Why Cars are Character Building

So, I was thinking tonight about all of the things that my cars have taught me over the years. And I want to encourage all parents of new drivers--cars are highly character building. Here are some of the invaluable lessons that I've learned, about driving, cars...and life:

 -Wearing flip-flops over your ballet tights is NOT a good idea. Even if you're just driving down the street.

-Only shift when the car is stopped.

-You will be held responsible for all minors in your car who are not wearing seat belts. Even if you have only had your license for six months.

-Whatever the number of seats your car has, you can double that number for fitting people in. (My lawyers advise me, however, that it is not recommended that you try this at home). 

-The above situation is made incredibly more entertaining in a stick shift. With a newly permitted driver behind the wheel.

-It is not generally a wise practice to schedule a consultation with your insurance agent about lowering your premiums right before rear ending someone. 

-When your dad  tells you that you should check the oil soon...don't wait three weeks to do so.

-When driving with a nightstand in your back seat, take corners slowly. 

-When the driver's manual tells you to walk around your car and look for obstacles before backing up, it actually is a good idea. Especially when you're driving a pick up truck with a 4-wheeler in back. 

Yes, the cars that I've had have taught me many lessons. I've also learned that some things simply shouldn't be taken for granted, such as: 

-Heating

-Air conditioning

-Working windshield wipers

-Blinkers

-Door handles

-Doors that open

-Window that roll up.

-Windows that roll down.

-Windows at all...

-A working speedometer

-Snow tires

-Visors

-Cars that start without warming up for 10 minutes

-Cars that start without being jumped

-Cars that start at all

-Cars that go in reverse. 

You see, there are endless things that a car can teach you to be grateful for. One final lesson: 

Sometimes in life, it's better to just move forward and not spend too much time looking back. Philippians 4:13-14 "But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."

It's good advice. Especially when you drive a car without reverse. 

Curveballs

Sometimes life throws you curveballs. And sometimes you don't expect what's going to happen. And sometimes those curveballs make you angry or sad or depressed or frustrated.

And sometimes (okay all the time) what God calls us to do is not to get angry and sad and depressed and frustrated, rather to be thankful. And trust Him. And talk to Him about it.

Philippians 4:6
Don't worry about anything, but in everything through prayer and petition with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

You see, God knows what He's doing. And sometimes, these curveballs are really just the Lord being gracious and teaching us...and when we surrender to Him, He gives us peace that we desperately, desperately, desperately need.

Because He's good like that.

Romans 8:28
We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God and who are called according to His purpose.

P.S. That's us.

Love, love, and more love

Dear God,
I confess that I sometimes don't believe You. You see, I get so caught up in me and my what I see with my incredibly nearsighted vision that I forget that You don't always see the way I do. And some days, more than others, my nearsightedness is just really off.

Today is one of those days.

So, instead of ending up way off course because I can't see straight, I'm going to close MY eyes and listen as You tell me what You see.

But now, this is what the LORD says -- he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel: "Do not fear for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name , you are mine." (Isaiah 43:1) 

I created your inmost being; I knit you together in your mother's womb. Praise me because YOU are fearfully and wonderfully made. My works are wonderful, and you can know that full well. (Psalm 139:13-14 paraphrase)

Though the mountains  be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed. (Isaiah 54:10)

I love the way the Message puts that verse:

For even if the mountains walk away and the hills fall to pieces, My love won't walk away from you, my commitment of peace won't fall apart." The God who has compassion on you says so. (Isaiah 54:10)

That picture of God never walking away, His love never leaving--it's so valuable to me. I think that one of my biggest fears is that God will look at me, throw up His hands, and walk away...because I'm too much work. But He's not like that. The fact is He loves me. He loves me. He loves me. He even loves me a LOT. Oh, did I mention He loves me?

Unlike Katelyn's kind of love which vacillates and teeters depending on the state of her emotions, God's love is unchanging. Micah 7:18-19 are some of the most beautiful verses EVER, in my opinion (I say that about a lot of verses though....)

Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea. (Micah 7:18-19)

Another favorite:

I have loved you with an everlasting love, I have drawn you with lovingkindness. (Jeremiah 31:3)

And in the The Message:

God told them, "I've never quit loving you and never will. Expect love, love, and more love!" (Jeremiah 31:3)

"I've never quit loving you and never will. Expect love, love, and more love!"
It doesn't get much better than that.

Every Time

Last night, my mom said something to me that totally convicted me. She said, “I read your blog, that post from a long time ago about working for the Lord, when you only got $7 in tips.” She commended me for my attitude. And I wanted to change the topic, quickly. The fact is, I have not had that attitude lately, at all. In fact, I’ve had a very poor attitude. I’ve whined and grumbled and complained about making a pathetic amount of tips and have been highly unmotivated to work or work well. Everything that the Lord showed me that one evening went in one ear and out the other. And I give the Israelites a hard time about their forgetfulness…

Colossians 3:23-24 says:

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. 

The verse that stuck out to me, “because you know you will receive an inheritance from the Lord." That means that He's in charge of making sure that I get what I need for the amount of work I do. I may, on average, not make enough tips to buy myself a cup of coffee, but that is not reason enough for me to not do a good job. I am working for God, not for men. God has called me to work “as unto the Lord.” He is my boss. I’m not working for a paycheck or to impress my manager, I am working for the Lord. This means that I look to GOD to provide for me, not my job. And He’ll provide exactly what I need when I need it. So when I don’t make much in tips, I am basically saying that He’s not providing enough.

The fact is, how much I make is pretty irrelevant. What matters is the state of my heart. The point is that I serve the Lord by giving my best and He provides exactly how much I need.

Every. Single. Time.  

Who is Like the Lord?

Tonight the Lord kept me up and has me praying for Japan and the earthquakes. As I've been praying the words to Corey and Whitney Parnell's song keep running through my head:

Who is like the Lord?
What pen could tell His worth?
Eternally worthy, rock of salvation, holy and mighty to save
His faithfulness reaches the skies

We can't lift you high enough
And no song is good enough
Words fail to tell you the way that we love
Who is like the Lord our God
seated on the highest throne
Words fail to tell you the way that we love you

Who is like the Lord
What man could know his ways?
His goodness is endless
His mercy it saves us
His faithfulness reaches the skies

Lift up the name of Jesus higher
Lift up the name of the Lord

God is calling us to remember that He is God. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. HE IS STILL GOD.
As we remember who He is, then, yes, pray. Pray for His glory--that His glory would be displayed in the nation of Japan and the other places that have been and will be affected by this earthquake and tsunamis. Pray that His power and might would be displayed. Pray that He would do miracles. But mostly pray that people would come to know Him through this.
And in your prayers, don't pray lacking faith. NO! Remember who your God is! Remember, stand upon, and proclaim, "Who is like the Lord?" There is no one.

Blessings

This says it all:

 

Late Night Contemplations

You know that feeling when there's so much on your mind that you can't think straight? You can't decide if you feel overwhelmed, stressed, tired, lonely, happy, angry, depressed, unsure, or some other emotion you can't currently think of. Yeah, me too. It's moments like these when God often seems distant and far off. That's when I wonder, "God, does any of this matter to You? Do I matter to You? Really? Why am I even here?" I have, more times than I can count, screamed inwardly at Him these and other questions and demanded answers. Each time, He'll answer...it's just whether or not I will take the time to hear it.


A friend once prayed for me that I would be able to ask God these questions not simply in the heat of my frustration with an accusatory "prove it" attitude, but with a quiet spirit, while sitting at His feet. When she said that, I imagined a little girl crawling up on her daddy's lap with a sense of wonder and excitement. "Daddy," she says, "Do you love me?" "Am I beautiful?""Am I a princess?" "How much do you love me?" She knows the answers. She knows what he's going to say. But she wants to hear it. She wants to hear him say it.

And when she asks those questions, he loves answering them.

So tonight, I'm not going to do the whole temper tantrum scream at the sky thing. Oh, I'll ask the hard questions that have been plaguing my heart. But first, I'm going to crawl up onto my Daddy's lap, snuggle in close, and say, "Daddy, tell me again. How much do you love me?"

I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.  -Jeremiah 31:3 

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! -1 John 3:1

...how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ...this love that surpasses knowledge. -Ephesians 3:18-19

Too Small, Even for a Wise Guy

I've been thinking a lot about wisdom lately--mostly because I desperately need it right now. This made me think about this super wise guy who lived a long time ago, Solomon. As I was contemplating him and his wisdom storehouses, I started wondering, "how is it that he could be so incredibly wise and yet turn out so morally bankrupt?" Hmm...something seems to be wrong here. I've heard a couple people talk briefly about it, but their explanations always left me unsatisfied. I've never felt like I had a good grasp of why or how the wisest man in the world could end up doing so many foolish things, particularly those against the law of God. Though I have to say...can you imagine a house full of 1000 women? That sounds like a recipe for an estrogen infused DISASTER! Ahem. I digress... 


In 1 Kings 3 is the story of when God tells Solomon to ask for anything he wants. Verse 9 is where Solomon makes his request, "Give me a discerning heart, to govern your people, and to discern between right and wrong, for who is able to govern this great people of yours?"

"The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this. So God said to him, “Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be. Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for—both wealth and honor—so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings. And if you walk in obedience to me and keep my decrees and commands as David your father did, I will give you a long life.” (1 Kings 3:10-14)

Wow, pretty neat, huh? He chose a good thing to ask for, so much so that God was pleased with His request. So how is it that the wisest guy in the world would blatantly go against God's commands and intermarry with ungodly nations? And then give into the influence of these ungodly wives and worship other gods (1 Kings 11)? I think that the key lies in the heart behind Solomon's request. His request was good, nevertheless it was missing something. And that something was really big. In fact, I would argue that it was so big that it was the reason that Solomon made some of the foolish choices he did.


Solomon said, "Give me a discerning heart, that I may govern this people, for who is able to govern this great people of yours?" Note: why was Solomon asking for wisdom? So that he could lead God's people. That's good, though, right? Yes! Absolutely! BUT it was too small. He stopped too soon. It seems that Solomon's prayer was more about keeping himself from failing than bringing glory to God. Solomon needed help so that Solomon could lead God's people. Maybe I'm wrong on this, but I think this is the reason he walked away from God--because his goal was never 100% about God in the first place. Perhaps there was always this part of him that desired becoming great for his sake instead of God's. 


I want to pause here and look inward for a moment. A friend posted a quote on Facebook today that said, "Are we doing the will of God to make ourselves look good or to glorify God?" If I'm going to be completely honest with myself, I'm not sure how I'd answer that question. But it's a question that needs to be answered, because it will determine who we are and what we do. 


Had Solomon asked for wisdom for the sake of bringing glory to God, my guess is that some of his decisions would have been different. He probably wouldn't have intermarried with women from other nations, because his goal would have been to glorify God. Marriage to those women made a lot of political sense by creating alliances with those nations. In that way, it fulfilled his goal of governing the people in wisdom. However, it didn't make sense when it came to honoring God. 


This leaves me with one final statement. Take a minute, examine your heart, and chew on this: 

Any goal, dream, or desire is both misplaced and TOO SMALL if the motive behind it is anything other than bringing glory to God.

Are your motives pure?
Are mine?