The whole Bible, summed up in two words.

My pastor recently submitted to me that the Bible can be succinctly expressed in a matter of two words: authority and submission.  Being one who digests ideas best in bite size pieces, I was intrigued.

He went on to explain that in the beginning, God created the heavens, earth, land masses, vegetation, creatures and mankind by simply speaking them into existence.  Talk about authority!  God is the ultimate and final authority on everything, everywhere, at any time; it’s what the Bible says.  Once the earth and everything in it was created, what was God’s next move?  He said “fill the earth, and subdue it.” (Gen. 1:28)  Take this incredible piece of real estate (and everything in it), and be responsible for it.  Own it.  Study the biology, meteorology, geology and astronomy of it forever.  Have authority over it.  God said, “Look what I made for you!  I want you to have this.”  He took His ultimate authority and gave it to man. (This is where you ask “but why?” and we discuss the simple fact that God loves you).

We know what happened next: “You will not surely die.” (Gen. 3:4)  Eve believed the serpent, and ate.  Adam stood by, then took a piece too.  In that moment, may I submit that perhaps it was not sin that entered the world so much as it was man who took his God-given authority over the earth, and handed it over to the father of lies.  You wonder why the world can be a bitter and terrible place?  You want to know why bad things happen to good people?  Consider what is being done with the authority God gave.

When we take the authority given to us by God and put it in the hands of Satan, he will rule in our lives.  I’ve seen it ring true in my own life.  When we take the authority given to us by God and put it back in God’s hands, he will rule in our lives.  I have also seen this to be true in my own life.  Admitting that the best place for this authority is in the place it was created requires submission to the ultimate authority; willingly.  Ultimately, we will all submit to God’s authority, willingly or not.  He is the ultimate authority, whether or not we believe it, and whether or not we submit to it.  God loves us so much that even though this is true, he still gives us a choice.  He literally leaves the authority over his gift to us in our hands, and it’s up to us what we do with it.  Salvation comes by willingly submitting to the authority of God.  “Not my will, but yours be done.”  “Your kingdom come, your will be done.”

Consider it.  Authority.  Submission.  For me, the Gospel has never made more sense.

Meyer’s Milestones

This short clip packs in the best of Meyer’s most recent milestones:

1. Laughing

2. Inward laughing

3. Almost standing on his own (sort of) (even though he hasn’t rolled over yet)

4. Focusing on something farther than 18 inches away.

5. His superior command of the canine species.Meyer commanding moe smaller

“Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” -Matthew 6:34

This, among other poignant scriptures, has refined my “method” of becoming a more disciplined individual.  Two posts ago, I shared my obsession with setting 21 day goals in an attempt to make some notable improvement in my character.  As a result, I have simply discovered one more way that man’s attempts are insufficient for overcoming his flesh.

Since the birth of our son, Meyer, each consecutive day has (on average) proven to deliver an equal or greater amount of stress accompanied only by an equal or lesser amount of sleep.  This trend, if multiplied and projected a month ahead, shows a dangerously high amount of stress with only 30 minutes of sleep per night.  Needless to say, making that type of calculation adds stress to the current load, and amplifies the effect exponentially.

This, I have determined (with the third party perspective and input of Pastor Hector and others) is a wilderness experience.  Each day seems to demand a little more strength, endurance, tenacity and perseverance, but allows for less restoration, preparation and motivation.  When you are in the desert, for example, each day feels hotter and dryer, especially when you are not eating, drinking, or sleeping.  The body is weakened.  The mind is confused.

The realization this led to is amazing in many ways, two of which I will divulge here:

1. When in the desert, God provides manna.

2. When the flesh is weakened, battling it is less of a chore.

By considering what life might look like a month ahead (in terms of stress and exhaustion), I am only heaping more weight on to the day at hand.  The beautiful thing is that God provides enough strength for today.  He equips me to endure the trials of today.  He empowers me to tackle my duties and responsibilities tenaciously today.  His manna is sufficient for today.  If I try to store some of it for the next day, it goes bad, and if I try to eat what I have tried to save, it will make me sick.  God’s provision is the perfect amount for today.  Beyond that, I don’t need to worry about it, except to (the next morning) invite God’s provision once again.

“The Spirit wars against the flesh.”  -Galatians 5:17

“The flesh profits nothing.” – John 6:36

With my flesh in a weakened state, I can work more closely with the Holy Spirit to overcome my fleshly desires.  Why spend 21 days trying to make my flesh a little better?  Why work to strengthen my flesh?  “Not of works, lest any man should boast.” – Eph 2:9  Even if I have a shred of success in making my flesh a little better, that is an accomplishment I have made of my own accord, for which I could strut around with my chest out.  If I even begin to believe that my flesh is worth something profitable, it makes the spiritual battle that much more painful.  After all, “the flesh profits nothing.”  By “beating my flesh into submission,” or simply camping out in the wilderness, the opportunity to rely on God today is immediately available.

Having vision and values is a different situation, but it must not trump my daily need for God’s provision.  I am blessed that each day puts me deeper and deeper into circumstances that demand my reliance on God’s provision for my physical, emotional, and spiritual needs.  Praise be to the Almighty God who can provide everything I need and leave me overflowing at the end of each day.

Extreme Chores

Hey Everybody.  It’s Saturday.  Let’s do some chores.Extreme Chores quicktime

21 days of neglected milk

According to google, there is much research showing 21 days to be a milestone maker in the industry of forging habits, either good or bad.  There is probably an equal amount of debate on the matter, but I have set out to establish a habit of committing the first minutes of my alert day to spending time with our Creator.  So far this has consisted of reading Romans and the first few chapters of I Corinthians, and listening for The Spirit to speak.  This also, admittedly, has involved warding off a new sub-habit of falling asleep in the process. All in all, day 12 has come and gone showing 12/12 on the scoreboard.

For me, I hope it works.  So many times in the past I have told myself “Self, from this day forth, you shall not drink milk from the carton again.”  Inevitably, I find my lips pressed madly against the jug sucking the liquid down in the hopes that nobody will see me as I rush to wipe the drizzle from my chin and slam the refrigerator door shut before they stroll into the kitchen.  Sheesh.

Forever is intimidating, and that means change. Who wants to change who they are?  I like to think that I’m OK just the way I am.  By forming a habit, you’re simply adding to who you are.  21 days is less intimidating.  If I can do this for 21 days, there is hope for a sliver of discipline in me (by the grace of God, naturally), and that if I allow, God can accomplish something in me.  Even if it is small.

As a human, and of the male orientation, and arguably ADD at that, I find that I only have about 512 MB of RAM with which to store my habits.  My hope is that by cultivating a new habit once in a while, I’ll have less room for the old ones.  This is my logic at it’s finest.

Using man’s wisdom to implement a Godly habit: also debatable, but this is my starting point.  Thoughts on the matter are welcome.

Bohlawitz Update

Since our last series of posts, we have sealed the deal on our home, completed some low risk maintenance on the Jetta, received 9 months notice from The Stork, secured a used Golf, and planted a lime tree and various herbs on our property.

Water thermostat, cooling fan, secondary air pump mounts.

Are you certain? You can be, with “Be Certain!”

Our little lime tree. It has not yeilded fruit yet, but trust it will begin to contribute to this family soon enough.

The Really Long Story

House #5, affectionately dubbed “The Yellow House”:

The bank countered our offer with a price that was a long shot away from our budget and we were downhearted.  The Seller’s agent explained that we could not go that high and the bank responded “this file is CLOSED!”  (Just like that I think, she said the lady was not very nice).

So just like always, we picked up and moved on…..  (side note – my gut kept telling me that we were not done with The Yellow House.  I had felt SO STRONGLY that it would be OUR house).

House #6:  A little smaller, GREAT price, updated throughout, SWEET kitchen….quaint.  I could imagine us living here!  No time to waste, we place our offer.  And then we wait…..

In the meantime…the bank asks regarding House #5, are we going to counter?  We tell them no, again (!), and it goes to a second review (!?).  There’s still a chance!!!!   Wahoo Wahoo Wahooo!  And…..

THEY ACCEPTED!!!  Party dance!

We close this coming Friday!  So now we are gathering up all our cleaning supplies and paint and elbow grease…ready to tackle.  God has truly blessed us – I hope we can consecrate this house to Him.

More pics to follow after we begin work…

No New is Good News?

Sadly, house #4 had a massive leak somewhere underneath it.  It was not meant to be I suppose.  Since we are movers and shakers (or something) we have already moved and shaked on to a new house (the rebound is quicker every time!).  House #5 is CUTE & YELLOW (though someone got a little carried away and painted the sidewalk (?!) leading up to the house yellow as well), like all the rest it needs a little ELBOW GREASE and PAINT (of course), we LIKE IT.

We placed our (pretty darn good if I may say so) offer…about a week and a half ago.  It is a short sale and has yet to even reach the bank, as the seller has suddenly gone AWOL.

When one of our offers is finally accepted I don’t think we will be able to manage our shock.  I still feel really strongly that God is leading us to buy a house rather than rent….what does He have in store for us???  Stay tuned…

Why I love my husband.

Once, I went to driving school for half a day (beware the photo radar, Phoenicians!) and when I came home, my husband had created this little ditty.

100 point to anyone who can name all 8 ‘instruments.’

4 Houses and only 2 hearts

God has blessed us financially this year.  Blessed our darn socks off!  Back in August we began to cultivate the idea of buying a home, since rent is almost as much (sometimes more) as a mortgage payment here in Phoenix (who knew we had such a sweet deal in T-Town…$500/month!) and the housing market is stellar (if you’re buying…not so much if you’re selling).  Anyway, Mama A (aka “our realtor”) has shown us about 1.7 billion properties in our hunt for the perfect home.  There are 4 stories to tell (so far) in this process:

STORY #1 – Cute home, not so far from folks, great price, needs a bit o’ work, awesome backyard, FELL IN LOVE….went back for a second (ok, third) look and…it was already in the arms of another man.  Much weeping and gnashing of teeth (plus an awesome temper tantrum from yours truly).

STORY #2 – Cute home in my childhood neighborhood, scary colors, a little small, lots of potential, good price, FELL IN LOVE….went home to make an offer and….status changed to pending.  A few more tears (but no tantrum this time).

STORY #3 – Cute home, NW Valley (close to church, neat!), not much work at all, sweet backyard with pool, price at our max (tightening of chest…and purse), decorated every room in my head, FELL IN LOVE LOVE LOVE….put in an offer!  Counter.  Counter.  Deceptive agent (I thought we were buds, Mike!) shops our offer and….a better one comes in.  So many tears. Redoing of make up, picking up of bootstraps.  Return to search a little bitter and jaded, but…

STORY #4 – Lovely home, lots of room, pool (!), spa (!!), crazy doors, lots of fans, awesome price plus other financial blessings, some work (but fun stuff, mostly), love the kitchen, FALLING IN LOVE (slowly this time, don’t want a rebound, don’t want another heartbreak), put in offer!  Still waiting.

…..House up North could you be ours?  Will we one day paint your walls, fill your cupboards, swim in your pool?  Lord willing, let it be so!