How many of you had a security blanket or favorite stuffed animal that you couldn't sleep without? My favorite stuffed animal was a small brown teddy bear named Pookie (pronounce poo-key). I had that same teddy bear until a few years ago when my Mom re-married and moved out of the house in Beverly Hills. I have to admit, I struggled with the decision on whether or not I should have taken Pookie to seminary. Luckily for me, my mom got rid of Pookie without my knowledge after I got married. I was angry for a while about that, but ultimately got over it.
Morgan never really had a security blanket or toy that she has clung to for a long period of time; although, she does get overly attached to a variety of different things - foam swords (she named it Swordy), a stuffed monkey (she named Mr. Banana Pants), a rock (named rocky), a old wipes box (named boxy - just kidding on that one) - she is really original with her naming of things. Let me explain that last one- Janel was cleaning out a storage box one day and found an empty wipes box that we use to keep in Morgans diaper bag when she was little. Janel threw out the box, but Morgan literally cried for an hour that we threw it out. Like I said - overly attached to things.
Madison on the other hand, has become completely inseparable from her teddy bear that we call Bear - can you guess where Morgan got her naming abilities. The other day, I crept into Maddie's room and gently pulled the Bear from underneath her so that I could wash it overnight without her noticing it was gone. I was looking at Bear and this thing was absolutely gross. Originally this bear was given to Maddie by her Aunt Lana as a gift card holder from Baby's R Us. The bear is normally pink, but on this night, Bear was closer to black than pink.
As I was looking at this animal, I thought to myself, "Self, how could anyone love this dirty, filthy animal." but then God dropped a message into the mailbox of my heart. He reminded me, that until I was covered by the blood of Christ, I was a filthy, dirty animal in his eyes, but he still loved me unconditionally. Ultimately he sacrificed his only Son for this filthy, dirty animal so that I could be clean in his eyes. The washing of Bear took total of an hour, and only about 3 minutes of my time. But for me to be clean and presentable to God, took Christ Jesus coming to earth, living a perfect life, dying on a cross like a criminal, and then rising again three days later.
Its very humbling to know that in spite of my uncleanliness, all that defects that I have in my life, and being just plain dirty in comparison to God's perfection, that someone loved me enough to sacrifice to make me clean.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Its hard to stop a Trane
If only I were popular enough to make money off that tag line. Oh, well.
I know I posted last night, but I was listening to a sermon podcast while working out today and I was hit with a life lesson. I know its weird to listen to sermons while working out. Most people listen to AC/DC, 80's rock, etc. to keep them moving during a workout, but I was at the gym yesterday and discovered I had accidentally erased my entire music collection off my iPhone when I did an update earlier in the day. The only thing that survived were the podcasts. I would have listened to the music at the gym but right in the middle of lifting weights is not a time to hear "I want to know what love is. I want you to show me." Its just not that inspirational.
Anyway, today during my workout I wanted to finish the series that I started yesterday. I am listening to Ed Newton. If you do not know who Ed Newton is, he is a evangelist that speaks at various youth camps, college ministries, events, and so on. He is very dynamic and entertaining. His podcasts are free on iTunes if you want to listen to some of them.
He was speaking out of Daniel 3, which is the story of 'Rack, 'Shack, Benny (for you Veggie Tales fans) and toward the end of the sermon he as making the point that these three men made the decision to stand up to the King and not bow to his idol and remained consistent even in the face of being thrown into the furnace.
The question that was posed was whether we, as followers of Christ, are living our lives as a thermostat or a thermometer. Do you understand the difference? A thermometer is used to tell you what the temperature is, it changes with the circumstances. A thermometers consistency is that it is it does not stay consistent. Conversely, a thermostat (ideally) determines what the temperature is. You set a temperature, and the thermostat keeps the temp in the house at a consistent level.
The message that impacted me was whether or not I allow my life circumstances to affect my faith and reliance on God, or do I follow and believe on a consistent basis because of who God is. In thinking through that idea, I wonder what if God operated as a thermometer and not a thermostat based on my faith in Him. Not pretty was the answer. Going forward, my desire is to be more of the thermostat and not so much of the thermometer.
I know I posted last night, but I was listening to a sermon podcast while working out today and I was hit with a life lesson. I know its weird to listen to sermons while working out. Most people listen to AC/DC, 80's rock, etc. to keep them moving during a workout, but I was at the gym yesterday and discovered I had accidentally erased my entire music collection off my iPhone when I did an update earlier in the day. The only thing that survived were the podcasts. I would have listened to the music at the gym but right in the middle of lifting weights is not a time to hear "I want to know what love is. I want you to show me." Its just not that inspirational.
Anyway, today during my workout I wanted to finish the series that I started yesterday. I am listening to Ed Newton. If you do not know who Ed Newton is, he is a evangelist that speaks at various youth camps, college ministries, events, and so on. He is very dynamic and entertaining. His podcasts are free on iTunes if you want to listen to some of them.
He was speaking out of Daniel 3, which is the story of 'Rack, 'Shack, Benny (for you Veggie Tales fans) and toward the end of the sermon he as making the point that these three men made the decision to stand up to the King and not bow to his idol and remained consistent even in the face of being thrown into the furnace.
The question that was posed was whether we, as followers of Christ, are living our lives as a thermostat or a thermometer. Do you understand the difference? A thermometer is used to tell you what the temperature is, it changes with the circumstances. A thermometers consistency is that it is it does not stay consistent. Conversely, a thermostat (ideally) determines what the temperature is. You set a temperature, and the thermostat keeps the temp in the house at a consistent level.
The message that impacted me was whether or not I allow my life circumstances to affect my faith and reliance on God, or do I follow and believe on a consistent basis because of who God is. In thinking through that idea, I wonder what if God operated as a thermometer and not a thermostat based on my faith in Him. Not pretty was the answer. Going forward, my desire is to be more of the thermostat and not so much of the thermometer.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Time, why you punish me?
Time has definitely punished me on this blog. It has been a while since the last time that I checked in here. I am sorry for that, but life is crazy in the Evans household and I don't normally get a chance to sit at my computer until late at night. Several times I have started a post and woke up many hours later with 85 lines of "d" - and I don't feel that is something that anyone would be interested in.
On to catching up with my life. Over the past few weeks, Morgan has turned 5. Yeah, that says 5 - I cannot believe how quickly the past 5 years have gone. This is how life as changed since Morgan was born. I graduated from NOBTS, we moved to Covington, bought a house, started a full time ministry and then a part time ministry, was promoted from Shift supervisor to Assistant Manager to Store Manager at Starbucks. Janel has changed jobs twice (UNO to Cox to Poolcorp), we bought and paid for a car. Where has the time gone? I am so proud of her. Janel (as she is reading this) is saying to herself ,"really?" cause Morgan and I admittedly have a difficult relationship. We are the same person, and I bug the crap out of myself! We have all the same unsavory qualities (our unbreakable attention to the TV is the one that annoys Janel the most - there are times both Morgan and I will be standing in the middle of the living room glued to a commercial and Janel could push us over like she was cow tipping). But even though she can get on my nerves, and vice versa, Morgan is one of the most beautiful, loving, caring, intelligent, well spoken 5 year olds I have ever met.
Mothers day and Morgan's birthday were on the same day, and luckily Morgan choose to go to a Hibachi restaurant. She likes the fire volcano, but Maddie was not a fan and she let everyone know it. Overall it was a good day.
Janel has completed several more 5k races and is getting faster with each one. She is now at 60 pounds lost. I have started running again, and time is not a friend of mine. I use to run cross country in HS. I could complete a 5k in 21 mins, which is not great but okay. Now the only way I am completely and 5k in 21 minutes is if I start running at the start and then the ambulance will pick me up when I past out at the 1.5 mile mark. I am ssssllllloooooooowwwwlllllllyyyyy getting back into shape and running form. I have lost 22 pounds since the start of my journey of lifestyle change.
Well I think I unloaded enough for this post. I will be back later this week with some more life lessons and thoughts. But until that happens - "Time is wasting. Time is walking. It ain't no friend of mine. You don't know where I'm going. I think I'm out of my mind, thinking about time."
Don't let time get away from you, I am beginning to understand what people mean when they told me that I would blink and Morgan would be walking down the aisle. I know for sure I am not going to blink any time soon
On to catching up with my life. Over the past few weeks, Morgan has turned 5. Yeah, that says 5 - I cannot believe how quickly the past 5 years have gone. This is how life as changed since Morgan was born. I graduated from NOBTS, we moved to Covington, bought a house, started a full time ministry and then a part time ministry, was promoted from Shift supervisor to Assistant Manager to Store Manager at Starbucks. Janel has changed jobs twice (UNO to Cox to Poolcorp), we bought and paid for a car. Where has the time gone? I am so proud of her. Janel (as she is reading this) is saying to herself ,"really?" cause Morgan and I admittedly have a difficult relationship. We are the same person, and I bug the crap out of myself! We have all the same unsavory qualities (our unbreakable attention to the TV is the one that annoys Janel the most - there are times both Morgan and I will be standing in the middle of the living room glued to a commercial and Janel could push us over like she was cow tipping). But even though she can get on my nerves, and vice versa, Morgan is one of the most beautiful, loving, caring, intelligent, well spoken 5 year olds I have ever met.
Mothers day and Morgan's birthday were on the same day, and luckily Morgan choose to go to a Hibachi restaurant. She likes the fire volcano, but Maddie was not a fan and she let everyone know it. Overall it was a good day.
Janel has completed several more 5k races and is getting faster with each one. She is now at 60 pounds lost. I have started running again, and time is not a friend of mine. I use to run cross country in HS. I could complete a 5k in 21 mins, which is not great but okay. Now the only way I am completely and 5k in 21 minutes is if I start running at the start and then the ambulance will pick me up when I past out at the 1.5 mile mark. I am ssssllllloooooooowwwwlllllllyyyyy getting back into shape and running form. I have lost 22 pounds since the start of my journey of lifestyle change.
Well I think I unloaded enough for this post. I will be back later this week with some more life lessons and thoughts. But until that happens - "Time is wasting. Time is walking. It ain't no friend of mine. You don't know where I'm going. I think I'm out of my mind, thinking about time."
Don't let time get away from you, I am beginning to understand what people mean when they told me that I would blink and Morgan would be walking down the aisle. I know for sure I am not going to blink any time soon
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