JUST BE GLAD...

I have a journal I occasionally write in for the men children. By occasionally, I mean my last entry prior yesterday was June of 2008. Maybe occasionally is too strong a word. Maybe seldom would be better. Now I feel like I am checking off answers on a survey or a medical info sheet. Anyway, I was looking over the previous entries and found one the detailed a day with MC 2 dated March 2008. During the course of that day he:

1. doused the yard in gasoline

2. poured lighter fluid all over a stump

3. pooped on the back porch

4. broke a cookie jar

5. decided to doctor his own injury with hydrogen peroxide

Note: March 2008 puts MC 2 at the ripe age of 2.

My journal also revealed that March of that year was when my bathroom remodel started. That may seem trivial to you, as it would me, except for the fact that I, just yesterday, started to finish painting the trim area. I believe in pacing my home improvement projects. At least that is my story. So be glad MC 2 is mine and that I am not your remodel contractor. Have a great day!

YOU MIGHT JUST GET BORED READING THIS...

Well, let's see...what has been going on with us. MC 2 is banned from the bus this week for cheating on a test. In KINDERGARTEN people....in K...I...N...D...E...R...G...A...R...T...E...N. I know, we all need to pray for this one. I had a visit with our dentist yesterday. He and his staff must enjoy my company because I am scheduled to go back 2 more times next month. Whoopie! HH said, "Finally something we can blame on you!", referring to our dental woes with the MCs. He is about equality in this relationship if nothing else. I posted about some whiners, not winos, over on Deliberately Delivered. The puppies are on the move and have found their voices. Now if they could just find the outdoors and get out of my garage. Guess that is about it. If you are still awake, have a great Wednesday!

IT'S NOT JUST ABOUT ROB BELL...

as much as I disagree with his theology. As much I think he is being used to lead people, believers and non-believers, astray. As much as I will vocalize my opposition to Velvet Elvis and Love Wins and Nooma. As much as I go "Are you serious?" every time I read someone supporting the emerging church doctrine. It is not just about Rob Bell. He is simply the face. He is simply a man. A sinful man. Just like the rest of us. It is about the Church in America sitting on its backside getting fed and fat on junk food sermons because we want to feel good. It is about the Church in America not getting in the Word of God for ourselves and testing what we are told. It is about the Church walking around on theological egg shells because we don't want to offend anyone and who are we to say what is wrong. It is about the Church confusing grace with complete tolerance and love with keeping our mouths shut. And when I say the Church, I put myself smack dab in the middle of it. As much as my flesh talked back to the TV as I watched interview after interview with Mr. Bell, as much as I may have yelled at it a few times, as fired up as it gets me, it is not about Rob Bell. It is about us. It is about me. Do I believe the Word of God? Before that, do I even know the Word of God? If I believe it, am I living like it? If I believe in an eternal hell, am I trying to keep people out? Am I telling the good news of the gospel that an ever loving God has given us a choice and provided a very real sacrifice in Jesus Christ that allows us to make that choice? Watching this unfold over the last few weeks, and honestly the last couple of years, with my exposure to the emerging church, it has become less about them and more about me. What am I doing? Where am I willing to take a stand? How am I living out my faith? The fire I feel inside of me is an anger that God is being made out to be something He is not. My God... my Savior.... and that is something I take that very personal. The fire I feel inside of me cannot be quieted any longer for the sake of niceties. The fire I feel inside brings me to tears with passion for my Jesus. This is about the integrity of the Word of God. This is about the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. This is about the very character of God. It's not just about Rob Bell... it's about so much more. "...But His word was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I was weary of holding it back, and I could not." Jeremiah 20:9 (NKJV)

NO MATTER HOW YOU SPELL IT...

SERENITY

Awwwww....isn't he cute?

Awwww...he can be yours:)

TRAINING DAY

MC 1 brought home a copy of the book 101 Dog Tricks. MC 2 took it and ran. For some reason he thought he could train Bella to do a few tricks.

Preparing.....

and nothing.

She would NOT jump over his leg for all his pleading. I am sure they will try again tomorrow.

Right after they clean the glass in my front door...goodness me.

WE LIKE OURS CANNED AND PROCESSED...

Well, the ol' quest hit a brick wall on Sunday. For our lunch, Mrs. Deen suggested steamed green beans. The men in my house revolted. There were snarling faces, talks about health, and it ended up with MC 1 declaring in a fit of disgust,

I HOPE THERE IS JUNK FOOD AT NANNY'S HOUSE!

Isn't that just like us? We want the stuff that is quick to eat and easy to swallow. I don't want to have to take the time to chew on it. What I have found is that the same thought pattern has been true in other areas of my life as well. Like...uhmmm.....church maybe?
I have wanted the fast food version of Christ at times in my life. The messages that were easy to take in and to swallow. The ones that were sweet to my spiritual palate. No chewing required. No thinking about it required. Just open your little, sweet spiritual mouth and swallow. Sadly, sometimes that is what I got served. Just as sad, if not more so, sometimes it was those types of messages I sought out. The healthy, takes a little work to digest sermons I was not so excited about.
Our culture is the same way. They desire to hear a version of the gospel that is sweet to them. They want sermons that are canned and processed. Sermons that make us feel good and go down smooth. Don't misunderstand, I like a "feel good" sermon too. But what I am learning is that nothing makes me feel as "good" as knowing Jesus Christ died for my sins. Knowing that He is with me. Seeing in Scripture God's promises to me fulfilled (past and present tense) in Christ Jesus. Resting in the assurance that there is a literal enemy of my soul and a hell, and that Jesus Christ, by His death, has defeated both.
I cannot tell you how many times over the past year I have gotten mad at myself for spending years as a spiritual fast food junkie. Not every meal, but enough. It was my choice. My choice to sit there and just take whatever in. My choice to seek out the easy stuff, the stuff that made me feel good. This is not a post about blaming others. It is about my responsibility as a believer to test what I have heard against the word of God. To seek out the "sit down to dinner" stuff of the gospel and chew on them. Let it make me healthier.
As I continue to look at not only my fast food eating habits, but my fast food Jesus habits, I want encourage you to do the same. What are you looking for? Do you and I want to be Christians who treat church as a drive-thru quick fix? Do we want to play on the playground of our doctrine, our core beliefs? Where we play church just enough to make us feel better? Feel like we are out there doing something? Or do we want to sit down at the table of the Christ and have a meal? Have some hearty food that takes a little effort on our part to work out? Yes, our pastors should be serving up those meals. Meals they have labored over. Meals they and the Lord have prepared together. Not meals that come in a prepackaged can. At least not every Sunday. Honestly, not most Sundays. I hope your pastor is such a leader. HOWEVER, you and I are responsible for our own spiritual diet. We are the ones who choose what we want to digest. We are the ones who choose to go for the fast food junk or the hearty meals.
You must know I have been wrestling with this for a good bit. Working out where I have chosen the easy way, and where I need to choose different. It breaks my heart to see a nation of believers and unbelievers alike, sitting in pews, or watching on the Internet, or reading from the latest book, with our spiritual mouths open ready to take in whatever is dished out. We have got to do better as the Church. I have got to do better as Rhonda. Otherwise we, and I, will wind up as spiritually obese people full of unhealthy ideologies and doctrines that do nothing for the body but hinder it.
Let us choose today.