Hello there...

Well, I've caught up on reading all my blogs, so I guess it's time to produce a little for my own blog.  Hmmm, where to start.  Let's see...

1.  I decorated for fall, actually my sister decorated, but it was fun to look a little festive.  Some cute kids showed up for candy on Halloween, I couldn't get away from work and missed most of them, but the people who were partying at my house said it was fun.

2.  I had that moment this week when I do something and realize it was just like my mother, we all have those.  But this time, I did something that I always despised her doing.  Let me explain.  I hate to lose... with a passion.  When I was a kid and played sports, any time we would lose, I would come off the floor very upset.  My mom would say things like "well, you looked really good in your uniform"  um, you want to talk about infuriating... I just played like crap, lost, and that's what she wants to tell me!!  Fast forward to this week.  I have a good friend who coaches football.   His QB was up for Mr. Football in his division.  I ended up watching the ceremony online and he didn't win.  Later, Coach sent me a text to tell me QB hadn't won, my reply "I saw.  I ended up watching online.  I'm sorry.  But he looked sharp representing in his black and gold."  As soon as I had hit send, I thought oh my goodness, I have become my mother, talking about how good people look when they lose.  It was frightening.  I'm still bothered and ashamed...

3.  I ran my first half marathon!!!  I still can hardly believe it.  Between the foot, and the stuck pill, and a lack of get-after-it-ness, I didn't train like I had planned.  I ran a lot of miles, but long runs were fewer and shorter than planned.  Then my IT band decided it didn't like me the Wednesday before the race.  But adrenaline reigns supreme, and I ended up finishing in 2:40:27.  If my shoe hadn't come untied during the last mile, I would have broken 2:40.  12:15 pace, which I was pleased with.  I would definitely run another.  Next goal, break 2:30.

4.  Happy Birthday Me!  I turned 31 this month.  Holy smokes.  I've already decided 31 is going to be better than 30 was, and low and behold it has been.  Amazing how attitude and mindset affects things, isn't it.  I spent my birthday at the beach, and had a great time with my friends.

5.  Thanksgiving!  Probably my favorite holiday of the year.  Lots of food, family, and fun.  It was a great day.  I got to see my mom's entire side of the family, every cousin, which is always fun.  There was a kickball game, swings, ping pong, old stories, and an all around good time seemed to be had by all.

 

 

I'll do better, more posts soon!

The Election

To post or not to post on this subject, that is the question...  After Sunday, I decided the answer is to post.

So here is where I am, I don't get it.  I do not understand how the country voted the way they did.  I do not understand how 50% of Catholics, 42% of Protestants, and 21% of Evangelicals voted the way they did.  I don't understand voting for policies and platforms that blatantly disregard the Bible and it's teachings.  I struggled with this all week last week.  Sunday morning, my nephew was dedicated at church, so I attended my sister's church.  The preacher started talking about basically everything I've been feeling and I cried thru the entire sermon. 

Please understand, I believe that God reigns supreme.  I know this is not my eternal home.  I know Jesus is king and authority.  I understand that, I find the utmost peace in that.  Without that hope and knowledge, I would be a stark raving crazy woman by now.  But for now, we are on this Earth, with the call to share the Gospel, with a call to live as Jesus taught us.

The preacher was preaching John 17.  Verse 3 says "And this is the way to have eternal life - to know you , the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth."  And how to we know Jesus - 1 John 2:3-5 - "And we can be sure that we know him if we obey his commandments.  If someone claims, "I know God," but doesn't obey God's commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth.  But those who obey God's word truly show how completely they love him.  That is how we know we are living in him."  So if we look at the moral issues debated in the country today, what are Jesus' commands on those?  Homosexuality - specifically identified as sin in Romans 1.  Abortion - Jeremiah 1:5 - "I knew you before I formed you in your mother's womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations." Psalms 139:13 "For you formed my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother's womb."  The Bible doesn't change, the commands don't change.

We have let personal choice and personal "rights" trump God's commands.  We've been a blessed nation, and the blessings have flowed down on this country for years and years, but we have turned a corner, and these blessings will most likely end.  You can look back in the Bible and see how the Israelites turned away from God and were overtaken by the Assyrians.  Our children will not live in the country we have lived in. 

I do believe God will use these times for his glory.  While I believe that we will see the punishment of voting for immorality in the name of choice, I believe that some Christians will have a fire lit and leave lukewarmness to become the salt and light we are supposed to be.  I pray that for myself.  I know I have many lukewarm qualities when it comes to my spiritual life and Revelation 3:16 says " So, because you are lukewarm--neither hot nor cold--I am about to spit you out of my mouth."  Spit out of his mouth!!, not somewhere I want to be. 

So that's where I am.  And I'm trying to figure out what it all means.  The election is done, there is no changing that, so what now?  It's time to quit lamenting the outcome, which I've done for a week.  But it's also time to realize, this is real stuff, more than just one election, and as Christians, we need to be ready for what's coming.  Persecution is on it's way.  It's no longer cool or politically correct to believe Biblical truth.  Instead, it's narrow-minded and backward.  No one wants absolutes or rules, but if you are a Christian, that's what we are given.  We are to stand up for what is right.  So instead of despairing over things here, I want to train my mind to be Heaven focused, doing what I can to serve God and stand up for God on this Earth, but constantly remembering this world is not my home.  Jane wrote a post yesterday and one sentence really struck me "I'm trying not to overly treasure the things of this world - even my freedom."

Posts like this are hard to write, just like I'm sure it's incredibly hard to preach, because I am a sinner.  I mess up every single day, multiple times.  I commit sin again and again.  And sin is sin, there are no degrees this sin being more ok than that sin.  And I have to repent over and over, but again, I can't use that as an excuse to ignore the commands of the Bible.  And I can't use that as an excuse to say that any sin is ok, because it should grieve us to sin.  It should grieve us to think about sin.

If you are interested, this is a link to the sermon I listened to on Sunday.  He, of course, words things much better than I.  Its the 11.11.12 sermon.

Let me close with this.  I'm so thankful for the hope we have with God.  I'm so thankful that this world is not it.  We have a choice to follow Him, to believe in Him, to repent of our sins, and spend eternity in Heaven.  In the passage below Jesus prayed for the diciples and then for any who would ever believe the message.

John 17:9-26
⁹ “My prayer is not for the world, but for those you have given me, because they belong to you. ¹⁰ All who are mine belong to you, and you have given them to me, so they bring me glory. ¹¹ Now I am departing from the world; they are staying in this world, but I am coming to you. Holy Father, you have given me your name;^[b] now protect them by the power of your name so that they will be united just as we are. ¹² During my time here, I protected them by the power of the name you gave me.^[c] I guarded them so that not one was lost, except the one headed for destruction, as the Scriptures foretold.
¹³ “Now I am coming to you. I told them many things while I was with them in this world so they would be filled with my joy. ¹⁴ I have given them your word. And the world hates them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. ¹⁵ I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one. ¹⁶ They do not belong to this world any more than I do. ¹⁷ Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth. ¹⁸ Just as you sent me into the world, I am sending them into the world. ¹⁹ And I give myself as a holy sacrifice for them so they can be made holy by your truth.

²⁰ “I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. ²¹ I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me. 
 
²² “I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. ²³ I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me. ²⁴ Father, I want these whom you have given me to be with me where I am. Then they can see all the glory you gave me because you loved me even before the world began!

²⁵ “O righteous Father, the world doesn’t know you, but I do; and these disciples know you sent me. ²⁶ I have revealed you to them, and I will continue to do so. Then your love for me will be in them, and I will be in them.”