Sunday, May 20, 2012    

The World’s Shortest Fairy Tale

Wednesday, December 10th, 2008

A friend of mine forwarded this to me this morning and I just had to share…regardless of the consequences. :shock:

The World’s Shortest Fairy Tale

Once upon a time, a guy asked a girl ‘Will you marry me?’

The girl said, ‘NO!’

And the guy lived happily ever after
     and rode motorcycles 
          and went fishing 
               and hunting 
                    and played golf a lot 
                         and drank beer 
                              and scotch 
                                   and left the toilet seat up 
                                        and farted whenever he wanted.

THE END

Let the payback commence…

Getting in the Mood

Sunday, December 7th, 2008

No…no that mood. :wink: I typically take awhile to get into the mood for Christmas…into the Christmas spirit. I blame the retailers since they keep pushing the date back further and further (soon they will start before Halloween). And Christmas always seems to get here too fast…it sneaks up on me and I’m not ready.

But this year is different! I am turning over a new leaf. We put our tree up on the last day of November and I am already in full Christmas music mode. No bah-humbug for me this year. I am in the mood already. And I am ready for all of it: the lights, the carols, the food, the family, the parties, the gifts…and of course, the real reason for the season…celebrating the best gift of all!!

So here ya go…

The Test

Friday, December 5th, 2008

I have been wrestling with God about the future. School is drawing to close and I have been asking Him what’s next. He keeps telling me to wait…to focus on now and let Him worry about later. I don’t like this answer. I want to know what His plans are…I am admittedly impatient and frustrated by the process.

At the same time, I know that God does have a plan. He has closed a ministry door this past month—closed it so clearly that I couldn’t even argue with Him about it. In my human mind it doesn’t make sense. And I’ve been asking Him to at least reassure me that I am on the right path, that I am doing the right things…that I haven’t made some huge mistake and missed His call (or mis-read His call).

So this morning He gives me John 6:6. And He gave it to me clearly, “Read John 6:6″. So I did. Here it is:

He was testing Philip David,
for he already knew what he was going to do.
John 6:6, NLT

Of course, that little edit was straight from Him as well. In the original story—The Feeding of the 5,000—Jesus asks Philip where they can get enough food for everyone sitting there listening to Him (there were about 15,000 people including women and children). That’s where John 6:6 comes in…Jesus was only asking to test Philip, to see if Philip would trust Jesus or trust something else (or nothing).

Philip fails the test. I’m sure I would have failed the test. But that’s not the point this morning. Nope…this was about me this morning. God has been,and is, testing me on this “what’s in my future” thing. He knows what He’s going to do…but He’s testing me. Will I trust Him or am I going to trust myself, something else, or nothing at all? So far…so good. I do trust that He has a plan…and I’m letting Him work on the impatient side.

Apparently I need the process. And God knows I need the process. i need to work through it with Him (on this and many other issues)…He knows I shouldn’t just be given the answer. He sees the bigger picture. he knows what I need and what I don’t need. So I commit once again to trusting Him and doing what He has called me to do right now. The rest is coming soon enough and He knows what He is going to do!

Oh..and P.S.: Philip may have failed this little “quiz”, but he passed the bigger tests down the road. Philip is the guy who heads God’s call to go talk to a Eunuch about God. He trusts God and reaps the reward (and even ends up going a little “Star Trek” in the end). You can read the story here: Acts 8:26-39.

The Meaning of Christmas

Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008

Monday night at the dinner table (yes, sometimes we eat together as a family…weird huh?) we opened up our “Window Box” and one of the questions was: “What is your favorite things about Christmas?” We went around the table and got answers like: “Spending time with family” and of course, “Presents!!”

When this last answer came up I asked the child who gave this answer (who shall remain anonymous) if s/he would still like Christmas as much if we didn’t have presents. The answer? “NO!”

The follow-up: “What would your favorite holiday be then?” Answer: “Halloween” (thankfully this is because of the candy…nothing else).

It seems we still have some work to do in our household. The modern culture of Christmas has managed to wiggle its way into our home despite our efforts otherwise. We really do focus on the true meaning and reason for Christmas…but we obviously must do better.

And I need to do better myself. Just this morning I read this passage of Scripture that God asked me to consider for my own spiritual life:

You can be sure that no immoral, impure, or greedy person
will inherit the Kingdom of Christ and of God.
For a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world.
Ephesians 5:5, NLT

Not much wiggle room there. Greed = Idolatry. Period. DO I worship the things of this world (i.e.: that fancy new gadget, the big screen TV) or do I worship ONLY God?

Like I said…more work to do here…