That title is just because I don’t know what I’m going to write about yet. I thought I could easily write something every day on my blog. Come on, the most exciting things happen to me everyday–I change 5 diapers a day, play with Dora the Explorer’s car, stack and sort all the Disney Fairies, make breakfast, lunch and dinner for a one year old all without a shower or a coffee break. I should have interesting stories coming out my ears!
And I do. I just can’t think of any of them today.
This morning, I was the guest speaker at an Upward Basketball game’s halftime. I’m sure I’m making it sound more exciting than it is…but still I got to speak in front of about 20 people!! If you don’t know or haven’t seen the magnets on every SUV, Upward is a sports program (they actually do cheerleading, soccer and more) for churches to use. It’s really professional and cool. And during halftime they have guests do a devotion. So, that was me at the 10&11 o’clock games! Below is the article I shared with them today. Hope you enjoy.
I love macaroni and cheese. Well, really, I love boxed macaroni and cheese. I could eat a whole box by myself and do so on a regular basis! It’s so easy, you just throw some water and the macaroni in a bowl, microwave it, drain it, add milk, butter and that yummy powdered cheese and you’ve got a meal extraordinaire! So, maybe it’s not the best quality food, or the most nutritious thing I’ll eat all day, but it’s a hot meal that’s so easy to make! Easy is my cooking style.
That’s one thing I like about God. He makes stuff easy! Some people get hung up on trying do all this hard stuff for God, reading theology and thinking up ministries and retreats and catechisms (what’s a catechism anyway?) and all sorts of crazy things Christians “must” do. I think God looks at us and says, “You’re making it more difficult than it is!”
Back in the day when Moses and the Israelites were tromping through the desert, a bunch of them started complaining they’d rather be slaves in Egypt than being free people in the desert. God wasn’t exactly happy with this so he sent some poisonous snakes to bite them! (How random is that?) They realized they had been whiny so God told Moses to make a bronze snake, put it on a pole and everyone could look at it. If they looked at it, they’d be healed from the snake bites.
This story has always been weird to me. Why did God send the snakes if he was just going to heal them by letting them look at this bronze snake on a pole? I think the answer is two-fold. God is loving and he’s…easy. He loved the people so much as soon as they started feeling sorry for their behavior; he wanted a way to make them well. So, he came up with the easiest thing for them to do—look and live!
I wonder though if some of the Israelites heard Moses say, “God said look at this bronze snake and you’ll live!” and decided God wouldn’t possibly do something so easy. They may have started having little small groups in their tents, talking about ways to get rid of the poison. Or maybe they made lists of ways to tell God they were sorry. Maybe some of them just sat at home hoping no one would know they’d been bitten by the snake in the first place.
I think this is how we are today. The Bible tells us Jesus had to be lifted up on the cross, so “everyone who looks up to him, trusting and expectant, will gain a real life, eternal life.” (John 3:14-15, The Message) We know we’re full of poisonous sin. But will we choose to look up to Jesus, trusting and expectant and live? Or will we sit in our tent, eating macaroni and cheese and hope no one notices our sin? Will we go about a “Christian” lifestyle and pretend we know a better way than the easy one God laid out for us? God desires to make your life easy! He wants your relationship to be fun and rewarding. Don’t waste any time—look to Jesus and live!
(by me, for Real Life Magazine)
Seriously, I wrote that a for a magazine! (Yes, it was a *published* magazine!) I thought I’d share it with them because it had to do with looking up…UPward, get it? *shrug*
The other good part about going to Upward today is my mom & dad were there (it’s at their church) so Daddy got Lydia a new outfit from Gymboree. It is SO cute…a skirt, shirt, hair clips & sandals with ladybugs and sunflowers. Mmm! I want to eat her up!
So, there it is, my bloggy blog.
celine says
Interesting, I’m learning english just by reading your blog since few days 😀 !