Last night, Coach and I were invited by a lovely family to eat some yummy food and watch a movie. Since the guys outnumbered the girls, we couldn't watch a happy "Chick Flick". Bummer. I love feel good movies. It's a little bit of non-reality. Between paying bills, unending oil spills, dying animals, losing jobs, flooding, and sickness... life can get a little, well... depressing. Those movies that portray the perfect love story make the world seem just a little happier!
Anyway, back to the movie we chose -- Seven Pounds. It turned out to be an interesting concept... and maybe slightly feel good, but I wish they would have written it a little more straightforward... you know, so a blonde can understand it! Sheesh! Once I finally picked up on what was going on, I got to thinking..... (Warning: Spoilers in the next paragraph...)
Tim/Ben Thomas (Will Smith) was a aeronautical engineer whose life seemed to be going grand. Until he was driving home one night with his fiancee and caused an accident while messing with his cell phone. Seven people were killed. He basically decides after the accident to redeem himself by saving seven people. He gives a lung to his brother, a kidney to a hockey coach, a piece of his liver to a social worker, bone marrow to a child, a house to a lady who was living in an abusive relationship... and finally, he commits suicide to give corneas to a blind man and a heart to a lady dying of congenital heart disease. Wow. Talk about giving. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't believe in suicide. But,
Sort of like Christ gave for us. But, He gave so much more. He died to save the whole world... not just seven people. In the movie, Will Smith had to deem these people worthy of his organs. But Christ doesn't do that. We are all worthy of redemption. No matter what.
What if the "receivers" in the movie hadn't accepted Tim/Ben's gift? The blind man would've never been able to see the color of the ocean. The lady with congenital heart disease probably would have died. The child probably would have died. But Tim's gift helped them to live life more abundantly. So it is with Christ....
John 10:10 - "I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly."
Are you using His gift of redemption and living life more abundantly? Or are you rejecting the gift and missing out on so much?
Friday, June 25, 2010
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Thermometer or Thermostat?
This week I watched Julie and Julia and the movie inspired me to cook some off the wall recipes. I've been sticking with just bland salmon, chicken, potatoes, rice and veggies, but this week I gave our food a makeover. Because I'm incredibly paranoid about raw chicken, I had to break out the thermometer for the chicken one night. That thermometer did a great job of telling me the temperature, but I couldn't tell the thermometer to hurry up and get make the chicken warmer because I was hungry. It wouldn't have cared. All it knew how to do was to tell me what the temperature currently was.
While the little thermometer sat in the chicken waiting for it to reach the correct temperature, there was a war going on in the other room. A war of the thermostat. DAH DAH DUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM.
It has been hotter than a wool sweater in July down here and we've had to turn the air conditioning on. Now, coach likes for it to be Artic in the house at all times. I however, prefer to have feeling in my toes.... and to use my paycheck on something a lot more fun than an electric bill. So we've been having quite a battle. He turns down.......... I get cold and turn it up...........he gets hot and turns it down. And the poor A/C unit is begging us to please just decide on one temperature. I admit, the war is getting old. But, I'm glad that we are willing to get up and do something about it... even if it is just because we are both stubborn!
Why am I talking about these two things? Both of these devices have something to do with temperature. As I said, the thermometer just tells us what temperature it is. A thermostat though, helps to change the temperature in the room. Alright, here comes the deep stuff. Think about it.
We've all known some thermostats in our lives. There is that person that always seems to bring a brightness or calmness to the room when they enter. And then there are those ones who have had bad days or are in a bad mood and when they walks into the room, everyone knows JUST how bad their day really is/has been.
Do you set the climate for the world you live in, or do you simply adjust to the climate of the world? Are you influencing others or being influenced by others? Are you complaining about the state of the world or campaigning to make changes? Are you a thermostat or a thermometer????
While the little thermometer sat in the chicken waiting for it to reach the correct temperature, there was a war going on in the other room. A war of the thermostat. DAH DAH DUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM.
It has been hotter than a wool sweater in July down here and we've had to turn the air conditioning on. Now, coach likes for it to be Artic in the house at all times. I however, prefer to have feeling in my toes.... and to use my paycheck on something a lot more fun than an electric bill. So we've been having quite a battle. He turns down.......... I get cold and turn it up...........he gets hot and turns it down. And the poor A/C unit is begging us to please just decide on one temperature. I admit, the war is getting old. But, I'm glad that we are willing to get up and do something about it... even if it is just because we are both stubborn!
Why am I talking about these two things? Both of these devices have something to do with temperature. As I said, the thermometer just tells us what temperature it is. A thermostat though, helps to change the temperature in the room. Alright, here comes the deep stuff. Think about it.
We've all known some thermostats in our lives. There is that person that always seems to bring a brightness or calmness to the room when they enter. And then there are those ones who have had bad days or are in a bad mood and when they walks into the room, everyone knows JUST how bad their day really is/has been.
Do you set the climate for the world you live in, or do you simply adjust to the climate of the world? Are you influencing others or being influenced by others? Are you complaining about the state of the world or campaigning to make changes? Are you a thermostat or a thermometer????
Sunday, June 6, 2010
It's a God thing...you wouldn't understand
I am still alive. Just ridiculously busy. I don't have much time now. I just had to share this cool story. I never cease to be amazed by the way God works...when we let Him!
A few weeks ago we had missed church for like four weeks in a row because of guests in town or us being out of town. When we went back to church, the tithe check had built up to quite a substantial sum. Coach has granted me duties over the money, so I wrote out the tithe check and handed it to him. He looked at it and said "Whoa, can we afford that?" I said, "Yeah, it seems like a lot because we haven't been in so many weeks, but the way I see it, we can't afford NOT to." He agreed.
Living on a teacher's salary and a part time position is not easy, but we know that we have to tithe and God will take care of it. Every month when I look at our income and our outflow, it doesn't match up. At all. But our bank account has somehow never gone into the negative.... somehow... someway. *Looks for wood to knock on*
I actually know the way. It's a God thing. We don't understand it. Here's the second part of that story.
That tithe check DID hurt coming out of the bank. We were strapped last week and not sure if we were going to be able to make a trip that we had to make for Coach's school. I had finally resolved that it was a thing we had to do so I cringed and started digging out the credit card (yes, it is hidden. I even contemplated freezing it in a coffee can like the girl in Confessions of a Shopaholic!). BUT... the day before we were supposed to leave, I get an email from Amazon.com Marketplace from a textbook listing that I put up five months ago when I was cleaning out our back room and completely forgot about. The book sold. It was the most expensive book we had listed and coincedentially covered the money we needed. Seriously.... isn't God cool? He knows how to make this girl smile and breathe a sigh of relief....and give him praise.... and ask forgiveness for not fully trusting Him...
Since then, our cell phone bill also decreased by $20, our electric bill by $50 and I've been able to work some extra time to bring in some extra money. God is good... ALL THE TIME!
A few weeks ago we had missed church for like four weeks in a row because of guests in town or us being out of town. When we went back to church, the tithe check had built up to quite a substantial sum. Coach has granted me duties over the money, so I wrote out the tithe check and handed it to him. He looked at it and said "Whoa, can we afford that?" I said, "Yeah, it seems like a lot because we haven't been in so many weeks, but the way I see it, we can't afford NOT to." He agreed.
Living on a teacher's salary and a part time position is not easy, but we know that we have to tithe and God will take care of it. Every month when I look at our income and our outflow, it doesn't match up. At all. But our bank account has somehow never gone into the negative.... somehow... someway. *Looks for wood to knock on*
I actually know the way. It's a God thing. We don't understand it. Here's the second part of that story.
That tithe check DID hurt coming out of the bank. We were strapped last week and not sure if we were going to be able to make a trip that we had to make for Coach's school. I had finally resolved that it was a thing we had to do so I cringed and started digging out the credit card (yes, it is hidden. I even contemplated freezing it in a coffee can like the girl in Confessions of a Shopaholic!). BUT... the day before we were supposed to leave, I get an email from Amazon.com Marketplace from a textbook listing that I put up five months ago when I was cleaning out our back room and completely forgot about. The book sold. It was the most expensive book we had listed and coincedentially covered the money we needed. Seriously.... isn't God cool? He knows how to make this girl smile and breathe a sigh of relief....and give him praise.... and ask forgiveness for not fully trusting Him...
Since then, our cell phone bill also decreased by $20, our electric bill by $50 and I've been able to work some extra time to bring in some extra money. God is good... ALL THE TIME!
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