God's Power

Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised, and His greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts. On the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on your wondrous works, I will meditate. They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds, and I will declare your greatness. Psalm 145:3-6

This morning, during my time with God, I realized that I don't reflect on the power of God enough. I too often fail to recognize the power of God. I too often fail to share with others how the power of God is at work in my life, in this world. I don't meditate on the splendor of God's majesty or on His works. Yet it is all around me. So this morning, I chose to do just that. I chose to meditate on God's power and to declare His power to others.

• God's power can be seen in the miracle of human life, how the body can heal itself, how all of the organs work together to give life, how the body protects itself from disease, how the human mind has the capacity to think and create and make decisions.
• God's power can be seen in the beauty of His creation. Blooming flowers, mountains, the beach, the birds, even the bugs!
• God's power can be experienced through the sacrifice of Jesus for the atonement of our sins. While God cannot stand sin, he created a way for us to stand before Him. While we are found unholy and found unclean, through Jesus' death on the cross and resurrection we can be found redeemed.
• God's power can be known through His universal presence in our lives. The Psalmist wrote in Psalm 139 that we can never go anywhere away from the presence of God. A.W. Tozer puts it this way, "We never need shout across the spaces to an absent God. He is nearer than our most secret thoughts."
• God's power can be seen in the storms. He has control of the wind, the waves, the lightening, the thunder, the rain. He can destroy and He can protect.
• God's power can be known through the storms in our lives. Many times He uses those storms to position us to where we need to be to be used by Him!
• God's power can be seen through His blessings.
• God's power can be seen through His providence. We are not independent creatures moving along haphazardly or coincidentally. God is in control of all things and guides us through life according to His plan, even if we don't recognize it!
• God's power can be seen through the innocence of a child.
• God's power can be experienced when we allow Him to help us overcome our fears.
• God's power can be known in our surrender.

As I was thinking of the power of God, an old hymn came to mind, I Sing The Almighty Power of God, by Isaac Watts. I went and got a hymnal to read through the words, and one line stuck out.

"While all the borrows life from thee is ever in thy care,
And everywhere that man can be, Thou, God, art present there."

Borrowing life. Wow! Imagine how different this world would be if Christians lived their lives with the attitude that all life is borrowed, that our time is on loan from God. I know that I would treat it more carefully, that I would appreciate it more, that I would take care of it in a different way. Think about the last time you borrowed something from someone, something they treasured. You treated it as if it were porcelain glass. You wanted to return it in better condition than when you borrowed it! Oh, that I would live my life that way!

When I was a very young child, my dad worked for the Georgia Baptist Children's Home. We lived in a house that belonged to the organization. The carpet in the dining room was white. Because this was a "borrowed" home, my mom went to great lengths to take care of this carpet, so far as to put a sheet under my chair when we ate. She didn't want me to drop something on the carpet that would leave a stain. I was only 2 or 3 years old, but I remember this experience to this day. I didn't want to eat with a sheet under my chair! I thought I was a big girl. It was embarrassing!!! But my mother was doing whatever she had to do to protect what someone had so generously put into her care.

We are living on borrowed time. We should make the most of it. We should take great care of the life we've been given, but not for our own glory, but so that our God might be pleased, so that the One who so generously gives us life will alone receive the glory, so that the One who is all powerful may be proclaimed throughout the earth! In the verses above, note the command we've all been given to commend the acts of God to the generations that come behind us. What a tall order, and one that I fail at so often, and most often because I fail to recognize the power of my God, and because I live my life as if it's my own. I don't want to do this anymore!

God, open my eyes to see your power, to see your goodness, to see your majesty. And give me the grace to give you the glory for your might! And through your power, may my hope in You alone be ever made strong. You so generously allow me to borrow life. I want to live it for your glory!

The Cross in the Spider's Web

He will guard the feet of his faithful ones, but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness, for not by might shall a man prevail. 1 Samuel 2:9

Several weeks ago on my vacation, I was out walking one evening, enjoying God's beauty in the mountains when I was suddenly stopped in my tracks. I realized there was a huge spider web in front of me. I only saw the spider web because of some pinestraw that was hanging in it. I was even more surprised when I realized the pine straw was naturally hanging in the shape of a cross. The web itself was beautiful, but the straw in the shape of the cross inside of the spider web made me want to take a picture. When I did, this is what happened. I promise, no editing was done to this photo. The cross was not drawn in. I guess the flash of the camera, mixed with the lighting of early evening, naturally created this effect. I even took a second picture just to make sure, and it turned out the same. I was struck by the lesson this image provides. The cross prevented me from walking into the web. The cross guided my path away from "danger." My Jesus, who gave His life on a cross for the atonement of my sins, does the same thing, if only I will listen to his voice. As promised in the verse above, He will guard my feet as I follow His path. Another thing that struck me as odd is that I was intending to take a picture of the cross inside the spider web, but the spider web didn't even show up in the picture. The pinestraw making the cross is so illuminated, and the spider web, while it seemed big and overpowering at the time, can't even be seen. Another image to serve as a reminder of how powerful our Savior is! Jesus, the Light of the World, overpowering all darkness. Wow!

A Lingering Smell

I came home from vacation last week and noticed that something didn't quite smell right. Since the cat's litter box is right there near the door, I figured she must have been feeling a bit uneasy in the three days I was gone. That had to be the source of the smell. I promptly emptied the litter box and went about my business. The next day, there was still a smell. I checked the trash (which I had emptied as I walked out the door for my trip), I checked to see if there was any bad food in the refrigerator or pantry, but I found nothing. I kind of shrugged it off and continued about the day. On Saturday morning, I woke up, and the smell had moved from the front of the house to the back of the house. I had a busy day at church, so I decided on my way home that evening I would buy some of that carpet fresh powder stuff. Maybe it was in the carpet. Surely that would get rid of the smell. Well, my clean linen smell lasted about 15 minutes, and it didn't really mix well with the odor that was consuming the house. But I forged on. On Sunday, the smell was really bad in the back of the house. I wasn't there most of the day, so it wasn't too big of a deal until Sunday evening. I again checked the refrigerator and trash cans. I joked on the phone with my dad that there was something dead in my house. Okay, I must say that this option really freaked me out. I don't do well with dead things! So, I tried to ignore the smell for another day. Finally, on Tuesday I thought, I should check under the crawl space of the house. I opened up the door and found standing water (with mold on top) right inside the door. I didn't really see anymore water, but I figured that had to be the source of this odor. Since I live in campus housing, I told our Director of Maintenance, and since it was the end of the day, he promised to check it out the next morning.

That evening when I got home around 8:15, the odor nearly knocked me over as I went in the door. It was horrible! I began to wonder what I should do. My dad offered to pay for a night in a hotel, but I didn't really want that. That idea of something dead inside my house kept creeping up to the front of my mind. I finally concluded that my inside cat must have killed something while I was on vacation and left it for me to find. Let me state again, I don't do well with dead things. I don't want to see them. I don't want to know what they looked like. I don't want anything to do with it! I went through my list of friends who would be willing to come over that late in the evening and search my house for this dead animal. I finally decided to take advantage of living on campus with a police force and called one of the officers on duty. This is how the conversation went:

Jimmy: Hello
Kim: I need a favor. It's kind of personal.
Jimmy: Okay. What is it?
Kim: There is something dead in my house, and I will pay you if you will come find it and get rid of it.

After some laughter he promised to be there in a few minutes. He, too, was nearly knocked over by the smell at the door. With his experience with dead things as a cop, he said immediately, "Yeah, that's the smell of death." Now this did not make me feel better, but I accompanied him as he looked behind couches, in closets, and more to try to find the source of the smell. He was baffled like me because there seemed to be no place in the house where the smell was strongest. It seemed impossible to pinpoint where it was coming from. I finally decided to show him what I had found under the house. He saw the moldy water, but was not so sure that small amount could cause such a putrid smell through the entire house. He took his flashlight and started looking through the vents (I don't know if that's what they're called, but that's what they look like)on the outside of the house. When he got to the last one, he found the source of the smell. A dead cat! That vent was broken leaving a small hole open so that an animal could get under the house, and there was even fur on the broken part.

As he tried to recover from the smell, I was racking my brain trying to figure out who to call to come get this dead cat. I certainly wasn't going to ask Jimmy to do it. First of all, that's not his job as a campus safety officer. Secondly, Jimmy is over 6 feet tall. Not exactly the size of person who could easily crawl under the house. Thirdly, the smell was horrific. I wouldn't have even asked my worst enemy to go under there if they weren't being paid to do so. But Jimmy offered. He had to get the other officer on duty to bring the mask and filter that police officers use to handle dead bodies and such, but he got it out. And I am so very thankful. It was quite the adventure as the cat's body was covered with maggots and the inside was full of beetles. I know, nice mental picture, huh? The great thing was, I never had to see it. He kept trying to get me to look at it, but I refused, seeing as how I don't like dead things!

Okay, now to the point of this post. After all of that was over and the cat was gone, I went back into my house on a mission to get rid of the odor. I burned several candles throughout the house for several hours. I sprayed cinnamon room deodorizer.

But the smell of death lingered.

This morning when I said that aloud to myself, the Holy Spirit brought something to mind. Is this how I live my life? It's how I lived my life yesterday, and several people noticed it. In defeat. Do I live in the lingering smell of death from the cross? Sometimes I find myself there. I fail to recognize that through the death and resurrection of Jesus, I have victory. He did not stay dead. The women, who were braver than I am about dead things, went to put the burial spices on Jesus' body that third day. I bet they were expecting to find the lingering smell of death. But they didn't! They found an empty tomb, and because of that empty tomb, we have the victory! I don't have to live in defeat. I don't have to live with the lingering smell of death. I don't have to settle for that attitude or for that life! Paul says it like this in his letter to the Romans:

"Now that we are set right with God by means of this sacrificial death, the consummate blood sacrifice, there is no longer a question of being at odds with God in any way. If, when we were at our worst, we were put on friendly terms with God by the sacrificial death of his Son, now that we're at our best, just think of how our lives will expand and deepen by means of his resurrection life! Now that we have actually received this amazing friendship with God, we are no longer content to simply say it in plodding prose. We sing and shout our praises to God through Jesus, the Messiah!" Romans 5:9-10 (The Message)

Heavenly Father, may I not live in the lingering smell of death, but in the hope of the resurrected life through my Lord, Savior, and friend, your Son, Jesus Christ.

Vacation 2009

It's been a long time since I've been on vacation and actually done vacation type things. Usually, my "vacations" mean taking a few days off work, sitting around the house, catching up on those things I have desperately wanted to do for so long, or visiting my parents. Last year I spent my vacation in class from 8 am to 5 pm every day! But this year I decided I needed to take a real vacation. So, I called up my friend Teresa, made plans to head to the mountains, and decided to do whatever I wanted (well, within reason).

We went to Bryson City, NC. While there's not much in this little town, it is full of friendly people and the area offers no shortage of outdoor activities to keep one busy. We stayed in this little cabin off the beaten path. When I say little, I mean little, but it was cute and clean and fit into our budget quite nicely. Here's a picture of the satellite TV they adverstised!

Yeah, it wasn't much, but it gave us a good laugh. I felt like Laura Ingalls all week because my bed was in the sleeping attic! Yes, I had to actually climb a ladder every night to get up there. Let's just say I made sure I went to the bathroom right before I went to bed each night. It was too much trouble to climb up and down multiple times! The guy who owns the cabins, Joe, was really nice and was always helpful. So, if you're looking for a place to stay in that area, I highly suggest the Cabins at Nantahala (http://www.cabinsatnantahala.com/) Just make sure you go in a vehicle with 4 wheel drive. That hill has to be at a 70 degree incline! It's a tough drive and a tough walk!

On the first day we drove over to Fontana Dam. I was excited about this because I read on a website that you could actually ride a tram down to the bottom of the dam and tour the Power House. Okay, yes, I'm getting old when I want to do something educational on my vacation, but I'll own up to it! Unfortunately, they stopped all of that after 9/11 for security reasons. I don't think they've updated the visitor's center at the dam since 1978, but it was interesting all the same. This dam was built over a three year time period during World War II, when the country needed another power supply. It's made mostly out of concrete because of the difficulty in getting steel into the mountainous area in a timely fashion. Most of the work force was brought in because the local workers were either away fighting in the war or were driven from their land and homes because of the construction of the dam (more on that below). Anyway, it's pretty interesting to see. They get a lot of hikers from the Appalachian Trail over that way since the trail actually crosses the dam. We ran into a few of those as well.

After lunch at Fontana Village (which interestingly was built to serve as the town/dormitories/barracks for the people building the dam), we headed back to Bryson City to find the Road to Nowhere. It really and truly exists. You see, when the government came in to build the dam and the resulting Fontana Lake in the 40s, hundreds of families lost their land. Some sold out to the government. Some refused and were forced off of their land for "the public good." Much of the land was flooded by the creation of the lake. The rest of the land was designated National Forest land. A major highway leading into the area was flooded by lake, and the government promised to come back in and build a new road so that families could visit cemetaries whose access was blocked due to the formation of the lake. They built about a six mile stretch, including a bridge and a tunnel, but construction was halted in the 1960s because of environmental issues. When that was cleared up, there was no money or interest for continuing the construction of the road. To this day, the Tennessee Valley Authority provides boat rides across Fontana Lake to family members throughout the year so that they can visit family burial grounds. The local residents designated this partial road as "The Road to Nowhere." It's a pretty sad story, but the road and the tunnel have become a tourist attraction of sorts. Hiking trails abound in the area through the Great Smokey Mountains National Forest. So we set out to travel down the Road to Nowhere. I had a lot of fun inside the tunnel because of the acoustics! I don't think my friend Teresa was as excited as me. You see, I was singing and making noises throughout the tunnel, just listening to the echoes. She kept saying, "Shut up. This is the place where the girls go missing and they just find their shoes." It was kind of desolate. I was reminded of the time when I was a little girl and my family went on vacation to Kentucky, including a visit to Mammoth Cave. My mom's main memory from that experience is me singing Jesus Loves Me at the top of my lungs throughout the tour of the cave. She says I just wouldn't stop! She was embarrassed then just like Teresa was on this trip. All joking aside, the story of this area just breaks my heart. So sad for those families, but I guess there is a price for progress. There has apparently been a lot of political debate about this issue, too. I see both sides of the issue, and I'm not so sure there is a solution that would make anyone happy. One day, I want to hike the trail that leads past the tunnel. They say there are lots of bears in that area. Sounds like another vacation plan to me!

After our trip down the Road to Nowhere, we went Gem Mining. Now I'm convinced that this is the only reason Teresa agreed to go on this trip to me. She is not a mountain person, nor does she really like the outdoors. Several years ago, though, she saw a documentary on the Travel Channel about Gem Mining in the NC mountains. She has wanted to go since that time. We kind of laughed at her, and I offered to make her a box with a piece of screen attached to it and a bag of dirt so that she could share in the experience. This was not enough for her. She wanted the "real" thing. So, we went gem mining.

While we did find some stuff, the part of this that is fun is the actual search and the anticipation of what you just might find! We both found some amethist, fools gold, topaz, and as the man at the Gem Mining store put it, "some really beautiful rocks!" Regardless of what we found or didn't find, we had a great time doing it!

The next day included a ride on a jet boat on Fontana Lake. While I'm not sure it was worth the price I paid, it was definitely fun. And it was a beautiful ride. More on that in a subsequent blog post...I promise! The second half of the day found us whitewater tubing at Deep Creek. This has to be the most economical and family friendly activity around. You can seriously rent a tube for $5 from 9 am to 8 pm and ride the rapids as many times as you wish. There are picnic tables and grills at the end of the tubing run, great for picnics and fun! You do have to carry your tube about 3/4 mile up the trail to the put in spot, but it's well worth it. Now Teresa didn't make it all the way up the trail. The "whitewater" on the way kind of made her uneasy, but I continued on. I inadvertantly joined a church youth group in front of me. It's not like I could help it too much. I just had to go where the water took me! I did this as a child at summer camp, and it was just as much fun as I remember! I can't wait to go back!

Finally, a few other "gems" we found along the way. One was an ice cream shop in Bryson City called Soda Pops! It has lots of the old fashioned stuff that most ice cream places don't make anymore. We went twice! The owner is a really nice guy who makes the best Chocolate Ice Cream Sodas! They also have real fresh squeezed lemonade and orangeade! If you ever find yourself in the area, I suggest you stop in for a treat.

Also, on Wednesday night we ate at this place, cause I don't know really what else to call it, called Pittsburghs Grill. It's a great place to eat after rafting or kayaking, or just if you're hungry! You sit outside, there's only two choices (a pittsburger or a pulled pork sandwich), and the food is free! That's right. All free. You only have to pay $7 for reserved seating. You see, the owner cooks the food, fresh to order, on a wood fire grill. If he called himself a restaurant or food stand, he would have to cook on something else, therefore compromising the taste. So, you just have to pay $7 to sit down and you get your choice of a burger, pork sandwich, chips and drink for free! The food is great, and the company is even greater. You'll get the chance to meet Little Girl, a part lab part German Shephard mix, and you might even see a wolf while you're eating! Yes, I real, live wolf...fully domesticated though. Again, if you're in the area, stop by, take a seat, relax, enjoy the atmosphere, and the great food!

Well, that's it for Vacation 2009. It was a great week of relaxing, enjoying God's beautiful creation, and having lots of fun! Can't wait for another vacation, and I'm not even back at work yet!

Remember When?

This weekend I went on a whirlwind trip around Upstate South Carolina to attend several wedding/wedding related events. On my way home Saturday evening, I stopped at a gas station in Union, SC to fill up. My friend Trina laughed at me, okay, I laughed at myself, too, as I stood standing at the gas pump unsure of what to do. You see, this gas station didn't have pay at the pump. It's been so long since I've bought gas at a gas station without pay at the pump that I forgot what to do. I seriously stood there and stared at the gas pump like an idiot!

The experience got me thinking about all of the other things, technology upgrades and cultural changes that have changed how we do things, so much that we often forget what we did or how we did before! Here is my list of remember whens:

1. Remember when to change the channel on the TV you actually had to get up and turn the nob. Now, this wasn't all that bad since there were only about 12 channels to choose from and two of them were those UHF and the other letter one that were just fuzz, at least on my TV. I also remember that the adults in my life used me and other kids as the channel changers. Hmmm...

2. Remember when you really only did have 12 channels to choose from, and in my hometown, three of those were duplicates. We got two NBCs, two ABCs, and two CBSs. So not fair! Oh, and I fondly remember those Disney Channel free preview weekends. I was so excited to get to see the Mickey Mouse Club and KIDS Incorporated. Now I have over 100 channels and still sometimes can't find something to watch. Something is wrong with that!

3. Remember when you had only three choices for the color of the text and graphics (I use that term liberally in this instance) on the computer screen: green, amber, or blue. How far we've come!

4. Remember when the locks on car doors were manual. Parents had to do that long stretch reach to open the passenger side doors and the doors in the backseat for their kids! It made it a lot easier to "break in" to the car when you accidentally locked your keys inside, too. And everyone was responsible for locking their own door when they got out. I sure got in trouble for forgetting that when I was a child!

5. Remember when you needed information on some topic and you actually had to go to the library, look up a book in the card catalog (which incidentally had actual cards) and go find the book, spending hours getting the information you needed. I don't think they even call them card catalogs anymore. It's the Library Database. If they do, some kid, or teenager, is going to ask that question one day that will make me feel as old as the punch card computer system...why is it called a card catalog??? Now, if you need information, for instance, lyrics to a song, you just sit down at the computer and find the info. in seconds! I'm so thankful for this upgrade!!!

6. Remember when the first cordless phones came out and they only had the pulse dialing. It was as bad as having a rotary phone. And, if you ever had a rotary phone in your house and were trying to win a contest on a radio station, say you needed to be the ninth caller, you had to move the radio by the phone, dial all of the numbers except the last one, until they open the lines for the contest. Oh, and if you were in a hurry, it was such a pain to have a number with a zero in it. It took forever to dial!

7. Remember when you heard a song on the radio and wanted a copy, you had to wait until the song came on again, be ready with your trusty tape player and record the song from the radio broadcast! You got the DJ and any background noise in the room. This was when top 10 countdown shows and nightly request and dedication shows were very important. You knew you were guaranteed to hear the song then! You always had to be prepared. And oh, the horror, if someone accidentally recorded over your favorite song. Oh, how I love you iTunes!!! And my Blackberry for that matter. Just last week I heard a portion of a song on my way to church that I just had to hear again. I recognized the artist's voice, looked it up on the internet while stopped at a red light, found the song on youtube and listened to it the rest of the way to church! Wow...we've come so far.

8. Remember when TV dinners came in metal pans that had to be cooked in the oven. And the only good parts were the Mac N Cheese and the brownie! But you had to be careful because if it was cooked too long, the brownie would be too hard to eat. Yum!!!

9. Remember when people actually kept a collection of maps of different states in the glove box of the car, just in case. Okay, maybe this was just my family. I remember stopping at the welcome centers for each state (which were on major US highways at that time, not interstates) to get a free map! And the welcome center going into Florida on US 1 also gave away free orange juice and grapefruit juice. Always a stop for our family!!! It's so sad to drive by there now. I think they finally tore the abandoned building down. But the GPS has replaced the need for maps. Much more compact and you don't have to figure out how to fold it back the right way in a small confined space. GPS might just be a gift from God!

10. Remember when McDonalds used their own characters to make their playground equipment. No ball pits or tube slides. There were the fry kids on springs. The Hamburglar had the thing where you climbed up the ladder, and played inside the hamburger, like a prison (maybe I should rethink how great this was...) and if you were really adventurous, you could climb up the ladder and look out the hole of his hat. Grimace was a cage like thing where you got in and shook it from side to side, but I remember needing several kids to make this work the right way, or at least to make it fun. The Captain Crook slide...just a slide people, but so much fun! And the see saw thing. Not sure what characters were on it, but oh well. And we can't forget Ronald McDonald. He wasn't really a piece of the playground. He just kind of watched over everything. It doesn't sound like much fun now that I've described it. Maybe that's why McDonalds opted for the current versions of their playgrounds!

11. Remember when you actually had to wash dishes by hand, oh wait, I still have to do that! I am my own dishwasher. Fun times...

What's on your list of "Remember when?"

Sharks? That Can't Be Him...

Tonight I caught a bit of the movie Finding Nemo on TV. In the scene I saw, the bird (don't know his name) rushed to tell Nemo that his father had traveled the whole ocean just to find him, fighting sharks and jellyfish, and all other kinds of things. Nemo, from inside the fish tank at the dentist's office, immediately changes moods. He goes from excitement to doubt. He says, "Sharks? That can't be him."

I was immediately struck by how similiar Nemo's response to this news about his father is to my own in regards to my Heavenly Father. Too often, I doubt His power. Too often, I doubt His love. Too often I doubt His grace. Too often, I fail to remember the lengths at which my God has already traveled just for me. He loves me. He's promised to care for me. He's promised a future for me! There is no God like my God!

"Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised, and His greatness is unsearchable!" Psalm 145:3

Why?

So, we all ask why from time to time. I just thought I'd make a list of the "whys" currently running through my brain.

1. Why did the DOT spend over 2 years widening less than 1/2 mile of a stretch of the road that leads to my house, only for the water works people to come in just after completion and tear two big holes in the new road, redirecting traffic again, for months!

2. Why does my computer forget that it has a CD-R/DVD-R drive from time to time? Seriously, why? And it's always at the least opportune time, too!

3. Why did the creator's of Sony Vegas not make a pan/zoom feature that is easy and usable?

4. Why am I so good about hanging up my clothes at the beginning of the week, but by Wednesday, the chair in my bedroom is covered again?

5. Why do I continue to eat corn? I know it messes up my digestive system, but I keep on eating it. (probably more info. than anyone wanted to know!)

6. Why does every entertainment news source keep putting Spencer and Heidi in front of my face? And why do I perpetuate the madness by reading and watching it? It's like watching a car wreck. I don't want to see it, but I can't look away.

7. Why are Jon and Kate continuing this madness? I wish, for the sake of their family, and the rest of us, they would bow out gracefully, buy out their contract with TLC, and handle all of the family drama in private. This is not meant to be a judgment. I really feel bad for them, and regardless of who did what, I truly believe God can provide restoration to their marriage and family. I just wish they would do it in private, especially for the children!

8. Why am I so enthralled by reality/unscripted TV?

9. Why does my cat decide to lay down on any kind of reading material I place on the table?

10. Why am I writing this blog instead of doing my 30 Day Shred workout?

11. Why would a mother leave her two toddler-aged children unattended and unsecured in a running car while she goes inside the drug store? The little boy, no older than two, was sitting in the driver's seat, pretending that he was driving the car. Keys in the ignition, car running. Could have been disaster. And the mother was inside on her phone oblivious to the danger! Really?

12. And finally, why did Sonic have to be so crowded tonight that I didn't get my free root beer float? Oh well, Bruster's was better anyway! I had Fudge Ripple. I haven't had that since I was a child! Great memories!!!

Dug Up and Dethroned

The house next to mine is vacant. It's been vacant for close to three years now. Since the last residents moved out, not one shrub had been trimmed, until a few weeks ago. I asked my "landlord" to have someone trim the 8 foot tall azalea bushes and other random shrubs that were making the house, and the whole street, look abandoned. I know abandoned houses attract varmin, of the animal and human variety, and I wanted to avoid that at all costs. In an effort to show my support of this project, I even spent 3 hours one evening cutting and trimming with my hedge clippers that were no match for these massive branches. I did clean out two huge piles of honeysuckle vine, and I was quite proud of myself.

Then, Friday morning came, and when I left for work, the men had just shown up to "trim" the shrubs. I didn't exactly get what I was hoping for. I can imagine the conversation went something like this.

Jed: "Tom, you know, if we trim these shrubs today, we're just going to have to do it again sometime."

Tom: "You're right, Jed."

Jed: "And you know Tom, they're planning to tear this house down in the near future. No one's going to live here again. Why trim the shrubs? You thinking what I'm thinking?"

Tom: "Yep, Jed. I think I am. Let's just get rid of them all."


And that's what they did. I got home to find nary a bush or shrub around the house. Everything was gone. They had dug up all of those plants from their roots. Instead of the house looking abandoned, now it looks naked. I had to laugh, realizing that those grounds keepers certainly know how to eliminate work for themselves! If I had known they were going to take that route, I certainly wouldn't have wasted 3 hours of my time trimming and pruning. I wasn't really mad, but I was a little frustrated.

And then I read something in my Bible a few days later that made me see this situation in a completely different light. I am currently reading A.W. Tozer's The Pursuit of God. In Chapter 2, he discusses Abraham and the sacrifice of Isaac. We find the story in Genesis 22. Basically, Isaac is Abraham's long promised son. And God asks him to take Isaac up to the mountain where God would show him and sacrifice Isaac. Abraham was obedient and took Isaac up the mountain, got so far as to tie him up and lay him on the altar and raise his knife to kill him when God stops the whole thing. Instead, God provided a ram for the sacrifice. Isaac was spared.

I always read this story and saw it as a test of Abraham's faith. And I think it was, but Tozer's commentary on the passage helped me view it in a new context. You see, Isaac meant everything to Abraham. Tozer explains,

"Abraham was old when Isaac was born, old enough to have been his grandfather,
and the child became at once his delight and idol of his heart. From the
moment he first stooped to take the tiny form awkwardly in his arms, he
was an eager love slave of his son. God went out of His way to comment
on the strength of this affection. And it is not hard to understand. The baby represented everything sacred to his father's heart: the promises of God, the covenants, the hopes of the years and the long messianic dream. As he watched him grow from babyhood to young manhood, the heart of the old man was knit closer and closer with the life of his son, till at last the relationship bordered upon the perilous. It was then that God stepped in to save both father and son from the consequences of an uncleansed love." (p. 24)

Abraham started to put his love for Isaac above His love for God. He made Isaac an idol of his heart. Not too long ago, I had an idol of my heart...okay, I've had many in my lifetime and probably several right now, but let's focus on this one particular one. It wasn't that this idol was bad in and of itself, in fact, it was good. It was exciting and exhilarating. It made me feel good. It made me feel alive. And I wanted to honor God through this idol, but somewhere along the way, I took God off the throne of my heart and put this idol in His place. I was willing to change the course of my life for this idol. But at the same time, I honestly wanted to seek after God. I loved God, but I also loved this idol, and not in the right order.

So what does God do for his children who are honestly seeking Him but place an idol on the throne of their hearts? Let's go back to the story of Abraham. God has finally given him a son as he promised, and now he command's his servant to give him up? This makes no sense! Or does it? Tozer explains it this way,

"Now he was a man wholly surrendered, man utterly obedient, a man who possessed nothing. He had concentraed his all in the person of his dear son and God had taken it from him. God could have begun out on the margin of Abraham's life and worked inward to the center. He chose rather to cut quickly to the heart and have it over in one sharp act of separation. In dealing thus, He practiced an economy of means and time. It hurt cruelly, but it was effective." (p. 27)

I had asked for the bushes at the house next door to be trimmed. Instead, they ripped them from the ground at their roots. They got rid of them completely. Trimming would have resulted in those shrubs growing tall again. Trimming would have resulted in more work in the future. Digging them up from the root, however, removed the issue all together. Now those workers can put their focus on things that matter. And when we place idols on the thrones of our hearts, God sometimes does the same thing with us in order to get his rightful place back. He did it with me and my idol. It was stripped from me in one fell swoop! And it was painful. And I questioned. But it was a matter of obedience. It was a matter of the heart, and I want God on the throne of my heart. I don't want an idol or idols there.

It's the same with sin. If we recognize sin in our lives and try to prune away at the edges, thinking this will at least diminish the sin's reach, the sin remains. We must get rid of it at the root. We must destroy it from the middle. Trimming the edges will never extinguish the sin from our lives. It will only cut it back for a time. And the destruction of the root only comes through repentance, not suppression!

It's so easy to put idols on the thrones of our hearts. And they may be good things. A job, a relationship, money, fame, even ministry opportunities. But only one person deserves to be on the throne of our hearts. And if you are earnestly seeking God, don't be surprised if sooner or later he brings you to the testing place. As Tozer says, "At that testing place there will be no dozen possible choices for us - just one and an alternative - but our whole future will be conditioned by the choice we make."

Removing the Veil - A.W. Tozer

Below is an excerpt from A.W. Tozer's book, The Pursuit of God. I don't want to live my life on this side of the veil. I want to be ever in the Presence of my living God!


"Everything in the New Testament accords with this Old Testament picture. [of the Tabernacle] Ransomed men need no longer pause in fear to enter the Holy of Holies. God wills that we should push on into His Presence and live our whole life there. This is to be known to us in conscious experience. It is more than a doctrine to be held, it is a life to be enjoyed every moment of every day. This Flame of the Presence was the beating heart of the Levitical order. Without it all the appointments of the tabernacle were characters of some unknown language; they had no meaning for Israel or for us. The greatest fact of the tabernacle was that Jehovah was there; a Presence was waiting within the veil. Similarly the Presence of God is the central fact of Christianity. At the heart of the Christian message is God Himself waiting for His redeemed children to push in to conscious awareness of His Presence. That type of Christianity which happens now to be the vogue knows this Presence only in theory. It fails to stress the Christian’s privilege of present realization.

According to its teachings we are in the Presence of God positionally, and nothing is said about the need to experience that Presence actually. And the present generation of Christians measures itself by this imperfect rule. Ignoble contentment takes the place of burning zeal. We are satisfied to rest in our JUDICIAL possessions and for the most part we bother ourselves very little about the absence of personal experience." (from Chapter 3)