There are so many things percolating in my brain right now and things I want to say but my time this afternoon is limited and there is a lot of snubby floating around in my sinuses, blocking coherent thoughts processes. So I will make this quick.
The Caseys are dead and gone.
The princess has not noticed yet and I am a chicken and haven't told her.
Some may wonder who the Caseys are. About a year ago some friends gave us (actually they gave it to our daughter - a sneaky trick to run around the parents) a fish tank and suddenly we were pet owners. We had avoided pets for many reasons - not because we are evil but because we are mobile. Pets require care and we are on the go quite a bit and I didn't want to always be looking for someone to feed the dog/cat/hamster while we ran to grandmas. So now we had fish. I killed Chester within two days - a beautiful beta fish that apparently couldn't stand our family. In my hysteria of killing Chester Judah drove to the pet store and returned with two "harder-to-kill" fish - I think they may have been guppies. We allowed the princess to name these fish - she labeled the first one 'Casey' which was cute and when we asked her for another name she replied 'Casey'. Really? You want them both to have the same name? YES. So we had two identical fish with the same name in our tank. No confusion there.
An interesting side note - we have a precious older couple at our church with the last name of Casey, so I entertained myself a great deal with the notion that the Caseys lived in our fish tank.
Judah was told that these 'harder-to-kill' fish would live a year or two. Well not to skew the bell curve they lived almost precisely a year and died seemingly within a day of each other. The Caseys are gone.
Did I mention that we still have one other fish? Originally purchased with Chester - one of the 'clean-your-tank' fish. Our daughter named him too - 'Hippo" I have no idea where the names come from. Hippo has now lost three tank mates in a year - he (or she for all I know) may be needing some therapy soon.
So long Caseys.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Plans
Recently, I have been fixated on a story out of 1 Samuel. It’s the story of David and his mighty men, in the cave of Adullam. Here is a little background information. Saul has been trying to kill David, and David has been running from Saul. In chapter 24, Saul finds out that David is in the wilderness of En-gedi, and goes after him. At one point, Saul needs to take a potty break (you got to love the bible), and goes into a cave for some privacy. It just so happens that this is the same cave that David and his mighty men are hiding.
David’s men see this as a perfect opportunity to kill Saul and stop the running. To them, it makes perfect sense. Saul has been trying to kill David for so long. Obviously, God is providing an opportunity here. At one point, the men said, "This is the day the LORD spoke of when he said to you, 'I will give your enemy into your hands for you to deal with as you wish.' They truly believed this was God’s will. However, David wouldn’t kill him. He only went so far as to cut a piece of his robe off.
A little more history behind this story: Saul was anointed by God to be king over Israel. When he went against God, and didn’t do what God wanted, God rejected him, and had David anointed as the next king (See 1 Samuel 16 for this story). Saul then lost the blessing of God, by the Spirit leaving him (1 Samuel 16:14).
So, there are 2 men that have been anointed to be king. On the surface, it seems like the obvious choice is to kill Saul. He has been rejected by God. He has been trying to kill David (chosen by God). David has been anointed to be the next king. He has God’s blessing. Why doesn’t David kill him? To me, the answer is quite powerful. Saul is anointed by God as well. Even though he has been rejected by God for not doing his will, at one point he was anointed by God. He was the chosen one. You do not go against the chosen one. David knew this. Even though his (David) life may have been easier, even though he would have been “justified” in killing Saul (at least in the eyes of David’s men, and possibly even us today???), it would still have been going against God. Saul was still the chosen one.
I think we do that today. We get these wonderful plans in our head, and don’t understand why God doesn’t “magically” make them happen. We aren’t selfish in our ambitions. We want to help people. We have others’ best interest at heart. So why doesn’t God allow our plans to take off? We ask ourselves late at night when we can’t sleep, “why doesn’t God see this plan the way I do? It is so obvious! It would help so many people. My family would be safe! We would be provided for!” We forget sometimes that God has his own plan. It may not make any sense at the time, but He has a reason for everything that He does. We get these great ideas in our head, and then get frustrated when our plans, that have no ulterior motive, won’t take off.
David could have killed Saul. He would have been king that way. But, I believe killing God’s anointed would have started a snowball effect of situations in David’s life that would have made the Bathsheba incident look like a Saturday morning cartoon series. Later on, I will write on what anointed means, and how it relates to us today as Christians.
We have to learn to listen to God. We have to learn to trust that He knows what he is doing. And, we have to learn to not step into His business. We do not know as much as He does. We cannot possibly know what is best, and think we are going to show God what the correct decision to do is.
Start listening for God. God speaks to us through other people. Don’t ignore people that may be questioning your judgment. Reflect on key events that may have prevented your plan from happening, even when the execution “was flawless”. Maybe that is God trying to quietly tell you, “not so fast.” Take time to just sit in silence for a period of time. Try not to convince God of your plans. He already knows what they are. Start asking God, “What is it you want me to do with my life? Why did you create me? Do my present plans go against your will?” We should be asking God for wisdom to know what He wants us to do. We should be asking Him to help us see when our plans conflict with His, and that He would give us the courage to change direction when conflicts arise.
We have to remember: God is God, and we are not.....
David’s men see this as a perfect opportunity to kill Saul and stop the running. To them, it makes perfect sense. Saul has been trying to kill David for so long. Obviously, God is providing an opportunity here. At one point, the men said, "This is the day the LORD spoke of when he said to you, 'I will give your enemy into your hands for you to deal with as you wish.' They truly believed this was God’s will. However, David wouldn’t kill him. He only went so far as to cut a piece of his robe off.
A little more history behind this story: Saul was anointed by God to be king over Israel. When he went against God, and didn’t do what God wanted, God rejected him, and had David anointed as the next king (See 1 Samuel 16 for this story). Saul then lost the blessing of God, by the Spirit leaving him (1 Samuel 16:14).
So, there are 2 men that have been anointed to be king. On the surface, it seems like the obvious choice is to kill Saul. He has been rejected by God. He has been trying to kill David (chosen by God). David has been anointed to be the next king. He has God’s blessing. Why doesn’t David kill him? To me, the answer is quite powerful. Saul is anointed by God as well. Even though he has been rejected by God for not doing his will, at one point he was anointed by God. He was the chosen one. You do not go against the chosen one. David knew this. Even though his (David) life may have been easier, even though he would have been “justified” in killing Saul (at least in the eyes of David’s men, and possibly even us today???), it would still have been going against God. Saul was still the chosen one.
I think we do that today. We get these wonderful plans in our head, and don’t understand why God doesn’t “magically” make them happen. We aren’t selfish in our ambitions. We want to help people. We have others’ best interest at heart. So why doesn’t God allow our plans to take off? We ask ourselves late at night when we can’t sleep, “why doesn’t God see this plan the way I do? It is so obvious! It would help so many people. My family would be safe! We would be provided for!” We forget sometimes that God has his own plan. It may not make any sense at the time, but He has a reason for everything that He does. We get these great ideas in our head, and then get frustrated when our plans, that have no ulterior motive, won’t take off.
David could have killed Saul. He would have been king that way. But, I believe killing God’s anointed would have started a snowball effect of situations in David’s life that would have made the Bathsheba incident look like a Saturday morning cartoon series. Later on, I will write on what anointed means, and how it relates to us today as Christians.
We have to learn to listen to God. We have to learn to trust that He knows what he is doing. And, we have to learn to not step into His business. We do not know as much as He does. We cannot possibly know what is best, and think we are going to show God what the correct decision to do is.
Start listening for God. God speaks to us through other people. Don’t ignore people that may be questioning your judgment. Reflect on key events that may have prevented your plan from happening, even when the execution “was flawless”. Maybe that is God trying to quietly tell you, “not so fast.” Take time to just sit in silence for a period of time. Try not to convince God of your plans. He already knows what they are. Start asking God, “What is it you want me to do with my life? Why did you create me? Do my present plans go against your will?” We should be asking God for wisdom to know what He wants us to do. We should be asking Him to help us see when our plans conflict with His, and that He would give us the courage to change direction when conflicts arise.
We have to remember: God is God, and we are not.....
Monday, August 17, 2009
* A Day of Firsts
Along with many families in our area this morning we packed the first lunch of the school year. Apparently I had not recently shopped for school snacks so my son will trudge through his first day with less than stellar items. I was able to put in a ziploc of fresh grapes so I don't feel too bad. Besides his favorite part is the overpriced water bottle he conned out of his dad when Judah's boy instinct over rode his budgeting philosophy.
In preparation of this day my son slept in his clothes. Why? - in order to not be late. I tried to tell him that he still had to wait on his mom to get dressed but my point was not strong enough. He finally took the shirt off for temperature and comfort reasons when he found himself still awake at 11:30.
School shopping was a fun activity. Judah got to go with us since after his exit interview Friday he suddenly had no more work to do. So we all wandered through Target where we learned that everyone was out of wide ruled paper, but that dad was an easy mark for cool new water bottles. Last night we packed his bag - not a back pack this year. We recently bought some messenger bags as a gift and at that time my son decided he needed one also. Due to the leftover theory his selection was small but we settled on a black one, which is always cool. The new bag style will hopefully prolong its life. Last year's bag was a wheeled back pack which was drug everywhere and multiple holes rendered it useless by the end of the year. Holding a bag will shake up the first day of school photo which has included the wheeled backpack style the past two years.
The big boy in the house also is having a big first day. A new job that doesn't send him to China! We did not do any shopping in preparation for his first day - sad really. Anticipation was a palpable thing in our home yesterday. Judah didn't seem to sleep well either and was up early. Although I asked , he didn't feel that taking his picture was necessary.
In preparation of this day my son slept in his clothes. Why? - in order to not be late. I tried to tell him that he still had to wait on his mom to get dressed but my point was not strong enough. He finally took the shirt off for temperature and comfort reasons when he found himself still awake at 11:30.
School shopping was a fun activity. Judah got to go with us since after his exit interview Friday he suddenly had no more work to do. So we all wandered through Target where we learned that everyone was out of wide ruled paper, but that dad was an easy mark for cool new water bottles. Last night we packed his bag - not a back pack this year. We recently bought some messenger bags as a gift and at that time my son decided he needed one also. Due to the leftover theory his selection was small but we settled on a black one, which is always cool. The new bag style will hopefully prolong its life. Last year's bag was a wheeled back pack which was drug everywhere and multiple holes rendered it useless by the end of the year. Holding a bag will shake up the first day of school photo which has included the wheeled backpack style the past two years.
The big boy in the house also is having a big first day. A new job that doesn't send him to China! We did not do any shopping in preparation for his first day - sad really. Anticipation was a palpable thing in our home yesterday. Judah didn't seem to sleep well either and was up early. Although I asked , he didn't feel that taking his picture was necessary.
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