525,600 Minutes

"...moments so dear. How do you measure, measure a year?" The theme song to one of the longest running Broadway musicals, RENT. (Quick review from me: Don't bother seeing it - full of agendas and inappropriateness, but don't throw the whole baby out with the bath water and listen to some of the soundtrack...the music is quite good, especially when you don't know the story line.) Check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7kX3E9aXfg if you want a version of this song that does not have images from RENT. And, I'm ready to take the heat for this...

So, yesteday was my birthday. It was a wonderful day. I had the great priviledge of attending a funeral, which may sound strange, but this service was a testimony to those of us who are followers of Christ to persevere through the trials of life and to bring honor and glory to the Lord in how we live. For those who do not know Jesus as their Lord and Savior, the message was clear, you should definitely be alarmed. As one of our pastors stated, get your fingers out of your ears and stop thinking that everything is ok. You will die and your life and allegiences on earth do matter for eternity. Will you answer the call to repent of your sins, accept Jesus' death on the cross as a free gift of grace and begin to live a life that is glorifying to Him?

Check out these verses from I Cor. 15:

51Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory."[g] 55"Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?"[h] 56The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

There are only 525,600 minutes in a year and at any one of those moments, God in his soverignty may stop the counting and take you into eternity...think about it...

I think I'll move to Australia!

Dear faithful readers (all five of you)…Hi Mom! Hi honey! My son has the book, "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day." It’s a classic…

I think I can relate to Alexander today. It’s as if I woke up with a huge sign on my forehead (along with the huge painful zit by my lip…some of you noticed it this weekend, didn’t you) that read "DETERMINED TO HAVE A BAD DAY!" And, to be honest, I’m not sure if there’s anything I could do about it. I could blame it on hormones or circumstances like: the fact that Verizon started billing my credit card again for a service I don’t have, the fact that I actually said a curse word to the interactive voice response system, the fact that I told the Verizon representative that I call myself a "Verizon hater and that I feel like forming a coup against them", the fact that I’m hoarse right before a big Christmas musical I’m singing in, the fact that my girls’ room is ten degrees colder than the rest of the house because the builder didn’t insulate it well enough, the fact that the builder thinks it’s not an urgent issue, the fact that I have a friend who is struggling with a pattern of sin and is turning her back on truth, the fact that I have my own struggle with sin and am seeing more clearly each day some tough decisions I’m going to have to make…et cetera, et cetera, et cetera…

"I think I’ll move to Australia." (Isn’t it summer there right now?)

Well, friends, I’m sure you can all relate to how I feel, because let’s face it, we all experience bad days. You know, days where you want to crawl back under the covers and hide from the world. In fact, maybe we have more bad days than good in this life. That’s why we look forward to Christ’s return. To be honest, I’ve had worse. And, really, my day was extremely easy compared to a lot who are struggling with chronic illness, divorce, death, abuse, persecution, financial hardship, the list goes on…

I’m reminded that the Israelites complained just like me. They were sick of manna and quail. They wanted more choice foods (like mushroom bisque en croute, which was excellent by the way). They blamed Moses for their troubles, saying, "if only we had never left Egypt." Pretty pathetic. I certainly don’t want to wander around in the wilderness making golden calves and complaining.

The Lord gave me a verse last week that I’m still meditating on. Lamentations 3:25 says, "The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD." So, in the midst of what feels like a horrible day I can hope in God and He is good to me! The verses right before that one are familiar:
"Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed,

for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him."

Take heart, friends, the Lord is with us! It would do us well to trust Him. I’m going to work on that this week!