Self-Control

Out of the fruit of the Spirit, I think the one that we abuse the most is self-control (discipline). Rather, we are gluttons, we indulge all kinds of fleshly appetites, not just food. Indeed, most of us eat too much, "supersize it," "just one more chocolate bar," "do you want butter and sour cream with that?" Many of us grew up in the "clean plate club." We had to eat it because there were starving children in China. I never understood how my eating all of my food exactly helped the starving children around the world. I somehow still feel obligated to finish everything on my plate when we go out to eat. My husband will say, "Carla, you don't have to eat it all." But I do. That's how I was raised!
Self-discipline, of course, applies to much more that eating. We are not disciplined to study like we should, to pray like we should, to witness like we should. (Now, I don't want to get into works righteousness here!) But there are things we should be doing for the Lord that we aren't doing because we don't discipline ourselves to do them. What do I not do? Although I do read and study a lot I don't spend enough time hidden away with Jesus. When I do manage to find a time alone with the Bible, He always speaks to me through the Word. I need to discipline myself to listen to Him more...

Feet of Clay

With my third recurrence of ovarian cancer, one might ask me or at least think, "Aren't you mad at, or at least questioning, God?" "Have you ever thought 'Why me, Lord'?" I am sorry to disappoint anyone, but no, I have not questioned or doubted God whose hand I am in still. Having cancer for the third time has nothing to God's love for me or His calling on my life. In fact, I think that it intensifies His calling on my life. Before the first occurrence in January 2005, I remember having said (to myself), "I am not sure how to identify with those who suffer because I really haven't suffered." I don't think that I got cancer in response to that rumination. I got cancer because I live in a broken world, a world broken by sin. Since God is no respecter of persons and "it rains on the just and the unjust alike," why would I be exempt from cancer? Because I am a Christian? Because I am an ordained minister? Because I pay my tithes? Because I "work" for the Lord? None of these things exempt me from the vagaries of life. I haven't particularly enjoyed this part of my journey, but I have learned some things. One of the first lessons was that He is God and I am not! I have certainly learned about suffering. I wonder if God heard me and just used this part of my life's journey to teach me some lessons. I certainly won't count that out. I am, after all, a human being with feet of clay.

Fun, Fast and Easy!

I went through the "Self-checkout" line at Walmart last night. When I got home, I looked at the receipt and saw this message: "Fun, Fast and Easy." It was, of course, referring to the process of the self-checkout. This is, however, a message by which many modern "self-absorbed" Americans live. If it's not fun, I'm not going to do it! We don't have enough time if it isn't fast. And we surely aren't going to get involved in anything that isn't easy! When we compare this mindset to what God is calling us to know, be, and do in this world, we see a complete reversal. Life is not easy and sometimes it isn't fun! The only one of the three that might apply is that life is fast!
Sometimes God calls us to the hard things on our journey. He calls us to suffering; He calls us to aloneness; He calls us to grief; He calls us to poverty; He calls us to sacrifice. None of these are "fun, fast and easy"! But they all build our character and help to make us more like the Master.

Forever In His Grip

One of my students asked me this week about "Grace." He was wanting to know the answer to the question that plagues most of us who were raised in a religious culture that emphasized works, who had mothers and fathers and pastors that kept us in rein with guilt. "If you do that Jesus will not like it (you?). " "God is going to be disappointed in you!" Wow! What Gospel were they reading? We were condemned because we could not keep the 613 Laws of the Torah--and we aren't even Jews. Where was the grace of the New Covenant? Where was the Long-Suffering Savior? Grace either forgives my sins, all my sins, or it doesn't. We seem to grapple mostly with the sins that we will commit in the future. We can accept that He has forgiven in the past and the present, but we struggle about the sins of the future. Why? Do we think that it takes a special dispensation for the Lord to forgive our uncommitted, yet future sins? That His blood is only good for yesterday's and today's sins? And not for tomorrows? I am just asking some questions...Do you have any answers? See my title...

Outta Power!

Hotlanta is wetlanta today! I missed doing everything yesterday. I couldn't talk on my house phone, couldn't watch tv, but most of all I couldn't get on the computer. Somewhere in the flooding that has come to Atlanta and surrounding counties (I live in Cobb, north of Atlanta), Comcast.com was water logged apparently. I missed especially being able to get to my online students. But all is well today at the Northcutt residence. Not so at the horse farm which I can see out of my bedroom window. They were completely underwater; they are below the flood plain so they get wet with an average rain. Yesterday was no average rain. I have heard that perhaps these last few days of rain might be considered the "Hundred Year Rain" that is predicted for our area. It's hard to complain though as we have experienced a bad drought for the last few years. Lord, send the rain; Lord, stop the rain; Lord, send the sunshine; Lord, this drought is killing my yard.
Does anybody see a pattern with what is appening in our land? Earthquakes, floods, droughts, save the Smelt (kill the crops), divers places experiencing out of the ordinary crime sprees. Jaycee Duggard's being kidnapped, raped, and some killed. Is it not a "sign of the times" that I referred to in an earlier post? Lawlessness is the order of the days. The earth is groaning. We are in a period of upheaval. We are poised on the brink of eternity where the Power will never be off. Where the government will be on His shoulders. Where the King of Kings will be "calling the shots"!

Places He Prepares

Ariel said...
One never knows what the journey is or where it may lead us. What we must understand about the journey is that God has already been there and has arranged everything for us. It is His time, it is His purpose, it is His will. He takes us where He needs us, not necessarily where we want to be. But we can be sure that He has made it ready, fluffed the pillows we might say. He takes us to places we would never choose to go and He doesn't leave us alone while we are there. He is there to hold us up, bind the devil for us and show us glimpses of His glory even in the midst of pain.

What was he thinking??

Ariel said...
Serena Williams, Joe Wilson, Kanye West--what do they all have in common? Except the need to apologize...although I happen to agree with one of them, he showed a miserable lack of decorum...They all represent the spirit of lawlessness that is a by-product of not having a moral compass which guides people into the right attitude, the right behavior and the right reaction. "Nah, here let me jerk that microphone outta your hands and give someone else the limelight." What was he thinking???Dr. Phil would say. That's the problem; he wasn't thinking. Where did we lose the concept that behavior has consequences. It wasn't this year, this decade or even this century. It was in Eden where it all came falling down on our collective heads. The God image (Imago Dei) was shattered. How can we be like Him if we don't know Him and His nature? How can we be restored to what God originally intended for us? It's only through the reconciling sacrifice of that Perfect Precious Blood, that ram caught in the thickets, that we can be restored to the majesty that He prepared us for. Serena, Joe and Kanye need a dose of old time religion...Serena and Kanye the most. Uh oh, now I have revealed my bias. The cleansing, sanctifiying blood of the spotless Lamb will take out that old sin nature and will restore the image of God in us. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.Tomorrow, I'll write about the chicken catcher.

132 Crayons

Tonight, we sang a song whose lyrics go something like this: "I want to be so close to Him that there's no big change on the day that Jesus calls my name." I'm not sure of the theology of that little bouncey song. When Jesus calls my name, I want to be "blown away" by what He has in store for me. There is nothing to compare on earth to the glory that is awaiting us on the other side of the sunset.
One of my little pleasures is coloring, yes, in a coloring book with Crayola crayons! I do try to find a more mature book to color in. Right now I have a Disney book with complicated fairies to color (Oh, No! not fairies!). I have a box with 64 crayons and I don't have enough colors. (Do you know what a box of 132 crayons cost??? Nearly $12.!) I have heard that in Heaven there will be colors that we cannot even imagine. My son is color-blind. I have told him that I cannot wait to be in Heaven with him when he first beholds colors. What a day. glorious day that will be!!

We all have our ups and downs

September 14, 2009 2:57 PM


Pastor Brooks was talking Sunday about how the devil tries to deceive us. The Scripture says, "Lift up your heads for your redemption draws nigh." (Luke 21:28) What is happening in the world today is just the opposite. We are looking down, down at our keyboards, down at our Blackberries, down at our cellphone while we text, twitter and facebook. It is up where we will see Him. We must be watching and waiting for Him. We watch the skies, not the ground; we wait in anticipation, not in dread. Even so come quickly, Lord Jesus. MARANATHA!

Today is Sunday, September 13. We went to church this morning. That might not sound like much, but for us it was a special thing. I had major surgery just one month ago today and my husband, Ben, has been in the hospital twice during the last month with congestive heart failure. My focused prayer, and I think that prayer should be specific, was that my recovery would be quick. Thank God, He heard my prayer. It's wonderful to be missed by people who love you. I think that we felt a little like celebrities this morning. But I promise that it's not going to my head. I give God all the glory!