Playing hooky!

Hello everyone. It's 9:59 PM at the time I'm starting to write this. I should be at work but I decided to play hooky tonight. I was given an extra sixteen hours of vacation last week (long story), so I decided to use eight hours of it tonight.

Well, the garden is doing really good. Kelly, Ari, Cassie, and I went up to check it out and see what we could get from it. The weeds are growing great! No, really there was a lot of stuff that was ready. We got peppers, cantaloupe, squash (note to self, don't plant that much next year), tomatoes, and corn. The cabbage is ready but we are going to wait until after the fourth to pick it so we can make kraut with it. We also have some lima beans that should be ready to picked with the next week or two. Our green beans didn't do very well at all this year. I think we can mostly thank the rabbits for that one.

In this world of microwave meals, fast food, and drive through coffee shops it occurred to me today that our society takes that same approach to everything it does now. If it isn't fast it's not going the right speed. Our trips are faster, our "stopping and smelling the roses" time is less, and what we expect from others has to be immediate. We don't cherish anything anymore. We have disposed of so many things that humans are beginning to dispose of each other.

I'd like to see us change how we spend our time. Take time to listen, wait (and enjoy it), slow down (good things are fast, better things will take time), and be patient with one another.

Our salvation is an instaneous moment. When we ask Jesus to forgive us of our sins and to come into our heart then we are saved.

For if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. - Romans 10:9 (NLT)

Our Christian walk on the other hand doesn't start out as a marathon run. We are babes in Christ therefore we act like babes in Christ. We crawl, try to pick ourselves up from time to time to be able to walk and do a lot of falling and stumbling along the way. Our new life is just that a "new life" to us. We haven't done it before or we wouldn't have to do it now. We don't restart new lives all the time. We are born again in Christ and then we begin to work out or put into action this new life or "salvation". Paul said it this way:

Dearest friends, you were always so careful to follow my instructions when I was with you. And now that I am away you must be even more careful to put into action God's saving work in your lives, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. - Philippians 2:12 (NLT)

Even when we begin to walk we will still have trips, falls, stumbles, and just plain clumsy moments. Don't let it get you down. God still loves you. Your actions don't dictate his love. It's unconditional. Just remember, even though you may not feel like it at the moment, He still smiles down at you, puts his arm around you, and helps you back to your feet. God's not a microwave meal kind of god. He wants us to work through it. To take the time, determination, and dedication that it takes. I think that may be because by doing it that way we will have so many more lessons to learn and come out all the more wiser in the end. Just a thought...

It is easier to preach ten sermons

than it is to live one.