Matthew 25:14-30

For the past few weeks, our pastor has been preaching on parables that hold practical real-life applications. The one from last week was especially great for me. The text is Matthew 25:14-30, which is the parable of the loaned money. I read this in the footnotes of my bible:

The master divided the money (talents) among his servants according to their abilities. No one received more or less than he could handle. If he failed in his assignment, his excuse could not be that he was overwhelmed. Failure could only come from laziness or hatred toward the master. The talents represent any kind of resource we are given. God gives us time, gifts, and other resources according to our abilities, and he expects us to invest them wisely until He returns. We are responsible to use well what God has given us. The issue is not how much we have, but how well we use what we have.

The part that stuck out the most about this sermon was the fact that we don't have any excuses. God gives us things according to what we can handle. If we don't do whatever it is He's given us to do, it's our own fault and that failure comes out of laziness or hatred. I don't like the thought of hating God, (because I don't!!) but I guess that's what it seems like when I fail at what He's given me to do. That gives me an extra push every time I think about a task or ability He's given me. I need to fulfill that assignment, whatever it is, or invest my time and gifts wisely for His kingdom.

I love the last line from my footnote. It doesn't matter what or how much I have, what matters is how well I use it.

No Rest for the Weary

The title of this post sure is the story of my life recently. This time last year I wasn't nearly as stressed or exhausted as I am now. Not only am I never sitting still at school, where I am the UIL Coordinator and also the Assistant Director for our One Act Play, (and while I love both of those jobs and the things that come with them, I have run myself into the ground in the last 3 weeks), but I hardly sit down at home as well. There's just always one more thing I need to do. And I've developed sinus congestion (thanks to our ever-changing weather) as well as an exhausted body.

I took the UIL kids to a practice meet this past Saturday (which required me to get up at 4:30 that morning) and we are now having play rehearsal 3 nights a week--Sundays, Mondays and Thursdays--for 3 hours at a time. Also, we go to church on Wednesdays. Needless to say, I need as much rest and rejuvenating as I can get on the few nights a week I get to relax.

While I am trying to go to bed a little earlier each night to help myself physically, I found myself needing some spiritual encouragement and reinforcement. Before I even opened my bible tonight, I found myself singing "Everlasting God." The first line of that song is "Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord." How perfect was that, that God put that song in my head? While I can do everything I can to help my body rest, I need to put my faith in Him and wait for Him to strengthen me from the inside out.

In this post, I mainly wanted to share these verses from Isaiah 40 because they are now my mantra. I will repeat them to myself whenever I am feeling the least bit stressed or tired and remind myself that God is bigger than me and my tired body.

"The Lord is the everlasting God...He gives strength to the weary...Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." ~Isaiah 40:28,29,31

The Inaugural Blog

Well, here it is. My first blog. I've been wanting to create a blog for some time now, but several things had stopped me.

1. I wondered what on earth I would write about. My life isn't extraordinarily exciting; I don't have children (yet) and although my career is never boring, it's not something I would want to have a blog about.
2. I wondered who on earth would read it. Who would care about what I had to say on whatever subject I decided to pick (besides my mom)? (Hi, Mom. Love you.)

3. I wondered what my true motivation was. Why did I really want to have a blog? Would it be a place for me to vent? A place to debate? A place to pray? A place to write down my hopes and dreams?

Well, all those wonderings have been silenced and here I am. If you're confused by the title, don't worry.
Here's my story:

Last weekend, Blake and I traveled to San Angelo to be leaders at Refuge Weekend at Paul Ann Baptist Church. (Refuge Weekend is what they call a Disciple Now.) Blake knows Jeff, the youth minister, because Jeff was Blake's youth minister when Blake was growing up in Seminole. Our purpose for going was to each have a small group of students and lead them through a curriculum starting Friday night and ending at Sunday morning worship. I thought I was going to light a fire under the girls who were in my group but it turned out that God lit a fire in me. I truly hope and pray that what I said during our sessions was effective to these girls and that it made sense because at times I was convicted by what I was saying to them as I was saying it. I was supposed to be "teaching" and "guiding" them, but really, what I was saying in those sessions was what God had just said to me. I was the one who was being taught and guided.I was especially convicted on Saturday night.

At worship on Saturday night, a man by the name of Ryan Dalgliesh spoke to us, all 280 students plus 24 leaders. Those of you who were there know how powerful this simple illustration was and how it spoke to your own heart. He told the story of Nicander's Pickles. Nicander was a Greek physician who lived way before Jesus and he had a recipe for making pickles. First you have to know that Ryan was talking about reading the Word on a daily basis and living by what it says. He said that we have to be immersed in the Bible in order for it to be effective in our lives. Then he told us about two words: "Bapto" & "Baptizo." "Bapto" means to dip or wash. "Baptizo" means to immerse. We can't just dip our lives into the Bible and expect it to make any difference. We have to completely immerse ourselves so that it's the most important thing in our walk with the Lord.

Anyway, back to the pickles.

Nicander's recipe for making pickles:

1. Bapto the cucumber in boiling water.

2. Baptizo the cucumber in vinegar.

If you refer the the definitions above, you see that while both directions involve putting the cucumber in a liquid, the first is only temporary. The second, the act of immersing (baptizing) the cucumber in the vinegar, produces a permanent change. Once a cucumber has been changed into a pickle, you can't change it back. The character of the vegetable has been so altered that it can't ever go back to being a cucumber.

I want to be a pickle. I don't want to just temporarily dip my life into the Word. I want to immerse myself so that I am altered to such a degree that my human, sinful nature falls completely away. I know that I will never actually achieve being a pickle here on earth. Only in the presence of the Lord, when He comes back or when I'm called home, will I truly be transformed out of my sinful nature forever. My goal is to strive to stay in the Word on a daily basis and do my absolute best to be a shining example of Christ. That's what this blog is for me. A place for me to write down what I've learned from scripture. I want to grow in my walk with the Lord and I want to hear your thoughts along the way. Please feel free to leave comments. What I write probably won't be anything extraordinarily profound or deep, but I feel like I've been led to do it. My goal isn't to preach to people or show off how much I know (or am learning). I simply want to read the Word and write down what I learn and I feel like this blog will help me do that. I want to immerse myself in God's Word and apply it to my life.

I want to stay in the pickle jar.