Thursday, May 16, 2013

Grass and weeds....


It's that time again....the yard is turning green.....

....green with grass and weeds....


Sometimes it seems that the weeds are taking over and just will not go away! 

We spray them....we pluck them....yet they still return....

To invade the "perfect" sea of green grass we all long for....



Sometimes our lives as Christians may seem like a blade of grass...

....growing in places that have weeds to our left and to our right...

We feel outnumbered and wonder if we can keep up this difficult walk....

The mighty prophet Elijah felt overwhelmed and outnumbered...

....as the feelings of defeat consumed him....

1 Kings 19:14 - He replied again, "I have zealously served the LORD God Almighty. But the people of Israel have broken their covenant with you, torn down your altars, and killed every one of your prophets. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me, too."

The LORD then told him of 7,000 others that still served the living God. 

1 Kings 19:18 - "Yet I will preserve 7,000 others in Israel who have never bowed down to Baal or kissed him!"

So, fellow blades of grass.....never give fighting the good fight! 

1 TImothy 6:12 "Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses."

For when we stand together....

....firm in our faith....

...shining God's love by the actions of our lives...

...we can overcome the weeds and spread the Good News to all around us....





Thursday, May 9, 2013

Labor of Love....


Baseball season has begun....



 


The pitcher throwing his heart out....for the sound of the ball 
hitting the catcher's glove....STRIKE! 

How sweet the sound!


A new band of brothers....all together fighting for a victory....


After the hard-fought battle, there are stains....

....grass and orange dirt rubbed deep into the uniform pants... 

....WHITE uniform pants....

I love the color white...but on baseball pants....

...what a labor of love to scrub out those ugly orange knees after every game. The sick, imperfect look of the dirty pants...stained and soiled...



They remind me of how imperfect and dirty I look 
in my sin to my heavenly Father.... 

....His perfect creation....made in His image...now dirty...

...Oh how far from glory we fell...

.....I don't really grasp just how far until I gaze upon these dirty pants.... 

....the glory I once had, never to return without a sacrifice....

....The love GOD poured out to wash us clean again....

...through the blood of His son are my sins washed as white as snow....


Isaiah 1:18 "Come now, let's settle this," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow."

His patient and tireless effort to continually make me clean again each day....

 Lamentations 3:23 "Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning."

And so, I scrub...

...and feel so grateful that though I am a dirty sinner, 
my Redeemer loves me enough to wash me clean each and every day!