Just for me

Last week I went to SuperBowl XLV!!! Well...not exactly...I was in Dallas, which is where the SuperBowl was played, during the weekend of the SuperBowl, but I didn't actually go to the game- I was there to visit my lovely family :) but it sounds more fun for me to say that I went! (As a side note, I did meet Lynn Swann, the famed wide receiver of the Pittsburgh Steelers, I didn't know who he was but we'll discuss that in another post...I digress)

So- on my way to the SuperBowl :) I flew SWA with one stop in Kansas City. The previous week Dallas had experienced 70 degree weather during this early February time period. Only a few days later the city was paralyzed by inches of snow that came and would not leave. Schools were closed for a record 4 days, the highways were in horrible condition, and the airport, after an additional 6" of snow the night before I left, was closed. Had I known about the airport closure I likely would have canceled or postponed my trip in anticipation of the warmer weather to come. Instead, I boarded the plane in Baltimore and headed to Kansas City, ignorant of the fact that I was about to become very familiar with this mid-western airport.
I arrived in Kansas City and was greeted with a sea of Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers fans. We were penned in between the TSA security checkpoints and the gates that held our grounded planes. After 7 hours of reading, talking, web surfing and walking in circles, my patience was so thin that I could not grasp it and I FINALLY boarded the final leg of my flight.

Happy to be aboard, but anxious to be back on the ground, I settled in to my seat for the 45 minute flight. After the food service, I took to gazing out the window, one of my favorite during flight activities. Silently, I gasped to myself, in awe of the gorgeous sunset before me. Sunsets as witnessed from a 30,000 foot perspective are just breathtaking to me. The colors spill across the sky and the beauty of the sun's rays are endless! Some love the clouds, or the cars that look like ants, the city lights or the lumpy mountain plains- but for me what really does it are the sunsets and sunrises are the primary reasons that I love to gaze out of the plane windows. At that moment I realized that this was just for me. Had we flown earlier, we would have preceded the sunset, later and we would have missed it. If I didn't board at that time I would not have gotten the window seat on the west side of the plane with the beautiful view. It all seemed to be just right, and just for me.
Now, it may sound silly that the snow came, closed the airport, delayed all of those people and planes, just for me- but I believe that He did. I don't believe this because I am a narcissist who thinks the world revolves around her,but I believe this because the Jesus that is my personal Savior hung on a cross with nail pierced hands and feet, a crown of thorns on His head, and a spear in His side- just for me.
If He did that just for me, then rearranging a few flights is not unthinkable. And waiting for 7 hours, a couple of days or even a lifetime- for the perfect plan that God has for you is worth it.

Mercy and Grace

We are told that mercy, grace and peace will follow us for the rest of our lives (2 John 1:2-4). We know that we serve a forgiving God, who despite what we do in sin against Him, will be there for us in the end- He loves us that much. But why? Why did God give His only begotten Son? Why does He continue to love us when we don’t love ourselves? We know that He does it, and we rely on that, but do we consider what God is getting out of the deal?

I recently considered these questions, sounding like a 5 year old needing explanations, when it was revealed to me that God grants us mercy and grace for a purpose. The idea behind mercy and grace is not that we can continue to do the same thing over and over. Often the reason that we are so thankful for His forgiveness is because of how often we need it. We praise Him, we thank Him, we mess up, we get sad, we plead for forgiveness, He forgives, He loves, He uplifts, We praise Him, we thank Him, we mess up…The way that we treat His forgiveness is like a warranty on a product that we know the manufacturer must honor. So we don’t take care of the product because we know they will replace it- lifetime guarantee. We do not take on the responsibility that comes with receiving grace and mercy, we do not realize that God has a purpose in everything that He does; we just take it for granted that He will provide.

So, back to the question at hand, why? If you don’t mind walking with me through the scripture for the moment, let’s read the passage John 3:16-21. To keep it interesting and to show Gods infinite wisdom in answering the questions in our life- lets read it backwards. The purpose in God’s grace and mercy is so that He will be glorified through our lives (v. 21- So that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God). Sin separates us from God, if we are separated from God then His light can not shine through us for all of the world to see (v. 19- but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil), his desire for that light to shine in the world is so great that He sent His only begotten Son (v. 17- For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him), and therefore we have eternal life (v. 16- that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life).

God is the beginning and the end, He is a palindrome (the same read forward or backwards). He is the way the truth and the life, and He does not change. He does however promise us grace and mercy so that His purpose will be completed in our life. Are you living your life in a way that is for God's purpose? Are you using your grace and mercy as a warranty or as a way to get ever closer to Him.

Live your life (each day) as if it is on purpose, and then remember that it is.

Thank You - the verb (Feb. 15, 2010)

We thank God with our lips and our tongues. We thank Him in our hearts and with our mouths. Through song and dance, with timbrel and trumpet. But do we thank Him with our lives?

I passed a church marquee the other day that said- do others see Jesus in you? We have all seen the bracelets or heard the phrase- What Would Jesus Do? They are all reminders that we should be striving to live in a way that is pleasing in Gods sight. That we are a living testimony to the greatness of God and that we are witnesses on this earth (...in Judea, Jerusalem, Samaria and even to the end of the earth, Acts 1:8).



But do we thank Him with our lives?



I wrote in a previous blog about the purpose of our lives being to praise and worship Him, to glorify Him in everything that we do so that others will see that it is not us, but only God that prospers and guides our lives. Do we not only speak to Him thanks, but do we show Him thanks in how we speak to others? Do we praise Him with our hands, and then not extend a hand to help someone? Do we go to church every Sunday, but forget to be the church everyday? Do we read His word to in our personal devotion time- spending time with Him, but not to our children, the elderly, our spouses or best friends?


How incredible would it be to live a life of thanksgiving? To let God see that you are full of thanks by the your conduct and your character.

Hi there

Hello and welcome to my blog. I had the thought to start a blog in order to keep my loved ones up to date with my whereabouts and thoughts etc. just a way to keep in touch. But now as I start it I wonder how entering information on a website is really going to keep me in better "touch". We tend to complain about how technology creates a much less personal environment- text messages, emails, even phone calls at times lose that element of social interaction that we all crave and need. That being said, let me be clear that this is not a substitute for seeing you live and in person, but an attempt at using technology to enhance my relationships with you :)
Lets see how it goes...