The One Where I Use Socks

Written in my iPhone while camping. 

So yesterday I read another article about Phil Robertson preaching on I Corinthians 6.  Sigh 😞 

Yes I agree this is in the bible. Yes I agree with Paul. I'm not offended by the bible or that particular passage.   I have a biblical world view. I believe Jesus is the Son of God, came into the world as a human, lived as a human among the lost & broken, performed miracles, healed the sick, raised the dead, drank of the cup (he prayed to have taken from him), sweat blood, was sold out for 30 peices of silver, beaten, bruised, crucified, sin of the world on him, buried in a borrowed tomb, rose from the dead by the power of God three days later! 

Appeared to the disciples and then 500, and then thousands.  Ascended to heaven where He sits at the right hand of the Father and interceeds for us. 

This is the Jesus I know. This is the grace that draws me to Him. This is the heart of Christ for the world. 

So when I hear Mr. Robertson and others condemning entire groups of society, I take offense.  And have grown tired of the constant finger pointing. 

If you feel that homosexuals are sinning, living in sin, outside of the church, how do you also consider them brothers? 

To me it seems like some want it both ways.  

1. Outside the church, in the world, not under 'the church' 'Christian moral code, values'.  Therefore outside of the 'if your brother sins against you' 'if your brother is in sin confront him'  OR 

2. Inside the church. Like the Corinthians, who that letter was written to.  To the Church at Corinth.  People who are saved & sanctified.  Covered under grace. 

And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6:11 ESV)

I'm not quoting the scriptures for the above, I'm on my phone, I don't know the exact verses off the top of my head... Maybe that means I'm not saved. (Cue the sarcasm) 

So if it's 1.  These people are outside the jurisdiction of the church, of the moral code, values.  Their life is honestly none of your business. They are not your brother, they are your neighbor. 

And if it's 2.  They are saved by grace. Should their sin be confronted? Yes. And so should they confront yours. In person, with love, with another brother. With compassion. Treating you the same way they would want to be treated.  How do you respond to finger wagging & accusation?  

Me? Not so well.

It's outside of my scope and ability to convict. That's the job of the Holy Spirit. 

I can trust Jesus to go into the temple with a whip & turn over the tables & not damage the people involved. Me, not so much.  

And with that I say: put a sock in all this us & them mentality!  

As well as, back to camping & fishing & hiking & family. Much less technology & tweeting. Unless it's pictures!! :) 

The One Where I {link up) for Five Minute Friday - Grateful

If you've heard me say it once  you've heard me say it forty times: #1000gifts.

Take the joy dare. 

Slow down to see the miracles. Because there's a little something special in every day.

I've written my three things sporadically over the past eight months, started on my birthday.  At first I wrote them faithfully, but then I didn't do it as often.  But I do it.  Every month is new I start up again.  :)

Here is a spattering of my #1000gifts

1. Life
2. Birthdays
3. Health
4. Pumpkin Lattes
5. Cake
6. Rain
7. End of Summer
8. Dishes
9. Laundry
10. Ezra 4

100. Fire
101. Burning Desire
102. Burned Dinner
103. Burning Bush
104. Sun
105. Muscles
106. Shared
107. Saved
108. Surrendered
109. Sweet Sweat
110. Leave It On The Pavement
I stopped counting in my journal and began on Instagram.  I really need to go back to the journal....

Three Things Hard:
Trust
Submission
Acceptance

Three Things Rising Up:
1. The sun with new mercy
2. The sun with new mercy
3. The sun with new mercy

Three gifts Stacked, Stashed, Stilled:
1. Dishes put away by the teenager
2. Chocolate
3. Quiet house in the morning... to go with my coffee

It's hard for me be to grateful, it really is.  Isn't that the jest of the garden.... of original sin..... ingratitude.  I'm ungrateful, for the smallest things... for the people around me who I love and adore (but they get on my nerves),  the fridge full of food (yet I can't find anything to eat), the music blasting on my stereo (and with Sirius XM, there's nothing good to listen to).

Todays Prompt Is: Three Gifts In The Dark

1. Sleep.  Must.Have.More! Yet grateful for good night's sleep!
2. RRC Track Workout.  I get up at 4AM to run in the dark on Tuesday.  I'm grateful for my running club that offers this kind of workout for my very low membership fee!
3. Stars.  You can't see stars unless it's dark.  There's beauty in that, both when you're looking and the stars and when it's dark in your life.  Look to the Morning Star! 

I've got to get better:  In counting my blessings. (and I don't mean stuff)In getting to 1000 gifts.  In slowing down to see the miracle.  So many things can go wrong in the course of a day, a week, a month... a life....  So many things that really in the scheme of things don't really matter.  What I was upset about last month, who can remember?  What about last year at this time?  Who knows? 

It's time to slow down to see the miracle, choose joy, pass joy onto others, teach our children to live with gratitude, not entitlement.  It starts with us.  It starts with me, the ungrateful.