My Faith

5 Minute Friday –FAMILIAR

We love the familiar.

I’m famous for that at restaurants. 
Not really wanting to try a new restaurant.  
And even at a familiar restaurant, only ordering the same old thing instead of trying a new entrée. Why do I do that?  Two words.  It’s safe.
I only shop at one grocery store.  Why?
I know where everything is and I’m comfortable there.
It seems faster and easier than going somewhere else, even if they have the same stuff, just in a different place.
Ever been overseas and found a familiar brand or restaurant? Why is that so thrilling?
When I lived in Spain, everything I did, every place I went, everything I ate, was a cross-cultural experience.  After a while, I was starved for the familiar.  Even to the point of having my mom mail me a box of Kraft macaroni and cheese. (I am being vulnerable here because honestly Kraft mac and cheese is pretty disgusting—how could thatbe the thing I craved?  But it was!)  I remember when it came in the mail and the Señora fixed it for my roommate and I.  You would have thought we had died and gone to heaven.  All for that familiar cheese sauce that is really not that good.  But it was a taste of home. 
Most of us like the familiar.  
Because, let’s face it, it is “the known.”  The comfortable.  The safe. 
We have to be careful, though.  
The familiar can become an enemy of stepping out and following God’s call.  
-Think if Abraham and Sarah had never left Ur.  
-Or if David had never fought Goliath. 
-Or if the disciples had never followed Jesus.  
You can fill in pretty much any Bible character.  
They had to take a risk to receive God’s blessing and experience his adventure. 
In my experience, God does not call us to the familiar.  
Instead, he calls us out of our habits, out of our comforts, and out of our normal into the unknown. 
But that’s where he can reveal his provision, his power, and his faithfulness.
The choice is ours.

My Faith

5 Minute Friday–EXCUSE

I’m a teacher so when I hear the word excuse, I think immediately of:
        
    -Excuses why your homework wasn’t done.
If you don’t have an excuse, there is a consequence.
or
            -Excused and unexcused absences
(Meaning if you have a good reason or someone like a parent to vouch for you, your absence is not counted against you.  If not, it is “unexcused,” and you are penalized.)
or
            -Being tardy without an excuse…
If you come into my class late without an excuse, I mark you tardy.  After 3 unexcused tardies, you receive a detention from the Dean.

(Don’t you miss high school and all of its rules?)

As a teacher, when someone is absent, tardy, or without his homework, I want to know “What is your excuse?”

The Bible says in Romans 1:20, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities–his eternal power and divine nature–have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”

In my opinion, this means that God’s Creation and his eternal and invisible qualities are enough to show all of us that he exists.  Those who choose not to believe in him are without excuse. 

So what happens if you are unexcused with God?  The Bible is clear that just like a “late” student without a pass/excuse deserves detention, “the wages of sin is death.” Romans 6:23a
Thank God there is more to that verse.

“but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 6:23b

He sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to pay the penalty for our sin.   He paid it to “excuse” or pardon our sin by having Jesus die on the cross in our place. By placing our faith in what Jesus did on the cross, we receive forgiveness (our excuse) and eternal life.

Thanks be to God! 

My Faith

5 minute Friday–SILENCE

Silence
To be honest, this week’s word I don’t really want to write about.
Probably because I know SILENCE all too well. And I don’t have an answer
  •       When life does not go as you wanted it to—SILENCE

  •        When the bad guy wins–SILENCE

  •       You cry out to God–SILENCE

  •       You long for justice—SILENCE

  •       You want to know the future—SILENCE

  •       You are waiting for something to change—SILENCE

  •       You ask him why—SILENCE

Sometimes silence is so loud it roars!

The Bible is full of people just like us who also dealt with SILENCE. 
  •      Joseph—how many YEARS was he a slave, in a prison, seemingly forgotten

  •      Daniel—he spent a lifetime in captivity in Babylon (not fair!)


  •       Sarah—how long she waited on a promised son



  •       The disciples in the upper room—confused and bewildered


  •        Mary and Martha when Lazarus died and Jesus didn’t come—heartbroken and hurting

I relate to their frailty and admire their faith.
We  have the benefit of seeing beyond their reality. 
o   We see how God answered. 
o   How he showed up.
o   The end of the story.  The why.
o   The meaning or purpose of the SILENCE.
My response:
I wait on God to meet me in my silence.  He will!

My Faith

5 Minute Friday — NEED

Today’s word is NEED.
Ok, let’s see. What do I need?
What comes to mind first:
-Coffee, with French vanilla creamer, please.
-A better attitude. (every day)
-Students to turn in every assignment.
-A new pair of boots would be nice—scuff marks are so uncool. (Mine have scuff marks)
Or is it more like..
-Water,
-Food,
-Shelter,
-The basic necessities.
All we really need is…
-LOVE???  (Pretty sure that’s been said before)

It is hard to separate out our needs from our wants.  I’m pretty sure I know what I want…but what I need…that is another story.
My time is drawing to a close, mind swirling, how can I wrap this up?
In the process of writing, two verses from the Psalms did come to mind:
Psalm 142:5 “I cry to you O Lord, I say, ‘You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.'”
Psalm 73:26 “My flesh and my heart my fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever!”
God is our portion.  A portion is just enough. A portion meets our need. 
He promises to be our “enough” for each day.

He meets our need. Whatever it is. With just enough.
My Faith

5 Minute Friday — OVERCOME

Giving the 5 minute prompt a try again this week!

The word is OVERCOME

The first thing that pops into my mind is Mandisa’s Song “You’re an Overcomer.”  Love that song, and I ran to it regularly when I did a couch to 5K Bible study.

I was overcoming my fear of running, my fear of making a fool of myself in a running group, and my fear of not being able to do it.  

It’s not on my current playlist, but if I hear it, my mind goes straight to the memory of that group, and the new friends I made while in it.

Mandisa’s song “Overcomer”

Then, my mind is drawn to all of the things that overcome me…

-I am overcome by fear
-I am overcome by anger and bitterness
-I am overcome by my obstacles
-I am overcome by my bad habits.
-I am overcome by worry

But every writer knows you get RID of the passive voice!  Use strong verbs!

So that needs to flip!

-I overcome fear.
-I overcome anger and bitterness.
-I overcome obstacles.
-I overcome my bad habits.
-I overcome worry.

BUT HOW?

A verse come to mind…

“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good!” (Rom 12:21)

That verse gives a strategy –Good overcomes evil.  Kind of like fighting the negative with the positive.  

(My inner voice says…But I lack the strength to do that!)

So I keep searching the Scriptures… love this verse!

Jesus said “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.  In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”   (John 16:33)

As my time limit draws to a close, I’m summing it up with…

Jesus = key to overcoming–being an overcomer in his strength and not our own!

Now to go live it!  I’ll tell you how it goes, if you tell me how it goes for you 🙂