Wednesday, September 12, 2012

R4M

This is a special post to ask you to check out my husband's blog.  He is running a half marathon this weekend and is running for a cause.  He's done a great job training for this event and I am so very proud of him.  He's been using his blog to document his journey throughout all of training and he will continue writing about his journey up to and after the race.  Also, he created a twitter account for this event to allow twitter folks to follow him.  Please take a minute or two to look over his blog if you haven't already. And if you are interested in joining him in his cause, which is a very worthy cause, please make sure you "sign up" or register on his blog site before the race on Sunday so as to help encourage him even more as he runs. THANKS A BUNCH!!  I just want him to get as much encouragement as I can give him before his run on Sunday.

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

The Truth Pursuit

Just as we regularly take time to enjoy the rays of the sun, whether by sitting on our porch in the sunset's light, by reclining on the beach in the hot sun's rays, or by driving around town with the windows down warming our face with the sun's light, as people who believe in God's love and His Son we should find ourselves regularly looking into God's Word and exposing our hearts to the Truth.

Look at the trees as an example.  They are faithfully growing to the skies, whether in good times or tough times. They seek out the sunlight, move....position their branches to get the most sunlight exposure.  They take time in winter to dig their roots deeper so as to thrive in spring and summer through all the storms and windy days.  Trees and all things 'flora' know what gives them life and they pursue it.....with what we would describe as a passionate pursuit. Can we live with such a passion for the One who gives us life, now that we know WHO that is? I am so grateful to God for giving us His Holy Word so that we can know what brings us life....so we can pursue with reckless abandon God's Truth and thus truly live.

Romans 12:1-3 (The Message version)
"So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life---your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life----and place it before God as an offering.  Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him.  Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking.  Instead, fix your attention on God.  You'll be changed from the inside out.  Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it.  Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you."
"I'm speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you.  Living then, as everyone of you does, in pure grace, it's important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God.  No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him."