Mass Communication

It’s funny how God talks and communicates with us. Or at least, the ways he speaks to us. I sat there at worship on Sunday and my pastor starts talking about how great last Sunday’s service felt. How he and most of the congregation could feel and see Jesus’ presence. You really had to be there to understand that. It felt really great and comforting.

Pastor Daron talked of how after that sermon, many of us were focused and energized on “carrying Jesus throughout our day.” But, then by Tuesday or so, life got in the way and we had to put Jesus down, like he was too heavy to carry. My ears perked up ‘cause it was like he was talking directly to me. That’s exactly how I was feeling last week, that life got in the way and I wasn’t “carrying Jesus.” That’s exactly what my last post was about. It was almost creepy to hear my pastor describing my week to a tea. But, that’s how God talks to us. I saw a sign that sums it up well: “Coincidence is God talking to you anonymously.” At least in this case, how true.

So, today, I’m back on my fasting schedule and expect to fast an extra day to make up for last week. I still haven’t gotten back on my daily prayer time. I don’t have an excuse for that really since I have been preaching you have to make time for God. Just life, but that’s not an excuse. There’s really no good reason why I can’t spend at least 20 minutes of my day talking to God. My commute is longer than that. And the great thing about prayer is you can pretty much do it anywhere.

Continuing to read Proverbs.

Proverbs 15:32 – “He who ignores discipline despises himself, but whoever heeds correction gains understanding.”We talk about choosing the pain of discipline over the pain of regret and I really think it’s easier to say no to our temptations than to live with the pain of regretting our undisciplined actions. That does not mean it’s easy to say no. Far from it, but compared to the pain of regret, it’s easier to do.

Does every post need a good title?

Here’s my problem:  I’ve completely neglected my relationship with God this week.  And, not too surprising, it hasn’t been a good week.  Not a bad week, necessarily, but I’m not enjoying the good things like I should be.

Tuesday, I was planning of fasting.  Then, we took a friend out to lunch for his birthday. It would be kind of rude not to go, so I did with the intention to fast on Wednesday.  Of course, Wednesday something happened (the sad thing is I cannot remember what) and I didn’t fast, again intending to fast the next day.  Thursday, I forgot we had a staff lunch meeting, so I pushed it off for today.  And, now, my belly is full up on Qdoba. *sigh*

In the meantime, I was Crabby McCrabberton all day on Wednesday.  Not in a good mood.  Not sure why exactly - my levels were off kilter, I guess.  And, I’ve fallen into old habits I’ve been really good about breaking away from.  I’m disappointed in myself that it’s too easy to break down into old, bad habits.

Now, I remember… Need to revise a little.  Actually, Tuesday was the home appraisal and it was around lunchtime.  So, I grabbed lunched with the intention of fasting on Wednesday.  And, on Wednesday, we took a friend to lunch for his birthday.  That’s what I forgot.

Ok, so, the home inspection went rather well.  Nothing major needs fixing.  Some minor repairs that any buyer would reasonably want fixed before taking ownership.  That’s good news.  We sent our contingencies to the seller and are awaiting word on if he’s willing to fix them, give us money to fix them or balk.  I think the seller is in a bit of a corner because since we had the home inspection, if our deal doesn’t happen, he has new things to disclose to the buyer.  Hence, he’ll likely get less of an offer and still have to get the things fixed.  So, that’s good for us.

Rehearsal has been going well.  I was not “there” Wednesday, meaning I was not in it at all.  I couldn’t wait to just get away from the theatre.  Bad mood, foul attitude, Crabby McCrabbinstein.  Thursday was much better.

Got a new boss Thursday, too.  He was promoted from within.  So, the department doesn’t have to go through yet another major upheaval from a new Creative Services Director.  Usually, a new CSD changes the look and logo to put his stamp on the station.  This time we don’t have to do that.  Plus, if I’m interested, there’s a chance I could be promoted.  But, it’s way to early to think about that.

So, there are good things happening.  I just can’t seem to get completely out of the funk I’m in.  Maybe it’s because it’s Easter Weekend and I’m having troubles pursuing God.  Goodness, I almost feel like I’m turning my back on Christ for falling into old habits.  At least, I’m going longer stretches each time I break down.

All I can do is re-double my efforts in building my relationship with Christ.  Which, it’s probably a good thing that this is Easter weekend.  So, I can be reminded of the reasons Christ died on the cross and continue on my own journey.  I’m hoping this weekend will refill my spiritual health meter.  You know how like in video games you get, say, 100 hit points, and there’s a bottle that gives you five or ten hit points back.  Then, there’s the bottle that restores your hit points completely.  My spiritual hit points are probably around 88 (Zero being no faith and no interest in faith).  I could use some hit points, but I’m not in any danger of dying.  This weekend, hopefully, will be the equivalent of using the restore full health bottle when a restore five or ten hit points would have sufficed.

Big News: Buying a House

Holy Crap! We're buying a house... Unless, I just jinxed it by talking about it...

We decided to start looking for a house about three to four weeks ago. This is is all happening very, very quickly. Almost too quickly. But, if it's right, it's right. And, if it's meant to be, it's meant to be. And, if it's meant to be, it's meant to be closed at the end of the month.

The wife met our realtor at the BMV (Indiana has a BUREAU of Motor Vehicles, not Department) of all places. They both were waiting... and waiting... and eventually struck up a conversation. My wife said something about looking for a house, and low and behold, the lady she was talking to was a realtor. Wifey felt really comfortable with the realtor lady, and she gave me her card to contact. And, I did. Within days, we were looking at houses, going over loan stuff with a great mortgage broker.

Eh... you don't care about all that, I bet. You wanna know about the house... OK. I don't have pictures to show you because the listing is no longer online, but eventually I will.

As for the house, it's 2 stories with a basement. Five bedrooms, two and a half baths. Yeah, five bedrooms for three people. One master, one for the kid, one will become a sewing room, one for *knock on wood* a future nursery (or something else until then), and one for storage/office space. 2642 sq/ft. Family, living, dining rooms, kitchen and half bath downstairs. (*Note: I'm at rehearsal and Claire - spelled C-L-U-R- is leaning on me. You're welcome.*) Wet bar, game room, bedroom and laundry room in the basement. Master and other bedrooms upstairs. I don't like the jack and jill double sinks in the upstairs bathrooms. Waste of space if you ask me. But for the price, I can deal (and remodel eventually). Oh, there's a hot tub, too.

And best of all, I can finally get my Siberian husky I've wanted for like ever. The last few days I have been trying to come up with names for a dog I don't have yet and I haven't settled on one. A few names stand out, but the final name will depend on the dog's personality. You can't name a pet until you see if the name fits it. That's how you end up with a scary, killer pet named "Fluffy."

You wanna talk about hope and faith though? Getting this house is all about hope and faith. The emotional rollercoaster we've been on since Saturday seeing the house for the first time... Well, we've been up and down and around and up and down again.

After we toured the house, our realtor put together a purchase agreement and we sent it to the seller's agent. On Sunday, during worship no less, our realtor called to say the seller had multiple offers and we needed to go with our strongest offer. We put in our best offer and on Monday found out we were outbid by someone else willing to pay closing costs. We were very disappointed, but we pressed on to find a house. These things work out for the best.

I prayed to God for the opportunity He was providing us in home buying and for the blessings. I knew that if God wanted us to have that house, or any house for that matter, then it would happen. The realtor sent us new listings to look at and see if we wanted to schedule a showing. There were a few, but nothing that screamed "home" like the house we lost out on. I told the realtor which one's we'd like to see and that you never know, the other deal could fall through and we still could get the house.

The very next day that happened. Now, we are getting this great house at a great deal. Thank God for this blessing. And, it all works out for the best. There's more I plan on saying about hope and faith, but this is long enough and I don't have all my thoughts focused...

In the meantime, I'm pretend I'm blogging from the hot tub...

Studying Prayer

Study Fails to Show the Healing Power of Prayer

Really, I’m not surprised.

In this study, 1,800 heart by-pass patients were monitored and it failed to show that prayer specifically organized for them had any impact on their recovery. Some patients who were told they were being prayed for actually got worse than other patients who were told only told they might be prayed for.

Therefore, prayer obviously doesn’t work, right?

Well, not so fast there. First of all, look at the study. 604 patients were prayed for after they were told they might or might not be. 597 were not prayed for after they might or might not be. While, 601 were told they were being prayed for and indeed were prayed for.

According the to article, the prayers were done by three different Christian groups – two Catholic and one Protestant. The people praying were given a written prayer and the first name and initial of the patient’s last name to pray for.

Again, I’m not surprised that those who were prayed for had more post-surgery complications than those who weren’t. In fact, after 30 days, all three groups had the same death rate and complication rate. So, there ya go, prayer doesn’t help…

The problem with this study is twofold. One, the study inaccurately defines prayer. The practice of prayer should not be the reciting of specific words to please God. Prayer should not be formulaic. When prayer becomes ceremonial, it is, basically, fake. You can recite the Lord’s Prayer all you want, but if the words aren’t from the heart, if they are just words, they have no meaning and no favor with God. Prayer is talking and listening to God; prayer is a relationship.

The second problem with the study is that it assumes God answers “Yes” to prayers. That is a very wrong assumption. God does indeed listen to our prayers and He does answer them. But, He knows what is best for us and He acts accordingly. He answers our prayers; we, however, don’t always like the answer He gives. And, therein lies the problem.

So, we really shouldn’t be surprised at the results of this study. However, don’t walk away surprised that God answers our prayers. But, also know that what you want and what God wants for you isn’t always the same. And really, what God wants for you is much better than what you want.

To Fear is To Respect

I don’t know exactly why I’ve decided to read the Book of Proverbs now. As I read and learn from the Bible, I just kind of randomly pick a book to read. It’s 30 chapters long, so I’m not exactly picking it for its brevity.

Proverbs 1:1-7: Well, that’s a good reason to read it…

I imagine when a non-believer comes across a verse like Proverbs 1:7 (The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline), the words “fear of the Lord,” is probably a turn off. But, what they don’t understand, what they are understandably ignorant to is that the various writers of the Bible mean “respect.” The word, “fear” has several meanings and the meaning that should be applied is “reverential awe.”

Hopefully, it is obvious that we should not fear, that is, be afraid, of God. We have nothing to be afraid of until the final judgment, whenever that maybe. But, when we fear the Lord, we are showing him the respect and awe for the wonderful and incredible things He can do and does. So, the question is how do we show Him proper respect? I imagine that is what Solomon was writing about in Proverbs. In very simple terms, by living moral lives based on His rules.

Too often, and I was/am guilty of this, we try put God into our rules. We try to make him fit into our convenient definition - the key word being convenient. We try to define God as this or that based on what we want Him to be. We try and justify our sins and shortcomings this way. We try to make God fit our standards when it’s supposed to work exactly opposite to that.

To fear the Lord is wise. To live our lives according to his standards is wise and shows the proper respect He deserves. And, it’s not easy, for sure. And, it’s not something you can just do. You have to make a choice and you have to change your habits and thinking. Your heart has to change. Yes, that’s difficult and it takes discipline and time. But, the reality is God gives us all the time we need and the tools of wisdom, faith, hope and love to change our hearts.