Casual Conversation

Day 2 and the SBC Pastor's Conference will end tonight with a messages delivered by Jack Graham, James MacDonald and Fred Luter, Jr. The last 24 hours have been both refreshing and exhausting. Many speakers have delivered divinely inspired messages that convicted, challenged and encouraged me as a believer and a leader in my church.

However, today I had the opportunity to sit under the teaching of Dr. David Platt. I am thankful for the truth of God's Word he exposed and the challenge he presented. As a believer there are areas I am going to have to commit to prayer with urgency.

After leaving the convention center for our evening break, Anthony and I stepped into the elevator heading to eat dinner. A lady politely asked if we were here for the convention and then casually asked if we had heard Dr. Platt's message. Her words were

Wasn't his message wonderful.

I smiled and nodded as the doors of the elevator opened and we stepped out. As Anthony and I walked down the hall I couldn't contain my thoughts. My words spilled over my lips like a flood.

No! His message wasn't wonderful.

It was convicting, challenging, scary. If anything. Wonderful?! I might as well have said it was comfortable, conforming...easy. But it was not! The gospel of Jesus Christ is not comfortable. As Dr. Platt said,

Following Jesus will cost you everything you have but He is worth it!

May tonight be even more Jesus!

Labels

Grocery shopping is okay. I mean, I have to eat and someone's gotta get the food from the store. No big deal. However, I've never been a label reader. I normally don't check out the ingredients to see how much sodium or sugar is in the contents. As a mom, I'm beginning to see the importance of what I allow my children to ingest. I guess, in order to know though, I have to check the label.

We've been attending cottage prayer meetings with our church fellowship once a week for the entire month of January. I sat there Tuesday night and the Holy Spirit began to open my heart.
How many times do we place labels on individuals? We label them as this or that without considering they struggle with the same kinds of things we do. I may not agree with choices they make or understand addictions they have. The truth is we can all find hope in Christ alone. He knows and understands our struggles, choices, likes and dislikes and desires us to come to Him as we are.

Lord, help me to see people as people and not like cans on a shelf. Labels are for cans, not people. Help me to love people for who they are and examine cans for what's inside, not the other way around.

Is there a Doctor in the house?

I'm not necessarily a movie buff, but I do enjoy a good movie every now and then. One of my personal favorites is Ocean's Eleven...with George Clooney and Brad Pitt. They work very well together on screen. There's one scene in the movie where Brad Pitt's con man character appears dressed in some seventies get up with a wig and says, "Did some one call for a doctor?" And all of a sudden I find myself thinking how dumb can someone be to really think he's a doctor dressed like that?!

The last few months in our house have been full of trips to the doc for our poor Sam. He's currently battling his 4th double ear infection since the end of August. He's on his 4th round of antibiotics and is finally sleeping through the night again. After seeing the doc last Friday with Sam and Drew, I woke up with the nasty stomach bug Saturday morning early. As I lay in bed wishing to vomit everything in me, including the bug, so that I could feel better, I was shaken by the words of Jesus Christ.

Healthy people don't need a doctor-sick people do.

My mind immediately raced back to my precious Sam. What symptoms was he exhibiting that made me decide he needed to see a doctor? Was he running fever, extremely irritable, more clingy than normal? None of these. He simply had changed his sleep pattern. Call me crazy, I knew something wasn't right. But to most, he didn't appear to be sick. However, I know my child and I know his needs. Where I was visibly sick and it was obvious I needed a doctor, it wasn't so much with Sam.

My heart churned in me...or was it my stomach? Either way, I had come to the point of realization. Christ answered a question not posed to him but to his friends.

Mark 2:15-17

The world we live in offers instant answers to life's problems. As a matter of fact, there are many people out there posing as doctors who have no medical training and even appear to be out of character. However, people flock to them because they do not desire to wait and are unwilling to pay what's required to see a real doctor.

When it comes to spiritual matters, it is no wonder people flock to other religions. When I look at our churches, I often see people, many or few, who'd rather see what the world has to offer than trusting the Great Physician. How can we be the body of Christ and sit in pews judging our neighbors...that, my friend, is what a Pharisee was - religious and judgmental, refusing to see their own sickness because they couldn't stop looking at everyone else's.

Best form of advertisement - word of mouth. I have a doctor who's daily helping me overcome my own self-righteousness and teaching me to Love others - no matter their circumstances, lifestyle, or socioeconomic status. His name is Jesus. He doesn't want you to come to him perfect. He just wants you to come to him as you are...anger, sickness, addictions, self-righteousness and all. Maybe you see your spiritual (or physical) symptoms or maybe you don't. Just come.

Getting passed me

I like fall, football Saturdays and the changing leaves. I like mornings, sunrises and birds singing. I like sunsets, starry nights and the sound of crickets.

I enjoy napping on the porch swing under a beautifully hand-stitched blanket. I enjoy the sound of my boys laughing together. I enjoy a comfy pair of jeans, a t-shirt and some flip-flops.

I'd rather listen to music with the windows open while cleaning than watch television any day! I'd rather be in a place where the pace is slow and the only traffic sounds heard are the rare car passing by or the train whistle in the distance.

I want my boys to see Christ in me. I want to live life focused on the eternal rather than the temporal. I want my legacy to be more than valueless things and more of investing in the value of others.

I'm learning that getting passed me, the things I fear, dislike and dread, is more than an emotional moment. It's a personal commitment to the one who made me and the only one who can change me. I'm learning that Christ in me is the only way passed me.