Through the hustle and bustle of the mornings, trying to get everyone to school and work, I am silenced and my world stops rushing for a while as I stare at the mountains lining the horizon. The mountains are visible beckoning my attention as I am on my way to work. I could just say forget about work and stare at the rugged peaks, the snow caps, the shades of blue on the masterpieces that lay ahead. It is amazing. I love the mountains.
The only other thing that I can think of that matches the beauty of the mountains that was not created by man is the changing of the colors. As Autumn rolls in, the cool breezes blow, and the green leaves fade into shades of red, orange, and yellow. I had never really witnessed this until this past Autumn. I had never seen such vibrant colors before. The dark, rich red leaves have become my favorite.
I am able to experience these two beautiful things that were not present in my previous home. Trees were in Texas, they changed colors. But the colors were not vibrant. And the leaves fell off the trees within days of them changing colors. Never had they stayed like they do here. And of course mountains are non existent in Texas. There are some hills, but not true mountains. At least in my opinion. But here. *Sigh*
It is amazing to think about these two objects of my affection. Object one--mountains. A reminder of sin. A reminder of a flood that happened over 4,000 years ago. The water ripping the world apart. All because of sin. Everything God created was good. Then enter sin. Sin created the beauty of the mountains.
Object two--the changing of the colors. A yearly reminder of death. The leaves change colors because of their impending death. As the leaves start to change, they begin to fall off the trees until Spring. The beauty of the leaves is because of sin.
Despite the fact that these two objects are a reminder of sin, they are also reminder of God's grace.
It makes me think. These two beautiful things are a result of sin. It goes to show that God can even make something beautiful out of something caused by sin.
Then I think of me. I am a sinner. No doubt about it. But in spite of my sin, God can turn my life into something beautiful. He can forgive me of my sins, if I repent of them. He can cleanse me and make me white as snow. He can shine through me so that others can see Him. And when people see Him, they will see something beautiful.
When I see the mountains and the trees, I don't see the sin, I see the beauty. I pray God can helps others to see the beauty in me and not the sin. This is possible only By God's Amazing Grace.
Imagine sitting in a chair and falling asleep. Not too unusual of a thought, huh? Now imagine waking up. The first thing you see is dark. You try to move, but you are unable. You are strapped down. You cry out for help. You can hear voices calling out to you, but you see no one. You feel helpless and alone. There is nothing you can do to save yourself. Nothing.
This is an experience my daughter had when we were on our trip to and from Texas. We drove through the night, making it easier on all of us. She could sleep the whole trip so we could drive straight through with minimal stops.
She was in her car seat and is still rear facing due to her size. She had fallen asleep shortly into our journey. Somewhere around midnight, one o'clock in the morning, she awoke. Usually when she wakes up at home, she gets out of her bed and comes to bed with us. She can get up and move if need be. But this instance, she was on familiar turf. She was in a moving car where she could not get out. She was stuck.
She cried and cried. We kept talking to her, letting her know we were there for her. We eventually had to pull over and the Hubs got in the back while I drove. He put his hand on her. Within a few minutes, she was calm. The crying had stopped. He went to move his hand and she grabbed his arm and put his hand on her cheek. She would not let him let go of her.
Later we switched spots and he took over driving. I put my hand on her. This time, she took her legs and wrapped them around my arm. She was going to make sure I did not leave her.
How many times have you been in a situation like that? You feel completely stuck in a dark world? You can't help yourself. You feel scared. You feel helpless. You feel alone. There is nothing you can do. And guess what? There is nothing you can do...but pray. Cry out to God like little bit cried out to us. Tell Him how you feel. Tell Him what you are going through. And once you feel His presence, don't let go of Him. Hold on tight.
Once we realize He has a hold of us, we can know that He is in control. We know we are not alone. We are no longer helpless. We have no reason to be scared anymore. God is in control and He has a hold on us. We just need to keep holding onto Him. This is possible only By God's Amazing Grace.
The new year has rolled in and old has, well, gone down in history as another year. 2013 is over, 2014 has just begun. The ball has fallen, streamers have...streamed, kisses have been shared, and now people spend half of the first day of the new year sleeping, trying to catch up on the lost hours of sleep from New Year's Eve. Resolutions have been made. Promises spoken. A clean slate. A fresh start. A brand spanking new year.
Yet I participated in none of the above. Why? Partly because I am kinda old now. I can't handle staying up until the crack of dawn any more. Okay, so I am only 31. But still. My body and mind can't handle ringing in the new year like it did back in the day. Also because, as the Hubs would say, I am a work-a-holic. If I sleep the day away because I stayed up the night before, then I will accomplish nothing. And boy did I accomplish something. Our place is practically spotless and most of my school work is complete. Another reason is because I enjoy kissing the Hubs when I am not a zombie. I like being warm blooded when I share something of that nature with him. So my kisses to and from him were when we were bright eyed and bushy tailed. And the last thing, I don't make resolutions. Anymore.
Resolutions are promises you make to yourself so that you can beat yourself up at the end of a few days of not keeping them. Resolutions are set up to make us failures. I don't know about you, but I don't want to start my year off as a failure. Statistically speaking, only 8% of the 39% of people that make resolutions, keep them. 8%. I am a math teacher and numbers make sense to me so here goes. There are approximately 314 million people in the US. Of those, approximately 122 million make a resolution. And of those, 1 million people keep them. I guess that is not too bad. But that means that there are 22 million people that are unsuccessful with their resolutions, sometimes as quickly as the first month.
But that is not why I don't make a resolution.
The ten most popular resolutions:
1. Lose weight. (Yes, I could lose some weight.)
2. Get organized. (Oh, boy could I ever.)
3. Spend less, save more. (Yep, that would be me.)
4. Enjoy life to the fullest. (Hmm. I like my life. I enjoy it.)
5. Stay fit and healthy. (That would be me.)
6. Learn something exciting. (I am a teacher. Learning is very important to me.)
7. Quit smoking. (Well, I would have to start to quit. So not going to happen.)
8. Help others in their dreams. (Again, I teach.)
9. Fall in love. (Check!)
10. Spend more time with family. (Yep. Could do some of that.)
So of the ten most popular resolutions, I could make seven of them. So it is not that I don't have resolutions to be made. Cause I definitely have some that could. It has nothing to do with that.
So why don't I make resolutions? A couple different reasons.
Numero uno. Why do I have to wait until the new year to start making a difference? I plan on losing weight and staying fit and healthy. When I say I plan, I've planned and have already started almost a month ago. I don't want to wait until the new year begins to start on something that is important, like my health. A couple years ago I decided I needed to change. I was not happy with the way I looked or felt. I knew I needed to do something about it. So I began working out and changing my diet that very same day. It just so happened to be the same week as the new year. Just a coincidence. Nothing more. And I accomplished my goal. But it was not a resolution.
Nummer zwei. If statistics are against me, why do something that will set me up for failure. The moment I mess up, I'm a failure. The moment I make a mistake, I couldn't handle it. I'm weak. But I'm not. I am human. Nothing more. As a human, my promises are fairly empty and meaningless. There is only One who has never broken a promise and that is Jesus Himself. All the promises He made have been kept or will be fulfilled in His time. I don't need to make another broken promise to myself and set myself up for failure.
Numero trois. I don't make resolutions because I make daily goals. Everyday when I wake up, I decide how I want my life to be different than the day before. I think about what can I do differently so that I am a better person than I was yesterday. What actions can I take so that my walk with God is closer? How can I let God use me? How can I let His light shine in me so that others see Him? That is not a New Year's Resolution. That is something I strive for every day, not just at the beginning of the year. I want each day to be new, not just the year. My goal is not to be a better person by the end of the year, but by the end of the day.
And it has to be a daily goal. But get this. If I mess up today, I can start over tomorrow. I don't have to wait until next year. My clean slate starts the moment I wake up. Not when the ball drops.
So whatever resolutions you have made for this new year, whether it be to lose weight, quit a habit, life changes, etc., make a daily goal. Wake up each morning with a way to be successful at it THAT day. And strive for better than yesterday. If you make a mistake. You can start over right then. Don't wait until next year. And most importantly, whatever changes you are striving for, give them to God. He is the only One that help you be successful. And He can make them easier. Give it to God. He's got this.
What will be your goal for today? You will succeed only By God's Amazing Grace.
It is a word that is tossed around all the time in the world of Christians. Sometimes it is tossed very lightly. Sometimes it is held on to too tightly. And sometimes it is just another word in the scheme of life.
But when you ask people what faith is, the definition does not come so easily. Some people say it is a belief. Some say it is trusting in something you can't see. Some say it is believing in something.
There are people that say that we need to strengthen our faith. That we need to have more faith. We need to have stronger faith. But what does all that mean? How do you strengthen your faith when you aren't exactly sure what faith is? How do you become strong in your faith? That is a good question.
I was listening to a sermon by David Asscherick called "Eyes Wide Shut". It is on YouTube if you want to look it up and watch it. I recommend you doing so. And, no, I am not being paid to have you watch it. This is not a plug in. But I really enjoyed the sermon. I am not going to rehash the sermon. I would rather you watch it than me tell you about it. But there are some things that really got my attention and got me to thinking.
The first is faith is seeing what God sees. It is not seeing what we see. Our imperfect vision cannot see through the eyes of God. But God can use our eyes to see like He does. So what does that mean, to see what God sees? I had a dream the other night that I was driving down the road. But I noticed up ahead that I could not see what was beyond a hump in the road. It looked almost like a roller coaster when you are about to go down a steep slope. You see nothing and feel like you are going to fall off the edge of the roller coaster. This is how I felt in my dream. I felt that there was no more road to drive on and that if I kept going, I would fall off the road and end up falling to my demise. This is seeing as I see. Not as God sees. I see with fear and trepidation. I see no end in sight. I see road blocks and detours. But God sees hope. He sees the road ahead. He sees safety. Through God's eyes, I should see the road that I cannot see. It is through His eyes that I know that I can keep going. Through His eyes, I am given His strength to continue. It is not about me. It is about Him. It is about following His direction. It is about His perfection in our imperfection. Believing in a perfect God in an imperfect world. And seeing perfectly through His eyes.
This is how Noah was able to build an ark. This is how Abraham was able to leave everything he knew to follow God. This is how Moses was able to lead the Israelites out of Egypt through the Red Sea. They were able to see what God saw even though they themselves could not see it.
The second point that really hit me is that through faith we are able to see ourselves as God sees us, others as God see them, and the world as God sees it. This really made me think. In Matthew 25: 31-46, Jesus tells a parable in which the righteous and unrighteous are separated on two sides. He called the righteous to Him because they fed Him, clothed Him, visited Him in prison and in the hospital. They did not understand how this was possible. How did they do these things for Jesus? Jesus said "If you did it to the least of these, you did it for me." The righteous were able to see the world as God saw it. They saw the needs of the people and saw them through the eyes of God.
If the righteous did these things to Jesus because they did it for others, then would it not be the same if we did unrighteous things to others? Would we not then also being doing them to Jesus? If we gossip, does that mean we are gossiping about Jesus? If we cheat in our relationships, then are we not also cheating on Jesus? If we hurt someone, are we not hurting Jesus as well?
Our actions take a lot more meaning than we give them. We should look at others as God looks at them. We should love others as God loves them.
How are we able to call ourselves Christians but not treat others as God would treat them? If we saw others as God saw them, this world would be a much better place to live in. There would be more love and less hate. There would be more fellowship and less distance. There would be more growing in Christ and less growing away from Christ. We need to have faith. And we need to express our faith. We need to see as God sees and share what we see through Him.
I want my faith to rest in the eyes of Jesus. I want to see what He sees and not what I see. I want to treat others as He would treat them. I want to love like He loves. I want THAT kind of faith. But this is only possible By God's Amazing Grace.
We woke up Friday morning to snow falling from the sky. It was a beautiful sight. Being from Texas, snow is a pretty new concept for the whole family. Especially in October. As we went down to the car, we noticed there was snow EVERYWHERE. We have an ice scrapper that we had to use once or twice in the past 30 years when I lived in Texas. So it was packed far away. We had to think quick on our feet as the snow was piled at least 2 inches on the car. The Hubs grabbed a bowl. Pretty ingenuitive.
We finally got the car to a point where all sides were clean and clear. We could see out from every window and in every mirror. So we were finally on our way. The streets were wet, but they were not icy.
When we finally arrived at our destination, school, we got Little Bit out of the car. By this point, she was officially awake and aware of what was happening. Once we put her down, she began jumping up and down and squealing with delight. "Snow! Snow! Look at the snow!" She was very excited. As a native Texan, she was very unfamiliar with this foreign white stuff falling from the sky. I was surprised she even knew what it was.
It was a very simple thing that got her excited.
It is amazing the things that get children excited.
She gets excited when she sees a playground. It is very hard to keep her contained. She gets excited when she sees food. She expects it to go in her tummy immediately. She gets excited when we sing to her. "I want another song. Just one more." Of course she says this 50 times. Haha. She gets excited when it is time to talk to Jesus. She enjoys her conversations with Him. She gets excited when it is Sabbath. "I want go church and sing songs and learn about Jesus!" It is amazing to see her get excited about these things.
I think this is what Jesus meant when He said "Verily I say unto you, Unless you be converted, and become as little children, you will not enter the kingdom of Heaven."
I want to be excited like Little Bit. I want that joy that she has. Now I can do without the jumping up and down and incorrect grammar, but I do want the excitement. I don't know about you, but my goal is to enter the kingdom of Heaven. I want to spend eternity with God.
We should let the little things, especially the things about God, excite us. But this is only possible By God's Amazing Grace!
I had quite an adventure today. I rode the city bus for the first time. Ever. In my life.
Little Bit and I left our place at about 6 this morning. The roads were dark. Not a whole lot of lighting. There were actually quite a few people out at 6 in the morning. There were joggers, walkers, dog walkers, and of course lots of drivers.
So Little Bit and I are walking along the dark road to the bus stop, which was a little less than a mile from our place. As I am walking, I hear quick foot steps coming my way, which of course puts me on edge. It was just a runner in a bright orange jacket. Then there is the sound of dog footsteps. And of course his owner. Every time I hear a noise, I'm like "whoa", "what's that", "don't hurt me", "ahhhh". You should have been in my head. I am sure it was hilarious.
So we finally make it the bus stop. I am so focused on the soon to be arriving bus that I am not aware of what is to come. I once again hear feet pounding in my direction. When the woman in orange is less than 2 feet away from me, I practically screamed. I think I scared the poor woman. She stopped running.
"Are you okay?" She asks.
In a whining voice I replied, "Yeah, I'm ok. I am just really nervous because I have never ridden the bus before and I am a little scared and I am not sure of what to do."
The world stops for a few seconds with the next words out of her mouth. "Would you like me to pray with you?"
I think I finally let the air out before I answered her. "I would love that."
The bus ride was very smooth. Well, I am not sure I would call it a smooth ride. But there were no kinks in the bus ride. Little Bit laid her head on my lap and curled up beside me. People were friendly. Well, some of them. The others I am not sure of, but I think it was best to keep it that way.
Overall, I had a good experience on the bus. I had nothing to be worried about.
Haha. Yep. Absolutely nothing. Didn't God tell me that already? He said in Matthew 6:34 to not worry about tomorrow because tomorrow can worry about itself. And in John 14:27, Jesus said, "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. I do not give as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid."
Well. I failed that test, huh?!
But the verse that really got me: Proverbs 12:25, "An anxious heart weighs down a man, but a kind word cheers him up." I was so anxious that I didn't even see the woman coming. But not just her kind word, but her kind gesture cheered me up. It took away my anxiety. And she reminded me that God was still near even in my time of fear and anxiety.
God provided the right person at the right time to provide the right words and the right actions. This is possible only By God's Amazing Grace.
It was 1993 and I was in the 5th grade. Thanksgiving was here, as was a rare snow/ice storm in Dallas, Texas. Along with Thanksgiving came football. This game was the Cowboys against the Dolphins. I remember that game quite well, as do most people who watched it that day.
The Boys were ahead, not by much, with only a few seconds left on the clock. The Dolphins kicked a field goal, which was then blocked by the Boys. While they were celebrating, Leon Lett went after the ball, only to lose it and the Dolphins regained control of the ball and kicked a successful field goal for the win.
Cowboy fans were devastated. But I remember when I went back the school the following Monday, each one of us 5th graders wrote a letter to Jimmy Johnson to let him know we still supported the Boys and how we weren't mad at Leon Lett. I don't remember everything I wrote in my letter, but I do remember saying how I did not blame Lett for the lose. It could have happened to anyone. We actually received a response from Jimmy Johnson. It was pretty awesome!
Twenty years have passed. Yet if you Google Leon Lett, you will find this story. He was an excellent player who made a few mistakes in the game. But this mistake is the one that is highlighted in his career. Nothing he can do will change it or erase it. It is forever in the minds of the fans, players, viewers. It has gone down in history.
His mistake will not be erased out of the books.
Nolan Ryan was one of the best pitchers on the Texas Rangers. While he pitched for the Rangers, he had 6 shut outs and 939 strike outs. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1999. And he is currently the owner of the Rangers. But according to his stats, he has committed 90 errors over his whole career, 5 of which were in Texas. (http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/ryanno01.shtml)
As great of a player as Nolan Ryan was, he still has errors attached to his record in baseball. They cannot be erased or hidden. They are there for everyone to see.
I am a player on the team human race. Have been for a few decades now. My stats are being recorded in a Book in Heaven. The good, the bad, and the ugly. But something that is amazing about my stats versus the stats of Leon Lett and Nolan Ryan: When I repent of my errors and ask for forgiveness, they are erased from the Book. 1 John 1:9 says "if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgives us our sins and cleanse of all unrighteousness."
It doesn't matter how much Leon Lett and Nolan Ryan ask for forgiveness. It doesn't matter how much they repent of their errors. The mistakes and errors will always be listed on their stats. Their mistakes will always be remembered in the sporting world.
But God is a forgiving and just God. Yes, we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 2:23), but God sent His only Son to die on the cross for us so that our sins can be forgiven. So we can have eternal life (John 3:16). "Though my sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Though they are like crimson, they will be like wool." Isaiah 1:18. God will throw our sins into the depths of the sea to be forgotten (Micah 7:19).
But there is a catch. We have to ask for our sins to be forgiven. We have to confess our sins. And not to just anyone. To God. And to whomever you have hurt/offended/sinned against.
I pray that my stats are clean in the Book and my name is written in the Book of Life. This is only possible By God's Amazing Grace.
