The Ugly Years and a Bowl of Soup

Wednesday I perused Allrecipes.com for some new recipes.  We are having trouble getting to eat at home, as some child decided to play school ball, and they have close to 50 games in a 7 week period.  Our dining budget is blown, I've learned that if you skip the "A" game, knowing your child is not playing before the "B" game, you can get in free, and poor Bookworm has probably eaten more Taco Mayo and Sonic in the last five weeks than her whole life combined.

The coaches have them walk the half mile to these two establishments after checking in at the locker rooms.  And just when did my child get old enough to walk with her friends to these places and buy herself some food?

Probably about the time she started looking like this:

She's on the right.  And she has makeup on.  And I think she's really pretty, in a completely unbiased sort of way.  Dang it.

Not "dang it" because she's pretty.  But "dang it" she's in 7th grade, and that is just down right annoying and somehow impossible, but obviously totally possible, considering this is her back to school picture for this year.  And yes, that's 7th grade.  

Raise your hand if 7th grade was your "ugliest year ever."

Pfpfpfpf

Anyway, I found several recipes to try, but this one is a real keeper.  I put all of the ingredients in the crock pot this morning at about 6:30 and Brent simply added the cream cheese about 5:30 and then served it up to the kids about 6pm.  You see, Bookworm had a friend come home from school with her to get ready for the dance.  They were here by 3:30 and were still not ready when I got home at 6:20.  Popcorn was in charge of hair.  However, the waver took so much time with Bookworm, that Grace's friend decided to forgo any wild new styles and went with her simple normal 'do.

Anyway, OF COURSE I was cleaning up the kitchen before I realized I should photograph this recipe and blog it.

Because I've been so short of blog material lately...Well, more lacking any real desire to sit down and look at the computer, much less write a blog.

I thought about putting it in a pretty bowl and sprinkling some shredded cheese on it, and perhaps a dollop of sour cream. Then I got bored and impatient just thinking about it, so I shrugged and decided to just snap a picture of it in the Tupperware bowl , and call it good.  And while my photography skills leave something to be desired, this dish will in no way disappoint.  In fact, Bookworm's friend cleaned her bowl (other than a few tomato chunks) and her parents keep claiming she's a finicky eater...

Spicy Latin Chicken Soup

6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (I actually used 3, because mine were so huge)
3 cans diced tomatoes (I actually used 1 can diced, 1 can Mexican style, and 1 can of tomatoes with chipotle peppers)
16oz jar salsa verde
1 can pinto beans rinsed and drained
1 can black beans rinsed and drained
frozen corn (it called for one can, but I used probably 2 cups frozen)
2 tsp chili powder
1 packet taco seasoning
1 tsp cumin
cilantro, if desired (and believe me, I don't) 
1/2 c of cream cheese


Place chicken (whole, they will fall apart when you go to scoop it out) in bottom of crock pot.  Add remaining ingredients, except cream cheese and stir.  Cook on low 8-10 hours, or until chicken is very tender.  About 15 minutes before dinner time, soften cream cheese, scoop out a bit of liquid from your soup and then stir in to cream cheese to create a creamy mixture, then pour this into your soup.

Top with shredded cheese, sour cream and tortilla chips as desired.

This soup was a huge hit, and my family was quite pleased to have a real home cooked meal, and not something that was thrown together in 5 minutes or less.  Give it a try and let me know what you think!

Two Noncrafters

I'm not crafty.  And when I say that, I don't mean in the devious sort of way.

Because I can be quite devious.  Which is why I think I'll do okay with a certain child when they are a teen.  Because I've been there, batted the eyes, and got the t-shirt.

Anyhoo, today after Bookworm left for her back to school dance on a SCHOOL NIGHT, three weeks into school no less, Popcorn suddenly realized she needed a lanyard.

And it was "required."  And apparently some girl had a super cute one made out of duct tape, and couldn't we just whip one up?

"I have not the faintest idea how to make a lanyard."  I then considered the subject closed and began to clean the kitchen, secure in the knowledge that she would surely bury herself in "Wipeout" and forget all about the silly I-don't-really-believe-it's-required-lanyard.

As I poured the leftovers in a freezer bag for a hectic day when we would need a yummy dinner, I saw her digging through the crap cabinet (some people have craft drawers, cabinets, or even rooms.  We have a crap cabinet) and dragging out streamers, leather scraps, and beads that were a gift from like her 6th birthday (told you we weren't crafty around here.)

She had visions of wrapping the streamers in leather scraps and somehow incorporating the beads.  I tried not to look as skeptical as I felt about this endeavor..."MOooooOOOoooM!  You said you had a fabulous idea!" 

"No.  I said I hadn't the faintest idea.  Big difference."

"Oh."  And then she went all disappointed looking on me and continued to dig through the cabinet that I had actually organized a few short weeks before...

Sigh.

"Let me see what I can find."  And I lifted my shoe box of sewing notions from the top of my closet and she dug through it as if it were buried treasure...

As we sifted through the bounty on my bed, I felt as if something were looking down at me.  It was a rather strange and random sensation...

And then a brown recluse fell out of my hair and skittered onto my leg.  I freaked out and knocked it to the floor.  I snatched up a kleenex and smashed him to bits before he could scurry under the bed.

The spider is rather irrelevant to this tale, but I felt the need to share my trauma with you.  I have felt as if I've been covered in creepy crawlies ever since. 

*Shudder*

Anyway.  Popcorn and I managed a lanyard.  And now her flash drive is in no danger of being confused with another student's.

We decided that perhaps we had a random crafty hair after all.

The Worst Decisions Make the Best Stories

I had a patient yesterday who just happens to be a nurse. 

I'd actually "met" him a few times before, but those previous times he had a bolt coming out the top if his head, and he yelled really loud when I had to replace his IV, because he's terrified of needles.  Apparently, when one has suffered a ruptured brain aneurysm it is difficult to deal with the little phobias in life that normally you'd deep breathe through...

Anyhoo, he was looking much better and slowly getting back into weight lifting, which is what triggered the aneurysm rupture in the first place.  Either that, or the fact that he'd quit smoking just 4 days before it ruptured.  He's still on the fence about the real cause.

And he's not going to risk something like denying himself a cigarette when he nearly died trying to quit.

He has no tendency toward drama at all.

I was so relieved when the doctor openly addressed his tattoo.  Because I had definitely noticed it the other times when I was pulling the sheath that the doctor places in his right groin and threads a catheter through.  The catheter is then threaded up to his brain to inject contrast so they can get really clear pictures of the vascular system.  Anyway, you probably didn't want all of that info, but it's sort of necessary to help you understand that I had seen is groin a few times before.

And I couldn't help but notice the little "Hi" tattooed on it.  However, being that his coping skills were a bit diminished, I hadn't gathered the gumption to just come right out and ask what on earth he was thinking when he got the crazy thing.  Because, while most patients think it's truly my business to know everything I decide to ask, as a nurse he would probably get that I was just being nosy. 

But I really, really wanted to know.  Was it done on a dare?  Was it supposed to say something else, but he just wimped out?  Was he really a disgusting pervert?  I had been curious, yet disgusted by the thing since the first time I'd met him, under much scarier circumstances.

Never fear, Gentle Reader. My patience was finally being rewarded...

As the doctor began to prep the area for the study, he said "Hey, I see that you got a tattoo, just so I could know exactly where to go."  And I smiled inside because I now had permission to get the whole scoop.  But I was patient, Gentle Reader.  I didn't immediately hound him for details.  I knew my time was coming, if I just waited for the right moment.

Once the procedure was completed and I was checking around the catheter sight to make sure no bleeding had occurred under the skin, my patient commented on how embarrassing his tattoo is.  "You know, when I was 13, and hiding in my bedroom doing that tattoo, I never dreamed that 6 people would be looking at it."

"Well, let me tell you, way more than six people have seen it by now."  I'm sure he found my observation comforting.  "So you did it yourself?  When you were only 13?"  That explains the prison tat appearance."

He started laughing, and I had to scold him, because after all at that point I was holding pressure on his femoral artery, and laughter adds pressure and if my hand slipped I really didn't want to clean blood off the walls...

"Yeah, I used a needle and India ink.  I was just a stupid kid."

And then we changed the subject and talked about his and his wife's nursing experiences. 

And I thanked him for a great story that I will now have thanks to his poor judgment as a teenager.

It just really brings home the fact that the worst decisions make really great stories.

Different

Aren't we all just sick to DEATH of hearing about same sex marriage???

I know I am.  It is just so EXHAUSTING.  I mean, we are hammered with this topic from every corner.  Television, facebook, church, radio, work...

I am just sick, sick, sick of it.  I don't want to talk about.  I certainly don't want to blog about it.  I want to blog about crazy, silly stuff in my life. 

But yesterday morning as I sat on my deck, dogs at me feet, Oliver standing on the rail behind me, coffee cup on the arm rest, God jumped up in my face AGAIN.  I kind of like when He does that.  But it sure makes me uncomfortable at times. 

Well, most of the time.

Anyway, I decided a blog filled with trivialities and laughter will have to wait for a later date.  God has a bigger agenda for me right now.

Right now I'm reading through 2 Chronicles.  My challenge for myself this summer has been to read through passages I have never deemed as "fun" and dig my teeth in where normally I would have just skimmed and called it good.  2 Chronicles 5 reviews the dedication of the Temple.  God ensured that the dedication coincided with the Feast of Tabernacles.  This meant that as the Israelites were celebrating in a gorgeous, eye popping gold laiden temple, they were remembering their travels in the desert.  So even as they were surrounded with unimaginable wealth (that belonged to God) they were dancing and singing praises to God for deliverance and provision in the desert. 

God is so cool.

Anyway, my commentary recommended I flip to Psalm 107 for a great example of praising God for His provision.  As I read it, familiar words flowed into my heart, "Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good, His love endures forever..."  I mentally started singing along.  But then as I read on, painfully familiar themes were woven through.  Things I do not want to walk around humming about.  Famine.  Imprisonment.  Drought.  Especially verses 33-34, I'm sure they struck such a strong chord in me as wildfires raged mere miles away from my house, and the stench of the smoke permeated the air around me...

Communities all across the state have been meeting and having prayer that God will have mercy on us and send the rain.  I pictured this group of modern day prayer warriors crying out in the one room school turned into community center near my folks house.  And I was saddened to think that our country has become so wicked in God's eyes that he has perhaps pronounced judgment on us.

Not that I have any way of knowing such things.  But I do know I am surrounded by wickedness. 

Strangely, as I reread verse 33-34, and my soul mourned at the wicked world my children will grow up in, God whispered 2 Chronicles 7:14 into my heart.

"If my people, who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land."

I was struck by several phrases:

 my people.

called

 humble themselves

 turn from their wicked ways.

 It doesn't say "the people", it says MY people.

"My people."  Who is that?  Is it the world?  Is it the general populace of the good ole US of A? Is it the people in my state, my county, my town, my church, my FAMILY???

 Sorry, but the answer He gave me was a very clear "no."

God told me that He is speaking to ME, his child.  Called to His family by His grace and mercy alone.  And while I've always given lip service to "you can't expect the lost to act like Christians" I secretly still expected it.  I mean, really we are a country founded on Biblical principles.  Why won't they just get on the bus and go along with the historical precedence our forefathers set forth?  One nation under God and all of that?

Well, duh.  Because the general populace is NOT Christian.  They are lost.  Drowning in their misery.  Doomed to an eternity of suffering and misery.  Even if they are loving life now, they are lost and facing a horrendous eternity. 

And if I'm not walking, breathing, LIVING the life that Christ has called me to do, then I am failing them. 

So what God told me is that He is not calling the people around me to humble themselves, to pray, to seek His face and turn from THEIR wicked ways.  He's calling ME to do this.

Ouch.

I am called to be drastically different than the world. And I'm just not sure I am. Want to know something?  I don't WANT to be different.  It's not comfortable!  But God has been strengthening me with examples of truly DIFFERENT people than the world around them.  Let's start with Noah.  Surely he was lonely and felt a tad bit ostracized from the world around him as he and his sons built the ark?  I mean, do you think his neighbors were inviting him to any back yard barbecues?

Hey!  Guess who was Noah's ancestors?  Enoch was his great grandfather.  He walked with God 300 years before God took him home with him to heaven, without even dying.   Do you think Enoch was perhaps different from those around him? 

Esther.  Talk about different!  A Jewish girl not only in the enemy camp, but her husband (who happened to be king) had elevated a man who had vowed to destroy all of her people to the highest seat in the land!  (Esther 3)  Do you think she got to sit in her chambers and wait until she had her life in order before she bearded the lion in his den and spoke hard truths to the very man who could behead her at his whim?

Okay, I got it.  I am God's people.  I am called.  I am to humble myself...
 
As a Christian I am not called to hide from the world and sing my praises to a God who saved me with my Christian friends and my Christian music and my Christian facebook friends... I am called to speak the truth.  I will only be showing love to the lost when I share God's word with them.  Not one of the examples listed above (and they are a mere tip of the iceberg) hid in their little bubbles and waited until they had their lives together before they were called to proclaim God's truth.  A truth that the world did NOT want to hear.  And that's what I'm called as a Christian to do. It will not be easy.  There will be many times when it will not be "fun."  But I'm running a race, one that was specifically laid out for me.  And it is not for worldly treasure or accolades.  There is much more at stake than a gold medal.  We are talking about eternal consequences here. 

I don't think I can just sit in my little comfort zone and pretend that's not the gospel.

The Hard Thing

I notice that my blogs don't get many comments lately.  Of course, I have that happen every summer.

But my insecurity says people don't like what I'm saying.

I need people to like me.  Maybe you don't, but I do.  If I know someone doesn't like me, I immediately wonder why, and what did I do, and what is WRONG with them?  Seriously.  What's not to like?

Okay, that last part is a joke.

Sort of.

Yesterday a facebook friend posted this link:
http://defendchristians.org/news/major-corporation-declares-war-on-marriage-and-children/

And I reposted it.  My sister was helpful enough to give me a link to all brands they own.


That list seems to make it impossible.  As I perused it, I began to have some trepidation about my follow through.  After all I'm the same girl who banned high fructose corn syrup in our house except ketchup (before there was hfc free) and a weekly soda.  Because while I wanted to limit the junk my kids were eating, there is no need go psycho!  You know they get plenty of junk everywhere else, so why not make home a place of nutritious food?

Anyway, about two years ago I flaked on the HFC thing.  The timing just happened to coincide with the beginning  of my couponing and my attempting to stay at home, so budget budget budget. We all know healthy food is NOT the cheapest way to go.  If it was, raman noodles would not be the food of choice for college kids across America.

However, as I've gone about my day the utter impossibility of boycotting these products keeps coming back to me.  It would be very hard.  Kind of like when we made a pact as a family to limit Apple, Levis, Nike, and Home Depot purchases.  The Home depot was no sweat.  Even Levis and Nike.  However, my kids each own Apple products.  We have stood firm at buying music from iTunes.

So, as I looked at this overwhelming list (Yoplait?  Really?  Their Greek yogurt is my lunch when there is no time for real lunch at work!) I kept thinking, "Wow.  I don't think I can do this."  After all it requires diligence and long term commitment.  All things I really don't seek out.  Then today as I was driving home from running the girls around I remembered a blog I heard about on our local Christian radio.  The blog is directed at teenagers and encourages them to "do the hard thing."  I was so impressed.  It is a group of teenagers uniting in "rebellion against low expectations."  They strive to do what is right in God's eyes, not what is right in the eyes of the world.

And as I remembered that, I thought, if I am applauding a teenager for doing the hard thing, why won't I do it?  And if I don't want to do the hard thing, then how can I expect my kids to do it?

So, I'm giving it a shot.  I'm going to take my list of products owned by General Mills and try to avoid purchasing them, when possible.  If I fail, I'm not going to simply throw up my hands and say "This will never work!"  I'm going to start over and try to do this thing.

As a consumer I have a voice.  It's called my wallet.  If I don't financially support a group, then that group will listen to me.  Of course, if I'm going this alone, they will not care about my one little act of defiance.  However, if Christians as a whole stand up and say they will not support corporations who support the homosexual agenda, or abortion, or whatever cause God is burdening you with, then our voice will be heard!

And even if nobody else stands up, then I will still stand.  And I will not be quiet (like anyone expected THAT anyway.)  I will strive to not throw my convictions in others faces, but I will state what God is telling me to say.  I hope you will pray that the words I use will be His words, not self righteous rambling.

Strangely, I think that my recent study of Joshua helped me prepare for this very thing.  Because as I contemplated how little difference my refusal to support certain institutions can make, in the big picture, God reminded me of Joshua standing before the Israelites after they had conquered the Promised Land:

"Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness.  Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD.  But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living.  But as for my and my household we will serve the LORD."
Joshua 24:14-15

God is telling me that the world will NOT serve Him.  But that does not give me permission to serve Him in a half hearted manner, simply because it's a better effort than most are doing.  He is calling me to serve Him when it's hard.  And choosing to fight this battle will not be easy, but I feel that it will be worth it if my kids grow up knowing that their parents knew who they served, and they did it as faithfully as they could.

AS FOR ME AND MY HOUSE, WE WILL SERVE THE LORD!

How about you?  Is God calling you into battle?  What will your answer be?

It's Not About Hating, or What I Feel. It's What GOD Says.

One of my facebook friends posted this link, along with the quote "Thanks Chick-Fil-A for standing up for what you believe in."
http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2012/07/19/chick-fil-a-and-gay-marriage-a-social-media-storm/comment-page-107/#comment-1293718

Can you say "big ole can of worms?"  I immediately wanted to repost it.  But I chickened out.  I didn't want to be attacked for hating on the entire homosexual society in America.  Because of course I don't hate them.  That would just be stupid.  And ignorant.  And against everything the Bible teaches...

But not hating them does not mean that it doesn't break my heart to see the television flooded with messages that homosexuality is okay, and it really doesn't hurt anyone.

I fear that we as Christians have been too silent on this issue for fear that we are not demonstrating love.  If someone was disrespecting their parents would I call them on it?  Yes I would.  If my brother is doing drugs and I tell him that he is defiling his body, the living temple of the Lord Jesus Christ by putting those chemicals into it, am I hating him?  No.  I'm not.  That would be an example of speaking truth over him. 

While on the surface those seem like two drastically different examples, they both have core biblical values.  Respect your parents.  Remember that your body (if you're a Christian) is not your own, but the temple of the Living God.

Then there is the very basic biblical view of marriage.  Adam +Eve=Children.  Never in scripture do you find two men raising children.  Or do you find two lesbian women who are following Jesus with all of their heart, and he is giving them accolades for their faithfulness to him.  The Bible is my source of truth.  If the body of Christ is unwilling to stand up and say that homosexuality is NOT natural, and it is NOT acceptable to a holy God, then we've failed the entire scripture.  Because if God's changed His mind on homosexuality, what about the rest of the Bible?  Are multiple gods acceptable?  Stealing?  Coveting?  Murder?

We can't just take what we like about the Bible and accept that as truth, then toss the rest out the window with a "Oh, I don't really know anything about that" mentality.  That is where Satan will really get his claws into the church.  Because if this part isn't true, other parts could be wrong too. Maybe there IS more than one way to heaven!  And if there's more than one way to heaven, then Jesus death on the cross was completely pointless.  If His death on the cross was meaningless, then why would God come to earth as a simple MAN, then suffer and die for sins he did NOT commit?  That would just make no sense!

The Bible is God's holy, inspired infallible word.  We as Christians need to stop hiding what we believe for fear of offending some people, or our nation is going to be abandoned by the Lord.  And if we think times are tough now, I shudder to think of Him removing His hand of protection from us.

I listen to Hank Hannegraf on my way home from work and he recently had a caller confront his stance on gay marriage.   He pointed out to say that you are "born gay" is like saying God played some giant cosmic joke on you.  You are not designed to be gay.  It is against the very nature of our human form.  You can not reproduce, so therefore you cannot have children.  So, if you are just "born that way" was God just deciding to throw you a giant curve ball and sit back to watch how you will deal with this unnatural state?  Of course, I've totally butchered what he had to say, but the gist is there.  You can go to his website, here, to read some articles about defending the faith and gay marriage.

Here's a quote from Hank's website:

The problem today is a lot of people want to be God. They want to be the final court of arbitration. They want to decide what sin is and what sin is not. They want to decide which behaviors are ok and which behaviors are not ok, but we have a Creator and an owner’s manual, and we say He, not I, is the final court of arbitration.

Even if I don’t agree, I bow the knee, I submit to the one who spoke and the limitless galaxies leapt into existence because He is a far more brilliant intellect than I. We don’t want to do that. We want to say, “Has God said?” and then make the rules of the game ourselves and determine right or wrong not based on a final court of arbitration but on the size and scope and strength of the latest lobby group.
 
So, my first response to my facebook friend's status was: RIGHT ON!!  Then, I had a shudder and an "I don't want to touch that topic with a ten foot pole" moment. 

Yet, here I am.

Homosexuality will be the defining topic of this generation, much like free love was the topic of the 1960s.  Christians sat quietly by while this era passed.  And now we sit quietly by while a new topic of even greater destructive forces wreaks havoc on the very fabric of family.

What will your response be?

The Giants

Wow!  Has it been THAT long since I posted?  Well, that also represents how long since I've sat at my computer.  Oh, don't go too crazy.  I do check my email.  On my phone.  But I've just been too distracted to sit down and write a blog.

But in a good way.

On the fourth anniversary in this town, I've come to a startling realization.  I am actually starting to put down roots.  Studmuffin is a little freaked by this revelation.  "We don't put down roots.  We move on."  Sure, he was joking.  But there was a small grain of truth in his statement.  Move away from home to college.  I actually changed colleges three times (long story).  Move to Arlington.  Move to San Antonio.  Move BACK to Oklahoma, yet go on various job interviews disguised as vacations...

And I think that's been my problem here.  Studmuffin has been unhappy in his job, and I've felt that at any moment he could find a better job, and off we'd be.  So, I've kept my emotional distance.  I'm done with that now.

I think...

I've been trying to be purposeful about alone time with God.  Each morning as my water runs in my various flower beds, I sit on my newly painted chair with it's bright red cushion, cup of coffee near at hand, dogs at my feet and cats clamoring up the side of the lattice, and open my Bible.

Right now I'm in the book of Joshua.  I can't say as I've ever sat and studied Joshua.  Sure, I've read the common stories, and I knew the gist, but there are big things that God is telling me in the little passages.  Not that I think any passages are "little."  But they can slip by you if your heart is not listening...

Want to hear something crazy?  I've been burdened by a new movie release.  It's titled "Magic Mike."  When I first saw the previews I thought, "Yuck.  Who would go see that?"  And I've been appalled at just who WILL go  see it.  And it is saddening.

It is not okay.  It is not "just a movie" and it is a saddening reflection of our society as a whole.  I once heard a preacher (I think it was John Macarthur) say that when women have given into sexual depravity as a thing of normalcy, the society has reached rock bottom.  If it wasn't him, I apologize, but he has plenty to say on what GOD says about sexual immorality and here's a quick link to a list of sermons if you want to peruse the site:  http://www.gty.org/search/homosexuality

Anyway, I have been saddened by the depravity I see in our nation.  Yet I have felt a strange joy in spite of the things I see around me.  I know it's because of the time I've been spending with Him.  And I've been listening to what He has to say to me...

Right now he's hammering home the importance of seeking out and eradicating sin.  All sin.

WHAT?  ALL of it?  Surely not.  I mean, my sins arent' that big of deal.

 Right? 

In Joshua 11 & 12 I read of Joshua's leadership of the Israelites into battle.  It took me a few minutes to read it.  But this total eradication of the enemy through these territories took Joshua seven years.  Seven long years of brutally stamping out God's enemies.  Seven years following forty years of wandering in a desert...

Zoiks.  That is some serious obedience.  My Bible annotates:  Obedience is one aspect of life that each individual can control.

Okay.  I can't argue with that.  I may have no control over any other circumstance in my life.  But I CAN control my obedience to God.

As I read a few days later in Joshua 13:13 I saw that the Israelites failed to eradicate all of the people as God had instructed them to do...And again I was pricked by my own stubborn refusal to remove some sins because I view them as "no big deal."  And the rest of the world doesn't even see what I mean if I were to call these areas "sin."

In Joshua 14:6-15 I find the refreshing voice of Caleb, boldly stating that while is well into his 80s he is EAGER to take the land God has promised him and to face the giants he has already seen with his own eyes as a young man.  He knew God was bigger than any foe he would face.  Lord, help me have the strength of Caleb.

I will finish with these three verses Joshua 15:63, 16:10 and 17:12.  Each of these contain a glaring failure on the part of the Israelites.  They failed to remove all of the people of the land, as God had instructed them.  As I reflected on this truth, I was struck by one fact.  This small remnant of people that the Israelites considered not worth the hassle of removing from their land would be the source of suffering for generations to come...

On Saturday morning, I went to weeding my flower beds.  I actually enjoy weeding.  It is very rewarding and it gets me outside which is always a bonus.  However, in my newest flower bed that curves around the southwest side of my house there is a slow insidious takeover happening.  Not in the form of weeds, but in the form of grass.  Of course, I want the grass all over my yard.  Just not in my flower beds.  And it is a royal pain to remove.  That stuff creeps under and over things and those darn roots run deep.  I pulled up every twig that I saw.  And it will still come back.  And I will have to be diligent or before I know it, the darn stuff will have taken over the whole flower bed and choke out the plants I'm wanting to grow.

Sin is the same way.  I can yank it out by the roots.  I can weed it and hoe it, and in extreme cases I can spray it to kill the whole dang plant.  And yet it will come back.

Just like the sin in my life.  It may seem small and insignificant.  But if it interferes with my obedience to God and therefore my fulfillment of God's purpose for my life it is a giant in the making.  As I sat on my knees in my yard Saturday I was overwhelmed with the thought that the small sins of today could be the giants in my future...

Or worse-the giants my children must face.

Lord help me live a life of full obedience.