Partly Painted Fence

 James 2:22 “You see his faith and his actions worked together. His actions made his faith complete.”

 

 

  In March 2008, my husband Chad began painting this fence.  We were getting ready to put the house on the market and move to our hometown where he was going to be the head football coach of our alma mater.   While painting this fence his mom who lives  here became ill.  The call that she had cancer came while we were in the process of painting this fence. 

Today May 30, 2010, this is what our fence still looks like. See we made the difficult decision to stay and for her to move in with us so that we could care for her and try to make her as comfortable as possible.  Life changed and the fence being painted just wasn’t a priority anymore.  We had many more important things to deal with. 

To me, this fence has been a reminder of where we wanted our lives to go.  We were painting the fence ready to move on to better things and for me to be close to my family!  This fence is also a reminder as to where God wanted us to go.  The unpainted part doesn’t necessary represent just us staying but represents our willingness to go through some ugly times!   We definitely have had our share of extremely trying times and things have not gone nearly the way we would have wanted! 

You see when we decided to stay, Chad no longer had a job.  The head coaching job he had resigned from already had a new coach.  So he had to settle for an assistant’s job and is still an assistant coach 2 years later.  And his mom moving in with us, well that wasn’t a smooth ride either!  Not at all the plan we had for us!

And I stayed with my job but the stress of work and home eventually gave way to me taking a volunteer severance package last May.  I was OK with doing it because I wanted to pursue a career in teaching but no jobs came open last year.  A year later I still remain unemployed!  Not at all the plan we had for us!

But God’s plan I can say has had its high points with the lows but it would not have been the plan I would have picked given all the details!  But through helping my mother-in-law, I gained patience in my life (although I could definitely use more). I’ve gained a greater love and respect for my husband seeing him willing to care for  his mother no matter how difficult it became or what the personal cost would be to his career.  We have gained more family time with me not working and with Chad being just an assistant coach. 

See in the world’s eye we probably look like a failure and look like we made some bad decisions, seemingly, that our income has taken major hits  but in God’s eye, He sees us as having made the best decisions and has richly blessed us with that.  I do believe the time and the place will come where God will deliver us into the dreams in our heart but for now it is for us to enjoy where we are and fully trust Him.

Today Chad is  outside right now painting the fence.  No we aren’t physically moving but the time has come to move on. Our faith and our actions worked together. Now  it’s time to complete our faith!  No more reminders of the decisions we made just the completeness of a new coat of paint over it all that says we are moving on with God! 

10 Things Track has taught me about the Christian Life

Hebrews 12:1 “Let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.”




1. Hurdles. Runners carefully measure and count their steps to jump the hurdles. If a runner gets off on his/her steps then they must take a stutter step that costs them time or possibly costs them to trip over the hurdle bringing them some pain. In life we must also pay attention to the steps we take to overcome the hurdles in our life. Each step we take the way God is showing us, the easier it is to overcome our hurdles. If we get out of the rhythm of being in step with God, the hurdles in our life can certainly slow us down and/or cause us to fall.
2. Relays. The truly team aspect of track comes out in the relays. Four runners must work together to get the best time. The key to a successful relay is all in the “hand off”, the exchange of the baton. Smooth hand-offs get the next runner out quickly, bad hand-offs slow the next runner down. Races are won and lost in these key hand offs! In life our key hand-offs are when we have given it our all and we need to “hand off” to God what we know only He can do. Too many times, our hand offs are terrible with God. We may put the baton in His hand but then jerk it right back out, and do this over and over again. Or we may not hand it off at all and try to run tired when we could have simply handed it off and already be resting! Successful hand-offs to our problems are key to running the race that God so desires us to run!
3. 100 M Dash. The 100 is for the fastest athletes. The ones that have Roadrunner speed. The key to success for these quick athletes is a great start out of the blocks. Sounds easy but often these athletes get jittery. Sometimes they jump the gun and get disqualified, sometimes the fear of being disqualified makes them a ½ second slow getting out of the blocks and sometimes they just struggle to get out of the blocks cleanly. In life, we too also struggle with timing. Sometimes we get ahead of God and “jump” the gun. Sometimes we aren’t quick enough to do what God is calling us to do and other times we do get out of the blocks but then stumble right away. But when we do get out of the blocks in perfect timing, watch out everyone! We are blazing and quick to do whatever God calls us to do. That’s the life we want to have as Christians!
4. Mile Run. The mile run takes discipline, self-control and a good healthy pace. These runners have to run their own race, know when to make a move, and try to save some “kick” for the end. They can’t begin the race at 100 M dash speed and expect to keep the pace up for the entire race. It just isn’t possible! In life, we sometimes are so excited about our calling and what God wants us to do that we attack it with 100M dash speed, only to realize later we are in for a much longer run. Frustration, fatigue, and doubt all set in when we realize we are in for a longer time period than we first realized. But after realizing this we can get back into the race and follow a more controlled and sustaining pace to reach the goal that has been set in front of us!
5. Discus. Participants take a heavy disc and they twist their body in a one and a half circle turn and with all their might and some grunting propel the heavy disc onto the field. Whoever throws it the longest distance wins. In life, we need to get our body and mind wrapped around our sins and twist, turn and groan until we throw that sin as far away as possible. It’s not enough to ask for forgiveness to a sin you repeat often, it’s time to ask God to strengthen your mind, your will to cast those sins out of your life. It seldom is easy and often times you feel like you are going in circles but its part of the process to casting those sins away!
6. Long Jump. The long jumpers take a running start and at the board they take a mighty leap into a pile of sand that extends further than the best jumper can possibly jump. The winner is whoever jumps the farthest without “scratching”. In life, we finally make up our mind to take a leap of faith and so we try to get a running start going before making the jump. We finally take the jump and we are flying through the air! We are excited and the feeling of freedom while soaring through the air is like no other! Then we land in the sand! Just like the ones Moses rescued out of Egypt by God parting the Red Sea, they felt like they were on a high on their way to the promised land but then they found themselves in the desert! They too landed in the sand. Suddenly the leap of faith didn’t look as promising. Instead of measuring how far they had come with God, they measured how much sand was in their sandals, “scratching” their heads and turning away from God. We must realize that just because our leap of faith lands us in sand, that victory could be right upon us. We must simply get up, dust ourselves off, and ask God for direction. It also wouldn’t hurt to look back for just a second to measure how far God has already taken you.
7. Pole Vault. Pole Vaulting is a very dangerous event. The athlete has a pole, runs at the mat, plants the pole in the right spot and then uses the pole as leverage to propel him/her over the bar set at around 10 feet or higher! At the apex of the jump the athlete let’s go of the pole to soar across the bar and land on a mat! Sounds pretty crazy doesn’t it! In life, we often try without the right devices to reach our 10 feet or higher goals. We run towards these goals equipped with nothing (no pole) and aimlessly fall short by a LOT each time. We need help to propel us over our goals in life. God is our power in making our personal goals. Once we have Him, He can propel us far and above what we could possibly do on our own!
8. High Jump. The best method to use in the High Jump is called the Fosbury Flop. You go head over heels over the bar and kick your legs at the end to clear the height. The name certainly doesn’t sound like success. Anything dubbed a “flop” doesn’t seem like it would be the best way to achieve high goals in the sport but it is. Just like in life, we don’t always see our “flops” to be the best way to make it to our goals but in reality our flops can be what propel us to even greater things that exceed our goals and expectations. If we go “head over heels” for God He will use our flops to make us better.
9. High Jump Shoes. High jump shoes have been developed to give extra stability in the heel so jumpers can gain more traction in their “J approach”. In the J approach a runner tries to gain great speed running in a J shape, the curve gives the runner the best momentum going into the approach of the bar. Without the extra stability of the shoes and the correct form, athletes may slip or go at a slower speed in their approach limiting how high they can jump. In life our “J approach” is our approach to having a personal relationship with Jesus. What gives us the extra stability in our “Jesus approach” when we make that curve is the word of God and our prayer life. When we get these two things going, we see ourselves propelling high above the world’s standards and seek new heights with Jesus!
10. Declaring the Winners. During the meet, those who place in events are assigned a point value and a tally is kept for each team. The “ultimate winner” is the team that scores the most points.This doesn’t mean that the “ultimate winner” wins every race; they just have a good showing in enough races to take the team title! In life, we aren’t going to win all of our battles and races either. To be crowned champions in life does not rest in our being the best in everything, it rests in one thing, becoming new again when we accept Jesus as our personal savior. The shedding of our self and living our life for God transforms us into the “ultimate winner”. We may go through life and suffer many defeats but as long as we are carrying out our life for God and showing Him, He is who matters, then we will be crowned in heaven “Ultimate Winners” and our trophy will be ever-lasting fellowship with Him!

God Bless or God “B” less

    Each day we make a statement as to what we want from this life.  The statement may not be uttered by our words but it is in our actions or lack of actions that speak our statement.  We either are asking for “God to Bless” us in our life or we are asking for “God to “B”less” in our life.  Each day the sum of what we do, how we spend our time, what we desire, what we are thinking and how we handle ourselves in the day, sums up to that we either actively sought God’s blessing or we actively sought God’s lessening grip on our lives.
What I mean is that through the day if our thoughts and  actions are not focused on what God would have us to do then we are deliberately turning away from his blessings and we are making Him be less in our lives than we openly want to admit.  The balance of the scales as to whether God blesses you or becomes less in you, doesn’t really lie in going to church, serving, tithing, having quiet time and praying, it lies within the motivation that is behind those acts that only you and God know.  I have at times been a check box Christian who does nothing more than do things to check off my Christian list.  Church (check), Bible Study (check), Prayer time (check) Serving (check), Tithing (check), Quiet Time (check). There might be some residue behind from checking off my Christian chore list but for the most part I would spend the rest of my time doing what I wanted and thinking about what I wanted.    The balance really lies with what you are thinking about and the actions you take in the summation of each day!  It’s great to do the things on the Christian Chore list but it means little if you are doing it to merely keep appearances or merely doing it because that’s what a Christian is supposed to do.
The only difference between God Bless and God B  less is just a tiny space but that distance changes its entire meaning!  The distance you have from looking like a Christian and being a Christian is in that gap. Here are some examples:

•   For God to Bless, His word has to be more than words on a page.  They have to be words of life to you and your soul.  For God to “B” less, don’t even bother reading His word or if you do let it just be words you rush through to get it done.
• For God to Bless, God is on your mind in each situation and in each moment of the day.  You throw up little prayers throughout the day.  You talk with Him about everything as it is happening and ask for guidance right then!  For God to “B”  less, don’t pray at all, or if you do,  pray over your meals a generic prayer and pray before you go to bed.
• For God to Bless, church is not something you drag yourself to do.  It is something you can’t wait to get too.  You can’t wait to sing and to hear the word of God.  Then throughout the week you meditate on what you heard.  You look for more scriptures about it.  You are earnestly looking to be fed more.  For God to “B”  less, whine and complain about going to church or skip it.  If you do go then don’t participate.  Listen and feel like you got your fill for the week and  hide your mal- nourished anorexic soul.
• For God to bless, the tithe is not enough.  God doesn’t want 1/10 of  anything,  he wants it all!  Commit all your finances to God just as you commit all of yourself to Him.  He will call you to be generous beyond 1/10.  For God to “B” less, don’t tithe and don’t be generous to others.  Or if you do tithe, get into the mindset that 1/10 is enough and not open the 90% up to God. 
• For God to bless, reserve quiet time where it’s just you and God and no other noise.  Be still and just listen, other times you might just be still and pray, or be still and read in His word.  For God to “B” less, don’t have quiet time with Him.  Always have background noise and distractions around to keep that time occupied with other things.
• For God to bless, serve whenever and where ever you can.  Your church doesn’t have to set up a mission trip for you to go down and feed the homeless, or to donate items for those in need.  You don’t just serve in church and be done for the week.  Each day you look to find someone at a store, at work, at home or where ever you are to serve them in some capacity.  For God to “B” less, be too busy to help out anyone else or if you feel like you have to do the bare minimum then go and serve for an hour at church and let that be it! 
• For God to bless our home, He has to be the center of our home and the focus of our attention.  He has to be the talk of the house with parents using biblical principals to teach the children and the children hungry for more spiritual food!   For God to “B” less, all we have to do is let our busy lives take us over and ignore Him. 

Each day we have a choice Allow God to Bless or Allow God to “B” Less!