One Year with God

DAY 170: I grew up on the saying, “you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink.”   This was often applied to us as children when in spite of all our parents noble attempts to get us to do what was right, we resisted. There is nothing shocking in that revelation I am sure.   What kid hasn’t defied the wiser counsel and even instruction of a parent simply because he or she could?   I was certainly on that list.   You would think, having been the stalwart and stubborn horse (and that is putting it kindly) I would have understood this reality when I myself became a parent.   But nay, time and time again I forged ahead to the stream dragging my own little nags behind me only to discover that they would not partake of the sweet and healthy “water” I had to offer.   But did that stop me from trying?   Not as of yesterday.   Even now as a parent of adult children, I find myself dumbfounded when my very wise advice is spurned...

Day 162: It's been too many days since we "talked" about the Bible together.  Like you, I've continued to meet with God everyday, even if I have not had the opportunity to share any of that journey  because of attending to all of the demands of my dad's cancer diagnosis and then sadly his going ahead of us that love him to the presence of Jesus. After that we also lost a beloved baby born to our extended family and traveled some difficult roads with others. I had a plan to blog the Bible with you for 365 days without interruption.  Life has a funny way of interrupting our plans. My goal was not only to go on a one year, every day journey with God, but to keep on ongoing conversation with you.  I failed.  And every day that I didn't blog through the Bible, I kicked myself for not being able to make it all happen: blogging, my job, my dad, my family, my work, and my random other commitments.  And it has taken an emotional toll called guilt. Here is an app...

DAY 68:   This is going to be a short sweet blog because what God reminded me of requires few words, and was punctuated by all that I have read in the news of late.  You may not have seen it in the mainstream media reports but just this past Sunday, rockets were once again fired at Israel by her enemies. This time no one died, but it is yet another reminder that world forces line up against God's chosen people.  Iran continues to threaten to wipe Israel from the face of the earth and with it's advances in nuclear weapons its boasts become more real.  Middle East nations continue to cut their remaining diplomatic ties with Israel, and with every Arab Spring, Israel's peace becomes more tenuous, not less. Such turmoil brings to life the words of Jesus I have been reading in Mark about the signs of the end of the age. So, too, does it animate the warning of the book of  Revelations that such catastrophic conflicts are certain to come, though the time is not cer...

DAY 174: Part 4 of 4 in the blog series HOW TO SUCCEED IN LIFE- lessons from Esther. I have a few family members who regularly buy lottery tickets.  While the odds of one of them winning are astronomical, in their words: "Somebody's got to win.  It could be me."  The optimism only cost them $1 per week.  Regardless of the odds or the wisdom of making even that meager investment, their hearts are in the right place. All of them have big plans for how the money will impact not only their own lives, but how they plan to help everyone in our family. My dad always says, "When I win the lottery, I'll make sure the kids college is completely paid for," or "When I pick the winning number we are all going to go on one great big family vacation." I have no doubt that he means it.  He loves to be generous and if he  had more money he would just be more generous.  His success would benefit far more people than just himself. I'm not exactly holding my...

DAY 173:  Part 3 of 4 in lessons from the book of Esther on HOW TO SUCCEED IN LIFE. If Esther and Mordecai are examples of how avoiding the trap of bitterness can move you ahead on the path of success, the newest character exemplifies how bitterness can derail even the best prospects for success. Beginning in chapter 3, we meet what appears to be the rising star of Persia.  Haman, an official in the king's court, comes on the scene in what appears to be an unstoppable rise. Esther 3:1   King Xerxes honored Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, elevating him and giving him a seat of honor higher than that of all the other nobles.  2  All the royal officials at the king’s gate knelt down and paid honor to Haman, for the king had commanded this concerning him. Second only to the King himself, Haman had achieved all the success he could have dreamed of, yet there was a fly in the ointment that seemed to spoil all his success. 2 But Mordecai would not kne...

DA 172: Part 2 of 4 of the HOW TO SUCCEED IN LIFE blog entries. If you love really compelling stories, you have to love the book of Esther.  Romance, intrigue, plot twists; it has it all.  And as I discovered, it also has some lessons about how to succeed in life.  In the first section of this Old Testament story they were mostly lessons about what not to do, and some of those continue.  But today there is also a positive example. When we last left the story, the King of Persia, only in his third year of rule, banished his queen because she would not attend a drunken party King Xerxes was hosting. So the search began for her replacement.  Enter, new characters to our story. Chapter 2 introduces us a very interesting man.  Mordecai was a Jew, one of the people groups the Persians had conquered and deported from their homeland. Since the timing of this story places it after Ezra led the first group of exiles back to Israel to build the Temple and before...

Day 171: (Part 1 of 4) What is the secret to success?   It’s hard to tell based on all the “success plans” in the marketplace.   Amazon offers 150,320 books on the topic, with titles like The Real Truth about Success and The Key to Success. I guess we have to choose if we want The Truth or The Key .   Is it possible that there is more than one way to success.   What if The Truth works for some and The Key works for others? In our family we definitely discovered there is more than one way to find success because there is more than one way to define success. Our kids' school years often illustrated that reality. For instance, success for our daughter in Jr. High was completing those years with her self-esteem in tact.   We never worried about her grades as academics came pretty easy for her.   We had high standards for scores and she did not disappoint. Anything below a C for our high achieving focused child was unacceptable because we knew what she w...

DAY 170: Like most young kids, our children had their first entrepreneurial experience by opening a lemonade stand. My daughter was the first to get the idea and she quickly talked one of her brothers, Bailey, into joining the venture, along with a neighbor boy.  She also tried to recruit her oldest brother, Chase, but he thought all the work in the middle of a hot Texas summer sounded like a sour idea. Instead, he opted for his life of leisure in the air conditioning. The three younger kids made a plan to open their "business" every day for a week, making a list of everything they wanted to sell.   It didn't take long for them to realized they needed someone to help with the supplies.  Hannah gave me the sales pitch. “Mom, we have an idea you’re going to love.   You know how you say you want us to find things to do besides T.V. and Nintendo?   We found it. We want to have a lemonade stand.” By now my two kids are schmoozing me with physical affection...

Day 169: When I was growing up my family relocated often.  Every 2-3 years we moved to a new place where I would start a new school and start the process of finding new friends. From Kindergarten to 12th grade I started over in a new town seven times.  Each time came with a period of anxiety as I tried to find where I fit in. U-Haul may call it "An Adventure in Moving" but I called it "Here we go again." While it had its challenges, to be sure, that background is probably to thank for my ability to be flexible and adapt well to change.  Overall, I know that who I am is inextricably linked to my history so I don't begrudge not having a more settled childhood. Knowing, though, that all that adapting comes with sacrifices, it was not the lifestyle that I wanted when I had my own family. Before I said "I do" I made it clear to my husband-to-be that I wanted to settle in one place where our kids could have a hometown - where I could have a hometown.  I ha...

DAY 169:  In the last chapter we read in 1 Corinthians, Paul called on believers to be harsh in dealing with persistent sin among other believers in the church.  He told us not to tolerate those who live lives persistently characterized by sinfulness, but to apply that standard only to other believers.  This idea of "tough love" did not apply to those outside faith in Christ.  As Paul put it, "You would have to leave this world to avoid people like that." Until someone has the spirit of God residing in his or her life, it is pointless to make behavior the issue.  However, for Christians, behavior is expected to line up with faith.   That was tough teaching, since we have a tendency to go the other way.  We want to show grace to the believer and judgment to the unbeliever.  Tough or not, it says what is says; there is a higher standard for those who claim Christ as Savior.  It's not a salvation issue anymore; its a submission issue.  ...