Snow

It happened! I knew it would. It was only a matter of time. Global warming??? I'm not so sure. You guessed it, I had to break out the snow shovel for the first time this season. December 1st and I'm out there in the dark shoveling the driveway.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining. I have lived most of my life in the snow belt. When I lived in California, I found myself driving to the snow. I don't think that I have ever gone an entire year without snow.

I can hear some of you now. You could go an entire LIFETIME without snow!

Perhaps. But think about this.

White as Snow
Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though
your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like
crimson, they shall be as wool.If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the
good of the land:But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the
sword: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.
-- Isaiah 1: 18-20 (KJV)

Sometimes we need a little reminder. A reminder of our potential... We are all sinners. But the scripture tells us that our sins can be made "white as snow". How? By being "willing and obedient." We need to be willing to let God work in our lives. And we need to be obedient to his Word. If we don't know is Word, can we possibly be obedient to it? Have you read your Bible today? Have you read it this week? How about this year?

As we kick off the Christmas season, I would challenge you to "get in the Word!" Allow God to make you and your sin, "white as snow." If you need some help, let me point you to some resources that might help you. Willow Creek Community Church has prepared a devotional calendar for the 25 days leading up to Christmas. Here is the calendar, http://prepare.willowcreek.org/calendar.aspx and details on the whole Prepare experience are here, http://prepare.willowcreek.org/ .

If you chose to participate, let me know how it goes for you.

Smile

Thanksgiving has come and gone. I hope that each and everyone of you had an incredible list of things to be Thankful for!

A friend of mine posted this link on his blog. He found it on another. The video is about 15 minutes long, but I would really encourage you to make the time to watch it.

Smile!

Thanksgiving

Thankful, I am. I have been blessed with many things and in many areas this past year and for each I am thankful. I had given some thought to preparing a list, and I probably should have, but I'm afraid that I did not. So I will mention the obvious.

My family is truly a blessing. They tolerate me when I am otherwise intolerable. They encourage me when I feel defeated and they Love me unconditionally. I can't imagine what my life would be like without any one of them.

God has blessed me financially. As I try to focus my efforts on growing my business into the organization that I want it to be, He has been faithful in meeting our needs, and more. On paper, this year will be one of the lowest income years that I have had in decades, but through it all, I have lacked nothing. God has met us where we are and has provided through his bounty. In times such as this, I would wish this blessing upon Everyone.

We have been healthy. My immediate family has been blessed with good health this past year. Aging is beginning to take its toll on Karen and I, but nothing out of the ordinary. I'm sure that our day will come, but when it does, God will be there to sustain us. For today, blessed we are!

I suppose that I could go on.... and on. But I won't. I will close in announcing that a family tradition is in transition. As a child, we always celebrated Thanksgiving at my Grandparents (on my mother's side). When she was unable to do that any longer, my mother assumed that responsibility. The baton is now being passed. My parents are both well, (a blessing in itself) but the logistics just make it practical for Karen and I to host Thanksgiving for the foreseeable future. We are already nearly a day into the full holiday weekend and we collectively have many reasons to give THANKS!

Blessings to ALL any may you be THANKFUL as well!

Shame

Last night, I found myself confronting the SHAME of another. I would like to say that I consoled the person, and in fact, that was my initial reaction.

The sin was confessed in such a sudden, unexpected fashion, that I was totally surprised! Completely caught off guard, my initial reaction was... "Oh, that's OK." and "You didn't have to tell me that." Neither of which were very appropriate, especially for the circumstances.

I momentarily removed myself from the situation to gather my thoughts. I won't elaborate on the nature of the sin that was causing the shame, but will say that is was one that is common and often times minimize, especially in our culture. But SIN is SIN and this person was suffering the consequences.

Once I had a chance to think about how I should "speak the Truth in Love" I went back to my friend and asked if I could speak to them. I explained that what they had done was NOT OK. However, what they had done was a sin against God, not me. I reminded them that they would need to repent. Repentance is the only remedy that I know for shame.

I also praised them for having the courage to confess their sin to another. The Bible tells us to do that, but often times we only do so in a obligatory manner or only when confronted by another. As I said earlier, this came completely out of no where. They chose to expose sin that I would have never suspected. For that I admire my friend.

I guess that their unsolicited confession speaks to the true effect of Shame. No one would accuse my friend of being jaded, callous or hard. Shame was truly a burden for them. A burden that they were not prepared to bear. I believe that they were desperate to remove that burden and I happened to be a safe person to engage in that process.

There is one last thing that I want to touch upon in this posting. Learning from others can be such a tremendous gift. Sometimes we can avoid certain pain and sorrow, if we just take the time of observe the misfortune of others and chose to behave or react differently than them.

For the past year I have been in Rick Renner's Sparkling Gems From The Greek: 365 Greek Word Studies For Every Day Of The Year To Sharpen Your Understanding Of God's Word as my daily devotional. The prayer at the end of today's passage says "Help me live a life that is holy - one that pleases You and for which I will not be ashamed when You suddenly appear to gather the Church to Yourself." That reminds me that I too have Shame. Its points out that I need His HELP to live a life that is holy. How about you?

I found a link to today's devotional here.

...maybe even a little bit of sex

My son was appalled when he first read the header for this blog. I assured him that any discussions of sex would be appropriate and respectful. I never really had a topic in mind, but something has been bothering me for a while, so I guess now is the time...

Tyra Banks Sex Survey Have you heard about it? Did you read any of the findings?

"On average, girls lose virginity at 15; some are having sex at school" According to Laura T. Coffey, TODAYShow.com contributor:

Parents, brace yourselves: The survey results are in, and you may not like
what they reveal about girls and sex.
More than 10,000 teenage girls and
young women took part in an anonymous survey over the summer on TyraShow.com,
the Web site of “The Tyra Banks Show.” Survey questions focused on sexuality,
sexually transmitted diseases and teen pregnancy, as well as drinking, drugs and
violence among females. Here are some findings from the survey:
On average,
girls are losing their virginity at 15 years of age.
14 percent of teens who
are having sex say they’re doing it at school.
52 percent of survey
respondents say they do not use protection when having sex.
One in three
says she fears having a sexually transmitted disease.
24 percent of teens
with STDs say they still have unprotected sex.
One in five girls says she
wants to be a teen mom.
About 50 percent acknowledge that they’ve hit
someone.
One out of three teens has tried drugs.

Does that bother anyone besides me? If you haven't read any of the buzz, here are a couple of links that you should check out.
Can Tyra Banks Be Sex Education´s Spokesperson?
The Young and The Unprotected
I'd be really interested in your comments.