Thoughts from aSacredRebel following the SacredRebel
The Meaning of Meaning in Film with Producer Hunt Lowry, Part I & II – The Melheimian Sabbatiblog.
Great interviews with a wonderful man about the meaning in movies and meaning in life. Makes you stop and think about what meaning is and why we do what we do…
I was listening to KSBJ this morning on my drive to the office, and I heard one of the DJs telling a story about their 2 year old who loves yogurt. The young one went to the refrigerator and found some yogurt in the freezer. Now this was not frozen yogurt like ice cream, this was actually yogurt that was frozen, and it was solid. Well the little one dug and tried to chip away at the yogurt, but got nothing, and got no where and just got frustrated… Her mother took the yogurt and told her we would have to wait for it to thaw. Well after sitting the yogurt on the counter to thaw, the little girl start saying, “I want my yogurt mommy, it’s mine and I want it now.” Her mother explained that it was frozen and if she were to get it, she would just be frustrated like before, she would try to get something, but would just work in vain…
And then the DJ said, “isn’t this how all of us act sometimes towards God?” We want what we think is best for us now, and if we can only step back and pray, and wait on God. God maybe saying to you, “the yogurt is still frozen, my beloved child, and for now you must wait.” How hard it is for us to wait on the Lord, ah but when that yogurt thaws, it will be the best treat we have ever had!
Received this today in an email and thought I would share. Please pass the burnt biscuits…
When I was a kid, my mom liked to make breakfast food for dinner every now and then. And I remember one night in particular when she had made breakfast after a long, hard day at work. On that evening so long ago, my Mom placed a plate of eggs, sausage, and extremely burned biscuits in front of my dad. I remember waiting to see if anyone noticed! Yet all my dad did was reach for his biscuit, smile at my mom and ask me how my day was at school.
I don’t remember what I told him that night, but I do remember watching him smear butter and jelly on that biscuit and eat every bite! When I got up from the table that evening, I remember hearing my mom apologize to my dad for burning the biscuits. And I’ll never forget what he said: “Honey, I love burned biscuits.”
Later that night, I went to kiss Daddy good night and I asked him if he really liked his biscuits burned. He wrapped me in his arms and said, “Your Momma put in a hard day at work today and she’s real tired. And besides – a little burnt biscuit never hurt anyone!”
You know, life is full of imperfect things…and imperfect people. I’m not the best at hardly anything, and I forget birthdays and anniversaries just like everyone else. What I’ve learned over the years is that learning to accept each other’s faults – and choosing to celebrate each other’s differences – is one of the most important keys to creating a healthy, growing, and lasting relationship.
That’s my prayer for you today… That you will learn to take the good, the bad, and the difficult parts of your life and lay them at the feet of God because in the end, He’s the only one who will be able to give you a relationship where a burned biscuit isn’t a deal-breaker! We could extend this to any relationship. In fact, understanding is the base of any relationship, be it a husband-wife or parent-child or friendship!
So… please pass me a biscuit, and yes, the burned one will do just fine! And please pass this along to someone who has enriched your life… I just did!
Life is too short to wake up with regrets… Love the people who treat you right and forget about the ones who don’t.
Hosea 31 The Lord said to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.” 2 So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and about a homer and a lethek of barley.3 Then I told her, “You are to live with me many days; you must not be a prostitute or be intimate with any man, and I will behave the same way toward you.” 4 For the Israelites will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred stones, without ephod or household gods.5 Afterward the Israelites will return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the Lord and to his blessings in the last days.
via Hosea 3:1 TNIV – YouVersion.com.
Here Hosea is told by God to go and find his wife, who is a prostitue. Gomer was a promiscuous woman, and she was Hosea’s wife and they had children. God used Hosea to show his love for Israel, and for each of us. Even when we have done the things he does not want us to do, and we turn from them and live with God, and then we fall again and go back to our former life, like Hosea finding Gomer, and bringing her back, God is out there looking for you and loves you right where you are, exactly as you are. He loves you as is… and will look for you to the end of the world,and follow you and tell you every chance He gets how much He loves you…
Autumn Training Day 2 – The Melheimian Sabbatiblog.
Another wonderful post from Rich Melheim.
Children Doing Ministry – The Melheimian Sabbatiblog.
Is it possible to think of a Sunday School where every family member comes! Not only is welcome but is actually there? No more dropping off the kids and running to a coffee shop, or sitting in the narthex, or standing out side on the parking lot, but all people of the family actually participating in christian education?
Isaiah Meets the Beatles – The Melheimian Sabbatiblog.
Great song on the Word.
When Communion Is Political Hint: It’s Always Political | Tony Jones.
Interesting thoughts on communion and who we chose to exclude or include and how that becomes a political statement…
It is easy for us to talk about our job and our money and our children and our possessions as gifts from God. However do we realize that our bodies are a gift too?
And if we do realize this, are we doing what we need to to take care of them? The country we live in believes in biggie sizing everything. We go get a double cheese burger with a humongous french fries and a large DIET coke. We drink diet drinks to make our selves feel better about eating a days worth of calories in one meal! Now I am to blame for doing this. When running in a hectic day, I love to stop at Sonic and get a cheeseburger and a large tator tots. Tator tots are one of my weaknesses, I love tator tots… But I do get a diet Dr. Pepper now. I drink the diet drink, because I started it a while back to help with my weight, and because now I really can not take the sugery taste of regular soft drinks… Now some will argue the chemical they use to sweeten diet drinks is worse for you than the sugar, which could be true, but my clothes are fitting a lot better now, than they did 2 months ago.
And that could be because I cut out all the high test soft drinks, and I also think the fact I have been walking almost everyday has something to do with it. It is a hard thing to motivate ourselves to get up and to go. To get up and to do something different. And physical activity for me was something different. Now I do not have the excuse of 100 channels to watch, my family does not have cable, satellite, or dish tv, and have not had it for over 4 years… and yes we have survived. I find it humorous now that Dish Network says you will never have to pay for HD TV, because the President did not have to pay for Color Tv when he was a kid, well that is right, they did not pay for TV at all… but I digress….
I have started getting up at 4:30 every morning to get to the YMCA by 5:00, so I can walk for an hour, and get home shower, make breakfast and then take my girls to school before going to work. Would it be easier for me to stay in bed an extra 1:30. You bet ya! But I do no, because my body is the temple of God, and I am way to young to be taking all the pills I do, and I got there because I have been lazy. And one day it hit me, that I would not be around to see my girls graduate from high school, or go to prom, or their weddings, if I continued down the path I was on. So I get my but out of bed, and go walk. I started then end of July, but the first recorded walk I have on my iPod is from August 2 in 48’32” I walked 5,388 steps and burned 462 calories… This morning October 7 in 1:05’07” I walked 8,139 steps and burned 663 calories. This morning I added incline to my walking, not much, I got up to a 3.0 on the incline, but it increased the workout, because I feel it…
During the month of August I walked 177,330 steps. In September I walked 180,185 steps. So far in October I have walked 35,030 steps (and I missed 2 days of walking, that is an average of 5004 per day (including those I did not walk) and one of the days I exercised, it was biking for 30 minutes). Walking has made a huge impact on my life, and has changed my whole outlook. I feel better on the days I walk verses the days I miss. I have an energy that was not there before.
This morning at the YMCA, a man whom I have seen almost every day I’ve been there said to me that I inspire him to come, because if I can be there, than he knows he can be there, and others have commented to me on FaceBook about my constant posting of my walking and how they look each morning to see how far I’ve gone. I do that to hopefully show others, that if I can do this, so can they. I say nothing above to puff myself up, but only to encourage you, that if you are sitting on the couch, glued to the TV, than you are not handling the greatest gift you have been given by God with respect, and you need to take care of that gift. And you need to do that, not only for yourself, but for the body of Christ that depends on the gift you give to the body, and the role you play in the mission of God. You owe it to yourself, your spouse, your children, your grand children…
I was hit by the fear of never seeing my grand children, and Now I am hoping that with continued effort, I might get to see Great Grand Children! Take care of the greatest gift you have been given, your body, and do your part in the mission of God.
Yesterday I taught a class on Philippians 2:1-4. It was a continuation of a class I have been teaching on Philippians. In this passage, Paul talks about the power and love we have received from Christ and the community we have through the spirit, and in this we need to make the joy of being of one mind and one spirit complete. We are to be of one mind, that does not mean that we always agree or think the same things, but that we are focused on what truly matters. We do not get puffed up by vain rivalry, or our own self absorption. We are just as concerned with our neighbor as we are with our selves. The Message put it this way, “Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.” And in this study one of the members of the class brought up a passage from last week, Philippians 1:29, which the NRSV has as, “For he has graciously granted you the privilege not only of believing in Christ, but of suffering for him as well” He graciously granted you the privilege! He did that for you! He gave you the ability to believe, and not only that, but you get to suffer for him as well, isn’t that great! God gave each of us the privilege of believing in him. Us! Does he know us? Has he seen the things that I have done? Yes he has, and he still gives us the privilege to believe in him…
It reminded me of a song and I found the video for it this morning. It is by JJ Haller, and should be song of the year. It is called What Love Really Means and is going to be released on the up coming album When I’m With You to be released on October 19.
This song speaks of the way we are all treated in this world, and yet also of the great and wonderful love that God has for all of us…
aSacredRebel