What is this?

I never thought about the spiritual aspects of giving my kids a bath or standing in a line at a grocery store. However, God has recently showed me some insightful biblical truths in some of the most mundane tasks in life. Whether I am driving, showering or sleeping each of these activities has a biblical truth tucked inside of it. In the forest of life, God’s biblical truth is inside each one of these trees. My hope is that others view the ordinary aspects of life through a spiritual lens and see what God teaches you.







Saturday, March 30, 2013

The Unequal Sign



As a kid, the pawn shop became a place I was far too familiar with.  My family of five lived in a two bedroom low income apartments all of our lives. Dad’s work was contract; therefore, he encountered several periods of unemployment as one job would end and as he looked for another one. Mom, for the most part, stayed home with three kids.  Money was tight for a variety of reasons and a pawn shop became a place I quickly learned to despise.
I can remember coming home from school on different occasions to discover that our television, stereo, boom box, and dad’s guns were put in the pawn shop and sometimes all simultaneously.  No matter how it was explained to me, the pawn shop seemed to get the better deal. The trade that was made inside that shop seemed too unfair, too one-sided, and too unequal.   We only received a fraction of what are stuff was worth to get through the rough patch.
As I reflect on this Easter weekend, this experience from my childhood has reminded me of the MOST unequal transaction that has ever occurred… Jesus’ death for my sin.  My pride…. His Death. …..My greed…. His Death….My selfishness….His Death.   As angry as I was about the exchange that took place inside that pawn shop several years ago, Jesus made an exchange that was far greater.
We’ve all experienced getting the short end of a stick in one time or another in our life, but Jesus did willingly! He willingly traded his life and took “the raw end of the deal” for my wrong doings.  What a trade!  What an exchange! What a transaction!  I am so thankful for what He did! Through his death, I got a sweet deal and truly avoided what I should have gotten. ----Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men[a] because all sinned—(Romans 5:12)  
Thank you Jesus for this unequal transaction you performed for me!

Monday, March 18, 2013

Let the Madness begin...

----------Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction. 2 Timothy 4:2------------
One of my favorite things about this time of year is March Madness. Don’t get me wrong, I know diddlysquat about college basketball.  Every year our family fills out a bracket and we compete with each other using some point system, fancy highlighter and black pen.  The winner gets bragging rights.  Every year I come up with a new name for my bracket and a new strategy for picking teams.  Sure, I eavesdrop a little on my hubby’s ESPN watching or read a few things on Twitter or online, but for the most part, my bracket is filled by using my own unique strategy. Some of the strategies in the past have included team colors, team mascots, places I’d like to visit, players jersey numbers and recommendations from my preschooler…. just to name a few.  The best part is…… I don’t do half bad! Many years, I’ve beaten my all-knowing sports loving husband. It is awesome!
I can’t imagine the amount of hours theses college teams practice during the season and out of season in hopes to make and advance in the prestigious NCAA tournament.  You only get one shot at it and that’s it!  The term off-season is so misleading for the fact that athletes many times train even harder through conditioning and weights during the” off” season to prepare for the upcoming season. 
As I get ready for one of mine and my hubby’s favorite sports season, the words in season and out of season stand out from the verse above.  To put it into context, Paul wrote these words, his last dying words, as he faced execution, to his friend Timothy to help spread Christianity.  Imagine if Timothy had said……”nah…. I am a bit busy now….Maybe some other time when things slow down. “
 Paul gave Timothy careful instruction on how to further the kingdom and to be prepared in season and out of season.  In other words, there is no “OFF” season.  Yet, why do I put my service to God as some sort of seasonal activity to do?  Service for the kingdom does not operate on a seasonal calendar.  Sports, work, and holidays may operate like this so it is typical of us to try to put God in the same category.   I am guilty of uttering the phrase “When things slow down at work, when my kids are a bit older, when I have more free time.” When, when, when, get the picture?
Timothy was told to preach the Word in season and out of season. Whether the time is favorable or unfavorable, whether the time is good or bad, whether it is convenient or inconvenient, do it.  What are we going to do for the kingdom regardless of the season?