Obstacles to Worship

I've recently started training for a 1/2 marathon. I have done several in the past, but haven't done one in several years. Today's run was 3 miles. It is a beautiful, crisp, sunny day today, and as I started to run, I began listening to my Ipod. Music is my heart's language, so it feeds me to zone out to the words of my favorites.

As I traveled along, I came to a hill (which I despise) which changed my breathing patterns. It was not as easy, and became quite difficult to regulate it again. During that time, one of my favorite songs "Lead Me to the Cross" by Hillsong was playing in my ears, and what I realized was that the entire song passed without me even thinking about the words or worshipping to them, all because I was preoccupied with my breathing.

Our lives tend to be that way as welll. When the road is even with nothing to waiver our breathing or be an obstacle to us, it is easy to keep our mind stayed on the Lord, but bring those hills, obstacles, or frustrations, and it is very easy to take our eyes off of the One who wants to help us, the One who loves us, the One who wants the very best for us.

"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." (Hebrews 12:2)

Worn Out from eatin'!

I honestly think this is the same bird that was asleep in the bird feeder in an earlier post that I wrote! This bird has been feasting off the Birdy King buns that are still hanging outside my kitchen window. The other hanging buns have been devoured already, and slowly but surely, the feast continues. It just makes me laugh that the bird doesn't even have the strength to make it off my shed's roof to the tree for a nap. Sometimes, we're just so worn out, we just need to collapse where we are! Too funny! I love it!!

"Be still and know that I am God". (Psalm 46:10)

More

"More of You, less of me". ( John 3:30) I have had the blessing this Fall to watch baby cardinals grow. I had no idea until I witnessed it myself that these beloved birds are not red when they are young! No beautiful red coat, no red beak, no red tail feathers. GRAY!!! Just gray!! Nothing really that would ever turn my head when I've been bird watching. My heart knew they were cardinals though, by their shape, and of course by their call. As weeks passed, I noticed this scene...a little red here, a little there, each feather filling with the crimson red that warms my heart every time I see one. As I watched, I kept looking for what God wanted me to learn from this gradual transformation that I was witnessing. The gray that I saw represents the "me" in me. Those places at times of my flesh that I would like to forget or those tendencies that seem to surface when I least expect it. As I talked it through with a friend, I realized that each day that I walk with Jesus, become more like Him, allowing myself to be transformed by Him, I am, like the young cardinal, getting another red feather and another, and another. Ultimately, to be complete in Him and completely transformed into His likeness when I meet Him in Glory!

"Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." (1John 3:2)

Birdy King

I am confessing that I am a lunatic. Labor Day came and went, and my sweet husband ended up buying too many buns for the cookout. They have been sitting in my pantry for weeks, and oddly enough, mold had not set in. I am always looking for ways to "treat" my flying God friends, so i decided to set them up for a "Birdy King" meal of buns, peanut butter, and their favorite bird seed. A sweet friend of mine, who just so happens to be an engineer, guided me in the process and encouraged me to attach a stick at the bottom so they could perch. So, I waited, and waited, and waited. Two days later, a brave flying friend decided to take a closer, yummier look. I am reminded of the choice we make to follow God. The table of plenty is set for all that will take that leap of faith, realizing that He is safe, coming to get their fill. It was funny to watch the other birds below, waiting for the extra seed to drop so they could eat. I feel like that's how the world looks on at times...seeing something a little different, but not getting close enough to get the true "filling" that only Christ can give.

"Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. (Psalm 34:8)

So Close

I have been driving past this scene for weeks, and God just won't let its truth leave my mind. Looking closely, you can see 3 potted plants that are almost completely dead and a sprinkler only a few feet away. The truth that God implanted (get the wordplay? :) ) on my heart is that there are times when our heart's desire is to grow in Him. We desire to learn more about Him, but at times are at a loss as where to start. Sometimes the answers lie only a few feet away! These plants desperately need water, just as our lives desperately need the Living Water that only Jesus can provide. Won't you turn on the water?

"For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water." (Revelation 7:17)

Fishing Truths

The next few posts are coming from a delightful, relaxing, chigger biting, canoe tipping, fish catching day at a dear friend's stocked pond. God was pouring His truth into my head so fast that I had to use my voice recorder on my phone to capture them all so I wouldn't forget. Satan likes to laugh in my face often when God gives me a word and then by the end of the day I forget it. Not this time!!!

Truth #1 So many times when we are setting out to catch "fish of the faith", we go to a place or a foreign land where there seem to be a bunch of fish to catch. And when we don't catch them, as in this picture where my husband and son have moved to another dock in hopes of more fish being there, we get discouraged and go to another place. I feel like a lot of times, God is just calling to catch fish on our own dock. It's hard to fish a sea when you don't have experience in your own pond.

"Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." (Matthew 4:19)

Real or Artificial?

The choices for bait were plentiful. I have no idea what they are all called, but all I know is this...Some were alive and some were rubber. I started out with a larvae looking white wormy thing that was completely rubber. I will give it this...it's fake tail wiggled as you reeled in which seemingly made it look alive, but NOPE, it wasn't. The girls and my son, on the other hand, fished with sweet, sacrificial worms. Something about worms and being sacrificed to catch something else reminds me of Jesus. The girls and my son alike had a great fish catching day because of their authentic, real bait.

As we seek, with Jesus' guidance to lead the lost to a saving relationship with Him, I'm praying that our lives are real and authentic like the worms, and not fake like the ugly larvae. The fish were only attracted to the real bait. They sniffed (well, not sniffed, but I don't know the word) the larvae, only to move on. Is that what the world does to us as Christians? Do they come close enough to "sniff" our faith only to move on because it doesn't seem "real" or authentic?

"But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing." (2Cor. 2:14-15)