26 January 2015

3:00 a.m.  I'm not a good sleeper.  I feel like I'm gonna miss something.  There actually isn't anything going on at 3 a.m. in my part of the world.  But you never can tell...  Have a great week.

25 January 2015

Being a role model can and is really tough.  I'm selfish and distracted.  Face it, not everything in the world is good for you or good to do.  There are attitudes to adjust, uh, big time.  Things can get down right scary.  Being a role model is an all consuming, 24/7 job, and frankly, lots of time, I just stink at it.  Period.  I want a vacation from being an example.  I want the guilt that I feel when I stink at this job to go bye bye.  Don't you?  There is a Scripture in Romans that really sums up my problem and my attitude.  It was inspired by the Holy Spirit and written by the apostle Paul.  I'm so lazy right now that I'm going over to Bible Gateway and copy/paste it.  Here goes:

Romans 7:15-25 New International Version (NIV)
¹⁵ I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. ¹⁶ And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. ¹⁷ As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. ¹⁸ For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.^[a] For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. ¹⁹ For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. ²⁰ Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
²¹ So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. ²² For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; ²³ but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. ²⁴ What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? ²⁵ Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature^[b] a slave to the law of sin.


Isn't this right on the spot?  But did you catch it at the end of this miserable state Paul (and us) find ourselves?  The hope- Verse 24-25  "What a wretched man I am!  Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?  Thanks be to God, Who delivers me through Jesus Christ, our Lord!"  My Role Model is Jesus, and my Rescuer is Jesus.  My Deliverer is Jesus.  I stink as a role model.  But my Role Model, well, He has that covered too.  So, one of the best things I can role model for others is keeping my faith and eyes on the Role Model, Jesus Christ.  Have a great week.

21 Jan 2015

Today was housework day.  Everyone helped out.  We got a lot done.  So, we treated ourselves to pizza, ice cream, soda, and Mom's Night Out.  I love that movie.  My husband bought it for me.  We also watch a few old Star Trek's.  Yep, we like that old show.  Anyways, it is extremely late, so I should hit the rack.  Have a great week.

18 January 2015

There is a television show that I enjoy with my daughter.  Granted, right now we are watching old reruns because, well, we don't have cable at this time.  I really enjoy watching one of the main characters.  This person was on some YouTube videos, like a game show and bloopers.  It was all pretty clean fun.  So, I thought that we could watch this performer in some interviews.  Wow, did that go south in a hurry.  The questions were so degrading and inappropriate.  But this performer never told the interviewer to stop.  Not once.  The performer just played along, even though this performer is married and has children.  It was so disappointing.  How does this performer go home and explain that to friends and family?  There were so many wonderful questions that could have been fun and interesting.  But it turned to garbage.  Just once, it would be great for some famous person to look an interviewer in the eye and say, "Really dude?  There is no way that I'm going to sink to asking that disgusting question.  I have family, friends, and fans."  Courage is hard, but it is also refreshing.  Have a great week.

17 January 2015

Hi Everyone!!! Yes, I know, I did not keep up my blog again.  I could give you some lame excuse, but that wouldn't be right.  We had a great time with my son being home for Christmas break.  We started school on Thursday.  We would have started earlier, but my husband had three days off in a row, and we took advantage of that.  Last night, my daughter and I were reading a John Ortberg book called The Life I've Always Wanted.  I really like it.  We were reading about allowing the Word of God to transform our lives.  However, It can't really do that if we just rush through It like we would a to- do list.  I'm seriously guilty of this.  It is a good thing to do a reading program or even try to read through the entire Bible.  It is a great thing to memorize Scripture.  But to be really transformed by God's Word, we need to take It in slowly, really think about It, and REALLY practice It.  My husband gets to study all these theology books.  These people are suppose to know their Bible.  But the way they talk about It, you would think they never saw a Bible.  Church- going Christians, especially me, act like they never seen the Bible also.  It could be that we are racing through this Book (or not looking at It at all) instead of letting this Book race through us to change us for God's glory.  So I have started something new today.  I want to read, during my devotional time, one chapter a day out of the New Testament.  The rest of the day, I can race through the reading program and try to read through the Bible this year.  But, that time I seriously set aside for God  one chapter a day.  Pastor Ortberg said that you should start with prayer.  Great advice I'm going to follow.  So, I began today.  First chapter of the New Testament is (drum roll please) Matthew 1.  Hmm.  The first part of Matthew 1 is the family line of Jesus Christ.  I never told you all in blog land that I write a whole lot better than I can talk.  Pastor Ortberg also suggested that the Chapter be read aloud.  Do you see where I'm going with this?  So, being me, my immediate attitude was bad, very bad.  I had to repent a couple times before I even read Matthew Chapter 1.  God is good.  I asked Him to speak to me still in spite of my crummy attitude.  By the way, the second half of Matthew Chapter 1 talks about the angel telling Mary about Jesus and Joseph to get with the plan of God.  Anyways, the Lord showed me something in Matthew Chapter 1.  It is verse 5:  "Salman begat Boaz by Rhab, Boaz begat Obed by Ruth, Obed begat Jesse."  The question I asked was is this Rahab, the Jericho prostitute that helped Israel's spies, and then her family was the only ones saved when Jericho fell?  Yep, sure enough.  Not only that, God let her be the grandmother of King David, a man after God's own heart, and a distant relative of His Only Begotten Son, Jesus, and she wasn't even Jewish.  Oh, also, she is honored in the New Testament a couple times on top of that.  Rahab, the prostitute, a sinner and an outcast, God blessed.  Here is another thing, Ruth wasn't an Israelite either.  But because of the way she treated God's people, she also is in Jesus lineage.  What a trip.  Two women did the right thing for the right reasons, and God honored them for eternity.  Their beginnings were downright horrible.  But, oh, did they end well.  The point is that it doesn't matter where you come from or what you've done.  God can and does give you a new life and a place in His family.  Have a great week.