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OK, so here's the thing. I was driving home from Paris on Tuesday and for the first half of the trip I had my praise music on. Got me in the mood to pray, so I turned it off and prayed for the next half of the trip. As I took my exit on Ridge Road, I whizzed off that interstate in full solo praise mode when I looked in my rear view mirror to see the flashing lights of Rockwall's finest - a motorcycle policeman!
I quickly (57 in a 45) moved off the access road to a parking lot and whipped into a parking place. I put down my window, grabbed my insurance card and had the biggest smile on my face - yes, a smile - and yes, I wasn't upset. I handed him that card as he showed me my SIN - right there on his little handheld radar contraption - bigger than Dallas - 57 in a 45. I laughed and said, "I had just exited off the freeway and was just happily singing to the Lord." He said, "Happy, huh?" "Singing to the Lord," I said. "And I guess He is telling me to slow down." He said, "You think you can." "Yes, sir!" says I. And then he thanks me for being courteous. I started laughing and said, "Thank you for being so nice because I deserved a ticket!"
I want to tell you....my heart never even sped up. I was tickled about the whole thing. I was GUILTY as sin. I knew it. He knew it. He had the evidence. I saw it on the dashboard. I deserved the ticket. Wasn't even upset about getting one. D E S E R V E D a ticket. For some reason, he left me off.
I don't think it was because he thought I was cute. He might have been 20 and he was darling. Could have been one of my boys. Truly wanted to pinch his cute little cheeks. Thought about my precious little Josh who is a policeman. I digress.
ANYWAY.....point is. It's Easter week. GUILTY GUILTY GUILTY. All of us. As sin. And for some reason - beyond the fact that He made us and thinks we're cute - God sent His Son to give us a pardon. Getting off made me happy. Made me grateful. Made me want to give that cute little guy a hug.
Getting saved makes me joy-filled. Makes me grateful. Makes me want to praise and worship Jesus as long as I have breath!!!
We got off!!!! He took the punishment. You and me - we're free to live. I could have taken advantage of the privilege and driven like - well, hell. But that would have been a huge disservice to my sweet and generous friend (he's my friend now - Officer Johnson is his name). No, not me. I will try my best to abide by the speed limit (unless I get lost in my praising again).
Same with the life of a believer. We are free to live like - well, hell. But that would be putting to shame the grace Jesus died to give us. Nope. Not going to do it. Oh, like the speed limit thing - I will mess up again. No doubt about it. I have a heavy foot and a penchant for sinning. But I sure don't want to.
Easter. What a wonderfully joyous time! Forgiven. Pardoned. Ransomed. Redeemed. A do-over. A fresh start. A rebirth. All because we are His.
Glory to His name!
Trees are budding, doves are cooing, daylight savings time has been initiated and there is a new warmth to the air - yes - it's almost spring! It seems like overnight brown and naked gives way to green and leafy. But it isn't overnight. It is a gradual process that takes attention to appreciate. I believe that is why Jesus said - "behold." It means to take the time to look. Don't just take for granted that spring is coming. Experience it!
So many of us were anxious for winter to end. Winter symbolizes death and barrenness. But it also signifies a time of rest. Winter is necessary. It takes lots of effort to be reborn. The trees and flowers must dig deep and pull up from their root systems. They have to push up through the dirt and toward the sun.
The same is true for believers. There is a time of rest that is good and necessary but there is a time to shake off the lethargy and push toward the Son. To pay attention. Where is God at work around you? What has He gifted you to do? Where is the need? How are you fitted to accommodate it?
In the last five years we have experienced the homegoing of our son, my dad, my mom and my stepdad. Just yesterday our daughter-in-law's father unexpectedly joined them. This has been a long winter. For us. I told Billy last night if I did not know without a doubt how much better heaven was I would say we were cursed. But that is vision-less thinking. Instead I choose to focus on rebirth. Those that I love so much are experiencing what you and I should be living for.
Colossians says to set your mind on things above where Christ is. That would be heaven. We are to live for heaven. It is our goal - our reward. C. S. Lewis says that those who live for heaven are the most useful to this earth. Our goal is not cars, jewels, wealth and material possessions. Nor is it to live forever. Our goal is to hear 'well done!' To live in such a way that lives are changed because of our lives touching theirs.
"Behold" - pay attention. Spring is a gift and a symbol of living! Bear fruit for Him. It is the sign that you are living. Push toward the Son. He wants to make you and me into something new! Not just reworked or upgraded - new! So let's begin today to see the budding of growth in ourselves and those around us and to nurture it. Let's be sensitive to the warmth of the Spirit's touch to ours and fan the flames. May this spring be the beginning of a new day for us. A life lived with eternity in mind.
My parents divorced after 28 years of marriage and after two single years my mom married Shelby. He was 12 years her senior but had started a family late so marrying her made him an automatic Grandaddy! He never let her or us forget it! :)
We all called him Grandaddy. His first and last words to all us girls would be, "Sure do love you sweetheart!" Always.
He was the busiest man I've ever known. My mom was slow to make decisions, slow to change and he was exactly the opposite. You just had to speak the thought and he was out the door and at Lowe's. He was the best and fastest painter you've ever seen. He picked pecans for mother, my sister and me every single year for as long as I can remember and he always said, "Sherrie doesn't know that these come in shells." Truly I did not. :)
He was also a meticulous gardener. He could be found on the hottest Temple days trimming the edges of his grass with SCISSORS! No joke. He climbed trees well into his 80's with my mom screaming at him from the house. He got restless leg syndrome and when it bothered him he would just hop up and go sweep the driveway. Can't tell you how many mornings he woke me up at 4:30 am!
One day I was taking him to the dr at the VA Hospital and we drove around forever - and that is no exaggeration - until he told me we could use the valet parking for free! I hit him on the arm and then as we walked in I hit him again for good measure. He said, "I'm going to have to stop by the ER!" He was so funny.
He took care of my mom like nothing you've ever seen. Brought her coffee every morning and that last day he was by her side when she passed on to heaven. He said to her as they rolled her away for the last time, "I'll be right behind you darling."
So now he has gone on to his heavenly reward. Don't guess there will be any painting in heaven but I sure bet he is working the gardens! Perhaps he's just gathering bouquets for when "his girls" come. I know this - he isn't missing us! He's healthy and happy and dancing and singing and praising God and in his timing, we'll be there soon.
We sure do love you Grandaddy! And we sure will miss you......but we'll see you soon.
Dallas and most of NE Texas got record snowfalls this week and it has been pretty amazing to listen and watch the reactions of the young and old alike. It seems to me that for the most part snow has brought out the best of us. We are laughing, playing, stopping to enjoy the beauty, really 'seeing' the change snow has brought to the landscape, we have had to 'slow' down, we have been grateful and we have commented on the God who made it possible. I know it's partly because snow is a novelty here. We don't get snow every year and it never stays around long enough to really inconvenience us. But man oh man, I sure have enjoyed the last few days.
It reminds me of grace. God's grace flows down and covers us. At the beginning we realize it is a beautiful thing that has covered the ugliness of our lives. Gone are the dead twigs and grass. Gone are the pockmarks and the barren places. In their place is a covering of white. Purity. Loveliness. Light. But too often we think of grace like the melting snow. Thinking that it comes and then it goes seeming to leave a mess in its wake. Not so. The melting snow becomes water that goes deep into the earth and prepares it for the next season.
That's what grace does too. It covers us transforming us from a life of sin and death to one of radiant life. Often we want to hold onto that wonder and excitement of newfound grace and we think something is wrong when the 'feelings' evaporate. The only thing wrong is our thought process. Grace is continually working in us to change us. Long after the 'feeling' of grace is gone, the work of grace is continuing. It has gone deep into our souls transforming us and preparing us for the works God has prepared for us.
I love the snow! I love the brightness and the beauty but I know it won't last forever. It wouldn't be healthy if it did. It will be transformed to water and water to hydration for a thirsty earth and winter will give way to springtime and springtime to summer. There is a time for every purpose under heaven.
So rejoice beloved child of God. Your landscape may be dreary today but begin to anticipate all that God has prepared for those He loves. Slow down and enjoy what God has given you today. Whether it appears to be good or bad - spring is coming.
The weathermen are promising us a week of 'spring-like' weather in North Texas and I'm excited about that. So far our winter has been pretty cold and while there is no way that winter is over, the brief respite from cold reminds us that spring will come.
We've experienced some winters that were unseasonably warm and there were consequences from that. We had more bugs and the foliage was confused about when to bloom. It taught me that winter is necessary - not just something to be endured. The same is true about seasons of winter in our lives.
Winter - times when our lives seem barren and cold and God's presence far away. Billy and I took advantage of yesterday's warmer weather and did a little yard work. We have several plants that we brought to our new home from my mother and step-dad's home. They were avid gardeners and it is so sweet to have living reminders of them in our yard. I found myself taking hold of the stems and limbs and pulling them close to my face looking closely for signs of life. I saw nothing and I was glad.
You see - it's too early for them to bud. Winter isn't over. For them to bud too early would put them in danger of being killed by a cold snap. And these plants are precious to me.
Think about your life. You are so precious to God. You are created in His image and endowed with His spirit. He has made wonderful and precious promises to you that are inviolate in keeping with His nature. Just as winter is necessary for the earth, so it is for the believer. We need times of dormancy to put our roots down deep. We need to rest from the ceaseless tyranny of our schedules and the overwhelming needs of a sinful land. And in that time of dormancy - as we look for signs of life and see none, we need to take heart. In His time, there will be.
Nothing is impossible for Him and no human can thwart His purposes or plans. He who began a good work in you will complete it. These are promises that we hold to regardless of what we see. He knows that for us to bloom too quickly would put us in danger of injury should a 'cold snap' come.
I was able to smile when I saw no buds on the plants in my yard. I think we should purpose to smile when we see no 'buds' in our lives. We have seasons - just as the earth does. God is at work in you and as long as you are seeking Him, loving Him and obeying Him, you need only trust in His promises and that His timing is perfect. Always.
No season is forever. Wherever you are right now is God's perfect place for you - to learn, to grow stronger, to rest and to emerge with much fruit to the praise of His glory.
I don't suppose this is the kind of post you would expect - or want - to see on my first blog of 2010 but I want to take you where God leads me, so here we go.
I was all settled in for a month long study of Genesis in my daily Bible reading when my chronological study sent me to Job this morning. From Genesis 1's perfection to Genesis 3's fall to the drowning of the human race with the exception of one righteous man, Noah and his family, I had just begun to prepare my self to read about the wonderful new beginning of life on planet earth now inhabited by the upright family of Noah when God chronologically took me to the book of Job.
Here is my first point: In the midst of a new start with 'better' material trouble came calling to the most righteous and upright man on earth.
In a new year most of us are plying ourselves with black-eyed peas and resolutions to ward off bad luck. We are wanting to do whatever we can to make sure that nothing bad happens to us.
Point two: God started Job's trouble by drawing attention to his goodness.
Most of our resolutions center around behavior that we anticipate to bring us into favor with God and we equate favor with prosperity. I started to type in 'blessing' but blessing is exactly what God is after. It just may not look like blessing to us on this side of the tapestry. God was proud of Job's uprightness and Job never knew it. On his side of the tapestry, it looked like catastrophe.
Point three: Job's friends equated trouble with sin.
They got it partly right. Sin does bring trouble. Sin also brings prosperity and power - at least for a season. But partly right isn't right. Trouble also comes to good people, Godly people, righteous people. People who attempt to live for God and His glory. The final word was God's and He wasn't too happy with Job's friends or their conclusions.
Point four: God so ordered a daily Bible reading that early in the year we can learn some important lessons about trouble and trust.
God isn't as interested in our comfort as He is in our confidence in Him. Trouble causes us to dig down deep into our reserves. What do we find there? Do we find a history of walking with God and really knowing His faithfulness? Do we find scriptures memorized to pull out for such a time as this? Do we find a will that chooses to trust Him when we can't feel Him? Do we find a heart that believes in His love despite the pain? OR...
Do we find ourselves drifting on a sea of faithlessness? Reeling from the unexpected? With no scripture to hold dear in the storm? A will that is flabby and unexercised in the discipline of making the hard choices? A heart that questions how love could allow or even cause such pain?
It's early in January and the time is now to prepare our hearts for the year that is before us. Stock up on the necessities: prayer, God's word, time with other believers, take an accounting of His faithfulness to you in the past, write it down, relive it. There is a part of me that yearns for God to point me out as His faithful servant and another part of me that wants to run screaming. Oh for grace to trust Him more! And that only seems to come when He saves me....again and again from myself, my mistakes, my troubles.
Trouble is coming my friends. Not to un-do your black-eyed peas or cabbage, but it's true. "Count it all as joy my brethren WHEN you experience trials." "Do not be surprised at the fiery trials that come to you." The Bible is filled with warnings but it is also filled with hope - "...take courage, I have overcome the world."
I want to be found faithful. I know you do too. So what do we do?
I intend to purpose to live in the kingdom each and every day. That will mean sucking the life out of every joy that comes my way. I choose to LOVE life. To love my family and friends. To greatly rejoice in belonging to God and to living in a country where I can read my Bible and go to church whenever I want to. And then when trouble comes to do everything in my power to look for God in that trouble. If it is sin on my part, to quickly repent and if it is not to patiently wait on Him to reveal Himself in the trouble. To know that He has my good and His glory at stake. To know that trouble has nothing to do with God's love for me. HE LOVES ME AND YOU PERIOD. In trouble and out of trouble.
God purpose for trouble is to grow us. Satan's is to get us to question God's love.
That love was settled forever on the cross. He said to us then, "I have no greater love for you than this." So let's settle it here and now! He loves us. He is for us. And let's walk in the victory that is ours that one day we will hear those blessed words, "Well, done!"
Thought you might enjoy looking at my mom's iris! I am absolutely BEYOND tickled that her irises have been moved from Temple to Paris to Rockwall and have bloomed like CRAZY! this year. Makes me so happy. My Nanny (my dad's mother) had such a green thumb and always had lots of flowers in her yard. Then Mother and Shelby had the most beautiful yards. As our little birdies left the nest we had more time to devote to gardening and it is paying off. We so enjoy seeing them bloom and providing beauty. It is also a way of keeping their memory alive of course. They would be so pleased to see something of their beloved home in ours. Sometimes it's just the little things that make life so sweet.
Easter weekend we had our annual family get-together! So much fun. This is my sweet sister and her little granddaughter, Parker Grace. We love her to pieces. She is all girl and so much fun. The first baby we had the in family for 19 years and she's as sweet as she is cute. My sister is in the thick of nursing school. We have so much fun swapping stories - mine antiquated and hers oh-so-contemporary. I tell her mine are a hundred times worse because we wore those ugly caps!!!
Here is my brother Barry and his wife Tina. You did a lot of praying for him and he is doing great. He's been back at work for about a month and starts regular duty this week. Tina was super at taking care of him - never left his side during all those hospitalizations and many, many, many drives back and forth to Dallas from Sulphur Springs. So we are super grateful for his health and your prayers for them today!!
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