My Life is too Loud!

I work in technology.  Everyone in my line of work has a cell phone.  My phone can make calls, send and receive email from three different accounts, and send and receive text messages.  I can go on the internet, update my Facebook and Twitter accounts on it and use it as a GPS.  I can view and update my calendar and my to-do list on it.  It’s an amazing device.  When I’m done with all of that, I have snail mail from home and work to deal with.  This is very typical of the world we are living in.  It is hard to focus.  It is hard to pay attention to anything or anyone without being distracted. 

This problem can affect my spiritual life.  It is hard to really get alone and “Be Still” before God.  It is hard to close out everything around me.  No music, no TV, no PC, no phone, etc…  It is hard to intentionally take myself away from all of these things and focus on prayer, on Bible Study, on meditating on Scripture.

Jesus didn’t have all these things interfering in his life.  However, he did have multitudes of people always fighting for a minute of his time.  Somehow he was able to remove himself from the distractions to spend quality time with the Father.  He was able to do this because He chose to.  He made it a priority.  We can do the same thing.  We just have to choose to unplug ourselves from the world.

It is a spiritual discipline to be still, to listen, and to cut off all the distractions in my life.  It is in the stillness that I can develop intimacy with my Father.  Quiet my mind.  Quiet my heart.  Not think about work. (That one is hard for me.)  Focus on God. Focus on His love for me.  Focus on His faithfulness.

Try it.  I will.

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I’m back and I have questions ….

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I wasn’t planning to take a break for that long but I guess it was good.  I had a great summer.

Here’s some questions I have been thinking about:

1. Is my life too safe and too easy?

It is in the hard times that I have seen God work.

2. Is there a difference between knowing God and being known by God?

Would God say I know Carol Horner?  What would he say about me? Am I confident that God would say, “She’s my daughter and I love her.”  Is my relationship with God that intimate or is it just on the surface.

3. Do I believe that I live not for my own pleasure but to help people know Jesus?  Do I live like this?

Many people like to “show off” what God is doing in their lives because it makes them look good.  It is self-glorification and pride.   Matthew 5:16 says to let your light shine before others so they will see your good works and give the glory to God.

4. Am I truly seeking Christ with my whole heart and desiring to grow in obedience to Him?

How would you answer these questions?

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John Wooden

The world lost a good man when John Wooden died. He is best known for leading UCLA to ten national basketball championships.  Wooden focused on teaching lessons of character and doing things the right way.

Below is a video that was recorded in 2001.  Listen to his wise words.  He was amazing.  He was about 90 years old when he recorded this interview.

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Love God, or Fear God?

Which is it – fear God or Love God …..

“Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” (Deuteronomy 6:5)

“Fear the LORD your God and serve him. Hold fast to him and take your oaths in his name.”  (Deuteronomy 10:20)

“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”  (1 John 4:18)

The fear that is spoken of in the Bible is to have a reverential awe of God.

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline”  (Proverbs 1:7)

We need to understand who God is so that we can develop a reverential fear of Him.  Without that fear, we can’t have true wisdom.  That wisdom comes only from knowing that God is holy, just, and righteous.

“And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul,” Deuteronomy 10:12

Fear of God is the basis for loving him.  Fear of God leads us to serve God.  Fear of God also includes understanding how much God hates sin.  It means understanding that God is a just God and that He has to hold people accountable for their actions.

As a believer, we have no reason to be scared of God.  We know that He loves us.  We know that Jesus’ blood is payment for our sins.  We know that nothing can separate us from the love of God.  We know that He will never leave us or forsake us.

Fearing God should impact the way we live our lives.  We need to live lives of obedience and respect. 

To fear God is to love God.  To love God is to fear God.  They go hand in hand. 

 

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  Romans 8:38-39

"Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." Hebrews 13:5
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Take up your cross

What does it mean to “take up your cross?”

“Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”  (Matthew 16:24)

For the disciples. the cross was not a necklace.  It was not an ornament.  It was not even a symbol.  It was a lifestyle.  It was the willingness to follow Jesus in every thing and in every area of their lives.

For us to do that, we must surrender our lives completely to Christ.  We must set aside our desires and put others first.  It means getting rid of selfishness. 

We must have complete faith in Christ and loyalty to Him – no matter what it costs us.

“taking up our cross” is a total buy-in to the lifestyle and way of Jesus.  It is making our character match the character of Jesus.  It is considering what He would do in every situation.  It is being completely “sold out” to Christ.

When Jesus used the phrase “pick up your cross”, he was letting us know that following him won’t be easy.  There will be times that you are going to want to quit, deny him, run away, etc…  There are going to be times in your life when not following Him would be much easier.

Day by day, moment by moment, make a consistent, constant choice to follow Him.  Cutting corners, little white lies, “going with the flow” are simply not acceptable.

God calls us to a life of obedience and self-sacrifice but the rewards will be great. 

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To Wesleyan’s Class of 2010

I sat and looked through the yearbook.  I reminisced about a lot of you.  I met many of you during your freshman year.  You entered high school with high hopes and dreams.  Many of you struggled with the transition to high school but you persevered and made it through.

As I looked at each picture I did not think about what you have accomplished or how you have performed.  In fact, I taught many of you but I have no memory of what your grades were.  That’s not what remains important in my mind.  My thoughts are based simply on who you are.  What values do you represent? As a Wesleyan graduate, you should be a person of integrity, honor, joy, and purpose. If you haven’t picked up those values, then you’ve missed what Wesleyan is all about.

God has a specific and special plan for each one of you.  He has his hands on your lives.  As a class you are blessed with a lot of great abilities and talents. Hold each other up and accountable as you move forward. 

Remember to keep balance in your lives.  Studies are important but they aren’t everything.

Never forget to give back to others.  Be a servant.  Bring joy to the lives of the people around you.

You are abundantly blessed.  You come from great families.  Families that loved you enough to send you to Wesleyan.  A lot of your families did that at great sacrifice.  Never forget that they love you and want the best for you.

As you move on with a new chapter in your lives, I pray that you will abound more and more in the true knowledge of God and His Word.  I pray that you will grow in discernment so that you will make the wisest choices and decisions.  And my final prayer for you is that you would live your lives to bring honor and glory to God.  After all, that’s what really matters.  (Philippians 1:9-11)

May God richly bless you. 

Congratulations Class of 2010!

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Leaving a Legacy

Wow – I can’t believe it has been 10 days since I last posted something.  Things have been really busy.  In the last 2 weeks my husband had a birthday, I had a birthday, today is Mother’s Day, I had an MRI, and I spent 2 days out of town visiting some other schools. 

I’m reading a book for graduate school.  It is not one of my favorites and I am struggling to get through it. 

Life is just really busy.  I haven’t had trouble carving out time to read my Bible but I haven’t really taken the time to really meditate on what I’ve read.  It is in that meditating, thinking, researching, cross referencing that I learn the most.  I also digest it as I write about it.  I need to write this blog – it is really for my growth.

So – what am I going to write about today. 

I have been thinking about leaving a spiritual legacy.  What can I do that will effect future generations. 

This week a former student left me a birthday wish on my facebook and said “you are part of the reason that I am a teacher today.”  I can’t begin to tell you what that meant to me.  He was an amazing young man when he was in high school.  I was his high school algebra 2 teacher.  He worked hard but struggled.  I spent a lot of extra time with him that year and we got through it.  I am sure he is an excellent teacher as he understands how hard some kids have to work to learn.

Proverbs 13:22 talks about leaving an inheritance for your children and their children.  There are different things you can do to leave a legacy.

- talk to your children about Jesus
- live a godly life (all the time)
- build your life upon Scriptural principles
- let your good deeds shine forth and touch the people around you
- share your faith in Christ with others
- share the wisdom you have gained through the years with others.  Spend time with young people.
- Be involved in your local church.  Do what you can to make it a beacon of truth in your community.
- be a blessing to the people in your community

Now the big question – how do I find time to do this?

That’s the one I am struggling to find the answer to.

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