth

I am hesitant to post this post, for fear of giving too much attention to the one who deserves no attention, but I think it's an important reminder that we must share the gospel with those right here around us, because the bible states "...many will be deceived" I witnessed it last night...and it was shocking.

Last night, my husband and I caught the tail end of Primetime: Outsiders on TV.
The show followed a man claiming to be the second coming of Christ, and called himself the antichrist. He had influenced his members to all sorts of vile things, and you guessed it..tattoo the number 666 on themselves. And he lives right here in Texas, Houston.
The most torterous thing to watch was the children he is misleading, by making them march in Hitler fashion while saluting, even calling them the "Super Race".

I just cannot fathom how people will willing follow someone so blatently outlined as the enemy of God by the bible. Why?

Guard your hearts, followers of Christ, and be ready to constantly share the word of God with everyone you know. We are called to this and must arm ourselves with the truth. For it is our only defense, especially for the young and the unknowing who will fall victim to these lies most easily. Let us pray, as Habakkuk did.

Come Away My Beloved - Frances J. Roberts

My dad gave me this book this week.
His words
“Besides the bible, this is the most comforting book you’ll ever read” still echo in my head when I think about it. I actually got teary as he handed it to me.
He scrawled his wisdom for me, on the first page and I took the book home in my arms.

He was right. I love and cherish this book. After the bible, it is the most encouraging, uplifting, and peace restoring words I have ever read. I highly recommend picking up a copy. I’ll also pass along to you, the instructions given to me.
Read it in small doses.

Don’t try to read more than you feel is necessary.
Meditate deeply on what is being said. The words are written in a way that make you feel as if Jesus Christ is speaking face to face with you, his loving arms around you.

Do Unto Others

Have you seen these commericals? (second edition) They're a Liberty Mutal Ads that demonstrates the Pay It Forward effect. I love them.
Yesterday, in my car, I witnessed a man in front of me at the stoplight throw a paper cup out of his window into one of those trash cans parked in the median. He missed and did kind of a double take at it. But rather than just leave it there in the road, he put his car in park, unbuckled his seatbelt and jumped out to pick it up and throw it away.

I noticed Mister, I noticed.