Getting Ahead

This morning, I was giving Drummer Boy his spelling test.

He had just finished telling me all the words on the list.

"See, Mom?" he said proudly. "I know them already. I'm not going to forget. They're up there in my noggin."

I gathered the study materials and began to read out the words to him.

"No, Mom, I wrote those already," he pronounced, firing off at light speed the words he had written down in the 25 seconds it had taken me to start the test.

As you can see, all the words were correct. But the format lacked any form at all.

I made him do it over, and this time, numbered and dated with his name.

(And he had to wait for me to give him the words.)

You know where this is going, right?

If I had just let him do it the way he wanted, it wouldn't have been acceptable as evidence of our homeschool method of testing--to any official from the Department of Education. It was just a bunch of words jumbled together.

God reminded me this morning that when I get ahead of Him, even if I know the plan, the words to say, the song to sing, the person needing help, if it's not according to His pattern, His format, it's not done right.

No one else will be able to look at what I'm doing and "get" what it's about. All the right words and actions will be there, but if it's not done in an orderly fashion, waiting on God for the next step, it will not last beyond me. It will die with me, because I'm the only one who understands it.

Then the LORD answered me and said:
“ Write the vision
And make it plain on tablets,
That he may run who reads it.
For the vision is yet for an appointed time;
But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie.
Though it tarries, wait for it;
Because it will surely come,
It will not tarry."

(Habakkuk 2:2-3)

This Made Me Stop And Think.

Yesterday, we were visiting a church in Shreveport, New Creation Family Church. The pastors are dear friends, Bishop Shaun and Teresa Cooper.

It was good to reconnect, and share what God has been doing in us, and through us.

I sang during the morning service, a song God gave me for their church.

Then Pastor Shaun spoke. Wow.

Biker Man and I kept looking at each other in amazement and conviction.

The one point I will share here was from Revelation 3:20.

"Behold I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me."

I've heard this scripture since I was a little girl. I could quote it to you, and tell you it's about Jesus wanting to come into the sinner's heart and forgive sins, and be Lord of your life.

But the Bishop gave a different spin on it.

This verse is right after the warning to the church of Laodecia. The lukewarm church. Jesus doesn't know where they are. He can't locate them, they aren't hot for Him, or cold. They make Him sick, completely taken over by the apostacy and apathy of this age.

But Jesus stands at the door and knocks.

Bishop Cooper said, "Your prayer life isn't out of a desire for Him anymore. It's become one of duty. So you give Him time in your car, or when you get to church. It's not the passion it once was. See, Jesus went to the store to get more bread. When He got back, He was locked out. Locked out of His own home. And you have all your friends there, sitting at the table, throwing a party. Yelling at the kids. In the back yard bar-b-que-ing. Running the vacuum to clean before you let Him back in. But He's God. He already knows the house is dirty. Remember when you couldn't wait to get home and spend time alone in worship with Him? When you couldn't wait to get up and get lost in prayer with Him?"

This quote blew me away.

Poor prayer life = Poor perspective.

My prayer life determines how I view everything else. How I handle my day. The love I give, whether it's tempered by cynicism or sincerity. And I won't even know if I'm listening to the voice of God if I'm not hearing His voice in the Secret Place.

Guy On A Buffalo

Biker Man showed this to me.

It's my new favorite video.

Don't ever mess with a guy on a buffalo.

Just saying.

Quotes On Worship

"The highest form of worship is the worship of unselfish Christian service."

~ Billy Graham

"Worship changes the worshiper into the image of the One worshiped."
~ Jack Hayford

"It is in the process of being worshipped that God communicates His presence to men."

~ C.S. Lewis

“I wish to get back to worship again. Then, when people come into the church they will instantly sense that they have come among holy people, God’s people. They can testify, ‘Of a truth God is in this place.’"

~ A. W. Tozer

A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word, 'darkness' on the walls of his cell."

~ C.S. Lewis

"When I'm praying the most eloquently, I am getting the least accomplished in my prayer life. But when I stop getting eloquent and give God less theology and shut up and just gaze upward and wait for God to speak to my heart, He speaks with such power that I have to grab a pencil and a notebook and take notes on what God is saying to my heart."

~ A.W. Tozer

"A glimpse of God will save you. To gaze at Him will sanctify you."
~ Manley Beasley

"A true love of God must begin with a delight in his holiness."

~ Jonathan Edwards

"Whenever the method of worship becomes more important than the Person of worship, we have already prostituted our worship. There are entire congregations who worship praise and praise worship but who have not yet learned to praise and worship God in Jesus Christ."

~ Judson Cornwall

"Worship is giving God the best that He has given you.

Be careful what you do with the best you have."

~ Oswald Chambers

Two And A Half Weeks Later

I know, I know.

I have been gone from the blog world for over two weeks.

Again, living life with no time to blog about it.

That's a good thing. For me, anyway.

We have commenced school, Master's Commission (XMC),

and getting back into the flow at Crossroads.

So much has been happening, but the BIG news on the home front is:

We are launching a full-time ministry!

I will devote an entire post to this later on.

Most recently, Drummer Boy lost another tooth.

Here is the video I did of this monumental occasion.

(Disclaimer: Drummer Boy's method for tooth-pulling was not my first choice. It was something he had heard about and wanted to try. Could not talk him out of it.)