LOVING JESUS. It all boils down to one simple thing:  LOVING JESUS. 

It's not about rules, its about LOVING JESUS.  It's not about doing my share of work at church, it's about LOVING JESUS.  It's not about anything but LOVING JESUS.  FIRST.  

Everything else I need in this life of being His follower will come when I simply LOVE JESUS.   If I love Jesus, I will obey Him.  If I love Jesus, I will tell others about Him.  If love Jesus, I will love His people.  If I love Jesus, I will serve His people.  If I love Jesus, I won't love the world or the things in the world.   If I love Jesus, I will, eventually.. look like Jesus.    When I teach others, I will teach them to LOVE Jesus.  When I sing it's because I LOVE JESUS.   Deep theological discussions don't really matter unless the people who are hearing them are challenged to LOVE JESUS MORE.   Loving Jesus is something the Holy Spirit accomplishes. 

I am blessed to come from two parents whose lives have taught me ONE GREAT LESSON - love Jesus more than anyone or anything on earth.  I've watched them through these decades.  I've watched others watching them.  They chose the narrow path and God has taken care of them.  They have truly followed the "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God".. and God has taken care of them in every way.

The Bible calls the Church The Bride of Christ.  We are being prepared to meet our Groom - who plainly states that if our love for Him is lukewarm, He'll spit us out.  Pretty strong words but they're His, not mine. Evidently, the way we love OR DON'T love Him matters to Him!

So then "if I'm not in love with The Groom what makes me think I'm The Bride?"  Certainly not the Groom - who demands white hot FIRST LOVE.  Who convinced millions of us that "going to church" is having a relationship? ... Not a judgement - just something to consider.  

Would you do me a favor?  I'm looking for some REAL OPINIONS HERE. Would you send me yours?  Please?  I'm not going to post these on this website... but for my own research, I'd like to get some various answers to: 

• What would you do if you could start a Women's Ministry in the church you attend?
  
• If you could describe the PERFECT (for you) Women's Ministry how would you describe it?
  
• What are some reasons you are NOT involved with the EXISTING Women's Ministry at your church?
• Describe the kind of Women's Ministry leader you think would best serve women.
• If you ever STOPPED being part of the women's ministry at your church, please tell me what made you stop.

IN MY CONTINUING SAGA OF A LOVE/HATE RELATIONSHIP WITH THE GYM...I have stumbled upon an environment that seems to be helping me to overcome.  It's a combination of mirrors and music.

I have started to use the treadmill that is closest to the mirror.  Whenever I start to convince myself that I don't really need to be on the treadmill and get tempted to stop because my hot little feet  that are stuck in those hot little socks and hot little sneakers are GASPING FOR COOL AIR - I just take a glance at the image of myself in the mirror.   Hello!  Reality! 

The mirror doesn't lie.   Sure I had some "hints" that I was in need of behavior modification.  Like, for example, my jeans.  Like - uhh.. they were cutting off the air to my lungs and the circulation in my body - and it took me three hours and 7 minutes to get the zipper up. I kinda, sorta GUESSED that my body was giving me a "clue" that I needed to stop eating like a prisoner on Death Row would eat his last day on earth.....it's the MIRROR that is doing the job of getting me to get my life in to a position of health. The reason the treadmill is such an uphill climb is that I didn't take enough honest looks in the mirror in the past.   

But  - if all I did was look in the mirror, then I might get discouraged and think that my goal of winning Tyra Bank's "America's Next Supermodel" competition is not a distinct possibility.   (Remember that some of you agreed to join me in prayer for an extra six inches of height??? So... I'm believing.. I'm believing.. and hopefully you'll see me on TV in next season's episodes) The mirror shows me the reality of the condition I'm really in.. BUT - (and it's a big but, no pun intended)  looking at it for TOO LONG might be COUNTER-productive.  

So... I've also got my headphones in and I'm listening to music that I love.  The music balances out the reality of the mirror.  The music lifts my heart, takes my mind off my condition, makes me focus on something beautiful and  keeps me on target and.. mostly.. the music (combined with the mirror) keeps me on ON THAT STUPID, STUPID treadmill.  The music reminds me there is more to who I am than how I look on the outside.(though looking good on the outside is something women care about)....but..  It reminds me that a big heart is just as important as a big _____... well anything.      I was thinking about the spiritual analogy.    

When I'm spiritually "out-of-shape" it's because I haven't taken the time to look at myself in  God's Mirror - the Bible.   I may compare myself to people around me and think I'm doing as well as they are in being a follower of Jesus,but God's Word tells me I must compare myself to Jesus.   I get spiritual "hints" also  that I'm not as spiritually "fit" as I should be.   My patience is depleted, my love is non-existent, my temper comes back into focus and people become VERY ANNOYING when I'm not spending time in God's Word.

Those "hints" make me  realize that I've got lots of spiritual work to do.  But in my FLESH "dwells no good thing".  If I keep looking at myself compared to what the Bible says I should be I might get so discouraged that I'll give up - because I'm far short of being like Jesus.   Being like Jesus is a HIGH AND LOFTY GOAL.  I cannot whip myself in to spiritual shape without the help of God's Spirit.  Without the Holy Spirit, honestly, I cannot accomplish it AT ALL.   

When I look in the Bible and realize what I should be compared to what I am, it's then that prayer, praise and worship must take over.  If I focus on my failings for too long, then I cannot focus on Jesus victories.    I must take my focus OFF myself and focus on the fact that Jesus promised that HE would "complete the work that HE began in me".    I didn't save myself - He did.  I can't keep myself- He will.    

There is no SPIRITUAL TREADMILL.   HOORAY!!!  HOORAY!!! HOORAY!!!  I simply offer a prayer to God and He just GIVES ME a PERFECT spiritual body. What a deal.   look in God's Word and see that I can NEVER BE what I SHOULD BE..   So then I lift my eyes.  I admit I'm nothing. I admit I can't do it, be it, accomplish it, win it.  Then I see the Cross.  Oh WOW.  Every single thing I need to be was accomplished by Jesus on that Cross.  WOW... WOW... WOW... WOW..  I can't make myself perfect - but JESUS DOES.  WOW. AMAZING WOW. 

Anyway.. that's what I was thinking about this morning when I was on that STUPID treadmill.

Today is my parent's 65th Wedding Anniversary.  They're still in love.  They're very cute.  I'm watching their lives.  Observing.  Seeing how God has always blessed them.. healed them... protected them.   And God has and is the VERY CENTER OF THEIR LIVES.   And of course, they are Godly people.. filled with his power... But I've watched their daily life, and in every circumstance they always choose to do the right thing.  Whatever the right thing to do happens to be, they do it. 

Life happens.. to everybody... and some times there are some things we just don't understand.    Trusting God is easy when you get answers to prayers.  The following words are to a song I wrote in..uh.. 1998.. or 1999...  Since that time God has given many answers.. and shown me that what the enemy means for evil God will turn for good.  I didn't see the future then.. but He did.   He wasn't NOT answering.. he was just working things out.

Anyway... the music is kinda James Taylor-ish... guitar... and goes like this - with a shuffle kind of a beat.. Here's the music:   la.. la...la...laaaaaa......laa.. laa...chhc..chhc...ch..  ch...chcch....la.. dummm..dumm.. laa..la..OK.. and here's the words. Maybe someone reading them will be encouraged to know that trusting God isn't always easy.......but.. it's always right.

WHEN THE ANSWERS DO NOT COME 

It wasn't very long ago I used to know it all

Wise in my own eyes, so sure that I would never fall 

It wasn't very long ago I thought I was someone 

But you find out who you really are, when the answers do not come.

Life is hard enough with what it hands you every day;

and it gets harder still by what it quickly takes away; 

Can days with death and sadness still be days God's will is done?

Here I sit in my confusion and the answers do not come. 

BRIDGE: 

Lord, you hold the answers to these questions in Your Hand;

Hold on to me until the day I understand.  

Now I understand that God has questions of His own. 

Will the storms of life cause me to fall before His throne?

Or will this time of testing make me take my soul and run? 

And will I choose to follow Him  - when the answers do not come?

Words and music by Marie Armenia

copyright 1999 Penny Hill Publishing/ASCAP

No reproduction without permission 

There have been times during my years on earth that I don't seem to "get" what everybody else is "getting".   I joke around and say that I'm looking for the Mother Ship.  Anyway, one thing I don't get is the way people (mostly men??) have turned sports in to a holy thing.  I just don't get it.  Help me.. someone! 

For example yesterday was one of those "Martian" days.    Phil was watching a movie on TV starring Matt Damon as a golfer and Will Smith was his wise sage of a caddy.  I was sitting on the deck.. It was almost 70 here yesterday - and I'd come in every now and then to catch up on the movie and the Daytona 500.   

And so the story is that somehow Will Smith's character helped Matt Damon's character overcome a slump and win a golf match.  And the music was playing.. HUGE orchestra, dramatic string lines, people's faces filled with passion.....It was VERY EMOTIONAL.  VERY.  And Matt Damon hit the ball in the hole. And I said to Phil, "I don't get it.   All he's doing is hitting a little white ball in to a hole. I mean, it's good for him that he did that, I guess, but what's so amazing about a man who can hit a little white ball in to a hole?  Wouldn't most people be able to hit a white ball in to a small hole if that's all we practiced - day after day after day?"   I admire his ability to learn a skill - like for example, I learned how to balance the cream and sugar holders on my left wrist, while carrying two cups of hot coffee out to the deck - thereby avoiding a return trip to the kitchen.  I practiced and practiced and now I have it down.  He practiced and practiced hitting the ball in a hole and now he has it down.  OK.  Good deal for him.  Good deal for me and all the people waiting on my deck for a cup of coffee.

And Phil explained it was that he overcame something inside himself - something telling him he couldn't do it - and it was that he didn't let himself get down and out that is noteworthy.    Well, ok, I get THAT, but why did they have to make a movie out of it?   I mean I know lots of single moms who are overcoming something inside themselves every time they have to get up and go to work and leave their kids at school or daycare? So Matt Damon's character overcame insecurity... and triumphed... and the result of that triumph is that - he hit a little white ball in to a hole. Right?  Or am I missing something?  

It's not that have anything against golf.. or any sport. I mean outside of the golf course  how does that talent play out in real life?   

Of course, watching the Daytona 500 is different because those guys RISK THEIR LIVES driving those cars... AND if someone is going to be stupid enough to get in a car and drive around a track at 200 miles per hour with 46 other guys doing the same thing, NOW THAT'S worth watching. 

And that's a talent you can use.... because...someday.. if you need to go to the hospital... and you car breaks down....and you know.... Jimmie Johnson or Dale Earnhardt, Jr.  happens to be passing by... and he sees your car broken down... and he picks you up .. he KNOWS HOW TO drive 200 MPH to get you to your local hospital..That's a sport you can USE.   But a ball.. in a hole?  I don't get it.   Maybe I'm a Martian.   (My friend Terry just sent me an email which has an interesting fact about the game of golf. The name supposedly is the acronym for Gentlemen Only Ladies Forbidden. Whadya think?  Is that true?)
 

Ever heard the "Blanket Forgiveness Phrase"... "If I've done something to hurt you.... will you please forgive me?"  I say "yes" because I'm called to forgive others in the same way I've been forgiven by the Lord.  I'm supposed to forgive the way I was forgiven. Isn't it true that  God doesn't forgive anyone who doesn't ask to be forgiven??  

It isn't easy to forgive.  It isn't easy to ask for forgiveness either.  But just because it isn't easy doesn't mean I'm not required to be both forgiver and repenter.