Remember that time when I heard a mysterious watery noise coming from a wall in my room? It turns out that it was related to the leak in our AC that was pouring out into Janie and Julesie's room ... on the complete opposite side of the house.
Evidentemente, tenemos un lago MUY GRANDE debajo de la casa... Aye caramba!
(For those of you who don't speak Spanish, get with it, peeps. Es la lengua del futuro en los Estados Unidos.) But, seriously, we have a lake under our house. We're talking large quantities of water, here.
Now we have a plumber over pumping water out into the front yard and into a bathtub. This is the second day the pump has been hooked up, and the lake water shows no signs of letting up.
PROS:
On the positive side of life, tonight is our Bible study with some of our sweet youth girls in Bryan. We're looking at salvation this week. Please give a moment in prayer that our conversation will be life-giving and free of distraction. We have an enemy who wants confusion, not clarity. I know you have at least two minutes to pray about it because you're reading this and have probably checked facebook twice in the past 15 minutes ... so clearly your day isn't that busy.
Now for my favorite guilt trip verse:
Actually, this verse drives me nuts (in the best way possible). It just won't let me out of all the things I would rather not do. I helps me learn to love those close to me in my actions. It sometimes just feels more simple to ignore someone's basic needs rather than meeting them, especially when it slightly inconveniences me.
I've been told that I take this sort of things to extremes though. Yesterday, for instance, I was making the forty five second drive to Anna's house and spotted a pack of mismatched dogs running free in the street. "What is the right thing to do?" I ask myself. "Catch them and house them until their owners can be located!" Clearly.
Well, after a good ten minutes of calling the number on the tags of the one friendly dog, several expeditions through other people's bushes calling "puppy," and unsuccessfully trying to lure them into my car with chips, I finally gave up. Mostly because I was sweating. I was also getting some uncomfortable looks from the family whose yard I was sitting in.
I'm overdramatic. So sue me.
I had a friend once tell me that he felt like he had to counter my intensity considering how "all out" I went for my convictions. At the time, I dismissed his observation completely. But he may be right. After all, while I strongly believe that Jesus has called His people to care about good stewardship of animals and the environment, human trafficking, just relationships between nations, those in poverty, education, defense of the defenseless, etc ---we (individually) can't do it all. That's why we also have the Body of Christ.
So what to do with James 4:17? I still think that it's an incredible and much needed encouragement to my everyday life. Nine times out of ten I need to be reminded to do what is right when it would be much more convenient to do nothing and move on with my day. That one time out of ten, I might go overboard. But didn't Jesus go "a little overboard" suffering and dying for a people who despised Him? (There I go again, justifying chasing puppies all over the place). I think the main key is doing the good the Father asks of us in daily obedience, not the good we like to assign ourselves.
That's my musing of the day. Feel free to disagree.
Love love,
Lupe Fiasco (mi nombre in Espanol)
Jealous of my sweet name? Get one:
Evidentemente, tenemos un lago MUY GRANDE debajo de la casa... Aye caramba!
(For those of you who don't speak Spanish, get with it, peeps. Es la lengua del futuro en los Estados Unidos.) But, seriously, we have a lake under our house. We're talking large quantities of water, here.
Now we have a plumber over pumping water out into the front yard and into a bathtub. This is the second day the pump has been hooked up, and the lake water shows no signs of letting up.
PROS:
- Our grass is being watered. Considering that it was nice and crunchy, that might be a good thing.
- Our water is shut off. How much more incentive do you need to NOT wash the dishes?
- I didn't miss much on the float trip this past weekend. I've been floating on my own river this whole time and never knew.
- Living in my house is like a trip to the lake without the dirt and the sunburn.
- That craycray noise in my room is kind of soothing. It's like the little fake aquariums they make for babies to help them sleep.
- We have a lake under our house. And the leak is making the floor crinkle like a book dropped in the bathtub. Sorry, Candy.
On the positive side of life, tonight is our Bible study with some of our sweet youth girls in Bryan. We're looking at salvation this week. Please give a moment in prayer that our conversation will be life-giving and free of distraction. We have an enemy who wants confusion, not clarity. I know you have at least two minutes to pray about it because you're reading this and have probably checked facebook twice in the past 15 minutes ... so clearly your day isn't that busy.
Now for my favorite guilt trip verse:
It is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it. - James 4:17That's right. You best get to praying for my girls.
Actually, this verse drives me nuts (in the best way possible). It just won't let me out of all the things I would rather not do. I helps me learn to love those close to me in my actions. It sometimes just feels more simple to ignore someone's basic needs rather than meeting them, especially when it slightly inconveniences me.
I've been told that I take this sort of things to extremes though. Yesterday, for instance, I was making the forty five second drive to Anna's house and spotted a pack of mismatched dogs running free in the street. "What is the right thing to do?" I ask myself. "Catch them and house them until their owners can be located!" Clearly.
Well, after a good ten minutes of calling the number on the tags of the one friendly dog, several expeditions through other people's bushes calling "puppy," and unsuccessfully trying to lure them into my car with chips, I finally gave up. Mostly because I was sweating. I was also getting some uncomfortable looks from the family whose yard I was sitting in.
I'm overdramatic. So sue me.
I had a friend once tell me that he felt like he had to counter my intensity considering how "all out" I went for my convictions. At the time, I dismissed his observation completely. But he may be right. After all, while I strongly believe that Jesus has called His people to care about good stewardship of animals and the environment, human trafficking, just relationships between nations, those in poverty, education, defense of the defenseless, etc ---we (individually) can't do it all. That's why we also have the Body of Christ.
So what to do with James 4:17? I still think that it's an incredible and much needed encouragement to my everyday life. Nine times out of ten I need to be reminded to do what is right when it would be much more convenient to do nothing and move on with my day. That one time out of ten, I might go overboard. But didn't Jesus go "a little overboard" suffering and dying for a people who despised Him? (There I go again, justifying chasing puppies all over the place). I think the main key is doing the good the Father asks of us in daily obedience, not the good we like to assign ourselves.
That's my musing of the day. Feel free to disagree.
Love love,
Lupe Fiasco (mi nombre in Espanol)
Jealous of my sweet name? Get one:
Posts
1. that is NOT your spanish name is it?? CRAZYYYY!! I love that song though!!
ReplyDelete2. we get by a lot because we're like 'oh no that's your thing, God told me to do this instead' but no, we all know what is right and good, we just choose not to act a lot of times because it's out of our comfort zones--thanks for sharing that verse! I do find it interesting though how differently we all choose to apply that verse (this is one of those moments where I want all followers of Jesus to be the same, because I think it would make things clearer)-- keep saving the pups!!
3. we should always be selfish in asking for prayers (my staff girls taught me that this year)--good for you in telling everyone that if they have the time to read your blog they have the time to pray for y'all!