Don't strain your eyes.

I've been thinking over the past 3-4 days about how much time I spend trying to figure out what God's up to. This is actually fun for me. I like to look around at what's happening in my life and others and pontificate about what God might or might not be doing. Well, the last few days I've been thinking about the fact that, while God does make us promises about our futures, He doesn't want us wasting so much time trying to figure out the steps he's going to take us on to fulfill them.

James 14:13-14 says "Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes."

My job is not to try to figure-out God. My job is not to try to see too far ahead and make a big plan. It's God's pleasure to decide what enjoyment or purpose he will take out of my life. He's the Maker...I'm the made.

Rather than trying to see ahead, we have 2 other views to look upon:

1) Behind us. We can look just behind us at our yesterdays to see what God has done. And it's those things that have been done which we can celebrate, confirm, teach, remember, agree-with, pass-on encourage-with or impart to others. God gives us lot of commands in scripture to remember and celebrate.
But God gives no commands about seeing into the future and none to try-real-hard-to-know-where-He's-going-next. He talks much of the past. He talks much of the present. But doesn't really want us focused so much on our earthly futures.

2) Our next moment: the present. We DO have something to do that certainly impacts where we're heading and what God is up to in our lives. Our job in the present. This is to listen to God's voice and follow it. In essence our job is to hear and obey. And this will walk us into the future plans for our lives. The more we practice this, the more we will naturally abide in Him and in His plans for our futures.
1 John 2:3-4 "We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. 4The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him."
Isaiah 30: 21 "Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it."
John 15:4-5 "Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."

Now I have so enjoyed saying to Him hmmm God are you doing this?! ...it's like trying to crack the best, most interesting code ever. But honestly -- more often my attempts to figure Him out just result in me laying my own expectations on Him and ending up disappointed.

Proverbs 27:1 says "Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth."

I think I'm going to give up trying to crack the code of my future. (This is big since I came from a family whose unofficial motto is 'Get a Plan and Stick to It!') I'm not exhausted or frustrated (ok, sometimes I get frustrated)...I'm just trying to say I agree with God. I agree that I'll try to put my energy and heart where they belong: celebrating, remembering, listening and obeying.
That'll be plenty.

Have a laugh.

Seriously...this is hilarious. It's a sharp-witted 88 year old woman who called in to the Ellen show. Trust me: it's worth a few minutes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83JDXXKzOXg

I'm back again adding to this entry. In the past 24 hours, 3 of my friends have also blogged about laughing or lightening up. These friends all know God and seek to hear His voice and follow. So, I'm declaring this:
GOD SAYS "LAUGH!"

Go on. Don't resist. Click on the link.

Choosing to receive love

I love my facial moisturizer... Olay Total Effects. I like the 'regular' one - not tinted, unscented, with SPF, blemish-control or any other version. Just the base-line regular version. It's a great product (which I also know is technically true since I worked in P&G Beauty Care Marketing for so long), and I LOVE the scent of it.

So why am I telling you this?

Well, about 2 weeks ago I put it on my shopping list, but Bill went to the store. I explained thoroughly about which product it was, but I knew that once you get in that aisle it gets pretty confusing with about 19 different versions of the same product. I didn't hold out much hope. And I was right - he came home with (gasp!) unscented. I looked for the receipt to return it, but we'd already thrown it out. Bill told me he was sorry he got the wrong product and I wrestled with whether or not to go back and beg an exchange (it IS about $16 bucks that I didn't want to waste).

It sat on the counter for a week until I finally thought who am I kidding? there's no way i'm ever going to make it back to the store to exchange that.

Then I remembered what Bill said when I told him it was the wrong thing: "Sorry babe - I just remembered you don't like strong scents on a lot of things, so I thought this would be the right one. I saw the one you're talking about but picked this instead."

My husband picked this out because he knows me. So what if he got it a little wrong? He actually stood in the aisle, thought about his wife and picked the one he thought was right because he KNOWS me. Isn't that what we wives want?! Our husbands to know us? To love us? To think of us at all times? He didn't pick this because he was being thoughtless, impatient or inattentive...he picked unscented because he KNOWS me. How was he to know that it just-so-happens this is one scent that I absolutely LOVE.

I went to Bill and told him - told him how much it meant to me that he did that, told him I felt loved and known by it. And then I decided to keep it and use it and remember to thank God everytime I put on my moisturizer for the next 6 weeks that I have a husband who wants to know me!

Hot chocolate - the end or just the means?

I really like hot chocolate. But it has typically been only a medium to melt and a vehicle to carry marshmellows. Marshmellows are the yummiest part of hot chocolate for me. Today, sadly, I had only about 10 mini marshmellows left in the bag. A pathetic volume and virtually a reason to abandon the hot chocolate altogether. But, pleasantly, I discovered that without the marshmellow melting distraction I actually did enjoy the drink itself.

So - what say you? Is the main attraction hot chocolate itself or is it simply a means to an end -- the yummy gooey mess of melted marshmellows?

Let's put it to a vote.

It's about People, people

I'm re-reading the gospel of Mark right now. And just yesterday I had a "moment" if you know what I mean...one of those duh moments. I was reading through the first few chapters and something just kept sticking out to me: the fact that everything Jesus said and did was about PEOPLE.
Now, the idea that Jesus loves people is certainly not a new consideration for me (or you I'm sure) - we all know that. But here I am reading the account of someone's life - these gospels record the life and times of Jesus - and nearly every single passage is about how Jesus treated people, how he loved people, what He says about people or what he teaches us about people.
Here's a few of them from the section I was reading:

• (To Simon and Andrew) "Come follow me and I will make you fishers of men."
• The accounts of Jesus healing a demon-possessed man, his friend's mother in law, a leper and a paralyzed man are just in the first 2 chapters!
• (When accused of hanging out with people who were losers and sinners) "It is not the healthy (people!) who need a doctor but the sick (people!). I have not come to call the righteous (people!), but sinners."
• And the one that really got me was Mark 2:21-22 "No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, he pours new wine into new wineskins."

I've heard this passage used a number of times to talk about how God is interested in starting new programs, new organizations or new ministries. Perhaps there is a useful metaphor there for other things, but this is NOT what the passage is saying primarily. I believe Jesus is talking here about PEOPLE. Maybe all you people reading this already knew that (like I said it was kind of a duh-moment) but I think this passage had been tainted for me because of the use I had heard of it. I guess God sort of just reached down and poked me and said Hey! This is about PEOPLE. Jesus pours himself into PEOPLE. People is the metaphor here.

In the section before this passage he is asked about why his disciples weren't fasting like the disciples of John and the Pharisees. (Again - the discussion is about His people). He then explains with the wineskin passage that He is a new thing - that He's here to do something new and that they shouldn't look at the disciples of other groups/folks to find out what HIS followers will do. His people follow HIM - not other leaders, good programs or even the old covenant that John represents here. He's interested in pouring himself into NEW kinds of people - the sick, lonely, sinner, thief, whatever. THAT is the new group of people He's come for. That's the new wineskin he's looking for. Crazy. And probably offensive to many nice people of his time.

And I began to wonder -- if someone were writing a book of my life; how many stories and chapters of my life record would be about PEOPLE? What would the other topics be? And how do I begin to see the time or energy or money in my life that goes towards other things? Things of much less value than PEOPLE.

An upgrade from Jesus?

On Thursday night we went up to Great Wolf Lodge to get some dead-of-winter fun. And we did. That waterpark is GREAT fun. The 4 of us spent the night and played and played. I highly recommend doing a mid-week, winter get-away if you can... even though we were just in Mason it felt like we went into another little world for 24 hours (insert all Mason jokes here).

We booked a special rate online. I had looked through the room possibilities and, ideally, we'd have a couple different sleeping areas since we have a baby whose bedtime is 7pm, a toddler who goes down by 8-830pm and us...who don't usually go to sleep quite that early. But, alas, as all you other families know -- sleeping arrangements on trips are never quite right. So, we made our peace with everyone in one room and lights out early. There was one particular suite with a loft that I'd thought would be great for us but was way unaffordable for a random night away.

You guessed it. When we checked in on Thursday we had been upgraded to the Loft Fireplace suite: a room that was a full $150/night more than anything we'd ever even think of paying for with the coveted loft. I immediately thought "Thanks Jesus. I know you knew that was the desire of my heart." It took us from a great-night-away-up-until-bedtime to just a great night away. God is so cool like that when you least expect Him.

King Hezekiah

Today I am just processing some things by writing them out...I have been interested and learning about an ancient king of Judah named King Hezekiah. I think God is pushing me into knowing and understanding his life. Here's how God has pursued me with this guy:

• About 3-4 weeks ago I sat down to read my bible and just heard the word "Hezekiah" in my heart. I immediately thought that it must be one of those really small, prophetic books in the OT that had slipped my mind. So I just looked in my Table of Contents, but turns out it's not a book of the Bible. So I didn't find it that day and I let it go.


• About 2 weeks ago I was given some books by my friend, Mary, just to read for pleasure. The one I chose "randomly" happened to be a historical fiction retelling of the reign of King Ahaz...and Hezekiah was his son (and next in line for the throne of Judah). Wow! I finished this book and thought I really need to get the next book in this series: I can't wait to see what happens during Hezekiah's reign.


• About 3 days ago I sat down to read my bible and was flipping through the book of Isaiah and "stumbled on" a section in Ch 38 entitled 'The events of the reign of King Hezekiah!' I read it voraciously and felt like I got the sequel to my book! Sweet.

So I've been kind of amazed by him. I just keep thinking about this guy... why God loved him and what his life and reign was like...here's a few highlights I'm pondering:

2 Kings 18:5-7 "Hezekiah trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him. 6 He held fast to the LORD and did not cease to follow him; he kept the commands the LORD had given Moses. 7 And the LORD was with him; he was successful in whatever he undertook. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him."

• He had Courage with a capital C. He took over Judah in ruins, idolatry and desperation with no army whatsoever. And he stood up against a crazy, bloodthirsty king of Assyria. Even the King of Assyria was incredulous at his Courage. He said to Hezekiah "On what are you basing this confidence of yours?...On whom are you depending that you rebel against ME?"
• He was a picture of walking by FAITH. He had nothing to work with except for God. But he held fast to God's sworn promises to Him and to Judah. And He BELIEVED them. He acted against ALL circumstances to say to God "I know you're a God of your Word. I believe you."
• God listened to this guy's prayers and actually changed his mind because of them. In Isaiah 37 God says to Hezekiah "BECAUSE YOU HAVE PRAYED TO ME concerning..." and proceeds to promise him that his enemies will never conquer Jerusalem. Also - he was later on his death bed and he wept to God about it and God said "I have heard your prayer and seen your tears: I will add fifteen years to your life..." Sometimes I am so tempted to not go to God in prayer because I think it's not important enough or it's already been decided upon. I am so encouraged by this guy's prayers and God's response to him.

What else do you see or hear in this?