Taking The High Road

This week's Bible blog is inspired by portions from Genesis 14-21.

There are several components of these chapters that stand out to me.

First, Abram and Lot decide they need to part ways. God has blessed them so much that they cannot stay together and maintain the same level of prosperity. Abram trusts God and yields the choice of land to Lot . Lot looks around and in complete selfishness chooses the best land for himself. Abram goes along with it and they split up. The succeeding story tells how Abram continues to be blessed beyond measure while Lot lives in fear of the evil people in the territory he chose for himself. He even had to be rescued from abduction during war by Abram.

Haven't you ever been in that situation? You take the high road and yield to another person and they completely take advantage of your generosity. Then, they seem to get the better end of the deal and you're left asking yourself, "What did I just do and why in the world did I do it?" Enter God into the situation...Isn't it just sensational how he honored Abram's unselfishness and gave him bounty despite the fact that his land might have been inferior to Lot 's. Additionally, look at where Lot 's selfishness got him. He lands in Sodom where everyone is a target for sexual depravity and he has to lock himself and his family up at night to keep them safe. He is still trying to live a righteous life, but he has completely missed the mark.

It is so easy to be discouraged when we see others who have attained their success through less than proper means, meanwhile we struggle and strive to live righteously and sometimes feel we're not getting ahead. Take another look at this story. I find it interesting that the Bible specifically tells us that Abram thrived financially but it says nothing about Lot . Perhaps because the way his life turned out it doesn't matter how much moeny he made along the way. He might have been doing great at earning a livingbut he gained all his success at the expense of his family. He had daughters that he was willing to trade to the vile men of Sodom and he loses his wife in a desperate escape.

The road of righteousness might sometimes be less glamourous than the road of self-indulgence, but the reward is worth any sacrifices we might make along the way.

Guilty Pleasures and Double Standards

My husband and I have started a light-hearted and loving banter about our guilty pleasures. He loves fantasy baseball and football in their seasons and he also loves the X-Box sports games that allow the player to manage the team. He loves the alternate reality aspect of the game, not just the actual game playing. I've never really understood this until recently.

One of my Facebook friends, who will remain nameless, gave me a harmless apple tree, which brought with it an invitation to play "Farm Town." Though I love keeping up with distant friends and families and I am definitely an active picture poster, (you would be too if you had my little boy posing for you!) I've never gotten into any games on Facebook, usually quietly ignoring the invitations I am sent. But now, thanks to my aforementioned nameless friend, my calm Facebook world has changed.

I started out cautiously, without a plan, plowing a field here, throwing a tree there, animals roaming aimlessly all over my land...my farm was a mess. Then, I learned that you can earn farm currency by working at other farms. I figured I'd give it a try. I traveled to the marketplace to find work as a farm hand which allowed me to visit various farms as their proprieters hired me. I saw one level 24 farm (as I remained on level three) and I was hooked. While at once thinking, "Wow, this person spends way too much time on here," I confess I also thought, "Wow, maybe someday my farm will look like this!" The love affair was solidified.

The current obsession stands. I'm trying to earn more coins to expand my farm and eagerly await the coming in of each harvest. I even tried to persuade my husband to reply to a book club offer which would have earned me over 30,000 farm coins...at that point the banter began. (Hey, it was a cook book club, he should have been all over that, right?)

He thinks my new obsession with this game is ridiculous while I believe it to be equal to his love of fantasy sports. He said, "It's not even close to the same thing!" Presumably because the opportunity for him to manage a baseball team exists only in virtual reality while we actually do have our own garden. I can get out there and plant tomatoes any time I want. I see the difference, but the success of my virtual garden which is plowed, planted and harvested in just days, inspires me to work even harder in my real garden. What does fantasy baseball inspire him to do?

This is our fun-loving disagreement and we're having fun laughing at each other. If we can't laugh at ourselves then how boring would life be? It's all in good fun and that's how we roll.

Anyway, Farm Town could just be a phase I am going through, and I'm quite sure that there are more productive uses of my time, but right now I am having a blast watching my perfect little cartoon farm take shape. My sunflowers will be ready to harvest tonight...

Reading The Right Story

This week's Bible blog is based on my reading of Genesis Chapter's 7-12.

There is one story in this section of Genesis that has always affected me. After his great and glorious victory of saving humanity through his own family's righteousness, being charged with the repopulation of the earth, and personally receiving God's first promise to never again flood the earth...Noah gets drunk.

It's funny, because in the human sense you think, "Well yeah, he got drunk! Wouldn't you want a drink?" But it seems so "unrighteous" to us, doesn't it? And God chose this man because of his righteousness.

I realized why I have struggled with this story, though. I was reading the WRONG story! This is not a story about a man who enjoyed the fruits of his vineyard too much. This is a story about a son who saw his father's weakness and mocked him. This son, Ham, even tried to bring his brothers over to mock their father along with him. He showed disrespect and disdain for the man whose righteousness had just saved his life, and his wife's life.

It is also a story about two loving sons, Shem and Japheth, who respected their father so much that they covered his "nakedness." They did not draw attention to his infraction. They covered it for him, until he was able to do so himself.

This story holds great relevance for the church today, and for individual families, as well. None of us are perfect, and the minute we start to act like we are, we condemn ourselves. (Forgive and you will be forgiven, withhold forgiveness and it will be withheld from you). Many today came out of less than perfect home lives, much like the earth before the flood. But now we, like Noah's family, have been rescued and set apart. So now, when we return to that world we have a choice. Are we going to call out the infractions of others at their expense, to make ourselves feel better? Or, will we be willing to overlook their shortcomings and remember that they are still people worthy of respect?

Regardless of his human frailty, God chose Noah. Perhaps, despite my own imperfections, He could even choose me.

Deception, Truth, and Real Mercy

I've decided that I am going to include in my blog a weekly discussion on what I'm reading and learning from my Bible reading. So, starting with the beginning, here we go...

From that moment in the garden when we first chose to doubt God’s word, His character, and chose instead to trust the lie of the enemy; to trust our own thoughts and emotions, we have never stopped doubting.

With love staring us in the face we doubt its sincerity. With a paycheck in hand we fear or doubt whether it will be enough. With God’s words in our hearts we doubt whether His promises are really valid for us, in our lives.

From that first seed of doubt planted in the Garden of Eden has sprouted this ubiquitous and pervasive tree that squelches and shadows every area of our lives.

“Has God said…?” asks the voice of doubt. Then we have another choice. We can heed the voice and continue to doubt the very essence of God or we can shout back.

“Yes! God HAS said that I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus! Yes! God has said that He has a purpose and a plan for my life! Yes! God has said that my worth is far above rubies!”

As I read the opening chapters of the Bible I am overwhelmed by God’s overflowing mercy. Despite the reality that at every step, humanity failed to trust His goodness, failed to trust His love, failed to obey His commandments, failed to heed His warnings; still He continues to invest in us. He continues to strive with us, to enable us to become all that He knows we are capable of becoming. And surely He knows all that we are capable of becoming, for it was His masterful hands which fashioned us. He never ceases helping us reach for the relationship for which we were created.

We can doubt and fuss and fight, but His mercies are new every morning just the same and He will never give up on us.

How Did I Get Here?

Have you ever asked yourself that question? I think I might ask it a bit too often. It's not necessarily a negative thoght, either. How did I get here, married to the most amazing man I've ever met? How did I get here, with the most adorable little boy ever born? How did I get here, living in the beautiful, old Victorian house of my dreams? Do you see what I mean? There are lots of good ways to ask the question.

Then, of course, there are the less than encouraging queries. How did I get here, with three different body fluids from the same little boy on my shirt? (Didn't I used to be a well dressed business woman?) How did I get here, where my idea of conversation is, "Where is Noble's nose?" How did I get here, when I might wear make up a whopping once a week (and probably on that same finally do more with my hair than a pony tail - although I have just about perfected the versatile pony tail...it can be high, low, on the side, in the center, half pulled through, curly, straight, or of the pig variety - Really, how did I get here?!).

It is a funny thing to think about, really. I have asked myself this question often over the years of my life and I am just beginning to find that there is contentment in the answer. Oh, my life might once have sounded more exciting in the telling, to be sure. Professional singer, songwriter, actress, model, then business woman living in Nashville, New York, traveling often. That sounds like fun even to me and I lived it. As it begins to sound exciting I have to remind myself that I never quite felt fulfilled, truly content. Yet, when I sit on my back porch and watch my baby boy toddle from me over to the grass and pick a blade for chewing there is a sudden swell of overwhelming unworthiness that fills me. How did I get here? How is it that I am so fortunate that God chose me to live this life?

I don't know how I got here, but I know I can't waste it.