Drowning Yet?

I read the devotion of the day over at Daily Bread and I had to smile.

A South African man surprised nine men robbing his home. Seven of the robbers ran away, but the homeowner managed to shove two into his backyard pool. After realizing that one of the robbers couldn’t swim, the homeowner jumped in to save him. The Cape Times reports that once out of the pool, the wet thief called to his friends to come back. Then he pulled a knife and threatened the man who had just rescued him. The homeowner said, “We were still standing near the pool, and when I saw the knife I just threw him back in. But he was gasping for air and was drowning. So I rescued him again.”

It is a great analogy of how God deals with us.  Over and over we end up in the deep water, drowning.  Over and over He rescues us.   Rather than gratitude, we respond with anger, resentment and bitterness.  Yet through it all, God never gives up and He never stops loving us.  How many times does Jesus need to rescue us from the water before we embrace Him?

Focus In

As I think most of us know - ultimately all things come down to focus.  Whether we are playing sports, working on a project, solving a puzzle or working on our relationships if you lose focus, things tend to fall apart.  The trick is to focus on the right things.  Most of the casual readers out there are familiar with my struggles over the last year.  One thing that has made a difference is my circle of friends that I meet with on Tuesday nights.  We get together to share our victories and defeats, look for advice or just an ear to listen and we work hard to hold each other accountable for our choices.  It is a VERY safe place to share and things get said there that are never repeated outside that room.

At the same time we are able to learn from each other, build each other up and share what we have learned.  Last week our fearless leader started a series of questions out of the workbook we are using.  I don't remember all of the questions although I do remember that they built on each other.  The last question struck my like a lightening bolt and stayed with me like an out of work relative (just kidding).

The question was "Will you battle your addiction this week or will you embrace your Savior?"  It hit me that the answer to this question this really is the answer to a lot of questions.   We all have things that are struggles and issues in our lives (at least all of us that are honest), especially if we have chosen to follow God.  I have likened it to fighting a war - except that in this war if you lose even a single battle you can lose the entire war.   We are human - fallible and frail at our best.  If our focus is on fighting the battle we are at risk.  No matter how strong, committed and determined we are, sooner or later we will slip, make a fatal mistake and lose the current battle.

However, if we admit that we can't do it, that we don't have the will, the strength or the courage to fight the battle 24x7; if we turn the fight over to someone who DOES have the characteristics that we lack - we can win the war.  It has been said that the best way to win a war is to not fight one.  We have an advocate - a warrior who will stand in our place and do battle in our stead.  When we turn it over to God - when we embrace our Savior instead of throwing ourselves into the fray we can not only survive but we can thrive.

Focus on the wrong things and you end up broken, bleeding and defeated. Focus on the right things and you emerge victorious, strong and alive.  As the crusader said to Indiana Jones - "choose wisely."

blessings on your day

VOTD

"So let's not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't give up."

Galatians 6:9, NLT

Hiatus Ending?

It has been a few weeks since I stopped posting.   I truly needed the break.  We took a break from showing OUR house and looking for a new one as well.  With all the other stuff going on and my FIL here, we had to find ways to pull back our wings a bit.  Pop left yesterday morning so we will work on the house this weekend.  We need to get it back into "show shape" so we can release it back into the pool.

Father's Day was nice.  I got to see or talk to all my kids.  Andrew used up several of his precious and rare phone-minutes to call me from boot camp.  That really meant a lot to me and touched my heart.  Golfing was fun if not exactly a clinic on style and form.  I did manage to have a few good holes which is what keeps me from throwing all the clubs into the river.

More as it occurs to me  :o)

Burn Out

I am feeling pretty fried right now.  Several weeks ago we decided to start the process of finding a new place to live.  Not that our current home is bad but just because it is the time to do so.  As I think I stated before, we want to trade bedroom space for living space.

The process is emotionally intense and frustrating.   3 times we have "found the one" only to discover that it wasn't.  The reasons are complex.  Once the house was affordable but the utilities and taxes would have killed us.  One time the builder just wouldn't deal.   Once we actually put down a deposit only to pull back at the last minute because it just didn't feel right.

The second half of the equation, of course, is selling OUR house.  I did a lot of minor repair/touch up work (missed a couple items I need to take care of this weekend).  We have hidden away a lot of the personal items and run around the house straightening and cleaning every time we leave to go anywhere.  The whole thing is certainly an exercise in trusting God.  There is very little about the process that is actually under our control.  Letting go of all of it and keeping my hands off is very difficult.  If you get the chance, please pray that we find the right house to buy and that God brings the right people to buy our house.

Happy Birthday

To Me  :o)

A Sinking Feeling

I was reading about the sinkhole in Guatemala City this week.  As I looked at the images and read the descriptions of what happened and why I was struck by how similar that is to my own life.   Often, things look great on the surface.   Underneath, however, decay and erosion are destroying the foundations.   When the collapse comes, people marvel at the destruction and express amazement that such a thing could happen.

The interesting thing about the Guatemalan event was that this wasn't isolated.  In fact a similar event occurred several years ago.  It turns out that the city is built on a deep bed of volcanic ash and pumice which is easily eroded by uncontrolled and unconstrained water systems.  The foundation isn't solid and things that erode the foundation aren't "controlled."   How like our own lives this is.  Both of the factors that lead to this disaster are dangerous and the combination is deadly.

I look at my own life and see the damage that has been caused when I allowed "erosion processes" to exist essentially unchecked.  I look at the damage that was caused because I built things on a foundation that wasn't solid.  Like the city in the picture, I have a lot of work to do to repair and fill in the "hole."  Like Guatemala City I have to make a choice about what to do next.   Repair without addressing the underlying issue guarantees another disaster down the road a piece.  Corrective actions that are started and never finished only delay (and sometimes increase the magnitude of) the inevitability of the next disaster.

Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.

Blessings on your day

A Busy Calendar

We have a brutally busy calendar this month.  My birthday is this weekend, our anniversary the next weekend and Father's Day the weekend after.   Tuesday Emma's dad arrives for a 2 week visit.  We start the little league tournament play this Friday.  Add to that the stress of frantically house hunting and you end up with no leisure time at all.   Also, with our home going on the market, we won't even have the luxury of relaxing at home as the house has to be "model ready" 12 hours a day or more.

A Season

I have been away for a week, taking a break.   We have been considering buying a house and have spent the last 3 weeks or so frantically looking at every house in our price range as well as every new builder in this end of the county.  We have seen house you couldn't live in without serious work, mansions with taxes that would cripple you, various stages of construction and houses that are, for lack of a better term, simply unremarkable.  

In the process I have managed to repair, repaint and upgrade things around the house that have been hanging out for years (in some cases).  We might be putting the house on the market this weekend if we can work out some of the details.  So far we haven't got past the "let's talk about it stage" with any of the sellers.  The bottom line is that I don't think the perfect house exists (at least not for me).  In the meantime I am learning lots about short sales, REO property, Mello Roos and what the current trend in home building is like.