Freckle Check

By Hally Franz –

Ahh, the sun! I love it! While some folks love their MTV, I am in dire straits without my vitamin D. Although I savor the sun’s heat and light, I finally learned that my skin does not. After at least a dozen baby oil-induced burns as a teen and young adult, I gave up on tanning. I have been bathed with vinegar-soaked cotton balls and gummed up with aloe direct from the leaves. One sunburn sent me to the emergency room, earning me a tetanus shot. My last notable burn occurred on day one of my honeymoon cruise, when, within two hours, I burned my entire front side sunbathing on the ship’s breezy deck. Not cool!

When the sun is high in the sky, and my aging freckles brighten and sometimes meld into one, I am reminded that it’s time to see the dermatologist. I go annually just to check on all the skin damage I’m left with after my misspent youth. It’s time to make that appointment.

I feel like I am always making appointments. In the spring and fall, I make appointments to have the carpets cleaned and the bugs exterminated. I make eight appointments each year for teeth cleanings. Then, I make more for my kids’ orthodontic treatments. Women my age are supposed to have a couple of exams each year. I schedule both of these for the same day. It’s like a day at the spa, only in reverse. Haircuts, lessons, meetings and fun—it all has to be scheduled.

This is a situation we all face today. We are lost without our planners and BlackBerry Smartphones. My husband has a highly-technical scheduling instrument. He calls it his “pocket brain.” It is a paper-version calendar that he typically acquires just before a new year begins, sometimes as a giveaway at a local business. Most of us have some system for scheduling and organizing our lives.

While I am busy making and keeping appointments, God has booked me for the most precious one I’ll ever experience. When I became a believer in Christ Jesus, was baptized, repented and my sins forgiven, He arranged for our meeting at some future date. I can talk to Him anytime now, but my face-to-face meeting with God is reserved and confirmed. Though I don’t know when that will be, He does. He’s marked the date, and that’s one I don’t have to worry about.

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, Thank You for the assurance of salvation and eternal life that Your word provides. While our earthly days are congested with appointments and obligations, we are guaranteed a glorious meeting with You in heaven.

“Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven” (Luke 10:20 NKJV).

Transformation

By Aubrey Spencer –

I have recently been doing some redecorating in our home. To be honest, I redecorate a lot. It’s kind of my hobby. Not many people share my desire to constantly change things up. In fact, those who know me well often think I’m crazy for the number of times I’ve repainted rooms or rearranged furniture. But I just can’t help it. I love transformation.

One project I’ve been working on in particular is the painting of our three and a half year old son’s bedroom. His newly, but not yet finished, orange bedroom. He is completely nuts about the color orange. So the transformation has begun to create for him an orange and white horizontal striped bedroom. (Don’t cringe – it’s going to turn out great!)

Unfortunately the process has not been particularly pleasant. The two coats of orange paint I have already put on the walls are not covering what was previously there. I’m afraid it’s going to be a four or five coat job and that’s before we even get to the white stripes! (Maybe I’m starting to see why people think I’m crazy.)

It sure would be easy to give up mid-project. To assume it will never come together. To throw my paint roller away and say I’m never again working on another project. But I won’t because I know the outcome. I can see the finished product in my mind. So, during this daunting process I keep reminding myself that no matter how long it takes, I will keep painting. The room will eventually be finished. The hard work will be worth it.

Transformation will happen.

I can’t help but compare my paint transformation project to my walk with God. It’s so similar to how God transforms me. Layer by layer by layer until, eventually, He’s created a completed project in me – to become more like Him. It can be daunting. It can be difficult. It can seem impossible. Transformation isn’t easy. And I can be resistant. I can only imagine how many times the Master Painter has wanted to give up on me mid-project. How many times He’s wondered if I’m ever going to “come together.” Thankfully though, He never gives up on me. You see, He has the finished project in mind. And, He keeps working on me layer by layer until transformation happens.

PRAYER: Father God, I am so thankful that you see the outcome. I trust that You are creating something beautiful in me no matter how daunting the process can be. I realize that it is quite a project transforming me into Your image. I don’t change as easily as I should. But I am so thankful that You don’t give up on me. Thank You for seeing what I can become and saying that I’m worth the effort.

“And we all…are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory…” (2 Corinthians 3:18 NIV).

Distracted

By Cynthia Ruchti –

The conversation—the mom’s side of it—might have started like this:

“All buckled up, kids? Good. Hannah, stop poking your sister. You did, too. I saw you. Jenna, just because she poked you does not give you the right to take her juice box. Hannah, don’t just grab it back. Ask for it nicely or it’ll…spill. Here’s a paper towel. Two. Three. Get it quick before it stains. Now, you two, settle down. We have a long trip ahead of us. No, we are not there yet. Why don’t you read the books Grandma gave you? There, that’s nice. I don’t know what that page says, Jenna. I’m driving. No, I don’t know what that page says either. Driving. Oh, look! A cow! Let’s count cows. No, you may not get out of your car seats so you can see better. Because I love you, that’s why. And because it’s the law. How about let’s sing. Good. No, no, please, no, not that one! Please pick a different— The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, round and round, the— What colors, Hannah? What? Oh, red and blue lights. Yes, they are pretty, aren’t they? Mommy’s just going to pull the car to the side of the road and see what the nice policeman wants. And you two are not going to sing while he— Oh, Jenna! Get your finger out of your nose. Hello, officer. License and registration? Sure. Spare juice box. Spare bottle of Advil. Spare diaper. What’s the problem, officer? Distracted driving? Impossible. I wasn’t texting!”

How distracted do I let myself become on issues that really matter, like safe driving? Relationships? My relationship with the Lord?

How many times do I let the mundane interfere with the profound?

PRAYER: Lord, I need You to help me not be driven to distraction, but driven to my knees, fully focused on You. I want You to have my full attention. Anything else spells danger.

“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2 NIV).

Duh!

By Jarrod Spencer –

Some words and phrases are spoken in a way that makes the receiver feel insignificant or dumb. This is rude, and is especially true when a younger person is saying it to an adult, when they should instead show respect.

Over the past month, our three-year-old has learned to use the word “duh.” He thinks he is funny when he says it, and dose not realize it might be rude. However, as most parents know, when a “too-big-for-his-britches” child says something at just the right time, it can come across as funny. As hard as you try not to laugh, you are so surprised at your child’s response you cannot stifle it.

Recently, my in-laws visited and we planned to go out to lunch. At my wife’s instruction, my son asked his Papaw where we were going to eat. Papaw replied, “I don’t know, where are we going to eat?”

My son replied with one eyebrow raised up and a little deeper voice than normal, “El Dos de D’Oros. Duh!” And with a pause, as if realizing he had crossed the line, he added. “It’s up to you.” Though this would be considered a bit rude, we could not help but laugh, even though he spoke down to his Papaw, a person whom he should respect.

I wonder how often we treat our Father in heaven this way. He questions us and we respond with a direct or indirect “duh,” as if to say, “You should know this God. You’re God after all!” We fail to show the proper respect we should exhibit to the all-knowing God.

How often have you responded with “duh” to God? If you’re like me, you probably don’t even realize how often you say it. May our radars be tuned to becoming more respectful to Him.

PRAYER: Father, I am weak and mortal. I make more mistakes than I would like. I respect You and apologize when I am disrespectful to You, as if I know more than You do. Thank You for being such an awesome God!

Isaiah 55:6 – 9 Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Son Bleached

By Cheri Cowell –

I was amazed the other day to discover young girls still use lemon juice in their hair during the summer. My teen girlfriends and I put lemon juice in our hair before heading to the beach. While out all day in the sun, the lemon juice would bleach our hair in streaks—a cheap highlighting job. If we returned to the beach day after day, those streaks would turn almost white. I remember one time, however, we tried this when spending a day at a friend’s pool. Some of you may be laughing right now because you know what happened. That’s right, our hair turned green. The lemon juice produces a chemical reaction with the chlorine in a pool that turns hair green. And there is no way to fix this problem, except to bleach your hair. I still chuckle with that memory. God knows all about highlighting, bleaching, and the solution for color mistakes.

In God’s color wheel, sin is given the color red—blood red. Purity is white—snow white. Though our sins are blood red, God’s forgiveness, or His purity, bleaches that sin, making it as white as snow. How does this process work? We begin by highlighting them, and then submitting them to the rays of His Son. Often, you and I try to make this process “easy” by skipping the step of bringing our sins into the Sonlight. Instead, we try to hide them in the pool of self-help, self-analysis, or self-pity. But these don’t really work and instead of white as snow, we get green with envy. Our only hope is to turn to God’s bleach bottle and blot out our transgressions. His solution is the only one that works.

PRAYER: I praise You God for Your gift of forgiveness that comes through the blood of Your only Son. Forgive me when I choose self-help, self-analysis, or self-pity instead of the wonderful free gift of forgiveness—Son bleached sin.

“‘Come now, let us settle the matter,’ says the LORD. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool’” (Isaiah 1:18 NIV).

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