Category:

Is this you?

1/9/2020

I read a paragraph this morning written by Erica Wiggenhorn out of her study The unexplainable church: reigniting the mission of the early believers. When I read it I thought, I've been there. I've done this.

Honestly, we've all been there. The question is, are we still there?

Here's the paragraph:

"What a sad picture of the state of humanity apart from a Savior. People don't know why they are here or there or where they are going or why. They just blindly follow the crowd and listen to whoever is noisiest. Maybe they want to be part of the 'in crowd,' or they're curious or looking for excitement, then one day they suddenly wake up and wonder, 'What am I doing here?' Or they never wake up at all and spend their entire life chasing the latest rush of fools. They just keep shouting and running, hoping to be heard and to find the satisfaction they're desiring."

Mindless.

If taken literally, the word is nonsense because if a person has life a person has a mind. But when taken in context it is a state of not thinking for ourselves; not using the brains God has given us to examine our lives and what we are doing on this earth.

Even Believers can find themselves in mindless seasons of life. God is faithful to nudge us awake and help us get back on track if our hearts are tender toward Him.

This will probably sound stupid, but here it is. In a college sophomore literature class my eyes were opened to the fact that not everyone is telling the truth. We were focusing on story narrators, questioning whether or not they were reliable or if they had agendas. Before that class, everything I read or heard I believed. I never thought that anyone would deliberately tell a lie or say something to sway readers for personal gain (yes, I was that naive).

If we don't use the intelligence God has given us we will find ourselves in places we really don't want to be. If we don't use the intelligence God has given us we will miss Him. We will just see the surface of things and totally lose what He wanted to tell us. He won't give up on us, but when we refuse to think for ourselves we always lose and life is diminished.

"the mind set on the flesh is death, but the miind set on the Spirit is life and peace." Romans 8:6

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He's stealing our time

6/11/2019

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The enemy is stealing our time. A lot of us have the best of intentions. We want to meet with others. We know we need to, and we even want to, but time slips away.

We have to take time back.

Relationships are what matter.

Proverbs 11:24 says, "The world of the generous gets larger and larger; the world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller."

This isn't just about money. We are generous or stingy with our time too.

People understand if we don't show up. People understand if we cancel. People understand when schedule conflicts come up. But maybe we need to say, "No!" to allowing things to cancel those things that are important. Maybe we need to tell people "No" when something is scheduled during Bible study time or church time or that weekly coffee meeting you have with a friend.

Maybe we need to be firm on this. I realized this this morning after reading that verse above in Proverbs. Yesterday, someone scheduled a meeting for me to attend for one of my kids but it conflicted with a Bible study I am putting on for a handful of people. The "nice" person in me said, "Oh, you can reschedule the Bible study," and I almost did. But then I thought, "No. If I cancel and try to reschedule it isn't going to happen."

I am so glad I made that decision. And I made another commitment to a friend -- a commitment we've been trying to honor for a long time, but life has gotten in the way. This morning we said, "No more" to life letting it cancel that very important commitment.

The enemy and the world love to keep us too busy to work on relationships. This is not from God. Busyness is not from God. Endless activity is not from God. Real change comes through relationship. Real change doesn't come through lots of activity -- that activity is often just distraction.

We gotta make commitments to spiritual things and stick to them. We don't tell our supervisors at work that we have to cancel the work day because something else came up. Work is important, but is it more important than people or God?

I am speaking to myself too. Don't let activities get in the way of those times that will deepen relationships in your life. Sure, God uses activities, but often it is the time with others after the activities, times of reflection, when God uses them.

Let's tell the world, "No more!" when it comes to missing church or the Bible study or the visiting time.

(By the way, this is a form of spiritual warfare.)

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The Box

6/22/2016

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All families have their daily routines.

One of our routines is that after supper around 6:30 or 7 we watch a couple of TV shows together. It is usually the only time the TV is on in our house because I have a love-hate relationship with the box. I enjoy watching certain TV shows, but I hate how that box can paralyse people from doing anything but staring. So, our happy (for me, not the kids) compromise is to watch a couple shows on Netflix.

Aren't we just adorable in this picture!

When we moved to our present location back in August the only real-time TV we got were three PBS channels (which we've ended up really liking). We thought about getting DISH or DirectTV but as time went on we were fine without it -- though sometimes we think it might be nice (Shannon had to listen to all the Vikings Football games on the radio last fall and the two youngest grumble about it every once in a while).

So, we've not had to watch many commercials.

Last Friday I told the kids we would watch America's Got Talent via my computer hooked up to the TV (more and more shows can be watched in their entirety online). Boy, Pete and Megan were excited. I was too. We've watched AGT as a family for quite a few years.

It ended up being a two hour show and we had to watch the commercials. We watched an hour and a half and I had had enough. It felt like a wasted 90 minutes. I planned on watching the entire season with the kids this summer of AGT, but I don't think it's going to happen. Pete and Megan hate that I'm a TV/Screen Dictator at home, but it is what works for us.

When you take a break from the advertising for 10 months and then you are bombarded with it, it really hits the senses hard -- and not in a good way. We Americans are exposed to so much via media that we don't even choose to be exposed to. It's dulling the senses to right and wrong. I can't say there is a huge conspiracy taking over our minds, but bit by bit we have become dull in thought.

Have you ever seen that Batman movie where Jim Carrey plays the Riddler? He getes these mind control boxes in every family's home.

Riddler's mind control box

That's just a movie, but there's so much truth to it too -- think about how advertising and media has dulled the senses and made us accept things we would never have accepted years ago. One example -- after taking a break from the advertising for months and then suddenly seeing it, you will be shocked at how much skin is exposed, how much violence is shown, how much sex is obsessed about, what is now accepted by typical people (It sure makes for interesting conversations with my 13 and 14 year old kids).

I didn't mean to get on a soapbox here. And I'm not bashing TV at all. Like I mentioned I enjoy certain TV shows. Every adult needs to make a conscious decision as to what he or she will allow in the home via media. I think years ago when TV was first around people could just let it enter the home because everything on it was pretty innocent. And so that acceptance was passed down to each new generation, but along the way TV quit being innocent. There's a lot of great stuff on it. But there's a lot of bad stuff too. And we need to be very decisive on what we watch and what we allow others in our homes to watch. It takes time. It takes effort. We gotta be vigilant.

And as parents we get tired of having to be on guard with the world system. But we have too -- we don't need to be over-protective but the world's system wants our kids and wants our minds. We need to be aware of that. There is truly an attack happening. As long as we are aware of it and are smart about it, that attack won't be successful.

Jesus said we are to be in the world but not of the world. He didn't want us to live isolated from the world. If we isolate ourselves how can He use us to bring His love and forgiveness and message to those who haven't heard?

But we can be smart. We can be wise. We can choose rightly.

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Can I tell this story?

8/17/2014

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I don't know if I can express to you today what I want to say adequately in a few minutes. Just a few minutes is usually what it takes me to write a post on this blog. That's why often there are typos or wrong words because I do it on the fly between making breakfast and doing dishes, changing my son Hawk and getting everyone else up.

The story I want to tell you starts with a question -- who cares for the caregivers?

For the people who take care of someone who needs attention and things done for them all the time?

Like a parent who can no longer care for himself.

Or a spouse who has dementia.

Or a child who must be fed and bathed and changed for years.

Above is a picture of my husband Shannon and my middle son Hawken. Hawken will be 15 soon. Hawk which many of you know has never walked or talked and cannot feed himself or do any type of self-care skill. In his first year of life it was apparent he wasn't going to progress developmentally physically.

Hawk is my biggest job now. He is taller than me but thankfully is very skinny so I can still lift him quite easily. We spend our days reading a lot.

I guess I am a caregiver.

So who cares for me?

There are a lot of answers to that question: Father God, Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit, My husband, my church family; my own family even though they are distant. God uses a lot of people to care for me.

But the answer I want to share with you is this: Hawk takes care of me.

Yes, I am the one who takes care of all his physical needs. And I take care of his intellectual needs in a sense that I pick out the books we will read in a year and this is how we homeschool. This year we are reading books on forensic science, the civil war, the Bible, illustration and we always end our reading time with some sort of novel.

That being said, Hawk, in his way, takes care of me. I cannot even explain it. He doesn't talk to me verbally. He doesn't pick me up. He doesn't feed me or give advice to me. He doesn't make sure I take my vitamins or medication. But he takes care of me. It is a subtle thing. His very presence is soothing. God uses him to center me often. God uses him to give me peace at times. He listens. He reminds me to draw. He tells me when I need to change him. By just existing he blesses my life in a way no one else can.

I don't share this to elevate my son in any way. Even though he cannot do any self-care he is still an almost 15 year old boy who sometimes doesn't want to hang out with his mom and sometimes he complains.

I share this because sometimes we Believers accept and embrace worldly beliefs about people. We ask how do they contribute. We ask what can we do to be important. We look at everyone in our churches and see some as incapable of contributing. In bigger churches the staff may make choices to accommodate children and adults with atypical needs in a spirit of compassion not realizing that the people who need these accommodations are contributing to the church body in ways a human just cannot comprehend.

All of us are very very necessary to God's work.

I love Eugene Peterson's transalation of 1 Corinthians 12:19-24:

"But I also want you to think about how this keeps your significance from getting blown up into self-importance. For no matter how significant you are, it is only because of what you are a part of. An enormous eye or a gigantic hand wouldn’t be a body, but a monster. What we have is one body with many parts, each its proper size and in its proper place. No part is important on its own. Can you imagine Eye telling Hand, “Get lost; I don’t need you”? Or, Head telling Foot, “You’re fired; your job has been phased out”? As a matter of fact, in practice it works the other way—the “lower” the part, the more basic, and therefore necessary. You can live without an eye, for instance, but not without a stomach. When it’s a part of your own body you are concerned with, it makes no difference whether the part is visible or clothed, higher or lower. You give it dignity and honor just as it is, without comparisons. If anything, you have more concern for the lower parts than the higher. If you had to choose, wouldn’t you prefer good digestion to full-bodied hair?"

Think on that. Look at the people around you and see God's hand on them.

Let me share one more passage with you. This is taken from 1 Corinthians 1:27-28:

Take a good look, friends, at who you were when you got called into this life. I don’t see many of “the brightest and the best” among you, not many influential, not many from high-society families. Isn’t it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks and exploits and abuses, chose these “nobodies” to expose the hollow pretensions of the “somebodies”?

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Is He Asking You?

6/12/2014

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God really doesn't pay attention or give value to the things our world does.

He doesn't think someone is more qualified because they have all sorts of letters behind their name. He looks at the heart and what you have hidden there.

He's not against education of course, but it isn't necessary for everyone.

And some degrees are necessary because we sure don't want surgeons being self-taught or bridge building engineers to eyeball their project and just wing it!

God can and will use anyone He chooses to get His message out in the world.

Is He asking you to go?

Is He asking you to speak up?

Is He asking you to preach the Word?

Amos knew all about this. The king called him a prophet (because Amos was prophesying), but Amos denied it. He said, "I am not a prophet, nor am I the son of a prophet; for I am a herdsman and a grower of sycamore figs. But the LORD took me . . . and said to me, 'Go prophesy to My people'" Amos 7:14-15

Sometimes we put limits on ourselves or others. We might think he can't do that. He's not qualified. He doesn't have a theology degree. She can't do that. She isn't a preacher.

God doesn't believe in these limits. He doesn't even acknowledge them. He calls who He calls.

Ask the original disciples. Pete was a fisherman. Matt was a tax collector. None of them were priests.

"but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;" 1 Peter 3:15

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What's Deep in there?

6/11/2013

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What's deep in there?

Deep in your mind?

What's rooted in there?

What consumes your thoughts?

Consuming, according to the online Merriam-Webster Dictionary means "deeply felt : ardent <a consuming interest>; also : engrossing . . . absorbing, arresting, interesting, engaging, engrossing, enthralling, fascinating, gripping, immersing, intriguing, involving, riveting"

OK.

Do you have something in your mind?

What do you think about every day? What is often or sometimes even always on your mind?

Now, parents, I want to speak to you directly -- what you are thinking on so much is what is going to affect your children's and your grandchildren's futures.

Huh?

What we spend our time on mentally is related to what we worship.

What we choose to worship is what affects future generations.

I'm not talking about what we say we worship. I'm talking about what or who we think we worship. I'm talking about what or who we actually worship.

You may say you worship Jesus Christ, and maybe part of you does, but is He often in your thoughts? Do you base your decisions, your life choices on Him and how He calls you to live?

I read about Solomon today and how he fell away from God in the end and this affected his kingdom, his children, his grandchildren, the entire world.

"So the LORD said to Solomon, 'Because you have done this, and you have not kept my covenant and My statutues, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you, and will give it to your servant." 1 Kings 11:11

But at the same time God mentions David, how David's faith and trust in Him kept one tribe safe with God.

"But he will have one tribe, for the sake of My servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel" 1 Kings 11:32

David wasn't a perfect person. He was a horrible father. He committed adultery. He murdered. He lied. He got angry.

But when confronted He repented. He always went back to God.

Do we do that?

Do we go back to God and His ways?

Or do we do it the world's way?

The common-sense way?

The way everyone tells us to?

The choices you make today, the way you live your life, will affect others for eternity.

Choose wisely.

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We Got It All Backwards

6/7/2013

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The above pictures really have nothing to do with the thought in my head today.

But then again everything is related.

If you click on the pictures you will go to Jane Davenport's blog, the artist who created those pics. I absolutely love them. Her site is all about helping others get creative. It is a noble calling. To help others get in that creative zone -- when we create, as I've written before, we are doing a God thing since He is The Creator.

I read a verse today in Luke 9:48c. Jesus says, "for he who is least among you, this is the one who is great."

This is something we've heard before, but it sure isn't what we usually practice.

The "Christian world" has taken its practice and cues from the world. There are Christian celebrities, Christian marketing firms, Christian gimmicks -- and they sure look a lot like the world's gimmicks.

Life isn't about gimmicks.

Life isn't about being the best, the greatest, the most famous.

When we do things the world's way we aren't not doing it God's way.

If we do anything the world's way, we aren't doing it God's way.

In Luke 10:41-42 Jesus gently reproves Martha when she asks him to get Mary to help her. He says to her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only a few things are necessary, really only one"

Think about what you do the accepted way, the world's way, the common sense way.

Have you asked God for guidance in this area?

Is His hand on this area in your life?

Do you have a worldly mindset in this area of your life?

Often, this stuff is so much a part of the way we think we don't recognize it for what it is.

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Treasure, treasure, treasure!

1/18/2013

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Treasure can be anything: jewels, gold, time, relationships, houses, land, money, bank accounts, talent....

Your treasure is what you treasure in your heart.

What you wouldn't want to live without.

What or who makes you life complete.

What holds your heart.

And if that treasure is taken away you'd feel it.

Jesus tells us NOT to store up treasure here on earth where moths and thieves destroy. Instead we are to store it in heaven. Then He says, "Where your treasure is, there will be your heart."

Something or someone here on earth could be an earthly treasure or a heavenly treasure. How we love is how it is categorized.

If we hold onto things tightly, with grasping and greed and fear, that is earth-bound treasure.

If we know it is God's, if we see ourselves as His stewards and treat things and people as His, we are laying treasure in heaven.

I'm not into stores of stuff. I don't really care about treasure anywhere, but I do love Jesus. And there are things I've had to let go of that I held too tightly too.

Love, love, love with abandon.

Jesus talks about if something hinders us from heaven cut it off. Please don't go cutting out your eyes or whatnot but if you have something in your life that pulls you from Jesus that is not doing you any good.

I had to give up certain routines which I thought were just fine but I began being greedy with them without realizing it. I began to get a bit snarly if my routine was changed....thank the Lord He took that away!

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What's that smell?

5/26/2011

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"Therefore, he retains his flavor, And his aroma has not changed." Jeremiah 48:11c

"And the LORD smelled the soothing aroma" Genesis 8:21a

"But thanks be to God, who always leads us in His triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place." 2 Corinthians 2:14

These verses are what I read this morning after asking God this question: Why can't I quit falling into the same hole over and over? These verses are God's response.

A picture came to mind: I'm standing by a huge deep hole. I walk confidently but I'm walking around the hole rather than away from it. One wrong move and I fall back in. God's trying to get me to walk away from the hole but somehow I think I'm doing fine as I walk confidently where I'm walking. God is trying to change the way I smell spiritually.

Think about smells: you might have a kitchen full of incredible smells, but if you open the refrigerator and there's something hiding in there that should have been thrown away weeks ago, that's all you are going to smell.

I remember a cartoon I saw years ago. The first picture is of a woman getting ready for date. She powders herself. She sprays perfume on herself. She wears deodorant -- anyway she can make herself smell good she does it. Then before she meets her date she stops to get gas. A bit of gas dribbles on her hands. When she meets her date what does he smell? Yep, gasoline.

The longer you walk with Jesus, hopefully you are getting to be more like Him, getting closer to Him. And that means that aroma you are sending out (you can't control this at all -- good or bad) should be getting sweeter all the time. So if there's a bit of human flesh or world thinking in you it's going to overpower all the good stuff. That part of you has to be cut out. God doesn't want it to stay there because it totally ruins the whole smell affect He's going for in you.

Hawk and I are reading a book called "I Wear Midnight" by Terry Prachett. Love this YA series. Anyway, the main character of the book, Tiffany Aching, has been pursued by a demon of sorts throughout the book. He has no eyes. No one else can see him but everyone can smell him. And he smells so bad that everyone comments about the smell whenever he's near. This demon's smell overpowers everything.

Think about the reverse: if we have an incredible sweetness of Jesus flowing through us that overpowers all else in the room, that is what will color everything. That is what people will notice.

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Why can't it get kicked out of me? Plus, a couple links

5/25/2011

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"Who has given to Me that I should repay him? Whatever is under the whole heaven is Mine." Job 41:11

"I know that Thou (God) canst do all things, And that no purpose of Thine can be thwarted." Job 42:2

If I could I would just kick my inner self right now -- that part of me that thinks and feels. I guess that's my soul. Our souls are so filled with world brainwashing. Well, mine is. From the womb on up the entire society is trying to get you to rely on yourself rather than God.

Here's my struggle: before I know it my eyes get off God and onto my situation and I begin to scheme inside on how I could "fix" it myself. God doesn't need me doing this. It totally wastes time, at least within me. It also negates my belief in Him.

He wants me to hold onto Him no matter what. He wants us to depend on Him wholly.

Now, I am not talking about lazy living and sitting around waiting for God to rain down whatever you need from heaven. We do need to do what He's called us to do. We do need to be active in our faith. We do need to do what He's put us before us. We do need to be responsible in our lives, care for what He's entrusted to us.

But we cross the line when we begin to try to figure it all out, when we then cross into worry and fretting.

One of my favorite verses is John 6:29: "Jesus answered and said to them, 'This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.'"

When we believe we are doing God's work. Believing is hard work because everything around us tells us we can't rely on God, we can't take His words the way we read them (''And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive.'" Matthew 21:22). We are told we have to modify them so they can be swallowed by our practical mind-sets.

That is not God speaking to us. That is our flesh and the world (as in the world-thought system).

Before I go today, I want ot share a couple links with you. The first one is a blog entry from "The Catch" a blog written by Author, Writer and Musician John Fischer. Today, it is a very tender, sweet entry that touched me, almost made me cry. Here's the link: http://catchjohnfischer.wordpress.com/2011/05/25/sacred-moments/#comment-1910

And today is the day my column Perfectly Blunt is run in the Pierre newspaper. This week's column is a bit silly but I think you'll like it. Here's the link: http://capjournal.com/articles/2011/05/25/opinions/perfectly_blunt/doc4ddc677317282079034993.txt

Thanks so much for reading. You encourage me!

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Is this you?

He's stealing our time

The Box

Can I tell this story?

Is He Asking You?

What's Deep in there?

We Got It All Backwards

Treasure, treasure, treasure!

What's that smell?

Why can't it get kicked out of me? Plus, a couple links

Who is Jane Hinrichs?

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