Does the Shoe Fit?

When you work in a larger office and you've been used to working with just one other person, it takes awhile to find common ground and understanding of others' weird ways and ideas. And at the same you come to see that you have some weirdness yourself. I've also been having conversations with several people who are struggling with criticism. This article by David Powlison has a lot of meat to it and keen insight into what to do with criticism.

Here are some questions he asks:

"To what madnesses are you prone?...self-satisfaction... self-justification...self-protection...self- exaltation.. us vs. them." Ok, I'm guilty of all of them. How about you?

"Criticism brings out the worst in us, and we never know it."

I was brought up old school never to let a criticism go waste when you can use it to have a big old pity party inviting your good friends into the self-destruction. If I can get 2 or 3 witnesses to go along with me I feel pretty good about the whole thing and am more than willing to send "them" to hell in a hand basket.

"Christ uses critics to guard our soul from self-destructive tendencies...that doesn't mean critics are always right...but they are usually partially right. Others usually see something about me that it would help me to see about myself."

"Fair-minded criticism is one of life's best pleasures, an acquired taste well worth the acquiring. Someone who will take you seriously, understand you accurately, treat you charitably, and who then will lay it on the line is a messenger from God for your welfare...There is nothing quite like being disagreed with intelligently, lovingly, and openly: 'Faithful are the wounds of a friend' Prov. 27:6

"Critics... are servants of God to you for your good...to help us see ...outright failings of faith and practice, distorted emphasis, blind spots, areas of neglect, attitudes and actions contradictory to stated commitments, and yes, strengths and significant contributions."

He offers several real-life criticisms of his counseling profession well worth reading for practical lived out suggestions.

"Remember, the Lord of all seems to take particular delight in the messiness, change, variety and volatility of human history. (The kind of world He chooses to run is not a nice, tidy, 'let's all just get along' world.)...The God of peace...is always 'fussing' about what He sees going on. Jesus Christ is the trouble-making peacemaker, the grace-giving rebuker, the constructive voice and hands who tears out old wiring and remodels His house. The Teacher teaches His disciples to become the same."

"If we're willing to listen, to hear criticism as well as to give it, that goes a long way towards overcoming the disagreeable tendencies that lurk in us all."

The shoe fits and it's going to fit for all of life this side of heaven. Anyone want to borrow my shoes?

Does the Shoe Fit? by David Powlison

Grateful

My first goal each day is to remember the Son of God. I want to remember that he bore my sin, that he was tempted as I am tempted. He was weary, hungry, endured pain, faced an incomprehensible death and knew how he was going to die before he did. This grand story gets shoved to the back of my consciousness and every day I'm tempted to go my own way, to forget about anyone but my self. I'm shallow and unable to think past what's pressing on my mind now.

But when I remember the story that is bigger than my small world I get lost in mercy, forgiveness, goodness, justice, love, mystery, eternity, glory, bravery,risk, just to name a few. The God I love gave his Son, Jesus Christ as a personal communication of his character. Hebrew 1:3,4 says that "He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs."

Thank you Jesus for making your life a communication of what the Father is all about.

Whatever the Weather

But this I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope:
22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
23 they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in him.”
25 The Lord is good to those who wait for him,
to the soul who seeks him.
26 It is good that one should wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.

Lamentations 3, ESV

The Big Brown Dog's Replacement

The nice thing about dogs is that they can be replaced, leaving only good memories behind.

Balaam & Baal

This story from Numbers 25 and Numbers 24 has sent me to my knees. Here the Israelites have received God's words, wandered through the wilderness, seen the Lord conquer nations, and while God is speaking through a donkey and that diviner, Balaam, Israel is worshipping Baal, Balaam's God. Our tendency is to ask, "how could they?"

But everyday we do the same thing. We read the Word of God, we hear him speak intimately to us, we see Him work in our lives. Still we fall back to worshipping our pleasures: tv, leisure, family and things, even religion and the truth that we know.

Israel's sin was that it kept falling prey to the culture around it rather than setting itself apart as God's holy treasure. Over and over God judged the people of Israel for it's idolatry.

Why are we surprised when discipline comes our way even as we idolize the things in this world? We should welcome it because it means that God is loving us as his treasured child and bringing about our rescue from this world that tempts us away from him and the joy he has waiting for us in him.

The following passage is long for a blog, but read it and fall to your knees and pray that you would be counted with the righteous protected by the blood of Christ!

2 Pet 2:1 - 22 (ESV) 1But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. 2And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. 3And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. 4For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; 5if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; 7and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked 8(for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); 9then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, 10and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority. Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones, 11whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord. 12But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction, 13suffering wrong as the wage for their wrongdoing. They count it pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, while they feast with you. 14They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children! 15Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing, 16but was rebuked for his own transgression; a speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness. 17These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved. 18For, speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error. 19They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved. 20For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. 21For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. 22What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.”

Oh, God help us to not be enticed by the Baals of today.

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Stand Up and Dance

Yesterday waiting for big brother to get home from school we all sat around watching Elijah, who’s three, dance to Veggie Tales Christmas music. But he got tired of dancing alone, so he started saying, “Stand up, Grandma. Stand up and dance.” “Stand up, Grandpa. Stand up and dance.”

So trying to get out of the post election doldrums this phrase, “stand up and dance,” has haunted me today. The election results and polling clearly show that the moral absolutes that God ordains are still respected by many people. So stand up for them and don’t lose heart. Then get on your knees and pray for Obama and our leaders to be in line with the majority of Americans on the beauty of God-given life and marriage.

And dance because presidents come and go by God’s decree, but God remains the same yesterday, today and forever.

“For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor (or the president).” ESV 1 Peter 2:15-17

So "Stand up and dance," For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. " ESV Romans 13:1

How to Vote

John Piper offers this excellent perspective on life and voting:

"This world matters. But it is not ultimate. It is the stage for living in such a way to show that this world is not our God, but that Christ is our God. It is the stage for using the world to show that Christ is more precious than the world.

So it is with voting. We do not withdraw. We are involved—but as if not involved. Politics does not have ultimate weight for us. It is one more stage for acting out the truth that Christ, and not politics, is supreme. "

Read the entire article here.

Brain Game

Last night I listened to John Lennox and Richard Dawkins debate Darwinism and Christianity. The debate was a congenial conversation between two Oxford professors, a mathemetician and a biologist. While I couldn't understand all they were discussing, it was refreshing to hear something more intelligent, polite and rational.

I tried to keep an open mind, but that's not really possible. Dawkins said he is tempted to worship when he sees nature, but that feeling should be dismissed because it has no rational basis. He also accredited that kind of worship to unthinking people. Poor Mr. Dawkins. Little does he know that God inspires everyone to have the same response.

Lennox made a passiononate argument about atheism needing faith in order to follow it.

We as Christians have become lazy in our thinking and we focus too much on our feelings. True Christianity engages the mind and the heart. In fact, true faith is only possible when the mind explores every avenue of faith. True faith asks the hard questions and doesn't accept so called truth just because the church teaches it or everyone else believes it.

Christians today have flabby brains anesthetized by too much television, the pursuit of wealth and shallow worship.

"And this is eternal life, that they KNOW you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." John 17:3, ESV

Engage your brain and get to know the creator of the cosmos and all else that is out there!

"When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him? ...

O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!" Psalm 8:3,4,9 ESV

Farewell Big Brown Dog

Last week we said goodbye to this big brown dog. We'd been putting this off for two years but when he could barely get up in the mornings and he lost his sight it was time to say goodbye. His last morning he ran straight into the house with a loud thud. He still ran at a good pace and didn't know when something got in his way. He got into the van and watched out the back window and went down the hallway with the vet wagging his tail, enjoying the trip and being with people.

I wrote this a couple of years ago:

"Ten years ago this old dog came to us by a family who lived in the city. At the time our children were going off to college and the house was just too quiet. At first he was a little more noise than we wanted. He never has learned to stay in a crate or outside when we are around. He barks incessantly to be with us. And that's why he's so hard to let go. He's always been around begging for food, nosing his way into our rituals. We've stepped on him in the dark where he lays in the middle of the floor. He gives us a sense of protection even though he could be bribed with a little food.

I can't imagine not having his big tail thumping on the floor or not hearing his steady breathing during the night. His friendship, his steady breathing, his thumping tail is a calming influence that I don't want to be without. He's learned our habits and our words. He's more than a dog, he's a Good Dog and faithful friend."

Well, now it's been a week and there's no tail thumping in the morning when we get out of bed. There's no dog trotting around the house when we come home. He's been replaced by a little dog who stays in a crate and can't thump her tail because someone cut it off.

But here's the question, why did God create these faithful friends? I have no idea, but they sure are fun to have around and can be a distraction from living life with people, the ones who truly bear God's image.

So they are just dogs, coming and going, but not really that important.

S-I-N

I believe that God has his hand on our oldest grandson. He loves the Bible and listens to the Bible on CD everyday. With his excellent memory he remembers Bible story details that I will never be able to keep in my aging brain. It's a challenge to keep up with him. The other day I asked him why he was afraid of the dark and he spelled it out: "s-i-n." He knows that Satan dwells in darkness and he's aware that he sins. When I told him that he has the purest heart that I know he disagreed with me and confessed his sin like lying to his mom and dad. His parents' goal right now is to help him balance his fear of sin with the truth that he is safe in God.

On the other hand, most of us are too complacent in our sin, including myself. I think one of the reasons God put us with other people is to help us see the sinfulness in our hearts: the selfishness for our own way, anger when things go wrong, the desire to lie in order for others to approve of us, even the shame of being a Christian in a non-Christian setting.

John Piper's sermon this week says that, "We Are Stiff-Necked, Rebellious, and Unthankful. We should learn from this how stiff-necked and rebellious and unthankful we are. That’s why 1 Samuel 12 begins the way it does reminding the people how God saved them from Egypt and then gave them the promised land and then rescued them from evil kings. And each time they forget God and go after other things. That is not just the story of Israel. It’s the story of humanity. It’s the story of my life and your life. Even as Christians, we are not steadfast in our affections for God. We have thankful days and unthankful days. And even our thankful days are not as thankful as they should be. Just think of how joyful and thankful you would be if your heart responded to God himself and his ten thousand gifts with the admiration and gratitude that he is worthy of. So God gives us pictures of ourselves in stories like this. He allows his people to drift into this kind of ungrateful and idolatrous seasons so that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world held accountable before God (Romans 3:19). "

As always, Piper cuts to the quick.

1st Car

Twenty years ago this little guy was playing and writing all kinds of creative things around our house. Now he is turning thirty and still creating and playing(only it's more than a plastic car). As his grandma says, "God love 'im" . We love you, son, even if your antics do put us on edge at times. Actually where you live puts us on edge, but God has made you who you are and we put you in his care every day knowing that he is working in your life for your good. Happy Birthday!!

Flashlightball

Flashlight ball is a game that uses 10 players, 10 flashlights, a basket hoop, a "stuffs" basketball and 2 refs.

Modern Comforts

I wish I had a pillow like that to use on my way to work.

Numbering My Days

Today I read Psalm 90 which says that someday soon I will return to dust, in fact, in about 9,125 days if I have a typical life expectantcy of 77 years. I've already lived about 18,980.

"So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom...Have pity on your servants! Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil. Let your work be shown to your servants, and your glorious power to their children. Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands."

Thank God for his pity. I plead for it every day when I remember the whining that I do in my praying and the ingratitude in my heart. It's a wonder he still listens.

Thank God for his favor and that he establishes the work of our hands. I'm gratefule that in spite of my weaknesses and sinfulness God brings good out of my work.

I've been doing a lot of credit counseling for people with low credit scores and it's discouraging because we're under pressure to find qualified loan applicants. But so many of the people I've met have been young Christians wanting to change and start over. While I was ready to write off these appointments as a hopeless situations, God has other plans. So God reminds me to stop counting off the days until retirement(1460) and start counting each day of work as a means of doing good.

Puppies and Delight

For my birthday I bought this little puppy. I'm trying to figure why God created these soft, ornery little things. The Bible says that all creation is displaying the glory of God. This little girl definitely delights in just being alive and being with those who take care of her.

And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

Partial Birth Abortion

The recent Supreme Court Decision on partial birth abortion reminds us once again why we are against the procedure. I'm convinced that many would say that this practice is cruelty to animals, if it was performed on a puppy, but for some reason many women approve of it for a baby.


You can read the opinion here.

John Piper has a sober article on the decision.

Fifteen Abortion Truths

Two Blessings

My mom was talking to Noah about wanting to be a missionary when she was seven, but not being able to go on a trip until the age of 82. Noah said, "Well, I'm going to be a missionary when I'm in my twenties. God told me in a dream."

I was reading a book on prayer and the little girl was talking about her best friend, another girl, and Noah said that he didn't want to read the rest of the book because the girl's best friend wasn't Jesus.

The littlest one is cuddley and starting to talk. The first word I understood was duck. The next time he said, "ticka, ticka, ticka."

Digging Out

My mom used to have a bumper sticker that said, "God is my co-pilot." I think God was my pilot yesterday. I know my steering wheel was turning at 90 degree angles back and forth when I tried to go through the slush and snow piled in my long lane. As the weather warms up it seems the snow gets deeper and its like driving fast along a curvy road with pylons stuck everywhere. The car went wherever the ice took it. In some places the ice is 6 inches thick and slushy.

So when I get to the curve in the lane I know I can't get through that in my lightweight energy efficient car made by foreigners who obviously do not expect it to go through snow drifts. After spending a hour shoveling my back hurts too much to continue and I leave the car glaring at the drift.

Every snow storm brings ideas of selling this rural house and moving closer to a highway as I think how will I ever cope with this when we're older. I'm also getting frustrated that my husband took the 4-wheel drive, the salt and the good shovel.

And then I get online and read a prayer request for a family who has lost an 18 year old daughter in a car accident. All of a sudden the snow in the drive is a minor problem that will surely disappear soon.

Today when I hear my daughter's voice on the phone I'm grateful and when I spend another hour shoveling away the slush in the driveway it seems like a privilege.

After the Storm

Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,
and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have broken rejoice.

Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.

Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.

Psalm 51:6-10, ESV

The Holy Bible, English Standard VersionEdition: SecondCopyright: Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved. Electronic Edition STEP Files Copyright © 2004, QuickVerse, a division of FindEx.com, Inc.