The Fruit Diet

I want to go on the fruit diet, and like many other realities in the upside-down world of the Kingdom, the diet I discipline myself for is for other people around me more than for my own benefit. Think of all the bright colored, sweet things others could be seeing and enjoying in me--cold, crisp Fuji apples (love), cute little seedless and easy-to-peel clementines (joy), those ultra-sweet pears from Harry and David (peace), and those fuzzy little kiwi fruits from far-away New Zealand (patience). The result is a more energized, better-looking me that fits in the spiritual clothes I want to wear. Just like when one person goes on the South Beach diet and shapes up, it makes everyone else want to shape up too. That's what I want to do for the body of Christ. Instead, I often succumb to my diet of "pecan pie" (jealousy), "French fries" (bursts of anger), and "doughnuts"(it's-all-about-Me thoughts), which equates to a lazy, indulgent, overweight me with untoned muscles. I know it's almost Christmas when we think it's OK to indulge, but I want to have the January, new-start mentality all year round.

The Driving Force of "Lost"

How could it have happened? The shiny new cabinet door hardware we bought to upgrade the somewhat mousy cabinets in our 20-year-old house is no where to be found. Why can't we just be happy that we have found the other 99.99% of things we moved? Why is it that we are consumed with daily opening of boxes in the attic and garage, hoping that--just maybe--we will uncover the lost treasure and be at peace at last and the time of the search will have ended. Hmmm...wasn't there a story about the shepherd who couldn't rest until he found that missing sheep? We KNOW him! He's still looking for that sheep in the remotest mountains of Afghanistan and the tribes of Indonesia. The US Center for World Mission on Mt. Sequoyah gives a great vantage point for feeling the breeze of the Spirit as we stand by the cross looking out over the landscape. We long to be driven by the Heart of the Shepherd for those nameless faces of that lone "sheep" caught in thickets around the world. The Spirit in us drives us on.

If God Shopped at WalMart

I have been thinking about how, in it's simplest form, the message of our relationship with God is that we are containers for His glory. My mind ran to these wonderful clear boxes with blue lids that they sell at WalMart that we have chosen to organize our previously disorganized lives with. I'm embarrassed to tell you how many we have bought, but the number is not a lot unlike the stars in the sky that God promised Abraham He would fill.

If God shopped at WalMart--and I say this in total reverence to loosely illustrate my point--I think He would use boxes like these to store His Treasures. In His grace though, He has given us--the boxes--a will of their own. We are allowed to choose if we will let Him fill our storage capacity up with what He wants to put in, or will we--

* Never open the lid for Him?

* Be so concerned with having the prettiest decoration on the outside (rather than its storage purpose), making it impossible to see inside?

* Look at the box next to itself and wish it had what it has inside.

* Try to mislabel our box.

* Take on so many heavy things in our box that when the Owner tries to pick it up, it's so heavy the handle comes off and rather than using what He had stored, He has to stop and put the handle back on so He can carry it to where its needed. Or He has to sort out all the miscellaneous things that we containers have opened our lids to.

Of course, He never minds the sorting process and loves His boxes so much that He never minds sorting or fixing, but when the boxes cooperate, it makes Him happy. God knows exactly what He wants to store in our containers and they fit perfectly on His shelves. He has purchased them all, even though He knows the mischievous containers jump off shelves, throw useless stuff in, and graffiti the outside. "But this precious treasure, this light and power that now shine within us, is held in perishable containers, so everyone can see that our glorious power is from God and is not our own." II Cor. 4:7

Blessing of the Pipes

I (John) spent the better part of last Thursday afternoon under the house (now why didn't we press for that home warranty?) attempting to restore the kitchen sink to its previous state of drainage. First trip to Home Depot for a 25 foot drain snake--too short. Try the garden hose--big mess. Change clothes and make second trip to Home Depot for 50 foot drain snake--yes! But, while fishing the snake down the clogged drain, thoughts I had recently subconsciously absorbed drifted into my mind: some 74 million people in India have no bathrooms and no PVC pipes that allow them the conveniences we enjoy every day without a thought. There--staring at those conduits of grace, I was overtaken with a sense of blessing. Just a little encouragement to praise God for His overwhelming goodness in the small things. Hmmm...today I'm going to think about postage stamps...

Our Portraits

In the preface to a book on fasting, I recently read this profound statement: "The neglect of truth followed by its rediscovery often results in its overemphasis." ...AND "Truth is like a portrait, and to exaggerate one feature is to turn the portrait into a caricature of the truth." This may or may not be true of fasting today, but in a larger sense, it struck me that when we overemphasize one aspect of the truth and de-emphasize another, the world gets a distorted view of the truth. May we be faithful to paint realistic masterpieces--not modern interpretations--of the nature of our great God in an array of scenes in different play of light so the world around us will see Him as He really is and want to take up their own brushes and canvases!

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

Our new home, our new workplace, our new friends--our passion, purpose, and joy.

Chinese Checkers

"Jump". We call it Chinese Checkers. We regained an interest in this--what we consider--childhood game through the expertise of some of our Chinese friends and acquired multiple boards with marbles and pegs. In the move, I found a particularly nice one of these, but one of the pegs was missing so it has been demoted to the box going into the next sale. That is, unless that missing peg surfaces.

In a community of believers, if every peg is there, the "game" can be played, skills can be improved as the pegs are moved in relation to each other, and it's a very satisfying experience. If some of the crucial playing pieces are missing or stuck in one place, the "game" is seriously hindered (an inferior "sub" must be found) or written off as not worth playing. Hmmm...choose your color. Do you want to go first or do you want me to?