Month: October 2014

Are We There Yet?

Posted on by Wendy
God's majesty is present in every sunrise.
God’s majesty is present in every sunrise.

Anyone who has ever traveled with young children has heard the famous words, “Are we there yet?” Children are usually very impatient to get to where they are going. But, truthfully, aren’t we all? We can’t wait to grow up. We can’t wait to get married. We can’t wait to have kids. We can’t wait for our kids to get a little older and the list goes on and on.

I was just reading the Exodus account of God calling Moses to lead the Israelites to the Promised Land. They had been in Egypt for 430 years. The group that started from Joseph and his eleven brothers and their families had grown to 600 thousand men and that didn’t even take into account women and children. They had become slaves to the people who their ancestors had saved. The text says, “Eventually, a new king came to power in Egypt who knew nothing about Joseph or what he had done.” Exodus 1:8

The Egyptians may had forgotten about Joseph saving them with God’s special gifts, but God had not forgotten. He never forgets His people or His promises. He told Abraham centuries before that He would give them the land flowing with milk and honey. So, God calls Moses to lead them home, but first they have to get out of Egypt.

Imagine the Israelites’ wonder and surprise, when Moses tells them that God is going to lead them home. Here’s the part where I’m thinking He should just have them click their heels together like Dorothy in the, “Wizard of Oz.” Tell Pharaoh to let the people go and if he refuses, then just strike him down. I mean, God has that power. I’ll bet they too, had something easier and speedier in mind. Isn’t that our human nature?

Well, Moses tells Pharaoh to let the people go and he refuses and then he makes the Israelites work even harder. And God rains down ten plagues on the Egyptians. He turned the Nile to blood, sent frogs, flies, gnats and locusts. He killed cattle and sent hail and covered the land in pitch black for three days. He covered the Egyptians with boils, but Pharaoh would not relent. Then He killed all of the firstborn sons of the Egyptians and at last, Pharaoh chased them out. (at first)

But, I wonder what all of the Israelites were thinking when this was happening. Were they in complete awe of God’s power? Were they frightened? Were they growing in faith with each plague that missed them and got the Egyptians or were they just desperate to get home already?

While we can be completely fascinated with God’s awesome show of power in this story, these desperate, tired people just wanted to go home to a place where they were free to worship, a place that had been promised to them centuries before. I wonder about the Red Sea parting and the manna falling. They had to have been amazed at God’s glory, but they also had to have been anxious for a place to call home.

I wonder how often we miss small miracles all around us in our desperate quest to get to where we are going. How often to we miss God’s wonder and majesty? It’s so easy to get focused on some future goal or place that we miss the manna in our lives. God’s majesty is ever-present. In sunsets and sunrises in the flowers of spring and the leaves of fall in each first breath of a newborn baby, His fingerprints are there.

The God of Joseph and Moses is our God. His power is just as awesome as it was back in Moses’ day. He never changes. Let’s never forget who He is and what He does everyday. Let’s try to enjoy the ride and stop asking, “Are we there yet?”

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

The Danger of a Slow Leak

Posted on by Wendy
It's hard to believe that something so tiny can cause so much trouble.
It’s hard to believe that something so tiny can cause so much trouble.

I had just dropped my daughter off at school, when my cell phone rang. I mean, I wasn’t even out of the high school parking lot. I knew it was my daughter because she has her own ring tone. I quickly answered and she informed me that the girl riding in the car behind us told her that one of my back tires was almost flat. Fabulous!

I drove really slowly all the way home. I hadn’t had a shower yet. No way was I going to the tire place looking like I did. Now my mama is enjoying a little snicker as she reads this, because she has always refused to leave home without her makeup on, even if it meant getting up at 5:00 AM. I, alas, haven’t followed in her footsteps.

When I got home, it looked pretty low. I was really kicking myself at this point because I knew it looked low, like a week ago, but I kind of ignored it. I hadn’t had time to get to the tire place and the car was running just fine, so I put it out of my mind. Therein lies the danger of the slow leak. If you have a flat, you have to stop the car immediately and have it fixed, but the slow leak lets you keep driving, deflating a little bit at the time and putting you in danger. It may just be flat when you go to jump in when you are running late or worse, have an emergency. But, it also weakens the tire and sets you up for a blow out which can be catastrophic.

I know this, yet I drove on it anyway. Luckily, a teenager of all people, pointed out that I could wait no longer and I took it in. They fixed it. It was a tiny screw, but that tiny screw made me late to an appointment.

All day long, I pondered the dangers of slow leaks in our lives. They are just as dangerous as the one in the tire. When we get little leaks in our marriages or other relationships, we often ignore them because we are too busy. Like the tire, we know we should address the issue, but we don’t and they always get worse.

It’s the same way with health issues. We can know that something is wrong with us physically, but we ignore it. We just don’t have time to see a doctor or to make an effort to exercise or lose weight or eat better. But, in the history of leaking tires or relationships or serious physical issues, I’ve never heard of a leak spontaneously plugging itself. Nope, that job falls to us, the procrastinators.

Our spiritual lives are the same. We can know that we feel far from God, but ignore it. We can know that we need to be in serious prayer about something, but we don’t make the time. We can know that we should attend church regularly instead of a couple of times a month, but sleep in instead. We can know that the Bible is God’s word, but just can’t seem to make the time to read it. All of those things are slow leaks. They can be easily repaired early on or we can wait for a blowout.

Blowouts are scary and dangerous. They are often recoverable, but why take the chance? I’ve decided to be more vigilant about slow leaks in my tires and my life. Care to join me?

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

A Fine Christian Woman

Posted on by Wendy
Having others see Jesus in us is a lifelong pursuit.
Having others see Jesus in us is a lifelong pursuit.

I recently watched the movie, “The Blind Side.”  It came out in 2009, but I never saw it. I knew it was supposed to be a heartwarming movie based on a true story, with a happy ending. I love those kind of movies. The basic story is a wealthy, white family takes in a homeless African-American teenager, Michael, and help him learn to play football and get into college.

It’s a fabulous success story about what can happen when people are willing to help those in need and how when those in need, take the offered help and make their best effort to succeed, the sky is the limit. The family has been very blessed and have their children in a Christian school and seem very willing to give back.

All of that, made me teary and gave me the warm and fuzzies. The mom, Leigh Anne, was played by Sandra Bullock and she was a very strong Southern woman. She always wore a cross around her neck and seemed determined to do the right thing. But, the part that has stayed in my head, is her meeting with the Michael’s mother.

She had learned from a case worker that the woman had twelve children and was a crack addict. Michael was a ward of the state and there was no reason to even try to contact her. I’m sitting in my comfortable chair at this point, just thinking what trash this woman was. How could she have that many kids? How could she smoke crack and lose her kids? I’m thinking, she should just write her off.

She doesn’t. Leigh Anne looks for her and finds her in a very sketchy housing project. She just sits right down on her couch and begins talking to her, not condescendingly like I felt like she deserved. She told his mother that she wasn’t getting any money from the state for taking him in. She spoke to her with kindness and when she did, the woman’s defenses came down. She openly spoke of at first, not remembering Michael’s daddy’s name. Leigh Anne moved over onto the couch next to her and asked her if she wanted to see him. Here’s the two lines that have stayed with me.

“You are a fine Christian woman.” Leigh Anne answered, “I try to be.”

That scene and those words have weighed heavily on my mind. The character in the movie was a fine Christian woman. Even in Michael’s mother’s misery, she could see the face of Christ.  Lee Anne makes me ask myself how I’m doing. Do people look at me and see a fine Christian woman? Do they see Jesus? If they see him in me at church, that’s great. But, am I that woman at the grocery store or at Wal-Mart? How about when someone cuts me off in traffic? What about when someone is unkind to me or my family? What about when someone has made horrible decisions like the woman in the movie? Would I be willing to speak kindly to her?

It’s easy to do the right thing when things are going well or when people treat me kindly, but it’s much more difficult when people are unkind or when they have treated people I care about unkindly.

The Bible tells us that we should love one another because God loves us. He loves everyone, so we should too. That’s a tall order. I have to admit that I often fail miserably. Even so, I feel I should try. I believe that being a fine Christian woman is a goal worth shooting for. What do you think? I’d love to hear from you.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂