My All in All

I'm so glad that the Lord didn't lay out all His plans for my life at conversion. Here I am almost 10 years into my Christian walk and when I reflect on the life lessons that He has taken me through I marvel and praise Him for His grace. There are very few "obvious" corrections that He reveals. Most of the time, I have never seen that there was a problem in an area that He has brought my attention to. However when I look back prior to the correcton taking place, it has been a major stumbling block to my life.
The latest behavior that He has spoken to me about is self-control and pride. Practically He is dealing with my sin of overeating or otherwise known as gluttony. It may sound trivial, but it is just as serious as any other addiction. I have essentially turned my back on God and feeding my pride when I ate beyond my needs. I have tortured my body with gaining and losing weight over the years. I have been in a Bible study over the last two months for healing in this area. The weight loss is only a bonus. Learning the put Christ first in ALL THINGS is the real blessing that I have learned. To crucify my pride and practice the fruit of the spirit, self-control IN ALL AREAS!!! That carries over into other areas of my life. I don't need the last word. I don't need to bemoan my present circumstances. I need to thank and praise Him for entrusting me with His treasures. Loving and nurturing my family so they can be secure in my love and to reflect the love of Christ in their lives. The critical spirit that I thought was crucified was still alive in my prideful nature. Thinking I was being "godly" and realising my grumbling I would mumble, were not glorifiying to God and were edifying to my family. It was essentially throughing my hand up in the face of Him, telling Him my way was better. What nerve!!!!!
I'm so thankful that when I fall, I can approach His throne and repent of my sins and bask in His saving grace. This song below comes to my mind today.

Once Again
Words and music by Matt Redman

Jesus Christ, I think upon Your sacrifice
You became nothing, poured out to death
Many times I've wondered at Your gift of life
And I'm in that place once again
I'm in that place once again

And once again I look upon the cross where You died
I'm humbled by Your mercy and I'm broken inside
Once again I thank You
Once again I pour out my life

Now You are exalted to the highest place
King of the heavens, where one day I'll bow
But for now, I marvel at Your saving grace
And I'm full of praise once again
I'm full of praise once again

Thank You for the cross
Thank You for the cross
Thank You for the cross, my Friend

Journey to Narnia

Today my son and I went to see the movie, The Chronicles of Narnia. It was everything and more than I had expected. I must confess that I have not read the Narnia series but my son is in the process of reading the Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe and I have followed many of the commentary shows on it. Disney has captured the core of the Christian alagorical themes that C.S. Lewis worked so hard to convey. The Gospel is presented beautifully and innocently. The battle of good verses evil that is taking place daily in the spirit rhelm, is visually portrayed in a land where it is always winter and never Christmas.
My son said it all at the beginning of the movie when Lucy first ventured through the wardrobe into Narnia, "It looks just like I imagined it would". Thank you Disney creators for staying true the imagination of a child, the purpose of Lewis and the recognition that there is a Christian audience out there.

The First Communion

No, I'm not talking about a Roman Catholic rite of passage, but of my eight-year-old son taking another step in his spiritual walk. Because my son is in the third grade, he no longer goes to junior church during our regular worship service. Some days it is a challenge to keep him occupied during the service and other days it is more of a challenge to keep him and his little friends quiet. At any rate, by the time the pastor is starting to share the message, he is either bored to tears or he is in a place where he will listen to the message. Often I will interject with an object lesson related to the message.
We have discussed participation in communion in the past and what it means, but he has not elected to take part in the elements. Today was different though. When I asked him if he was ready to take communion, he said that he was.
This little boy doesn't do anything without giving it alot of thought. This was the case when he accepted Christ. I had shared with him about invited Jesus into his heart and what it meant to be a Christian. I would let him know that when he was ready to do that, I would pray with him. His response was usually, "No, I'm not ready yet". But one day I brought up the topic again, his response was, "I'm ready now." My mother has often said that he is an old soul. He is wise spiritually beyond chronological years.
I was again very proud of him today as he made that step forward in his spiritual walk. I hope God is okay with that kind of pride.

ER's Liberal Agenda

Once again my favorite show, E.R. has caused me to wonder why I continue to watch it as a Christian. I boycotted the show a few years ago when Carrie Weaver came out as a lesbian and had an open relationship on the show. It just went way too far in my books.
Last's nights show had one story line that focused on two separate crisis pregnancies. Abby announced on the previous show to Luka that she was pregnant with his child. On last night's show she wrestled with the thought of whether or not she wanted to continue with the pregnancy. Luka, of course wanted to have the baby but recognized that it was her decision. While I was happy enough that he stated his desire for the pregnancy to continue, I do believe that the baby's life should be a joint decision as both of them were responsible for creating that life in the premarital relationship.
The second part of this story line concerned a 15-year-old girl who came in to the E.R. with abdominal pains. This girl was found to be pregnant. She was a patient of Neela with Luka as the attending. Her parents were then informed and it was obvious that they were Christians. However tragic and unexpected this pregancy was, they believed that God wanted this child to be born and they stated their belief in the sanctity of life. Neela didn't seem to show any respect for the parent's beliefs but felt that the girl did not want this pregancy to continue. The teen was in some distress and stated that she wished it hadn't happened. It was found that the baby was conceived after the teen got drunk at a party and passed out. She awakened to find that she had been taken advantage of.
After being confronted by Neela that he was biased because he was Catholic, Luka then went to counsel the teen and gave her the option of a laminar insert that would mimic a miscarriage. When she asked him if it was a sin, his reply was, "This is medicine's way of allowing God to change His mind". I thought I would throw up. Then she began to quote Jeremiah Chapter 1, which Luka completed for her. She then said to him, "You are a Christian" and he said, "Yes". The second time I almost threw up. This is the character that, yes, is portrayed as being Roman Catholic from Bosnia but has slept with at least a dozen women on the show. He certainly is a sensitive and handsome doctor but I would never call him a Christian. Being a nurse, I do not know any Christian doctor that would ever participate in an abortion.
This episode, in my eyes gave the green light to pregnant teens to abort their babies no matter what their parents think. It's ok to deceive your parents when it is your body, right? Especially when you get guidance from a Christian doctor.
The Abby part of the story line, turned out better. She decided that she wanted to keep the baby and didn't have an abortion. So Luka assisted in the death of one child to keep another I guess. I can't wait to see what the prolife publications will comment on this episode.

New Year's Intentions

The last couple of days I have been sick with some sort of flu bug so it has given me time for reflection (and sleep). The "in" way to state what you want to do in the New Year is called New Year's Intents. I guess intentions are different from resolutions because intent gives you the grace if you fail and resolution is more defing. I'm not sure that I like either term. We can sometimes have the best of intentions but fail at the result. We also know the saying "The road to (you know where) is paved with good intentions". With intentions we never seem to feel we need to "get around to it". Resolutions, on the other hand, are more defining but there again, we set ourselves up for failure. How often do you hear of someone making New Year's Resolutions, only to break them within days of January 1.
I guess there are things that I think about improving all of the time. Since being a child of the King, I am supposed to be conforming into His image day by day. God awakens me to the need for change when I'm most likely to receive. I love and look forward to these little awakenings that He reveals to me. It is my special time out with the Lord in some respects. These times of revelation are precious to us both.