Put it off!!!

Putting it off, baby, putting it off. Till what? The cows come home? The rooster crows? What are you waiting for?

Why do it now when you can wait till next week? Or better yet, till someone else does it for you? (By the way, when is that maid coming to do my housework?? Ha ha...)

Procrastination is something that I STILL struggle with. And you know what that's really called? Umm...sloth with a capital S. Otherwise known as laziness.

Eww. Ugly word. Can you relate? Do you have a huge final and you've yet to crack a book? Driver's test and you haven't even studied your little driver's manual? You want to go to college but you haven't bothered to fill out a single application yet?

Maybe it's something more personal like calling a long lost friend, writing a thank you note or reading your Bible. What if God didn't bother to get back to you on that last prayer request? Now that's a thought!

The Bible is pretty clear about procrastination:

Proverbs 13:4 (ESV): The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied.

Colossians 3:23 (ESV): Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,

2 Thessalonians 3:10 (ESV): For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.

Proverbs 12:24 (ESV): The hand of the diligent will rule, while the slothful will be put to forced labor.

Proverbs 15:19 (ESV): The way of the sluggard is like a hedge of thorns, but the path of the upright is a level highway.

Philippians 4:13 (ESV): I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Yeah. Pretty clear. We've got to get to work, with God's ever present help.

Say out loud, based on Colossians 3:23: "Whatever I do, I work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men."

Give up your Wii!!

The first time that I heard about someone fasting, it was on the live reality show, "Real People" with Sarah Purcell, Byron Allen and John Barbour (1979-1984 NBC Television) . (Does anyone besides me remember that show?) One particular episode featured a guru type guy sitting in a glass box having not eaten or showered for something like a month.


At the time I thought, "Why on earth would anyone give up food for that long? What's the point? And doesn't that container he's sitting in stink by now?"


Later, I would watch the news and hear about people going on "hunger strikes" to protest things like college fee hikes and bad lettuce at the grocery store. I couldn't help but notice that the hunger striker always seemed to block the entrance to a college building or a bank whilst striking. (He didn't want to strike in a park, for example? Or the mall?)


I'm pretty sure that the idea was that by ceasing to enjoy culianary delights at a public level, the starving protester was hoping to motivate someone with clout to change whatever offensive thing was going on. (No one wants someone to starve to death on their watch).


Until about fifteen years ago, didn't really have even a nodding acquaintance with fasting as a way to get closer to God.


I had a relationship with sort of a general "god" but Jesus wasn't really on my radar yet. Sure, I had attended church and had gone to the altar, but I hadn't yet taken the leap from "sure, that whole Jesus concept sounds nice" to "yes, I believe that Jesus lived on this earth and died for me; that He was dead and buried and rose again on the third day and sits on the right hand of the throne of the Father."


I was surrounded at the time by people who either couldn't stay sober or were involved with practicing drug addicts and alcoholics.


My life was, quite frankly, filled with people that were dying and I was dying too--emotionally, mentally and spiritually.


A friend suggested that we do a 21-day fast so that I "could know who I was in Jesus". She may as well have told me that we were going to prick our fingers with toothpicks every day at 5am to find out "who were were in Texas." It didn't make sense to me at all, but I was miserable and desperate for something different.


We replaced a meal or two with a Slim Fast shake each day for several weeks and prayed that simple prayer during those times of hunger, "God, show me who I am in Christ." That was it. (That's something that you can test for yourself, by the way. Pray that prayer daily for 21 days and give up something that you love at least once a day...lattes, a meal, sugar, XBox, Facebook, you get the idea..). Keep a journal and get ready to experience God's love.


You know what's cool? It didn't take 21 days of fasting for me to figure out who I was in Christ. God began to show me almost immediately that I was His daughter, that He loved me and that I was special, worthy and precious to Him. There was a sweetness to my experience, a joy that filled my heart and inexplicable peace. Plus, I found out that I loved the feeling of being hungry, really, for Him.


The idea is to take that time and energy that you normally spend on (fill in the blank) and to focus that energy on pressing into God. Fasting allows you to get closer to God and to find out how much He is in love with you, His son or daughter. You're royalty, clothed in jewels and finery and He has the best for you. Find out what it is. It's worth your time and energy. (You can even go into fasting with a closed mind, and He'll still reveal Himself. Try it, I dare you!!)


You don't have to announce to the world that you're fasting. This is between you and God. Say out loud, based on Matthew 6:17-18:

When I fast, I put oil on my head and wash my face, so that it will not be obvious to others that I am fasting, but only to my Father, who is unseen; and my Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward me.


Health Disclaimer: You should not do a food fast if you're pregnant or breast-feeding; if you're a child or teenager (since you're still growing and developing); if you're a senior citizen; if you're recovering from illness, injury or surgery; if you are underweight; or if you have diabetes, liver disease, kidney disease, heart disease or any other chronic health problem. Always drink water during your fast and ask your doctor if you have any other health concerns.

Genuine Rodent Hide Leather Seats

Purity.

If that word is foreign to you, picture this. You go to the local dealership to buy your first car. You've been dreaming of this day for years--now it's finally a reality. You've had your eye on a shiny midnight blue sports car. Leather interior. GPS. Loaded interior and six airbags. 0-60 in .3 seconds.

Bomb car, right?

Here's what you don't know. This car has been used in six bank robberies, three dump runs and has been in multiple car accidents. The odometer has been rolled back illegally so many times that you have no idea how many miles there actually are on the vehicle. That leather that looks so nice? It's actually genuine rat hide. The GPS? A magic 8 ball.

Sound familiar? Let's switch the car analogy to the girlfriend/boyfriend scenario. You meet that "special someone" at a party. They seem amazing on the outside, but underneath, there's a whole lot of wreckage.

Or maybe you're the one with the past. If so, I can relate. My life before surrender to Christ was full of soul-scarring choices.

I had rat-pelt bucket seats.

The Bible speaks of a married couple as "two becoming one". One flesh. When you have sex with someone, you become "one" in the spirit with that person. When it doesn't work out, it's like tearing flesh--blood, scar tissue and pain are left behind. Every time you "hook up" with a new person, you're doing the same thing. After a while, you've got a whole lot of scabby scar tissue and hurt built up.

Imagine bringing your huge suitcase filled with guilt, anger, pain and broken promises to your wedding night. Is it any wonder that so few marriages work out--even Christian marriages?


Here is the Dictionary.com definition of purity:  freedom from anything that contaminates, debases or pollutes. Freedom from guilt or evil; innocence. Physical chastity; virginity.

Notice that the word freedom comes up a few times. That's a promise from God. Purity equals freedom. Freedom from guilt, freedom from STDs (including sexually transmitted HIV and AIDS), freedom from the pain that comes from having premarital sex and freedom from fear of an unwanted pregnancy.

It also means having the freedom to be friends first, freedom to find out what you have in common with your crush before you go too far and the freedom to follow your own dreams and passions without being hindered by a complicated, emotionally-charged sexual relationship.

God doesn't want us to be pure to punish us, but to bless us.

He wants your wedding night and all of the nights thereafter to be amazing explorations of the gift that He has given us through marital sex.

Here's the good news--God is our redeemer!! If you surrender to Him and give your life over to Him by accepting salvation through Jesus Christ, you will be washed clean--sparkly, shiny, new car smelling clean!!

In addition to recognizing the futility of doing things your own way and asking Jesus into your heart, get rid of your old keepsakes from "ex's" and start fresh. Ask God to sever all soul ties with all of those with whom you've become "one."

It's never too late to start on the road to purity. Try it, with God's help, and see where it leads you. I think you'll be amazed!


Based on Romans 12:1-2 say out loud,

I do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but I am transformed by the renewing of my mind. Then I will be able to test and approve what God’s will is his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Genocide--Where Was God?

Imagine what it would be like if you went to an all-boys middle or high school where there were two categories of people--people with green eyes and people with blue eyes. That's it--just two types. Other than eye color, everybody looked the same--same race, same lifestyles, same morals.

Imagine what it would be like if the blue eyed people decided that they were the superior group of people simply because of their eye color and that in order to maintain their position of power in the school, they would need to kill all of the green eyed people? Worse, the high school administrators got involved and actually endorsed, sanctioned and encouraged the blue eyed kids to kill most of  their  green eyed friends.

Horrifying, right?

And to add to the insanity, mentally picture local radio announcers getting involved and calling for mass execution of the green eyed people--inciting riots and untold violence against not only the green eyed people, but against their parents, siblings and grandparents. Imagine that the blue eyed kids were encouraged to burn the green eyed kids' houses, to level their parents' businesses and euthanize their pets. In this scary scenario, The blue eyed kids would feel justified in their killing, because after all, they believed that they were the superior race. Their eye color, they believed, were given to them straight from God.


An over the top B-rated horror movie? A skit from Saturday Night Live?

Not quite. This scenario DID happen--in a little African country called Rwanda in 1994. Some 800,000 Rwandans, mainly Tutsis, were murdered during a 100-day period following the assassination of the Hutu president of Rwanda, Juvenal Habyarimana. Many of the Tutsis were killed by their Hutu neighbors with knives and machetes--in plain daylight. In some cases, money was promised as a reward for killing. (See the pictures below of a Tutsi and Hutu woman and note very similar outward appearances).
Here's the strange thing--the Tutsis and Hutus have more in common as a people than not. Their long-standing conflict has nothing to do with religion or language-- they speak the same Bantu tongues as well as French, and generally practice Christianity -- and many geneticists have been hard-pressed to find marked ethnic differences between the two, though the Tutsi have generally been noted to be taller.


Generally, the Hutu-Tutsi strife stems from class warfare, with the Tutsis perceived to have greater wealth and social status (as well as favoring cattle ranching over what is seen as the lower-class farming of the Hutus). The Tutsis are thought to have originally come from Ethiopia, and arrived after the Hutu came from Chad.


The international community (including the U.S. and the United Nations) did little to stop the killings and the slaughter was brought to end by the military defeat of the government by the Rwandan Patriotic Front, a Tutsi-led rebel group. It's been said that although the U.S. had intelligence of the genocide as it was happening, our government did nothing to stop the slaughter, as we had no interests there (Rwanda is without mineral wealth or strategic placement).

Where was God during all of this?


Right there.


Right there comforting the toddler who watched her parents being killed in front of her very own eyes.


Right there with the newlyweds whose neighbors suddenly decided that they were the enemy.


Right there providing hope to the grieving widows and orpans.


He says in His word that we are to care for widows and orphans. James 1:27 says: Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.


God gave us free will and we have a choice about whether to trust our own finite thinking or to trust Him. He created us to worship Him, not our own limited viewpoints.



We are to love your neighbor and to pray for your enemies. We see the outward appearance, but God sees our hearts.


Seek to see hearts and not eye color.


Based on 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, say out loud:

With the Lord's help, I am patient, I am kind. I do not envy, I do not boast, I am not proud. I am not rude, I am not self-seeking, I am not easily angered, I keep no record of wrongs. I do not delight in evil but rejoice with the truth. Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.

To help:
www.help-rwanda.com

www.worldvision.org/rwanda

www.womenforwomen.org

Courageous

Recently, I've had the song "Courageous" by Casting Crowns stuck in my head. For days. Autoloop.

(If you're not familiar with the song, check it out here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkM-gDcmJeM).  

To be honest, I hadn't really been paying too much attention to all of the lyrics in the song...that is, until this morning. And when I finally listened to what Mark Hall and Matthew West had written, tears ran down my face.

I thought of my own courageous husband, working so hard each day to take care of his family and to maintain honor and dignity in an era where dishonest practices in his line of work might cause him to follow suit, or worse, to lose hope.

I thought of teenage boys who choose to wait to have sex until after marriage.

I thought of men my age who have stayed with their wives even when things got inconvenient or hard.

I thought of the husbands who have chosen to not cheat or lie or abuse and have chosen instead to lean on God.

I thought of the fathers who stuck around and have been good role models to their kids.

The idea of being courageous absolutely moved me.

This song is a call to action for the men of our generation to stand up and to go against the tide of complacency, selfishness and neglect.

Think of "Courageous" as your own personal mission statement.

Be the change.

Be Courageous.

You're never too young to start being honorable. Say this out out loud:

I was made to be courageous
I was made to lead the way
I could be the generation that finally breaks the chains
I was made to be courageous

(We were warriors on the front lines, standing unafraid. But now we're watchers on the side lines, while our families slip away. Where are you men of courage?)

I was made for so much more.
Let the pounding of my heart cry, I will serve the Lord.

I was made to be courageous, and I'm taking back the fight.
I was made to be courageous, and it starts with me tonight.
The only way I'll ever stand, is on my knees with lifted hands.
Make me courageous, Lord make me courageous.[ From: http://www.metrolyrics.com/courageous-lyrics-casting-crowns.html ]
This is my  resolution, my answer to the call,

I will love my wife and children,
and refuse to let them fall.
I will reignite the passion, that I buried deep inside.
May the watchers become warriors, let the men of God arise.

God help me to seek justice, love mercy, walk humbly with my God

In the war of the mind I will make my stand, in the battle of the heart, in the battle of the hands. In the war of the mind I  will make my stand, in the battle of the heart, in the battle of the hands.


Read more: CASTING CROWNS - COURAGEOUS LYRICS http://www.metrolyrics.com/courageous-lyrics-casting-crowns.html#ixzz1hJWU1jYX
Copied from MetroLyrics.com

If your parent is an alcoholic in recovery...

...then you've probably been through hell. You've watched your mom or dad slur their words, stumble around and come in late or not at all. You've probably been the target of verbal, physical, emotional and possibly even sexual abuse. If your parent has been drinking or doing drugs, you've probably been neglected in every way possible.

And maybe now mom or dad is sober and things at home are changing for the better but you're still hurt. You're used to hanging out with your friends all night, doing whatever you please and having no accountability, right? Suddenly mom and dad have rules and boundaries. Or maybe it's the opposite and you've noticed that the way they act in church isn't the way they act at home.

So now what? Maybe you've been smoking weed with your friends or sneaking some of your parents' liquor and your parents want you to clean up your act. Part of you loves your new home life, but another part of you resents the fact that all of sudden rules are a part of the game.

Look at this like an opportunity; an open door to new possibilities. Ask your sober parent to help you get signed up for Christian counseling, to give you a ride to attend free alateen meetings and to start work on college applications. Write them a letter letting them know what it was like to be in their care and suggest ways to mend the ties. If you're confused about where to start, spend a few minutes in prayer asking God for direction.

I'm not trying to sugar coat the pain that you've endured or the anger and resentment that you may still feel. There is a process to healing and a responsible mentor, pastor, youth leader, teacher or sponsor can help guide you through the steps to wholeness. Be encouraged! It can be done--healing can happen with your cooperation.

Gently remind your newly sober parent that recovery will take time for the entire family to achieve. Let them know that even though a part of you is resistant to change, a bigger part of you wants to be a part of a sober, happy family.

Seek out people to encourage you in your new life as part of a safe, sober household--people who want the absolute best for you and will help you to identify and achieve your dreams. Find who people who are strong in the Lord who will remind you that God created you, that He loves you and that He has great plans for your life.

Oh, and if your parents are still acting the fool at home behind closed doors, don't let that stop you from becoming the star that you were meant to be.
Instead of wasting your time and energy pointing out their faults and shortcomings, make a list of twenty dreams and goals that you have. Hide your list or put it up for all to see and trust God to fulfill them.

Say out loud, based on Isaiah 40:31:
I will trust in the Lord, and I will renew my strength; I will soar on wings like eagles, I will run and not grow weary, I will walk and not faint.

Greed...all that glitters is not gold!

According to a recent (October 11, 2011) Gallup poll, Americans will spend an average of $712.00 personally on Christmas this year.

Here's what $712.00 can do:

$8 could buy you 15 organic apples OR 25 fruit trees for farmers in Honduras to grow and sell fruit at their local market. So, $712.00 could buy 2225 fruit trees!!
$30 could buy you an ER DVD Box set OR a First Aid kit for a village in Haiti. $712.00 could purchase 23 first aid kits!!
$73 could buy you a new mobile phone OR a new mobile health clinic to care for AIDS orphans in Uganda. $712.00 could buy almost 10 mobile health clinics!!
$2400 could buy you a second generation High Definition TV OR schooling for an entire generation of school children in an Angolan village. $712.00 would take care of a third of that cost. (Check out www.globalrichlist.com for more info).

Wow.

Think about the fact that if you or your parents earn $50,000 per year, that you're richer than 99% of the world's population.

Please think and pray about how you can make a difference with your money. I dare you to do some research of your own. Make a difference.

Say out loud, based on Proverbs 22:9 (NLT)  "Blessed are those who are generous, because they feed the poor."