Thursday, July 28, 2011

The "eyes" have it

Me-Crossed eyes...and all



While spending some time with my son tonight, we watched some items on "StumbleUpon"....an oh so dangerous site that I have stayed off of because I know I would lose myself in watching too many videos. One of the videos that came up was about a bionic eye. It took 3 PHDs 6 months to complete the plans. It has taken numerous years to build. As I watched it, all I could think was I was born with 2 somewhat damaged (crossed), but after some surgery, functioning eyes. Born with.....Created with. 

I don't want to get all preachy, but I remain amazed that there are people who refuse to believe or see proof of a creator. We don't have one functioning highway system without a roomful of planners and blueprints. The system is not built without many construction workers.

This is "just" an eye. One eye. Our whole body is an amazing system of veins and arteries, our own internal highway system that circulates blood. Our necks hold up the equivalent of a bowling ball on a few bones, muscles and joints that allow us to turn the head that contains a brain. A brain that has functioned as communication central and a computer before the technology for computers was invented. 

I mentioned the video to my husband and we googled "bionic eye". I didn't find the video, but I found this article and I like the way it is written.  Bionic eye -Scientific American I especially like the beginning about Charles Darwin and that he considered the eye one of the biggest challenges to his evolution theory. The article has a great quote and a link to some video of one of the surgery recipients. An eye is even more complex than I had even considered.

I guess that's why I'm writing this. I would like you to consider the wonder of your body and the design. There are parts that we have tried to duplicate and re-create. How do you re-create something if it wasn't created in the first place? Just another one of those things that makes me go hmmmmm.

Deuteronomy 4:32 (NIV) Ask now about the former days, long before your time, from the day God created human beings on the earth; ask from one end of the heavens to the other. Has anything so great as this ever happened, or has anything like it ever been heard of?

Psalm 139:13-14 (NIV) For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Sneaky?!?!?!


Sneaky!?!? Maybe not so much....IF you know what to look for:

1 Peter 5:7-9 (NIV) 7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. 8 Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings. 

It seems that it would be more than likely that if we saw or heard a roaring lion prowling around that we would pay attention. However, usually before the lion roars....he has been prowling around waiting for an opportune time to pounce.

I am finding in my own life that I blame an awful lot of stuff on myself, depression, family members and their attitudes and just life in general.  

How many of our daily battles are actually spiritual? If even Jesus could be tempted in the wilderness by the devil, why would we think that it would be any different for us mere mortals? It seems that as we try to move closer to God the more the devil stirs things up. We have been trying to make more efforts at family time and making sure we get to church. At the same time, we have had more rental problems than ever.

Have you ever got in an argument over something (in hindsight) that is really dumb? However, no matter how much you want to you just don't give in. People joke around about the "devil made me do it". That may not be the reason WHY we do it. Sometimes, though, doesn't it seem that circumstances will try and hold you back the more you try to move forward and follow through on what God is trying to get our attention for?

James 4:7-8 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you.

Resist has a couple of different meanings, but in this case I like this:  to withstand the force or effect of

The devil may be sneaky and can have some effect on us....or at least the circumstances. It is up to us to recognize the tricks for what they are and remember that ultimately God is in control, even when we feel like we're in control the least.

Friday, July 15, 2011

Excuse Me? Excuses, bleh.

I wrote the following the beginning of May. I am beginning (takes me awhile, I'm slow that way) to piece together why.

EXCUSES (5/1/11 KL)
Excuses -- I make them, I take them

I have let excuses keep me from getting to where I need to be.

I have let excuses keep me from doing things I need to have done.

Excuses help me procrastinate.

Excuse me, but NO MORE excuses!


I have lots of cool ideas. I'm sure a lot of us do. I have not acted on many of them. Some of the ideas I have acted on, I have done halfheartedly and did not finish....yet. Through psycho babble and current catch phrases I have deemed myself co-dependent. I find it easier (for lack of a better word) to deal with other people's issues than my own. If I focus on THEM, I don't have to deal with what I'm doing....or not doing. I have made their problems/issues more important than things I know I am supposed to be doing. I have made their "stuff" an excuse to not deal with my own.

SO....now that I've become so self aware (HA!) what does this mean from here? Honestly, I don't know. I guess the first step of recognizing the problem is always the hardest part. Can I fix it? (Bob the Builder says we can)  Some days I'm not so sure. I put it here to remind myself and whoever else that might need to hear it to start moving focus back up to God for help. I don't have to do it on my own. I don't have to make excuses for what I don't like about me. I can move on and up.....one step at a time. So can you. It's not only about the destination. We need to enjoy the journey too.

Exodus4:10-13 (NLT) 10 But Moses pleaded with the Lord, “O Lord, I’m not very good with words. I never have been, and I’m not now, even though you have spoken to me. I get tongue-tied, and my words get tangled.” 11 Then the Lord asked Moses, “Who makes a person’s mouth? Who decides whether people speak or do not speak, hear or do not hear, see or do not see? Is it not I, the Lord? 12 Now go! I will be with you as you speak, and I will instruct you in what to say.”
13 But Moses again pleaded, “Lord, please! Send anyone else.”

Romans 3:19-22 (NLT) Obviously, the law applies to those to whom it was given, for its purpose is to keep people from having excuses, and to show that the entire world is guilty before God. 20 For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are.
Christ Took Our Punishment 21 But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. 22 We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.

Sunday, July 10, 2011

CAUTION - Boundaries

Summer's here....and it's time for.....asphalt!  Not mine although it would be nice. Neighbor's driveways, parking lots, roads.  Now is the time to put it down and mark it off.  Yellow "caution" tape appears around the newly paved area(s) warning those who approach to not drive or walk on the area. 

The caution tape clearly marks the boundaries that should not be crossed....at least for awhile. Oh, if life could only be that easy. That people could see from quite a distance away when it might not be the best idea to approach or cross over into the blocked off area we might not be ready to deal with.

There are days I have surrounded myself with invisible (to everyone else) CAUTION tape.  Days I don't want to deal with anybody's "stuff".  Days I can't even deal with my own "stuff" and just want to keep myself wrapped up and keep myself in....and everybody else out.  Sometimes I need to remind myself that the boundaries are there for my protection as well as someone on the other side of the tape. Sometimes just a reminder that I need to slow down before I go out or let something in.

There are days I'm sure my family has their caution tape up....and I barge on in anyway.

At crime scenes, there is often "police line - do not cross" tape. Usually this is to keep the evidence uncontaminated and keep the clues in.

Whether we are in the taped area or outside of it, there is a time for caution and boundaries that need to be marked off and made clear.  Both for our safety and those we care about.

http://www.cloudtownsend.com/ (Info on Boundaries books)

So ever since we fist heard about you we have kept on praying and asking God to help you understand what He wants you to do; asking Him to make you wise about spiritual things; and asking that the way you live will always please the Lord and honor Him, so that you will always be doing good, kind things for others, while all the time you are learning to know God better and better, We are praying, too, that you will be filled with His mighty, glorious strength so that you can keep going no matter what happens -- always full of the joy of the Lord, and always thankful to the Father who has made us fit to share all the wonderful things that belong to those who live in the Kingdom of light. Colossians 1: 9-12TLB

Wednesday, July 06, 2011

Getting in the Ring

Without trying to state the obvious....parenting is HARD WORK!!!!  On the day we found out we would have a baby or adopt a child into our family, did we ever dream that our sweet little ones would EVER be anything other than angels? We never dreamed that there would be a day that we did not love them.

Even now as they grow up more than likely we give them the benefit of the doubt....at least at first. On those challenging days (or as we used to refer to them "oops, sorry!" days), we still LOVE them. However, if we are really honest, we may not like them at that moment. They probably feel the same about us!

Sometimes there are days - especially with strong-willed kids that seems like everything, every....little....thing is a battle that they think needs to be fought and won. A very wise person once said "pick your battles".  Love and Logic teaches give a kid 2 choices that you can live with (ex. Do you want to wear or carry your coat?). Love and Logic is a great parenting tool....when I remember to use it! 

On the days I am not at my parenting best, I feel like a boxer getting in the ring. One of us is going down for the count. However, the more I think about it....our kids and us parents are on the same team. We want the same thing: for them to grow up responsible and safe. We may have different ways to get to the same thing. We think we are showing them we care. They think we are overprotective. Different fighters may get in the ring with us and need to be fought: drugs, alcohol, disrespect, bad decisions, etc.

As the world and time seem to move faster and things increasingly change through technology, it seems the "ring" is ever widening. The world is out to get kids hooked earlier and earlier through advertising and TV. If we want it, buy it...on credit....and get reward points. That it truly doesn't matter what you listen to or watch or spend your time and money on. That God may (or may not) exist. That we don't need to worry about eternity. If it feels good, do it.

Whatever is in your ring today, keep fighting the good fight. Ding, ding. Go to your corner. Refresh, renew, know that you are not fighting alone and kick whatever you both are fighting out of the ring. Our kids are worth the battle(s)!

Psalm 18:32-40 (NIV) It is God who arms me with strength and keeps my way secure. He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he causes me to stand on the heights. He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You make your saving help my shield, and your right hand sustains me; your help has made me great. You provide a broad path for my feet, so that my ankles do not give way. I pursued my enemies and overtook them; I did not turn back till they were destroyed. I crushed them so that they could not rise; they fell beneath my feet. You armed me with strength for battle; you humbled my adversaries before me. You made my enemies turn their backs in flight, and I destroyed my foes.

Tuesday, July 05, 2011

Running on Empty

Frequently (even more so lately) THIS is what my gas gauge looks like. Some/most is due to the fluctuating (mostly UP) gas prices.  Some is just I haven't gotten around to making time to stop by the gas station. Either way, I am hedging my bets that I will have enough gas to get me where I need to go.

So the day I took this picture was one of those "I'll make it to the next gas station and then stop" kind of days. The thing is though I made it past numerous gas stations.....and didn't stop.  I'd pass one and then think, "I'm fine I'll just make it to the next one". All that time though I was worrying that I would run out of gas and take even more time than just stopping and getting some.

I think the fact that the speedometer is right next to the gas gauge is interesting.  It shows the van COULD go up to 100 miles/hr. However, if there is no gas in the tank, it doesn't matter how fast you COULD go. You will not be going anywhere.

Lately, I have felt like I'm not sure which end is up. Things stay busy and chaotic. This weekend we got a lot done, but we did much better at working together.  When one of us was starting to run down, the other would remind us of the goal. We avoided empty.....this time.

I am blessed to live in an area that has numerous churches in each town.  In some cases, probably more churches than gas stations. Similar to my gas gauge, there are days when I am closing in on the big E(mpty) yet I continue to keep pressing on seeing how far I can push it.  In the meantime, my time with God has dwindled. My Bible stays closed on a shelf. I stay home on Sunday instead of pulling into church - my refueling station.

We all have a choice to make. We can continue through life constantly on empty and never being sure when we will totally run out and worrying about it the whole time. OR we can make an effort to know when and where to refuel and make sure we avoid running on empty.

11 Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. 12 I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. 13 For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.  Philippians 4:11-13 (NLT)