Breaking Fresh Ground

Rain...

I think that people are a lot like flowers. In order to weather the storms of life, we need to hold on to Him. The heavier the storms are that we make it through, the taller we stand.. and the brighter we shine in the light of our Savior.

I Wonder...

I wonder if it hurts God when we take credit for the things that He does in our lives, and ignore the fact that we are nothing without Him.

I wonder what the world would be like if we would truly die to ourselves and truly live for Christ.  I wonder if that is even humanly possible.

I wonder why He keeps blessing me in spite of my selfishness and lack of trust.

I wonder if we will ever be able to comprehend His love.. a love that NEVER fails.. a love that gives, and most times receives next to nothing in return.

I wonder why He did what He did for someone like me.

I wonder what my Heavenly Father will ask me when I am with Him face to face.. about what I have done with all that He has given me.  Actually.. I have a very good idea of what He will ask me, and I wonder if it's too late, and if I have time to turn things around so that I can make Him proud with my answer.

"Father, help me to remember, that I gain NOTHING if I have not love.  Help me to be patient and kind in all matters.  Help me to live with your will and purpose as my priority.  I will give You all of the glory.  Continue to strip me of the ugliness that this world not only tolerates, but encourages.  I will not let pride, anger, or jealousy reside in my heart.  I want more of you, and the things that are of You. Amen."

Are You Ready?

 

Today during staff worship our Associate Pastor asked us a question.. "Are You Ready?"  He explained that we are commissioned to shine the light of Jesus to others, and we need to be ready to share who He is and what He has done at any given moment.  After all, you never know when God will place someone in your path that you can share your testimony with.  I got to thinking about all of the times in the past when I felt God calling me to witness, to share, if even just a glimpse of what He is about, and what He has done for me.  It seems that I have no problem inviting people to church, or telling them that I am a Christian, but when it comes time to go a little bit deeper, I get scared that they will think I'm being too bold, or invading their space. How many peoples lives could I have had a hand in changing if I would have gotten over my fears and just been obedient to share with them?  I've decided that from here on out, I'm going to worry less about what people might think of me if I share too much with them.  I'd rather take a chance than regret not seizing an opportunity to introduce someone to the love of Jesus!

Less Clutter..

Check out the latest post titled "You Got Families In Your Church" over at www.kemmeyer.typepad.com. I totally agree.  All of this information is insane!  I skim through, and unless it needs a signature, or involves my child directly, I toss it.  That's just me.  How about you?  Don't you think there has to be a better way?

Big House

You know your house is too big when you've been living there for 6 months, and there's still a bathroom or two that you haven't used yet...

These made my day...

Every year, English teachers from across the USA can submit their collections of actual analogies and metaphors found in high school essays in order to have them published and sent out for the amusement of other teachers across the country. These are some recent winners:

• Her face was a perfect oval, like a circle that had its two sides gently compressed by a Thigh Master
• His thoughts tumbled around inside his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free.
• He spoke with the kind of wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who goes blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it.
• She grew on him like she was a colony of E. Coli, and he was room-temperature Canadian beef.
• She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like the sound a dog makes just before it throws up.
• Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever.
• He was as tall as a six-foot, three-inch tree.
• The revelation that his marriage of 30 years had disintegrated because of his wife's infidelity came as a rude shock, like a surcharge at a formerly surcharge-free ATM machine.
• The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn't.
• Her hair glistened in the rain like a nose hair after a sneeze. .

• They lived in a typical suburban neighborhood with picket fences that resembled Nancy Kerrigan's teeth.
• John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met.
• He fell for her like his heart was a mob informant, and she was the East River.
• Even in his last years, Granddad had a mind like a steel trap, only one that had been left out so long, it had rusted shut.
• The plan was simple, like my brother-in-law Phil. But unlike Phil, this plan just might work.
• The young fighter had a hungry look, the kind you get from not eating for a while.
• He was as lame as a duck. Not the metaphorical lame duck, either, but a real duck that was actually lame, maybe from stepping on a land mine or something.
• He was deeply in love. When she spoke, he thought he heard bells, as if she were a garbage truck backing up.

Are you for real?

A lady hurries in to a local Best Buy and asks, "Do you have a fire extinguisher?" 

The clerk replies, "Yes we do, it's right there."

"Great", the woman exclaims.. "I need it now.  My truck is on fire in the parking lot!". 

"Uhh... you can't take that outside", the clerk says.  "That extinguisher is for us to use INSIDE the store in case of emergency."

"Look outside!" she pleads, and points to her vehicle which is now engulfed in flames.

"I really dont think I'm supposed to let you take it out there." he says, and they continue to argue as to whether or not it's against policy for her to take the extinguisher.  As they do, the fire trucks and ambulances arrive.

Yes, this actually happened yesterday right here in good ol' Carson City.  I  should disclose that the fire was caused by the woman's own negligence (she flicked her cigarette into the back seat instead of outside as she parked her car), but still.. can you believe this guy?