Living water flows......

Yesterday Christopher and I did a project for homeschool with some friends. We are studying weather so we decided to make a storm in a bottle. It looks like a tornado if you do it rite, but we won't go there. Let's put it this way, I have a 2 liter of nice green soap now haha.. I had to use a 2 liter bottle. Well we don't drink out of two liters at our house so I had to go buy one and empty it because I needed just the empty bottle. All I needed was the container. I poured the contents out into another container so we didn't waste anything and we had an empty container that we could use.
Having just had a conversation about how God is more interested on us cleaning out the inside of us than the outside God began to show me something I found interesting, I only needed the container for my project, the shell of what held the original contents. God only needs our container, the shell of who we are so he can fill us up. Think about it if his Living water is forever flowing but has nowhere to land we cant catch it. It's like if someone asked you for a drink but there cup was filled with concrete and the water just flowed all over the floor there would be nowhere to catch it and no way to get it into their body for refreshment and enjoyment.
However if we look into our life and try to empty the filth out of our life ,the jealousy, anger resentment, fear,and sins we carry. And give them to God,whom they belong to anyway, He can use our emptied container. He can fill us up with "His Living Water" The Holy Spirit.
God says his Living Water flows eternally it has no beginning and it has no end. It will land somewhere.....

Will you be one to catch it???

Through the Storm

This morning when I awoke it was pouring down rain. The lightning struck and the thunder rolled. I honestly thought, "I'll just lay here and not get up today"my bed was so comfortable, then I remembered my daughter had to be at school, and there were many things I needed to do. So I got up to get her out of bed and ready for school. It was so dark outside it still looked like night and when I woke her up of course she wanted to stay in bed. The lightning was still striking and the thunder was roaring and the rain continued to pour. I went outside to warm-up the car and let it run for a second while she got everything in her backpack and got her shoes and coat. I gave her an umbrella and we got into the car.
As we were driving to get in the car drop off line at the school which was three times as long as it is normally, I thought about how I didn't want to continue the normal ways of life this morning getting the children up, ready, and to school on time, due to the storm we were having. I thought about the storms of life and how God wants us to continue "normalcy"or "consistency" even through the storms of our uncertain circumstances. How he wants us to have Faith in Him alone, and find our strength and hope to go on in Him. Because it is when the storms are the hardest that we really experience Gods Peace. If you are going through a storm in life remember we serve a God who brings Peace in the midst of storms. He spoke and the storm died.
So I dropped my daughter off at school, and another one of my worries had been she'll get soaked when she gets out of the car. In first grade it takes kids forever to open an umbrella with thier backpack, coat,and all they take to school. But when we pulled up one of her principals held an umbrella over her until she popped hers out and I watched her walk "dryly" into the school. I know that man was just helping kids this morning, but that just showed me how God provides us shelter from the storm. I really believe God wants to see us depend on him for our normal everyday life challenges despite our circumstances and once we do He will calm the Storm

"Peace, be Still"

Mingling in the trash

I know it's not still Christmas as a matter of a fact it is farther away now than it ever will be for 2008. My sweet 7 yr. old daughter said today talking to her 4 yr old brother, " Joey Christmas is 11 mos and 1/2 a year away. Well she almost got it right I guess to her it's just a long time away.
So you may ask what do trash and Christmas have in common? Well I'd like to say I saw this without actually digging through the trashcan on Christmas day, but I can't.
I guess it just can't be Christmas without mingling with the trash. This is how it always starts. We have three kids nine,seven and four, they sort the presents out from under the tree. "Here's yours papaw." "Mimi this ones for you." "Mama you've got something." Then they sort out all of their presents and can't wait to open them. I try so hard to keep all their presents sorted and unopened until I can get alone with each of them explore the directions, take off every little tie and dispose of only the box. But inevitably every year at least one very important piece will make it to the garbage can with out my "permission" . And here I go diving into the big green garbage can mingling with the trash to try to find that one piece that the entire toy will not work without.
This year as I dug through the trash, I laughed and mummered "It can't be Christmas without mingling with the trash"I paused a second, as if to hear myself say it again and then I realized That's right there would be No Christmas if God his self had not chosen to come and mingle with the trash. Our holy God came down heaven sent in holy form to be placed on this sinful, stingy stinking oder smelling gross compared to heaven earth to mingle with the trash. I know thats a different twist on Christmas but it's true and he mingled with the trash for 33 yrs. But not once complained, or screamed I don't belong here. And he hung on a cross you know the story so God would accept us we would be purified and God would see us not as the trash we are but as the clean purified one washed in the blood of his son. He sent down to mingle with the trash on Christmas day over 2000 yrs ago.
Today my Sunday school class went down town Memphis to witness to the homeless people of Memphis. We took them food drinks and some clothes, but most of all we offered them Jesus Christ. Some of them listened and some were already Christians, some just wanted the food.
now some would say we were mingling in the "trash"I personally would never call someone else trash because that is not nice and we should not judge, but leaving our big huge church on Appling Rd. Going and sitting on planks propped up by trusty orange Homer Buckets from Home Depot. You realize Jesus shed blood for them just as he did for me and you. And thank the good Lord I have been purified and washed in the blood of Jesus, so it is my job to mingle in the trash not only at Christmas time but all year round. and let others know why God came on Christmas morning 2000+ yrs. ago to a dirty sinful world so one day I and they too can live a clean and perfect life.

For God says
"What you have done to the least of these you have done also for me"

Keep working for God, God came to mingle in the trash because he loved you,we should mingle becuase we love him.
Keep mingling in the "trash"
Merry Christmas in your heart all year long!!!