That Good Part

I have a new laptop. Well, new to me, as it once belonged to my daughter before the hard drive blew up, causing the loss of a multitude of pictures, information and subsequently, dollars when she replaced it with a Mac. Wanting one computer for work and one for the rest of everything in my life, I decided rescue it from the trash, and replace the drive so here I sit, with the technological equivalent of a clean slate. It's odd to have a computer that looks almost exactly like your old one, only to find it empty of everything familiar. Click the favorites-empty. Click My pictures-empty. Click Documents-empty. It is as if all the points of reference in my life have been removed, the landmarks gone, like when someone cuts down the tree on the corner that you always included in your directions so people could find your house. The first thing I did on this computer was get some Internet going, because I was afraid something would happen in the universe and I wouldn't know it. It...

Every now and then I'll be reading a blog and suddenly the thought occurs to me "Hey! I have a blog!" Unfortunately, a pithy quote or cohesive thought doesn't follow, so I don't post anything. I don't know about you, but I'm pretty good at talking myself out of doing things. Things like sending a card (I don't really have a cute one and I certainly do not possess card making abilities) or I should call (but I don't have a lot of time, they're probably in bed already, blah blah blah). Oh, this is good one- I should offer to pray for them (but they'll think I'm nuts or reject the offer, blah, blah, blah). Or, post on my blog. But what if, maybe, just maybe, that thought was actually a prompting of the Holy Spirit? You know, the One who teaches us, empowers us and oh, yeah, prompts us? I've been thinking about two things lately. Well, more than two, but I just read how multi-tasking is actually counter productive and slows your br...

I read a sad article in the news today. It seems that instead of enjoying a few hours of entertainment by going to see the movie "Avatar", some people are coming away from the film with depression and suicidal thoughts. They are flocking to online forums and chat rooms to lament the fact that life isn't worth living after being exposed to the land of Pandora that is represented in the film. I haven't seen the film. From the reports I've read about it, it seems that Pandora is a type of Eden, and after seeing it, comparing it to the stark reality outside the movie theater leaves some people with a growing sense of hopelessness about their own lives and the world in general. This morning I read this in the book "Jesus, Our Man in Glory" by A.W. Tozer: " It has been my feeling that the whole [human] race has harbored a yearning to go back to God's presence, to return to Eden. I do not mean that everyone in the race wants to be a Christian. Too...

Nancy Leigh DeMoss is doing a series on Isaiah 40 over on Revive Our Hearts , titled "Behold Your God". This passage caused me to pause and ponder- "Some of us have so much theology, but what good is it doing us in the course of every day life if we fret or we’re anxious? So what if we say we believe God is all-powerful and all-knowing and gracious and merciful, but we live as if there were no God? We’re practical atheists . So the answer for most of us is not getting some new insight, some new key to life, but it’s exercising faith in what we already know. And what do we know? “ The Lord is the everlasting God .” In conversations with women who are dealing with some circumstance, which would be anyone breathing, I've occasionally been told in response to some biblical counsel "That's just not practical." You know, counsel like trusting God, dying to self, walking by faith, not compromising. We want solutions, we want something practical, something w...

What do these three things have in common? Each one has contributed to the brain melt down that occurred at 9:27 p.m. last night. I think it actually started with multi-tasking, which I have elevated to a level previously unknown to mankind. This does, of course, violate the command by which I try to live: "Let all things be done decently and in order" 1 Corinthians 14:40. At some point, doing thirty two different things within a period of thirty two minutes will cause you to not only get out of order, but usually something will come out of your mouth which necessitates repenting. Not orderly or decent. Sigh. Then there is Facebook . I haven't developed the addiction to it that I was warned about, I rebuke all attempts to get me to buy a farm, a zoo, an aquarium, or take a quiz. Okay, I took one quiz. It was the one to find out what state you should live in-and it was right. But what Facebook has done is rendered me unable to formulate a thought of more than five words w...

Impulsiveness or Discipleship? But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith . . . —Jude 20 There was nothing of the nature of impulsive or thoughtless action about our Lord, but only a calm strength that never got into a panic. Most of us develop our Christianity along the lines of our own nature, not along the lines of God’s nature. Impulsiveness is a trait of the natural life, and our Lord always ignores it, because it hinders the development of the life of a disciple. Watch how the Spirit of God gives a sense of restraint to impulsiveness, suddenly bringing us a feeling of self-conscious foolishness, which makes us instantly want to vindicate ourselves. Impulsiveness is all right in a child, but is disastrous in a man or woman—an impulsive adult is always a spoiled person. Impulsiveness needs to be trained into intuition through discipline. Discipleship is built entirely on the supernatural grace of God. Walking on water is easy to someone with impulsive boldness...

I just got done listening to this awesome study by Denise Salvato. This was recorded at the 2003 CCV Women's Retreat, and it is an amazing study for married women. I've heard it before but it is as fresh and relevant to my life and marriage as it was then, and I'd encourage you to sow abundantly in your marriage and listen to this word from the Lord through Denise. It will change your marriage-if you'll let it!