Praise and Glory to our Lord and Savior! Lord, please bless this blog and its contents. Please work through me, for your ultimate goals. Let me be a teacher for You. Let me help open eyes and ears. I am such a sinner. But, you took away my guilt and self condemnation almost a year ago. You took away those negative voices. You made me see who I was in You in 2011. Help me help those so many Christians and non-believers that are not swimming in Your love. They will know if they are absolutely, positively saved and in crazy love for you. Oh, the day when all will rejoice with the heavenlies: Holy, Holy, Holy. What a day!
We live in the Hawkeye State. Iowa Hawkeyes, that is. We have no professional sports, so we obsess about our college sports, mostly University of Iowa sports. Even graduates of our other colleges support the Hawks. I know so many men and women that went to the university in our home town, but drool over the Hawkeyes. Those poor Panthers! They get ignored.
And what do we see? Well, on game day, there are these flags that fans put on their cars. They stick out of your front windows. And everywhere is black and gold when you go out and get a cup of coffee. Many are sporting their tshirt or sweatshirt.
There is alot of money to be made by all of this licensed material. Key chains, hats, pajamas, underwear, socks, drinking cups, bean bag toss games, bottle openers. Even a guy in my old community can make you a bar with your favorite team, including the Hawkeyes.
It was always a little strange to me. I was a music person. I enjoyed sports, but that just didn't work out for me personally, as well as music did. Yes, an occasional game on the TV or to go to a baseball game, I like. I think I balance out things pretty well, my hobbies. But...... people ruining their day when their team lost. People getting in nasty fights during the Iowa State vs. Iowa games. Fans fighting. People booing you if you wore Iowa State gear instead of Iowa Hawkeye gear. People breaking golf clubs over their knee?
I am sure your collegiate sport situation is similar in your state. Do you have a bumper sticker on your car? A license plate holder?
Do you have any Christian religious jewelry? How about those plastic bracelets? Do you wear clothing proclaiming your faith? A necktie or shirt?
Do you think God is a jealous god? You know, he really doesn't need us or anything at all. But guess what? He is very, very interested in His children showing their affection for Him.
You know, I am not here to blog to make people feel crummy about their lives. I do know that I am learning alot by reading the bible. I do see support in there for my needing to personally to look at every aspect of my life. I fall so short. I am making changes. He is revealing to me so many items that I never thought of before. That is what is so glorious. And some of these items came to me, after being born again, after I thought of many key conversations and situations over my lifetime that I didn't think mattered at the time. You see, the Holy Spirit speaks through other people, and these statements and incidents are keys to the puzzle of our life, in Christ, and He reveals the solving of the puzzle, piece by piece, after you ultimately establish an intimate relationship with Him. And that relationship gets stronger. And you analyze all of these puzzle pieces and see what He intended all along. For you to finally decide to accept Him. And all of your life tragedies, blessings and journeys now make perfect sense. Remember, He doesn't need you. And you can't work your way to heaven. You have to surrender all and just accept Him. He LOVES, absolutely LOVES when His children finally decide to say, "Here I am Abba Father. I am sorry I didn't come sooner to you. I am sorry I fell in love with the world and believed the lies of Satan all of this time".
I bought a Jesus Freak type sticker for my car window a few months ago. I looked over all of the stickers at the book store, and found a great one. It isn't very big and it isn't very obvious. But, it stamps me with Him. I don't need to be stamped with the Chicago Cubs or My Student is An Honor Student (jeez people---glorify God, not your children). I thought it was absolutely perfect, perfect for me to label my car with my One True Love. I finally found that True Love. It took me 42 years and oh, so much heartache. I have fished for comments from others on this sticker I bought. I don't actually know anyone, off hand, that has an obvious Jesus sticker. I can't say that I got an overwhelming approval for the sticker. I don't think we are all on the same wavelength. You see, I am a little bit of a rebel, and I don't care if I do happen to get into a fender bender. They can use that sticker against me, but guess what? I plan to not deny Christ if someone wants to challenge me. I will fight that Peter in me!
I won't get too heavy on this topic tonight, but I will exercise my religious freedoms and to the maximum. I am concerned about our future with this. I am concerned about employers possibly restricting what we wear to work, if it reflects our faith. I am concerned that Christians will someday be identified for their faith. And it won't be for a good reason. I am preparing to read Revelations again. It has been decades since I spent much time there. It is part of the bible, and with prayer and meditation, I am getting ready. You need to read all parts of the bible, including Revelations. Don't tally there forever. But, there is so much information that has been swept under the rug, as we enjoy our lives, forgetting we are only here for a fraction of a second of an eternity of time. The rebel in me also wants to get a very small Christian tattoo. Maybe just a cross with a scripture, possibly from Ephesians. (not written out, but such as: "Ephesians 3:16-19") So much born again reference from the apostle Paul. Such good news. As a rebel, I think if there is a day in my lifetime that I need to either deny or confess that I am a Christian, they will know from my actions and they will know from my "bumper sticker" on my body. You just try to mess with this Jesus Freak. I am in Christ Jesus. And if it happens in my lifetime, I will sing praises to the Most High as they try to change my beliefs or practices. Whatever it comes to. It is pretty deep, but really, what will you do? Imagine the situation. And remember what the saints did. They sang, typically, at the tops of their lungs, at the times of their stonings, beatings and even just at wartime. Do you not want to think of these things? Obviously we would rather think of pleasant things. But if you are like me, I have wasted an incredible amount of time prior to age 42. I had not spent time with God. I didn't pray much and prayed selfishly. I was skimming along. And, now I have glorious time. I am done wasting time. There is such richness in Christ. So long and deep and wide. Come and join me. My chains are gone, but I have so much work to do.
How He Loves by John Mark McMillan (lyrics): He is jealous for me. Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree. Bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy. When all of the sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory, and I realize just how beautiful you are and how great are Your affections for me.
Psalm 78:58-59 They angered him with their high places; they aroused his jealousy with their idols. When God heard them, he was angry; he rejected Israel completely.
Nahum 1:2-3 The Lord is a jealous and avenging God; the Lord takes vengeance and is filled with wrath. The Lord takes vengeance on his foes and maintains his wrath against his enemies. The Lord is slow to anger and great in power; the Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished. His way is in the whirlwind and the storm, and clouds are the dust of his feet.
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