The Trouble With Texting

By Cindy Martin –

My husband had just transferred to a new company and his new position required several hours of online training and certifications. It also required him being out of town more than he had before. Desiring to be intentional about our relationship, I knew we’d have to find ways to stay connected so physical distance did not also become emotional distance.

True to my multi-tasking nature, I asked my daughter to type the words I dictated to her into my phone as I drove her to school. “Hey Baby, I’m so proud of you….thank you for how hard you work for our family….love you……”

Later that day, I spoke with my husband on the phone and asked him if he’d gotten my text. When he said “no,” I sent it again, but it still didn’t go through. I’d been having some trouble with my phone so I took it in and sure enough, there was a problem. They replaced the SIM card, said it would take about an hour to recalibrate and then everything should be fine.

Right on cue my phone started, “buzz, buzz, ding, ding, beeping” as a flood of texts, messages and notifications announced their arrival – albeit delayed. I was scrolling through to see if anything still required my attention and just what I had missed during this temporary cyber hi-jacking. Nothing urgent surfaced and I was ready to soothe any anxious thoughts when my eyes glanced at a text that I assumed was from my husband. It read, “Hi, I’ve received two messages that are obviously meant for someone else, but it isn’t me. Best check your number baby!”

Gasp, gasp, ugh! “Are you serious? How did this happen?!?” Upon investigation I found out that my daughter had manually typed in my husband’s number rather than using my contact list or our existing text trail. In doing so, she was one digit out in the prefix she dialed. So close but oh so far. It reminds me of the verse in scripture “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me” (Mark 7:6b NIV). There is much focus and attention put on love this time of year, and this incident will serve as a reminder to me to be diligent in properly communicating and directing my love…..especially to the Lover of my soul.

PRAYER: Lord, help me to love those I say I love with my actions and not just my words. May they feel my love for them in my tone of voice, my response to their needs and the priority I put on our time spent together. Lord, may that also be true of my relationship with You.

“These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me” (Mark 7:6b NIV).

Marginalizing God

By Carin LeRoy  –

The recent event at Sandy Hook Elementary school in Connecticut was a horrible and unthinkable tragedy. As a nation, we were stunned by the fact that one person could burst through the safe environment of a school and commit such an act of brutality on innocent and trusting children. We wonder, “Could that happen to my child?”

The carnage that left a school and community suffering, lives destroyed and families devastated makes us ask, “How could this happen? What has gone wrong in our culture that people have become so heartless? Is it violent video games? Do parents work too much? Is it latch-key kids? Is it mental illness? Were drugs the reason? What is it?”

We ask, “Why would God let this happen?”

I don’t know the answers in this situation or the mental stability of the perpetrator, but I do know that as a culture we have left the foundations that this country was built upon. A nation that began with Biblical principles and chose to proclaim on our currency “in God we trust,” is now a nation that seeks tolerance and justification for sins which God hates. We no longer want to recognize God’s laws or commands. We’ve become a nation where many lack moral direction, compassion and empathy. Some children grow up lacking hope and purpose in life, and the scores of broken homes haven’t given our children the stability they deserve. Some polls record that less than 20% of Americans attend church on a regular basis. That leaves about 80% – many who probably do not have knowledge or recognition of God in their personal life.

As a nation we have marginalized God more and more by allowing God’s principles to be forced out of our society, yet we wonder “Where was God?” As our moral decay increases, so will such tragedies. But as believers, we know that God is sovereign and that He still reigns – even with evil in the world. Psalm 73:26 reminds us that “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” (NIV)

Not only were we stunned by the events that day, but I believe God grieved too. He gives a solution when He says, “If my people will pray…” Let’s ask God today that our nation will not seek worldly answers from society, but that we will seek God for answers and ask Him to heal our land.

PRAYER: Lord make us a people of prayer. Help us to live lives that will be a testimony to others who do not know You. Make us a light that shines in a dark world.

“If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land,” (2 Chronicles 7:14 NIV).

Inside Out

By Cheri Cowell –

Today I met a friend for lunch and through our conversation she learned that I indeed wore a southern belle gown and big picture hat for my wedding. For proof I pulled the picture from my purse. As she looked at the picture she said, “Funny, I didn’t picture you as the southern belle type.” To which I replied, “You’re right. I guess I was filling a role I thought I should play.” Come to think of it, I have played many roles in my life that were not accurate reflections of my inner self. Jesus can see beneath the surface and calls us to be who we really are.

The Pharisee had invited Jesus into his home, but Jesus knew that the man’s heart (his motives) were not pure. In Luke 11:39, we read that in order to reveal truth to the man, Jesus spoke of the inside and outside of a cup. True giving comes from what is inside, He tells the man, implying that his invitation to Jesus to dine with him was not given from a pure heart. He was just playing a role. His true character was revealed. Are you living a role that does not accurately reflect your true character? Jesus is more interested in lives lived from the inside out, and gifts given from a pure heart.

When Jesus had finished speaking, a Pharisee invited him to eat with him; so he went in and reclined at the table. 38 But the Pharisee was surprised when he noticed that Jesus did not first wash before the meal.39 Then the Lord said to him, “Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. 40 You foolish people! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? 41 But now as for what is inside you—be generous to the poor, and everything will be clean for you. (Luke 11:37-41 NIV)

PRAYER: Father, Thank-you for tenderly revealing my inner self to me so that I can live a life that is clean from the inside out. Help me to clean the cup from the inside so I may accurately reflect Your image to the outside.

The Missing Metaphor

By Rosemary Flaaten –

Using the word “as” indicates a simile which, according to my fourth grade teacher, is a figure of speech similar to metaphors. In both cases, one thing is explicitly compared to another to suggest a resemblance. While reading a familiar Psalm, I was struck by my propensity to miss this two letter word and in doing so I missed a very important comparison.

The Psalmist David starts Psalm 63 by verbalizing how his soul hungers for God as if he has an unquenchable longing for God. Verse five goes on to say “ My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods” (NIV). It was this verse that stopped me in my tracks and made me realize that not only had I misread this verse but I was living out my mistake.

Loneliness, sadness or discontent are fed with chocolate and Doritos in an attempt to soothe. The tyranny of my emotions is like hungry lions and I try to placate those emotions with succulent food. The problem is that my soul was not created to be satisfied with food. The deep needs of my soul need to be met with the life giving sustenance of my heavenly Father’s love and grace, not sugar and salt. By extracting the word “as” from Psalm 63:5, I had chosen to attempt to satisfy my emotional needs with the richest of foods.

This has made me wonder how many other tangible things I have attempted to use to satisfy the spiritual needs of my soul. Have I attempted to use relationships to feel satisfied? How about shopping? vacations? accomplishments? None of these things are wrong in and of themselves but trying to feed them to my soul to create spiritual and emotional satisfaction is pointless.

By putting back the metaphor into this verse, my emotional needs will be met through a dependency on God which will have the same effect as feeding my physical body the food it needs.

PRAYER: Lord, forgive me for replacing your presence with temporary created things. Help me to keep You in first place, allowing You to fill and satisfy me as only You can.

Psalm 63:1,5 “You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water. I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods. (Psalm 63:1,5 NIV)

Are You Prepared?

By Charlotte Riegel –

I was enjoying a relaxed and inspirational morning with books and notebooks strewn around my ‘in bed’ desk. The phone rang jolting me into the here and now. I wondered if it might be my daughter announcing the soon arrival of our next grandchild and was surprised to hear the sound of a man’s voice. It was a neighbor. “Look out your front window,” he said. “Three moose are right across the road from your house.” I thanked him for the heads up and rushed to the window but saw nothing.

Still in my night attire, I quickly pulled on a very long winter coat and went to the street so I could look past the trees in our front yard. The street was empty, except for another neighbor’s dog, barking towards the pond below a small bluff. I correctly guessed they must be in the lower area I could not see unless I crossed the road, which I chose not to do. The dog continued to bark intently and soon I saw the moose moving across the frozen pond and up a small embankment on the far side, then carry on across an abandoned rail line and on towards the brush at the base of a large hill bordering our Hamlet.

What a glorious sight. I wished I had my camera. I wished I had our binoculars. If I had been up and dressed when the phone call came, I quite likely would have been able to see the moose very close up and would not have been quite so tentative about crossing the road for a better look.

We are new to this rural community of nearly 100 people, having left a city of a million people and are now enjoying the wonders of country living. Coyotes, rabbits, owls, and an occasional deer were fairly common in our city neighborhood because of our proximity to wildlife preservation areas, but moose…Wow!

I have now placed binoculars by the front door and spent time learning how to use the camera on a newly acquired cell phone. I plan to be better prepared for more surprise sightings of wildlife.

This incident reminds me of the parable of the ten virgins in which the Kingdom of God is compared to a wedding where some missed the party altogether because they were not alert and prepared.

QUOTE: “One should plan for spiritual enlightenment. At least bring a flashlight.” Lia Hills, The Beginner’s Guide to Living.

“And Jesus concluded, “Watch out, then, because you do not know the day or the hour” (Matthew 25:13 NIV).

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