Everything's Bigger in Texas

My little blog has been neglected (sorry little blog).

There is so much I want to talk about, but I cannot type as fast as my thoughts flow (let the typos begin). Anyway, here we go…

This weekend one of my closest friends and I drove to Texas to see my old roommate. I drove. Driving with me is always an experience (I like to think it is only because I have bad luck). On the way there I only took a dead end street once, got us lost on all the bridges near Fort Worth twice, and only drove on the wrong side of the rode once (Not my fault. Those roads should be marked more clearly.). That may seem like a lot, but for me that is an extremely successful trip.

Not to pick on Texas (I have a lot of family from there and really like it), but people just drive differently there. Everyone seems to be in a hurry and it seems like people are always going somewhere. No one seems to know how to enjoy the experience of driving. Which got me thinking (Oh no, she’s thinking again!)…

“I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope.” –Psalm 130:5

God wants me to wait on him this summer and seek him in all I do. Yet the farther I get into summer, the harder this is being for me. I feel like I am that crazy driver unable to enjoy the journey (something I talked about in an earlier post) and in a hurry to get to my destination. Whatever that destination may be.  I feel like everything around me is moving faster than I want to keep up and I have an obligation to keep pace. Between my job, my summer class, church stuff, attempting to go to the gym, and everything else it is becoming a lot to keep up with. But I don’t think God wants me to keep pace with my life that is becoming increasingly crazier. Keeping pace with all the craziness of being busy means I am going to miss out on him, and things just aren’t even worth it if he is not a part of them. I only find fulfillment in life by seeking him above all this. My suddenly crazy busy summer will always be there waiting for me. I just have to take the time to slow down and make sure I am still letting God be a part of it. Be sure he is still the “destination” I am seeking.

I think it is the writer in me that loves seeing things through analogies, and I love how God has been showing me so much this summer through little things like Texas traffic (Which is really no little thing. Everything really is bigger in Texas. They ain’t just bragging down there.).

I have posted this verse before, but God keeps bringing it to mind. It is a reminder that he knows I need.

“Wait for the Lord, be strong and take heart, and wait for the Lord.” –Psalm 27:14

This is what I plan on doing.

"I am Free to Run"

My sidewalk chalk interpertation of Lake Hefner

By no means do I profess to be a nature lover. There are too many bugs for me to really love it. Big bugs, little bugs, fat bugs, thin bugs (Dr. Seuss anyone?). Yet, I love being outside despite the bugs. My favorite place to read is outside when it is a warm, sunny day. I had a meeting today, and I left my house early so that I could read out by a lake in Oklahoma City for awhile. I spent some time reading in Psalms and God brought this verse to my attention:

"I will run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free." -Psalms 119:32

God is great about showing us things in his word at just the right moment. There is a biking/walking/jogging path/track (I don't know what it is called) that goes around the lake. I thought about all the runners on the path. Many people go running on that path for a variety of reasons. These runners have the freedom to do so because they have feet and legs that are able to work and will carry them. I can run in the path of his commands, because he has given me this freedom.

"And all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." -Romans 3:24

If you can't already tell, I really like analogies, and this runner/path one really got me thinking. A path is something that a person follows, which logically means someone had to already have made this path. I am reminded of a verse in Deutoronomy:

"Then I said to you, 'Do not be terrified, do not be afraid of them. The Lord your God who is going before you will fight for you, as he did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes." -Deutoronomy 1:29-30

I am able to run in this amazing freedom, because Christ has gone before me and is fighting for me just like he did for the Israelites. What a comforting thought! Maybe I should read by lakes on sunny days more often...

It's a Jungle Out There!

What you see above is an attempt to be creative using sidewalk chalk. The result is nothing short of pure artistic genius (okay, maybe I just copied the picture on the back of the chalk package). I love sidewalk chalk, and I bought some last night after going to dinner with my family. This is no ordinary sidewalk chalk. It is "sidewalk chalk: safari colors edition." Hence, the back of the package had this lovely jungle scene that I did my best to recreate in my parents' driveway. Although the rain will soon wash this masterpiece away, its memory will be forever honored on my quaint little blog.

I have been at a loss as to what to blog about over the past week. Every time I would think about posting, my heart just wasn't in it. I didn't know why this was, but then I realized that neither had my heart been in my daily time spent alone with the Lord. The world is so full of distractions for me. When I picture a person standing in a jungle (kind of like the one I drew), I imagine that the person would be overwhelmed by all the different noises, animals, bugs(unfortunately), plants... There is an entire "jungle" of things in my life that constantly vie for my attention. It is so hard at times to not let these "jungle noises" distract me from spending time with God.

"Great are the works of the Lord; they are pondered by all who delight in them." -Psalm 111:2

I read this verse during one of my quiet times earlier this week. It really convicted me. As I sat reading this verse, I was reading my Bible only to check it off my "daily Christan duties list." Instead of merely reading God's word, I should be delighting in it! It is full of his works, his faithfulness, his power, and the list goes on. This brings to mind for me a verse in James:

"Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." -James 1:22

These verses really make me think about how I read God's word. Am I delighting in the things of him when I read it? Am I reading it to be instructed, challenged, and convicted? Or am I just reading to mark it off my "list?" Unfortunately my answers are usually "no" to the first two questions, and "yes" to the last one. It shouldn't be this way for me, and it saddens my heart that it often is. If I am not being intentional when I spend time in God's word then how is my heart and my mind going to be ready to notice all the "abundant sunshine" God has for me in it?