Enjoy the holidays!

saltaquarium.about.com

Me and Jesus

childrensmuseumblog.blogspot.com

I read a post on a blog called Life Blessons (love this blog!) in which the blogger wrote about how she viewed Jesus as a child.  I wanted to take a lil' time to do that as well...

It's funny to me - when I was a kid, I believed God could REALLY do AAANNNYYYTHING!  I didn't question WHY He loved me.  I just knew that He did because I'd heard that He loved the world so much that He sent His Son to die AND that God had raised Him from the dead.  I knew the basics of the Gospel.  I believed in my heart and confessed with my mouth.

The rapture?!

hgtv.com

Picture it: circa 2001.  Mid-week.  About 2 pm. I'm about 12 years old at this point.  I'm inside my house while my mother is outside taking clothes off of the clothesline.  It's a windy, summer day...

"I'm pretty sure she should be done taking the clothes off the line by now...hmm...I wonder what's taking so long."

It's a lazy, summer day for me and boy, am I lazy.  I didn't even offer to help my mother take the clothes off of the line.  It's too hot for all that mess.  Note:  I said it was WINDY...layyyy-zzzz

"She's been out there for over half an hour.  There ain't THAT many clothes...oh no...what if she passed out?! I'd better go check on her!!"

I open the back door and head outside.  Pushing the oval-shaped rims on my face...I peer through the lenses...and what do I see?

A lone laundry basket filled with folded clothing just sitting on the ground under the clothesline.

Not a person in sight.

Show ya fruit!

handofgod.com.au

While taking care of some things this morning, I revisited John 15:1-11 and oh! It blessed me. Ha-ha! It really did. Verses 7 and 8 REALLY stood out to me today:

If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. (ESV)

Mmmmyyyyy GOODNESS! I mean, it makes so much sense but I thought..."Hmm...of course if I abide in Him and His words abide in me I will please Him...so since I will please Him, He will be more than happy to do things for me."  I mean, when you love someone AND y'all are just tight like that, it really gives you great pleasure to do things for them! Without hesitation!  At least that's true for me. 

And then verse 8...OF COURSE I WANT HIM TO BE EXALTED!!! Ok, so by abiding in Him, being pruned, and allowing Him to produce fruit in me, and having that FRUIT show, I PROVE that I am His disciple!!!! I want people to know and see that I am HIS!  And I PROVE it when they can see my fruit!That love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control mentioned in Galatians 5!

Show ya fruit!

The Ultimate Gift

buffalosalvationarmy.org

We're now officially in the "season of giving." I've seen what feel like numerous Salvation Army volunteers posted up in front of the entrances to places I frequent ringing that bell for donations.  I realized something today as I walked right past the swinging, red bucket TWICE.  I realized that with the few nickels and pennies (maybe dimes) that I drop in every time, I've probably not even spent a whole dollar in donations to the S.A. this entire season.  Surely because of God's grace, ("God's riches at Christ's expense" for you acronym lovers!) His unmerited, undeserved favor of rescuing me from hell...and His grace of blessing me with a lil' money to operate with on Earth...I realized that I can SURELY spare to donate EACH and EVERY time I see the bell-jingling-smiling-faced-volunteer yell a hearty greeting my way.

Now, of course, I, would say that THE ultimate gift is the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ.  Being saved from hell.  Now, THAT's a gift!

One more thing...Have you ever seen the movie The Ultimate Gift?  It's based on a novel by Jim Stovall.  GREAT movie in my opinion.  A trust-fund baby (a 20-something year old man) is assigned tasks to complete in order to receive the ultimate gift from his recently deceased grandfather.  While completing the tasks the young man learns some valuable lessons and helps people along the way.  Ok, so it's not a Christmas movie but the title sounds seasonal, right?

Flat but not cast away

persephonemagazine.com

Rushing.  Being in a hurry. I'm not always successful when I'm in a rush.  Last night is a classic example of this..in my mad dash from home I ran my car up on the sidewalk (maybe I hit a drain too?), came down, and ended up with two flat tires...bummer.  All because I was in a hurry.  Wasn't going to be late but ended up being late.  This didn't even lend a good story.  Who would believe this report?  My car's tires weren't suddenly flattened out of "normal" circumstances...like an angry co-worker slashing my tires in the parking lot. As I sat on the side of the road with my hazard lights blinking waiting for my friends Tina and Clark, I thought of how this related to the Gospel.

Progress in humility

yahsburden.blogspot.com

I was driving home from some work I had to do and it was pretty late.  Ok, so it was 11 pm.  Late but not too late for me.  My mind started thinking about the warm, thermal blanket on my bed, my pillow, the alarm clock...you get my drift.  I was ready to go TA SLEEP! Then it hit me:  "No, I will wash the dishes first and then prepare for bed."  I was pleasantly surprised by this idea.  "Yes, I will do that."  Ya see, my housemate Tina prefers that the dishes are washed at night so that in the morning she does not have to wake up to a sink full of dirty dishes.  A year ago, dem jokas woulda still been in da sink and she would have had to have dealt wit it and kept it movin'.  BUT GOD!!!