WHY and HOW

This morning I started reading 2 Chronicles in my quiet time. For the past 20 or so years, I have read thru the Bible every year. I don't start in Genesis and end with Revelation. I usually start with the Psalms or maybe Genesis and then just go from there.

Its also the time of the year when I spend a LONG time (long because I am still doing it) looking for verses to pray for each family member for a year. There are years when I won't stop looking for the verses until I have all of us covered. Or there are years like this one, when I have so many books of the Bible left to read by December, that I keep reading and keep looking for the verses as the days wear on.

Then, I sometimes hurry thru the books of the Bible because either : 1) there are alot of names that mean nothing to me (altho I know they mean something to God or they wouldn't be there!) or 2) I still have alot of books to read.
Today was one of those days. And after reading 1 and 2 Samuel and 1 Kings and 2 Kings and 1 Chronicles, I feel like I know the story to some degree.

This morning I encountered a King of Judah named Asa.
In 2 Chronicles 14 it says: " Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the LORD his God"
And in chapter 15 it adds: "Asa's heart was fully committed to the LORD all his life".

Isn't that what we would like to be said of us? That we were fully committed to the LORD all our lives? That we did what was right and good in the eyes of God?? That is my heart's desire, it really is. I know I blow it -probably alot, but my desire doesn't waiver-just my stubborn selfish self waivers.

Asa throughout most of his reign as king, continually sought the LORD and relied on God's direction and obeyed His leading. And then comes chapter 16 and Asa starts to falter. He becomes scared for some reason of the King of Aram. And Asa forms an alliance with him so that they will not war with each other. He has never done this before and its as if he has a brain freeze. Asa seems to have forgotten how the LORD has fought his battles (and his wars) and provided him with victory. Asa always went to the LORD first, up until now. And then as his life nears its end and he becomes sick with a severe disease, he first consults physicians, and never sought help from the LORD.

I know you may be questioning my logic here. Aren't we supposed to go to physicians when we are sick? Yes of course. But if you have spent your life going to the LORD first, why would you change it when you probably need Him most??

This caused me to really wonder and ponder this morning.
WHY do we not go to God first?
WHY does this happen? Especially to people who have followed Christ so closely throughout their lives? Why would we go to others before Jesus??
Yes they are "physically" there, but can they uphold us, strengthen us, encourage us like the ONE who created us? I think not.
HOW does this happen?

Albeit very slowly. Little by little we become "too busy".
Too busy to take the time to spend with the LORD.
Too busy because work is so busy.
Too busy to go to the bible study we have been going to.
Too busy to hang out with fellow followers of Christ because we have too much to do.
Too busy to go to church. Because we were out too late the night before or we don't feel well or we can't find a church that we like. We have alot of reasons.

HOW it happens is that we let "life" get in the way of us seeking OUR LORD.
Busyness is really a tool of God's enemy.
Satan would do anything to get us to slip gradually away from God.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't let the lies and schemes and offers of better things from the enemy get you off track with Jesus.
MAKE THE TIME to be with Jesus.
GO to church-even if its not the "perfect" church-none of them are.
GO to your bible study or small group.
GO be with other believers.

And if you don't have friends that follow Jesus, ask HIM to bring you them.
Check out bible studies at your church or small groups.
If you don't have a church body to fellowship and worship at, ask God to help you find one and THEN GO.

NOTHING is more important than your relationship with Christ. NOTHING.




2 Chronicles 16:9 says:
"For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him".

Don't let life and whatever is going on with you keep you from being committed to the LORD. This verse above promises us that He will strengthen us for whatever we are going thru.

BUSY BUSY BUSY!!

I am on a frantic, frentic pace this week. I have been writing devotionals, packing, cleaning and making lists all prior to my departure Thursday for Lost Canyon. I will be gone 3 weeks as the Women's Summer Staff Coordinator. So I feel like life is just going by so fast.
Yet, I had the wonderful time remembering yesterday how just one year ago we witnessed the marriage of Katie to Nate. Our yard has never looked better than it did that magical night. We had lights twinkling throughout our yard. We danced under the stars and tried to keep warm (dancing and drinking wine helped me!!). But it was such the perfect evening to celebrate the newlywed Bruce's.
I am grateful to have the time to reflect on that.
This past weekend, we had the enormous pleasure and fun of watching our two grandsons.
What absolute joy they bring Scud and me. Kellen who is 3 was in little boy heaven. He played baseball literally for hours pretending he was Cody Ross and Buster Posey and Freddy Sanchez and Miguel Tejada. I seriously loved watching him. He truly has the potential, according to his uncle Todd, of being the biggest Giants fan ever.
Our dog, Cody, loves to chase and find lizards. Well one unfortunate little lizard tried to hide under a big rock. No obstacle for Cody...she just dug and dug and dug to get under that rock to catch the lizard. The best part for Kellen was that the dirt was red. Just like the infield of any given ballpark. So in order to truly be a baseball player, you must slide and get dirty. And slide he did. Over and over and over again. "Now I really look like a baseball player Grammy". I was a bit concerned that the red dirt wouldn't come out and would face the chagrin of his mother, but it did. Well, except for his socks. For some reason, red dirt never gets out of the socks, no matter how much bleach I use!!

And if he wasn't playing baseball, he was hiking around our yard. He took Gramps on a trail-going thru bushes and discovering all sorts of things. Grammy and Gramps' house is really an oasis for little boys.
And then there was Jax, who is 10 months old now and fast. Did i say FAST? Because if I turn around for just a second, he has moved so far out of my vison that its truly a sight to see. He is the happiest little guy. Not much bothers him-except if he sees his bottle or his food, he wants it NOW and lets you know in no certain terms. Oh how I love these little guys that I am blessed to be their Grammy. What a marvelous, wonderful amazing thing grandchildren are.

I do know why we have children while we are younger tho. These little guys keep me hopping. I am just as tired as they are at the end of the day. Kellen and Jax are non-stop busy and I get such joy watching them.
As I mentioned earlier, I too, have been extremely busy. Often when we get busy, we can tend to overlook the things that are truly important to us. Like spending time with Jesus. I have learned in my almost 40 years of walking thru this life journey with Christ, that the busier I am, the MORE I need to spend time with HIM. I need to get His perspective, I need to hear His Words. I need to be calmed by the promises of Scripture.
Yes I am busy. Yes I am tired and feeling a bit depleted. But oh how I need to find rest from my weary soul..and Jesus promises He will be all I need...if I just show up. I hope I am never too busy to be with Jesus. I need Him desperately. I suppose you do too.

DEHYDRATION

I take my dogs on walks often. Living in the mountains provides trails and jaunts thru unparralled beauty. But Cody and Riley don't see the beauty. They feel the freedom to run and explore; to sniff to their noses content. To try and figure out what kind of animal has been on this particular trail. To go in and out of bushes and water.
Cody is a yellow lab with the personality of "let me enjoy life to the fullest". She is exuberant and can't contain her excitement when I mention the work "walk". Cody literally jumps up to six feet high trying to get me to go faster to our gate. Faster to her freedom.
Riley, my sweet black lab tries to calm the younger Cody down- tackling her as she tries to what seems to Riley-attacking me.
I love our walks. The dogs love to roam and run to and fro all over the place. I am sure that Cody runs 2-3 times more than I walk.
When we get home, both dogs race to the water bowl. Completely dehydrated from the running and roaming that had ensued. I usually have to replace the water bowl immediately as they drink and try to hydrate their cute little lab bodies.

Have you ever been dehydrated? when you are so thirsty that all you want to do is drink glass after glass of water. To quench that extreme thirst you are experiencing.
And our bodies let us know when we don't get enough water.
Our friend Will found out what it was like to be dehydrated this morning.
Will is an athlete. He plays college soccer and is what i consider to be in excellent shape.
But will didn't know how thirsty his thin framed body was today. He told his friends at coffee that he felt a bit weak or faint or maybe his blood sugar was low. He went to get something to eat and then while talking to his friends, turned his head, fell off his chair and then began seizing. Will was rushed to the hospital and after a few hours of tests that included labs, EEG's and a CT scan of his brain, it was determined that he was severely dehydrated.
I mean we are talking severely dehydrated. 2 liters of IV fluids later, they discharged him home to get rest.
Why did Will not know he was so dehydrated? Did he miss the signals? His body certainly didn't.
WE NEED WATER to survive. 80% of our body is water, so YES, we do need to drink 6-8 glasses of water everyday to keep us hydrated.
I for one, don't want to scare my friends with a seizure, because I didn't know I wasn't drinking enough to keep my body flowing fluidly.
And then as I drove home from the hospital and was thinking about dehydration, I wondered how easy it is for us to be spiritually dehydrated and depleted.
When we don't get enough of our intake of GOD. When we let the busyness of life keep us from being replenished spiritually. And then how easy it becomes for God's enemy to come and tempt us with the lies he always does. And then we start believing them. And life begins to unravel, and we wonder what has gone wrong.
WE desperately need to hear from God. Most of us don't hear the voice of God audibly. But God does speak to us-in His Word. And we need to hear from Him each day. To get His perspective. To receive His guidance. To know His peace. To see how faithful and loving He is to us.

Psalm 42:1-2 says:
As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.

For a deer to pant for water, it has been running and is probably dehydrated.
That's how we are to be : panting after God. Panting to get hydrated. Panting to stay hydrated. So that we can escape dehydration and not let satan throw us into spiritual seizures.
Drink your fill of the Word of God. Allow your spirit to hear His. Allow God to fill you up with every type of food and fluid you need to survive.
Your life literally depends on it.