He's my Jack Bauer, "24" and "7"

Several years ago I watched my first episode of "24" and I have been a fan ever since. For those not familiar with the show, I'll brief you...it is called "24" because there are 24 episodes in a season. Each episode is supposed to represent an hour in real time where the hero, Jack Bauer, is sacrificing his own life hourly to save the world. I must say it is a little too violent some times. Being someone that has craved peace my entire life, you probably would not expect me to partake of such a show...BUT...it's the hero, the knight in shining armor, Jack Bauer...that I'm drawn to. God has blessed me with my own "Jack Bauer" and his name is Mike. Recently I told him, "Thank you for making me feel safe and protected all these years". You see, that was very important to me. I grew up in a home without a father figure until I was 13 years old and until that time I very seldom felt "safe". That changed when I met Mike, I have felt secure and protected at all times, but even beyond that...I have shared laughter that I had not known before and felt loved immensely. Thank you my sweet man for being my hero!

Attributes of God - His Omniscience (part I)

I have been studying the attributes of God (or perfections of God)....As I poured through these, my favorite was this one...God is omniscient! Omniscience means that God knows everything, things actual and possible, effortlessly and equally well. There was a time as a non-believer that I cringed when I thought about this....just knowing that I had taken God places that I shouldn't have and that He knew things, that in my eyes made me so unlovable! BUT as a believer, what a blessing it is to know that we don't have to worry about tomorrow. God knows all things....He knows what will happen, He knows what might have happened. Nothing in my life (or yours if you are a believer) will come to light and surprise God and cause Him to cast me out. At present I have been reading excerpts from a book called "Basic Theology", it talks about things that I can't wrap my mind around on most days but this particular quote from that book made perfect sense to me and made me want to shout! "No talebearer can inform on us; no enemy can make an accusation stick; no forgotten skeleton can come tumbling out of some hidden closet to abash us and expose our past; no unsuspected weakness in our characters can come to light to turn God away from us, since He knew us utterly before we knew Him and called us to Himself in the full knowledge of everything that was against us." WOW...I don't know about you but I view that as some heavy stuff!
Knowing this character of God should make us even more sensitive to His warnings and sober us up when we consider that we all will stand before an all-knowing God!

How to live a long and prosperous life....

Part of my daily bible reading on Feb 14 was Psalm 34: 11-22. The version I am reading from is the New Living Translation and I love the way this portion of scripture read. Verse 12 asks, "does anyone want to live a long and prosperous life?" I can't imagine anyone answering "no" to that question. The remainder of the verses tell you how to do such and how much God esteems His children and protects them. I am a list maker so I composed a list from the scripture that tells us how to live a long and prosperous life:

1) Keep your tonque from speaking evil (verse 13) (I'm sure this includes gossip, slander, etc.)
2) Keep your lips from telling lies (verse 13)
3) Turn away from evil and do good (verse 14)...(this means literally running from those things we know for certain are evil and yes, those things we think may be evil as well).
4) Search for peace, and work to maintain it (verse 14)...(so peace will not come without work!

Isn't it amazing that God's Word, His Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth, contain everything we need for day to day living!

I can hardly contain myself!!!!

Oh my Goodness! I am so excited....about a month or so ago, a friend at church that coach's girls softball came to me and asked if I would be willing to teach a small group for a few weeks to the girls softball team (9th and 10th grade). I accepted the challenge with some reservation....didn't hear from my friend for awhile and just assumed that the plan had fizzled out or she had found someone more capable. Let me explain, I am about the most non-athletic person you will ever meet! I was the one that kids chose last to be on their team in physical education. And...it never got better. As an adult, I fell numerous times while attempting to roller skate with my children (my oldest finally said, "Mom, maybe you should just sit and relax a while).....I attempted water skiing in my younger years but was so "bottom heavy", just couldn't figure out how to get this big booty of mine out of the water! Later, went snow skiing....was in the beginner's class and feel down a slope while our instructor was teaching us how to simply stand properly on our ski's....no one ever even missed me (at this point, I opted to sit in the cabin and sip cocoa!) Oh, and I almost forgot....several years ago when I was physically fit....I got over confident and decided I would try "cycling"....the class on my first day consisted of two people....two nice looking gentlemen (one of who was the instructor). I was seated between these two men and felt pretty sure that this would be "oh so easy".....within mere seconds I was "sweating" (and I don't sweat).....no one told me that when you stand on the cycle that you don't pedal as fast as you do when you are sitting.....when we approached our first "stand and cycle", my foot got caught in the pedal and I fell off the bike....Can I just tell you that not only did I do this once during this class, but twice! I'm sure it was all these two men could do to contain themselves.
Anyway, tonight is my first night teaching these young ladies and I need all the prayer I can get....I thought, "Boy, does God have a sense of humor...using some one like me to teach them". Then my husband reminded me that we all have to be team players in life, whether we are athletic or not!

I Love Jesus, but......

O.K....I'll go ahead and admit it! I am a "FBJ" (Facebook Junkie)....I have to allot myself only a certain amount of time or I could be looking up old friends and conversing with them all day long! Today when I went on facebook, a couple of friends had posted a video from the "Ellen Degeneres Show"....this particular video was called "I love Jesus but I drink a little". Out of curiousity I viewed the video and laughed till I almost cried! In this video an elderly woman calls in and gives Ellen advice about how to make her set look better. The next day Ellen calls the woman back and as they get into their talk, the elderly woman say, "You know, I love Jesus, but I drink a little"....I initially posted the video on my facebook profile, then after posting it...I started fretting that someone (particularly the ladies I teach in Sunday School) would think I was endorsing an entertainer that has a belief system contrary to mine...so... that said, I deleted the video from my profile. However, I could not delete the words from my mind that dear little old lady spoke, "I love Jesus, BUT, I drink a little". It made me consider what we say with our actions and words every day if not held accountable....in essence, I love Jesus, BUT....I love something else more...whether it be alcohol, food, drugs, relationships, career, etc....Anything we love more than Jesus is sin....plain and simple.....Matthew 7:21 says, "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter." This is a promise we can cling to. We will not enter the gates of heaven by claiming to love Jesus, because....we do not love Him if we love something else more.