Drifting Away From God: A How-to Guide

How do you drift away from God?  Let's count the ways.

~ Worry about your problems.  A lot.

~ Spend a great deal of time looking for solutions to your problems.....do Google searches, ask the experts, read self-help books, make pro and con lists.  Be proactive and ready for anything.

~ When you're not busy solving your problems, go shopping and get new things. You deserve nice things.  You work hard.

~ Keep your distance from other people's problems and hardships.  You don't need that stuff dragging you down.  Besides, they probably made their bed.......let 'em lie in it now.

~ Keep up with all the news, the trends, the hotspots.  Be sure 'n look cool.  Be the trendsetter, even! 

~ Talk a lot.....on the phone, in person, through e-mail, through social media.  Let your voice be heard!

~ Schedule a lot of things and stay really busy.  Smart people are on the move. Yeah, baby!

~ Don't pay any attention to brightly dressed flowers, that funny chipmunk, those creepy crawly caterpillars, that songbird, those amazing cloud formations, that peachy pink sunset.  Such things will waste your time.  You aren't Ferdinand the Bull, after all......are you? What did he ever accomplish?

~ Consider that in this big world, with such diverse people, there can't really be Absolute Truth.  Everyone needs to find their own truth.  What works for you? What fits for you?  A loving existence rests in our willingness to be all-inclusive.

~ Purposely build yourself up.  Keep all eyes on you, baby!  Be the center of attention.  Tell about your amazing list of accomplishments.

~ Never say you're sorry.  Never admit defeat.  Never admit fault.  Stand strong and firm.  You are invincible.  Believe it!

telling of His wonderful deeds

Psalm 75:1
We give thanks to you, O God, we give thanks, for your Name is near; men tell of your wonderful deeds.


My Gratitude List

~ Miss Beth finishing her nap in my happy arms.....me, awed by the blessing she is.

~ Putting a towel around a shivering poolside toddler

~ Husband feeling positive about a job interview (he has a 20-hour job and a 30-hour job...this would be a replacement for the 30-hour job (much better hours, slightly better pay, paid sick and holiday time, pay raises, vacation after a year).  In a recessed economy, you do the best you can.

~ Miss Mary being the perfect sister........she's Paul's art companion, Peter's nature companion, Beth's playroom companion.

~ Peter sitting by the kiddy pool with his bird field guide

~ An eight-year-old penpal from India....filling my heart like one of my own

~ Huge (larger than my girls) stuffed dog at the library, delighting my girls

~ Titus Treefrog delighting my children as he snatches up crickets with lightening speed (now that's an exciting pet!)

~ The Holy Spirit having me drift in and out of prayer all day

~ Peter passing me in the hallway, telling me, "I prayed for our penpal...that she would not be hungry today." Hugging my thanks, I fight back the tears.  The Holy Spirit lives in my son!  Hallelujah!  I knew it was so, but when I see evidence like this, I'm still awed.

~ Changing a messy number two--done in a bathingsuit with no swimmy diaper--that required a shower, then having my toddler say, "Kiss me?" as she happily went back out to play.  Oh, the sweetness of that kiss..and the smile that accompanied it.  I won't miss diapers, but I'll greatly miss the little people who wear them!  Sniff, sniff.

~ Never tiring, year after year, of watching monarch caterpillars become monarch butterflies.  The imagination God has!  So enchanting to witness!

~ Boys filling a balloon with water and freezing it, so they can play bowling on the driveway with water bottles from the recycling box, using their ice ball. :)  They learned that it takes more than one day to solidly freeze the water.  This is try #1.  George, that curious monkey, put them up to this.  The new library we're using has episodes they haven't seen.  So daily it seems, they are trying new science and engineering-type schemes.

~ Playing Jenga as a family

~ Miss Mary asking questions about the breakfast Bible passage

FYI:  The number to call for a Compassion penpal......800-336-7676

Into a Life of Prayer; A Journey, Part 6

Links for earlier posts in this prayer series are here:   Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5

The Lord's Prayer, Our Model, Vol. 3
We're back to our study of the Lord's Prayer this week, exploring the first three petitions:

1) Hallowed be Thy name;  2) Thy kingdom come;  3) Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.

These petitions are related in that they all include the keyword Thy.  Our first lesson here is that our prayers should focus first on God and on His Kingdom.  Now, if you're desperate to speak to Father--we're all desperate at times, aren't we?--he's certainly not going to be fussy about the form of your prayer. Generally speaking though, focus first on God.  His kingdom is more important than even of our individual problems. Intentionally structuring our prayers this way helps put our problems in perspective.

These petitions are alike in another way, too. They all ask for the return of Christ.  This is a hard thing, depending on how close we are to Father, or on how much we've suffered in this life.  We must remember.....we are supposed to want Christ to return, right now. That means, we shouldn't hope that our baby is born first, or that we'll get married before he comes, or that we'll move into a new home and plant that coveted garden before he comes.  Those are earthly matters.  Temporary. This is not our home...we are pilgrims here.

So, we are directed to pray for Christ's return.  This too, helps us gain perspective.

When you think about it, don't many of our sins arise from a lack of perspective?  Complaining, selfishness, ungratefulness, impatience, self-indulgence....they are all related to lack of perspective....a me focus.  The Lord's Prayer speaks to this problem in our lives.  The structure and meaning of it help us get over ourselves, so we can obey the greatest commandment.


Matthew 22:35-37
Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.


All prayer, done rightly, adjusts our gaze....taking it off of ourselves, and putting it squarely on the Father.


Now we'll go through each of these three petitions individually, starting with Hallowed by They Name, explained below by G. Hugenberger (because he's a theologian, and I'm clearly not):

In more modern English with this petition we are simply praying “may Your name be held holy”. The Scriptures teach that God will finally and decisively vindicate the holiness of His name only when Jesus Christ comes again (Romans 2:24; Isaiah 52:5.6; Ezekiel 36:21-23; Philippians 2:9-11). From that point God’s name will never again be dragged though the mud, whether by His own people or by His enemies. For this reason when we pray this petition, we are in fact praying for the return of the Saviour.

It is clear, however, that God can answer this plea in a more limited way by afresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit who is mighty to help His people honor the name of God (rather than continue to be a reproach to His name) and to grant repentance to those outside who still despise His name (Acts 15:14; Romans 10:13ff.; John 12:28). 

Next, we'll consider Thy Kingdom Come, also explained by G. Hugenberger:

Here in the most blatant way we are asking for our Lord’s return (Matthew 6:33; Revelation 22:20; II Timothy 4:1,18; Matthew 25:34; Daniel 7).

Nevertheless this petition also may be answered in a more limited way in this life through the work of the Holy Spirit subduing the hearts of men allowing Christ’s Kingly reign to be effective there. (Romans 14:17,18; Colossians 1:11-14; Romans 8:23; II Corinthians 1:22; 5:5; Ephesians 1:14). Indeed, the Holy Spirit is the pledge and foretaste of the Kingdom of God, our heavenly inheritance. 

Lastly, we'll consider Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven, explained by G. Hugenberger also:

As with the first two petitions, this one also can only be finally and decisively answered with the return of Christ --- only then will God’s Will be done on earth with the wholehearted love and joy that is found in heaven. (II Peter 3:13; I Corinthians 15:24-28; I John 3:20). Obviously this is not meant to deny that God sovereignly rules over all things even in this life (Psalm 99; Ephesians 1:11)—the point is that only then will the obedience be conscious and willing, in a universe purified of every taint of fallenness.

 Once again in a partial way this petition also may be answered now through the work of the Holy Spirit convicting men of sin (John 16: 8-11) and securing righteousness in believers (I Peter 1:2; Galatians 5:16-25) and effecting various miracles of healing and blessing as were accomplished through our Lord Jesus (Matthew 12:28; John 1:32 – and as continues by the church, I Corinthians 12:10).

The last three petitions, to be discussed next time, all share the keyword us.

~ Give us this day our daily bread
~ And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors
~ And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the Evil One.

Twelve Years Today

A Special Gratitude List

~ It's been a blessed twelve years....never short on love or grace.

~ He still kisses me goodbye.

~ He still loves me with a roll-up-your-sleeves, we're-in-this-'till-eternity kind of love.

~ And I still love him.

~ I still respect him.

~ He still chooses to see the best in me.

~ He still loves my legs, though they're varicosed and no longer well-muscled.

~ He still tries very, very hard to be a good father, despite the insanity of littles around here.

~ He still prays with me.

~ He still provides Bible commentary just like a theology professor would do (seriously, I love it!).

~ He still savors time alone with me.

~ He still wants me for a friend.

~ I still want to spend the rest of my life with him.

~ He's still perfect for me.

~ I still love his birthday suit.

~ I'm still amazed at God's provision for my heart. 

Happy Independence Day!

Tonight it's just me, Jack Hamster, Titus Treefrog, the tap of the computer keys and the roar of the air conditioner (and the neighbor's obnoxious home fireworks, which will probably wake the girls momentarily). I turned on the air conditioner in hopes the roar will drown out the bangs.


My husband and boys went to watch fireworks and catch fireflies.  They sit in a grassy parking lot in a nearby town, with two sets of aunts and uncles and all the first and second cousins (my dad's side of the family).

I'm not there...again this year.  Two tired children I can handle.  But four? I simply don't have it in me, folks.

Let me tell you about Mary, age 4.5, who misbehaved her way out of the festivities.  

A few times in her short life she's had sleep issues.  The past year or so though, we've had smooth sailing. Her pattern has been to fall asleep around 8:15--within fifteen minutes of being put down. She wakes up between 7:15 and 7:45 AM., and even with all the summer exercise, she hasn't seemed overtired.  

Four days ago, she started getting up to draw or play with her stuffed animals, while I was in another room with Beth.  This delayed her falling asleep, which makes for a frustrating night at our house, because my next task, after putting the girls down, is to go to the playroom and read to the boys.  

When everyone falls asleep on schedule, I can do this whole routine on my own without too much stress.  Husband has worked nights for so long, I'm used to it.  

Cue the stress, with Mary's new issue.  The worst was last night.  She was still awake at 9:30 PM....her eyes indicating exhaustion.

Last year, at age 3.5, Mary went to the fireworks.  I simply put her to bed a little early, and then husband got her up at 9:00 pm and took her and her brothers to the festivities.....while I stayed home with Beth, who was then 18 months old.

Tonight, since she fell asleep so late last night, I bathed her and put her to bed at 7:00 PM, telling her if she got out of bed and played, she wouldn't go to the fireworks later tonight.  

I heard a little noise in there around 7:45 PM, so I peeked in, finding her mattress at a weird angle, and several things on the floor--indicating she'd been playing.  Fixing her mattress and putting her back in bed, I told her the disobedience cost her the fireworks. 

Sharing with her how frustrated I was with these sleep issues, I asked her why she was disobeying.  She had no answer, other than she was looking for a long-lost stuffed animal. (That's tonight's excuse).  Next, I told her she had to ask her Heavenly Father to help her obey....explaining that it was too hard for her to obey on her own.  We all have to ask for His help, I reminded her.

She's stubborn, that one.  It took a few minutes to get her to say..."Lord, please help me to obey."  She's also very sensitive, being crushed in spirit and weepy for awhile, when we have to speak to her about behavior.  For the most part, she's been an easy child to handle....up until now.  

Her sleep needs couldn't have changed this drastically, in a few days time.

There is a bonfire at my aunt's house tomorrow night, but our family goes to church Sunday nights.  We told the boys Daddy would take them to my aunt's after church, Mary included.  I'm sure someone will have some kind of sparkler at my aunt's, so Mary will not completely miss the Fourth of July wonder. 

I plan to come home after church and put Miss Beth down, missing the bonfire. It's hard enough with her on Sunday nights, coming home from church at 8:40 PM, and not getting her down until about 9:00 PM.    

It doesn't bother me to miss festivities and crowds right now.  There's so little quiet time here........I kind of like it.  :)  

Plenty of time left in my life for fireworks, God willing.  

Next summer Beth will be 3.5 ( it's only with sniffles that I can type that). Old enough for fireworks, with just a little fussiness the next day.

So, what about you?  Anyone staying home with littles this weekend?

Here is a wonderful incourage post about the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence.  

Happy Fourth of July!